Chinook is the fish. Chinook salmon. Oregon doesn’t let you fish much, and tags are spendy, areas are restricted.
lol ok now i see what it was, i was like huh, 25mm? whoa… naw I’ld like a chinook heli though, that’d be cool.
He meant:
http://www.riversinletresort.com/images/kidstoo.jpg
You are thinking of this:
http://www.diggerhistory.info/images/helicopters/ch47-chinook-tropical.jpg
LOL- Gotcha. As you can tell, I don’t fish. That would be cool though if you took that helicopter fishing!
What do you currently do??
This indeed an interesting thread. I would say that it touches on a topic I call in my book CONSUMERHEAD versus INVESTORHEAD. It is clear there are a lot of INVESTORHEADS in this forum which is a great thing. Although it is very important to give yourself some reward for success, it is also very important, if your goal is long term financial freedom – which seems to be a very common goal of most people I meet – whether or not they call it that, to focus on reinvesting into your wealth building early on versus spending what you make to fund living expenses. The power of compounding over time causes the dollars you keep working for you early on to have a very high long term value.
Rather than go into a dissertation on this concept of consumer versus investor mentality, I herebelow post an excerpt from a book I wrote sometime back which covers the matter.
Investor-Head or Consumer-Head?
In the highly popular book, The Millionaire Next Door, the authors provide a large amount of evidence that shows why many in our society are unable to achieve any measure of wealth. It often comes down to their attitude with regard to investing versus consuming. Many spend the majority of their earnings to fund a lifestyle well beyond their means, and as a result never set aside money to invest. They focus on consuming rather than investing for the future, and often mentally fool themselves into believing they are financially successful because of the beautiful environment they build around themselves through this hyper consumption. They have become what I refer to as “consumer-heads” rather than “investor-heads.” Many even take this financially destructive behavior to the extreme, not only spending all of the liquid assets they have in order to fund their hyper consumptive lifestyle, but also using expensive credit to further fuel their spending habit.
The bottom line is you must become an investor-head instead of a consumer-head if you are to realize financial independence. When you have excess funds, you should determine the best use of those funds, carefully considering your long-term objectives.
It is amazing how many people, when they obtain a little extra money, immediately think of buying a convenience item, such as a television or new car, without carefully considering whether they can truly afford the item. More importantly, they don’t consider the long-term cost of the decision. In other words, most people are programmed as consumer-heads instead of investor-heads. If you wish to achieve any lasting measure of financial success, your thoughts must constantly revolve around how you can best make use of available funds, including funds from others, to generate a larger base of performing assets that will generate greater and greater amounts of profits for you and your family. You should always think as an investor-head and do all that you can to avoid the consumer-head mentality.
There is a well known saying regarding this consumer-head mentality called “keeping up with the Joneses.” As you likely know, this refers to the way many people focus more on creating an image they want others to see, an image that might lead others to believe they have more than they actually have, than on truly developing a strong personal financial base. It is far more important to focus on the right things, and to make the absolute best use of each dollar you have at your disposal, than it is to create a fictitious image of success that has no real basis in fact. When you turn out the lights at night to sleep, you know the facts, and if you wish to rest comfortably, you must be comfortable with reality.
Consider the following example of consumer-head mentality. John lives in a small house that desperately needs repairs to ensure it maintains its value. These repairs include replacement of rotting wood, new paint, a new front door, updated heating, and several other essential repairs. Keep in mind that John’s house, if properly maintained, is a valuable asset that can facilitate his borrowing money for future investment. Additionally, his house will likely appreciate in value, in the process yielding several other positive benefits. If his house is not properly maintained and is allowed to deteriorate significantly, it will not appreciate but may indeed depreciate significantly in value. John also drives a used, but dependable car needing new paint and a few minor repairs.
John’s great aunt, an elderly lady of substantial financial means, passes away and leaves $15,000 of her estate to John. As soon as John receives the unexpected inheritance, he immediately considers how best to use the funds. Before long, he finds himself at the local car dealership, where he begins looking at used cars. John correctly realizes that buying a new car is often a way to toss good money out the proverbial window, so he looks for a quality second hand vehicle in excellent condition. He settles on a pickup truck and immediately orders upgrades to install expensive chrome rims, tinted windows, special shocks, extra wide tires, and several other improvements. He has one of the hottest trucks on the block, but still lives in a house that is rapidly losing value from physical deterioration that could be readily fixed using just a portion of John’s recent inheritance.
John has focused on having a better vehicle and creating a better image, worried more about what others think than about his true financial condition. He figures no one will see his house, and besides, most of his friends live in similar houses, with major repairs needed but neglected. He fails to realize that protecting the value of his house will help him have more financial security and will move him forward toward the dream of wealth which he often considers in his private moments. Yes, John feels a sense of accomplishment and pride from his decision, and he enjoys the positive comments that his consumer-head friends shower upon him. But is it worth the true price? John doesn’t understand the ultimate price of his decisions, and doesn’t take time to learn how to properly use the resources he has at his disposal. Whereas investing in his home, or even better, investing in his education, would have been much wiser choices for his inheritance, John made the wrong choice. He made the consumer-head choice that our society encouraged him to make. He made the choice that reflects the basic reason why many in our society remain financially poor with opportunity all around them.
If you dream of financial freedom, you must immediately begin focusing on eliminating your tendency to fall prey to the consumerism trap. Do not let the daily bombardment of television commercials, glitzy ads, and store displays pull you away from your focus on investing for your future. If you truly program yourself to always look at every use of money as a potential investment waiting to happen, you will find it more and more difficult to waste money on consumer items that will just lose their value.
With the proper focus on conserving your dollars and minimizing your expenditures on consumer items, you will have more to invest, more to leverage, and you will realize far greater returns than you ever thought possible. Remember, you can only leverage that which you possess or have access to. And the more you have to leverage, the faster your performing asset base will grow.
One final point you must appreciate. Opportunities to realize wealth producing rates of return on investments often arise unexpectedly. You cannot wait until an opportunity presents itself to begin building your asset base. You must begin right where you are today so that when opportunity presents itself, you are in a position to capitalize thereon.
[Excerpt from “Leverage: A Key to Success and Wealth”, Copyright (c) 2004 by Ron D. Pate]
Happy Investing!
Ron D- Can you sum that up in 2 paragraphs or less?
Danny,
I can sum it up in only 1 sentence: Don’t throw away your profit on junk!!!
Mike
Good summary Mike.
To that I’d add, “Don’t sacrifice long term financial freedom for short term pleasures.”
Ron
I just took my beautiful wife out to a nice dinner and then I took my profits and invested in 4 more properties for my buy and hold portfolio.
I still keep a level head and do not try to live above my means or show off.
I really love and enjoy what I do, so the money is just a by product of my passion.
Thanks for asking!
"Don't sacrifice long term financial freedom for short term pleasures."Short and sweet Ron, I love it. You remind me of Markus from The Apprentice 4.
I am with Ron Pate on this.
After my first deal I was stoked!!! I went out and got me a place to live. Homeless Real Estate Investing was not fun. Bought a car (that I still have can’t forget where I came from)
The only difference is I bought 5 houses out of the shoot. Got cash back. And bought 4 more. ($150k+) Followed my plan for 10 years and now I bought a nice house on some land in the Mountains. I am now 31 and enjoy everyday being a major part of my kids and wife’s life. Oh yeah and of course Fishin’
Remember we live in the land of the free… And you are not free until you are financially free.