Important Retirement Fund-amentals

It’s important that you know, I know. I’ve been there. I’ve had the government Thrift Savings plan go to zero in a matter of days. I’ve personal seen my own investment evaporate. I watched while Dana Corporation went from $ 400 million in assets and $86 million in debt go to zero assets and bankruptcy in 20 minutes as I had $70 thousand invested in them and they were a company that had been around for over 100 years. So, I know firsthand. I worked for the government for over 20 years, as a decorated Military veteran but they say I only have 19 years 11 months and 27 days or 3 days short of a retirement and gave me no retirement and took away my Thrift savings Plan. I knew then and there that I was on my own. Even fighting them in court for 16 years and asking congressman, senators and two presidents for help have got me nothing, as I fear will happen to most military veterans in the future.

I also know about the housing industry firsthand. I was a residential home builder, in 2007, with an inventory of homes that I lost through foreclosure. I knew for a fact that housing had never lost value in over 100 years. so my houses would never lose value, but I was wrong. Then the government abruptly stopped guarantying loans and banks and mortgage companies stopped making mortgages, as they wondered (Stupidly) why they weren’t making any money anymore and prices on houses were dropping.

The point isn’t the stupidity of the Government or the mortgage companies. The point is, what did I do to save myself?

Well sir, I gave up at exactly the right time, I gave back the homes before all the money was gone. I didn’t lose all my money and saved enough to start over. I got out while the gettin’ was good. I picked up my bootstraps and as Horace Greeley once said, I headed west, young man. I left the eastern plains of Denver, Colorado and struck out to Las Vegas, Nevada. I found housing cheap. Not dirt cheap but far cheaper than dirt.

I took several courses and read dozens of books through the years before I even started investing heavily in housing. Two that stood out was John Wright’s book, “Nothing Down” and Carlton Sheet’s course, “Buying Real Estate with Nothing Down”. Both are true and consistent, even in today’s volatile real estate market. I actually passed the Carlton Sheet’s course and received the Certification in 1996. I truly believe the Carlton Sheet’s course was the most inspirational, influential and productive course I have ever seen and it did the most for my life and financial situation, because of all the different financing option available that I had no idea existed. Nothing is more valuable than knowledge.

What does owning a home with no mortgage equal? Well, the house I own now, would cost about $ 2,500 per month in Colorado. That’s $ 30,000 a year. If I own 2 more, I will have more than enough for retirement. It is that simple. I’ve seen houses here in Las Vegas for sale for $ 8,000 and another $10K to $ 15K would make them perfectly livable. You can buy a beautiful home here, in a very safe, nice neighborhood, for $40K to $60K. If that would make you an investment worth $ 30K a year, would that be effectually worth it?

When it comes down to it, you can never make that kind of money off a 401K or even Social Security and you cannot depend on either of those Government options to help you as they will not be there when you need them. If you own your own home, you can always sleep inside. That is a great and fundamental relief. You need to take a stand for yourself, no one is going to help you but you. It comes right down to one thing and one thing only, invest in your home, get it paid for, in full, as soon as you can and then you can start to do it again, as a true retirement vehicle.


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