Do You Have a Financial Mentor?


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Do You Have a Mentor?I’ve learned the importance of having a mentor over the years.  We all make mistakes and hopefully we are able to learn from them.  However, when you have a mentor to help guide you, you can take out some of the mistakes before you make them because you are aware of what the mistakes might be.

Many of us have mentors that we don’t get to actually talk to – these are usually famous people who have the same ideals as we do.  For example, Robert Kiyosaki has changed my life completely with some of his books, my favorites being:

I actually got to meet him years ago during a book signing he had after a seminar he hosted.  That was great to be able to meet the guy that I look up to, but it wasn’t like I had time to pick his brain and learn from him.  To have that sit-down time, you need to find someone in your life around you that you can actually lean on and gain insight from.

I consider myself very lucky.  I have two people in my life that are financial mentors to me.  The first is a guy who I work with.  He started in real estate in his early twenties and has been very prolific with it.  At one point, he owned over 25 rental houses plus commercial property, land, etc.  He has since gotten out of the residential arena and sold his houses (he’s kept everything else), but this is obviously someone who knows a lot about real estate.  He has plenty of money, is financially free, and only works because he enjoys it (usually!).  He’s helped teach me quite a bit over the years to understand some of the nuances of real estate.  Experience is definitely important and I appreciate the time he gives me.

My other mentor is another guy who retired from my company when he was 59½ (an important number if you’re familiar with retirement plans).  He is also a real estate investor and now has 5 rental houses.  He’s in a great position in his life that after all his expenses are paid, he still brings in an extra $1,000+ in surplus that he can save or reinvest.  That’s the beauty of passive income!  He’s retired and still has more income coming in than he needs!

I just met with my retiree mentor recently at a bar/restaurant.  He was able to help me avoid a possibly costly mistake regarding buying a new rental property.  He also was able to give me some great contacts for an accountant and a new real estate agent.  I picked up the tab for everything, which I consider to be an extremely small price to pay for the amount of knowledge I gained.

Many successful people are excited about what they do and would be more than willing to pass on some of that knowledge to you.  If they are, take them up on it.  A financial mentor could help you save a lot of money and the time it takes rectifying mistakes that could have been avoided.

Do you have a financial mentor in your life?

Thanks for reading!

— Jim

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7 thoughts on “Do You Have a Financial Mentor?”

  1. Hi. This is a really great topic. Nice work.

    When I come across those depressing articles about how little Americans have saved . . . this always pops into my mind. Who’s there to help? The financial planners? Meh. No thanks.

    So many of us don’t have financial mentors or come from backgrounds that even present opportunities for financial mentorship. Add on top of this the epidemic of financial illiteracy and the predatory behavior of lenders ~ and it gets even more depressing.

    As an educator, I see this paradox in the faces of young college students everyday . . . some financial ’empathy’ or ‘service’ could go a long way to making financial mentors more accepted and welcomed (and not taboo). I’m hoping to blog about this on my own site at some point . . . thanks for sharing.

    1. Thanks, Professor! It is sad that financial literacy isn’t a mandatory part of the curriculum in schools.

      As far as mentorship goes, I would guess that most of the time, a financial mentor isn’t going to come to you – it usually takes the student to befriend the teacher in this case. That makes it a little less likely for younger kids to make it happen unless they understand that and can summon up the confidence to talk to successful people.

      — Jim

  2. Not yet but sounds like I need one!
    I’m always reading and learning from the mass amount of financial blogs out there, though they can’t possibly take into account my personal situation and take it to that next level.
    I’ll have to keep my eyes and ears open and find a good one.
    Thanks for the prompt.

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