People live their lives, each to his (or her) own accord. Some are blessed somewhat naturally with insight (foresight), while others are guided by family guidance, education, or (what can be [and is, in my case] the hard knocks of) personal experience. I have spent my lifetime taking the path of least resistance. My sister graduated from multiple universities and with multiple degrees including a Ph.D. She was disciplined. I wasn’t. So, I ended up as a truck driver. Nothing wrong with it. But I probably could have done a lot more, and I’m aware of that, every day.
I was close to my grandparents. My grandfather died in the mid-1990’s. My grandmother in 2020. My last memories of my grandfather were of him on an oxygen tank. My grandmother lived to the ripe old age of 97. Just prior to a fall in which she hit her head fairly hard and subsequently declined rapidly (and passed), the doctors had said that she was strong as an ox and they expected her to live well into her 100’s. Before the end of her life, she was still walking (with the aid of a walker), and still had her mental faculties about her (with some complaints about issues related to dementia and she may well have been experiencing the onset of dementia). I loved her terribly (and my grandfather too). Seeing how close she came to achieving 100 years, I started wondering if there might be any such similar outcome for me. The need for a means of financial self-sufficiency (if not, then at least a means of consistent financial support) as well as optimizing myself, behavior and habits, to give myself the best chance of actually making it across 100 years or better, became clear.
I’ve worked in Oil Refineries and oilfields, wrenching (trained by the company), trained later as a welder, and finally, tired of working outside at -20 below zero, I obtained a CDL (commercial drivers license) with a HAZMAT endorsement on day 1, because I knew exactly what I’d come to do. I’d spoken to a tanker driver who was hauling crude oil, I believe, and was presented with the opportunity to drive trucks from among one of the companies that was a part of the grouping of contractors that I’d typically worked with. He told me I would need experience and to get it and come back. So I went and drove hauling production water for some amount of time, and another block of time hauling frac sand, used for hydraulic fracturing, a completion method used by oil and natural gas companies to produce natural gas, gas liquids, and to extract oil from low permeability shale reservoirs. Within a few years, I did eventually go back and haul crude oil, driving “supertankers,” for a number of years. I’m still driving trucks today, but am no longer in the oil industry, don’t make nearly as much either. I’ve always done alright, nothing to write home about perhaps, but I was able to support myself, always had what I needed, by the grace of God.
I’ve now traveled across the better part of a lifetime and find myself zeroing in on what I’ve accomplished, where I’m at (both personally and financially), and have spent time evaluating what results my efforts across 40 years have actually gained for me. I’m not too pleased with the results. I’ve asked myself more than a few times, “If I had to stop working today or in 5 years or 10, would I be ok? To be quite frank, asking myself that question has given me great cause for concern. I’ve come to painfully realize that I am strapped tightly to my job, living now near paycheck to paycheck. I see that my life, such as I know it today, would stop as soon as I stopped working. I couldn’t survive for many months, much less years. So the question becomes, “Of those who are financially prepared upon entering retirement, how did they get there and what did they do?”
I want to say here that prior to attempting to take on this task (what you’re reading here, for example), I’ve spent hundreds of hours (and probably well over a thousand) listening to whatever I could find related to the topic on which I’m writing. Being a truck driver, and one who drives with the “benefit” of having a camera installed in the cab of the truck (which I flippin’ hate, makes me feel like a rat in a glass cage), I’d signed up for YouTube Premium which allows me to find a series of videos created by some producer and to “binge-listen” (as opposed to “binge-watching”) said videos. I do this instead of listening to music, listening to talk radio or what have you. So, having set the phone to play, I will typically listen to the material for 8 to 10 and even over 12 hours per day and have done so for well beyond a year. I didn’t just step into this arbitrarily and I didn’t come to a point of understanding some of the concepts I’m currently writing about by accident. I had time on my hands. I had interest, the desire to understand, the belief that if people were making money on the internet (and they are), that there was no reason that I couldn’t be one of them, and in fact that I WOULD be one of them. I made up my mind to this and that decision acutely focused my determination that I would do everything I could to understand it. I came to believe that herein was an opportunity for me to find relief from (what I consider to be) an unsuccessful run across 40+ years. I’d worked for other people, not managing to take away much for myself in return, but for a variety of reasons. Not having a home that is paid off has only compounded that agitation. I’m always thinking about the future and what will happen when I stop working. Believing that there are, most likely, others in my situation, I decided that I would try to build something of my own effort, that something being related to those very things that I spend so much time thinking about…how to undo years of “living for today,” foolishly never focusing on building up a savings and consciously working towards my later years. Now, however, I can clearly see the eventual, “end of my career,” off in the distance. In addition, another realization has also come into focus for me. I see that all of these years, I’ve been nothing more than a cog in a machine, currently, “a driver to fill a seat in a truck,” working the hours of my life away to build and maintain someone else’s dreams. Could I have managed my earnings better? You bet I could’ve. Live and learn. Right?
I was blessed with a relatively decent education, most of it private. My parents worked hard to not only better their lives but to afford me most every opportunity possible. After working this many years, however, I can say that It is my belief that most educational institutions (high school and community colleges in my case) don’t go nearly far enough in training people how to think outside the box, to run companies instead of working for them. I don’t know, maybe I didn’t go high enough. I can only suppose that perhaps it comes down to wiring, that some people are just naturally wired to run companies, while others maybe aren’t. Even considering the family that I grew up in and with the record running constantly in the background of my parents working for themselves, educationally speaking, I can’t say that I received much to draw from that might have naturally resulted in me landing on my feet being self-employed. Mind you, I had a private education and I’m sure it wasn’t cheap. It makes me wonder about those many who receive far less of an education. Where do the traits to run a company come from? Such traits might include the vision to steer, the intuition to guide, the drive, enthusiasm and energy to undertake the road less traveled, the skills related to sales and people, and many more. Are these innate qualities? Are they developed? Are they something that can be purposefully conveyed? Can they be drawn out, at will? Can a set of specific results be obtained, then replicated? Is it possible for them to be passed from teacher to student, and then to another student, assuming natural differences in personality? I passed on going to University because I had this idea that I’d get my money for college in the military, that I didn’t need my parents’ help, or want it, a stepson clashing with his stepfather, whose pride and aggressive demeanor wouldn’t let him listen to anyone or anything, including both the impassioned pleas of his mother, as well as reason. After all, what can you tell a 16 or 17-year-old who knows everything? In truth, though I’m proud of having served my country, I never HAD to go into the military, it was strictly my choice. I was looking for a way out of the house. Things could have turned out differently for me had I allowed them to push me in the direction of completing the education that would have made me competitive in the professional world, and at higher echelons. I could’ve gone but, in the end, I never did go, and I can say with some degree of certainty that I had a hand in stacking the deck against me. I laid the bricks for what eventually became my life. If I’d been a little less pig-headed, life might’ve been a little easier, and I’ve been reminded of that very fact a few times, my mom saying, “You thought it was strict here at home, but you stepped out of the frying pan and into the fire (boot camp).” But, I got what I got. Add that to living life, experiencing both successes and failures, making right decisions and wrong ones, experiencing having been terminated, as well as some companies that I stayed on with for a number of years. I never did focus, discipline myself to go back to school, earn that degree. I got caught up in life and 40 years went by like a bird’s sweet song carried on the wind on some beautiful spring day. In whatever ways I’ve made my family proud or failed them, I will always be grateful to them, for their efforts, and the chances in life that they tried to extend to me. I always did enjoy my work so I don’t want to make it sound like it was for naught, but in truth, the fact that I never completed my education always bothered me, and because of my parents, the fact that I never even tried to work for myself also bothers me. Call it an awareness of untapped potential. I could’ve done more. I wholeheartedly believe that; been a better man, been a better father. Hell, been a father period. But one of life’s gifts is that no matter what one’s life has been, once one becomes aware, one can make changes. I still have some changes to make, course corrections, God willing.
My parents worked for a company (mutually) until one day their circumstances changed. They were then both without a job, and they had a house and my sister and I to support. My stepfather is one of the most disciplined men and hard workers that I’ve ever met. Regardless of our strained relationship across the years, I will always respect him as being one of the most grounded individuals I have ever known, completely unafraid of work, always busy doing something (and my mom too, for that matter). They were both let go of, very unfairly. My parents mutually decided to approach the contacts they’d been servicing for the company they’d been working for, telling them, “I’m the one who has been doing all of the physical work for you and unfortunately, I won’t be able to provide the services for you through XXX company anymore. But, I’m going on my own now. Would you like me to continue to provide your services?” Most of the companies turned them down, opting instead to stay with the company, not realizing that it was my stepfather who always went the extra mile in providing their services because that was who he is, not the company. But, they stayed with the “brand,” the company my stepfather worked for, because they perceived value in the name of the company, the brand. However, a few chose to continue on with my parents. It was these few that gave my parents what they needed, a starting point. They took and used that starting point to build up their fledgling company into a substantial enterprise that serviced hundreds of Bay Area restaurants, and became a recognized brand in their own right, offering consistent professional restaurant cleaning services, at a fair price and always dealing with the customers professionally and honestly. When they sold that company, they both retired as multi-millionaires. Since selling their company some years ago, I’ve heard that under it’s current ownership and management, that the company they started has declined to some degree which is very sad to me. I would have loved to have had the opportunity to continue and grow what my parents founded. I may have had somewhat of a strained relationship with my stepfather across the years, and although they may have sold that company instead of allowing me to continue it, he (and they, my mother also) gave me something of immense value that I doubt I’d have appreciated if I didn’t also have the life that I’ve lived. They gave me belief that if they could do it, then I can do it, and a living guide to follow, from which I’ve spent my lifetime trying to figure out how to glean its lessons. My mom always said, “An apple never falls very far from the tree,” and “You’re going to be a late bloomer. Don’t give up.” I can conceptualize the transit across time and events, the movement from an idea, implementation and planning, building and scaling of that idea. They planted the seeds. Those seeds have just been waiting for the right time or perhaps the right motivation, to finally crack open. These types of realities were formative in my own beliefs about life outside of just myself, about what can be accomplished when one focuses one’s effort towards the attainment of a clearly defined end.
I started with asking simple questions, implementing every resource to which I’ve had access, including both Google and YouTube. I asked, for example, by what means a person might typically earn a regular and ongoing income at the end of their working career (passive income). This question also brought the concept of assets to the forefront for me. Now, if you’re a financial professional, please understand, I’m only trying to share the thought processes involved (at least for me) for those who might be in a similar conundrum.
Before I get started here, let me clearly emphasize that I am not a financial advisor. There is nothing here that I would ever intend to be misconstrued as financial advice. The purpose of this blog is to document a journey, the progression of an idea, the means and methods used to attain the financial security to support what I hope will be a long and healthy life. You know what they say: “The bills never stop.” This blog is written as much as (and probably moreso) for myself (and possibly my children and grandchildren someday), as it is being written for anyone who might stumble across it and be bored enough to actually read it. I hope to be able to intelligently increase the data available in this genre (ideas specific to the many elements involved in intelligently planning for retirement). I thought that by writing it out that I might help to give myself a clearer picture. If you find anything here that is helpful and broadens your own perspective then I’m humbled. But having said all of this, please direct your questions to a tax or financial professional, or an attorney. No legal advice is intended.
My overall directive has been to discover how to intelligently prepare for retirement, to secure my future position during non-working years, to sustain myself at a level that I’m comfortable with across the years.
In order to accomplish this, one needs to ask a series of questions. What are my available resources? Can I get to know those resources intimately enough to choose the best ones (for me)? Can I orchestrate them into a plan of action? What are assets and how do I accumulate them? How can they eventually lead towards creating a passive income?
There are many resources to consider. My primary objective is to find a means to create and insure cash flow. A secondary objective is to create and grow resources. I can clearly see where and how to use the Internet as one important piece of this puzzle. I’ve already started. Business structure also plays an important role. There exists the possibility of moving from working as a company truck driver to driving for myself. I mean, except for a truck, what’s stopping me? It’s not like I don’t have a boatload of experience both as a driver and in the transportation industry. Next, how do I address such items as implementing compounding interest where possible, taking advantage of appreciation, equity growth, to reducing/eliminating debts, minimizing taxes, consolidating expenses, implementing investment vehicles such as stocks, bonds, mutual funds, annuities, IRA, Roth IRA, 401k, familiarizing myself with the tax advantages inherent in the operation of an LLC or even an S-corporation, and looking into the purchase of gold and silver bullion. Other available potential resources include attending auctions and estate sales.
Beyond the above considerations, there are also the matters of Life, Health, Medical and Funeral Insurance. There are burial costs to include casket, ceremony, plot costs, or perhaps, cremation.
Then, there is the matter of Power of Attorney, Estate Planning, Wills, Probate and Trusts.
The following series of definitions, quoted from multiple financial articles, are aggregated here to highlight the concept of an asset in its various facets. I don’t remember all of the articles that I’m quoting from, names of all the individual authors, but I’d like to give credit to each author whose material assisted me in compiling this information.
“An asset is a resource with economic value to a person, a company or a country. An asset is something that can generate cash flow producing a future benefit. That same asset can also be used to reduce expenses (decrease cash outflows). An asset is anything you own that adds financial value, whether manufacturing equipment or a patent, as opposed to a liability, which is money you owe.
A revenue-generating asset produces a cash flow that is linked directly to the asset. If the asset were sold, the cash flow would stop. An asset might be understood to produce both a regular cash flow and to provide indirect value by enhancing the company’s brand and driving product sales. Examples of personal assets include: Your home, other property, such as a rental house or commercial property.”
“Real assets are tangible and therefore have intrinsic value.
Financial assets are paper assets that can be easily converted to cash.
Alternative assets are financial assets that do not fall into one of the conventional investment categories to include stocks, bonds, and cash. Alternative investments can include private equity or venture capital, hedge funds, managed futures, art and antiques, commodities, and derivatives contracts. Real estate is often classified as an alternative investment (asset).
A Digital Asset is anything that is stored digitally and is uniquely identifiable that organizations can use to realize value. Digital assets live on computers or the cloud and are utilized by an organization for business purposes. They are digital files belonging to an individual or organization and they live within a searchable digital infrastructure. Digital assets have specific characteristics (metadata) that enable discovery and they provide unique value to the individual or organization that owns it. Examples of digital assets include documents, audio, videos, logos, slide presentations, spreadsheets, websites and underlying code, blogs, social media accounts, photos, email and associated metadata.
Unique digital assets include NFT’s (non-fungible tokens) which represent ownership of real-world items like art, video clips, music, and more. NFTs use the same blockchain technologies and smart contracts that powers cryptocurrencies to manage digital ownership, but they’re not a currency.
Assets can be bought, sold or even created.”
I’ve lately been focused on how people use the Internet to achieve a jumpstart, one that allows you to start from where you are. One can create websites to sell goods as in e-commerce, or one might create an informational resource by which others might be able to benefit, that provides useful information for them to consider while organizing, structuring, and crafting their own financial realities into a cohesive whole. There are many different aspects involved in the creation of a “digital” asset. The key for me is: “What can I do to create a legitimate asset?” juxtaposed against strictly focusing on accumulating assets (a semi tractor-trailer, aside from the eventuality of a house) with the expectation of initiating business revenue for myself. Trucks are not exactly an inexpensive investment and a company requires the means to be able to get the job done (as in purchasing trucks to transport goods, in my case), not exactly something I can do in my current capacity or from home. When considering houses, however, they require substantial down payments (especially in California). Would it even be possible for me to purchase and payoff a house in the California Bay Area in just under 10 years? That’s one TALL mountain. I regret to say that I’ve not made these preparations or purchases before now. It comes down to a matter of pay now or paying later (as in renting for all of my retirement years). Because should I require care, it’s VERY expensive. I know firsthand. My girlfriend is both a caregiver and has done hospice. She’s shared with me what her company charges. I’ve suggested more than once that we should buy a house and license it to provide similar care, but she doesn’t want to do it, she’s content to work and earn her paycheck, without additional responsibility. The only other option would be facility care but at that point, you would have lost all personal freedom (ie: of movement/ personal space, etc.). I read something several years ago and it comes to mind: “Start where you are. Use what you have. Do what you can.” I’ve also read that the best time to start preparing oneself was 30 years ago, and the second best time to start preparing is today. I missed the boat 30 years ago. Since then, real estate prices have gone through the roof, to the point of potentially pricing me out of the very state that I consider to be home. So, how do I get there? Is there anything that I can reasonably do from today forward? Actually, I think there is. Hence, “this project.”
The first step in creating any plan of action is to become familiar with what options (resources) one has available and how to manipulate them to achieve one’s end goal. There are different considerations that one might have to account for, what one’s end goal is, what resources are available and to which one has reasonable access, amount to contribute, length of time to work with, and so on. Identifying these will help bring a reasonable path into focus.
One possibility, now, is to implement the Internet to build an online business, thereby creating a digital asset. Or, one could start a “regular” business, be it as simple as a service business, or something far more elaborate. When my parents went on their own after getting let go of, my step-father was 53 and my mother was 48, late in the game, but they knew what they wanted, and they were focused. It was a gamble, but that gamble paid off, big. My mom once said to me, “We didn’t know that it would become what it did, but we worked hard, we took care of every customer, we were blessed, and maybe there was a little bit of luck too.” Now step up, the late bloomer. It’s time to see what I’m capable of.
“If you want money, solve problems. If it solves a problem, money will be thrown at it. If it’s a million-dollar problem then the solution will make you millions. If it’s a billion-dollar problem then the solution will make you billions. If you want money, then it isn’t money that you should be looking for. You should be looking for problems; and more importantly, solutions to those problems.
Look for problems and solutions; and once you’ve found that solution, make a business around it.
Start with the problem. Listen to the market around you. What are people saying they don’t like? What are people saying they wish existed? What are people saying frustrates them? What do people think is incredibly inconvenient? Is that a problem you can solve? Is it a problem that is worth solving?
The final step is finding a scalable solution to the problem. Your solution needs to affect a magnitude of people. Starting a restaurant? That’s not scalable. But a franchise, now that’s more scalable. Is your solution a piece of software? Then that means once that software has been built, you can scale it infinitely, online, without needing to worry about things like production or shipping costs as it’s all done virtually. Good luck finding infinite scale with a job.”
THE UNTOLD TRUTH ABOUT MONEY -Quoted: James Jani-
