The Worst Possible Start

Right when what you see in the image above happened, I was supposed to start my new career outside the military.

I loved my time in the Air Force but when the physical demands of flying jets became too much, I needed to build a new career in the civilian world. I decided I wanted to become a business owner at 40+.

I have always been fascinated about finance and investing but the dot-com bust scared me.

I had lost $75K that took years to accumulate in the NASDAQ.

I had learned how to study companies but still fell victim to the market dynamics, so much so that I was numb to any news about stocks and stock indexes.

I was ashamed because I had not just been investing by myself but had joined a small group of fellow investors. Yes, we all had our own brokerage accounts, but we actually supported each other way too far into the crash with hope upon hope upon hopeful anecdotes we kept telling each other.

Initially I was afraid to tell anybody, even my wife.

I thought things would recover but they didn’t.

The money that I thought I had to give me a start into a new career as a business owner was all gone.

Having gone through a crash like this triggered my curiosity about any survivors. Did everybody lose everything like I had or were there survivors – even “Thrivers”?

The losses made me research and put my analytical skills to good use. Within a few months I discovered a fellow immigrant, not from Germany but from Austria. You probably know who I mean when I say: “The Terminator.” Some also call him the Austrian Oak.

The losses in the stock market made me go much deeper, learn way more details and really strive for mastery.

The losses taught me to focus on the narrow part of residential real estate investing rather than being all of the many available real estate investing categories.

The losses showed me the importance of an extensive network of resources within my niche that I can depend on for my clients as well as my own investments.

The losses manifested that to help others with their investments I must be the one who tests each path thoroughly myself, know what works and what doesn’t and only then offer what I have done to my clients.

These days I am proud to have a growing following we call “The Tribe” of fellow investors in residential real estate who are all on their journey towards their Time Freedom Point.