Very Tough Questions from a Newbie

[Paul Tingle]

Hi Guys,

Firstly let me say Thankyou for the opertunity to get these questions answered by the best of the best.

I'm a 20 year old wannabe millionaire who's really struggling in life and in need of some real estate help.

Before I begin just a really quick piece of background info, I havn't had an easy life, I had everything taken from me when I was 10 and have been living in an abusive house hold for the past few years struggling to get my education and become a great person in life. Last Year at the age of 19 I decided to go back to School and finish in order to grab my diploma and proove to myself no matter what you can always push yourself a bit further.

Luckily I was born with a good head on my shoulders and despite being abused I always knew I could do great things in life If I just belived in myself.

After atending various seminars ie Anthony Robbins and Dr John Demartini I started to get the crazy idea that at the age of 20 I could outshine every single other teenager/young man and really live a passion filled worthwhile life.

So I've decided that this year I'm going to go full throttle into investing and make a great life for myself and one day future family/friends.

However I have a major problem and this is where my ' Tough Question ' comes from.
I've worked various jobs and because I never held myself to high esteem they were always bottom of the barrel, retail or temp jobs that usually had a manager who treated you like dirt thus giving me a really nasty taste in my mouth for ever wanting to work again.

To be frankly honest, I dont want to ever work again. However By work I dont mean work, I mean a career working for someone else, working in a field I dont enjoy or in an area that I have little or no control of and cannot profit from. I understand being young you have to start at the bottom and I've done that already, I've learned sales skills and I belive If It came down to it I could negoatiate anything out of anyone.

My First Question is -

1) How would I start investing in my first property if I dont have a Job, thus meaning no bank will loan me money?

2) My Total savings Equal $500 at the present and I'm lucky to live with a relative who charges me VERY little rent, How could I use this $500 to get started?

3) What should I do to overcome this problem of working? I want to work for myself and profit from my hard work as opposed to making some ' company ' and some ' boss ' richer. I Belive my time and work ethic is worth alot more than I'm being paid.

4) Would anyone have a copy of http://www.amazon.com/Turned-into-Million-Estate-Spare/dp/0671253689
' How I turned $1000 into 5 Million in my spare time ' for sale or spare they would be willing to sell me?

5) Is it impossible or stupid to want/ask for a mentor?
The reason I ask this is because alot of millionaires I've talked to always say ' Find a Mentor , Find someone who's done what you want to do and learn from them ' But everyone I've spoken to who has done what I want to do doesn't seem to want to offer mentoring or advice, regardless of how much I proove myself or how much money I offer them.

6) Is there any field of real estate I might enjoy as a career to get started earning some money ( For investing ) that would give me a really great advantage in property market knowledge that doesn't involve being an agent?

7) Trump once said ' borrow borrow borrow and even if you dont need to borrow some more ' Could explain this logic to me? I would assume the less you borrow the less you have to pay back and the smaller your fee's would be from interest?

8) I belive I could turn $5 million into $50 million in a matter of years, but my problem is getting that first $5 million, exactly how is one supposed to do that without having a full time job and alot of savings?

9) Is there anything I could do TODAY to get the momentum needed for my future investments.

Thankyou Kindly

- Paul

[Frank Bartlo]

One thing you can do that helped me get started is "bird dog" and assist an experienced investor in your area. Every investor needs more people to do "legwork" and be their "eyes. ears, and nose" in certain situations.

The sort of investor to look for is someone who's just getting at the point they can barely (or cannot) handle all the legwork without assistance. You can find such people in investors' clubs, by calling "I buy property" ads (that's how I found my "mentor"), etc.

I also echo the advice everyone gave about getting some sort of income (job or business) and building (lots) of credit. Definitely create a business entity go for business credit. The advantages of business as opposed to personal credit (at least here in the States) are too numerous to go into in a little post. I learned that one the hard way.

[Jon Slack]

Originally posted by "Upgraded":

The reason I said ' I dont want to work ' was mainly because my mentors ie Sylvester Stallone, Robbins would always hint ' never work for someone else ' as it takes your focus away from what you want to do.

I personally couldn't agree more with not wanting to work for someone. I am not the type of person who could punch a time clock but, I did punch a time clock, many times. I did what I had to do at your age to eat.

My personal opinion is that you make investing secondary and owning a business your primary focus. You say you are willing to work hard well getting loans for business startups are much easier than finding someone to float you for a RE investment.

Come up with a good business concept, follow it up with a solid business plan, work your butt off making the business successful and with that, hopefully will come the monies needed to venture into RE investing.

Of course that is just my opinion and I dont want you to sway from following the advice of the many great posters on this forum. I am just offering another approach, which is the same approach I took.

[Sanjay Naidu]

Originally posted by "**********":

Paul,

Thanks for letting us in on your life. This is one of the best threads I have read in a while. Kind of his home. I want to tell you about my best friend Dan.

We grew up in fairly well off Palo Alto CA during the Hippie era. My folks were were educated, well to do and straight as an arrow. Dans folks split up when he was3. His mom was heavy in to the the drug scene and hung out with the band members from the group Grateful Dead!

We had food and nice clothes and Dan did not. He ate most meals at our home. Dans mom spent every dime she got on booze and pot and lsd etc.
Dans mom was in one abusive relationship after another and Dan watched his mom get beat for many years. The odds were truly against him.

Dan did manage to keep up good grades and also got a baseball scholarship, but an injury ended his life long dream.

I had a fancy car as soon as I turned 16 and Dan was bound to his bicycle for several years out of high school. HE NEVER ONCE COMPLAINED!!

WHAT DID Dan end up doing while I was away at college?

Dan mowed lawns and did yard work 7 days a week 12 hours a day all summer long. He purchased an old JUNK pick up truck with a DUMP bed.

Dan ran an add in the local weekly newspaper " I HAUL JUNK"!!!!!!!

He spent the next several years sifting through peoples crap, taking crap from all the wealthy folks and continued to work very long hours doing very hard work for little pay! He was a Super Small Time garbage Man!

He still never complained. By the time I was out of school, round one, Dan had managed to purchase a beat up old Bobcat Tractor and junk end dump truck. You can probably see where this is going, I hope.

Still continued to work long hours doing back breaking work for several more years. By this time most of us had graduated college, had good paying jobs and drove fancy cars. dan did not. He worked his *** off and saved EVERY PENNY HE MADE.

We all got real nice pads and Dan insisted on living in a trailer for super cheap and never wasted a penny while we all lived large for that time period.

Dan had saved enough to put a down payment on a new Bob Cat Tractor and End Dump Truck after about 10 years of this. Were talking 100,000
in equipment. He got his contractors license as well and had the BEST reputation in town and the BEST work ethics of anyone I know, still does.

He was now able to charge 75.00 per hour which in 1990 or so was very good money. He continued his frugal lifestyle and soon had saved enough CASH for a house on the "other side of the tracks" in a pretty bad neighborhood. He bought an 800 square ft house in EAST PALO ALTO
for 85K and we all thought he was crazy for doing this.

Dan continued to manage his business and his money very well for the next 10 years. Got married and had kids and built his business up to 4 Bobcats and 4 end dumps in the mean time. Still worked very long hours doing very hard work and still NEVER complained.

FAST FORWARD:

Dan owns and operates a Commercial Engineering Firm and has a fleet of Tractors, Trucks and a thriving business and is very happy and doing very well today! Did his childhood suck? YES! Were the odds against him? YES!

Make your own conclusions here paul! Hope this hits your heart a bit and help in some small way.

BTW- Dan sold his 85K home in the hood last years for, get this...

1.2 MILLION and bought a beautiful RANCH an Ashland OR for CASH and continues to work his butt off, manage his money well and lives the life that he alone created for himself...

Great story! Sounds like my fathers life. Never went to high school because he was the eldest son and first to bring the whole family to los angeles from fiji! Owns his own business and 5 properties free and clear.... Nobody ever gave him anything and he never asked thats why work ethic is such an important characteristic to have. Robert kiyosaki, tony robbins and jim rohn all have blueprints tio success but cant make you get up and do it!!

Thanks for sharing motivates me to do better!!!

[John Krajewski]

Great advice all along, Patience and persistance. When you feel like you been kicked and stomped on and want to give up -grab a good book, listen to tapes of the people you mentioned, go surround yourself with likeminded people , get up,get mad and keep going. To your success,
John K

[Marc NA]

join like minded individuals at real estate club in your local area.

[Account Closed]

Originally posted by "Upgraded":

I'm in Australia and I really really hate this place, The ' Goal ' of Moving to America is both hard if not impossible to do legally.

Granted I'm sure there's special Exceptions for billionaire investors, but not for starting out Aussies.

Regardless gotta keep a positive mindset, I've done enough schooling to apply for the lotto so its in Gods hands now.

Paul,

A few comments and I have not read all of the replies to the post. I am focusing more on your story.

1. A friend's wife is from Australia. She happens to be featured in a text book for child abuse in Australia. A case study. Rough stuff.

Stuff happens but it only your starting point. You do have some control over the future. Some starting points are really difficult but they do not have to be the end point.

2. She lives in London now. She returned to university after working for a number of years. As she ended up with a degree and then worked hard at a job with an international firm she one day met someone who worked in London but was visiting the office in Sydney.

3. Later she obtained a paid transfer to the UK. The company valued her skills and wanted to cover the costs of her relocation. It also let her maintain her relationship that later turned into a marriage.

She is not perfect and not everything from the past has been sorted. It is a work in progress and will likely be one for life. Granted most people are a work in progress. The only exceptions are the folks who give up before they actually die. They are frozen in time.

As to your move to the US. If you are serious about this I would not worry about the money. I would focus on your education. The US does not really wanted people with few skills and low educational standards. If you train up in a specialized skill that is in demand in the US you have many more options than just the annual lottery.

My limited exposure to Australia is the place is very much like the US. As the US is a big place some parts are more like Australia than others (west coast vs. east coast). Rather than think your world will be better when you get to the US make your world better and then you can go to the US at any time. If having money makes it easy consider that as an option in addition to the educational aspects.

You can spend a lot of time in the US even if you do not legally live there full time.

Good luck.

Note that the best way to change your future is to change the people you hang with. Focus on people who can help you advance and listen to what they sale. Watch out for the folks who offer simple solutions and other cons. Some of the speakers you mentioned will suggest building a team of positive minded folks who are getting on with their life. That is one key. The other is for you to make progress and not slip back. The nice thing about a degree is they can not take it back once you have it. Getting a degree also teaches you how to focus on a goal and stay on track until you get the job done.

Got it? Questions? Get in touch or post more. Folks will help if you are doing your bit. Rough days are expected.

That which does not kill you makes you stronger. Some of the time it pays to rest a bit rather than get yourself beat up too quickly. Hang in there. The future is bright if you know how and where to look.