Life Changing Money.

[Unorthodox]

Only chilis without a bar I’ve seen is in happy valley.  Maybe it’s an Utah rebellion thing since the Zion curtain was laid low.  (Used to be no bars allowed in a restaurant. Removed to not look stoopid at the Olympics).

[Metaliturtle]

Over here in Wisconsin, it's very hard to find non-drinkers, I keep a few NA beers in the truck because lunch beer is very much a thing, and a late lunch rolls into 3pm happy hour and at that point you're locked in for the night.  Chili's has a bar here but maybe not all of them?  Most restaurants that are local are also bar forward here.  I definitely could sit with a buddy and do a case of 30 Busch Lights in an afternoon.  I've seen pukey the clown and I've done a shot before work to even out a hangover... very glad I quit.

[Buster's Uncle]

I'm very glad you quit.  I'm your friend, you know.

[Metaliturtle]

If you like doing all that stuff, I guess that's right for you - it makes sense.  -For me though, I wonder if chasing investments beyond eliminating any debt wouldn't be a source of not-worth-it stress which would be life-changing in a bad way.

I hear this, to be honest if I could figure out how to get my wife to be my sugar momma and be a stay at home dad I'd jump at the chance, but she's way better at parenting marathon style, and I'm way better at earning, and since we want our little people to have the best shot at pursuing their dreams, I go out and earn.  It's stressful, it's hard, the big wins are rare, but the process is mostly automated.  If I were able to hop back in time with the knowledge that my kids would be the ones that I got regardless of my actions, there is little beyond buying bitcoin at $10 (The first time I considered it but then passed because I didn't understand how it worked enough to be comfortable putting my money into it).

The problem I'm really trying to solve is "How can I keep this lifestyle for the people who depend on me if my employment were to disappear tomorrow?"  I recognized 5 years ago that the things I was good at were quickly being replaced by computers, and view my work with farmers as the best opportunity to keep the skills useful since farmers are slow adopters of new tech, but my company is planning a 10% staff reduction every year for the next 5, so I can fight with the others, or I can get along with the others and live off 40% of what I make and put the other 60% to work for me.

With the rental company, my whole focus is on systems, every unit gets the same paint color, same appliances, same carpet, same furnace when we replace them, we pay for software that lets tenants pay rent electronically and charge extra if they want to pay by check.  We have a system for move-in, move-out, showings, turns, property improvement planning, and property acquisition.  When something new comes along we discuss, make a call, and when it's more or less settled down we write out a procedure based on what went well and what we could've done better.  When we disagree, each of us has areas of expertise we've agreed to where the expert makes the final call.

Our tenants understand that if they break something we'll charge them for the fix, but if something is old or worn out we replace it for free with something better and new, each unit gets a new appliance or similar improvement at lease renewals or turns.  We will pay outgoing and former tenants $100 if they refer someone to us who winds up renting.  I'm proud to say that we provide affordable housing for 80 souls if we count the pets in a town where we know most of the people or are a person removed from them.  We tip our contractors cash and stay out of their way when they do work for us, so they answer our phone calls first.  Right now every penny we make goes back into the business, but we're about 3-4 more properties away from being able to replace our personal incomes with just the business, and for 3 years' of existence we're very proud of that fact.

[Buster's Uncle]

Well, this all sounds great.  Efficiency always pays, and it sounds like you have a priority of playing square with your tenants, and it's good long-term business practice to try to make people glad they did business with you.

On a point of wisdom, remember to love your daughters and your wife enough to take care of you.  Anything for your wimminz, yes, but if Daddy ain't happy, ain't NObody happy for long.  Don't let the rat race trap you, and always value your own time and peace of mind - money can't always buy those things.

[Metaliturtle]

Well, this all sounds great.  Efficiency always pays, and it sounds like you have a priority of playing square with your tenants, and it's good long-term business practice to try to make people glad they did business with you.

On a point of wisdom, remember to love your daughters and your wife enough to take care of you.  Anything for your wimminz, yes, but if Daddy ain't happy, ain't NObody happy for long.  Don't let the rat race trap you, and always value your own time and peace of mind - money can't always buy those things.

100% The time/income with the rentals is dramatically better than the 9-5, and business partner's wife and kids get along with mine, it's way more fun painting and cleaning for a couple days every 6 months to increase our net worth by $40k each, than it is to work the 9-5s for as long as it takes to earn the same. We do take full advantage of the tax system/write-offs etc.  We pay the accountant well.  Doubling our units may add a week of work but the trade-off in time with families and flexibility to pursue our passion projects the rest of the time is why everyone's on board.

[Buster's Uncle]

You make a convincing case.