What made you start investing?

[McDuck]

I was wondering what made you start investing.

Was it that you hated your job and longed to be free of the regularity.
Was it that your family never saw you much except on the weekends?

Was it that you had all this extra money piling up and professional friends kept on at you to make it work.

Was it that you were passed one day by a Ferrari. and thought, “that’s me alright”

Was it just a tradition with your family and you never even thought about it.

Were you a Socialist let down by the system , deciding that if the system wouldn’t look after you, then you would look after yourself.

What exactly got you on track?

[SuperDad]

Hi McDuck,

Good question! Firstly, in response to your suggestions:

My wife loves her job.
We see plenty enough of each other as a family
We have no extra money whatsoever piling up (the only thing piling up are the bills).
I don't like Ferraris (no room in the back for kids' car seats).
No influence from tradition.
I'm a socialist but don't think that the government should support the kind of lifestyle I want for my family. A safety net shouldn't be made of silk.

What really woke my wife and I up to PI was watching the equity in our first home grow, simply as a result of growth in the market. We thought: "Wouldn't it be nice to multiply those gains by having more than one property?"

The thought of future financial freedom is a powerful lure - enough to make us give up time and money now for this future reward.

Paul.

[Dean@Massiveaction]

I wanted to serve God in Fiji and He told me to use property to generate ongoing income.

[SuperDad]

I wanted to serve God in Fiji and He told me to use property to generate ongoing income.

Now that's what I call 1-on-1 mentoring!!!!!!

[Libertas]

I wanted freedom!
My time is valuable.
Also Real-estate is my passion.
I was the kid who loved playing monopoly so it just felt natural and fun to head in this direction.

For me it's not about large amounts of money. If I never have to go get a full time job again I will have achieved one of my main goals.

[SuperDad]

I loved monopoly too!!!! My favourite strategy was twofold: try to buy a "set" and erect motels, and try to buy at least one of every set from the second side of the board onwards. The second strategy meant that no one else could have a set, unless they bought the required property from me for a large amount, together with immunity from any fines should I land on their newly completed set.

Ahh, takes me back.

[Stevegoodey]

I do love money, I do want piles of it. I do love Ferraris.

I very much enjoy living a life of meaning and purpose on a higher playing field than most people.

I hold myself accountable to provide luxuries to myself and my family.

I scoff and hold contempt for most of those who say it's not about the money.

It's all about the money.

[Libertas]

I loved monopoly too!!!! My favourite strategy was twofold: try to buy a "set" and erect motels, and try to buy at least one of every set from the second side of the board onwards. The second strategy meant that no one else could have a set, unless they bought the required property from me for a large amount, together with immunity from any fines should I land on their newly completed set.

Ahh, takes me back.

Ha ha, I always liked buying the orange and pink sets, near the middle of the board. They seemed to get more players land on them.
I was happy to pay lots of money at the beginning of the game to get a set. Everyone thought I was crazy paying $1000 for one title but once I had all 3 and then built hotels on them it was all over pretty quick.

The Cashflow board game is ok but shares and business don't interest me as much as doing property deals.

Does any one know of a modern board game similar to cashflow but with just property?

[RentMaster]

The reason I got started was because I had all this extra money piling up and I needed to find a way of utilising it. My brother had already purchased a property, so I followed his footsteps.

For some reason I was not a big fan of Monopoly.

[Libertas]

I do love money, I do want piles of it. I do love Ferraris.

I very much enjoy living a life of meaning and purpose on a higher playing field than most people.

I hold myself accountable to provide luxuries to myself and my family.

I scoff and hold contempt for most of those who say it's not about the money.

It's all about the money.

“He who knows he has enough is rich”

I play this real life property game for fun and profit!

But I also believe in Balance for all areas of life.

[leapy]

Could not stand renting because it limited how I could shape my personal environment, thus bought my first house young. Bought well, more by accident than design, and achieved good gain quickly. It was an eye-opener.

Have stuck with the maxim of buying more property when life circumstances suit, and holding even when it has been a stretch.

Motivated more by the notion of taking responsibility for the preservation and security of myself and my loved ones i.e. creating options and fallback positions for when life is not going so well.

Have more recently set the goal of retiring before middle age. Which might mean anything from putting my feet up in a beachhouse and painting sunsets for the rest of my days, or being in business just for the sheer fun of it, with more hours for leisure.

[Josko]

Desperation to experience financial freedom....and the resulting lessons...

[Rolf]

I never liked the idea of renting so I bought an apartment as soon as I got a job that could pay for it.
Seeing the capital gain and experiencing the freedom of owning the place just made me stick to it.

When I moved to NZ I sold the apartment and the resulting gain got me into a house here.
After a year or so I realised that given the low house prices here, it would be relatively easy to leverage the gain and it's been working great until now.

When I say 'low' house prices it has to be said that I compare with Denmark, where the boom has just been going on an on for the last 10+ years.
My parents sold their multi story house in a Copenhagen suburb for around $500k some 5 years ago, and that price was considered huge already.
Today the INDIVIDUAL storeys of houses in that neighborhood are sold as apartments for $800k each.
Thats in a crowded big city, with the world's highest taxes, crappy weather and no scenery.

I believe NZ houses, at least in Auckland, are way underpriced still. Where else in the western world can you get a house 1/2hrs drive from two rainforest reserves and some of the world's greatest beaches, for some $300k or less? It's not going to last.

[cube]

The realisation that, when we reached retirement age, there was unlikely to be any (significant) support from the govt to finance our desired lifestyle.

Followed quickly by the thought 'wouldn't it be nice to retire early, and enjoy life all the more'.

Followed (eventually) by 'wouldn't it be nice to be able to help out some of our friends and people in our community who need a bit of a helping hand, financially'.

To quote PT's resident 'pastor' -

You can help people financially if you don't have the finances

[cube]

I loved monopoly too!!!! My favourite strategy was twofold: try to buy a "set" and erect motels, and try to buy at least one of every set from the second side of the board onwards. The second strategy meant that no one else could have a set, unless they bought the required property from me for a large amount, together with immunity from any fines should I land on their newly completed set.

Ahh, takes me back.

Very popular in our house at the moment.

We tend to play the 'quick' version, where most of the properties are dealt out at the start, followed by some horse-trading to get sets.

When someone can't get a set, and they want to build (because that is the true path to riches), its 'unfaaaaaaiiiir'.

'Free Parking' has become Lotto - all fines and taxes go there, and if you land on it, you get the lot (adopted from Junior Monopoly!).

And some very dubious rules around getting out of jail!

cube