The Club Mastermind, LLC

What does Philosophy have to do with Real Estate Investing?

As it turns out, a lot.

I'll explain: every month, The Club sends a book to its members as part of our "Book of the Month" program. 

Why read books? Because it is what happens 'between your ears' that has the biggest impact on what actions you take in your investing. And actions lead to profits.

Most of The Club books deal with topics you might expect - wealth, time management, investing, etc. This past summer, however, we sent out a provocative book written in the 1950's, by a philosopher called Ayn (pronounced "Ine," like in "mine") Rand.  The name of the book is Atlas Shrugged.

I won't bother you with the details - and there are a lot of them. After all, the book is over 1300 pages long.

But I do recommend that, given the current seizure by our Government of so many of our financial institutions, with many more to come...that you need to read this book!

Here's why: Atlas Shrugged shows you, through story, how capitalism works. And how it stops working.

Capitalism is, ultimately, just an idea. A philosophy. But sometimes, our own personal philosophy is full of contradictory ideas.

Understanding your philosophy helps you to understand and even predict the consequences of your actions.

You see, any action you take is a result of...what?

It's a result of what you think. (Obvious, right? Well, bear with me here - this is important.)

So, what shapes your thoughts?

What you believe. Your beliefs. So, your beliefs determine your actions.

Here's the progression: Beliefs - > Thoughts - > Actions.

This is important, because you might say to yourself that there is no consequence to holding a belief. You might say, "it's a free country! I can believe whatever I want to believe! What difference does it make anyway?"

Rand grew up in Communist Russia - so she saw how a country could move from free enterprise to government-run.

Of course - the United States could never suffer the same fate as the Soviet Union, right?

No - I don't believe it ever will. But it's a slippery slope when the government gets more power. And it's hard to see it happening...unless you understand the consequences of the philosophy or beliefs that you hold.

You see - many things that seem generous, helpful and otherwise harmless threaten capitalism.

The reality is - your opportunities as a business person - as an investor - is fragile. And things can be done by the government that make it very difficult to act on those opportunities.

If you read Rand's book, you will start to understand the consequences of the bailout - and how they will affect you for the rest of your life.

So - in short - get the book. Read it.

But what if you are pressed for time? What if a 1300 page book is too long? (You'd be surprised - this is a page-turner - and myself and other investors have read the book in as little as a week.)

Well, tomorrow, I'll give you some help. I'll tell a short story to further explain the ideas in the book - and the way the bailout can affect you as an investor.

I'm out of time and out of space here, however. So watch for a Seeds of Success tomorrow with this story.

To your success,

Pete