Well. My real name is the reverse of my handle.
http://shareforum.co.za/Smileys/DarkB/whistling.gifI am a male, 47, colored, raised in the Apartheid era. Why this is important, is the fact that we had very little guidance to be come financial freedom. The guidance that was often given was "work hard, get a good wife and live happy". There was quite a bit of indoctrination that we must be subservient.
The area we stayed in, was infested with drugs and crime, but back then the gangsters had respect for the elders (boetas and tieties). They would never ever harm them. As I was growing up, I saw people succeed in their own way and move out of the area, getting married and having kids. But mostly, I saw a number of people becoming addicted to the lifestyle of drugs and crime. But, I am very happy to say that I now see so many "lost cases" finding their way and becoming upstanding community members. Sadly, life was lost due to the drugs or being killed in the Apartheid riots.
I was one of seven kids, and there was no money for further education and like with so many other families, the eldest of the brothers and sisters had to forego their dreams and go work. so that we, the younger ones can go finish matric and go get a nice government job, or go work in an office.
That was our lot in life!
I refused to believe that I would never be able to see more, do more and experience more.
I met someone who really. The guy was a dentist as I remembered, and he traveled the world, going places and seeing things. Wow, how did this man of color do this. He told me to go study, and not to make any sort of excuses. Just do it! Very wise advise. I'm surprised at myself for following thru as I am a lazy person.
After doing night school for 11 years, I managed to graduate, and get a very good certification in a well renowned piece of software, I started to get overseas assignments. I no longer work for a company. I am an independent contractor. Tax is killing me.
So, I dabbled in forex (I loosed R100k). I was way to uneducated and made too many guesses... tough lesson.
I then went into buying Krugers. They went up in price. Nice! But it does not provide me with a monthly income. Still got it.
I also have a few properties ( about R4m), but damn, way too much admin and hard work. And don't talk about getting tenants out. Thank goodness, I found a really good attorney(non-Hollywood) who just gets the job done. So, eventually after 20 years. it will produce some income, but in the meantime, nothing yet.
Then I discovered the MMM blog on how to retire earlier. That is where my growing up started. My mind matured. I learnt to not ignore something when I don't understand all the jargon. I also learned what TER stand for, and how companies are ripping us off. Strangely, on this MMM forum, I came onto this
www.shareform.co.za . This best thing that ever happened to me. So, now I "met" some amazing people that has been there and done that.
This forum really made me read a lot and try all the jargon. I really feel educated and empowered, but still have a long way to go in order to do the fancy calculations.
2014 I got back from Nigeria and started a job at a media company. Then one day I broke my leg. In and out of hospital. I crushed my knee and the skin did not want to heal. The media company let me go, as they did really accommodate me with a broken leg and they did not have the patience with me to heal. Lucky for me, I got a short contract to do some work at an old client that really helped me. But earning only half of what I used to earn was tough. I used up all my savings, got an overdraft and a personal loan. Then I had to start the repayments. It has been a big uphill battle, to say the least. My leg is almost healed
I am now working overseas again and trying to catch up on lost income. The battle continues.
I tried many different methods to create income, but the method I've come to appreciate is the shares method. Invest for growth and divies. With the current challenge (2016), I learn a helluva lot. I just wished I learnt it while I was young.
So, in the next year I want to see if I can improve my game plan to come 1st here, and re-enact what I did in the game in real life. It will have a difference tho, I won't have a R100k every month. I will do less. But invest in time to get the divies ( I will keep the shares and not sell), and add some money to it to buy the next lot of shares and repeat for about 5 years. If my theory works I will not physically have to work, but let the shares work for me. So, the idea is to get a monthly "salary" from shares.
Good luck to us all. 2017 is going to be a great year. Thank you to the admin of this forum. You guys and girls absolutely rock. The contributors are so insightful, and I read all the stuff on here all the time.
Thank you to all who reply to my silly little novice questions. I appreciate your patience.
Lots of love and all the best for 2017.
Lamak
