"raylopez99" <raylopez99[at]yahoo.com> wrote
- quote -

Are you saying one should care what people think?

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The statement above seems less than factual. By your own
admission later, you did not make this first million by age
30. A bunch of people made this first million.

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Investing for the long run per an allocation plan makes a
person a loser?

All these Americans who have debt and are slowly but surely
beating it down are losers?

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I agree different cultures see this in different ways. E.g.
many promote "family" as a business. Nothing wrong with
that, and maybe there is everything good with it. After all,
who is more likely to be loyal, blood or non-blood
relations? Still, I'd apprise any family relations offering
to subsidize my efforts of the risks, just as though it were
a business proposal. My comments were a caveat, not a rule.

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Seems rational for the poor to fight (such as they are able)
for welfare dollars, too, then.

I generally back the "elle" comments with a few caveats:

1. You are wise to do Roth IRA. Roth IRA beats traditional IRA in
every case except one: where your tax bracket now is very high and
your expected tax bracket when you retire is very low. Even then, it's
a close call. So do Roth IRA.

2. Texas land: good, but eBay shows you can buy Texas panhandle land
for dirt cheap. They may not make it anymore, but Texas is a big
state. I would buy location. I don't see a future in Texas but I
could be wrong (you live there, I don't). Best of luck.

3. Be aggressive. Study after study has shown that the more risk you
take, in the long-run, the better off you are. In fact, some studies
have shown that EVERY successful businessperson took extreme risk.
Nothing succeeds like success said Tallyrand, Neopolean's foreign
minster. He's right. The only thing people will remember years from
now is that you are a winner now, not how you made money 20 years ago.
I have my business now and made my first million before age 30. Of
course you don't hear about the losers, but so what? If you don't get
aggressive you'll be a loser for sure, rather than somebody who tried
and failed.

4. elle said something about depending on your family as a safety net
is not kosher (that was the connotation). This is a very macho
Anglo-Saxon attitude. Another more "eastern" attitude is summed up by
the words "money is green". Real businessmen know this--that's why
they pester the government for corporate pork. Shameful, but if you
don't do it your competitor will. Fight dirty. Don't be 'shamed' into
not making money. Guerilla capitalism. I could go on for an hour
here. Some of the stuff I would say would be borderline illegal. I
myself am indebted to many who helped make me rich, and I have no
shame. In fact, I have contempt for others who 'fight fair' and never
amount to anything but a corporate toad. Two words: Marc Rich. Wiki
it. And he was pardened, years later. Of course, if you lifted
yourself by your bootstraps, Horatio Alger style, and are now a
complete self-made millionaire, that's great, albeit very rare, and at
the end of the day only gets bragging rights at the country club (to
the extent you care about such bragging and/or others believe you,
since everybody, including those born with a silver spoon in their
mouths, make claims of becoming successful by themselves alone; in
truth, it's very rare).

RL

Everyone has shared interesting points. You are asking questions I
forgot to think about it. Keep it up. I look forward to additional
messages in this thread.

flagsposters[at]gmail.com wrote:
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Sure. I have some Florida swampland I'd like to sell to you.

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Since when? For what period of time.

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This statistics is probably put out by whoever wants to sell you that
land.

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Do you want to buy land for recreation or for investment? IMO land is
not a good investment. It has high carry cost (maintainence, taxes,
etc.) and low liquidity. Personally I would not do it. But if it
makes you happy, why not? Just don't expect to get that 1%
appreciation per month.

Also consider how much you'd be using this land for your and your
parents' recreation. If it's a couple of weeks a year why not just
book a hunting lodge as a vacation?

flagsposters wrote:

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I have around 25 acres of land out in the country with a small house. It
provides me with privacy, recreation, and peace. I get hassled all the time
by people wanting to buy it, but I have no plans to give it up. It's mine,
and like you, I know they're not making any more land. It has turned out to
be a potential investment, but that's not why I have it.

Buy the land with the realization that it's your dream and not an
investment. It can be both, but don't count on that.

Flagsposters, for one thing, I suggest you study the
likelihood that Texas, like other parts of the country, is
at the peak of a real estate bubble. I would not expect 1%
appreciation a month to continue. Historically, it's been a
lot less than this. You cannot always sell the real estate
if something does not work out. Many people today are
learning this the hard way. Refi-ing is way up and I swear,
it's now a fashion statement to do one. People think it is
perfectly /all right/ to refinance debt--in effect just
borrowing from Peter to pay Paul(!). It's destroying many
people's financial futures, laboring their perspective on
life, and straining marriages.

Investing in real estate comes up a lot here, so you could
google the archives for the last year or so and find a lot
of good discussions and citations on historical rates of
appreciations, past bubbles, etc.

On the Roth IRA, for now, fund it. Should you want to buy
something big, you can withdraw the contributions (not
earnings) at any time.

<flagsposters[at]gmail.com> wrote
- quote -

It's really because your mom and dad offer a safety net, no?
I do not know that one gets much of a sense of pride from
claiming to be striking out financially on one's own, when
in fact mom and dad are always there to back one up
financially.

- quote -

You are /very/ astute to take note that spouse selection is
a major component of proper financial planning. Two people
must be able to discuss at length their financial futures
and intentions well before a wedding takes place.

Hello everyone,
I wanted to run a thought by you guys and maybe you can tell me what
you'd do in my situation:

I am 26 and make about 36k a year. I have zero debt and have about 3k
in my savings account that is yielding 5.15%. Yea, I know it's not
much, but I have been investing everything I earn into my business. I
am single. I have medical insurance and great parents that can provide
an emergency fund in case I lose my job (but I am my own boss and my
services are in demand around here).

There are two things I want to tackle now:

1.) Open a ROTH IRA

2.) Buy real estate

Okay here it is: I've always wanted to own about 30 acres of country
land out here in Texas for recreational use. The properties im looking
at are about 150-200k. You see, It has always been a dream of mine to
build my own log cabin and get a place that my parents can enjoy before
they get too old. To put it bluntly, the last time I checked, no one
was making anymore land. My father once told me when I was very young:
"The first thing a man must do is to own a piece of land. When you go
into a store and you buy something it's chattel, but when you own a
piece of land, that's real. And that's where the words real estate
originated."

I am willing to sacrifice funding an IRA if I can focus full time into
paying off the land. I figure I can go hardcore on it until I'm 30. At
that time, I'll begin funding an IRA. Heck, I can do both now, but my
main point is whether this goal of purchasing land is feasible. Again,
I want to buy a large amount of land by the time i'm 30.

I can alway sell if something does not work out, right? I am looking at
news item here that says Texas land and ranches have appreciated about
400% and that looks like a better investment than IRA, imho. A wave of
retiring baby boomers and hunters setting their sights on weekend
getaways have pushed demand for Texas land to an all-time high, an
appetite that's fueling double-digit appreciation in the state's farm
and ranch market. Statewide, land values are rising at an average of 1
percent per month.

Right, I don't have much to fall back on (No IRA, low savings), but I
am willing to take risks now because I can. That's one of the reasons
why I am not married while all my other friends are having problems.
There's always time for that, but I am not sure if there's always time
to do what I'm doing now.

Thoughts?