BennyEast.Com/Blog The official blog of Kenny West

Last Mow

I think, I just did the last mowing of my lawn for the season.  We'll see.  There might have to be one more, but I doubt it.  Usually the last mow is around Thanksgiving.  I also did some weedwacking and what not.  I think took the battery I was using from the leaf blower and put it in the snowblower just to kind of "fire it up".

I'm SOOOOOO excited to use that thing.  It's weird.  I really shouldn't be excited I suppose.  But I am.

I mean, most people hate snow and cold.  I guess I kind of like it.  That's not to say I want to live in snowy areas my whole rest of my life, but... I'm game for at least this winter.

I feel like ideally, I'd like to have a small townhouse or condo in a warm area that I can just have a real estate company manage and rent out for me, and I block out winter dates to go stay there, then the rest of the year, it gets Air BNBed on my behalf and I just use that income for other things.

I want to own property that I don't manage, but I can use during specific times of the year.  So, one condo maybe by the beach down in a warm climate somewhere, another condo by a mountain ski resort.

I spend maybe a week or two a year at each one, and the rest of the time it gets rented out by a real estate company on my behalf.

A little bit of beach, a little bit of skiing.

That's going to be in the near future.  I might also start taking cruises.

I know, you're like... WHER ON EARTH ARE YOU GOING TO GET ALL THIS MONEY?

3 words... Realty Income Corp is going to pay for it.  Or, rather, the income coming off the shares I own in that company.

Today, before I went outside to do a little lawn work, I made my first trade of my new trading plan.

I'm pretty much using that as a base income, to then start secondary incomes and then tertiary incomes... And so on and so on.

Money from money from money...

I guess my thing with investing is, I want to own.  I want to own physical property.

Some people I know are all hyped up on Bit Coin investments... If you ask me?  I'm just not sold.  I know, it's probably a missed opportunity... But, to me?  I just don't like the aspect where you physically don't have something in your hand.

I just am a sucker for REITS.  I like physical things.

I'm the same with people.... That's why I'm LOVING running club.  I love being with people.  Drinking beer, conversations, a nice workout beforehand... Get the endorphins flowing.

We live in a world where no one wants to interact in person anymore... And I kind of hate it.  I like to be around people.

Anyway, so... What I like about my life at the moment is that I'm pointing things in the direction I want them to go in.

I want cashflow, I want hard assets as investments.  I want more free time to be able to make music, and write...

Right now, I'm single, I have no kids... I have 3 cats, but two are elderly and probably won't be around in a couple more years.  I have a direction that I want to go in where I want to be able to travel more, I want to have less obligations and responsibilities...

I want to be able to have income coming in to pay for my travels... And I want to be able to use all of that to build more and more income.

Like, if I buy condos, I can rent out those condos and use the income from that to travel to the condo during times when it's not being rented out.

Most of my peers instead save money, travel, wipe out savings, save again.

But that means you have to work hard to save up that money.

If you own the travel destination and pull income from it... Your travels pay you to travel.

It's a smarter way to travel.

Why pay to travel when you can get paid FOR it?

So, for example, I want to travel somewhere, I'll travel there, scout out a condo, buy it, use the condo to stay there... Then turn the condo into income and try somewhere new.

All places eventually get boring... The novelty wears off.  Instead, turn it into income.

In 5 years time on my 40th birthday... I'm hoping to just be traveling the world looking for new condos to purchase and rent out.

I'll get paid to travel and own property.

The rent coming off those properties will just add to my income stream.

It becomes a self feedback cycle that can't be stopped.  The more I own, the more I have coming in.

Just let real estate companies handle it for me.

Just like I'm letting Realty Income Corp handle things for me and then I collect my income from them.  Use that income to feed new investments.

Since probably one day I won't be the one clearing off the snow... I'm excited to do it, even if it's just one last winter... Or, maybe next winter too...

Because then from there on out, I'll just kind of have enough income coming in that I won't be bothered doing my own lawn care or snow removal, unless I REALLY want to.

I like doing it right now because I got these new cool tools, which were all paid for by my investment income coming in... So it's extra exciting because the plan is basically working.

My yard work tools that I used to tidy up my lawn today, were all bought for me.  I didn't use anything but dividend and income money to pay for them.

As that income stream goes up and up, I'll just buy bigger and badder things.

The yard work tools, at least to me, were a kind of investment because it gave me back free time.  Before I bought these items I was spending a lot of time keeping up with just mowing the grass.  Now, I mow, I take care of the weeds... I leaf blow, and I'll snow blow... All in a fraction of the time it took me to do before...

Work smarter, not harder is what one of the summer camp counselors always said to me when I was a counselor there...

I remember Miss Daylight saying something at some point about how you always want to try to make more money while doing less...

I think it was on the podcast thing that she had me listen to.

Reinvesting income back into something new that creates more income, or saves more time.... Can achieve this.

I feel like there are two types of adults, from what I've noticed...

Type one, is that person who you look at them and they are always struggling... They are running around doing a million things, always stressed... Barely afford bills.

They work a main job, a part time weekend job, and another evening job...

Then there's the second kind of person... They have a house with a pool.  They have condos, take vacations... seemly live a life of luxury, but... They barely work!

I know both these types of people.

The only difference between these people?  The first person has no idea how investments work, and the second person has a close relationship with their broker.

Basically investments really are one thing, and one thing only... You own the right to benefit corporate profits.

Okay, there's more to it than that... But that's really the basic premise.

Like, Realty Income Corp has 150 employees that work for it.

They get up, get dressed, make coffee, and go into work 5 days a week.

Then there's the shareholders.

We don't work.  We just hold shares.  And every month on the 15th of the month, we get an income check.

Workers... And owners.

Maybe you like working, I mean heck, I don't mind it... I'd just rather work on book and music than a regular shirt and tie gig... Which is why I'm going to eventually transition to that... Obviously it would be ideal to just make money from books and music, but I'll admit it, I'm not all that great at it... And you have to be REALLY good to make a living from it.

So... I'll just make a living off income and ownership of property and then write books and music anyway.

Really, it's what you want to be a worker and an owner of...

For me?  I want to be a worker of snowblowing...  I'm actually excited about it... At least for this winter.

I want to be an owner of income generating investments.

And that's the key... To be able to do what you want, the way you want it, and be able to make it happen.

To be able to change it when you decide you want to change it... And not have a lot of friction behind it.

To be able to figure out where you want to be a worker, and where you want to be an owner.

Work smarter, not harder... and earn more doing less.

The key, I think, is to not only figure out what you want to do, but to then have the resources to make it all happen.

That's what I'm in the midst of doing... I'm in the middle of building up an independent income from ownership and then using that income to change my lifestyle to become how I'd like to live...

And I learned from the best.  After all, my grandfather didn't work to be able to travel... he worked, and traveled with the work paying for his travel.  He had international business contracts with his fabric finishing company, and then when he eventually sold it... He put the proceeds from the company sale into common stocks and use the income from the dividends to live a life where him and my grandmom could travel when and where they wanted...

He didn't save up for his next travel destination... He just let the income from the investments roll in and relaxed with a good book while that money flowed and then when he felt like it, he traveled where he pleased.

There's nothing wrong with being an owner, or a worker...

It's entirely up to what makes you happy.

Personally?  I want to be an owner when it comes to paying bills... I want to be a worker when it comes to the things that I enjoy doing and what makes me happy.

Most people are workers for paying bills... and the little that's left over, they escape their life that they don't like very much by travel.

I don't want to do that, I want to travel as a destination, not as an escape.

It's an interring concept... Maybe I'll write a book one day... A lifestyle book, self help....  Something like...

"Why Work To Own, When You Can Own Your Work?"

Not too bad of a book title for being made up on the spot!