Monday, February 21, 2005

How I am Playing Cashflow in Real Life!

On Fridays, I am a host of the Rich Dad Poor Dad board game CASHFLOW in NYC. We meet weekly to network and learn more about creating financial freedom in our lives. For myself I have been playing this game for 3 years and the lessons I have learned have been very valuable and the people are superb!

Last Friday on Feburary 18, 2004, I delivered my first speech / talk titled "HOW I AM PLAYING CASHFLOW IN REAL LIFE?". There were 10 people in audience and it was received with high marks from most people. Lasting for 1 hour I spoke about how I started this journey to financial freedom many years ago after breaking up with my girlfriend. It was very hard as it took me 2 years to recover and at that time I realized that possibilities are infinite and I choose to live my life at my terms. From there I moved to reading finanical money management authors like Suze Orman, Ric Edelman, Andrew Tobias among others. The revolution came from the Rich Dad series which spurred me to read Napoleon Hill, George Clason, Jim Rohn, etc.... There are so many good books that moved me into thinking a greater life. I changed my finances to start saving in my 401k and Roth IRA and had a plan to retire in 30 years working a J-O-B!

In addition to the books, I started playing Robert Kiyosaki's cashflow game in which I practiced learning how to get out of the rat race with many different kinds of people. Many of which were newbies learning investment vehicles like Real Estate, Business, and Pape Assets. During this time I am reading and learning in the safety of my comfort zone.

The large change came from my downsize in June 2003 in which my company let me go and I decided to started to explore finanical freedom through learning about preforeclosures from a investor in LI. It was a learning experience but after some time I believed I wanted to learn more and move on. During this time I was involved in a few RE deals that created win situations for everyone.

In this time I talked with more real players in real life including LesGee from the RichDad.com forums. It is through this talk that we created the REST Training in NYC in Fall of 2004. It is an eye opener as LesGee plays the cashflow game in a larger national context and it truly impressed me.

Afterwards LesGee shared with me on the model of "BE DO HAVE".

BE DO HAVE model

BE a success
DO or act on tasks that create success
HAVE success as they are the results of my being.

v.

DO HAVE BE model
DO or act on tasks that create success
HAVE successful results
BE a success or feeling it.

These were the 2 paradigms and most people approach life with the 2nd model instead of the 1st model. LesGee challenged me to change my BEING in order for me to change my results instead of spinning my wheels. He challenged me to Harmony Trainings in Utah in which I am finishing it up this weekend.

IT IS AN EXCITING LIFE to life as if I am a success! Instead of concentrating on worry of how I concentrate on me feeling successful.

The talk lasted for 1 hour and if I outlined my "formula" for success with this:

Dreams / Vision / Mission
Desire & Affirmations
Strengths & Weaknesses
Plans
Goals
Strategies
Mastermind / Team
Tatics
ACTION
Results
Review and Followup

It is a simple formula from my experiences and learning from other successful people in life.

Thursday, February 10, 2005

My Views on the 401K

401k s are offered by for profit corporations for their employees to "invest" for their financial future. There are many laws and stipulations that come with it as the government has designed it to be part of your retirment strategy therefore are penalties for general withdrawals. In addition, your company has its own benefits added to it.

You can find more about the 401K although I suggest you to be critical of what to accept as each source has its own agenda:

http://www.investorwords.com/11/401k.html
http://www.fool.com/money/401k/401k.htm?source=LN


My general principle is put in enough for your employer to match. If they ask that you put up 5% and they will match up to that dollar for dollar or $.50 for every dollar you put up then it is at least 50% - 100% ROI or RETURN ON INVESTMENT with minimal effort.

My retirment plan is to invest in real estate (as I am more familiar with it) which provides me from 20% to Infinite ROI (when I take all my cash out). This is reviewed in RK book "Who Took My Money?". Basically one of the issues with 401k is that most people use it heavily to build long term wealth. Most 401k constrict the investments to mainly paper assets at the expense of profitable ventures in small business or real estate.

The more power you have to choose in your investments the greater the opportunity that you can make money work for you. Most financial advice revolves around mutual funds, stocks and other paper assets but I know that it is for those who want to be comfortable in 25+ years. For myself I see that I want to be free in 10 so I look for higher returns (aka tax liens or other real estate ventures). It is more stable and provide greater returns. Some are even tax free if you invest through a self directed IRA!

Educate yourself and formulate a plan that supports YOU and YOUR DREAMS!

Monday, February 07, 2005

Harmony Trainings LIFTOFF !!!!! - Weekend 3

Came back from weekend 3 and it was about ABUNDANCE. Perfect for a blog about it right? Let's say that this week I have been humbled by the sharing of my fellow buddies and seeing the incredible abundance in their lives. More than once my fellow buddies have said that I am a powerful loving man. I was shocked at how many have told me that I have inspired them with my light. It is humbling. Of all the issues, it is me accepting myself to be a POWERFUL, LOVING, COMPASSIONATE man! During the stretches and other challenges I have been experiencing failure after failure. At times I have teared and cried about it as it does hurt to wonder how I caused this pain of failure. It is a learning process that I am going through.

Lesson: RESULTS do not lie. If my INTENTION is not clear and my ACTION is not committed then I have mixed results and FAILURE.

I found that my liftoff group is the last one of Harmony Trainings! They have changed the name to GREAT LIFE FOUNDATION to reflect a greater mission for them.

I had the opportunity to finally talk to a fellow cashflower named Harry. He is in liftoff 202 and we felt connected with a brotherhood though we haven't really spent much time. He told me of how another retired investor is taking Harry under his wing to develop him as a REI investor. I am so proud of him and it feels like the blessings are for me also.

Also I had lunch with another investor named John who is located in the Virginia area. He is implementing some principles from UtahInvestor's 300 posts. He is a trainee of Mark but I believe he is moving in another direction. It is inspiring to hear of how he is doing very well with his real estate business. He offered housing for me in Virginia. It is awesome to tap into the love and power of people!

Thursday, February 03, 2005

1st REI Deal - SFH in Buffalo NY


My 1st REI Deal - SFH Buffalo NY Posted by Hello

This is a pic of my 1st REI deal in Buffalo NY. Purchased it as a REO (real estate owned from the bank after foreclosure). Due to the tight numbers after acquistion and rehab costs, I felt it was better to lease option it. My strategy was not to hold onto alot of these but instead cash out after 1 yr to lower capital gains taxes. It took us awhile to get it done but it is a great learning experience!

UPDATES:
9/29/2005 - for the most part the tenants are paying the rent but not paying all other associated costs such as sewage rent, water fees, etc... It is very frustrating to keep mailing them. The redeeming thing is to qualify them to purchase the property. Looking at the market, it has slowly appreciated and the area is still ok but I am keeping my eyes out on this. For the most part the exit is to sell it ASAP. It is over a year so we would be taxed long term capital gains.

1/7/2006 - we contacted the tenants and suggested that we get them a lender, we want to get out of the Buffalo market and find more profitable markets. The property is cashflowing very nicely.