Random Exercise: What does your dream life cost?

[BryanC]

"How much does your dream life cost?"
________________________________________________​

How about this, I sat down last night and I asked myself: What is it that I am really working for here? I am attempting to accumulate goods that satisfy my own pleasures but... What is it that I really want? (goods & services) and... How many dollars will I need to acquire the goods? The hard-up amount I'll need so I can own them free and clear and enjoy all the benefits these acquired goods render me.

"I wanted to finally put a aggregate price on my dream life style, so I could determine how long it was going to take me to get there."​

And I had asked myself these questions before but, I decide it was time to make a FIRM DECISION and figure out the pieces of the puzzle. That way I could also become aware of what my future possible expenditures may be and also so I could peak into my future reality I will have as an excessively wealthy Entrepreneur. (My ideal is to choose how I want my life and then perform the actions that lead me to having the reality I envision.)

W knew that there must be an estimated price on my satisfaction, I just didn't know what it was until I did a little session of day dreaming and imagining. I conducted about a 3-4 hour session of research on things like islands I may want to buy, cars I may want to own, hot locations I may want to travel too, activities I may want to enjoy in retirement, and on and on.

Then, I took out a sheet of paper and wrote down the following:

• A. What is the cumulative cost of all around basic luxuries I desire? (How much will the total amount physical stuff will I need to acquire to be happy? This is very educational and requires you get creative too because you are actually choosing a product that fills your own need and then attaching a price that you would pay for it to the product. It's basically marketing research just on yourself.)
• B. After I acquire the base goods... How much self replenishing income will I need for "on going" consumption obligations and expenditures? (In essence, you're trying to figure out the amount of "consumption capital" you'll need to maintain in order to support your frivolous consumption.)
• C. How much money do I want to use on the acquisitionment of Assets each month and how much self replenishing income do I need as on going investment capital? After all the business we all want to be in is the business of money multiplying into more money.

So, I basically wanted to figure out was, how much is all of this going to cost me when my economic ship is that big. So I drew 3 buckets. One entitled "Lump Of Heaven" the other: "On Going Consumption Capital" the other: "On Going Investment Capital"

*I did more this way but, will keep it short and simple for ease of reading!.

Eventually, I pulled out a separate piece of paper and I listed each item I would need to fulfill my little lump of heaven and then I listed each on going service I would probably require. I tried to tally up how much my on going residual/passive expenditures would be. And lastly I tried to envision which Investments I would probably purchase and how much I might be able to invest each month.

So after I did all my day dreaming and drooling at the good life, my paper looked something like this:

STATIC EXPENDITURES:

Lump Of Heaven:​

1. 
   Cost | Item
2. $500,000 - A House Off The Shores Of Maine
3. $250,000 - Certain Model Bentley
4. $150,000 - Self Replenishing Electricity System
5. $150,000 - Self Replenishing Water System
6. ........$45 - Self Replenishing Supply Of MJ (no DeMarco)
7. $100,000 - Self Replenishing Supply Of Food
8. __________________
9. __________________
10. __________________
11. __________________
    (You're trying to figure out which consumption obstacles/expenses you'll encounter only once and what they're price tag is.)

Total: $1,000,000​

VARIABLE EXPENDITURES:

On Going Consumption Capital​

1. 
   Cost | Item
2. ..$500 - A Human To Wash My Car
3. ....$50 - A Human To Maintain My Hair
4. $2500 - A Human To Maintain My House
5. $2000 - A Human To Guard My House
6. ..$900 - Health And Bodily Upkeep (If Not Expended Re-Invest In Security/Insurance Fund)
7. ..$400 - Fueling My Vehicles
8. __________________
9. __________________
10. __________________
11. __________________
    (You're trying to figure out how much your total dream lifestyle would cost you each month to maintain.)

Total: $1,000,000​

On Going Investment Capital​

1. 
   Cost | Item
2. $100,000 - Gold & Silver
3. $100,000 - Oil & Other Investment Grade Commodities
4. $100,000 - Internet Start-Ups
5. $100,000 - Brick And Mortar Business Systems
6. $100,000 - Real Estate
7. ..$400 - Fueling My Vehicles
8. __________________
9. __________________
10. __________________
11. __________________
    (You're trying to figure out how much your total dream investments would cost you each month to maintain.)

Total: $1,000,000​

Well, then I began asking more questions like: If I need $1,000,000 to cover this bucket's monthly spill, how many people will I need patch it up by putting cash into this bucket every month? And at how many dollars per person will I need?

Ended up coming up with answers like: "You need 200,000 people sending you $5 a month to cover a $1,000,000 in expenditures. Well, they'll need to pay you more than that if you are going to fund it out of cashflows. You'll need to be able to retain $5 from your gross after COGS is dispensed with other Operating Costs. So maybe $3,000,000 ($15.00) total and $1,000,000 ($5.00) in cashflows. But, you need an audience of residually buying consumers."

Truly, I took it further than I originally intended but, I ended up finding out exactly what everything would cost.

Trying to figure out what the cost of the Cashflows will be to cover the Maintenance. LoL.

Overall, get started right now and try this exercise for yourself. Let your imagination fly and see what you can come up with!

Utilizing this exercise, I'm trying to change my reality. I drew a doodle to describe it, I think it's very intuitive.

 

Dislike ads? Remove them and support the forum: Subscribe to Fastlane Insiders.

[hatterasguy]

I'll know it when I'm their, I'll work less and boat a lot more.

I want a big Swan, a nice house, and maybe a Ferrari or two to play with. But I'm more of a pickup/Mercedes guy.

 

[ZDS]

I'll be there when I can buy my parents a house and make sure they do not have to work again.

 

[marktech101]

The reason I'm going to live the fastlane is precisely to avoid doing what is described above.

I want to 'put everything on a level playing field', if you will. I'd like to take money out of the equation-- for everything. For example, if I want to buy a car, I might say "Well, the Viper is fast and the Mercedes nice; why don't I just buy the Lamborghini and get the best of both worlds?" The key point here is that I don't want to have to tally up monthly expenses, etc. To me, that signifies slowlane behavior, at least to some extent.

Now, I am sure to run into problems with this philosophy early on in my career as a fastlant entrepreneur. Ignoring money won't make my life better at all; in all reality, it would certainly come back to haunt me (until I achieve the level of success I dream of. This should come at a certain level, call it $50 million).

I guess the point I'm trying to make here is that I won't want to say that I want X, Y, and Z and then be done. Sure, if my passion is the Lamborghini brand, I could work a slowlane job, move up the ranks, and take out a mortgage on a Gallardo. I want a lifestyle such that I can buy what I want, when I want, and how I want (no financing!).

Obviosly I'm dreaming; my fantasy world isn't available to most. However, I firmly believe that the first step toward achieving such a goal is recognizing that it is completely possible. MJ, I think your (albiet short) conversation with the Lamborghini owner when you were in your teens really showed you that the lifestyle you now lead is possible. This forum has done the same for me, and for that I thank you and other inspirational members.

 

Dislike ads? Remove them and support the forum: Subscribe to Fastlane Insiders.

[BryanC]

That's very understandable.

For me the biggest challenge is just keeping all the gears turning in my head. That's why I've been trying to simplify a lot of this stuff and put it on a sheet of paper. That way if the ideas ever come up again and I find a new way of looking at something or performing a task, I can enhance it.

 

[Kung Fu Steve]

So you've set a goal - now what is your step-by-step action plan for getting there?

Does the prospect of spending $100,000 per month on buying and holding Gold/Silver, Oil, Real Estate, Internet Start ups, and Businesses really exciting enough for you to follow through?

If you are making $500,000 extra a month, are there better things you can use that money for?

(Side question: Why do you want to "diversify" so much with your investments instead of focusing on one or two?)

 

[Salinger]

One idea would be to take this a step further by setting up a spreadsheet to look at your wants/needs over time, say a ten-year or longer time horizon. Obviously, all of this wealth is not going to happen at one moment unless you win the Lotto.

Some of the things (assets) you want to acquire do not require the entire amount up front. If you have the income to support it, most can be purchased over time. Your house, autos, airplanes, and much more can be bought with 20-25% down and amortized payments. Caveat: don't buy too much this way without solid income to support it, and pay things off early if you can. This is why I'm suggesting the spreadsheet - to look at the point in time at which you would be able to begin owning the asset. To be really accurate about it you can even include assumptions about inflation and discount the future cost back to present day.

Initially, it makes the most sense to invest as much as possible in your business, and investments, but eventually the income from those will support the purchase of the fun stuff. Best of luck on achieving your dreams.

 

Dislike ads? Remove them and support the forum: Subscribe to Fastlane Insiders.

[MJ DeMarco]

Nice break down ... most people never get this far so putting it to paper puts you light years ahead of your peers. So now what? First, make sure you begin on the right premise. I noticed

"Reality A: It is Mandatory that I work for money so I could acquire assets"

I don't like how that is stated. How about

"Reality A: It is Mandatory that I BUILD AND CREATE assets that cash flow and appreciate in value"

Instead of a long climb up the mountain, why not just build your own and let other people climb it?

 

[maximus20895]

Could you give an example of what kind of assets you could build or create?

 

[MJ DeMarco]

Just a few that come to mind ...

Any type of web business ...
A service business, then franchised. (Like 1-800-Junk)
A retail business, then franchised. (Like the woman who rents inflatable jungle-jims)
An invention, sold to wholesale distributors.

 

Dislike ads? Remove them and support the forum: Subscribe to Fastlane Insiders.

[hatterasguy]

The reason I'm going to live the fastlane is precisely to avoid doing what is described above.

I want to 'put everything on a level playing field', if you will. I'd like to take money out of the equation-- for everything. For example, if I want to buy a car, I might say "Well, the Viper is fast and the Mercedes nice; why don't I just buy the Lamborghini and get the best of both worlds?" The key point here is that I don't want to have to tally up monthly expenses, etc. To me, that signifies slowlane behavior, at least to some extent.

Now, I am sure to run into problems with this philosophy early on in my career as a fastlant entrepreneur. Ignoring money won't make my life better at all; in all reality, it would certainly come back to haunt me (until I achieve the level of success I dream of. This should come at a certain level, call it $50 million).

I guess the point I'm trying to make here is that I won't want to say that I want X, Y, and Z and then be done. Sure, if my passion is the Lamborghini brand, I could work a slowlane job, move up the ranks, and take out a mortgage on a Gallardo. I want a lifestyle such that I can buy what I want, when I want, and how I want (no financing!).

Obviosly I'm dreaming; my fantasy world isn't available to most. However, I firmly believe that the first step toward achieving such a goal is recognizing that it is completely possible. MJ, I think your (albiet short) conversation with the Lamborghini owner when you were in your teens really showed you that the lifestyle you now lead is possible. This forum has done the same for me, and for that I thank you and other inspirational members.

Thats a great way to blow through any money you ever make and have nothing. Ask Mike Tyson he spent what $140m over a few years.

Eco 101, resources including capital are finite, even Bill Gates and especialy Warren Buffet think about what stuff costs.

Nothing wrong with buying a toy or two if you can afford them. But saying, ahh its only money and going nuts is a sure way to end up broke.

 

[BryanC]

Hey guys, I just logged in for the first time in a while, I'll get back on in the morning maybe before I leave and see if I can reply to the posts.

Thanks for the input.