Revelation

Part I of this post by S I've been through the desert on a horse with no name and a recent conversation with her gave me a profound revelation of sex and birth order in Indian culture. I'd like to start off by saying that S is a smart girl and I don't mean to insult her in any way with this post.

I've always told her that I wanted to be rich, but I could never convey my reasons for it. Consequently, this led her to believe that I was just a selfish, greedy, money-hungry basto (bastard). When we conversed today, I think she finally began to understand my point of view and I was happy that I would not be considered a greedy bastard any longer, but I realized that she would not be able to truly understand my point of view. So allow me to explain..

Resolved: I want to be rich. I want lots of money. I want, I want, I want.

Why do I want? Am I materialistic? No. Do I believe money will bring me happiness? Not exactly. You see, I believe money = security.

I don't think that my father - at any point in his life - ever earned more than $40k. I don't want to throw that number out there to embarrass him; but rather to show how much he's accomplished with so little. Let me throw another wrench into this situation. He supported six of us: himself, my mother, grandmother, aunt, sister and me. We weren't rich, but we weren't poor either. We actually lived a relatively comfortable life. I never felt like I didn't have what I needed. His primary job was a black & white photo developer at a company in NYC. He also worked weekends as a wedding photographer to bring in some extra cash. As he grew older, he was not physically able to endure the long days of shooting wedding picture with a heavy camera (he has a bad back). Growing up, I remember that there was always a fear of my father losing his job and this really scared me. What if we did cross that ever-so fine line into poverty?

When I was a teenager, he sat me down and went over how much he made and then went over his monthly expenses. I sat there and tried to figure out how he was able to keep the house running. I figured that since I was the oldest, and future "man of the house," I would do something - anything - to get us out of that situation. This is where my point of view differs from S's. She's the youngest and a girl who's always been taken care of while I'm the oldest and a boy who'll run the family. So I thought and thought. I was a teenager and didn't know much about anything. What could I do to ensure that when it was my turn to take care of the family, I would be able to do so and my kids wouldn't have to struggle like we did? It's funny. I was not an investor at all at this time but I did hear on TV that one should diversify his investments. So why couldn't one diversify his income as well. Hear me out. I made sense. I figured that I would work and that my wife would work. So that's two sources of income. We would probably be able to pay bills and save a little. But what if one of us lost our job? We'd probably be in a dire situation and our kids would probably feel that same pit in their stomaches as I did when I heard my dad could get fired. So what if we had more sources of income to diversify us further? I thought I would invest in the market and that would be another source. Also, I thought that I would own businesses and their income would further hedge us.

In 1999, when we were kicked out of Hoboken, my parents were able to buy a house! We lucked out because it was right before the bubble. I was amazed at how he did this and I don't think I still fully understand. The house was a two-family building and we rented the second floor to help cover the mortgage. It helped out so much! I added real estate to my income diversification plan as another hedge. Even though we now had a house and we were moving in the right direction, didn't mean that those same fears from my childhood were behind us. I worked co-op while at Stevens and used one semester's earnings to pay for my next semester of school. Moreover, my dad's hours at work were cut around that time and I began to help pay for monthly expenditures around the house.

After I graduated, I was out of work for 6 months. Not to brag, but I thought that I was a relatively intelligent person and the experience that I had gained during my co-op days would have helped me get a job quicker than it did. I couldn't make sense of it. I did have some money saved up but it was depleting quickly and I would soon have to begin paying off school loans. Just then, lifelong friend, Mike, got me an interview with Sumitomo for an entry level support position. After two years, Jim promoted me and I got a raise. I was saving money and looking to put my plans in motion. Not too long after that, my father lost his job. I was 25 yrs old and I thought it would've been longer before the baton was passed to me and I would be the "man of the house." I wasn't saving as much anymore and I had to put my income diversification plan on hold because my money had to go into taking care of the family. It was hard but my friend Jay said that it's an honor to take care of your parents and he wished he could do the same. Jay was right; it is an honor. My dad did start working again after a while - even though it was for less than what he used to make, it paid the bills.

So I started saving some money. I put more money in the market and I've made and lost some money in it, but I've learned a lot. And we began to shop around for businesses that we could buy. The plan was to buy the business and have my mom & dad run it but nothing really fell through. Earlier this year, I saw a building around the corner for sale. It's backyard touched and ran the length of our backyard. It was a much bigger place and I bought it. Yeah the housing market sucks now and it probably was a bad time to buy, but we're happy. We rent out both apartments in the old house. The point is: baby steps. Baby steps towards income diversification. My goal to become rich isn't because I want fancy cars or a lavish lifestyle. I believe that it will put my kids in a better position to succeed in their lives. As I explained to S, the point is to build on the shoulders of the previous generation. I want to give my kids all the opportunities I can so they can build on my accomplishments as I've built on my father's.