20-something + Retirement = What?

[max_boost]

Originally posted by Disoblige

Sounds like a pretty awesome job to be honest if that's true LOL.

Yep. That's a true dai lo right there.

Answer some calls, drive around in Corvette or X5, collect some cash, and then relax with a steam shower and watch some tv in entertainment room. Sounds like semi-retirement to me. haha

[ercchry]

i've heard the same about him... which is insane since this other person had a huge address book that he would have referred to him

[flipstah]

Originally posted by G


What's remarkable is that in another thread he says he games 4-6 hours per night...he must be super productive during the day. I pm'd him about a building envelop job and he says it's too small for him and isn't worth his time if it's less then $10k...like seriously he didn't even bother to look at the job before he turns it down. What doesn't make sense was that he claimed to have done similar jobs last summer that was in the 40k range...like wtf confusing .

That's an... "interesting" work practice?

[Sugarphreak]

...

[ExtraSlow]

Originally posted by Sugarphreak
If I were to semi retire I'd open a beach side coffee shop near a collage or university... then offer a pretty girl discount, haha.

I will work for you for minimum wage.

[InRich]

lol i love beyond... so here we go.

semi retired for me means I do absolutely NOTHING for the months of Jan, Feb. March, Oct Nov, Dec. when I say nothing.... i wake up at 11;30. play games all day, and go to sleep at around 2:30am. repeat. Dave saw the way I lived for a full week he can vouch for that lifestyle. On weekends I goto parties or other social shit... its gets boring after a few months, so when summer comes its a BIG relief.

In the summer... I wake up at 10;00... i check my messages, which i'll get at least 7 calls by 10;00am. I answer them all and make appointments for the evenings with the qualified potentials. meaning I sit down with the husband and wife and do my thing... So technically I start work in my busy seasons at 6:00pm for the first appt, then 8:00 for my 2nd, and 10:00 as my third (but thats very rare). Also on some days I'll go and visit work sites currently in progress during the day (on nice days only). that's usually when I drove the vette around. I'll switch cars in the evening when I see new clients so they dont think I make too much money.

This year was my 2nd slowest year ever.. I really had no drive to work or do anything this summer, and really only went to the clients I knew would sign immediately. I was really unhappy with my gf of 6 years (I just broke up with her). I have been doing this since 2007, my clients all LOVE me, I have comment cards that need to be filled out at the end of each job by the clients, and I have nothing but praise on almost every site.. actually 30% of the business I had this year was referral (thats HUGE) I had 13 full time employee's this year, most of them have been with me since the beginning.

I started working out again recently. I used to be huge back in the day, and I dont have the same presence I used to have around people anymore, its a shame, its depressing and I'm working on changing it. I did sell my vette, and i have ordered a new car which should be here in Feb as a present to myself for 6 consecutive years of success.

This year I noticed alot of shit popping up around the industry. shady fucking workers and companies, companies under bidding me by as much as 100% on purpose just so I lose the jobs or to make my clients think twice. I have seen companies using my houses in their flyers and portfolios. its pathetic. I have vowed to destroy these companies in 2013, and I'm going to be war'ing hard for every dollar.

I do like beyond... So i'll share some of the things I found important through the years, these are the things I believe made me a success story...

My parents are utterly poor. We were immigrants from Slovakia, I came here when I was 6. I started grade 1 and I couldn't even speak word of english. I was made fun of my entire life, and I was bullied very badly all the way up to grade 11. I never had any real friends. In grade 8 I remember a gang of kids following me home. One time I was kicked so hard behind the knee, that I couldn't walk properly for weeks. my dad got so upset, he took me and the few friends I had in our van, with metal rods to hunt down the kids that beat me up so often. when he found them, my dad being a black belt, he picked that kid up my his neck, threw him to the ground and choked him out until the kids face was white with fear. that day I told myself I would never cry myself to sleep, and I would never be bullied again. I love my dad... but he makes bad decisions sometimes. In the future I would continue to get bullied. but now I would stand up to every single mother fucker that ever looked to bully me or my friends. I got into a few fights. I remember throwing and choking out a 12th grader and throwing him head first into a locker in my first week of grade 10. he wanted to initiate me. I asked him to try it. I remember being beat up so bad on a bus by one bully in grade 11, I was knocked out. after going down, they kicked my head in with steal toed shoes. It was so bad then when I came too, the braces on my teeth lodged deep within the gums. But I never backed down again.

In 1994 we almost lost our house because of a business decision my dad made. he couldn't find work for over 4 years. my mom supported the entire family on 14 dollars an hour... my dad loved anything to do with video's so he bought a failing business in brae side, a video rental store. he was really desperate to do anything.. it was our first business. the brae side video station. my dad racked up massive dept. something like 80k. at the end of it all, we almost lost our house. I remember working there all summer for free. and I guess it taught me a little about business. at the time I remember telling myself I would never fail in any business I ever owned or created.

In 1996 I started my own business @ 16 years old, outta my parents basement. nothing fancy. I still got the business cards. Crystal GraphiX. it was a graphics design company. The company made 428 dollars... it failed the following year.

When I graduated high school, 2000, I had no real work experience. I couldn't find a job anywhere after sending out 100s of resumes. I got 2 calls. one from Costco. and one from sears... I decided to go work at sears cleaning ducts, and furnaces. I was the dirt bag kid. I set-up the techs for the jobs, dragging heavy hoses into houses washed dirty pubic hair covered vents in peoples homes with my bare hands. I worked 4 days @ 12 hours a day for about 110 dollars a day. I remember thinking back then. is this all there is to life. because this fucking sucks. i remember suicidal thoughts going through my head. I hated life. but when I was down on my knees scrubbing these filthy fucking vents in peoples houses i thought... why dont I try and sell these people some filters or humidifiers while I'm down here. So I tried... and you know what I was really good at it. so much so that I was actually making more money selling this shit, then I was doing the job. after 8 months I couldn't stand it anymore. so I quit. when the owner heard, he ran down stairs, and asked me why. I told him I was better then this. that he didn't deserve me. by this time however I was up selling so much off the trucks, that I had changed the entire office forever. The sales staff in the front hated me, because they were professional salesmen of 5 - 10 - 20 years experience, and this kid was outselling them out of the back of the truck. at the time this was un heard of. the trucks were there for the service, never to up sell shit. Andy (owner and multi millionaire) instantly offered me a front of the house sales job as an inspector. Now usually I would get training. but the guys in the front hated me so bad, they told me to beat it, and I was sent on my way and onto the street to fend for my own. I remember shaking my head and thinking. I'm gonna fucking destroy and humiliate every single one of these fuckers. So I gave myself my first real goal in life. To be better, to destroy, and completely devour anyone that stands in my way. And like so many times in the past I went off again, by myself.

In 2001 I became one of the best salesmen Sears had ever seen. My stats were consistently blowing away the other salesmen. At 21 years old I was making 2000 dollars a week (100% commission). I went all out, I sold in my sleep. I door knocked when my leads ran out, I answered calls when I was in the office. I slept with the manager in the call centre so that I got the best leads in the mornings (yes she was good looking). I worked out every day. I did everything I could to give myself any advantage. I bought my first car, a 2001 Honda prelude SE, 33k, cash @ 21. My family crisis had thought me how to save, save, save. and I saved every dollar. at 22 years old I bought my 02 accord, and quickly modified it. it was the best looking car in that parking lot, -minus the bosses. at 23 I won a national award for being ONE OF the best salesmen at sears, NATIONALLY. btw Andy had taken me under his wing as well. he was my first mentor. he taught me everything he knew about the sales game. how to act, dress, talk, look, walk, sell, close. without his help I would never have been the success I am today. I remember becoming ruthless. no one ever said no to me.

At 24 I opened up my 2nd company. a sales contracting company. The company was to sub contract expertise to.... sears. I was now full time trainer, and expert inspector (which is just a fancy word for salesman). I trained all the new recruits for Andy. in exchange, I had priority over leads, plus I also had my ace girl as the manager. my sales numbers grew for a little bit, until I got bored, and decided it was time to go to school. my parents also pushed me into it.

I started business school at the university. a 4 year degree is expensive, so my company would continue to sub contract to sears at a part time basis. let me give it to your straight. business school - is a complete waste of time. I learned more sitting with Andy for 10 mins every morning in the real world then I did my entire time at school. I dropped out, right before finishing. I couldn't take it anymore, and that's when I started to work at Calcana.

At Calcana John took over where Andy left off as the 2nd mentor in my life. What a lot of you are unaware of is that Calcana never really had a garage heating division. When they interviewed me, I sold them on that division, and what I could bring to their table IF they just gave me a chance. John saw me as a caveman, ruthless, fast talking, unpolished. He took me under his wing immediately, taught me to slow down, think, and respond. He described business as if we were fighting a war. a lot of his lessons were based around this theory he had. John polished and fine tuned me, and I became a different person because of his teachings. he is a great man, and I owe him a lot. we had some great times. some of you think I was fired. that makes me laugh. it never happened. me and john were friends till the end. in 2007 I decided to leave, cause once again I was simply bored and it was time for a change. After leaving I finished the few courses I had left at school, and treated myself to a 4 month vacation touring Europe and Egypt as a present for being the only one in my family with a degree. The degree cost me 43k... I paid it off completely 6 months later. I dont believe in debt.

2007 was the test year for what would become one of the biggest success stories of my life. I tested the company before leaving for Europe...

What do I have to say to you today... well. most of you dont know me worth shit. some of you have met me. some of you assume to know me. the HELOC shit going around, well that just makes me laugh, I actually had to google what that meant when I first saw it.

as far as advice goes... well.... I had a rather long conversation with an old friend the other day. pretty smart guy. we talked about recognizing your potential. I find people rushing into everything nowadays. people get out of high school and are expected to get a job or go back to school for a degree, get married, get a mortgage, and have lots of babies. to me thats alot of fucking bullshit... you don't even know who you are yet at 18, or 19, or even at 25 or even 30! How the heck do you know what you want to be, or what you want to do for the rest of your life? people go into engineering for example, right outta high school expecting to like it, start it, pursue it till the end and then find a job. by that time your in debt, eager for the nice cars you see your friends have, the house, and the girl in your life wants babies. If for example you dont end up finishing your engineering, because, you dont like it, your considered a failure. then your family begins putting alot of pressure on you to finish what you have started, and you end up in a life u hate. Massive debt, house payments till your 65, car payments, family and consumer debt. Essentially people are expected to climb into these beds and live in them for the rest of your productive lives. And!! your expected to make that decision out of high school? its sad. and in my opinion its why there's such a high divorce rate, its why people are generally so unhappy in their lives.

am I happy today? well.. yes and no. right up until I hit 30 years old, (im 32 now) I thought money would make me happy, and any unhappiness could be solved by money. My biggest goal of all time was to make money! that was my ultimate. well... yeap today I drive a really nice car, I live in a nice house, and when Feb rolls around I got a super car being delivered to my door step. does it that me happy? fucking rights it does! but what truly makes me happy is remembering the road it took to get that car to show up in the first place. Start thinking out of the box. look at people that drive lambos or live in really nice houses and say, fuck you! i'm just as good, no - i'm fucking better then you! and heres how i'm gonna prove it to the world..... then... make it happen.

Next year I will completely destroy my completion. I'm going to eat their fucking hearts! I'm vowing it to all of you today, and i know it'll happen tomorrow. set your goals, in-vision them, and make them happen. I promise u, if you can visualize your goals, they'll come true every single time. for me I go over my goals 100s of times a day in my head. when i'm driving, when I'm eating, whenever. to this day, I have had all them delivered to me but one.

[vengie]

Originally posted by InRich
*SNIP*

I have to say, I'm pretty impressed. I like your attitude and your enthusiasm. I also like the paragraph about the pressure to live by a certain standard, and not allowing yourself to find out who you truly are. In fact I'm dealing with this right now... At 23, I'm finishing my Petroleum Engineering tech diploma, I've worked in the field for 2 years and have 2 offers of employment for 2 companies when I graduate. Just bought a condo (which I am glad, yet unsure if it was the right call). So essentially I have just committed to Calgary. I do have big dreams and idea's, lofty goals etc... and I feel I have NO idea who I am!

I have always lived by how I think others would want me to live, and not how I want to live. I can't say I regret it, but part of me wishes I said "fuck it" and did my own thing.

Regardless, very well said and I appreciated reading that.

[Type_S1]

Good on you that you became succesful. I too grew up poor and attribute much of my drive to never wanting to live like that again. I feel like people coming from a silver spoon background don't understand it the same way since they always have daddy's inheritance to count on.

As for not having friends...do you think that was an accent issue or a personality issue? hahaha! Sounds like you have some pent up rage to "destroy" people and prove you are better at exterior contracting. Let me tell you...even at my young age I can see that there are much better things to prove in life dude....

[flipstah]

Thanks, InRich! That made my day.

I'm quite impressed with what you had to go through. It's either kill or be killed; perfect man for sales.

Legitimately made my day.

[Sugarphreak]

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[TomcoPDR]

Originally posted by InRich
badass

If your dad is still gung-ho, now could be the time to actually make a run starting up a video store again, or partner with a pizza joint and have a little video section.

Without a doubt Rich is a living legion.

Though, I do like M.Alex's story too.

1. Poop pants in grade school
2. Pump roids
3. Get finanical job
4. Buy a few cars, live on an acreage
5. Profit?

[msommers]

I really enjoy reading people's success stories. I know this is the internet and people are a little gun-shy about posting any sort of personal details but go for it if you're so inclined.

[C_Dave45]

Rich; 'bout fuckin time you let the cat out of the bag! hahaha.
That's what I've been telling people....I knew nothing about you and had a totally wrong impression. After learning and seeing what Rich did, it inspired me.

But, alas....mine isn't as impressive. In fact, I will probably be working on my knees til the day I die.

I grew up at the low end of "modest". I was a true "flower child". Mom was a hippy. My Dad worked for the BC Ferries his whole career. Not big money, but lots of time off. He raised me alone. I spent countless hours just he and I playing hockey together on an empty rink as I was growing up. He'd rent an entire couple of hours for just he and I.
He didn't buy his first house until he was 40. Which ironically was the same age as my first house, when I moved to Calgary.

I started in the tile trade at 19. Tried to get out of it a few times. Worked for Paul Mitchell Hair Care products (Family friend had PM for all of Canada) that didn't work out. Then my uncle gave me a job at his company, WBM (western Business Machines) selling computers, with the hopes of getting into network sales/installation. That didn't work out, so back into tile. Worked in the Union for years, left the union and worked non-union. Renting the whole time in the Fraser Valley. Working in tile means you just make enough to pay the bills. Car breaks down...do a side job on the weekend. Want a camping trip? Work another side job on the weekend. That's all I did it seemed. So I decided to move to Calgary. 2001. The day after 9/11 was when I drove out here. Working right away, prices were great, zero expenses, didn't even own a work vehicle. Within a year we bought our first house. Within a couple more years, I tried to get into this booming real estate market of 05/06. And then.....whamo, recession hit and I got caught with two mortgages. I've survived...but I'll never make it rich. I can only lay so many tile in a day, and I don't have the business sense to have a 20-employee company. I get busy and hire a couple of guys...then spend more time and money fixing their mistakes...so I usually end up just my son and I, knowing nothing will go wrong.
Meh....puts bread on the table, and hopefully I can keep my house til I retire. I have no pension, no RRSP's, no rich family. You know those old guys you see delivering pizza in their 70's? That'll probably be me! hahaha.
But...I have a great family. Great kids and a great wife that I've been married to for 29 years. Coming home to that is what makes me happy.

[Sugarphreak]

...

[SkiBum5.0]

Originally posted by flipstah
Dear Beyond,

I'm a young 20-something with a starting career and decent pay. I have enough income to start saving up and possibly live out my dream of:

- Seeing the world as much as I can
- Having a house and two cars

...Possibly in the next 3-5 years for both dreams to come true.

With that, I calculated that I can afford a house with my current salary and have some money left over for expenses, retirement, etc.

Right now, I'm putting little retirement money (<$300 altogether/month) in my own TFSA, Mutual Funds RRSP and a work TFSA/RRSP. The rest is paying off my outstanding debt by the summer of this year (Kids will be kids, right?) and actual savings in my savings account.

After July, I have no obligations.

Nothing.

My dilemma is, I can either start saving for a trip this Christmas or a downpayment for a house.

As a 20-something, which should I focus on more: thinking about retirement or going on trips and shit?

I can try and do both but it's usually one trumping the other.

I live with my parents because I'm on field duty most of the time so no point in buying a house or renting an empty place right now.

Beyond ballers, please help.

Sincerely,

- Fork in a Road

Hate to be a downer but here's some advice:

Your plan seems reasonable for both items (house and travel). However, you are forgetting one major factor that may affect you in the next 5 years - a life partner (how's that for PC).

I was on the same track as you - bought a townhouse, had a sports car, started to travel...and then BAM.. got tricked into marrying a girl. We are not looking for a flashy wedding but total costs of wedding + engagement ring (assuming no family help) can be close to $50K.

I took a pill, sold the M3 to free up the capital for the wedding (bought the bike as a consolation prize), and now happy wife (to be) = happy life.

Sorry with all that boring sh%t I forgot the advice: plan for the unexpected - With extra $ save 40% for house, 40% for travel, and 20% for unexpected. Also, most advice I got was make sure your retirement savings is in full gear by 25 so if you are below that you might have some extra room.

Good luck man!

[flipstah]

Originally posted by SkiBum5.0


Hate to be a downer but here's some advice:

Your plan seems reasonable for both items (house and travel). However, you are forgetting one major factor that may affect you in the next 5 years - a life partner (how's that for PC).

I was on the same track as you - bought a townhouse, had a sports car, started to travel...and then BAM.. got tricked into marrying a girl. We are not looking for a flashy wedding but total costs of wedding + engagement ring (assuming no family help) can be close to $50K.

I took a pill, sold the M3 to free up the capital for the wedding (bought the bike as a consolation prize), and now happy wife (to be) = happy life.

Sorry with all that boring sh%t I forgot the advice: plan for the unexpected - With extra $ save 40% for house, 40% for travel, and 20% for unexpected. Also, most advice I got was make sure your retirement savings is in full gear by 25 so if you are below that you might have some extra room.

Good luck man!

Thanks for that perspective! I am looking for a gal to enjoy life with and with her working too (she better be lol), I think that goal will be closer to reach.

For now, I just have to pinch as much as I can while not compromising my responsibilities as the eldest sibling in an Asian family and not sacrificing my wants.

Aiya...

But I leave soon for Asia tripping! WEEE!