All Forum Posts by: Vince Beusan

@Mark McRaewelcome to BP and nice to know another fellow BP member in the neighborhood.

@Brendan Spaar  your advice of 'Get a new realtor' is spot on.  There are enough realtors out there to choose from, and some hungrier than others that will provide the service you are looking for.    Keep on searching until you find the right fit.

@Gaurav M.  welcome to BP!

Thanks @J Scott for sharing.  I will read your house flipping book, it's on my list of books to read.

@Brie Schmidt  what a powerful story, thanks for sharing that life changing event about your father. I am sure your father would be very proud of his daughter now knowing you're living life on your terms, and blazing your own trail making it happen and to be happy.  Good for you!

You've also learned & grown from going from 1 investment home to 13 homes in 2.5 years, that's awesome!

I'm so impressed by the collection of stories that people have left on what makes them successful and has helped to 'change the set of their sail.'  Thanks to everyone contributing and leaving their story. @David T. 

@Grant Bublitz  thanks for jumping in and sharing your story.  You're surrounding yourself with a lot of positive like-minded people on BP.  Fear can be turned into a great motivator.  Knowing inside that you won't settle and you can provide the safety and security you desire.  

I read a lot, and with each book I read I jot down on a 3x5 card a good 'take-away' or 'nugget' of information and put it in a stack on my desk to reference over and over again to read and to share with my wife and kids.  

Well, when I read "Think and Grow Rich" there were a lot of good points I had jotted down.  One of which comes to mind, with what you said about the fear of settling down made me think of:  "Everything man creates begins in the form of thought, leads one very near to the principle by which fear may be mastered."   He went on to say, "All fear is a state of mind.  It may not always be eliminated but its strength & influence may be controlled by self." -Napoleon Hill, Think and Grow Rich   

@David Roberts

EDIT: Someone mentioned 401k fees. Slowly but surely the government is forcing banks to reveal more fees. I tend to think most ordinary people with 401k accounts never look at what's going on with them other than maybe the quarterly statement, and then just look at what the account is worth. If you research the 12 funds available to you, youwill see how many dollars per thousand you are charged a fee on. It gets rather ridiculous with some of the funds. Then the bank running the fund charges annual or quarterly fees. It gets ridiculous.

You are correct, I agree with you regarding hidden fees that most ordinary people never look at what's going on with them other than the quarterly statement, and what the account is worth.

@J Scott  I agree, it's so important to have that encouragement from your wife to take the risk together as a family.   Congratulations as well on making the shift from a very high paying corporate career.  

How long after you began investing in R.E. were you able to make the shift to FT Real Estate from your FT corporate career?

@David T.  thanks for the reply.  If motivation makes you successful, what motivates you?  Was there a book or an event that help 'set the sail' for you in a new direction?

@Account Closed @David C. I appreciate the reply, but please clarify where I used the word 'extreme'?  I did not us that language, you interjected it.   However you may refer to the tax code as 'extreme'.   The example of 35% is from the IRS Tax code, which ranges depending upon earnings, which is true.

@Account Closed  all good questions.  Yes, expense ratios will vary, as will income tax brackets of individuals will also vary.  While not all fees are charged by a fund are included in the expense ratio, it's a good place to start.  The expense ratio is the amount of money the fund takes from you each year as payment to run the fund.

The expense ratio of the funds I had were .5%-1% of the fund assets, some charge more.

What I found alarming is the fact that investors pay a capital gains tax today at 15%, and a 401(k) is taxed as ordinary income.  Ordinary income can be taxed up to 39.5%.     

Funds can be advertised as no-load funds, and en educated investor will check for other fees like purchase fees, redemption fees, exchange fees, and account fees.  None of these fees fall under the definition of a sales load, so the fund is legally correct in advertising they are a 0% no-load fund.  

As Milton Friedman once said, 'There is no such thing as free lunch.'   These financial institutions will not give anyone anything for free, and they know how to get one's money from them.   Food for thought in understanding how the 401(k) works.

For more information I suggest picking up a copy of the book on Amazon.  I didn't help write it, nor do I get anything from promoting it.  For those interested, it is worth the read.