Chia,
I have learned that a boat can really be a bottomless "money pit". I own a small business and really don't have time for one now anyway. Hopefully I'll be able to afford a nice boat when I retire and have time to enjoy it. I'm 32 so that will be quite a few years from now.
I'm not counting on Social Security since the minimum age to collect it might be 70+ when I'm ready to retire. I really don't want to work that long!
A few of my customers are very wealthy and have given me a some tips on how to get there. One is 75, owned an appliance/consumer electronics store for 20 years, sold out, invested the money and retired at 55. This guy hasn't worked for 20 years, has been around the world several times, spends money like there's no tomorrow (last time he called he was recovering from a quadruple bypass, so he might have the right idea here), and says every time he checks with his CPA he has more money than he did the last time.
His advice to me was basically, "go find yourself some good growth stocks, put as much money as you can into them while you're young, let time and compounding work their magic, and when the returns from your investment portfolio are more than able to pay your bills, work part time or retire from the "rat race" and start enjoying life."
Unfortunately, so far I've only found two growth stocks that I really like. I've spent many hours looking for ideas in Value Line, Money, Kiplinger's etc. but can't seem to find anything (with the possible exception of Microsoft) that compares with my two favorites.
My wife on the other hand is very prudent, spreading her investment money over every type of mutual fund available. She will say "boy that Pacific rim is heating up, that's where you need to be investing." I'll reply, "well if they are doing as well as you say they are I'm sure they will be ordering some computers and networking equipment to help manage that growth." I then try to explain that I don't need to know which regions are growing, INTC and CSCO know because that's where they are shipping product (~45-50% of revenues from foreign sales). So I am able to take advantage of that growth wherever it may be. She just rolls her eyes as if to say "you chowderhead, I've never read that before, so obviously you don't know what you're talking about." We have fun arguing, especially since my boys have been spanking her 20+ mutual funds for the last couple of years.
By the way, the 'vette I sold was a much better investment than the boat. I bought it used, drove it for 11 years and sold it for $500 more than I paid.
Thanks for your reply,
and good luck.
Lee |
