Well it's open season on goalies and end zones and basket ball hoops. Soccer(sorry mates, futbol), football and my favorite, hockey.
I had a thought today. when I hear the word goals, it seems somewhat vague and myopic.
Over the past few years however I've developed some tools on how to better set and achieve them. Of all the stuff we humans do, we're supposed to make a single New Year's resolution? Mine is simply to approach goal setting more precisely.
This is different than how I set them at work. This process is for personal goals.
Yesterday I sat at my table thinking of lists of goals.
I arrange goal characteristics this way:
-Nuetral Goals
-Positive Goals
-Negative Goals
They are all *growth* focused. Yep...even the one labeled -Negative Goals.
You'll have to decide what categories on your own.
My number one is physical health.
Next is financial stability.
After that is healthier use of time off.
A Neutral goal is one that is not a positive nor a negative effect on growth. Example: pay off credit card. That's great! But that gets you out of debt. It's short of growth. The good thing is you're starting from zero. Growth must start at zero. If we had minus $5321.65 dollars in the bank. And then we paid that off. Now we are worth zero. Which is better...but not growth.
Positive goal- one that once achieved, increases a positive thing. Growth.
For example, more money in the bank. Even better. Make it specific: 'save $3000.' That is a positive goal.
Negative goals are those that unload a burden.
Delegate or eliminate tasks. This means you need good resources. Reliable people and process. So identify those resources.
Negative goals are an unburdening of a stress. They can be financial, mental health, spiritual, social or physical.
Example. Pay off the credit card first. Neutral goal achieved. Now. Set a *positive* goal of saving $3000.
And then a negative goal can be in the form of not doing yard work every day. Once a week maybe.
Go easy on your resolution. Start small. I want to skateboard 1/2 mile this week. Then I want to skateboard 1/2 mile next week. Then 1/2 mile the week after.
Now at the end of the quarter total up your miles. Then look at your monthly totals. You might be surprised at what you've accomplished. It sneaks up on you.
-Shneaking up on goals:
You may not realize you're winning. They sneak up on you.
Build a new skill or business. A new skill like carpentry or landscaping can earn good money.
Or learn accounting, or stocks. Accounting and finance is a life skill. You will always use it. Just as landscaping and carpentry. Auto mechanics, etc.
Learn to use your hands. It is the most rewarding thing to step back and appreciate your work.
You may have doubled your weekly financial status by working an additional skill.
Doubling your weekly financial status is also a pleasant surprise. You might find it hard to believe at first. But there’s a deficit before a climb.
Let’s say you want to make your own fishing lures as cheaply as possible. You need a lathe. So the aquisition cost is expensive. Maybe $300. When you look at the financial behavior this creates, it’s easy to see that the use of this tool can pay for itself.
If you used to go to the movies, and now you’re using this tool, you’re not spending money on movies and food. Then the other half comes in the shop and says they wondered if you could make them a bowl. Now you’re making dishes you would otherwise have to buy. This is hinged on using logs from a felled tree or other surplus wood.
My father bought $20K worth of tools and I though he was nuts. He remodeled their house that would have cost over $150K. Then he went on to build cabinets and other items that were made with scrap wood from the larger project. And all that time he spent building was time he was not spending. So the effect of learning to work another skill is, compounding financial gain through saving on not hiring someone, and not spending during time off.
-Education
After you graduate, don’t let your knowledge get stale. Stay informed and stay educated. Join a professional group or two. Do this now whether your 18 or 80
-Real Estate (I don't know much. But I'll share my insights).
Land- they're not making more of it....
House- buy old and fix it up. I won the purchase of my houses in very different ways. One was, I could close any time. The other tactic I used was doing a home inspection before the offer was made. This actually saved me from a bad purchase once. Conversely-I purchased in a neighborhood that had an association. HOAs are sometimes tough to deal with. But they maintain the quality of their property. So when I was competing with 4 other buyers, I asked my broker to remove the home inspection contingency. That is a BIG gamble. But this was my 5th purchase and I’d been doing work to homes on my own since I was a kid under the watchful eye of my father and shrewd business sense of my mother. When I was growing up, at a pretty young age, my male role models would tell me, “it’s important for a man to know how to swing a hammer.” Or, “it’s important for a man to be able to swim well.” or it’s important for a man to know how to fix certain things on a car.” It’s important to know these things as a woman too. But I’m old, lol. So that’s what they said back then.
Mortgage ideas. Avoid a variable rate mortgage, they punish you sometimes. One property I was involved with was a rate of Prime +11%!!! As soon as we got in, we refinanced for a 5%fixed. This was back in the 90s.
I LOST MY JOB!! - I was recently let go from work. I JUST bought a house 2 years ago. I was panicking about my mortgage. How will I pay!? It’s just me. No other income. A family member called and told me about something called a forbearance(sp?).
A forbearance is something you have to call and ask your bank about. My best description is it removes an elephant off your chest. How, you ask? Basically you’re still billed, but the non payment just accrues as an iou to the bank, without interest. It does go to the credit bureau as delinquent, but it is now prevented from the foreclosure process. You can still pay toward it if you want. But if you have more important bills like food and kids college, and heat and electricity you have more flexibility. Your loan is still valid. So once you’re back on your feet, you do have to make extra payments. Forbearance terms vary. So call your bank to see what they offer. DO NOT WAIT! Call right away. If they’re like my bank, you will be SO grateful and SO relieved.
Commercial - There’s commercial property and there’s COMMERCIAL property. I’m no hotel magnate, but I did sleep at a Holiday Inn Express Last Night. I REGRET WITH ALL OF MY BEING, NOT INVESTING IN MULTIFAMILY HOME OWNERSHIP. IF you do this. KNOW the neighborhood. Always do YOUR due diligence and don’t depend on someone being paid by the seller to tell you all the dirty secrets of a home. Most RealEstate brokers represent the seller. So…. minimum 3 units. If one unit moves out, you lose 33%of your rent. If you only have 2 units, and one tennant moves out, you lost 50% of your rent. See the math!? If you have a 5 unit building, and one tennant moves out, you’re only down 20%. You should take a class for this because this TINY blurb will not be enough but to peak your curiosity. If you want retail space, look at something that has retail on the first floor and tennants on the second. It allows you to compete with other retail lessors that do not have that additional income. I have a great story from a friend who went rags to riches on retail property. He knew the owner of D’Angelo’s. D’Angelo’s bought buildings with other retail space available and rented them out. So well that the D’Angelo’s sandwhich shops was basically rent free. The rent from all the other tennants covered the mortgage and maintenance costs for the entire property. So the sandwhich shops were rent free. This was a brilliant “accidental” opportunity when they purchased their first shop.
The business was sold to a beverage company years later for hundreds of millions. But they only got the sandwich shops. The property was kept by the founder. BRILLIANT.
Timeshare - new. I really have zero advice on these. But they seem like a good way to have your vacation set out for you every year.
Lease - define use and non use.
Own - not many downsides.
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