At this point in January, many of us have thought about, and maybe even written down, our goals for 2019: money, fitness, travel, …. For our money goals, we often think in terms of “Return on Investment.” Today, however, we’re going to challenge your goals to a “return on time.”
Challenge number one is to get clear about how you are spending your time in the present—and what you truly want to be doing. Big topic, I understand. But let’s narrow it down to your investing time, and even more specifically, your real estate investments. One of the advantages of investing in real estate, is that there are so many paths to success. Are you hard core? Do you want to do the renovations yourself, manage the tenants yourself, handle all the bookkeeping aspects that this business/investment stream requires? That path requires a small mountain of time—just saying! Maybe you’re already on this path and starting to question your choice? If this style of real estate investing seems daunting, let’s see if your time goals will fit into a different style. What about being the “money partner” in a Joint Venture? The people who invest here will spend time at the start-up: maybe qualifying for a mortgage, maybe setting up documents for private or RRSP lending. They’ll also probably do some due diligence on any deals that they consider partnership with, and then there will be annual, or more frequent, follow up reports. You can easily see that our second investor uses much less time and energy than the first, but shares in the profits (ROI)—often equally with the working partner in a Joint Venture. A third type of investor is very strict with their time, but still sees benefits with real estate investments. This investor prefers to use Real Estate Investment Trusts (REIT’s). There will also be a time requirement at the beginning: there are a lot of REIT’s out there to investigate! And a wise investor will continue to follow the performance of that REIT closely to ensure it still fits with their investment goals and timelines.
Challenge number 2 is to decide how much time in the present that you are willing to sacrifice for your future financial freedom. We all have 24 hours to “spend” each day. Maybe you already have a successful career? Multiple businesses? Young children? Aging parents that need some assistance? Or all of the above—yikes!! If your “today’s” are already jam-packed full, we encourage you to choose a path to financial freedom that is respectful of your current lifestyle. However, choose something! Small, medium or massive time investments—there are no ribbons or prizes for HOW you invest. But the rewards you will personally receive with a financially free future are almost limitless! Then your return on time is worth it!
