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My grandfather took a trip west in 1945 after the war, leaving his wife and kids in Baltimore. He somehow ended up in what's now Rancho Mirage, talking to someo

My grandfather took a trip west in 1945 after the war, leaving his wife and kids in Baltimore. He somehow ended up in what's now Rancho Mirage, talking to someone who was selling land. He'd saved up about $10k and sank all of it into a 10-acre grapefruit and date farm, basically a patch of desert with some palm and citrus trees and well water. Took my grandma and dad and aunt out there and they lived in an airstream trailer on the land. Sold the fruit to Dole mostly for juice. Barely made ends meet. When he died in the 90s, the patch sold for over $1m to a hotel conglomerate. So if nothing else... my family has a mantra: Never sell real estate. For your specific situation, my grandfather had a different saying: "Find yourself a teacher". He claimed this philosophy came from the Talmud, but I can't say. In any event, my grandfather had already gone from being a door-to-door cloth salesman to a cutter to a tailor, and he always found an expert teacher to attach himself to and learn from, and this usually meant someone humbly but seriously devoted to the work at hand. In the case of the ranch, it was a Cahuilla Indian man who had lived nearby, and who taught him how to take care of the trees. My grandfather employed him as a full-time caretaker and kept up his house on the land for the rest of his life. My advice with anything where you don't have the knowledge to do it yourself would be to find yourself a teacher by searching in the humblest of places for someone with that knowledge, and make them your mentor.

tsingy 4y ago
I happily hire anyone that is that knowledgeable, but where I live that is rare, and they are probably running their own stuff. I wholly agree with you though, I won't venture into this alone or without a general view of how things work.
jimnotgym 4y ago
> So if nothing else... my family has a mantra: Never sell real estate "Warren Buffett: $10,000 invested in an index fund when I bought my first stock in 1942 would be worth $51 million today" Looks like he could have done 51 times better for no work https://www.cnbc.com/2018/05/07/warren-buffett-10000-invested-in-an-index-fund-when-i-bought-my-first-stock-in-1942-would-be-worth-51-million-today.html https://www.cnbc.com/2018/05/07/warren-buffett-10000-investe...
- deleted 4y ago
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- noduerme 4y ago
  True, but if you can imagine someone even more conservative - my grandfather (and father) had a lot of respect for Buffett but considered him to be a reckless gambler. I once sold 1000 BTC for about $10k, for reasons largely similar to the ones that kept my grandfather from entering the stock market. I think putting $10k into an index fund probably seemed just as insane to most people in 1942 as keeping $10k in Bitcoin seemed to me in 2012. In addition to having run a casino, I'm a reformed gambling addict (as long as you don't leave me alone in Vegas for too long). Part of overcoming gambling addiction and its manifestations in everyday behaviour is that I don't second-guess decisions I make out of being too conservative or, in other words, feel regret for pocketing my gains and walking away. That way lies ruin. And also, as a gambler, I'm an optimist, so I don't think I missed my one-and-only chance to make 50x my money. There's always another spin right around the corner.
phonon 4y ago
>Never sell real estate. If he would have invested that $10,000 in the S&P 500 and reinvested the dividends, it would have been worth more than $2 million by the 90s. https://dqydj.com/sp-500-return-calculator/ https://dqydj.com/sp-500-return-calculator/

tsingy 4y ago

I happily hire anyone that is that knowledgeable, but where I live that is rare, and they are probably running their own stuff. I wholly agree with you though, I won't venture into this alone or without a general view of how things work.

jimnotgym 4y ago

> So if nothing else... my family has a mantra: Never sell real estate "Warren Buffett: $10,000 invested in an index fund when I bought my first stock in 1942 would be worth $51 million today" Looks like he could have done 51 times better for no work https://www.cnbc.com/2018/05/07/warren-buffett-10000-invested-in-an-index-fund-when-i-bought-my-first-stock-in-1942-would-be-worth-51-million-today.html https://www.cnbc.com/2018/05/07/warren-buffett-10000-investe...

deleted 4y ago
[deleted]
noduerme 4y ago
True, but if you can imagine someone even more conservative - my grandfather (and father) had a lot of respect for Buffett but considered him to be a reckless gambler. I once sold 1000 BTC for about $10k, for reasons largely similar to the ones that kept my grandfather from entering the stock market. I think putting $10k into an index fund probably seemed just as insane to most people in 1942 as keeping $10k in Bitcoin seemed to me in 2012. In addition to having run a casino, I'm a reformed gambling addict (as long as you don't leave me alone in Vegas for too long). Part of overcoming gambling addiction and its manifestations in everyday behaviour is that I don't second-guess decisions I make out of being too conservative or, in other words, feel regret for pocketing my gains and walking away. That way lies ruin. And also, as a gambler, I'm an optimist, so I don't think I missed my one-and-only chance to make 50x my money. There's always another spin right around the corner.

phonon 4y ago

>Never sell real estate. If he would have invested that $10,000 in the S&P 500 and reinvested the dividends, it would have been worth more than $2 million by the 90s. https://dqydj.com/sp-500-return-calculator/ https://dqydj.com/sp-500-return-calculator/