When did Americans become so greedy? Okay, I may need to word this differently. When did Americans become so entitled?
As Americans, we want to work a standard job but own a home, drive two late-model cars, and put our kids through private school and college.
And we want to do all these things without creating content, building a business, or climbing the corporate ladder.
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Needless to say, the world doesn’t work this way. The world does not intend employees to have the same lifestyle as the rich.
A bridge too far. Our love for “secure” paychecks has weakened our resolve. Instead of buying multiple properties and plots of land around our neighborhood, we focused only on our immediate lifetimes.
This means we allowed investors, corporations, and foreign entities to buy up the land around us. We lost control of our American homeland and are now paying the price (literally).
Homeownership is not a right or a privilege. It is a complex series of purchases, payments, and refinances. Going to work, saving money, and buying a home are no longer viable.
Planning for Retirement in your 70s
How did we get here? Once upon a time, companies and governments took care of their employees until death—we called these pensions.
Pensions made Americans slow, lazy and entitled. I am not judging; I joined the military because of the excellent pension system. It made me slow, lazy, and entitled.
Eventually, pensions became unaffordable for governments and companies, mainly because of the lifetime medical benefits. The new world order forced the 401K system upon employees, which hasn’t worked well.
Don’t blame companies for dropping the pension system. Imagine paying all of your child’s medical bills for their lifetime—it wouldn’t be fun, would it?
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Playing catch up? The 401K system placed retirement planning firmly in the laps of American households, and they crumbled. We would have to give something up to save $500,000 to $1 million in one lifetime.
However, we never overcame the pension mindset. We still dreamed of someone ELSE taking care of us; now it would be social security and medicare.
Americans never learned to save and invest; we never passed good spending and saving habits with our children. We bought one home and bunkered up in it like it was World World 2. We failed our children.
What does this have to do with housing? Our lack of financial education, risk-taking, and forward-thinking gave investors a way into our neighborhoods.
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It felt risky to own multiple properties, so we bought better furniture, nicer cars, larger boats, and faster motorcycles instead. Why worry about multiple homeownership when we can have fun instead?
Now, we cannot provide a way forward for our children to buy a home. We didn’t learn about leverage, home equity, property management, and interest rates—we learned how to “spring break.”
Don’t blame the rich. While we struggled to own one home, the rich passed down “the information” on how to live on passive income, buy properties, and use OPM or Other’s People’s Money.
We cannot blame them for this new society; we created just as much as they did. The rich already own multiple properties for each of their children.
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They already have internships for the kids when they graduate from Ivy League colleges. They own trust funds, land, rental properties, and small businesses to pass along to their children. Why are we mad at them?
I am not mad; I am learning. Luckily, we can all think like the rich. In fact, we can obtain what they have, albeit on a smaller scale.
I joined the Marine Corps in 1999 with $10 in my pocket; my parents owned nothing. I retire this year, owning three nice houses and a nice chunk of passive income.
My two sons already have a home set aside for them. This guarantees their life will not be as difficult as mine. But I am still hungry to own more. Am I greedy?
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Stop thinking like a poor person, and listen to what the rich say, “the middle class will own nothing and be happy.”
Step up to the challenge. I don’t particularly want to purchase more properties, but I will. We have no guarantees in this life, but we have data.
Homeownership is becoming a myth. Parents cannot even help with down payments for their children. Adult children are living at home; their best chance of homeownership is your death.
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What if you have multiple kids and only one house? What if your city turns into crap, and you need to move? What if the school district changes policy to reflect a new society?
Change your mindset. The most crucial thing in this life is your mindset. As parents, if we struggle financially, we guarantee our kids the same.
If you have a path to buy multiple homes, take it. Owning multiple homes sucks many times, but you cannot deny the wealth effect.
Each day, I become richer because my home equity increases. If you don’t purchase the house next door, an investor will.
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Use your brain to purchase an Airbnb house, a campsite on land, or a mobile home park. Being average will ensure your kids are below average.
A home in Florida. Don’t stop when you have everything YOU want in this life. How much will it cost your child to purchase a home similar to yours in your neighborhood?
We bought our second home in Pensacola, Florida, for $180,000 in 2017. Our mortgage with insurance and taxes was $1,100/month—impressive for a four-bedroom, two-bathroom, 1,700 square feet house.
Six years later, in 2023, the same house costs $300,000 with a mortgage of $2,300. My son turns 26 in ten years, and this house will be roughly $500,000 with a mortgage of $3,200.
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These are insane prices for a starter home in a small city. Luckily, I took the risk and bought multiple properties, which insulates my kids from inflation and capitalism.
Conclusion. If we don’t learn the ways of investing, leverage, and OPM, our children will suffer. Investors will continue to raise rents until our kids suffocate. They have no reason to relent on rental prices; someone is always waiting to get into a house.
It sucks that life has changed into this feeding frenzy, but this is capitalism at its finest. For years, the media convinced people to “rent forever” and “there is no reason to own.” At the same time, they bought up every property around you.
Don’t get mad at the rich; become rich. Get as many homes as possible. Start a business, buy homes, invest in dividends, and make your family rich. Good Luck!
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