Keeping Up With My Joneses Part 2 – The Investors

The investors are both very smart with their money. He lived at home until he got married (she moved back home after they got engaged), she is still driving her first car, a 1992 Ford Laser! He swapped his beloved ute for his brothers 4WD when their baby came along.

They were one of the first people in my circle of friends to buy a house. I remember thinking when they bought it that $250,000 was an unbelievably high number, especially when I saw the house! It’s was awful, but they saw the potential and the ‘bones’ of the place.

He’s a mechanic by trade and has lots of other tradie mates, so getting their kitchen, deck, garage and bathroom sorted at cost saved them a lot of money. He did most of the renovations work himself and their place is just lovely now, and worth more than 3 times what they paid for it!

They’re also very good savers/investors. I don’t know the finer details of their investments, but I know that when he got laid off over a year ago, they have been living off their investments ever since. She’d on extended maternity leave, so there’s been no wage related income coming in for over a year and they’re doing fine. They also don’t carry any credit card debt.

They love to travel. They recently got back from an extended trip to Europe (we’re talking months not weeks) with their baby, who started walking in Italy! They rented out their house to friends while they were away to keep funds coming in.

They also have a share in a large boat that he and his partners built themselves, so they spend a lot of time out on that in warmer months. Yay for the invites to join them!

How have I incorporated their way of life into my own?

• Appreciating my car for the reliable mode of transport that it is, and delaying upgrading any time soon.
• Really thinking about long term investing and wanting to get into a position to do so as soon as possible.
• Spending money on something that increases in value is OK.
• Travel more, but never use credit to do so. (I now have a goal to go to more countries than their 18mth old has been to!)
• Having friends who have known you forever and want only the best for you is an asset I already have in my portfolio.

This is part 2 of my series Is Keeping Up With ‘The Joneses’ A Bad Thing? In order to protect the privacy of my ‘Joneses’ I've tried to be as generic as possible about their particulars.

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Keeping Up With My Joneses Part 1 – The Car Guy

One of my friends is a very successful, well paid professional; who travels overseas at least 3-4 times a year, has a gorgeous apartment filled with beautiful things and drives a luxury convertible. He just loves luxury cars, we talk about them all the time (I’m a bit of a car nut myself).

He’s very smart with his money. His car is fantastic, its 12 years old though, not brand new. He bought it second hand ages ago and he just loves it. It’s just so him. He’d like a new one some day, but is perfectly happy with what he has right now, and works towards anything new he wants.

He works incredibly hard. His travels are how he loves to spend his downtime, visiting his family and friends all over the world. He comes back with so many stories and experiences.

He’s incredibly generous with his time. He helped me buy my first car last year, spending numerous weekends driving me around town test driving cars under $5000, and he genuinely enjoyed it. He also talked me around from wanting to spend $10,000 for my first car, so he saved me $5000 in effect.

He enjoys the simple things as much as the big shiny things. He spent a very pleasant yet simple evening at my place fixing my rickety dining table and eating the dinner I made with gusto (I’m a good cook though, so he’s only human). He also enjoyed jetting off to Europe to go to a car show with some friends for a couple of weeks not long after.

How have I incorporated his way of life into my own?

Living within my means is an obvious goal I’m working on, buying quality over quantity, working hard for the things that bring you genuine pleasure in life, and remembering to enjoy the simple things.

Why wouldn't I want to ‘keep up with this Jones’?

This is part 1 of my series Is Keeping Up With ‘The Joneses’ A Bad Thing? In order to protect the privacy of my ‘Joneses’ I've tried to be as generic as possible about their particulars.

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