Grandmother's advice - continued from a Tree Grows in Brooklyn

This post includes some great advice from the book "A Tree Grows in Brooklyn" by Betty Smith. See my first post titled A Tree Grows in Brooklyn before reading this post!

Here is a small excerpt from the book with the rest of Grandmother's advice to the new mother. She said...

"Before you die, you must own a bit of land - maybe with a house on it that your child or your children may inherit. Katie laughed (the new mother) "Me own land?" A house? We're lucky if we can pay our rent."

Today, around 70% of us own our homes. This was considered a luxury back in the 1800s. We are very lucky compared to previous generations. Unfortunately, many people don't feel this way. Above I underlined something important - "your children may inherit." What are your children going to inherit?

The Grandmother continued...

"For thousands of years, our people have been peasants working the land of others. This was in the old country. Here we do better working with our hands in the factory. There is a part of each day that does not belong to the master but which the worker owns himself. That is good. But to own a bit of land is better; a bit of land that we may hand down to our children...that will raise us up on the face of the earth."

"How can we ever get to own land? Johnny and I work and we earn so little. Sometimes after the rent is paid and the insurance there is hardly enough left for food. How could we save for land?"

"You must take an empty condensed-milk can and wash it well."

"A can...?"

"Cut off the top neatly. Cut strips down into the can the length of your finger. Let each strip be so wide... Bend the strips backward. The can will look like a clumsy star. Make a slit at the top. Then nail the can a nail in each strip, in the darkest corner of your closet. Each day put five cents in it. In three years there will be a small fortune, fifty dollars. Take this money and buy a lot in the country. Get the papers that say it is yours. Thus you become a landowner. Once one has owned land, there is no going back to being a serf."

"Five cents a day. It seems a little. But where is it to come from? We haven't enough now and with another mouth to feed...."

"You must do it thus: You go to the green grocer's and ask how much are carrots the bunch. The man will say three cents. Then look about until you see another bunch, not so fresh, not so large. You will say: May I have this damaged bunch for two cents? Speak strongly and it shall be yours for two cents. This is a saved penny that you put in the star bank. It is winter, say. You bought a bushel of coal for twenty-five cents. It is cold. You would start a fire in the stove. But wait! Wait one hour more. Suffer the cold for an hour. Put a shawl around you. Say, I am cold because I am saving to buy land. That hour will save you three cents' worth of coal. That is three cents for the bank. When you are alone at nigh, do not light the lamp. Sit in the darkness and dream a while. Recount out how much oil you saved and put its value in pennies in the bank. The money will grow. Someday there will be fifty dollars and somewhere on this long island is a piece of land that you may buy for that money."

"Will it work, this saving?"

"I swear by the Holy Mother it will."

We have what we have today because our ancestors sat in the cold in order to save for a bit of land. We have what we have today because our ancestors bought damaged carrots in order to save for a bit of land. We have what we have today because our ancestors sat in the dark at night in order to save for a bit of land.

What are we willing to do?

Today, we don't seem to be willing to sacrifice anything for a bit of land. Statistics show that the majority of people aren't saving nearly as much as they should. This is a sign that we don't care about owning a bit of land. We also don't seem to care about what our kids will inherit.

What are you willing to do to own a bit of land?

Rob Minton

P.S. If you're serious about owning a bit of land, you'll join us tonight for our IFL Tuesday FREE Conference call. The call will start at 8 pm. I'll be interviewing, Jim Loomis, an Income for Life Member from Cedar Rapids, Iowa. Simply dial 1-212-461-8613 from the comfort of your home. There is no need to register to participate in this FREE call!

Comments

[Richard Sander]

The concept of "What are you willing to do?" or (equally as important) "What are you willing to do without?" is foreign to many Gen-Xers and most Gen-Yers.

My father did without for the first seven years of his life in order to come to this country. He did without for two years while fighting for our country in the Marines during World War II.

I've had a number of "doing without" periods during my adult life, spent looking forward to better times.

I'm proud to say that my two most successful rent-to-own buyers are successful precisely because they look at their children, and summon the courage and self-discipline to do without when necessary in order to improve their lives, and leave a legacy for their children.

I asked one of them today about this. She said, "All I have to do is look at one of my kids. I can do anything - ANYTHING - to make their lives better. And I know, deep down, that owning this house is just the beginning of the good that will come of this."

I am very proud to represent a growing number of investors doing good by helping to increase the ranks of Myrtle Beach real estate owners!