Happy New Year!!! Let’s hope that this year is better than last and everyone has a plan. Not just a resolution or two. We mean a plan for life. Not for this week or a month or a diet plan. But for what you want in life. How are you going to do it? What the detailed steps that your are going to try? And should that not work, what is plan B? It needs to be written down and with a time frame and a way to periodically check on your progress via yourself or better yet a friend or coach who will hold you to it.
A few weeks ago a good mentor and investor friend of ours mention that we should read a book called The Lifeonaire by Steve Cook and Shaun McCloskey. Why? We were at a point in our life that we have expressed our frustrations at how hard we have worked and then it seemed our finances had stagnated in these past 3 years. Part of the reason was the economy since 2009. The other part was us learning the hard way about the benefits of going to C-corp when it came to getting more bank financing on our own. (It takes about 3 years for a C-corp company to stand on its own 2 feet and show steady growth before banks will loan to businesses.)
But the reality check we needed was not that we needed to scale back but to ‘rethink’ our lifestyle some. We had reached stage 2-3 of our lives, but that we were on the right track when we had moved just recently to our new home (we had downsized by choice) but the benefit was that there was less home maintenance work when it came to yard work, our trash and snow removal was paid for, and I finally got a home with a lake view. We just hadn’t finished with stage 3 of our life when it came to adjusting what we really want out of life. You see, we have been down-sizing our life and the baggage that comes with it literally. One by one we are still unpacking and re-planning some goals. We have let go of a lot to get where we want to be at this stage in our lives.
For example, I still needed to fulfill my goal of finding a part time job or an investment. The goal this year is for me to find a commercial place to invest in for either a flip-sell or to rent to bring me some additional income. So far, I have been able to improve my income while helping others. For example, I have done my due diligence on two macro loans in order to have my money making money and at the same time helping these two individuals improve their finances and grow their businesses. And I hope to do many more of these for other people who have good plans and reasons as to why they need a loan.
We have scaled back in order for us to do more for not only ourselves, but for others too. What better way to enrich one’s life in this new year?
Cristi
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