Grew up poor, dad left when I was 10, mum raised us on a pension, no car, not much money. Had various jobs and tried different little businesses from when I was 11 or 12 (paper rounds, building bikes out of old pieces and selling them etc.). She never got to own a house, so, from when I turned 18 mum asked when was I going to buy a house. Nearly bought at house at 18 with my sister for mum to live in (about $45,000 at the time) wished i did but didn't buy first house until about 24
What was YOUR upbringing like?
- Thread starter Xenia
- Start date
I've had a good upbringing in whats probably considered the upper middle class. My parents owned one investment property years ago and made a good profit from it but never really taught me much about it. I'm now 17, have about $10,000 worth of shares that i'm hoping will help to fund a deposit for a house.
My upbringing was typical lower middle class - Dad worked in the local council, and Mum worked part time as a secretary. The did ok, but had no real investing knowledge at all. They seemed to save ok, but bought a 4 bedroom house that was possibly a tad expensive, and seemed to struggle a bit under the mortgage. They probably had more money than I thought, but frequently made comments about 'not being rich', and 'never get into debt'. Once, when I broached the subject of property investing as a teenager I was firmly told 'that's only for people who are already rich'. Despite this, they occasionally spent what I thought were obscene amounts of money on things for their house ('has to be good quality or not worth the money').
I grew up feeling constantly guilty about every dollar I cost them, despite my younger sister making frequent financial demands on them. She had dance lessons, music lessons, went to a private school and was driven everywhere she wanted to go. I had little extra curricular activity, and rode the push-bike if I wanted to go somewhere. In hindsight, my sister probably needed extra support, as I was always pretty independent, but it still left me feeling crappy with the world.
When in my mid teens I decided that my kids would never hear me say 'money doesn't grow on trees'. I met my wife-to-be at 18, and her parents were regular property investors, who were happy to explain how it all worked.
I spent 5 years after finishing high school getting through my engineering degree, so I could get a reasonably well paying job. I started with a big company, got married, and started saving for a house deposit.
I stumbled across Rich Dad Poor Dad, and it made sense to me. I started reading about investing...
Fast forward 10 years, and we have a young son, own 4 properties, have shares and substantial cash savings, and make around $300k per year from our jobs. My aim is not for my son to hear 'we can't afford it', but rather 'we choose whether we buy it based on benefit and opportunity cost'.
I suspect that if I hadn't felt hard done by as a kid that I wouldn't be hungry for building wealth and breaking free of the Rat Race. Nowadays, my family see me as very wealthy, but they don't understand how it happened. I love them dearly, and see them regularly, but now I'm my own man and have the joy of achievement as well as the excitement of things to come.
I grew up feeling constantly guilty about every dollar I cost them, despite my younger sister making frequent financial demands on them. She had dance lessons, music lessons, went to a private school and was driven everywhere she wanted to go. I had little extra curricular activity, and rode the push-bike if I wanted to go somewhere. In hindsight, my sister probably needed extra support, as I was always pretty independent, but it still left me feeling crappy with the world.
When in my mid teens I decided that my kids would never hear me say 'money doesn't grow on trees'. I met my wife-to-be at 18, and her parents were regular property investors, who were happy to explain how it all worked.
I spent 5 years after finishing high school getting through my engineering degree, so I could get a reasonably well paying job. I started with a big company, got married, and started saving for a house deposit.
I stumbled across Rich Dad Poor Dad, and it made sense to me. I started reading about investing...
Fast forward 10 years, and we have a young son, own 4 properties, have shares and substantial cash savings, and make around $300k per year from our jobs. My aim is not for my son to hear 'we can't afford it', but rather 'we choose whether we buy it based on benefit and opportunity cost'.
I suspect that if I hadn't felt hard done by as a kid that I wouldn't be hungry for building wealth and breaking free of the Rat Race. Nowadays, my family see me as very wealthy, but they don't understand how it happened. I love them dearly, and see them regularly, but now I'm my own man and have the joy of achievement as well as the excitement of things to come.
My upbringing brought with it a range of experiences, as my parents progressed from lower-middle class through to upper-middle.
Mum was a skilled-up nurse/midwife, and Dad was a geologist doing the whole Fly-in/fly-out thing (it was much less ‘cushy’ then, no 2-on-1-off. It was goodbye for 6-8 weeks, hello for 1 week). We moved around Oz, with stints in Kalgoorlie, Adelaide, Cairns, Darwin and back to Perth.
As Dad moved from geo up through management into exec positions, the income rose, and they always owned PPoRs (one of the early ones was a workers cottage in Subi, that they bought for 45K ish in the early 80’s. Its not there anymore, it got knocked to build a couple of multi-$M townhouses…) they started out slummy, but improved with time.
In terms of investments, I was never informed at the time of what was happening, but have since filled in the pieces of the puzzle now that I am older/more interested. As Dad moved through the ranks of the various mining juniors, he was given stock and options as is common. He also used most of his spare income to purchase more shares in whatever company he was working for at the time. It was kind of like investing in your own business, in that he had a lot confidence and conviction in the prospects that he was involved in. A couple of his earlier employers got bought-out, and he made huge % profits on his holdings (either cash offer or new shares). He poured any excess profits back into PPOR reno’s or more shares in the new company. One of the last companies he held a lot of shares in absolutely went bananas, and it was then that they started looking to IP’s to diversify.
By this time, we had moved back to WA and having continually upgraded PPORs along the relocations, we ended up in a really good area with me and the siblings attending a really good school. They did sell all previous properties though, along the way – and I’m sure they would have done even better if they held them all (lesson learned the same as Daz).
What got me really curious in investing is why we were a little different to other families who we used to see socially. They all seemed to have pretty good exec jobs as well, but would never take holidays and kids used to get limited gifts on Bday Xmas etc. When I was getting towards end of school, I asked my old man why this was, and he finally gave me the birds and the bees of wealth (as he saw it anyway, everyone obviously has different opinions).
He told me that you really get ahead in life through your investments (in his case, shares), and that your salary is only the water that feeds the plants of your portfolio. The better your salary the more water you have obviously, and the more plants you can sustain. So I was still encouraged to graduate uni and get a good job, like most others. BUT – this was not the be-all and end-all that others seem to get told.
First prop was bought with savings 6 months after uni graduation. 5% deposit, parental guarantee to avoid LMI. PPOR initially, IP within 12 months refinance and used increased equity to release guarantee and be stand-alone. Purchased 2nd IP at same time and have gone from there.
Sorry to bore you!
Cheers, Chris
Mum was a skilled-up nurse/midwife, and Dad was a geologist doing the whole Fly-in/fly-out thing (it was much less ‘cushy’ then, no 2-on-1-off. It was goodbye for 6-8 weeks, hello for 1 week). We moved around Oz, with stints in Kalgoorlie, Adelaide, Cairns, Darwin and back to Perth.
As Dad moved from geo up through management into exec positions, the income rose, and they always owned PPoRs (one of the early ones was a workers cottage in Subi, that they bought for 45K ish in the early 80’s. Its not there anymore, it got knocked to build a couple of multi-$M townhouses…) they started out slummy, but improved with time.
In terms of investments, I was never informed at the time of what was happening, but have since filled in the pieces of the puzzle now that I am older/more interested. As Dad moved through the ranks of the various mining juniors, he was given stock and options as is common. He also used most of his spare income to purchase more shares in whatever company he was working for at the time. It was kind of like investing in your own business, in that he had a lot confidence and conviction in the prospects that he was involved in. A couple of his earlier employers got bought-out, and he made huge % profits on his holdings (either cash offer or new shares). He poured any excess profits back into PPOR reno’s or more shares in the new company. One of the last companies he held a lot of shares in absolutely went bananas, and it was then that they started looking to IP’s to diversify.
By this time, we had moved back to WA and having continually upgraded PPORs along the relocations, we ended up in a really good area with me and the siblings attending a really good school. They did sell all previous properties though, along the way – and I’m sure they would have done even better if they held them all (lesson learned the same as Daz).
What got me really curious in investing is why we were a little different to other families who we used to see socially. They all seemed to have pretty good exec jobs as well, but would never take holidays and kids used to get limited gifts on Bday Xmas etc. When I was getting towards end of school, I asked my old man why this was, and he finally gave me the birds and the bees of wealth (as he saw it anyway, everyone obviously has different opinions).
He told me that you really get ahead in life through your investments (in his case, shares), and that your salary is only the water that feeds the plants of your portfolio. The better your salary the more water you have obviously, and the more plants you can sustain. So I was still encouraged to graduate uni and get a good job, like most others. BUT – this was not the be-all and end-all that others seem to get told.
First prop was bought with savings 6 months after uni graduation. 5% deposit, parental guarantee to avoid LMI. PPOR initially, IP within 12 months refinance and used increased equity to release guarantee and be stand-alone. Purchased 2nd IP at same time and have gone from there.
Sorry to bore you!
Cheers, Chris
That's a great analogy.
Guys,
It is so interesting reading about your backgrounds! Here goes my bit.
My parents immigrated to NZ from England. I am no.5 of 6, my younger sister and I were adopted. We moved to Aus when I was 6.
We were a low-middle class family, Dad being a builder and Mum a Housewife,
with the typical "pay off your home and dinner on the table at 6" attitude.
In our household, Dad paid the bills and mum cleaned the house. When Dad was home we were "seen and not heard". Money was never talked about.
Being a wayward child, my father always said I was "different", I moved out of home at 16 and did my HSC moving between various friends houses- if their parents would have me. I worked part-time to pay board and chipped in with the food bills if I could.
I got into UNI but couldn't work out how to survive, so after my HSC I hopped on a bus to QLD with one suitcase, got a job within a week in a mini-lab and partied in Surfers for a year. I realised I was wasting my life so came to Sydney and enrolled myself in a Graphic Arts course. Paid my way through that for three years by working in bars and restaurants.
At 20 I met my tall, blonde, good-looking husband and got married!
We rented a 1br flat in Waverton (N.Sydney), saved some money (I was in printing/advertising by this time) and bought a house at Wamberal 200m from the beach because my husband surfed and we couldn't afford Northern Beaches. It had dual income which was the only way we could afford it.
So we stayed in North Sydney, renting out our house at Wamby until I fell pregnant with our first child and decided a change in lifestyle was needed. My husband was/is now a Surveyor.
Don't know why but we decided to buy another property on the Central Coast, and leave our tenants in the first IP.
When the Penny Dropped: I was pregnant with my second child two years later and told a friend of a friend I was selling our IP because I had to give up commuting to Sydney once I had my second baby. ( I had started Group Fitness Instructing but this would never pay the bills!)
She said she had been to a seminar by Ed Chan and told me how to refinance, get a LOC, get my equity working for us etc etc and yippee
..the light came on! I made an appointment with Ed the next day. Went to see him in his only office at Oatlands, spent an hour and half with him, and I was on my way! Thanks Mardi, thanks Ed.
I refinanced within two months and bought two more properties. That was three or four years ago and I am powering!
The few times I've had doubts, I've been fortunate enough to speak to Ed and his exact words are: Don't sell, Don't sell, you're about to win the Lottery."
It is so interesting reading about your backgrounds! Here goes my bit.
My parents immigrated to NZ from England. I am no.5 of 6, my younger sister and I were adopted. We moved to Aus when I was 6.
We were a low-middle class family, Dad being a builder and Mum a Housewife,
with the typical "pay off your home and dinner on the table at 6" attitude.
In our household, Dad paid the bills and mum cleaned the house. When Dad was home we were "seen and not heard". Money was never talked about.
Being a wayward child, my father always said I was "different", I moved out of home at 16 and did my HSC moving between various friends houses- if their parents would have me. I worked part-time to pay board and chipped in with the food bills if I could.
I got into UNI but couldn't work out how to survive, so after my HSC I hopped on a bus to QLD with one suitcase, got a job within a week in a mini-lab and partied in Surfers for a year. I realised I was wasting my life so came to Sydney and enrolled myself in a Graphic Arts course. Paid my way through that for three years by working in bars and restaurants.
At 20 I met my tall, blonde, good-looking husband and got married!
We rented a 1br flat in Waverton (N.Sydney), saved some money (I was in printing/advertising by this time) and bought a house at Wamberal 200m from the beach because my husband surfed and we couldn't afford Northern Beaches. It had dual income which was the only way we could afford it.
So we stayed in North Sydney, renting out our house at Wamby until I fell pregnant with our first child and decided a change in lifestyle was needed. My husband was/is now a Surveyor.
Don't know why but we decided to buy another property on the Central Coast, and leave our tenants in the first IP.
When the Penny Dropped: I was pregnant with my second child two years later and told a friend of a friend I was selling our IP because I had to give up commuting to Sydney once I had my second baby. ( I had started Group Fitness Instructing but this would never pay the bills!)
She said she had been to a seminar by Ed Chan and told me how to refinance, get a LOC, get my equity working for us etc etc and yippee
..the light came on! I made an appointment with Ed the next day. Went to see him in his only office at Oatlands, spent an hour and half with him, and I was on my way! Thanks Mardi, thanks Ed.I refinanced within two months and bought two more properties. That was three or four years ago and I am powering!
The few times I've had doubts, I've been fortunate enough to speak to Ed and his exact words are: Don't sell, Don't sell, you're about to win the Lottery."
Its simple, which is why it has always stuck with me. If he'd said to me as a 16yr old, use leverage and wait for the compounding growth to accelerate your net-worth - it would have gone in one ear and straight to the beach out the other ear!
Though I now know exactly what the metaphor represents.
I'd hazard a guess that his position would be approximately 50% of yours in net terms, not to say you cant learn a little from everyone - no matter what postion they are currently in.
One thing that I am really interested in, is how low the LVR is. There must be (have been?) a point where you are content to let the leverage slide because you are satisfied with the absolute figures. Though you know the theory around how to grow hasn't changed, your perception of it must be different, otherwise you would keep the relative percentages (debt to equity) about the same (maybe increasing buffers with time).
But this is so WAAAY ahead of me, I don't really get stressed that it doesn't make sense to me yet. Just got to kick my own growth curve up the bum and get it accelerating...
Chris
My upbringing was one of the most disadvantaged for the investor mindset - The Middle Class. Basically, parent provided everything for their kids, living in the middle class mcmansion, sending kids to good schools and uni's, to get their middle class jobs, so that they could also live the middle class dream.
Cheers,
The Y-man
Cheers,
The Y-man
I've had quite a few people PM me over this aspect as well today.
It seems that parents wish to do two things concurrently, while at the same time being conflicting in nature.....
Hide their economic success from the children for obvious confidentiality / disclosure reasons whilst small, but at the same time wanting to teach them the fundamentals of economic success....cos it sure isn't taught at school.
With our eldest being still in primary school, it is hard to divulge all of the stuff necessary, and with her Maths and understanding of larger concepts not being sufficiently developed to fully comprehend the whole picture, it's a bit of a fine line to tread actually.
When you're having a tea break when midway through clearing out a warehouse is probably the perfect time to get into the reasons behind why you are doing the activity in the first place, but at times you are held back by previous overheard conversations between a few 11 year old girls when asked what they did on the weekend......"Oh my Dad and my sisters cleaned up a stinky hair house, it was so like yukky. You guys went out on your dad's yacht....you guys are like so lucky."
It doesn't inspire one to get further into the nitty gritty.
Exactly right Chris. I'm not that obnoxious / blinkered that I can't learn something off anyone or everyone.
In the past 5 or so years I've sat down and chatted about all aspects of property with probably a few dozen elderly folks, ranging from 45 up to 93. Their stories are fascinating and I've learnt and grown from every single one of them.
It's amazing how many different ways you can skin this cat, respecting of course a few underlying givens that do not change regardless of the techniques you use.
My upbringing was probably upper-middle class. My parents were both always successful businesspeople (unrelated businesses). When we kids were approaching our teens, they made what I now know was a huge sacrifice and left established and lucrative businesses in the country so that we could enjoy a better education in the city. They felt that not only did the city offer more educational opportunities (still at a public school; just much better public schools), but that we also needed to have our perspective of the world broadened. I'm eternally grateful for that. Many of the people that were my best friends when I was 12 are still living in the same street that they did 25 years ago, and are doing the same job that they left school to do at the end of Year 10. And that's OK if that's what you choose; but it's sad to do that because you're not aware that anything else is possible.
My folks re-established successful businesses in the city, but they always worked hard. I got my first job at age 13 and had lots of part-time jobs through high school and university, some of them very hard work for little money (cleaning in the kitchen at a nursing home at age 14 was about the worst). This impressed on me that working for somebody else was a hard and unrewarding way to earn a living; a valuable lesson.
I took from my parents a desire to control my own time, as they did, but I didn't want to work as hard as they did. When one of their businesses sold, they made as much on the freehold as they'd made in profit from running the business for a decade. That made me think "bugger the hard work of running the business - I'll just have the freehold thanks!". Though it's taken me nearly 20 years since leaving school to come to a realisation that I can do that and learn how.
The most important (financial) thing I got from my parents, I think, is my expectation of a certain standard of living. Don't confuse expectation with entitlement; I didn't think I was entitled to a standard of living, but I fully expected that if I managed my finances and was somewhat entrepeneurial, that I'd be successful.
But by far the most important things that my parents gave me - and that any parents can give their kids - are self-esteem and emotional intelligence. It's phenomenal how many people self-sabotage (usually sub-consciously) because they don't believe they deserve to be happy/successful/wealthy. By emotional intelligence I mean skills such as managing your own emotions, stress management, emotional integrity, managing your relationships, and being able to communicate and work with others towards a common goal. I don't claim to have perfect self-esteem or emotional intelligence, by any means, but I got "enough" of each to help me function adequately and contribute to my happiness.
My folks re-established successful businesses in the city, but they always worked hard. I got my first job at age 13 and had lots of part-time jobs through high school and university, some of them very hard work for little money (cleaning in the kitchen at a nursing home at age 14 was about the worst). This impressed on me that working for somebody else was a hard and unrewarding way to earn a living; a valuable lesson.
I took from my parents a desire to control my own time, as they did, but I didn't want to work as hard as they did.
When one of their businesses sold, they made as much on the freehold as they'd made in profit from running the business for a decade. That made me think "bugger the hard work of running the business - I'll just have the freehold thanks!". Though it's taken me nearly 20 years since leaving school to come to a realisation that I can do that and learn how. The most important (financial) thing I got from my parents, I think, is my expectation of a certain standard of living. Don't confuse expectation with entitlement; I didn't think I was entitled to a standard of living, but I fully expected that if I managed my finances and was somewhat entrepeneurial, that I'd be successful.
But by far the most important things that my parents gave me - and that any parents can give their kids - are self-esteem and emotional intelligence. It's phenomenal how many people self-sabotage (usually sub-consciously) because they don't believe they deserve to be happy/successful/wealthy. By emotional intelligence I mean skills such as managing your own emotions, stress management, emotional integrity, managing your relationships, and being able to communicate and work with others towards a common goal. I don't claim to have perfect self-esteem or emotional intelligence, by any means, but I got "enough" of each to help me function adequately and contribute to my happiness.
My parents split when I was six and mum raised my sister and I on the single parents pension. We lived in a Caravan for awhile, then rented before mum bought the cheapest house in town. This was in a small country town, so the worst house is one of those 80-100 year old weatherboard gems that have been added onto and added onto so their are windows internally between rooms in the house! Used to make for a bit of a joke when mum tried to have the boyfriend and I sleep in seperate rooms... they were right next to each other with an unlockable window between them! Mum is not a "9-5" type person and not financially savvy so will be retiring on a pension.
My Dad was always a saver, but not an investor. He had his 300k house paid off and lived on practically nothing. He was always self employed so paid nix maintenence but bought us some ace christmas presents and took us on holidays. In hindsight I'm not sure this situation was entirely fair to mum, or to us. I used to cry before out of uniform days because my friends always had nice clothes and I had second hands from vinnies. I did have a killer collecton of barbies.
I moved out of mums at 15 and lived with the boyfriend in a caravan for awhile, and then rented a two bedder flat in town. I had a better lifestyle with the two of us on youth allowance and working at bi-lo than I ever had living with mum and being the 'no parent' house we had some good parties Eventually moved to Canberra for uni (boyfriend, now fiance got a full time job and followed) and being a serious couple we decided to buy a house on 100% finance because that was 'the dream'. It was a hard decision to give up some disposable income, and we were going to wait until I finished uni, but with the 'why pay someone elses mortgage attitude' I calculated even if the property value only increased modestly we would be better off by the time I graduated. We bought a 'renovators delight' because that was all we could afford in a 3 bedroom house, not with a view to making a profit.
I had trouble finding website about renovation, and a google search bought me to somersoft 'adding value'. My first post had nothing to do with investing, but sounding out if our renovation budget for a potential purchase sounded realistic. That is why my nickname is 'firsthomelooker'. Lo and behold, a bit of reading on this forum and the penny dropped for me. Less than 18 months after buying our PPOR we have our first IP. I graduate at the end of the year, and my huge increase in income combined with our capital gains thus far puts us in a good position for more IPs in 2009.
This forum and everyone on it has changed my life!
My Dad was always a saver, but not an investor. He had his 300k house paid off and lived on practically nothing. He was always self employed so paid nix maintenence but bought us some ace christmas presents and took us on holidays. In hindsight I'm not sure this situation was entirely fair to mum, or to us. I used to cry before out of uniform days because my friends always had nice clothes and I had second hands from vinnies. I did have a killer collecton of barbies.
I moved out of mums at 15 and lived with the boyfriend in a caravan for awhile, and then rented a two bedder flat in town. I had a better lifestyle with the two of us on youth allowance and working at bi-lo than I ever had living with mum and being the 'no parent' house we had some good parties
Eventually moved to Canberra for uni (boyfriend, now fiance got a full time job and followed) and being a serious couple we decided to buy a house on 100% finance because that was 'the dream'. It was a hard decision to give up some disposable income, and we were going to wait until I finished uni, but with the 'why pay someone elses mortgage attitude' I calculated even if the property value only increased modestly we would be better off by the time I graduated. We bought a 'renovators delight' because that was all we could afford in a 3 bedroom house, not with a view to making a profit. I had trouble finding website about renovation, and a google search bought me to somersoft 'adding value'. My first post had nothing to do with investing, but sounding out if our renovation budget for a potential purchase sounded realistic. That is why my nickname is 'firsthomelooker'. Lo and behold, a bit of reading on this forum and the penny dropped for me. Less than 18 months after buying our PPOR we have our first IP. I graduate at the end of the year, and my huge increase in income combined with our capital gains thus far puts us in a good position for more IPs in 2009.
This forum and everyone on it has changed my life!
Brought up I guess upper middle class. Dad worked his way into upper management of his company, mum stayed at home and looked after myself and two younger siblings. They were the saving type, but not investing type, or were until my mum was diagnosed with the big C. Managed to fight it for eight years but due to being diagnosed as very poor chance of survival early on we did more things like part share of a yacht and sharing ownership of a holiday house with relos on the central coast. Moved to the US when I was 12, Mum died a few years later, Dad remarried - to a bl dy sepo. He was never that good at handling the books (always mums job), unfortunately the new wife's worse than he is - they'll never retire fully - having to plan a small business to run throughout their twilight years.
I moved back to Oz at 17 - did Uni, got a job with one of the big four banks and ended up quitting three years later to move to Canberra for my other half. During time at big four knew there had to be something more - no way was 9 -5'ing (or 7 - 7'ing) going to give me a good lifestyle (even though I was still very career girl at the time).
Ended up convincing the other half that investing was a good idea - partly because he's not a saver but will pay down debt as fast as he can due to not liking it (works well - means I get to go IP shopping more often).
Dad's coming out from the US in a few weeks - he's already asked me to schedule some time for him to try and help him out of his situation. Younger brother has just started his first proper part time job during uni - and is already asking for tips on how to get ahead.
This website has been fantastic, as have the books etc, and the property expo on the weekend.
I moved back to Oz at 17 - did Uni, got a job with one of the big four banks and ended up quitting three years later to move to Canberra for my other half. During time at big four knew there had to be something more - no way was 9 -5'ing (or 7 - 7'ing) going to give me a good lifestyle (even though I was still very career girl at the time).
Ended up convincing the other half that investing was a good idea - partly because he's not a saver but will pay down debt as fast as he can due to not liking it (works well - means I get to go IP shopping more often).
Dad's coming out from the US in a few weeks - he's already asked me to schedule some time for him to try and help him out of his situation. Younger brother has just started his first proper part time job during uni - and is already asking for tips on how to get ahead.
This website has been fantastic, as have the books etc, and the property expo on the weekend.
"We used to live in a shoe-box, in the middle of the road",
"That's luxury!"
(Four Yorkshiremen sketch - Monty Python)
Now thats funny. L.A. Aussie.
I am the youngest of six boys and one girl. My Father died when I was 4yrs old. In my family I am regarded as the lucky one because I did not know him. My father was an alcoholic and gambler my brothers and sister went hungry many times.
After my father died my mum obtained a housing commission flat. We survived on mums widow pension then. I was the only one of my family to go to high school. My mum made sure I got a trade and I somehow became a fitter and turner. I hated it but I stuck at it and became very good at.
I met my wife when we were 19 and got married at 21. We bought a block of land way out of sydney and paid it off. We then built a house on it. We had 3 daughters by the time we were 27.
Over a period of time the penny dropped for me as we sold our ppor's. We did double our money. Twice within 5yrs. One hiccup though was when we moved to a country town. Bought a house for 80k put 40k into it and sold it 5yrs later for 105k ouch!. Lesson learned though.
It has only been the last 12mths that we have decided to use the equity in our house though to purchase 2 IPs. Much of our early years we just wanted to give our children the best upbringing we could that is why we spent seven years in a country town. It was great for the kids and we also invested in private education for all of them. Very proud when daughter number 2 obtained her degree. She is now in Japan having a ball and doing some work occassionally.
Best investment I ever made though was when I was 21.
Cheers Bill
Good point,
This is the bit I’m still lacking…I was taught not to stand out of the line, be always nice to everyone, put my interests last and be happy with what I have. Not in a buddist way of trying to enjoy every moment of my life but in “we don’t deserve any better” subconcieous set of mind.
Not further than yesterday morning I heard a radio talk on the topic “you can’t blame anyone when you are an adult for you own misfortunes, blah-blah.” Yeah, right. Just re program your brain from the above mentioned set up to “I deserve happiness and success”.
Not as easy as it sounds. Anyway, here is my story.
I was born in the USSR where no investment, i.e. buy to let property, shares etc were possible.
The life of an ordinary citizen was pre set i.e. work for government till retirement age and the government will provide you with pension.
Few people did little investments that were legal in given economical climate.
However I learned some great deal from my parents and grand parents i.e. always spend less than I earn and have savings no matter how little income is and how great it is to be able to live in your own house and not an apartment with dozens of neighboughs of all sorts (typical soviet style affordable accommodation in medium -size and large cities).
And there was another extremely valuable lesson I learned from my parents mistake when they sold mum’s inheritance after Grandma passed away just before economic reforms in early 90’s kicked off because they decided it’s too much hassle to look after it and put the money (full amount of what it was sold for as it was mortgage free) in the bank. Needless to say we lost EVERYTHING in inflation.
The house was brick 4-bed with sauna, single car garage with established fruit garden in a good street.
When I came to Aus I had a deposit for a house and needed some tips of where /how etc to buy.
A friend of mine gave me a link on this forum and that’s when the penny dropped. I started with reading everything that sounded appealing to me, got Jean Somers’s book and learned the basics in property investing. Subscribed for AIP and still find it helpful for a newbie though some stories way to much glamorised for my liking.
I wish it happened to me 10 years ago when I had pretty much the same opportunities to buy and service loans as now and not just work 9-5 and save after tax Euro/dollar. I could have almost million dollars in equity by now without jeopardising my life style…
fascinating thread xenia , well done
at 45 , not real impressed at being classed as elderly though
makes me realise how lucky i was to have what i consider an ordinary , uneventful childhood , and just how well some have done starting off with their backs to the wall - very inspirational
Upbring..
My upbringing was, um, a little challenging..
I do believe I have always had a strong desire to do, whatever I do, with great passion, determination and excellence.
I was also blessed with a great curiosity.
My upbringing, and family (and extended family) environment took me on a path to learn and develop forgiveness, unconditional love, a sense of fun, compassion, responsibility, respect for life, our world and all people, a desire to be financially independent.....and great strength and resilience.
I am very fortunate to be here, I have an abundance of anything I want and I am enjoying immensely returning to the universe (with great love and enthusiasism) whatever I can.
My upbringing was, um, a little challenging..
I do believe I have always had a strong desire to do, whatever I do, with great passion, determination and excellence.
I was also blessed with a great curiosity.
My upbringing, and family (and extended family) environment took me on a path to learn and develop forgiveness, unconditional love, a sense of fun, compassion, responsibility, respect for life, our world and all people, a desire to be financially independent.....and great strength and resilience.
I am very fortunate to be here, I have an abundance of anything I want and I am enjoying immensely returning to the universe (with great love and enthusiasism) whatever I can.
Heard a barrister once explain his humble upbringings.
He'd tell people he grew up on a farm on the west coast of Tasmania. His family was so poor when he was a child his brothers and sisters and him (all fourteen of them) did not always have shoes.
Some winter mornings when he and his siblings would walk to school (about 8 kms away) and didn't have shoes they would wait for a cow to defecate then stand barefoot in the fresh steaming dung. When the cow dung dried they'd have a new pair of shoes for the day ("a better fit than the Clarke's school shoes the posh kids wore").
He also told of stuffing newspapers in the holes of the cabin to keep the snow and the cold out in the winter.
Ajax
He'd tell people he grew up on a farm on the west coast of Tasmania. His family was so poor when he was a child his brothers and sisters and him (all fourteen of them) did not always have shoes.
Some winter mornings when he and his siblings would walk to school (about 8 kms away) and didn't have shoes they would wait for a cow to defecate then stand barefoot in the fresh steaming dung. When the cow dung dried they'd have a new pair of shoes for the day ("a better fit than the Clarke's school shoes the posh kids wore").
He also told of stuffing newspapers in the holes of the cabin to keep the snow and the cold out in the winter.
Ajax
If you asked me this question when I was 16y.o I would be pretty ungrateful and unhappy but looking at myself today...my parents did a great job.
We were very rich, then become very very poor. My dad wasn't an investor as such but he's a very intelligent man. At 30y.o he was already a GM for one of a group of companies publicly listed in Malaysia. In his last position prior to retirement he was the CFO of a large listed company. Is he rich? not at all. Back in his days, there were so many opportunities..now very slim. He did take a gamble on a business but lost everything, also lost everything in the 87 crash but he's a smart man and it wasn't hard to start over. I really look up to my dad. He wasn't always there for us but he was when it counts.
My mum is a wonderful, generous, kind woman...practically raised us by herself in a new country with no education and no english. She slaved nightshifts in a plastic factory for years before opening her 1st restaurant. She didn't even cook well but taught herself how to cook and is now a brilliant chef. She's very strong and amazing but probably wasn't very maternal. She always gave us everything we wanted...I was pretty spoilt...she always spent every cent she had so we never had any money.
She let us do whatever we want and we learnt to be independent from a young age.
I think I have been blessed. Always had the best of everything and when I didn't have enough $$ to buy a car at 18y.o my dad chipped in for my new car. I remember being the first in my class to get a brand new pc, before WWW was big...my mum went on a finance plan to get it for me. Ridiculously expensive for those days. Then what did I do...rake up a $1000 internet bill and got so addicted to online chats. Gosh, I hope I don't have a daughter exactly like me.....I have to make up to my mum for the rest of my life for all the crap she had to put up with from me.
Now..I support my parents and my in-laws. I give my dad about $7k a year. My bro pays for his car loan and small mortgage and my younger bro will pay for a live in maid. My mum is still working but I plan to take care of her too. I am taking her fro an overseas holiday soon. I have to shell out about $15k to my mil so she can pay for an eleborate marble thing for my fil's gravestone...yes it's the biggest waste of money ever but it's what she wants..it actually cost about $35k for all the marbling. The total price is close to $70k...she bought 3 plots of land for $21k...just so she could have some space and the coffin was about $10k. So weddings are way cheaper than funerals and you are alive to enjoy it.
Sometimes I wished I was 21 again...life was so carefree. I am only 29 but the pressure is on. I don't mind...fillial piety is a big thing for chinese people.
I did feel like my parents didn't care about me because they let me do whatever I wanted and bought me whatever I wanted and my mum never scolded me...but in a way...it's good because I wasn't so wrapped up in a cotton wool and was able to make many mistakes and learn from them.
We were very rich, then become very very poor. My dad wasn't an investor as such but he's a very intelligent man. At 30y.o he was already a GM for one of a group of companies publicly listed in Malaysia. In his last position prior to retirement he was the CFO of a large listed company. Is he rich? not at all. Back in his days, there were so many opportunities..now very slim. He did take a gamble on a business but lost everything, also lost everything in the 87 crash but he's a smart man and it wasn't hard to start over. I really look up to my dad. He wasn't always there for us but he was when it counts.
My mum is a wonderful, generous, kind woman...practically raised us by herself in a new country with no education and no english. She slaved nightshifts in a plastic factory for years before opening her 1st restaurant. She didn't even cook well but taught herself how to cook and is now a brilliant chef. She's very strong and amazing but probably wasn't very maternal. She always gave us everything we wanted...I was pretty spoilt...she always spent every cent she had so we never had any money.
She let us do whatever we want and we learnt to be independent from a young age.
I think I have been blessed. Always had the best of everything and when I didn't have enough $$ to buy a car at 18y.o my dad chipped in for my new car. I remember being the first in my class to get a brand new pc, before WWW was big...my mum went on a finance plan to get it for me. Ridiculously expensive for those days. Then what did I do...rake up a $1000 internet bill and got so addicted to online chats. Gosh, I hope I don't have a daughter exactly like me.....I have to make up to my mum for the rest of my life for all the crap she had to put up with from me.
Now..I support my parents and my in-laws. I give my dad about $7k a year. My bro pays for his car loan and small mortgage and my younger bro will pay for a live in maid. My mum is still working but I plan to take care of her too. I am taking her fro an overseas holiday soon. I have to shell out about $15k to my mil so she can pay for an eleborate marble thing for my fil's gravestone...yes it's the biggest waste of money ever but it's what she wants..it actually cost about $35k for all the marbling. The total price is close to $70k...she bought 3 plots of land for $21k...just so she could have some space and the coffin was about $10k. So weddings are way cheaper than funerals and you are alive to enjoy it.
Sometimes I wished I was 21 again...life was so carefree. I am only 29 but the pressure is on. I don't mind...fillial piety is a big thing for chinese people.
I did feel like my parents didn't care about me because they let me do whatever I wanted and bought me whatever I wanted and my mum never scolded me...but in a way...it's good because I wasn't so wrapped up in a cotton wool and was able to make many mistakes and learn from them.
