Our December Newsletter is now online.
Highlights include:
- Passive Income Conference
- Home Automation
- REIN Quickstart Course
REIN Quickstart
KC
Recently I have been getting some questions regarding the REIN Quickstart program from other people. Upon hearing that an event was organized in the not too distant future, I decided to sign up and learn more about REIN.
I arrived on Friday evening in order to attend one of their regular monthly meetings. I found the evening to be packed full of information and looked forward to the next day, when the Quickstart course was scheduled to start.
The next morning I arrived and positioned myself in the front row. I took my pen and paper out and prepared myself for a repeat of the previous evening. I was not disappointed. The weekend was absolutely packed with useful information, not necessarily all about real estate either. There was some basic, how to interact with the business world information that I found invaluable.
Immediately following the weekend I was able to put something into practice and I was pleased and amazed with the results. It was a simple thing — saying “Thank You”. In the previous week, I had done some business with our bank and was very pleased with their service. I wrote a thank you card to our banker and to her manager and delivered them in person with some doughnuts. The reaction in person with our banker was almost comical. I was unable to get a word in and finally left with a chuckle. Later that day I got a phone call from the manager to thank me for my “Thank You” card and the following week I got a card in the mail from our banker thanking us for our “Thank You” card. Basically there was a whole lot of thanks going around. It was a rewarding experience. I have since made use of this technique with similar results.
Passive Income Days
KC
Darren Weeks presented a full and information packed weekend for Canadians. He arranged to present some very accessible investment opportunities over the course of the weekend. There was a tangible excitement in the air as many of us realised that these opportunities were within reach and open for investment. The structure of the event was straightforward; investment opportunities were presented and then attendees had all weekend to question the team to learn more about their product or service. Some were clearly more passive than others; letting the conference participants “dial-a-return” on their investment.
Home Automation
Alan
For a few of you, this is going to be a strange little bit of praise. Especially coming from me, man of iPod, techno-stuff and other gizmos. I suppose in some sense, the object of my admiration is in fact a gizmo – a domestic wonder gizmo if you will. What deserves such a heaping of happiness? Our washing machine. The one that washes all our clothes. Efficiently, gently and conveniently. We purchased an LG WD-3274RHD about three years ago. It’s an all-in-one or combo-unit. The idea here is to save on space, water and energy. Effectively, the machine is both a washing machine and dryer in a single unit. About 2 cubic feet (think small moving box-full) of clothes can be washed (and optionally dried) at a time. The duration of the cycles are quite long, but the automation and all-in-one convenience is fantastic. Throw a load in before you go to bed, set the timer and the clothes are clean and dry in the morning. Pull a similar stunt on your way out the door for work and you will return to more clean, dry clothes. These machines really shine in small spaces or for people with lower laundry volumes. The longer cycle times would really frustrate someone who needed to move a lot of dirty clothes into the clean basket. In particular, my European friends tell me that the reason behind the tardiness is the 110 VAC current we have in North America. In Europe residential electrical service is 220 VAC (typical) and therefore a given 10-15A circuit can provide twice the power as they can in Canada, the USA and Mexico. The actual wash times are comparable, so if you are a hang-to-dry type, as we are, you don’t really notice the slowdown in throughput. I think the extra high-speed spin cycle alone makes the machine worth it. Clothes come out damp or nearly dry. Hanging items overnight is usually sufficient, meaning you don’t have to abuse your clothes in a high-temperature dryer. I figure the savings in clothing life-time, detergent and power will have us coming out ahead over the life-time of the machine. We’ll be replacing it with another one of the same ilk when the time comes. It really is a step ahead of anything we’ve used to date.
Happy Holidays
Both
A happy, hearty, healthy holiday to all our friends, family and associates. We hope you find a few moments this winter season to reflect on that for which you can be thankful.
Calendar of Events
Jan, 11th 2006
CashFlow™ Game Night : Join us for a fun evening playing CashFlow™. Never played? Come anyway – you’ll be glad you did. It’s a great learning experience and a fantastic way to meet new people. We are going to host our next game night in early January, drop us a line if you are interested in participating. Our last evening was an excellent experience for everyone and we all had a good time. Please RSVP by Jan, 4th 2006.
Cool Sites
LG Electronics
And our WD-3274RHD can be found out there at Amazon:
http://ln-s.net/9jg
Currently Reading
Peopleware : Productive Projects and Teams
by Tom DeMarco, Timothy Lister
© 1987 Dorset House Publishing Co.
ISBN: 0932633439
Widely acknowledged as a classic text about the people behind the software , the authors have a significant amount of experience with software development process and much of the data is based on the period 1977-1987. Sadly, their findings are appearing to be as relevant today as they were nearly 20 years ago.
It looks like you enjoyed the REIN Quickstart program. Have you used it to buy property? Did you find it much better than Don Campbell’s book “Real Estate Investing in Canada”?
thx,
Sounds interesting, any information on what the passive income strategies discussed where? Do they relate to REI?
Bill
KC would have to comment on the passive income strategies, but they were not directly leveraging REI structures, especially since the taxation advantages of REI’s are rapidly disappearing.