From: C M
Rat Race
My dad once said to me “Life’s a rat race and even if you win in it – you’ll only be the top rat!” I guess I have carried those words around with me all my life and subconsciously have fought against anything that would enter me into the race. It’s only now that I am 35 and feeling ‘older’ that I have had reason to re-think these words.
It seems many other people in this forum, for varying reasons, have had a similar inner resolve to not be in the race, and have seen property as their ‘out’. In several other posts people have spoken about wanting to ‘retire’, ‘stop working’ or ‘getting out of the rat race’. This is all prefaced by, what formula do I follow to work out how many properties do I need, percentage yields, colour of tiles on the roof etc to determine how many years does it take to win?!
My aversion to being part of the masses, of running alongside other rats or even perceiving myself to be potentially near to the rat race has led me to unusual career paths and avoidance of the ‘ordinary’ (whatever that is). I almost stumbled into property and shares in the mid 90’s but soon realised that this may well be my way of permanently ensuring I got ‘out’. I developed my small beginnings to where I am today (slight larger beginnings but still beginnings), and now that I have moved along the path a little it’s led me back to the question – “What is the rat race anyway ?”
It’s funny how we can all use the term but actually it doesn’t mean anything except for what it means to us all individually. My grandmother worked all her life, got a bad super payout, penalised by the govt for having too high a retirement income, so gets no state support and lives on very little. 45 years of work with not much to show. The result? Bewilderingly, she’s happy. She doesn’t own 50 income producing properties, nothing to brag of or show off, yet her life is filled with family that she loves and activities that bring her pleasure. Do I want the same thing for me? NO WAY ….. but maybe I do?
So, what’s my point? I have been fortunate to have been able to live in the UK, USA and now Australia (my newly adopted home, which is as close to heaven as it gets for me). I have travelled the world, seen all the ‘must see’ places, taken the photos and sometimes even bought the t-shirt. I’ve met famous people and celebrities and done many of the things I thought would set me apart from the rat race, and give me a good life. Funny thing is, when you are so doggedly climbing the mountain, certain that the view from the top will be life-changing, it comes as a bit of a shock to realise that the view can be strangely ‘average’. You feel as if you are meant to be more moved, become a ‘better’ person or have an experience never had before.
All sounds a bit gloomy but isn’t meant to be – more an issue of perspective. My feeling from this forum at times, is that it can be so easy to get desperate and feel as if the ends are so important that we HAVE TO HAVE TO do something now. I feel the same thing too. My point is that, if you sit back with yourself and are honest, you may find as I have, that it doesn’t take that much to create happiness and contentment in life. People are what count, who you are to them and what they are to you. Times when you have laughed and struggled together – that’s what makes it all meaningful. For me, it’s not so much about how high a mountain I climb or how many – but who I do it with and who shares the view with me when I am there. Why go up the mountain alone? Financial independence is the means for me and not the ends.
I have properties in the London and Sydney and feel really fortunate to have found a forum like this to share and be encouraged. I hope that I can become a better contributer to this and share in the success of others and learn from you all. I hope in the process, as we become more financially independent, have increasing net worths, better cashflows and can one day go into the boss and say all those things we have wanted to for years, that there is something more meaningful at the end of it all than just a pile of bricks. If my grandmother is anything to go by, If I can gain financial independence AND have contentment and happiness, then I will consider myself the richest person alive.
What a ramble – now back to all the figures, charts and spreadsheets!!!
Thanks for listening – hope it wasn’t too ‘navel gazing’?!
Rat Race
My dad once said to me “Life’s a rat race and even if you win in it – you’ll only be the top rat!” I guess I have carried those words around with me all my life and subconsciously have fought against anything that would enter me into the race. It’s only now that I am 35 and feeling ‘older’ that I have had reason to re-think these words.
It seems many other people in this forum, for varying reasons, have had a similar inner resolve to not be in the race, and have seen property as their ‘out’. In several other posts people have spoken about wanting to ‘retire’, ‘stop working’ or ‘getting out of the rat race’. This is all prefaced by, what formula do I follow to work out how many properties do I need, percentage yields, colour of tiles on the roof etc to determine how many years does it take to win?!
My aversion to being part of the masses, of running alongside other rats or even perceiving myself to be potentially near to the rat race has led me to unusual career paths and avoidance of the ‘ordinary’ (whatever that is). I almost stumbled into property and shares in the mid 90’s but soon realised that this may well be my way of permanently ensuring I got ‘out’. I developed my small beginnings to where I am today (slight larger beginnings but still beginnings), and now that I have moved along the path a little it’s led me back to the question – “What is the rat race anyway ?”
It’s funny how we can all use the term but actually it doesn’t mean anything except for what it means to us all individually. My grandmother worked all her life, got a bad super payout, penalised by the govt for having too high a retirement income, so gets no state support and lives on very little. 45 years of work with not much to show. The result? Bewilderingly, she’s happy. She doesn’t own 50 income producing properties, nothing to brag of or show off, yet her life is filled with family that she loves and activities that bring her pleasure. Do I want the same thing for me? NO WAY ….. but maybe I do?
So, what’s my point? I have been fortunate to have been able to live in the UK, USA and now Australia (my newly adopted home, which is as close to heaven as it gets for me). I have travelled the world, seen all the ‘must see’ places, taken the photos and sometimes even bought the t-shirt. I’ve met famous people and celebrities and done many of the things I thought would set me apart from the rat race, and give me a good life. Funny thing is, when you are so doggedly climbing the mountain, certain that the view from the top will be life-changing, it comes as a bit of a shock to realise that the view can be strangely ‘average’. You feel as if you are meant to be more moved, become a ‘better’ person or have an experience never had before.
All sounds a bit gloomy but isn’t meant to be – more an issue of perspective. My feeling from this forum at times, is that it can be so easy to get desperate and feel as if the ends are so important that we HAVE TO HAVE TO do something now. I feel the same thing too. My point is that, if you sit back with yourself and are honest, you may find as I have, that it doesn’t take that much to create happiness and contentment in life. People are what count, who you are to them and what they are to you. Times when you have laughed and struggled together – that’s what makes it all meaningful. For me, it’s not so much about how high a mountain I climb or how many – but who I do it with and who shares the view with me when I am there. Why go up the mountain alone? Financial independence is the means for me and not the ends.
I have properties in the London and Sydney and feel really fortunate to have found a forum like this to share and be encouraged. I hope that I can become a better contributer to this and share in the success of others and learn from you all. I hope in the process, as we become more financially independent, have increasing net worths, better cashflows and can one day go into the boss and say all those things we have wanted to for years, that there is something more meaningful at the end of it all than just a pile of bricks. If my grandmother is anything to go by, If I can gain financial independence AND have contentment and happiness, then I will consider myself the richest person alive.
What a ramble – now back to all the figures, charts and spreadsheets!!!
Thanks for listening – hope it wasn’t too ‘navel gazing’?!
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