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 .”

June 1985 Over the past 6 issues or so we've been taking hard looks at ways to increase cash flows and to capture profits in our investment houses. Cash flow comes from rents and/or paper. To the extent that we can learn to manage income property, we can increase income from rents. And as we gain skill in negotiating for and discounting 'paper', we can garner more cash flow and higher yields. With profit, we combine negotiating skill with our knowledge of 'paper' and income property management so that we are able to buy at a profit. Then we use marketing skills to convert real estate into profitable cash flows or cash. These are all tactical approaches to the subject of income and gain. If we expect to prosper over the long term, we have to be concerned with financial strategy.

Continue reading “Tactics Win The Battles, Strategy Wins The War . . . And The Peace”

May 1985 1985 - the next 6 months will be critical! Consider that Congress must either pass new tax Legislation - or extend the current moratorium past July 1st - or the new IMPUTED INTEREST rules will go into effect automatically.

Continue reading “It’s Hard To Go Broke Taking A Profit . . .”

April 1985 Last month I talked about some of the ways I'd lost money on "paper" investment. This month I'd like to reflect on ways I've made money on a different kind of paper. The paper that I prefer has some interesting features. First of all, it's indexed so that my income from it roughly rises in times of inflation. And oddly enough, it also rises when real estate markets are in a slump. My favorite kind of "paper" is unsecured for the most part, yet it offers virtually unparalleled income in terms of quality and durability. It is rarely affected by bankruptcies. It can continue to pay year after year in increasing amounts. Best of all, I can, through my own efforts, increase the amount of yield without investing additional money. You see, my paper is a rental contract. My income is rent!

Continue reading “Income Property – Making Money The Old Fashioned Way . . .”

March 1985 Ten years ago I wrote an article called 'HORIZONTAL APARTMENTS, A NEW INVESTMENT VEHICLE', It was published in what was then called The Real Estate News Observer. It was deemed a radical departure from conventional thinking on real estate income properties and as a result of this I was invited to address investor groups to defend my position. The National Association of Realtor's commercial investment division even denied me credit toward their CCIM designation for my experience with single family houses on the basis of their opinion that a house was not a commercial or investment income property. As a result of this article, I wrote a seminar which eventually became the only seminar on single family house investment anywhere in the country. Things have changed.

Continue reading “You Can’t Build A Pyramid From The Top Down . . .”

January 1985 At about this time every year I try to make an educated guess about the coming year with regard to my income, investments and tax liabilities. And I look beyond to the following year to make certain that I'm on course - meeting my financial goals. I learned that from the Boy Scouts. When traveling across uncertain terrain, if you want to proceed in a straight line, you find two trees and line them up like the front and rear sights on a rifle aiming at your ultimate destination. Then all you have to do is to keep them in line to avoid wandering around and missing your objective. Investing works the same way, except I use tax years to keep my sights on my goals. I do two at a time rather than one.

Continue reading “To Sell Or Not To Sell, That Is The Question . . .”

December 1984 No matter what the politicians promise, there are still those who wind up at the top and those who occupy the bottom rung of the ladder. This remains true without regard to the particular form of government, economy, tax laws, domestic or foreign disorders. For those who want to succeed enough to sacrifice time, effort and capital, there's always a way. In this issue, I'd like to set some premises as to the future and see if there isn't a way to overcome the more obvious obstacles on your way to profit.

Continue reading “Every Heap Has A Top And A Bottom . . .”

November 1984 Reagan or Mondale - who cares? Four years ago here's what this letter said about the Reagan victory: " . .we'll still be seeing inflation, inter-party squabbling, several additional layers of red tape, war - or threat of war, and an increasingly higher percentage of our effort confiscated by taxes." It's becoming more and more evident that the American citizen is going to see his individual freedom eroded away regardless of the promises made by individual presidential candidates. So long as we continue to reward those who gain office by assuring us that they'll rob others and deliver a share of the proceeds to us, we can expect little improvement in either the quality of government or the quality of life we'll enjoy under it.

Continue reading “Can The Leopard Change Its Spots?”

October 1984 Abstracts of the new tax law are everywhere. I'm sending this letter out early to give you time to take action. While the law itself is over 1300 pages in length, even the shortened versions are virtually incomprehensible. Look at these provisions:

Continue reading “The Tax Reform Act Of 1984 – Is It Merely A Stalking Horse?”

September 1984 Of course you're not going to hear any talk like that BEFORE the election. But changes are taking place which make it more important than ever that you take steps to fund your own retirement years. I live in Florida which has the oldest average population of all the states. I'm constantly amazed at the numbers of people who appear to have been surprised that one day they'd be elderly, no longer employed, and without sufficent means to support themselves adequately. Compared to the future facing most of us, their's is a life of luxury.

Continue reading “Nobody Loves You When You’re Old And Grey- And Broke . . .”