Solano Real Estate Scene: Be sure to pay yourself first

People attended live seminars back in the 1980s and 1990s before podcasts, YouTube, Ted Talks and streaming. Most of the free seminars were designed to teach while at the same time sell you something like multiple-level marketing, books, audio tapes, coaching or joining an organization. Some seminars and lectures were paid for by employers for training and motivation of their staff. There were also professional speakers who charged people money to get in and be inspired and educated by the speaker’s greatness and accomplishments. A.L. Williams, a former Georgia football coach, built a huge multiple-level marketing company that specialized in converting old life insurance policies from whole life to a “buy term and invest the difference” strategy. I went to one of his speaking engagements in 1985. He wrote a short book called “Common Sense” about financial literacy and in this book, he suggested it would be better to buy 20-year level term life insurance rather than higher cost cash value whole life and invest the difference in the stock market and always maximize your 401(k). He said “paying yourself first” was the key to retiring financially independent and your personal financial goals should be addressed before any other bill is paid. I think he said with a Southern drawl, “dad-gummit! What’s more important, your Sears credit card bill or your retirement?” I remember him always saying to get started now and it’s not too late. Paying yourself first is a good idea and I suggest we teach our kids this early in life. Invest for the future and be an owner, not a loaner. Sure, a bank account and life insurance are important but when you save money in a bank or in a cash value life insurance policy, banks and life insurance companies are borrowing your money and then investing in real estate and the stock market and historically both banks and insurance companies gain a return on their investments two times more than what they pay you. When you invest in the stock market carefully for the long term, you are investing in the U.S. and over the past 90 years the average rate of return has been around 9%. Search on Google or your favorite browser for “the rule of 72” to learn more about this concept.