I’ve Got An Itch…That Needs A Scratch

Because of a serendipitous coffee shop encounter, (that sounds more romantic than bumping into each other at a Starbucks in Detroit) I met the love of my life.

That coincidence eventually grew into love.

And then marriage.

7 short years ago, my wife, Meredith, and I tied the knot.

And after 7 years, I have an itch.

I fantasize about it on the regular.

Don’t worry, I broke it to Meredith, on our anniversary.

And she is more than ok with it.

My fantasy.

No kids, just her and I.

Traveling, having a lazy morning, and exploring the world together like we did BC (before children).

Ok, now that I shared my deepest darkest fantasy…I realized something else pretty amazing.

The magnitude of things that can happen and be achieved in 7 years.

Bill Gates once said something like, “people overestimate what they can accomplish in a year and seriously underestimate what they can accomplish in 10 years.”

We were amazed when Meredith and I reflected on what we had accomplished in 7 years.

And excited by what the next 7 will hold.

For perspective, 7 years ago, I ended my dream of creating my own company from scratch. I had poured everything I had into a family startup for a little over 4 years.

After having almost nothing left to my name, I decided it was time to move on.

I used a loan from an old 401k to buy and rehab a duplex.

We rehabbed another commercial building.

We bought a second duplex and renovated it.

We had 3 kids, two of which came during a pandemic.

We sold a business.

We bought a fourth property and moved our family 250 miles away.

I started three new jobs.

And I got in shape (dropped my cholesterol by ~120 pts and cut my risk of dying by 64%)…phew.

I’m so excited by what will happen over the next 7 years.

Our fuzzy goal is to achieve self-sovereignty ( a term for financial independence tossed around by personal finance influencers).

Two paths we are pursuing:

1) buying and creating a rustic property with multiple vacation rental options (camping and cabins).

2) buying a boring business, a profitable business most baby boomers couldn’t pass on to the next generation because it isn’t sexy (i.e. car wash, plumbing company, garage door installer, storage units, etc.).

Now its time to get to work.

Happy anniversary my love, and cheers to the next 7 years!

What excites you about the next 7 years?