re: For the posters "of a certain age", how have you found a balance in your life?

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didn't say "retired". I said "semi retired".

I wasn't born with a silver spoon. It was just hard work and planning, but mostly planning. After college, I worked as a corporate accountant. During my years of working, I estimated that I was averaging 50K a year. Not glamorous and definately not enough to "retire". But what I did when I was not working is to learn and develop a new skill that allow me start my own business (prefer not to go into details). When I saved enough to pay of the student loan, I started saving for real estate investing. So work, saved 50K, buy a multiunit property. Rinse, cycle, repeat 3x.

I quit my corporate job early last year and decided to focus on my business and rentals full time. Rentals have given me (on a monthly basis) some cash flow, gaining equity, and a place to stay for free. But I'll be reaping the fruits of my labor when they are paid of in 7-8 years. In the meantime, I'm clearing what an average engineer makes but only working 100 hrs/month. And it sounds cheesy, but when you are doing something you love, it doesn't feel like working.

I could've stayed at my corporate position, get my CPA, climb the ladder, and have a great salary. But I don't want to be putting in 60 hours a week, managing stress, and play office politics(a waste of human potentials) in doing so.

This thread was about balance and here's my opinion on balance. In life, each of us is given a fixed amount of time. So this time is important. However, in order to spend this time in the manner we want, we need money. So money is also important. But you don't want money as the end goal. You want money as a mean to live a quality, meaningful life. I often see people trying to make as much money as possible like they are playing a game and trying to win it. But at what cost are they paying for this? Health, family, loss of time, doing something they don't like?

To me, having the right amount of time and money = freedom. And freedom is what people should try to strive for because you can't be happy without it.

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I've done a lot of research on opening a business in the Caribbean. Something that eases entry into a business down there is having a native partner. In fact, many islands and countries require this.

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Its just an idea at this point but the coffee in general sucks down there despite growing it. And with a large ex-pat community I think a coffee shop could do well, especially if you also roasted beans (no export) and paired it with food and alcohol.

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Wealth is also a blessing and curse for families. While millionaires say they value family above all else, and their wealth is aimed at improving their lives, they also say they sacrificed too much time from family to make their wealth. Millionaires' "biggest regrets relate to mistakes they made with spouses and family members," the report said.

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I feel like the RE knowledge is lacking over here so we really need more RE guys chiming in.

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