I read this article from iproperty.com site, and i am absolutely agree what the author trying to share:

Property investment is for everyone, but not everyone is for property investments

It is common knowledge that only five per cent of the world’s population will become rich while the other 95 per cent will remain middle class or poor. As you become more and more successful in property investing, you will find yourself slowly moving from the 95 per cent to join the five per cent elite club of people who are financially free.

When are rich and successful, one issue you might possibly face in the future will be how to help other people, especially close family members and relatives who have yet to ‘wake-up’ to the benefits of property investing and start their journey to financial freedom.

The reason for this concern is that there is a real possibility that these people may approach you for financial assistance to help further educate their children or assist them on any unforeseen health related expenses. It is not a question of minding or not being able to afford to assist, but if given a choice, I am sure many of you would rather help these people now to get started on the road to financial freedom while they are still young and able to borrow money for property investments, rather than 20 or 30 years later when no banks will be willing to lend them money on account of their age.

As the popular saying by Lao Tze, an ancient Chinese philosopher, goes:

“Give a Man Fish and You Feed Him for a Day.
Teach Him How to Fish and You Feed Him for a Lifetime”

Hence the big question is how can we help these people especially our loved ones to ‘wake-up’ and get started? Even if you were to offer these people a great property investment with high returns and offer to underwrite all the risks just to help get them started, these people will very likely say ‘No thanks’ or ‘I am not ready’ or ‘Next time’ or ‘I will pass this time’, etc. In short, excuses.

As a follow-up to my last article on “Taking Risks in Investments and in Life” (Find it online at www.iproperty.com.my/news/1325/Taking-Risks-in-Investments-and-in-Life), I posed this question to all my book readers at my Yahoo! egroups and my past seminar participants. Here are some of the replies (lightly edited):

My husband and I have been encouraging our immediate families to invest in properties for a few years now. But somehow, they just told us they have the desire to invest and ask us for help and guidance, which we were happy to give, and then somehow they are back to their daily life. Like nothing happened. Although we did recommend a few apartments to buy and the ‘right price’ for them, they did absolutely nothing about it. I guess it is just too much work for them. We told them it will get easier with subsequent properties, but I guess they need to have the desire to ‘just do it’ first.

So, this is my current stance: I have stopped controlling the ‘uncontrollable’ (i.e. other people in my life). I can’t even control my kids and I gave birth to them, what are the chances I have with other people? I told myself, when the student is ready, the teacher will appear. And I hope I will be a good teacher when they are ready.

My personal ‘wake up’ moment happened when I gave birth to my first child. I guess many mothers have these moments. I wanted so much to give the best of life to him. It got me thinking, to that day, I have not done much that I can be proud of. I vowed on that day that I will live my life to the fullest, dare myself to dream big and never stop after a ‘failure’. Besides there is no failure, just results. I have to walk the talk first! How can I teach him to be financially free if I am not financially free myself?

I tried to help one of my friends who was deeply stuck with huge debts and accumulating more debts. She had the opportunity to invest along with me but she gave it up last minute because of fear. We jointly opened an account and each of us contributed a portion of our income into the account with me contributing a huge sum to start off our investment in properties. So I do not see any way to help people who are stuck in their own rut unless they want to get themselves out. I have showed to her that I have taken my own steps to start an investment and reap results. Instead, she finds that I have changed and no longer suited to be her friend.

I would suggest that she joins self-awareness and personal developments programs to find out more about herself and the barriers that is stopping her from getting the things she wants in life and get out of her own rut.

What made me wake up was that I was working day-in day-out and barely saw light. I woke up one day when I questioned myself why do I need to wake up so early each day and go through traffic jams and pain just to earn small amounts of money. How can I go on living like this? When am I going to be able to attain financial freedom? Why not grab the opportunity to start like now? If I fail, so what? I will just start all over again. I have nothing to lose. Why not give myself a shot at trying something different? Since then, I started a restaurant business with a few partners and it has been very successful, beyond our expectations.

I wish I had someone who would have given me such ‘risk-free’ opportunities when I was still working and young.  When I read both your articles the thought came to me was why I did not have any mentor like that.

I come from a background where buying a property to live in was impossible, what more buying for investment. At least I broke that tradition by getting my own house (had to bulldoze through with my husband – he just says ‘Not now’).  If he had started investing in properties twenty years ago, he would have completed paying a few houses. Sadly, he still does not get it.  He still thinks cash is king, do not take too much risks in properties. I do not know how I made him pay the down-payment for the SOHO unit that I bought recently. A real miracle. I hope I made the right decision on this otherwise he will say ‘There I told you so’.

It is a waste of time trying to ‘help’ or ‘wake up’ these people.

There are thousands of people who have already ‘woken up’. I would identify the market that have already ‘woken up’ and approach them. It’s much easier to make money this way. You need to ‘wake up’ and find people who have already ‘woke up’. Remember, birds of a feather flock together.

T. Harv Eker said “You need to show your own results first before trying to change them. After that, when results are shown, your friends and relatives may be interested to know what contribute to your results, from there, you help them to take action.”

That brings us back to the popular saying that you can bring a horse to water, but you can not force it to drink. The horse will only drink when it is thirsty. Hence, I guess the only way to help our loved ones is to patiently wait for them to have their own individual ‘wake up’ moment and become hungry or thirsty for success. When that happens, let us then hope we become good teachers and they become great students by taking action!

Posted Date: Apr 14, 2010
By: Milan Doshi