Stepping stone # 5175 - this is it

[Rockstar]

Thanks for sharing your experiences with us all Dazz and sincerest wishes for you and your family. FF & LOE/Rental income is a goal that many of us aspire to.

Will also be interested in your experience of life "post retirement". Particularly interested if your levels of happiness and general contentment and well being permanently increase. I hope they do for you.

Most folk expect that life will be fine once I reach "this stage" or "that goal" and then find that these attained "stages or goals don't really give us the contentment that we expected. They merely get replaced with another stage or goal to be reached that we believe will lead us to real happiness.

Enjoy your permanent leave from the old "job"

Regards, RS

 

[cu@thetop]

Well I think you miscalculated Day1! I was interested in the day you first seriously took the decision to get into property investing. I think that was Day 1 although it may have taken 2-3 months to buy the units. What was the changing point where you moved from wage slave mentality to business owner (which is effectively what you are now) ?

 

[fokas]

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.

So...you've been investing for 14.17 years...and you've looking forward to 60-70 years ahead of you which means you're about 30...so how old were you when you started??

Thanks so much for posting this and reminding us all that it is possible. Great to read and also gets me excited to think of similar real people who hate being below work bosses, making it through their own hard work over the years!

 

[HiEquity]

Well Dazz, what can one say in response to this fantastic achievement other than... congratulations! A wonderful inspiration for those of us still trudging along, knee deep in mud - a reminder the walk gets a lot nicer when you eventually get to the beach!

I wish I ws in Dazz's position, but I am not due to me not doing what Dazz did - get out there & do it... too hard to admit, so instead, I look around, see 100000's of other people in my position rather than Dazz's and say "see I am right" doing what I'm dong (ableit nothing possibly)..thefore Dazz's success must just be good luck at best, nothing to be as proud of as hard work... sigh...

This is exactly how I feel. It's nowhere near enough knowing that our position is so much better than the vast majority our age, when we know it could have been so much better if we had been a bit smarter about our investing and thought a bit bigger... and followed some advice from those who knew better!

All of the elderly men in my street, mostly between 65 and 75, kindly invited me last night to join them now that I am retired to their bi-weekly luncheons where they discuss business tactics and investments etc. Should be fun, other than being called "son" all the time, cos once again all of their children are older than myself.

Sounds like a good gathering - I'm sure there is much still to be learnt about creating and protecting wealth from folks like this. Reminds me of a family friend actually who would be over 60 now. His father went broke when the bank foreclosed on his building business so he never borrowed a cent in his life. Didn't stop him now being worth at least $20m now through working hard, developing and holding CIPs and RIPs all over Perth during his working life, while raising five kids. A good combination of hard and smart work - he and his mates were never all that enthusiastic when I said I was investing in houses - they always reckoned they were the dogs in their portfolio!

They were trying to point me at Malaga units about five years ago that were yielding well... I'll be paying more attention from now on!

 

[oracle]

My heartiest congratulations to you and your family Dazz!

You have done a fantastic job with property investing and should be very proud of yourself.

May I ask if you though the goal of financial independence came at a date earlier or later then you imagined? Did you always have a goal of achieving financial independence withing 15 years? Can you tell us a few things you did to ensure that you always felt like things were progressing at a good rate to get you where you want to be within 15 years?

Regards,
Oracle.

 

[Pablo]

Good work Dazz I'm glad all that hard work has paid off.

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.

I reckon you should say property manager, its truthful and boring enough so that people won't ask to many questions.

Thanks for all your contributions over the years.
Pablo.

 

[JIT]

Hi Dazz,

With all of that free +ve cashflow, you must be paying loads of income tax again now...right?

If so, how does that sit with you?

And I also wondering if a SMSF is part of your strategy going forward?

Thanks.

 

[WinstonWolfe]

Dazz, sounds like your best investment was your wife.
Hope the kids haven't been compromised during the 5175....nor your health.
And hope future risk doesn't see you back in someone else's office.

 

[INVSTOR]

Congratulations Dazz, you truely are an inspiration.

 

[Dazz]

That wasn't too bad....

I reckon I could get used to this retirement thingy.....

The first day was pretty much as expected, a bit of everything really, with a bunch of property stuff to do.

Was caught a bit unexpected when the Banker called at 9am. He was contacting the wife to arrange a time to have a wee chat about some loans that are coming up for re-finance. He was surprised to hear my voice at the end of the line....wife was at golf as usual.

The only trouble of course is that the Banker thinks that I am still working, and he very much wants to (and can demand that) see me keep working to fit within their version of a safe customer. I thought holy smokes.....I've been busted and it's not even smoko on Dazz's Dodgy Doggo Day 1.

Had to do some quick foot manouvring about having just completed a long stint on the rig and having a few weeks off to rest. Not good - once again having to lie to keep out of some potentially hot water. My in-tatters integrity meter took another battering. Need to get these loans rolled over, then I can relax a tad more. They are the only ones that can now pull the rug from underneath us.

Accountant then emailed thru some figures to say that I had over-stepped the mark with work, and will for the first time in 8 years have to pay a teensy bit of income tax. Dreadful state of affairs. What is the world coming to.

Went shopping with the wife for the first time in about 5 years. She thought it was great having someone doing all the grunt work whilst she quickly flung stuff into the trolley and watched as I lugged everything along. I may not be too bright, but I can lug heavy things around.

Went browsing for a mobile phone. Had to give the work one back. I'm a proud techno-dunce, and just wanted a basic basic model with big fat numbers that big fat fingers can press without 4578 coming up on the screen when you press one number. No go - they all seem to be made for 14 yr old girls. I left empty handed.

Was at home swimming in the pool at 3:15 when the kids joined me. That was great, we had a ball playing pool chasey, great for the fitness levels.

Just took a call from a prospective tenant wishing to lease out our last remaining house. I told him he was welcome to it as long as he paid full rent, didn't whinge and was useful around the house.....no rush on that one. Happy to have it empty rather than have someone in there whinging and quoting the RTA to me.

Checked out a few websites about writing books. If anyone knows anything about self publishing - givvus a hoy via a PM, that would be appreciated.

Pretty happy about today actually. Have property meetings with Bankers and Tenants lined up all this week, so next clear day for smelling the roses is Sunday. I can see things are going to get busier and busier.


I'm imagining this is how folks like handyandy / JoeD / Richard / Rixter / Chrispy / Joanna and landlubber spend their days as well.

 

[Edmond Dantes]

Been following the entire thread and just wanted to Congratulate you. You're very inspirational and look forward to read more about your experiences.

cheers

 

[Kristine..]

G'Day Dazz

Congratulations on being a Gentleman of Leisure.

However, do not expect to be doin' nuttin' for long. Energetic people can't do nothing even when on holidays.

Hope you find the next 15 years as interesting as the past 15 years

Best wishes

Kristine

 

[Perp]

Went browsing for a mobile phone. Had to give the work one back. I'm a proud techno-dunce, and just wanted a basic basic model with big fat numbers that big fat fingers can press without 4578 coming up on the screen when you press one number. No go - they all seem to be made for 14 yr old girls. I left empty handed.

This frustrates the heck out of me, too! Even more embarrassing for a girl to admit she has "man fingers"... LOL

I eventually chose the LG KF L300 precisely because it had about the biggest keys that I could find. It's not perfect - I'd prefer raised and separated keys - but it's not bad, and better than the vast majority. I bought mine from Virgin on a Pre-paid deal for $149.

Pity we can't get the ugly-but-functional Jitterbug here. Hmmm.... I smell a business opportunity....

 

[auror]

Congrats Dazz. I haven't been on SS for the past couple of days but just read through this thread - good stuff. I've followed your journey (market rental review thread) and am thoroughly impressed by how much work you have put into making your contracts wriggle proof .Enjoy your "retirement" and all the best with the dealings with the banker..

 

[GIDDO]

QUOTEWent browsing for a mobile phone. Had to give the work one back. I'm a proud techno-dunce, and just wanted a basic basic model with big fat numbers that big fat fingers can press without 4578 coming up on the screen when you press one number. No go - they all seem to be made for 14 yr old girls. I left empty handed.QUOTE


I have this problem too and ended up with a flip phone. A samsung which seemed the best of a bad bunch.

Not many flips around these days but they seem to have larger numbers.

Why can't they design a decent phone that is usable and simple??!

 

[redwing]

here ya go, just the thing you need, whack it in a back pack for ease of transport

 

[Dazz]

That's the ticket Redwing.

Of course, the physical distance between your mouth and ear doesn't change much....so that'll be the next whinge !!

 

[Dazz]

Particularly interested if your levels of happiness and general contentment and well being permanently increase.

Nah, I'm a grumpy old egotistical bully with a bad hairdo and a ridiculously large moustache. The only difference is I now have a wad full of cash in my pocket.

Although, I have plans to go and spend 10 years in a Buddhist commune studying the art of happiness. I'll put the portfolio into the hands of a cr@p PM who'll skim off the profits whilst spending the rest on unwarranted maintenance whilst I learn how to ohmmmmm properly whilst sitting in the lotus position, sustained only by Ukranian yak guava puree and flowing stream water with essential magnesium and lilac bulbs.

 

[Rob Williams]

The screen is still way too small for my eyes. Double the size so the screen is the same size as the keyboard and I'll be happy.

 

[Dazz]

What was the changing point where you moved from wage slave mentality to business owner (which is effectively what you are now) ?

I was living in Roma Qld and my fiancee was living in Glenelg SA. We'd been living apart for 6 months and decided to get married.

Did that in Perth, flew up to Broome for our honeymoon....had a ball. Kissed each other good-bye. I flew back to Roma to keep earning 31K p.a. She flew back to Glenelg to keep earning 18K p.a. Both wage slaves and both knew it.

Didn't see each other for another 5 months. Mentality changed. Quit job and quit Roma. Took the first step to being as you say a Business Owner.