The Secret Millionaire

We've all heard the story... Modest, elder family member passes away and the family finds out that the family member had a nest egg of considerable wealth, which made the rest of the family wish they had treated her/him better while she/he was still alive.

What about the living? Ever run across a person at your job whom you were confident just wasn't the sharpest tool in the shed? The kind of person that made you wonder how that person even got their job in the first place?

For the last six months, I've been pretty proud of myself. For the first time in my life, I have been able to secure a loan for an investment property by myself WITHOUT the help of a co-signer or borrowed funds. This accomplishment literally took four years of renewed, fiscal training and discipline that ultimately led to this small, but significant, success. After my first investment property, I will have a easier time securing my second, then my third, and so on... My goal is to eventually make enough net income to replace my job. Great plan!

I was so happy and full of myself, that I couldn't help but smile around the office and walk around with an extra bounce in my step. After a few jokes from the usual peanut gallery, my colleague (whom I described in the 2nd paragraph) approached me and asked why I was in such a good mood. After five minutes of nonstop gloating, my colleague sincerely complimented me and then asked, "How old are you?"

"Thirty-six."

"Good for you. Better late than never..." This person then walked away.

After 10 seconds, I couldn't help but wonder what my colleague meant. When I approached my colleague later, I simply asked, "How old are you?"

"Twenty-six."

"Oh... Do you have any investment properties?"

"Sure I do. I have seven," this person said as she walked away again.

After chasing her down to continue the conversation, it turned out that my colleague had been investing since she was 19-years-old and that she only worked at our company because she was new in town and wanted to make new friends.

By the time we finished talking, I had learned that her net worth was over $1.3 million and that she started with absolutely nothing while she was still in college. It was then I realized that the perception my colleague gave off to the rest of our office really wasn't because she was "dumb." It was because she didn't care.

She worked with us because she WANTED to, not because she NEEDED to, whereas, the rest of us would probably panic if we lost our jobs and our health benefits. I had also learned that my colleague got started WITHOUT having to go through the usual, humiliating, cavity inspection that I had to go through with my lenders.

I was given the gift of investment common sense by someone many people in my office (including myself) had intellectually underestimated. I'm surrounded by intelligent people in my profession, but I am confident that many of them will not retire without the help of some sort of pension plan that will take 30 years to fulfill. My millionaire colleague could retire NOW if she wanted to. But she won't...

"I like this job."

"But you don't need it," I said.

"Eh... I'll just quit when I don't feel like waking up early anymore." And she walked away again.

I'm sure there was a lesson in that last statement, but I don't think I'm sharp enough to get it...