Markets are crashing. Economies are collapsing. Politicians are being twits.
I get freaked out. I’ll be honest. Sometimes I read the news, or check my stock portfolio and see things going completely to pot. I’m never going to be able pay for my kid’s education, or Megan and my wedding. People are going to loose all the value in their homes,investments and businesses everywhere will fail.
Then I shake my head and come back to reality.
Yes, read that correctly. What you see on CNN, CBC, or hear on the radio isn’t reality. Not reality in any sort of way that’s truly relevant to my life and my future. The media doesn’t communicate reality; mass media, and even much of the blogosphere, exists only communicates what sells, what generates traffic, or controversy, or sales.
I don’t push things on this blog. I don’t monetize in a meaningful way, nor am I gearing up to sell a product here. I write to share what I can in the same way I feel that Don Campbell, Russell Westcott and the other members of REIN do.
There’s enough ‘bubble’ blogs out there to choke a horse. People like Garth Turner have been singing the same tune for a decade. There’s always going to be fear, and those who can’t stop looking at the cars long enough to
see the gaps where they can fit in. There are those folks who like to poke fun at REIN, which works to educate people to find the gaps between the cars, and help them learn how to merge safely. (The ‘gap’ metaphor is theirs, learning to merge is my icing on the cake) We don’t focus on the panic headlines, but we look for what’s real.
I go back to REIN, and read their resources to remind me of what I have, and what’s really real for me. I own real estate in one of the most robust economies in the world, with one of the most stable governments and banking
systems. I buy improved real estate that cash flows, and I have nearly 20 years of being personally involved in managing real estate to help me take care of it. Between my family and two people who are good friends and
important parts of my property management team we have almost a century and a half of combined experience. We’ve been through recessions, major changes in monetary policy, and government, the national energy policy and double-digit interest and vacancy rates.
Today I closed on a lovely three bedroom townhouse in Edmonton.
Just the cash flow that one building will pay for the university education of two of my children. And when I look at the building, I don’t see a dollar sign. I see the future of me spending time with my family.
When you spend all your time reading the negative headlines or listening to the ‘bubble’ speak, rather than working to find the truth, you give away your happiness and your ability to determine your own future. Don’t listen.
