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The most money is made when buying cheap. Stocks are cheap when there's bad news....like during a recession. 1990 was a recession year. That made it a great time to buy. The last few months I've been buying value etfs (loaded with bank stocks). Those PE ratios of 12 just look too compelling to ignore. They may still go down from here, but I'm hanging on to them for a long time. The fat dividend yield of 3.35% (VTV: Summary for VANGUARD VALUE ETF - Yahoo! Finance) makes the wait worthwhile.
You know I might do the same but I'm looking at some individual bank stocks right now (not much of course-just something that I would play around with anyway) but I'm also sure that 1-2 more major banks are either going to go belly up or will be bought undervalue. If WaMu survives this ordeal and goes anywhere near its price of a couple yrs ago it will be a cash cow. I feel Wachovia is in too much danger of being bought. There's some healthy regional ones from the South that look pretty appealing though.
I also think certain restaurant chains are getting hit hard by the economic slow-down (and if the media is always calling it a recession than the average Tom,Dick, or Harry is going to be too conservative to go out to eat alot) making them dirt cheap right now.
Hey, thanks for taking a veiled off-topic shot at us for being selfish people too busy with money to have kids. I have 2 and am raising them solo since my wife died so you can <self moderated>
You seem to like song lyrics so here are some from the foo fighters.
"Mark Still Lives at home"
"Cause He's Got No Job"
"He Just Plays Guitar and Smokes a Lot of Pot"
I guess it was a thinly veiled off shoot. It sounds like you have your work cut out for you and are doing a good job. I guess my point was that saving up money shouldn't be your only goal in life. I think this thread has take a nice turn into one about millionaires with a balanced life.
I don't know if a thread about being a millionaire should digress in any way to being about your kids. Give them the seeds for success and the lack of a podcasts and personal computers will not mean anything. My most pointless educational experiences were in the schools with money, as grown-ups had somehow assumed that the mass of technology would somehow convince a kid to learn and try. Sure they are expensive little beasts but that's at best a schism from the comment jimmyrocks had made.
I think instead maybe some more energy should be directed towards the fascinating industry of drilling for water. Personally, I drill for water in my (very expensive) crapper and am pretty successful most of the time.
Many of the families in 'The Millionaire NextDoor' own their own businesses. Catering, laundromats, auctioneers, pawnshops, janitorial services, coal mines, jewelry retailers, etc. All family operated businesses
From what I recall, MND ranked auctioneers and laundromat operators at the top of small businesses that produced most millionaires. The authors called these businesses "dull normal" - which meant boring, unsexy businesses, yet were very good at producing cash and made their owners very rich. They contrasted this to the so-called sexy businesses (eg showbiz) where people wear "big hats but no cattle". Interesting book.
You know what business makes money hand over fist? Hotel franchises. You typically recoup your costs in about 1.5-2 years, then basically gin money. And that's if you pay a management company to run things, making it essentially a windup toy.
I bet that another turnkey operation that makes money is mini warehouses. Cheap to build, cheap to maintain, and they sell out almost as soon as they're built. Just a cash cow.
Still you have *try* to collect judgments, etc. There is always the possiblity that a tenant will get violent, cause a lot damage...
I have one ex-tenant (gave him a great deal, still wouldn't pay his rent, was way too lenient on him, trashed the place) and I got a judgment against him. This is 7-8 years ago. Yet he still shows up at that duplex every few months to tell the current tenants how evil I am..
Still you have *try* to collect judgments, etc. There is always the possiblity that a tenant will get violent, cause a lot damage...
I have one ex-tenant (gave him a great deal, still wouldn't pay his rent, was way too lenient on him, trashed the place) and I got a judgment against him. This is 7-8 years ago. Yet he still shows up at that duplex every few months to tell the current tenants how evil I am..
We have only taken one tenant to court. It did get ugly, it took 4 months. The court appointed mediator took me aside and told me that she saw what the tenants were doing [as they refused to pay any more rent], and that while there are methods the tenants could use to keep us in court for 8 additional months, she would speed it up. and she did, those tenants were ordered out by the judge that month. the end result was that we lost 5 month's of rent, court fees, sheriff eviction fees. We got away with only a small bite taken from us.
I asked my grandparents, and I learned that when you make the decision. Or when the tenant first declares that they no longer intend to pay rent. Right then, you approach the tenant with cash.
Offer the tenant cash, say that you will hand them a cash amount if they are completely out of the apartment in 3 days. You need to have the cash in your hand, that the tenant can see it.
Since I learned this lesson. We have had 4 tenants where the relationship between us went 'bad'.
In each case, I [or my manager] offered the tenant cash, and the tenant was out of the apartment within the week, and the apartment was filled within 2 weeks. We lose 2 month's rent.
I let tenants get 1 month behind, before I boot them out.
Having been a landlord since 1985, we have dealt with a lot of tenants, only 5 times has it gotten to that point. Once we went to court, the other 4 times I paid the tenant cash to get out.
We have seen tenants with legitimate medical problems and not enough health care coverage. During their time of crisis, we have dropped their rent to half. When the crisis was over their rent went back to normal. The result? Each of those tenants, we still have. They pay on time, and they give us Christmas gifts.
We have only taken one tenant to court. It did get ugly, it took 4 months. The court appointed mediator took me aside and told me that she saw what the tenants were doing [as they refused to pay any more rent], and that while there are methods the tenants could use to keep us in court for 8 additional months, she would speed it up. and she did, those tenants were ordered out by the judge that month. the end result was that we lost 5 month's of rent, court fees, sheriff eviction fees. We got away with only a small bite taken from us.
I asked my grandparents, and I learned that when you make the decision. Or when the tenant first declares that they no longer intend to pay rent. Right then, you approach the tenant with cash.
Offer the tenant cash, say that you will hand them a cash amount if they are completely out of the apartment in 3 days. You need to have the cash in your hand, that the tenant can see it.
Since I learned this lesson. We have had 4 tenants where the relationship between us went 'bad'.
In each case, I [or my manager] offered the tenant cash, and the tenant was out of the apartment within the week, and the apartment was filled within 2 weeks. We lose 2 month's rent.
I let tenants get 1 month behind, before I boot them out.
Having been a landlord since 1985, we have dealt with a lot of tenants, only 5 times has it gotten to that point. Once we went to court, the other 4 times I paid the tenant cash to get out.
We have seen tenants with legitimate medical problems and not enough health care coverage. During their time of crisis, we have dropped their rent to half. When the crisis was over their rent went back to normal. The result? Each of those tenants, we still have. They pay on time, and they give us Christmas gifts.
Wow, I never knew how much power tenants have. I was always under the impression you could give them a week to get out with the threat of the police. It seems the legal process is designed to help the tenant not the landlord. But I guess even with a cash offer occasionally renting must be a great source of income-plus the renters are just giving you $ for your mortgage and getting nothing in return.
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I have 2 and am raising them solo since my wife died so you can <self moderated> 
