Wake up Money

In one of my other posts, I mentioned that I like to talk to and watch people that are doing better than I am financially. I have a couple really good role models that are doing VERY well. (I’m not sure they know they are role models for me. I guess I should probably tell them. I bet they will be flattered that someone thinks that highly of them) Both of them have already surpassed the millionaire mark and with the levels of income they generate from their investments, now it’s starting to snowball for them. (It takes money to make money so once you have a bunch, it really starts to generate additional money).

They both made comments that have stuck with me like Anna Nicole Smith on a 90+ year old millionaire. I’ll tell you a bit about how we came to talk about it.

One night at about 11:00 pm I was sitting on the couch talking to my cousin, who, along with my other cousin and uncle, have built a VERY profitable development company where they live. That doesn’t mean that they sit around and watch their money grow, but they continue to use their profit to make more money. I was talking to my cousin about money making money and he said to me, “You want your money to make money for you while you are sleeping” I thought about it for a bit and then thought about all those people out there that have more money than I do and you know what? They all have a lot of their money making money for them while they are sleeping.

Another friend of mine is a VERY successful real estate broker. Along with being a very good broker, he is also very smart with the money that he makes. When I brought this up to him, he said, “The money that I work to make each day is what I call “Wake up Money”. In other words, he has to wake up to make it. The rest of his money is making money 24X7.

I’ll tell you that is probably the single biggest motivator for me. I want to quit having to wake up each morning to make “wake up money”. In order to do this, I need to keep amassing net worth and continually think of ways to bring in more money. This point is currently using up the majority of my brain space. How can I make more money? How can I make money without having to do additional tasks on a daily basis? It seems to me, I only have a couple choices, either find a better return on investment for the money that I do have, or use some of the money I have and move it in to real estate. There is only one problem with this. I can’t find an additional house that I can afford to buy as a rental. Real estate here, like many areas of the country, is just going crazy. A house that cost $250K last year, is worth $280K this year. At that rate, I either need to stick my neck out BIG TIME, and jump in with an offer on a house that would be out of my comfort range. (I’d end up having to pay a couple hundred dollars a month to supplement any rent that I could generate from it), or give up on real estate all together as an investment. I’ll let you know what I decide.

Anyway, I’m really working toward that point in my life that I can stop working on a daily basis, and just watch my money grow. Some people call it retirement, although I think people should strive to reach that wealth point prior to the traditional retirement age so that they can spend the rest of their life doing what they REALLY want to do. So, I’ll keep on minimizing my depreciating assets and will continually look to find things to own that appreciate over time. I guess every little bit helps.