You Pay Your Money And You Take Your Choice . . .

0 Comments

March 1986 1986 has come in with a bang. Interest rates haven't been as favorable in 7 years. The stock market keeps setting new records. Single family re-sales are coming off their best year ever. The Saudis have doubled oil production, driving prices down below $18. Our Navy is cruising just off hostile shores. We've had a disaster in the space program. Banking remains poised on a knife edge of solvency. Congress has sent the new tax proposal on to the Senate in this election year while Gramm-Rudman cuts are threatening both defense and social spending. The dollar has been falling against foreign currencies. Our recovery is 3 years old in some areas, while in the rust belt and farm areas, it doesn't seem to have even started to come yet. What else is new? How 'bout the IRS finding out too late that all those little portable computers aren't compatible with the ones back at headquarters? It's getting curioser and curiouser.

Continue reading “You Pay Your Money And You Take Your Choice . . .”

The King Was In The Counting House Counting Out His Money . . .

0 Comments

February 1986 That's part of an old nursery rhyme someone used to read to me. Like most of those old sayings, it survived because it held a clue to several eternal truths. One of which is that even the man at the top must stay concerned with control of cash. The summing up of the fruits of toil is also pleasant work when a person has managed to achieve a measure of success, so it's not surprising that a King would be involved in this endeavor. Furthermore, without some sort of system to measure progress, he could find himself in financial difficulty in a hurry - especially if he were a leveraged investor in real estate. And, even when one is in position to delegate every possible activity to subordinates, he's still wise to take time out to audit the accounts to make certain that liquid funds aren't being drained away or syphoned off by others heedlessly.

Continue reading “The King Was In The Counting House Counting Out His Money . . .”

Behold The Cockroach . . .

0 Comments

January 1986 Over the past few months I've concentrated on 'THE B-I-G PICTURE' - macro economic phenomena, Banking, Taxes, sunbelt and regional opportunities. What about the little guy? Where does he fit in? That's what many of your letters have been concerned with when you've written to me. You're not interested in MILLIONS. You want to know how to survive, to get started, to earn a small profit today, to protect what you have, to avoid scam-schemes promulgated by the quick-buck artists on T.V. This letter's for those of you who haven't made your million dollars in your spare time yet.

Continue reading “Behold The Cockroach . . .”

‘And There Went Out A Decree From Caesar Augustus That All The World Should Be Taxed . . .

0 Comments

December 1985 How appropriate as the Christmas season approaches that we recall that Joseph and Mary were on their way to Bethlehem to pay TAXES! Time is counting down until we too must 'render unto Caesar' a portion of our own productivity. And neither Mary's delicate condition nor our own straits will deter the taxman from his appointed rounds. In this issue we'll concentrate on the current tax situation. Hopefully we'll find ways to slow the hemorhaging to some degree both for this year and for 1986.

Continue reading “‘And There Went Out A Decree From Caesar Augustus That All The World Should Be Taxed . . .”

‘if You’re So Damn Smart, Why Ain’t You Rich?’

0 Comments

November 1985 That was a popular buzz phrase when I was a kid during the depression years in the 1930s. It was used as a conversation stopper when one party had reached saturation from another party's opinions and solutions to the economic problems of the day. If it were applied to this decade's crop of over-educated estate builders, it might reveal a different kind of truth: in spite of all the investment club speakers, tapes, books, and seminars, etc.; most new real estate investors are running out of cash!

Continue reading “‘if You’re So Damn Smart, Why Ain’t You Rich?’”

There’s Got To Be A Pony In Here Somewhere . . .

0 Comments

November 1986 Bismark once said, 'Those with an appetite for sausage or the law should watch neither being made.' Amidst all the wrangling of the special interests and pressure groups, a new tax law has been hammered out which represents a miracle of legislative interaction. As a result, Americans are seeing one of the most profound changes in tax philosophy since the inception of the graduated income tax being enacted mere weeks ahead of the election.

Continue reading “There’s Got To Be A Pony In Here Somewhere . . .”

The Empire Strikes Back . . .

0 Comments

October 1985 For about as long as I can remember, real estate investment has enjoyed many advantages over other forms of investment. In an envy-based society, that can prove to be hazardous and it appears that 1985 will be a year in which some of those advantages will be reduced. Thanks to my voluntary 'national clipping service', I've been inundated with articles from newspapers and magazines which indicate the enemy is marshaling his forces over a broad front.

Continue reading “The Empire Strikes Back . . .”

How Do You Spell Relief? Cash Flow!

0 Comments

September 1985 Isn't it amazing how quickly we lose sight of our goals in investing? I've been watching a passing parade of pitch men on television who goad the gullible into attending various real estate seminars. These range from 1 hour high pressure sales presentations to 2 day high pressure sales meetings at which various educational aids are made available for purchase. It seems that the object of most of these sessions is to convince attendees that they should spend their money to buy an investment which doesn't return any income to the buyer.

Continue reading “How Do You Spell Relief? Cash Flow!”

Get Ready For The Real Estate Rummage Sale . . .

0 Comments

August 1985 Long time subscribers to the Commonwealth Letters are aware that conventional thinking isn't held in particularly high esteem in these pages. And regardless how one might wish every investment decision were the correct one, rather than try to reinforce the popular hypocrisy that real estate values automatically appreciate, I think it would be more beneficial to try to acknowledge that investment has to be carried out in the real world. Furthermore, in that world values fluctuate constantly. To the extent that you can devise an investment strategy which suits your particular situation - financial, geographic, sociological, philosophical - you'll continue to prosper despite the economy.

Continue reading “Get Ready For The Real Estate Rummage Sale . . .”

You’ve Got To Know When To Hold ’em And When To Fold ’em .

0 Comments

July 1985 When Kenny Rodgers made that song famous, he was referring to a gambling game in which the rules were firmly established. Certain combinations of cards comprised a winning hand. Other combinations weren't worth betting on. We should be so lucky! In our rough and tumble world of investment, it's more complicated. Not only do the rules change with each hand, but the value of our cards change constantly. In May Ronald Reagan unveiled 'TREASURY II'. Suddenly, we have a whole new game with a new set of winners and losers. The trick will be to figure out what we should be doing next.

Continue reading “You’ve Got To Know When To Hold ’em And When To Fold ’em .”

You Don't Have to Spend a Fortune to Learn How to Make One!

Join the CashFlowDepot Community today and learn how to make cash and cash flow with real estate.