It’s been a while since I last posted. I’ve just been buffeted by the winds of life and got a little off course. Now I’ve done some serious thinking about the way my life is headed and, you know what? I’m not happy with it.
The goal has always been to retire when I’m 35 – 40. To do so, my passive income has to be greater than my expenses. I learned that while playing CashFlow 101, which I highly recommend to anyone, whether you are into internet marketing or not.
At the moment, I’ve been working as a lawyer during the day. Hours are long, the pay isn’t that great, but worst of all, I don’t have time to work on the things that will increase my passive income! Not complaining about the pay – it pays the bills. Not complaining about the work – it’s pretty rewarding. However, it’s not getting me closer to my goal of being retired in 10 – 15 years. I know that if I keep on this path, I’ll still be in the same position (ok with a higher pay packet and more stress) in 10 – 15 years.
So I’ve decided a change needs to take place. I have to take back control of my life. I need to move from being just an employee into being a big business owner and / or investor.
If you haven’t read Robert Kiyosaki’s VERY enlightening book called “Cashflow Quadrant”, you really should (unless you’re already financially free). In it, Kiyosaki basically says that on the left (poor/middle class) side, is the small business owners and the employees. They can pretty much never get far ahead because (in the case of employee) they are working hard for someone else, or (in the case of a small business owner) they are just working too hard period! On the right (rich) side is the investors and big business owners. As an investor, you are leveraging someone else’s work and expertise to make you money. You spend your time working out where the best vessel for increasing your money is and then taking advantage of it. The definition of a big business owner is one where if you stopped working today, the business would do as well as, if not better, than it currently is.
I haven’t decided exactly what I’m going to do, but I know it involves not working as a lawyer. At this stage I need to work a 9-5 job so I can pay the bills and use the rest to invest, etc, but I don’t think I should be “working” more than 9-5. I’ll use the extra time to work on my internet business, invest in real estate / share market, and spend the rest with my gorgeous fiancee.
Till next time (which should be sooner than last time 🙂 )
Mike Haydon.