I remember when I was in Grade 1 (around 7 years old), my classroom teacher asked the class to draw on a piece of paper what we wanted to be. I saw my classmates drawing something like fireman, or doctor, the usual. I could not, for the life of me, figure out what I wanted.
But it came eventually. I drew a guy with a big house. And it was not a career per se, but I wrote, “I want to be a rich man.”. It is funny looking back and I get a smile on my face whenever I remember that moment. At such a young age, I was already drawn to wealth building. I did not know how I am going to do it, but I know that is what I want to do.
Fast forward to my university years, I came across a book that would shift my perspective significantly. It was Robert Kiyosaki’s Rich Dad, Poor Dad. It opened my eyes that there was another way to live. My parents were typical middle class people and that was the mindset and environment I was raised in. I did not have rich friends and so there did not seem anything different with rich people, they just have bigger bank accounts.
That book holds a special place to me as a young man that had lit a fire in me to seek out this other way of living is. It has guided me to study more about real estate. Things like: what are foreclosures, what are rental properties, what makes a property an asset or a liability, etc.
When I started working, I knew to save money so I could begin buying up some properties. Fortunately, my lifestyle didn’t involve expensive things and I was able to save as much as I can.
For so many years, that was my routine: work, then save, then every now and then, purchase a property. My portfolio eventually grew. Even though I have since moved on from Rich Dad, Poor Dad, it has been the spark that made me follow this real estate path.
The plan now is to increase it to double it. That should provide a nice monthly cashflow that will allow me to do bigger things. Eventually the dream is to acquire small plots of land that will allow me to build small projects like town houses or more.
As for my work, my field is in tech and that has allowed me to make some decent monthly income. It has also inspired me to strike it on my own while working. During off work hours, I plan and build a few ideas a few ideas that are quite promising and might make me leave a mark on the market soon…
