Important Life Lessons I Took Away From One of My Worst Weeks, Ever.

(We take a break from our regular story to bring you a story of doom, gloom and preparing for the worst.)

 
     It has been a stressful week. Two very large situations have lead myself and family into a bit of a tough and depressing time. The passing of my grandmother, 90 years old, and my younger sister, only 33, diagnosed with an immune disorder that left her unable to use her hands and feet for a few days and is now in physical rehabilitation. Don't let this drag you down; there are a lot of important lessons to learn here. I'll share just three of them that I have realized in the last week or two.

      Start investing when you are young. My grandmother has always been financially savvy. While she never owned a lot of houses, she and my grandfather owned huge tracks of land they used to produce hay to pay the taxes on it. They eventually sold for a small fortune. She reinvested that into stocks, bonds, and so on in her older years. 

     My sister on the other hand has no investments. Her husband and her tend to spend most of what they have and are unsure why they can't seem to get ahead. Now with her unable to work, they rely heavily on friends and family donations to keep them going.

     Risk is a constant. It doesn't matter if you are 90 years old or 33, there is always something that can go wrong and take everything away from you. Over the last few weeks I have been sharing with my family some of my real estate goals and they keep telling me how risky it sounds. While I have done a small amount of investing in stocks and bonds, the opportunity in real estate is far more lucrative. And no matter how I run numbers and how much I save this late in the game I couldn't reach my retirement goals with out investing in stocks and so on that come with much higher risk. Real Estate is a retirement vehicle that could reward me with my goals and do so with substantially less risk.

     Do not hide behind your fears of something going wrong, because something can go wrong whether you try or not.

     Surround yourself with people who believe you can. After about 10 days in the hospital my sister was sent to an assisted living facility where she currently lives and gets physical therapy to help her walk and regain use of her hands. The nurses and trainers are encouraging and positive. On top of that, there are other patients who are fighting the same or similar situations and encourage her showing you can get better. Telling her she can do it and shes doing well. We too, should surround ourselves with people who have gone through what we are and have come out successful. Good news, if your reading this, you have already begun to surround yourself with knowledgeable and experienced people who can encourage you and lead you down a successful path.

     I could go on about several other lessons, like diabetes is not good for you. Or Don't buy a 70 inch TV when you can barely afford your rent. Or caskets are ##### expensive. However, I feel these subjects are best left for some other forum.

I would like to apologize for breaking away from my time line story of the steps I have been taking to move into the real estate world. Especially for something so depressing. So briefly I'll fill you in on a few simple things I have been doing. 

I have meet my goal of using the calculator to test 15 deals. I finished reading "Buy, Rehab, Rent, Refinance, Repeat: BRRRR Investing" by David Green, and have started on his book, "Long Distance Real Estate Investing." I am so far confident in the power and ability to invest at a distance. Tune in next time as I share a bit of what I have found and some of the new goals I aim to reach.

*As always feel free to share any thoughts, opinions, feelings you care to share.