A Survivalist’s Mentality

Why invest in real estate?

I’ve been taking some basic refresher survival techniques courses lately in preparation for doing winter hiking.  Just in case I get lost in the woods, I ‘d like to feel a bit more prepared for emergencies…  The local classes I’ve been attending are offered by some honest-to-God survivalists.  So not only do I get good, solid practical strategies for making fire, purifying water and making a shelter, to name just a few topics, but I also get a good dose of honest-to-God survivalist philosophy.

Interestingly, this philosophy is the polar opposite of any basic property investing strategy.

Taking extremism in stride…

I wrote last week (“They Sky Is Falling, The Sky Is Falling”) that recent publicity surrounding world-renowned economist Marc Faber’s dire doomsday predictions about the imminent collapse of worldwide economies was a tad extremist.

However, Faber certainly has an advocate in my survival training instructor…His philosophy gushes forth in every class – as he loves to point out  corporate and governmental conspiracy theories, the concept that all humans are evil, and his belief that only a handful of people control the world.  He actually mentioned a “Mad Max” apocalyptic vision of the world – and only weeks away!

It’s the Great Pumpkin

Naturally, all I could think about was poor Linus waiting patiently in the pumpkin patch,  knowing, without any doubt, he’ll eventually get to see the Great Pumpkin.  If he can only stay awake.  But his true believer mentality will see him through…

I am always struck by the extreme paranoia that seems to pervade survivalist thinking.  A thinking I might add, that de facto belittles the notion of building a nest egg of properties based on a slow, deliberate investing strategy, predicated on large degrees of leverage.  A  paranoia that in turn destroys the idea that investing by its very nature is about saving up for a rainy day.  To the true survivalist, that rainy day is literally tomorrow.  And you damned well better be prepared for it.  Or die.

Planning for that rainy day

But if you’re like me, and you don’t subscribe to theories that drug companies support the proliferation of disease to bolster their profits, that governments enslave their citizenry to maintain their docileness, and that humans are inherently stupid, uneducated and lazy, then man oh man, is it ever a good idea for you to invest in real estate.  Property investing is certainly for you!

So do survivalists scare me?  No, not really.  By and large they are preparing for the fight to come to them.  They just believe beyond any doubt that a fight, some fight, is going to come to their  neck of the woods when Armegeddon hits.

Obviously, property investors don’t believe Armeggedon will hit. Otherwise, why bother planning for anything longer than tomorrow?  We, like Lucy, understand the underlying folly in patiently waiting in the pumpkin patch for something really big to happen.  Rather, we desire to concentrate our efforts to invest in real estate, in many different and deliberate ways.  Though we will never, ever be able to convince our brethren survivalist believers to the contrary.

 

photos courtesy of survival.kanakuk.com, edition.cnn.com, blog.competitivefutures.com, en.wikipedia.org, facebook.com