"Have Your Home & Money Too" remains a key theme in my "Decisions & Communities" column since being well-housed is a vital contributor to financial security, healthy living, career success, and goal achievement in general. In 2012, we’re adding a significant twist on this important real estate and lifestyle goal - an expansion into financial and lifestyle sustainability suitable to living with uncertainty - both exciting and exhausting - over the decades ahead. The age-driven mandatory "end of work" no longer dictates individual futures. Now, living to an independent, active age 100 is no longer news. However, for many, an overhaul of thinking and decision-making processes is essential to creating a desired, secure future, in business and in life.
With 21st-Century goals for real estate ownership and income-earning power aligned to "Have Your Home & Business Too," property owners can experience satisfaction, flexibility, and security for home and finances during the years ahead, whatever happens or doesn’t. Homebased businesses offer many benefits, not the least of which are income tax advantages that keep more money in your pocket, and environmental gains which can reduce carbon footprints. A homebased business (HBB) makes your home a partner in your financial future in a variety of ways, which you will discover as we cover topics from commuting benefits and succession strategies, to using HBB income and tax deductions to increase real estate purchasing power.
Those who maintain the 20th-Century caretaker view of their real estate as something to look after - a financial burden - may become vulnerable to the stereotypic path of "being moved to a home" by heirs or the government since these owners may not have specific, adaptive alternatives in place to cover contingencies, and preserve independence and control. They may also persist with the 20th-Century "everything will turn out alright" false hope, instead of deliberately protecting income with back-up earning strategies.
HBBers know the future evolves from their choices, and is not set in stone. Would you prefer to design the future of your choice, or make the best of what happens?.
- If you don’t take control and command of your life and your future, who will?
- If you don’t use and enjoy accumulated value in your real estate - your equity - who will?
- If you don’t keep control of earning power and maximize tax savings, who will?
- If you don’t strive for purpose in life and for valued community contributions, who will?
The uncertainty of the future plagues many people these days. What they forget is that the future has always been uncertain. Their certainty about tomorrow was ill-founded. This Century’s economic and political upheavals have remind us that we don’t know what and who we can count on beyond ourselves. It’s not radical thinking to take your future in your own hands, it’s the new common sense.
HBBs are as varied as the people who create them and the real estate that houses them. In fact, the only thing HBBs have in common is their homebase. Increasing numbers are partially or entirely online, and more and more are fulfilling alternatives to traditional "cubicle" jobs. Whether you’re a HBBer now or can’t imagine what business you could operate, "Have Your Home & Business Too" lifestyles are within reach, they may just require a non-traditional pathway. Yours may become a full-time career, a commerce hub contracting to other HBBs across the net, or a part-time or seasonal venture which broadens your horizons. Some HBBs grow out of hobbies or interests, while some arise from keen observation and inspired commitment. Others are extensions or specializations drawn from successful careers. Your home may serve as an incubator of a greater venture, or you may have more than one HBB at a time. Your venture may enable you to buy more land or house than you could otherwise afford.
Many people believe the greatest challenge lies in deciding what they want from the future. This misconception arises from weak decision-making skills which lead people to believe that because they have trouble making up their minds on a daily basis, they’ll never succeed at visualizing their future. In reality, problems arise from lack of clarity about the starting point. For instance, deciding on the best route for a trip is difficult when you don’t know exactly where you’re starting from. This uncertainty is compounded by the fact that what got you where you are today has been replaced by different choices and pathways, some better, some not. The future is not about repeating past success or copying that of others, but about re-imagining success and discovering the best path for you based on today’s opportunities, obstacles, technology, and connections, online and off.
Where are you starting from?
The reasons you bought your current home, cottage, and business real estate are not the reasons you still own these properties. How do you know that holding on to an existing property holds the best long-term benefits for you? Are you knowledgeable about alternatives or just too overwhelmed by the prospect of moving to investigate choices? The information essential to evaluating what makes sense for you real-estate-wise is not in your head. It’s time for expert advice to avoid second-guessing yourself in hindsight. Real estate professionals offer free evaluations to bring you quickly up-to-date with market value. They can also provide a list of options in housing style, location, and investment to trigger forward thinking.
Your income-earning potential has changed since you bought your real estate. Economic shifts may have negatively or positively impacted long-term prospects for you and your partner. If you don’t want to, or won’t be able to, continue to work and earn as you have, what prospects exist for you now in addition to traditional choices? By investigating how a homebased business could benefit you, you’ll be exploring a widening range of choices, in business and in life.
By clarifying where you are in your grand scheme of things, you’ll discover gaps, overlooked opportunity, redundancies, and no-longer-relevant activities. Remove the clutter and reveal what to accomplish next, and next….
Start 2012 off on the right path toward the future you choose whether it includes buying real estate or expanding your passion into a HBB:
- Resolve to do what you want, not what others dictate you should do. Consider the source when you take direction on how to think or implement ideas. Those stuck in the 20th Century may miss unfolding opportunities associated with first-time-in-history shifts in technology and everything else.
- Talk is cheap. There is only one person to convince - yourself. Commit to yourself on paper. Be specific about what you want to achieve.
- Be realistic. If you want to alter or eliminate aspects of your life, set reasonable time frames.
- Identify the steps to success. Break change down into "doable" steps and arrange your strategies to move from step to step as smoothly as possible. Start with a list of giant steps and fill in the gaps.
- Anticipate setbacks. Set yourself up to win by preparing for a few speed bumps ahead. You know what you traditionally overlook when tackling something new. Set out not to repeat dead-end patterns.
Written by PJ Wade
