Success Journal - The journey to actualising one's potential

[switch7]

North West. Once I close the one mentioned above, the ambition is to purchase another at the tail end of 2017 and then buy another in London next summer/autumn.

Nice, I live in Manchester. This thread has got me thinking.

 

[BeTheChange]

For now I know one of the greatest principles of success. If I persist long enough I will win.

I will persist.

I will win.

 

[BeTheChange]

Nice, I live in Manchester. This thread has got me thinking.

If you're serious, we should talk. Looking to make another purchase in the area tail end of this year / early 2018.

 

[switch7]

If you're serious, we should talk. Looking to make another purchase in the area tail end of this year / early 2018.

Unfortunately I am not in the position to move on it at the moment as I have a lot on my plate. Will be another couple years yet. This however gives me plenty of time to start reading up - do you recommend any good sources/books?

 

[BeTheChange]

Unfortunately I am not in the position to move on it at the moment as I have a lot on my plate. Will be another couple years yet. This however gives me plenty of time to start reading up - do you recommend any good sources/books?

Any book on "Success". The mindset is what is important.

There is no secret. The steps are out there. The problem is people lack the discipline to out them into practice.

"The Success Principles" by Jack Canfield is good.

"The Intelligent Investor" is also a great read, but like anything requires you to actually put what you read into practice.

 

[BeTheChange]

Quick one as not updated for a while.

Real estate

Property 1 fully let for most of the summer and majority of capex carried out. Will consider more long term tenants after summer as international summer students are higher margin than normal tenants.

Ensuite in largest room still needs to be built but all materials have been paid for.

Property 2 is still in the process of being refurbished but working to a tight deadline as we have tenants moving in at the start of July.

All seven rooms occupied for the duration of the summer at significant levels of profit.

I have allocated cash towards a third property purchase via a limited company (UK equivalent of LLC) for November/December.

Then my intention is to pull the additional equity out from Property 1 to fund a fourth deal mid 2018. Confirmed with the bank this is possible.

Equities

Have around 5% of investment capital in equities via my pension. Looking to increase this by an additional 5% in the short term via an equities fund. Will spend the rest of the month researching the best one for my goals. Then the plan is to paper trade for a year, and switch all non pension funds to active investment with the expectation that equities will eventually make up 35% of my portfolio.

Other
Allocated a few hundred dollars (approx 0.2% of my investment capital) to cryptocurrency as a purely speculative play. Not confident enough to generate a significant position until I know more about this product and market and what is generating its value.

Hoping to eventually build up to a portfolio allocation of:

Real estate - 35%
Equities - 35%
Bonds - 15%
Cash - 5%
Speculative investments (e.g. Bitcoin) - 3%
Gold - 2%

In terms of funding I'll be drip feeding funds into the above ventures (other than real estate) via dollar cost averaging.

 

[BeTheChange]

Spanish and Salsa

No girlfriend. No exams. No distractions. No excuses.

Decided I want to be at a high level by the end of next year - my 30th birthday.

I've been doing the Pimsleur method for a couple of weeks, with a view to finish Pimsleur III, the final volume, by the end of July. Then I'm going to recycle the harder units while I'm on holiday in the states. One lesson a day.

Once I get back is when things really start to pick up. Platiquemos, with its 55 Units guarantee an impressive level of proficiency by the end of the programme with each unit taking on average of 6 to 8 hours, which roughly translates to one unit a week. My aim is to spend a few months in Spain in summer 2018 so I'll need to complete 55 units in roughly 40 weeks, which means I'll need to do some of the easier units in half a week. Doable as I've been through the earlier units of Platiquemos before.

Salsa is just a nice tie in and add on. No specific goals around salsa as it's good fun. I just want to get "better" is as specific as it needs to be, as I don't want to take the fun out of it.

The ideal situation would be to engineer a secondment to the Spanish office of my company. That would avoid the opportunity cost of lost salary. Certainly given me even more motivation to put my head down and smash it at work.

 

[BeTheChange]

Set myself a goal. If I can have all seven rooms rented out at the same time for a consecutive period of one month (either actual or guaranteed through contracts) then I'm going to get myself a Daytona. My first big boy watch - currently rocking a $200 Armani watch

Only crossed my mind today that I achieved this. Despite that I'm not ready for the Rollie. Ok ok...if I can generate $10,000 of profit outside of what I've already forecast, then I'll reward myself.

Tenants paying on a regular basis. Feels good seeing funds constantly coming into your bank account. This is just the beginning.

Spanish will have to take a backseat. After the beginner level you need to spend a good 1-2 hours in the morning/evening on it everyday.

Don't have that time given the need to focus on new ventures, namely the cryptocurrency space.

Current investment capital allocation:

Real Estate - 70%
Cash - 25%
Cryptocurrency - 5%
Equities - 0% (not including my pension)
Bonds - 0%
Commodities - 0%

I have convinced a friend to get involved in a real estate deal end of the year. My first partnership.

Want to get as much of the property portfolio on autopilot as possible so I can focus all my attention on learning about the crypto space and performing the necessary DD on all these numerous ICOs to separate the wheat from the chaff and find the next gen that'll pop and net 100x my investment in the long term.

 

[guru1000]

The Daytona is nice. I personally prefer the Presidential

http://s682.photobucket.com/user/guru1000/media/Pic 1d_zps1aqkrnfv.jpg.html?sort=3&o=0

 

[BeTheChange]

Back from my holiday and ready to get going. Travelling, exploring, sightseeing, luxury apartment in midtown east, banging hot chicks, dining at fine restaurants, bottle service in the coolest NYC clubs. Had a great time and it only reminds me of the lifestyle I want and the need to put in the work now in order to obtain it sustainably.

I actually spent less than planned and on top of that got some great news that the developers from my previous failed investment will be releasing funds and returning them to investors as the project has been called off. Could be a while before I see anything if at all but positive that funds will be returned.

This will accelerate things even further. The plan is still to focus all my energy on crypto for aggressive wealth building and real estate for both residual income and moderate capital appreciation.

ROI on crypto is currently 33% since June.

ROI on real estate is easily over 100% in the last nine months since my first property purchase.

Current net worth is c. $150,000. If I manage to find that diamond in the rough coin that shoots to the moon or I can replicate the real estate performances on my next projects then it could be twice that figure by the end of 2017. I'd have been happy with $65,000 at this point as I estimated that as the figure I needed to hit by year end to be a millionaire by 35. Impressed with the performance of my portfolio thus far. And the RE holdings and cash reserves mean there is minimal downside risk.

 

[BeTheChange]

Net worth has moved slightly to c. $160k, largely due to:

· Writing off a significant amount of bad debt as developers have gone into liquidation (-)

· Holding crypto-investments at cost rather than Net Realisable Value (-)

· Spending money on holiday (-)

· Positive FX movement - majority of portfolio is valued in sterling (+)

· Costs of moving to a new flat (-)



I am in the process of buying an apartment for around $150k as an investment. 30 year interest only mortgage. 2 bedroom, 2 bathroom. Spacious. It’s in a great location, excellent transportation links, close to one of the biggest parks in Europe and to one of the biggest hospitals in the city. The city itself is ripe for growth. That would take the total value of my property portfolio to over $600k. This will also be my first purchase using a limited company.


My 4 bedroom property is fully occupied. One room will be vacant in October but hoping to get another long term tenant.


My 3 bedroom property has been rented by a family who are looking to rent long term (years) and are even willing to make improvements to the home. Can’t complain. Stable rental income.


Career-wise things are going well. Need to ensure my performance is stellar over the next six months as I push for a promotion. The salary here could be better but I can’t think about jumping ship for the foreseeable as it may have a negative impact on my motivation and also long term will impact my resume.

 

[BeExcellent]

Net worth has moved slightly to c. $160k, largely due to:

· Writing off a significant amount of bad debt as developers have gone into liquidation (-)

· Holding crypto-investments at cost rather than Net Realisable Value (-)

· Spending money on holiday (-)

· Positive FX movement - majority of portfolio is valued in sterling (+)

· Costs of moving to a new flat (-)



I am in the process of buying an apartment for around $150k as an investment. 30 year interest only mortgage. 2 bedroom, 2 bathroom. Spacious. It’s in a great location, excellent transportation links, close to one of the biggest parks in Europe and to one of the biggest hospitals in the city. The city itself is ripe for growth. That would take the total value of my property portfolio to over $600k. This will also be my first purchase using a limited company.


My 4 bedroom property is fully occupied. One room will be vacant in October but hoping to get another long term tenant.


My 3 bedroom property has been rented by a family who are looking to rent long term (years) and are even willing to make improvements to the home. Can’t complain. Stable rental income.


Career-wise things are going well. Need to ensure my performance is stellar over the next six months as I push for a promotion. The salary here could be better but I can’t think about jumping ship for the foreseeable as it may have a negative impact on my motivation and also long term will impact my resume.

Keep pedaling. You are doing well.

 

[BeTheChange]

A mature investor knows when to pull out as well as dive in.

This flat purchase does not make sense on paper. Here are some of the major red flags

Given I'm not yet a "professional landlord", the best mortgage I could get with a 25% deposit was a 30 year, 5 year fixed interest-only mortgage at an initial rate of 4.08% and a reversion rate of 5.84% after the fixed period ends. Governor of our central bank is looking to raise interest rates by November so could be +1% or 2% above the 5.84% figure by that time. The apartment is expected to fetch around $1000 PCM on the rental market.

There's a $1600 annual service charge on the apartment too. At 4.08% I'd make $400 per month after expenses at a 100% occupancy rate and the tenant covering all costs part from the service charge. Realistically you're looking at an average 2 month void period per year. Couple that with the reversion rate of 5.84% and suddenly I'm making a $100 a month. Add in even a small number of unforeseen costs and I'm making a consistent loss. And with the likely interest rate rise on top of that? An even bigger loss.

In contrast stress testing the properties in my current portfolio under the same scenarios yields a much better outcome.

And as it is an apartment I don't even have the benefit of being able to make significant enhancements to the property. For this to be worthwhile I'd have to be hoping for capital appreciation, which is not guaranteed with this area.

I think I am instead going to build up some additional capital, and invest alongside friends on more large scale projects. I need to think bigger. I should be more ambitious.

Looking into buying a large Victorian House (two or three floors) and converting each floor to a separate block of one or two flats. Going to be a lot of learning and hustling involved. It starts now.

 

[BeTheChange]

Should be updating this more often. Going to ambitiously aim for updates on Sunday evening and Thursday night.

Get up early
Wasn't able to yesterday due to a late night at the office followed by the gym. Need to be ruthlessly efficient with my time to ensure I can get up eas early as possible. Deleted snapchat and instagram from my phone. Only kept facebook for notifications of invites to events, etc. Won't be checking on it. So another goal to add would be elimination of social media.


[BEFORE WORK] Read The Greatest Salesman in the World. One scroll repeatedly each month (alongside the actual book itself)
Slacked off. Not read for a while. Only takes 5 minutes first thing in the morning. Will force myself to do it from now on and develop that habit.



[BEFORE WORK] Read a portion of How to Make Friends and Influence People each day. Had a few people tell me this is a cracking book
Barely started it. Will aim to read atleast 15 minutes in the morning before work tomorrow.

[BEFORE WORK] Meditate
Haven't done this in a few weeks. Again all comes down to being efficient the night before and getting an early night.


FINALLY learn Spanish – audio tapes to and from my walk to work
Been doing well so far. Normally after I get home from work. Finish Lesson 16 of unit 2 Pimsleur. Slowly getting it back. With one or two lessons a day I should be able to hold basic conversations by the end of the course. Aiming to finish the course by end of November.


Get into work 1 hour before standard working hours, daily.
Not going so well. Again in bed early.


Generate a before tax gross income of 5 figures per month (dollar) from all income sources
Throwing a lot of effort into smashing work. Need to stay focused during meetings and when I'm in the room be in the room. Turn phone off during the day to eliminate distractions. Stay in the office an hour later than most to get more familiar with my markets. Continue to research new ICOs and invest in current ICOs to generate that return. Expecting big things from Cindicator, which might lead to my first 5 figure month in a long time. Aiming to take reinvest salary, crypto and property profits back into new ICOs/ coins in order to keep the income rolling in.



Master the guitar to the best of my ability within the time available – min. 3 days a week for a cumulative 3 hours a week
Needs improvement. Guitar still collecting dust. Again comes down to eliminating useless activities.


Gym 4 – 5 times a week (preferably in the morning now the weather is better)
Doing well here. Consistently at the gym 4 or 5 times a week. Missed leg day today but walked to and from work and also danced for 2 hours.

Salsa at least once a week
Salsa'd tonight and forgot a few cool moves I picked up at a previous class. First dance after my new class today was terrible but I kept going and managed remember a few of my smoother moves. Ended the night reasonably happy but still hungry to improve. Expecting this to be my main focus as far as hobbies are concerned. Better to be a master of one trade than average in many. Going to another salsa class and club night on Friday and also Saturday night with friends too. I want to be good enough to feel confident about dancing with even the best female partners by the end of next year.

Approaching one girl a day
Chatted to one or two girls at salsa but I always seem to forget this goal. Tomorrow I'll find opportunities to be more clinical.

 

[BeTheChange]

Decided to give my goals more structure so I have a keen focus on what I’m doing and why. Bigger picture thinking.

I need to read this each morning.

Category.

What? Why?

• How?

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Business and Financial Success

Millionaire by 35. Financial freedom, being able to enjoy the finer things in life, while still having the time for leisurely pursuits, hobbies and passions.

• Get up early
• Get into work at least 30 mins early EVERY day
• Keep phone of during work except at lunch. Avoid needless distractions
• Read the Greatest Salesman in the World– one scroll three times a day as instructed
• Generate five figures before tax gross income per month (including capital gains)
• Continue to educate yourself on cryptocurrencies and expand property portfolio with at least one acquisition a year

Inner Peace and Self-actualisation. Strength of Mind and Body

Self-actualisation. To be truly at peace with oneself, to find meaning in life, to be content and to be appreciative of this life.

• Meditate twice a day before and after work
• Gym four to five times a week
• Take a yoga class in the morning once a week
• Positive affirmations each morning. Reminder to give thanks for blessings and opportunities before sleeping each night

Social Circle

Build a wider social circle. The value of friendships cannot be overstated. The more genuine connections you form with high quality people the better the potential for a more fulfilled life and the easier it will be to achieve other goals (e.g. business and financial success).

• Read How to Win Friends and Influence people – read one chapter every two days until complete
• Learn Spanish. After finishing the Pimsleur Spanish course attend Spanish language meetups
• Build connections at Salsa, Bachata, and Hip-Hop events. Take numbers.
• Message groups within your social circle at least once a week. Arrange to meet at least three people from your social circle each week.
• Approach one woman a day with the intention of having a good time and getting a number

Renaissance Man

The pursuit of a variety of different passions. Living life is about experiencing many things. There is joy in mastery.

• Learn Spanish. Start with Pimsleur. Once finished, progress to Platiquemos and listening to audio conversations on the way to and from work.
• Learn Salsa. Seek to become advanced by attending salsa events at least twice a week (Wednesday and Friday, weekend parties)
• Learn Bachata. Become intermediate within a year (Tuesday and Friday)
• Learn Hip Hop dancing. Take one class a week (Monday or one day on the weekend)
• Read 1 hour a day, every day.
• Play guitar at least twice a week (Thursday/Saturday, Sunday)

 

[BeTheChange]

Business and Financial Success

Millionaire by 35. Financial freedom, being able to enjoy the finer things in life, while still having the time for leisurely pursuits, hobbies and passions.

• Get up early - Poor effort this week. But I have honed my schedule to better support adequate sleep.
• Get into work at least 30 mins early EVERY day - Managed to get into work 30 mins before start twice. Aiming to get in an hour before work everyday this week - so 8 AM.
• Keep phone of during work except at lunch. Avoid needless distractions - Kept off most of the time. Did turn on during the rare quiet periods I had this month. Should be more disciplined and find productive work to do during the quiet times rather than play on the phone.
• Read the Greatest Salesman in the World– one scroll three times a day as instructed - Haven't touched this. Will try again from Monday.
• Generate five figures before tax gross income per month (including capital gains) - crypto market has been poor. Will seek to make gains through being more aggressive with finding new tenants. Going to email several international schools to see if they have any students that need housing. Will only be disclosing my net worth quarterly (so end of December for the next update) as it keeps me motivated if I see larger jumps.
• Continue to educate yourself on cryptocurrencies and expand property portfolio with at least one acquisition a year - see above

Inner Peace and Self-actualisation. Strength of Mind and Body

Self-actualisation. To be truly at peace with oneself, to find meaning in life, to be content and to be appreciative of this life.

• Meditate twice a day before and after work - barely meditated at all this month. Will work on this.
• Gym four to five times a week - was hitting the gym four times a week before catching a cold mid month, then went back on it after recovery. Dropping down to three times a week going forward as it is difficult to maintain other goals and a social life while going to the gym so regularly. Aiming to get in work early to allow time for the gym during lunch which will give me more time during the week
• Take a yoga class in the morning once a week - isn't going to happen with my schedule unless I drop a salsa session. Will see end of next month
• Positive affirmations each morning. Reminder to give thanks for blessings and opportunities before sleeping each night - Need to do more of this

Social Circle

Build a wider social circle. The value of friendships cannot be overstated. The more genuine connections you form with high quality people the better the potential for a more fulfilled life and the easier it will be to achieve other goals (e.g. business and financial success).

• Read How to Win Friends and Influence people – read one chapter every two days until complete - Unopened. Will try from Monday
• Learn Spanish. After finishing the Pimsleur Spanish course attend Spanish language meetups - have kept up with this almost everyday. Now on to the final unit. 29 more lessons to go, which should get me to high beginner / low intermediate level. Once that's done I'll start Plaiquemos which will allow me to reach fluency....eventually! Going to be attending Spanish meetups from Tuesday so this should help with speaking practice. Although my conversation will be limited every little helps
• Build connections at Salsa, Bachata, and Hip-Hop events. Take numbers. - Have been slacking at this. Grown comfy with my small circle of salsa friends but I really need to do more to extend my social circle. Will motivate myself to be more social during salsa
• Message groups within your social circle at least once a week. Arrange to meet at least three people from your social circle each week. - difficult as people have their own lives and everyone is getting older so more people are staying in or spending time with their SO. To be expected but can't let this deter me. Building a larger social circle is a KEY goal
• Approach one woman a day with the intention of having a good time and getting a number - Took the number of a girl from salsa and a random girl I met Saturday night. Will be more concious of approaching to rack up those numbers since I've definitely not approached 30 women this month!

Renaissance Man

The pursuit of a variety of different passions. Living life is about experiencing many things. There is joy in mastery.

• Learn Spanish. Start with Pimsleur. Once finished, progress to Platiquemos and listening to audio conversations on the way to and from work. - Success for the most part
• Learn Salsa. Seek to become advanced by attending salsa events at least twice a week (Wednesday and Friday, weekend parties) - Been at least once a week
• Learn Bachata. Become intermediate within a year (Tuesday and Friday) - Starting my first class Monday
• Learn Hip Hop dancing. Take one class a week (Monday or one day on the weekend) - Taking this one off. Trying to do too much is leaving me exhausted. Got to find a balance
• Read 1 hour a day, every day. - Proving difficult with my schedule but still think there's an element of laziness and inefficiency holding me back. I believe I could find an hour a day to read.
• Play guitar at least twice a week (Thursday/Saturday, Sunday) - Haven't picked up once. Will try next month but may have to consider cutting this out until I have more time

 

[BeTheChange]

Filled all seven rooms - all on minimum six month contracts and have interest from a number of other organisations who can act as a long term supplier of tenants if needed. Great news and another milestone achieved!

Now is about patience. Spending the rest of the year performing well at work, building up additional finances and then focusing on either two to three small acquisitions in 2018 or one large scale refurb. The latter is my preference. More risky as it will involve purchasing a large houses and turning it into multiple units - ideally at least three apartments.

 

[BeTheChange]

My final post for some time. Signing out to minimise distractions. Will only be visiting this site once a month at the end of the month and only to post about my goals in this thread.

Colleague was promoted despite being in a similar role less time than me.

I pushed for a promotion and was denied. A timeline was given, which I'm not happy with. Going to sit down tomorrow with management to iron out specific KPIs to work towards.

It hurt my pride as I don't think this guy is any better than me. Management justified it by saying they weren't aware of how things operated in his specific team and that promotion was also down to specific need.

Got my CV out there but realistically my current role is a good opportunity and there aren't too many options available in the market that are superior and within my grasp.

Focus is still on my current role. Two things to live by:

1. You will not outwork me
2. Be so good they can't ignore me

It's a setback and failure that I believe will ultimately provide the foundation for future success.

 

[BeTheChange]

I spoke to a number of recruiters and it really is a no brainer. It's time to leave the perm world and start focusing on contract roles to grow wealth for early retirement.

I did the maths and was fair with my assumptions. Contractors get paid daily so I had to account for days off when comparing daily pay contracting vs annual salary from work.

104 days for weekend days
25 days for Holiday
5 days for sick days
30 days looking for a new contract

I am still atleast $60k tax free lump sum cash better off than I would be working on an annual salary. The difference is astounding.

If I can secure a good contract with the above assumptions and put my head down for a year or two then I'd be well on my way. Honestly if my crypto and property portfolio did well I could probably retire at 31/32 and easily make it to millionaire status by mid 30s.

Exciting times ahead.

 

[BeTheChange]

Great work pal, its nice to see someone turning a negative into positive so well. Maybe your ex breaking up for you was the best thing that ever happened to you.

Regarding the crypto space.. How long do you think we will see such great returns from ico's for before regulation occurs?

Thanks mate. The ex breaking up with me was with absolute certainty was one of the best things to ever happen to me because it was the catalyst for so much personal growth.

As a whole I don't think the cryptospace will grow in percentage terms as much as this year - the market cap grew from $17bn to around $600bn today - but we could still see triple digit percentage returns from just holding bitcoin. If you are smart with your investments in this space triple digit returns for 2018 is almost certain if the market continues to grow and attract new investors.