Time Marches On

I had intended to write a blog post ever couple months, and it has now been six months since my last post. My only excuse is that I have been spinning my tires on investing. In December 2013 I did my annual planning and decided to set some higher goals for my next investment. I would not purchase an investment in 2014 unless it met specific metrics I set (primarily ROI) that were higher than I had achieved yet. I would only make offers that would achieve this higher standard and if by the end of the year I did not find an investment that met these metrics, I would lower my standards.

Well, here I sit end of August and no deal closed yet. Not for lack of trying, in addition to continue to look for buy and hold plexes in my local market, I have made offers on single family rehab, foreclosed homes at auction, all cash for a mobile home, equity partner in business investments and bid on a tax lien. I have been kind of all over the place. Since I work full time to pay the bills, this amounts to a pile of my free time spent (along with a few minor expenses here and there) with nothing to show for it. Still not sure if my approach is good or bad. I have learned a lot, but I could have had another investment several months ago instead of a chunk of capital sitting in wait. Regardless, as I look back and take stock one truth comes through… time marches on.

I cannot believe how fast time flies. I am starting to panic that so much time has passed without closing a deal. But as I looked at one of my mortgage statements last night I realized that while I was spinning my wheels looking for a great investment I may never find, my investing machine continued to propel me toward wealth. I have paid down thousands of dollars in mortgage debt this year (or I should say my tenants have paid down thousands of dollars of debt for me). The few hundred a month net cashflow added to the 15% of earned income I save has increased my pile of investment capital. It is difficult to measure appreciation over the last eight months, but my market continues to climb. To be clear I am a cashflow investor. Still I have thousands more dollars and equity than I did at the beginning of the year.

I am still a long way from my goal of $5,000 passive investment income per month. And because I have not found that dream investment (yet) I have not increased my passive investment income this year. Yet, I take comfort in the fact that I continue to have more and more capital when the right deal comes along.