3 "Haters" to De-Friend in 2015...and 1 to Keep Forever.

It was a few years ago when I heard the famous Jim Rohn quote - "you are the average of the 5 people you spend most of your time with."

Although I value my closest friendships very highly, I realized that I held on to a number of acquaintances that I needn't have. I decided to change for the better...and it all started with Facebook.

Since then, it has become a tradition in my life that every January I go through my list of "friends" on Facebook, and de-friend about 1/4 of them.

Time consuming? Yes…Harsh? Maybe…Beneficial to my quality of life? Most definitely…

It was difficult at first, but I found some ways to make the decisions easier...

1. 1) Do they post pictures of their food?
2. 2) Do they ruin the endings to movies before I get to see them?
3. 3) Do they invite me to play Candy Crush on a weekly basis?

Although these guidelines worked well in the past, this year is a bit different. 2014 was the year that I became interested in Real Estate Investing, and I've been telling everyone I know about it. Most people are genuinely interested and ask tons of questions. However, not everyone is quite that positive.

So I started to take note of all of the "haters" (as Ms. T-Swift would say) and I've broken them down into the following four categories.

1) Negative Nancy – This person immediately comes to the conclusion that what you are doing with your money is stupid and irresponsible. She makes you question your financial decisions because you aren’t following the classic model of saving for retirement through a 401k, IRA, and Social Security. She says stuff like this…

• “Why would you buy a house that you can’t live in?”
  
• “Wouldn’t your fiancé rather have a new car?”
  
• “That kind of thing doesn’t work anymore. But I’ve got an awesome direct-marketing campaign that I would love to talk to you about!”

2) Paranoid Pete – This guy is so terrified of losing his money, that he would rather put it under a mattress, or make 0.06% APY in a savings account. He cannot fathom the idea of investing in anything that has a semblance of risk. He typically says stuff like this…

• “But what happens if someone doesn’t pay their rent?”
  
• “Aren’t you afraid all of your houses could be taken out in a tornado, hurricane, or zombie apocalypse?!?”
  
• “I don’t know dude, I think you’re better off finding a good long-term CD.”

3) Jealous Jeb – This dude shrugs off every attempt you make to explain how real estate investing works, because he can’t stand the thought of reading books instead of watching The Jersey Shore. Although he probably wishes he had thought of it first, he would rather ignore the situation, live in ignorant bliss, and retire at 65. He says stuff like this…

• “That’s ridiculous…life isn’t like Monopoly, Tyler.”
  
• “I prefer to live in the moment bro...No one needs that much money in life.”
  
• “Sure man. Just get all of that investing stuff out of your system before you get married, because it’ll never happen when you’ve got a family.”

4) Constructive-Criticism Chad – Now this guy is different (Thankfully!). Although he sometimes makes us question our beliefs, strategies, and decisions…it is a good thing! Chad is ultimately trying to help. Sometimes that help will serve as a blow to our self-esteem, but it is important because it keeps us in check. He says stuff like this…

• “Have you considered diversifying your portfolio into a few more neighborhoods or cities?”
  
• “Don’t you think you should plan for higher capital expenditures with a property that old?”
  
• “What’s your exit strategy in 5,10, or 15 years?”

Luckily for us, there are plenty of Constructive-Criticism Chad’s on Bigger Pockets…so we can just go ahead and de-friend the other three :-)