Real Estate Investor — Should You Retire Because You Can? Then What?

Posted @ 11:45 pm - Filed under Goals, Purposeful Planning, Real Estate Investing, Retirement, Retirement Income

I’m gonna make up for the imitation War and Peace post yesterday.

Just because you’ve found yourself in a position to quit your day job, and sail into the sunset, should you?

If we assume you’re financially set and your Purposeful Plan has found the cool end of the rainbow, what will you do? So many of us use artificial rest stops in our lives as an excuse to do one thing or another.

My dad sat down one weekend and set a business goal for himself with a 10 year time period for its accomplishment. Big problem. He was one of those guys born with only one gear — overdrive. For nearly five straight years he worked with less than a total (not counting a few sick days here and there) of 30 days off.

He was definitely a thinker, but once he believed he’d figured something out, either lead the way, follow, or get mowed down, ‘cuz he was gonna get to Point B. His motto was given to him by his sixth grade teacher when he pointed his finger at 11 year old Dad and said, “Don’t make excuses Brown, make good!” And he did. I’ve given this a lot of thought, and at least for Dad the problem was simple.

He never seemed to ask himself about life after achieving a goal. Like so many investors who read books and buy videos to learn how to buy investment property, he never asked a crucial question, much less come up with the answer.

Then what?

Just like buying real estate investments — anyone can buy something. Is it the right something? If so, and it rises in value — then what? Uh oh. Planning for retirement begs the ‘then what?’ question like a puppy happily wagging his tail who won’t go away. Figure out what your ‘then what?’ is and you’ll be way ahead of the game.

He tells the story about having some drinks after work one evening with some friends. They got to talking about business, as they all owned their own real estate firms. Before he knew what was happening, the conversation had veered into the topic of goals. One by one they began to reveal their goals — both successes and failures.

Dad was very much a close to the vest kinda guy, and that’s being kind. He made KGB agents look like town gossips. Still, these were some of his best friends and they wanted him to take his turn. So he did. (I’m sure several Jacks probably helped.) After a few minutes he was finished, and nobody was really saying much. Finally one of them said, “Doyle, it’s great to have lofty goals, but that simply can’t be done, especially not in only 10 years.”

Dad was the poster child in many ways for walking spherical void. Yet for his friends that night he just smiled and agreed the goal was indeed a lofty one. He didn’t want to tell them that it was just 5½ years since he wrote the goal down, and he’d already surpassed it six months earlier. True story.

So in the spring of 1970 he began preparing for retirement, though he’d never admit that’s what he was doing. He golfed daily. His handicap sank like an anchor. He became bored. Went to law school, passed the bar, and opened shop. Got bored again.

He was never satisfied with his retirement, never. In my opinion he was one of those guys who shoulda never turned in his office keys. He never found the rush when he stopped working.

How ’bout you? I’ll speak for myself — I’ll stop working full time, but I’ll always be in the game. I think I have a diluted version of Dad’s gene. Seriously though, we must all plan for the part of retiring having nothing to do with finances.

What will we do? Where will we live? And while we’re at it, how healthy will we be? Exactly what will we be able to have on our retirement menu? You gonna ski at 81? The last marathon I ran, there was an 80-something year old couple who crossed the finish line together cackling like teenagers. Will we be able to do things like that if we wanna?

Retiring isn’t just having more than enough stable income. It’s the other 99% of life.

So when yer puttin’ together your Purposeful Plan, don’t forget the other side of the coin — the 99% side.

Dad was never able to do that, and I think that’s a big part of why he was so bad at it. I can see myself umpiring Little League games when I’m older than Moses. Just the thought makes me smile.

What things in your retirement are gonna put a smile on your face? No matter what, always remember — it’s gonna come from the 99% side.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, February 12th, 2008 at 11:45 pm and is filed under Goals, Purposeful Planning, Real Estate Investing, Retirement, Retirement Income. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.