There’s a reason why get rich schemes fail. You’ve got to be willing to do the dirty work and put in the time if you want to get rich.
Going all in on margin is likely to leave you broke. Working for someone else to get rich takes a very long time. And trying to win the lottery is not a great plan, it’s really just a waste of money.
Whenever there’s a debate about owning versus renting, one of the most common rebuttals against owning is not wanting to fix a toilet. The excuse is so commonly used that it has definitely become cliché.
Homeowners Are Willing To Do The Dirty Work
We know that homeowners have a median net worth ~40X that of renters. Thus, it got me wondering whether there’s something more behind the cliché that makes renters deny the positive financial realities of homeownership over the long run. Are they simply not willing to do the dirty work of home maintenance?
Or could it be that those against homeownership secretly wish they could afford a home of their own, but can’t because they aren’t willing to control their spending or take on extra work outside of their day job? Instead of making some sacrifices, are they trying to debase homeowners with an activity that’s supposedly beneath them? Maybe!
Every time someone uses the “fix the toilet” reason, I start to wonder what’s so hard about replacing some parts in the water tank or using a plunger? Janitors make well over $200,000 a year here in San Francisco. Are those against real estate arrogantly implying that being a janitor is not as honorable of a job? Perhaps.
I hypothesize those who aren’t willing to do the dirty work are the ones who will never earn or accumulate much more than the median income or net worth. Let’s debate!
Dirty Work, Grunt Work, It’s All The Same
After playing a couple hours of tennis at my club, I headed over to my rental to fix an overflowing dishwasher air valve. You know, those weird ~2 inch cylindrical metal things that sit next to your kitchen faucet.
It’s funny because the person I played with, an ex-college tennis player, decided to join a different club because she wasn’t willing to pay the steeper initiation fee. Yet when I told her I had to go fix a leak at one of my rentals, she was amazed I would do such a thing! “Don’t you have people to do that for you?” she inquired.
When I first got notification from my tenant of the problem, I was initially bummed because I was tanning my cheeks on my deck. But I quickly YouTubed “how to fix an overflowing dishwasher valve” and found the solution. So easy. I’m always willing to do the dirty work to save money. Why pay a plumber hundreds of dollars for something I can easily fix myself? If my tenant can help fix it, even better.
Savvy homeowners are willing to do the dirty work and fix things themselves because of the cost savings. The journey to get rich starts with saving and making the most of every dollar you have. I’ve worked on fixing things at all my rental properties over the years and have saved thousands in the process.
Anyway, I sent my tenant the 3 minute video as reference. He decided to give it a go by removing the valve cap and blowing forcefully through a paper towel roll to see if it could unclog the hose. It didn’t work because he texted me a couple days later to say the problem still persisted. No problem! I love stopping by my rental once a quarter to make sure everything still looks good.
Get Your Hands Dirty And Save Money DIY
Before leaving home I made sure I had all my plumbing equipment: a roll of paper towels, a flat head screwdriver, a wire coat hanger, gloves, pliers, and a pipe brush. What a pleasure to have a trunk filled with tennis equipment and plumbing tools.
When I got to my rental, I also tried the paper towel roll trick to create a seal to remove any gunk with a forceful breath. No luck. Then I got my brush and shoved it down the hole to try and clear out some gunk to no avail because it wasn’t long enough. Then I used a much longer straight wire hanger to get in there. That’s when I realized more work needed to be done because black gunk started latching onto my wire hanger.
I had to remove the valve connected to the garbage disposal and get in there! Once I did, I found both sides were completely clogged. I carefully started carving out the gunk from the hose with my wire hanger, then feverishly brushed out the insides until both the hose and the garbage disposal side were completely clean. I reattached the hose, ran a test and voilá! Everything worked perfectly.
Willing To Do The Dirty Work: Success!
The total time it took me to do this first-time job was 18 minutes. Next time, it’ll take me 10 minutes or less. Not only did I save myself ~$250 – $350 in plumbing fees, I also saved myself the time it would take to coordinate back and forth with my tenant and a plumber.
I also now have the skill to fix all future dishwasher valve problems, including the one in my own house.
After I finished, I did a quick inspection of the house to note any new damages. Then I watered some of the fruit trees, picked a bag of lemons, checked mail and went to get some food. Total time spent: 35 minutes.
The next week I received a $9,000 direct deposit for the monthly rent.
Never Ending Ways To Make Money
Let’s forget about the $108,000 annual rental income I collect each year from this rental that requires no more than 10 hours of work a year. The aggressive savings I did in my early 20s is over now. But the rent continues to grow with inflation, forever.
After 14 years of being a landlord, you develop handyman skills that can earn you another solid income stream if you so choose. I could put an ad on Craigslist right now and charge $90/hour with a $200 minimum per visit. You know my ad is going to look pretty darn amazing given my experience in online marketing. Just eight jobs a week would net me an extra $6,400+ cash. Bam! That’s an extra $77,000+ in annual income.
Let’s say I smartly turn on my Uber drive app to pick up passengers along the way to my handyman jobs. Ten trips a week equals around $80. That’s an extra $4,160 a year in spending money. Given I can make driver referral income online as well, I’d probably make an extra $12,000 a year. Did you know the top Uber referrers make more money that Uber employees? Don’t be too proud to get rich with hustle and hard work.
The annual grand total from just this one income unit is therefore:
$108,000 rental income
+
$77,000 handyman income
+
$12,000 driver referral income online
+
$4,160 driver income
= $201,160.
Well, what do you know! We’ve reached a healthy amount of income that can be used to pay down a mortgage, invest in various assets to generate more money, and cover life’s many expenses to be more free.
Change Your Attitude
If you’re willing to humble yourself, you’re going to financially blow all the people who are too arrogant (or too lazy) to fix their own toilets out of the water! It’s really not too difficult to replace a washer or tighten a screw you guys. YouTube is your friend. Be willing to do the dirty work because it will not only save you money, it will help you get rich over time.
Eventually, you will get to the point where you can afford to pay people to do everything for you without creating a significant drag to your net worth. But before you get to financial independence, which can be defined as 20X your average gross for the past three years or 50X your average annual expenses, you must be willing to do whatever it takes to get ahead.
If you’re unwilling, then no problem. It simply means you’re happy with the way things are right now. But if you aren’t happy with the way things are and still spend like crazy, are unwilling to get smart about being a self-sufficient person, or aren’t willing to get up by 5am or stay up until 2am to work on your side hustle every single day, then you need to read my post about Dunning-Kruger to jolt yourself out of delusion.
Another Benefit Of Being Willing To Do The Dirty Work
There’s one final benefit of being willing and able to do the dirty work. You instantly become incredibly attractive to a potential mate. Having enough money to provide for a family is one thing. But if you not only possess a can do attitude, but actually do as well, dare I say you become one of the most attractive people on the planet!
Life is good being free. But you’ll only truly know how awesome being free is once you get there. Don’t look back and regret not doing the dirty work because you were too proud. Fixing a leaky toilet is just a metaphor for dealing with the inevitable crap life throws your way.
If you don’t want to own physical real estate, then you can just invest hassle-free via real estate crowdfunding sites like Fundrise. Make sure you’re not hating on an asset class because you’re envious of those who didn’t miss the boat. There’s always another opportunity somewhere!
Further Reading
If you’re willing to do the dirty work to grow your wealth, here are some more articles you should enjoy.
- Financial Freedom: Maybe You Don’t Want It Bad Enough
- Good Advice On How To Better Manage Your Own Money
- Do The Rich And Powerful Want To Keep The Middle Class Down?
- The Top 5 Cities In America To Get Rich And Enjoy Life!
- How Can You Tell If A Guy Is Rich If He Displays Little Material Wealth?
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I will just replace the word “dirty” with “hard” work, to make the message broader. For real estate DIY owner, it might indeed be dirty as you say but the broader message is that unless you do the HARD work (of living way below your means while people who earn even lesser live a better lifestyle than you), most people will not get rich. The millionaire mindset is much less about the ‘millionaire’ part but about the mindset of being financially responsible, in EVERY decision in your life. This part is the real hard work, which gets lost among the media-induced glamour of being a millionaire.
It really is amazing how much money we can save and self independence we can create when we are willing to get dirty and do the work ourselves. We have an example with one of our previous tenants who trashed the place and left trash and goods in every room. To pay a professional would have cost upwards of a $1,000 to clean this place out. Instead I rolled my sleeves up and did it myself. Stayed up until 3am getting it done but I got it done. Felt pride in my work and the saved money was like money in my pocket. Here is to getting dirty and getting the work done now and in the future!
There is so much benefit from having the skill of knowing that Youtube exists. I knew the girl I was seeing was serious about me when she asked me to re-caulk her sink. I had never done it before, but I looked up the videos and borrowed a caulking gun. She saved a ton of money and I looked really good to her. Absolutely worth it.
my landlord maintenance plan is:
1) give it my best shot to fix it myself.
2) if the fix holds, i’ve saved money.
3) if the fix does not hold, i call someone and provide a slightly-less-ignorant description of the problem.
Lol, hey you stole our plan!
Home Depot and due diligence really does save some serious green.
“Likes to wear sundresses and can also swing a hammer” was the line that got my now husband’s attention on my dating profile. AND I didn’t even include a picture because I wanted to be liked based off of my personality/interests rather than looks. So yes, I do think being handy is attractive. Before I moved in with my husband, I told him that the master bath needed to be renovated because there was a 6-inch gaping hole in the wall across from the toilet due to a leak he had been researching…for OVER A MONTH! Granted, his house is on three acres surrounded by trees so no real need for privacy but it was a good excuse to modernize the 30+ year old fixtures. It was rewarding for us to renovate an 80 sq ft bathroom on our own. We moved the toilet location, expanded the shower to include two shower heads which involved tons of decorative tiling, added another sink, and created a linen closet. I’m an office worker by day so being handy has become a part of who I am through many experiences. It started with an interest to be more self-sufficient so I volunteered on the electrical crew for Habitat for Humanity for 6 years. While volunteering I got to know another girl on the crew who was looking for property to raise her horses but couldn’t find the right home but found plenty of land available. The two guys on the crew suggested that she build her house and they would help. The four of us worked every weekend on her house for 2 years and I’m happy to reminded of the “house that I built” every time I visit. For all those people who think that you’re not handy, just give it a try by easing into projects or helping out at Habitat for Humanity.
Wonderful line that captures the article’s essence perfectly! To be self-sufficient is super attractive. If one can combine financial self-sufficiency with day-to-day life self-sufficiency, I dare one will always be loved.
Pay your dues, then breaking the rules! I like it, especially the part about acquiring new skill sets like plumbing. It’s always good to learn practical things. Recently my wife and I put up wallpaper (I watched like 10 YouTube videos in order to prepare). It took us about 3 hours to do it and I figure the alternative would be to pay a contractor a couple hundred bucks I guess for them to do it – win for us!
I agree with your thoughts here and beleive there is another component that makes society better if more folks were willing to tackle projects. The ability to develop self confidence and thus the mindset that: “I am in charge of my life, not someone else or society or government.”
Watching our elective process whereby charlatans try and sell gov’t security as a panacea over self sufficiency makes me cringe.
I still remember people sitting in water in New Orleans crying “Somebody help us!”
Get off your arse and walk to higher ground! Sitting around waiting for others to help in a situation like that is insane.
That should have been the big story out of Katrina – how soft we are becoming, not what is the government doing or not doing.
$250-350 in plumbing fees? Ouch! COL is crazy over there. My plumber would apologize for charging the $89 service call fee, fix the problem in 5 minutes and try to find something else to do to justify the $89. :) So far I’m really enjoying the services of my plumber because he’s so cheap. Though for your dishwasher fix I’d probably try it myself too since I can handle basic stuff (as long as it doesn’t require a blow torch).
I found this post really interesting since I didn’t know you did DIY fixes, especially at your rental.
Sam — Challenge accepted! 30 minutes to write, 600 words (too short, I know). couldn’t find a direct to you email address any longer…
Kirk ksaha@comcast.net
Life Insurance Needs and why I don’t need any:
Sam recently asked for a guest posting and his latest post triggered a real idea in my mind. I don’t have any life insurance and I feel 100% safe and comfortable with my decision. Let me outline my thought process.
First, we need to evaluate why do we have Life Insurance? To protect and provide for our loved ones if and when we die, right? But is it possible our needs change inversely of what the Insurance Industry would have us believe? I think so.
When I was younger, I had a few assets but many responsibilities and many to provide for. My wife and my kids. My wife needed enough to live the balance of her life after I departed. My kids needed enough to provide for them, plus educational expenses through college. Therefore having little assets but a High Insurance Need. I couldn’t really afford Life Insurance but also knew it was sorely needed. My employer provided some, but not enough. I bought a Term Life / 20 year plan for 250k of coverage. Perhaps not enough, but with my employer’s added on, all I could afford. We were in our 20’s and 30’s
Mid-life — my mortgage is diminishing, bills are manageable, kids are getting older, my wife is older. So Insurance now only needs to support my wife for 50 years (not 70 years as above), and my kids only for another 10 years, plus college. My insurance needs have declined; yet the Insurance Companies realize I now have more of a disposable income and advertize stronger to this group. According to them, how could we even think of living without Life Insurance? We are now in our 40’s – 50’s
Finally, I’m nearing retirement and significantly more financially savvy, thanks to Financial Samurai and ‘life’. So what’s changed? Let’s examine it the changes:
First, my life expenses are Very manageable, close to phasing out. My mortgage has long been paid in full; Kids have graduated college and have lives on their own. Both my wife and I have gotten older (how did that happen?). So now I do not need to provide for my kids; I only need to provide for my wife for a shorter duration (20-40 years)… and here is the biggest change of them all:
I have real assets of my own! Due to many years of decent returns, maxing out / proper 401k contributions, and keeping a watchful eye on my investments, I now have more than enough to meet the requirements outlined above. And additionally the Insurance Companies realize a few things too. They know I have more money; they know sooner or later I’ll need Life insurance and therefore they advertise focusing on our age group. Guess what? I’m not buying and even cancelled all my Life Insurance I had once my assets passed 1.5m. My wife can spend over 100k / year and still have money left over…. Life Insurance for why?
So once you have enough assets in your own portfolio, why continue to have Life Insurance? My money / our money will easily outlast both of us; even spending in excess of 100k per year. Yet it’s funny, every time I talk to an insurance agent (home / auto / umbrella) they always ask about my Life Insurance needs… yet I just asked them to quote 2m umbrella liability plan…. go figure. They know where they make most of their money and can’t help themselves.
So once you have over a million in your portfolio, cancel your life insurance and save a few dollars!
Hello-
Thinking about starting a Servpro franchise in the Los Angeles area. The franchise will cost around 100K-200k. Currently my net worth is around $1.2 million. I have 3 rental properties,1 primary residence, and 300k in cash and retirement account. I am a Corporate employee right now that makes around $73K annually, my wife makes around 50k annually. I also have a 3 1/2 year old son. Do you think it’s a good idea to quit my job and start a franchise? What would you do in my shoes?
Thanks