The next step

The great resignation, refresh, rejoin

I have pondered (as I’m sure many have as well), what is the next step for me. What will I do next in my life that’s going to be? What is my passion?

When I ponder some of these questions, I find myself at somewhat of a crossroads in my life. Is there a next step I need to take? What will that look like for me and for my family. Of course whatever it is, will have to consider the well being of my family as well.

What’s the great Canadian (or American) dream?

Every person I talked to about similar circumstances, has given me a completely different story. Some want to own a Tesla. Some want to own a Harley-Davidson. Some want to own a house (with the white picket fence).

I’ve also known people who truly want to do the Digital Nomad thing. One of my favourite you-tubers Josh Cahill does exactly this. His target is making flying better for every one. The very premise of his videos is to review each and every airline out there.

The side effect of this is that he gets to visit exotic new destinations, which may not exactly be tourist destinations.

So it comes down the the question, what is the great American or Canadian dream? Is it to get a house and settle down to a quiet sub-urban life with 2 weeks to a month’s worth of vacation each year at a resort down south somewhere?

If you are going to be part of the great resignation, what will you do instead, just get another job? Something with better benefits, pay or the illusive new perk, work from home?

To me, none of the above is really my passion. The house and the suburban lifestyle is great for my kids though. I don’t know if that’s my future. I don’t know if that’s my kids future? Is there a manual on what is the best future for a child really is?

Some people tell me if my kids don’t get that, we’ll “ruin” their lives. What constitutes ruining their life? Do we go with our father/grand-father’s concepts of get great jobs, buy houses, settle and then retire your golden years down south as a snowbird?

The myth of house heaven

The biggest myth out there (especially when you ask any baby boomer I’ve ever spoken with) is that houses are the best investments out there. I don’t really see it.

Here is the math I was given. Buy a place for 2000K and the bank loans you 800K. In a few years you now have an asset of 1.5 Million.

How is that an asset. Can you pay for your kids education without selling your house? Wait, maybe you can. Let’s see, the house is worth 1.5 million, and I’m only 800K in debt. It’s been 5 years, so I’m only about 725K in debt (in 5 years no less).

Now I can take on another 200K in debt which I have to pay additional monthly payments in interest and principal for. Now I owe 1 Million, but I can pay for my kids education.

Those numbers are not exact, but not too far from reality. Take a look at the $725,000. In 5 years I made about $75,000 in principal payments. For a $800,000 debt, we’re talking approximately $4,000 in mortgage payments (not including everything else). So $4,000 over 60 months is $240,000 (again not exact, but not that far off). So over 5 year period, I as the “homeowner” paid approximately $165,000 dollars in interest costs alone.

All the things in the paragraph above does not even include the additional $200,000 I just took on as debt. Now, a lot of people recommend using the value increase in the house to take on more real estate. The level of skill and organisation required to win over on that is pretty high.

As we’ve seen with the Chinese company who did similar thing, it can go awry very quickly. How much risk tolerance do you have?

So, I ask you, who’s asset is it? Yours or your bank’s. Unless you sell the house in a year or so, only to buy another house (which are also going up in price), you won’t make much money.

See this becomes a lot like gambling pretty fast. Gamblers win short term, but rarely win long term. Some do, but those are the exceptions than the rule. The real winners take risks, but they mitigate them. They are willing to work for their spoils. They are willing to tolerate some failures.

I have to ask myself, which group am I part of? Am I seeing the home as a financial asset, or a roof over my family’s head? If the latter, then what is the value of that roof to me?

This is the same question you all must answer for yourselves, is 160K over the next 5 years spent to keep a roof over your head worth more or less than if you had to pay rent to do the same?

This is not a rant. This is some hypothetical numbers, to get you guys to think more with numbers (in addition to thinking with your hearts, not instead of).

What is your dream?

Answering this question is the hardest part. My dream (from young boy) is to become a pilot. Not necessarily an airline pilot. However, I want to learn how to fly a plane. It’s a dream that was put on hold, mostly due to my family’s financial issues.

I will admit, with a family in tow, it’s not been easy for me to pursue this dream. Kids need their parent, and I’m already very busy with my job as well. The job supports my family financially, so I have no real ability to give so much additional time to learning to fly.

The 2nd dream I have is to be a business owner. The biggest challenge I ran into here, is I have no idea how to get started. I’ve been able to sell a few things here and there, but I’m not a sales guy. I don’t know how to see, or even what to sell in order to get started. It’s been a dream that I have no clue how to move forward on.

I’ll be honest. I’ve never really considered myself an entrepreneur. However, I do eventually want to be a business owner. I want to be able to give my family (in turn myself) the best of what life has to offer. I don’t know for sure that’s going to be done via a job or not. However, I do want to explore it.

What is your dream? What have you done to achieve it? What are you planning to do? Are you wondering how to get going (like me)?