Stepping stone # 5175 - this is it

My property journey to freedom took 5,175 days.


5,175 days of juggling two jobs - the standard job and the 'build a property portfolio' job.


Each day a step towards a passive retirement from any form of paid work.


As the portfolio got bigger, the job became harder as I continually had to feign interest. Wearing the hat of 6 or 7 CEO's in the morning, and then taking them all off and walking into an office and being a numpty where I had no financial authority and not invited to any decision making meetings was difficult to swallow. I didn't like wearing the worker hat.


I struggled alot with the duplicity and having to "not tell the truth". When sitting around at the meeting table on a Monday morning, 5 or 10 minutes before it starts and your boss leans over and asks : "So what did you get up to on the weekend ?? We went down to the wineries and had a fabulous time" Leaning back to him and saying "I spent the entire weekend closing a deal to buy a huge inner city factory on a few acres so I can eventually get the hell out of here" doesn't go down so well, so you end up looking like a wet soppy blanket and saying something like "bit of gardening, had a BBQ with the rellies over"


Anyway, that pathway with the 5,175 stepping stones has been trod. I'm at the end of the track, and looking around at all of the lovely tracks stretched out before me. They all look great. I reckon I might hang around here for a while before striding off along one of them.


It's quite sad to look back down the track, as I have alot of fantastic memories striding down the track, but it is extremely daunting when you attain your major life goal. Financial freedom is quite onerous when you have it in your hands.


Some observations that I made along the track, for those that are treading it still, or are about to start. Note well....many people are doing the exact opposite to what I did and are doing extremely well, so discard what doesn't suit you ;

  • Priortites need to change as life's big moments come along - marriage, kids etc.
  • Your CV at work becomes less and less important. Courses done, degrees attained, titles on business cards - they all fade away.
  • Things ramp up - don't get despondent in the first couple of years. It gets parabolic in the middle years and hyperbolic in the latter years. I found years 13 and 14 were far more productive than years 1 through 12 combined. Compounding really does kick in.
  • You need to change your thinking.....what worked early on doesn't cut the mustard anymore.
  • Contracts become central to everything - get to be excellent with them - nothing happens without them. Don't delegate your contractual knowledge to lawyers / PMs / REA's. Know the law that governs your business.
  • Negotiate hard. 1 hour of tough negotiations can be worth 2 years of working hard.
  • Forget these jobs that you love but don't pay anything - go for the job and industry that pays the most. If you get your act together, it won't be for long. The sacrifices made were well and truly worth it.
  • Don't get divorced.


That'll do for now. This Saturday arvo feels quite normal, but I reckon Monday morning it's gonna hit home that I am not going to work.


The first thing I need to work out now in my 30's is when people ask me "so what do you do for a living". I don't want to say a rent collector, but that is what I have become.
 
Nice one!!
Please don't ever underestimate the value your opinions and ideas have to those of us just starting out.
You are an inspiration to many of us here.
Thanks for sharing with the community.

Rob
 
Dazz

Try: "I've just retired"! But they probably won't like that either ..... :D

Congratulations on achieving your freedom! May you, Mrs Dazz and your girls enjoy every moment of it!

And please do hang around here a bit longer and share all your adventures 'down the track'.

Cheers
Lynn
 
Some great thoughts Daz, thanks for sharing.

Why not just say an 'investor' or something along those lines. If they probe you further you can divulge or keep it to yourself as much as you like. Or mess with them and just say you're a street musician. ;)
 
when people ask me "so what do you do for a living". I don't want to say a rent collector,

My grandmother when she was alive, used to get asked the exact same question - she had raised 8 children on her own after she was widowed. Her reply, which still rings in my ears was:

"Do?.... Do? .......I don't Do anything!"

It is nice to be in a position where what you do does not define you. You are not a human doing, you are a human being. (Simpsons)
 
Well done Dazz! So I take it you've handed your resignation in and already had your farewell party from your JOB? :)
 
Rent Collector


Nah...No way, we can improve on that title

possibly the Strategic Asset Manager of a multi-milion dollar (or national) real estate syndication :D

The wife could be the CEO (Chief Of Everything)

Great News
 
My property journey to freedom took 5,175 days.

I'm sure the immense hard work and lateral thinking would have been a major factor. I wonder (really) whether it would be possible to achieve complete financial freedom with either LOE or passive CF with an all resi portfolio, straight buy and hold (no development) strategy within 15 yrs.

That's the path I'm on right now and well advanced, but I doubt it. Without extraordinary luck/timing, perhaps 20+ yrs at least. Better late than never.
 
It's quite sad to look back down the track, as I have alot of fantastic memories striding down the track, but it is extremely daunting when you attain your major life goal. Financial freedom is quite onerous when you have it in your hands.
That's really tragic, Dazz. :p

Actually, sarcasm aside, I am sometimes concerned that the drive to "get there" has become a large part of what motivates me, too, and wonder how I'd feel if there was no longer any compulsion to find the next deal. I suspect I'd still go for the next deal; it's too much fun not to!

But I hope I'd also spend a good part of my time engaging in the profession I'm striving for: professional philanthropist. Ethically, I'm a utilitarian, so the philanthropic goals that most excite me relate to ensuring that every person on the planet has the essentials. I plan to direct my energies primarily towards the goals of potable water, oral rehydration salts, anti-malarial treatment, and reducing perinatal death and disease.

That should keep me busy for most of the morning, then after lunch I'll create world peace. :D
 
Awesome !!

Thanks for sharing your advice & details, if far more experienced people than me tell you they find it valuable, imagine how helpful it can be to people like me

Hope you find what todo with your time on Monday ! :)
 
Please don't ever underestimate the value your opinions and ideas have to those of us just starting out.
You are an inspiration to many of us here.
Thanks for sharing with the community.

Thank you for the feedback Rob - I look forward to our meeting in Adelaide later this year. I might even pop into Xenia's little get together that you guys in SA have every month.
 
Well done Dazz! So I take it you've handed your resignation in and already had your farewell party from your JOB? :)

Last day was yesterday. It was a sombre quite surreal day.

I work with 2 senior chaps, my superintendent who is 58 and has been on bigger incomes than me for over 30 years, dead broke and has to keep working - he didn't want to know and wasn't happy at all that a young whipper snapper younger than his son was "retiring"....he thought it was BS.

The other guy I worked with was a 66 yr old logistics guy who also needed to work and looked tired. He was quite careful with his money - but his wife was absolutely shocking. New $ 500 dress every week. He'll have to work to the day he dies.

No farewell party. Old guys don't farewell young guys retiring. It don't happen. I quietly took the cash and left the building. Some things aren't meant to be...:(
 
I wonder whether it would be possible to achieve complete financial freedom with either LOE or passive CF with an all resi portfolio, straight buy and hold (no development) strategy within 15 yrs.


Good question hg. I tried my damnest for 9 years before giving up on that strategy - strictly buy and hold with no development....it (rent collecting) was never going to happen for me, so I dumped that strategy and tried something else.

Good luck if you are able to achieve it in 20 years. I don;t know anyone who has without selling a bunch of stock and incurring a few MM in CGT. Didn't appeal to me.
 
Last day was yesterday. It was a sombre quite surreal day.

I work with 2 senior chaps, my superintendent who is 58 and has been on bigger incomes than me for over 30 years, dead broke and has to keep working - he didn't want to know and wasn't happy at all that a young whipper snapper younger than his son was "retiring"....he thought it was BS.

The other guy I worked with was a 66 yr old logistics guy who also needed to work and looked tired. He was quite careful with his money - but his wife was absolutely shocking. New $ 500 dress every week. He'll have to work to the day he dies.

No farewell party. Old guys don't farewell young guys retiring. It don't happen. I quietly took the cash and left the building. Some things aren't meant to be...:(

thats a shame Daz :(

Should've let us know here, I'm sure a number of us in WA would've helped you celebrate with an extended lunch on the Friday :D
 
I am sometimes concerned that the drive to "get there" has become a large part of what motivates me, too, and wonder how I'd feel if there was no longer any compulsion to find the next deal. I suspect I'd still go for the next deal; it's too much fun not to!

It's not something that most people seriously plan for I don't expect. Everyone seems to have these lofty goals of spending more time with the family or lying on a beach quaffing pina colada's for the next 10 years, but you hardly hear of what is actually done when the burden of business is lifted.

I need to find something to occupy my mind and get-up-and-go for the next 60 or 70 years before it gets up and buggers off.
 
No farewell party. Old guys don't farewell young guys retiring. It don't happen. I quietly took the cash and left the building. Some things aren't meant to be...:(

Thats a bit sad that you didn't go out with some sort of "well done" send off. I am sure the family will help you party for the next few years!!

Congratulations. You have been such an inspiration, and have helped me immensly (sic?) with my journey. I hope you do hang around SS and continue to enlighten us and continue to inspire us to reach our goals.

Sunshine
 
Last day was yesterday. It was a sombre quite surreal day.

I work with 2 senior chaps, my superintendent who is 58 and has been on bigger incomes than me for over 30 years, dead broke and has to keep working - he didn't want to know and wasn't happy at all that a young whipper snapper younger than his son was "retiring"....he thought it was BS.

The other guy I worked with was a 66 yr old logistics guy who also needed to work and looked tired. He was quite careful with his money - but his wife was absolutely shocking. New $ 500 dress every week. He'll have to work to the day he dies.

No farewell party. Old guys don't farewell young guys retiring. It don't happen. I quietly took the cash and left the building. Some things aren't meant to be...:(

Your experience supports the view that it is lonely at the top. Australian culture does not encourage exaultation for those who attain real financial freedom.

The common refrain is that you must have been dishonest to get to that level. You are about to find out who your real friends are Dazz.

I'm sure you will spend a few months sniffing the flowers until something grabs your interest and you move on to the next stage in your life. Enjoy the moment; you and the wife deserve it.

Regards NR
 
Just curious Daz, what made you decide you were financially free on day 5175 and not day 5174?

Was it a net worth amount or something else? I'm only starting out but having trouble defining an end goal of when enough is enough.
 
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