discomfort and net worth

hey Builder,

I’m moving… again.

if you didn’t know, my wife and I built a badass house and moved in last year.
I’m talking mtv cribs, level type house.

we sold it last month.
I’m moving next week.

what’s crazier is that my family of 5 + 3 dogs will be living in an RV while we remodel the next house.

this will be my 5th move in the last 10 years.

why?

two reasons.

reason #1, we know what we want

you’d think moving every two years means you don’t know what you want.

it’s the opposite.

we know exactly what we want.
and we just got it.

but we knew we couldn’t have it right away.
we had to work, build, and sacrifice to get where we are today.

I won’t say we had a “master plan”…
but we had a vision.

and it’s taken the last 10 years to bring it to life.

reason #2, our net worth increases with each move

it’s funny…

I got out of the military in 2014.
we moved into a great house for our family.

we could have stayed in that house to this day.

most would.
3% interest rate.
low mortgage.
why move?

but I can actually calculate the difference in net worth (just in real estate) if we had stayed there vs. moved 5x in the last 10 years.

moving made us 7x wealthier.

meaning our net worth is 7 times greater than if we had stayed in one house…
you know, played it safe.

staying would’ve been easier.
but comfort costs more than people think.

now, before you start thinking you need to move…
you don’t have my secret weapon:
my wife, Emily.

I can’t take the credit for most any increase in our real estate net worth.
that’s all my wife.
she creates beautiful things.
she can see things in her mind I can’t.
and she can bring it all to life.

she will actually add more to our net worth this year through real estate than I will through business.
which is insane, because I’m not exactly slacking on the business side 😂

so what’s the point in me telling you any of this?

it’s been uncomfortable.
we did it anyway.

remodels. construction. decisions. delays. budgets.
all while… building businesses, raising 3 kids, and doing life.

nothing easy.
nothing handed to us.

Emily and I are on the same page about a lot of things.
but one of the biggest things we’re on the same page about is…
doing hard things.

I can’t tell you how many times we’ve had opportunities pop up and we think…
it’s too much.
it’s too hard.

it’s in that moment we look at each other and we don’t have to say anything.
we’re doing it.

and it’s paid off.
every time.

so if you are staring a hard thing in the face right now…
do it anyway.

no one ever built anything great by playing it safe.

try harder,

JM