Are there any millionaires.... (funds, payments, credit, dollars)

[Chuckity]

We got our money the old fashioned way ...

We inherited it.

[Driller1]

Originally Posted by Chuckity

We got our money the old fashioned way ...

We inherited it.

Wow, do you need write-offs!!!!!

[Submariner]

I served in the US Navy for 6 years and got out. I used my GI bill to attend college. While we both attended college and worked full time, we bought an apartment building, using a zero-down 'first-time home-owners loan'. When we finished our degrees, I went back into the Navy.

Then at each duty station we followed a routine. We bought an apartment building. Using a zero-down mortgage, were we lived in one unit while I was stationed there, and we rented out the other apartments. I spent my off-time fixing and repairing. wiring, plumbing, carpentry, plastering, painting. etc. Then when we were transferred, we got a manager to manage for us, and we moved away.

We both took a few courses. We became certifed to do budget counseling [by the Navy], and tax filing and tax-planning [by the IRS]. We learned how to help others to live on a tight budget, and how to do tax-planning. So we worked on reducing our cost-of-living, and we kept ourselves fully tax sheltered [exempt from taxation].

As I said, at each duty station, we did this routine. We bought an apartment building [with a zero-down mortgage] where we lived as owner-occupied and we rented out the remaining apartments.

We accumulated four properties [East coast, West coast, overseas]

Eventually when I got my 20 year pension, we sold three properties. We used the money to buy our farm and to build our new house.

Our farm and house is mortgage free, and we still have one apartment building which is filled with renters.

In the year before my retirement, I calculated our Net Worth, and found that we were very near to being worth $900,000.

I retired at 42.

[NJ Chutzpah]

do you mind me asking where specifically those buildings were located at

Was it really that easy to get a loan for a building back then

How much was the navy paying you back then

Was the interest on the zero-down high

if not, how come more people did not do the same

I guess you never had to serve onboard a ship then and never spent months at sea

[Submariner]

Originally Posted by NJ Chutzpah

do you mind me asking where specifically those buildings were located at

Was it really that easy to get a loan for a building back then

How much was the navy paying you back then

Was the interest on the zero-down high

if not, how come more people did not do the same

I guess you never had to serve onboard a ship then and never spent months at sea

1; California, Scotland, Connecticut, Washington.

2; Yes.

3; From year to year my salary fluctuated. On average I grossed around $65k/year tax-free, for the most of my career. I got out as an E5, going back in I made E6 after an additional 3 years. So beginning in my 9th year in uniform I was an E6, and I retired as an E6.

4; The highest interest that we have paid on a mortgage was 12%.

5; I have helped renters to go out and to purchase their own homes. I have tried to encourage renters to buy apartment buildings for themselves. However they have generally been too scared.

6; I am a submariner. As a sub crewman I generally spent 7 months of each year living underwater, often under ice. During my 20 year career, I completed 14 years at sea.

I bought my first in 1985. So we were collecting properties through-out the later half of the 1980s, all of the 1990s, and I bought our retirement home in 2005.

I just helped my SIL to buy her first apartment building. I must say that doing it today is just as easy.

[ndfmnlf]

I wonder whatever happened to all the tech millionaires that were spawned by the internet bubble. Back in 1999, everyone and his uncle were buying tech stocks. At that time, I could never get myself to buy a tech stock (too risky)....the most I could do was buy a tech mutual fund (Janus Global Technology JAGTX), which promptly tanked shortly after I bought it in late 1999. Now it's still only a third of its original value. That taught me never to chase performance or follow the herd.

[Mathguy]

I'm 38, and I am not a millionaire but am getting close.
I've gotten mostly there just on saving first and living frugally.
I am not a business owner, just a worker.
No inheritance or big stock market or home sale score etc.

401k heavily used to avoid taxes as much as possible.
15 year fixed mortgages.
Buy inexpensive cars and drive them for a long time. (Until recently lol)

[NJ Chutzpah]

Was your wife in the navy as well, or did she just take care of the place while you were at sea

Here in NYC Metro it is not that easy to make a good profit for normal people (buying building)

if you spent 7 months/yr how did you have the time to find exactly the right deal, they do not just pop up constantly, or did they back then

Managing a building is a full time year round job, you did not have any problems with non-payments, legal action, violations, and what nots

HUH the navy paid pretty darn well back then

i mean 12% is kinda high no

[dc1225]

Originally Posted by Mathguy

I'm 38, and I am not a millionaire but am getting close.
I've gotten mostly there just on saving first and living frugally.
I am not a business owner, just a worker.
No inheritance or big stock market or home sale score etc.

401k heavily used to avoid taxes as much as possible.
15 year fixed mortgages.
Buy inexpensive cars and drive them for a long time. (Until recently lol)

LOL....I think I do that as well but don't see myself gettin anywhere near million mark! What is your salary? a million?

[dc1225]

Originally Posted by Chuckity

We got our money the old fashioned way ...

We inherited it.

High five! why work for it when you don't have to?