I just bought 14 years of my pension plan.

Thank you for putting these rational and inspiring thoughts down for us all to read in black and white. All of us who come to this site KNOW real estate can change our lives, and its posts like yours that make it real. On my first flip, and now when I close on my second one on nov 9th, my profits will be more than I make in a year of work! And the return on my current investment property is more than any stock could ever bring monthly. So congrats on your deal and keep it coming!

Thanks for sharing the insight and information with us. This is a great example of a way to take charge and control your financial destiny. If your financial future is totally controlled by say an employer, there are some things that are out of your hands.

In the news today, it is unfortuante how many companies are under funding their pension obligations because of the poor return on plan assets in a pension fund. Some companies may not have the liquid funds available to make up for the additional funds for the future plan's obligation.

Unfortunately, we have heard of companies "restructuring" retirement plans and pensions all the time. Many hard working people have been affected, from airline pilots to steel mill workers. Thus, with real estate you are taking control of your future and your financial destiny. Way to go! Keep up the good work with real estate investing! Retirement may be closer than you think. Believe and Achieve! - Joe

I thank you for these kinds of posts. I am at the very beginning of all this and am uplifted by these positive stories. I've been through Dean's "Profit From Real Estate Right Now" and intend on reading "Be A Real Estate Millionaire" this week.

As I read the first book I thought the stories were great. And I know they are true. And that people can make it in real estate. But I couldn't get past the thought that Dean chose these people because they were the select few that made it. And as I read through posts I am realizing that stories in the book were not just the select few that made it, but the best of the masses!

Thank you again for your inspiration!

Its great to hear that you closed your first buy & hold deal. Thanks for the great info!!

I have not made my first deal yet but I'm close! Thats the way to look at it. How much time do you put in and how much return do you get back? I don't want to labor my but off until I'm 65 to retire. With my retirement its going to be just getting by. Time is very valuable make it count! Thanks JGREER for your insight and expirance. The hourly wage you make from Real Estate investing is crazy! Just keep doing it! Good luck!
Lance

Congrats on your first deal, and your analysis of the retirement process. Your post was truly enlightening as well as factual. Hence the reason, we have to weight all our options as well as to look for other ways to supplement our retirement income. Thanks for sharing. God Bless.

Sandra

Your post reminds everyone,Live for the day and depend upon yourself! Your words are solid.

Congrats on the 1st. deal and hope many more will follow. Penison, Whats a penison these days? Can't rely on companies no more so thank god that Dean and everyone out here and his staff can give us all the tools and support so we can build our own retirement. Lost all my 401k last year and now it's time to rebuild with the real estate investing.

John Lewis

I never connected the idea that Deans students are not the only people who have success. This website has revealed that the masses can achieve true financial security. That is another great insight.

Thanks for the comments. I love posting and reading topics that are out of the box thinking.

Here is another out of the box idea. I like to stay motivated by thinking that my job is going to be terminated. I like to say that my Lafarge money is running out (I work for Lafarge). We at work are always rumoring about a layoff. I stun people when they ask me about what I would do if a layoff were to happen. I say I would embrace it. I love change and the challenge that a layoff would bring.

Sometimes I think I should just quit instead of waiting for a layoff, but as Matt has told me I need to pay my dues!

Keep your ideas coming!

I never connected the idea that Deans students are not the only people who have success. This website has revealed that the masses can achieve true financial security. That is another great insight.

Thanks for the comments. I love posting and reading topics that are out of the box thinking.

Here is another out of the box idea. I like to stay motivated by thinking that my job is going to be terminated. I like to say that my Lafarge money is running out (I work for Lafarge). We at work are always rumoring about a layoff. I stun people when they ask me about what I would do if a layoff were to happen. I say I would embrace it. I love change and the challenge that a layoff would bring.

Sometimes I think I should just quit instead of waiting for a layoff, but as Matt has told me I need to pay my dues!

Keep your ideas coming!

I never connected the idea that Deans students are not the only people who have success. This website has revealed that the masses can achieve true financial security. That is another great insight.

Thanks for the comments. I love posting and reading topics that are out of the box thinking.

Here is another out of the box idea. I like to stay motivated by thinking that my job is going to be terminated. I like to say that my Lafarge money is running out (I work for Lafarge). We at work are always rumoring about a layoff. I stun people when they ask me about what I would do if a layoff were to happen. I say I would embrace it. I love change and the challenge that a layoff would bring.

Sometimes I think I should just quit instead of waiting for a layoff, but as Matt has told me I need to pay my dues!

Keep your ideas coming!

Thanks JGreer for the informative post, you open our minds on how the power of investing on real estate is such a big difference especially when you are near retirement like me.
Now i can decide for myself what i wanna do before i reach my retirement ( don't have to wait for it).

of viewing investing. It is inspiring! It makes me want to figure out what my numbers would be. Congratulations on your deal!! Keep up the good work.

Janet

Thanks for working that all out because that is how I've been counting (in my head)how I will be able to retire early. You got it JGREER!!! I'll plug my pension numbers in there and get my personal numbers. Great story to share... I can't wait until it's costing me to be at my JOB.

Barb

Congratulations...

I am glad to see that I am not the only one thinking that way. I am retired and I was drawing $1500 a month on my pension. Last year when the melt down occured I lost $60,000 one third of my pension. I have been looking at income property to prop up my current pension. I have an offer on the table right now that will net me $755 per month. Almost half of what I am drawing on a pension that took 32 years working for the same company, and that is just one deal. I will have my down payment back in 10 months. We both think alike...only you are thinking like me...29 years sooner that I did! Way to go!

Tom S.

James,

Thank you for sharing not only the story of your deal but the manner in which you view it's relationship to your pension. It's a great lesson in reminding ourselves to look at a bigger picture. No matter the amount of money being made from a sale or from montly rental income, when you step back and think of it in a larger context it becomes clear that each deal has a meaningful impact on our lives, much of which can be long lasting with the right mindset.

All the best to you,
Nancy

Congrad's and awesome analysis. Pension...what's that?? Due to circumstances in life, I have none. However, once upon a time, back in the '80s, my husband and I were into the "buy, fix and sale" business. We're in TX. At that time it was the oil crunch and S&L debacle that brought us down. So we have been working regular jobs, until the newest debacle..."Wall Street", happened. Wasted 25 years! But I look on the bright side, and thanks to the off chance of buying Dean's books, I think we can come out of the doldrums with a much better understanding and information (probably meant to be).

Back then I really knew nothing about investing. I was just following my husband around. He didn't really understand it either. He was just following his sister around (a seasoned investor), trying to mimic what she was doing, but not really understanding the concept(she won't explain anything to either of us).

Finally, someone who understands and doesn't mind giving up priceless information. Then there are all the people on this site (like you), who also are so selfless with their experiences and information.

My thanks to you, Dean and everyone else on this site.

God Bless,

Yolie

Congratulations on your deal and for sharing it with the rest of us.

The forums are a great place for inspiration. Stories like yours help keep me on track and believing that my first deal will happen soon.

Congrats on your first purchase and "Way to Go" on getting a head start on inflation. I like how you correlated pension plan and real estate together by putting it in a different perspective. That information just adds fuel to the tank to keep an average person like me driving to make a better life for me and my family.

Keep striving for success and keep up the good work!

Steve K.

Congratulations on your first deal, which is producing a healthy cash flow!

The way you compare the numbers between the time it took you to put that deal together to the number of years you would need to work at your job to produce the same amount of retirement income was awesome!

Sure underscores the astronomical financial difference between working a 9 to 5 job for somebody else and working for yourself as a real estate investor.

Again, congratulations and best wishes as you continue growing your passive income!

JGREER,
The numbers will always be there but the ideal of sharing your thought(Pave your own way)will add to your business by 10 fold!Dean can explain it better!

I have been investing now for 6 months but your wisdom is AWESOME!!! A positive cash flow is awesome and $500.00 to $700.00 per month along with any wages you might be making is a great income. Keep buying those houses.

Bob Ross

www.bobrossinvesting.com

I want to hear everyones own personal insight on how investing can affect your life in your own way. If you drive a cab maybe $200 in cashflow would be like taking 5 people to the airport, if you deliver pizza it could be the tip you receive from delivering 100 pizzas!

The best thing to remember is that the people who make more money at the J.O.B. Generally have a harder journey ahead of themselves. They require more passive income to offset their monthly expenses, in addition they usually have more liabilities to pay for making it even harder to get a loan.

It doesn't matter if you make $100,000 a year or $15,000 a year. A debt to income ratio of 40% is all that can matter to a bank. So if you have an old car, no credit cards, no house, no cash, you rent where you live, etc. You have a distinct advantage!

YOU HAVE NO LIABILITY! You can get started faster and on the fast track to success faster than anyone else!

Go Get IT Done!

I want to hear everyones own personal insight on how investing can affect your life in your own way. If you drive a cab maybe $200 in cashflow would be like taking 5 people to the airport, if you deliver pizza it could be the tip you receive from delivering 100 pizzas!

The best thing to remember is that the people who make more money at the J.O.B. Generally have a harder journey ahead of themselves. They require more passive income to offset their monthly expenses, in addition they usually have more liabilities to pay for making it even harder to get a loan.

It doesn't matter if you make $100,000 a year or $15,000 a year. A debt to income ratio of 40% is all that can matter to a bank. So if you have an old car, no credit cards, no house, no cash, you rent where you live, etc. You have a distinct advantage!

YOU HAVE NO LIABILITY! You can get started faster and on the fast track to success faster than anyone else!

Go Get IT Done!

Thanks for keeping us inspired! I love the "cashflow" game, and love that the janitor in the game can have an easier time of it than the attorney in terms of WINNING! It's a beautiful concept. (Just like you mention!)

Thank you for your post about how your deal has worked out, and will KEEP working out as you continue this RE journey!

Congrats and thank you!
Louisa

JGREER,
You are so right.

I did the same calculations re: retirement and concluded REI was the ONLY way to achieve a comfortable retirement at a reasonable age. Pension, smension.

Buy and hold, buy and hold. Keep it going.

Ron

But an extremely early age! I plan to be retired in less than three years! Im 25 right now when I am 28 I am taking my whole family on a trip somewhere. I want to pay for all of my immediate family on mine and my wife's side to be together somewhere fun! That is a retirement!

The best part of this whole deal is how I proved myself wrong!

I proved myself wrong on one of the strongest convictions I had about myself being able to do Real Estate. I thought that no Bank would EVER give me a loan based on my credit score alone!

Try to imagine the elation I felt when I was approved for a loan with a credit score of 585. I was so pumped up because no longer could I agree with anyone when they said I would have a hard time to get approved for a bank loan. I had been turned down for $500 credit cards before. I never even tried to get a car loan, for 3 years(I now know better than to buy depreciating assets on credit).

The best part is that all of you who read this can have belief that you can be approved as well!! DON'T GIVE UP!!!! Just buy something at such a low price that you can't go wrong!

GO DO IT!

All this sounds great and you all should be very proud of yourselves! I'm just trying to get started, get my feet wet. I've read the book a few times. now I've got to just go through the to do list of things. Got to make sure I don't procrastinate. Randy

I just bought in Sunday. I am following the internet steps beginning today and I happened on to your posts. My materials haven't even arrived. Anyone that has something to say to me, as a newcomer, please, please, say it. I want to hear everything? Where did you start? How did you start. Who did you start with. Who did you look to for guidance? Did the area you are in effect how you began? What changes did you have to make? As many of you as can, please jump in here and comment. I will feel more confident. I live in Gainesville, Florida. Thank you, thank you, thank you. Sincerely, Jan Sharp