A millionaire who "secret shops"
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Not a great idea to out yourself to potential store associates.
Happiness is not a goal; it is a by-product. Eleanor Roosevelt
$415 monthly from mystery shopping. He made his million investing in real estate. I am guessing its mostly high end dinning shops where he gets meals for his work with very little pay.
Edited to correct error
Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 02/04/2021 03:47AM by BuffaloNY101.
Edited to correct error
Shopping Western NY, Northeast and Central PA, and parts of Ohio and West Virginia. Have car will travel anywhere if the monies right.
Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 02/04/2021 03:47AM by BuffaloNY101.
Lots of us who break that number do so because we are frugal.
Actually the article says he earns $5,000 a year from mystery shopping. That is a lot more than I earn so he must be doing things other than reimbursement shops. He is only 27 so he has not owned his home for a long time but I and many of us older folks have real estate we call home that is worth at least a million if we live in a high cost city.
Sounds like my son and his wife (31, 30) - they both graduated from college with no student loan debt, own two houses and plan to buy a third as a rehab/rental. They live an extremely modest lifestyle - no expensive vacations, drive used cars, silicone wedding rings, took a two-day honeymoon. I thought it was unusual at the time, but they had 1-2 roommates in their homes to help pay down their mortgages until the kids (2 nd 4) came along. These millenials and GenZ have a very different attitude than we 1980s "yuppies" did, they don't care at all about status symbols and keeping up with the Joneses.
@ColoKate63 wrote:
Sounds like my son and his wife (31, 30) - they both graduated from college with no student loan debt, own two houses and plan to buy a third as a rehab/rental. They live an extremely modest lifestyle - no expensive vacations, drive used cars, silicone wedding rings, took a two-day honeymoon. I thought it was unusual at the time, but they had 1-2 roommates in their homes to help pay down their mortgages until the kids (2 nd 4) came along. These millenials and GenZ have a very different attitude than we 1980s "yuppies" did, they don't care at all about status symbols and keeping up with the Joneses.
That’s just the way that makes financial sense.
Am 31 and literally have been renting rooms in my house with as many as 5 separate tenants living with me at one point since I bought my home back in 2013.
Then when the boom happens, bam, reset the mortgage and cash out, refi. Rinse and repeat.
Shopping the Greater Denver Area, Colorado Springs and in-between in Colorado. 33 year old male and willing to travel!
I think that you meant to say $415 monthly (~$5000/year).@BuffaloNY101 wrote:
$415 annually from mystery shopping. He made his million investing in real estate. I am guessing its mostly high end dinning shops where he gets meals for his work with very little pay.
This article is old. I read it the last time and wasn't impressed then either.
Silicone wedding rings? Hmmm...I've never heard of such a thing. Is this the latest trend? I will have to google some images.
Kim
@kimmiemae wrote:
Silicone wedding rings? Hmmm...I've never heard of such a thing. Is this the latest trend? I will have to google some images.
Here you go:
[www.rei.com]
They lost me at 2009 Ford Focus.
Too expensive for my taste. Both the ring and that car.
Shopping the Greater Denver Area, Colorado Springs and in-between in Colorado. 33 year old male and willing to travel!
I have sillicone rings from www.enso.com. The Qalo ones are nice too. The ring is super comfortable and safe when working with machinery. Remember what happened to Jimmy Fallon a few years ago? He tripped in his kitchen and caught his ring finger on a countertop edge as he fell and almost took off his finger. Now he doesn't wear any ring at all, not even a sillicone one. I still wear my metal ring when we go out, but for work and everyday running around, it's the sillicone one. BTW, my rings were not cheap. Less expensive, sure, than my gold wedding band. The sillicone rings were like $20 each!
OK. I've seen a couple of guys wearing them. Not up close so I just figured they were some type of dark metal.
We had a guy at work lose his platinum wedding band. He was freaking out, looking everywhere. We all were looking for it. Poor guy never found it. I bet he wish he had a silicone ring.
We had a guy at work lose his platinum wedding band. He was freaking out, looking everywhere. We all were looking for it. Poor guy never found it. I bet he wish he had a silicone ring.
@SoCalMama wrote:
@kimmiemae wrote:
Silicone wedding rings? Hmmm...I've never heard of such a thing. Is this the latest trend? I will have to google some images.
Here you go:
[www.rei.com]
They lost me at 2009 Ford Focus.
Kim
I've been married over 33 years. I never had a wedding ring. I don't wear a watch. I don't really care for jewelry. Been in the double comma club for years.
I just upgraded my wedding ring after 15 years. It's still pretty understated. I wear a nice watch though and that's all the jewelry I wear.
My house is almost paid, I drive a paid for car and don't spend a lot of money on frivolous things.
I'm essentially cheap which is why I like mystery shopping :-) more money into the retirement account for me.
I always get asked why I Mystery Shop even though I make very good money on my day job and it's because I enjoy the interactions and appreciate what a good mystery shopper can do for business. I also like getting stuff that I would buy anyway for a discount.
I'm in the seven figure club also and you would never know it.
My house is almost paid, I drive a paid for car and don't spend a lot of money on frivolous things.
I'm essentially cheap which is why I like mystery shopping :-) more money into the retirement account for me.
I always get asked why I Mystery Shop even though I make very good money on my day job and it's because I enjoy the interactions and appreciate what a good mystery shopper can do for business. I also like getting stuff that I would buy anyway for a discount.
I'm in the seven figure club also and you would never know it.
If I had millions to retire on, I would never do a narrative dining shop (I'd simply pay), but I'd still do quick and easy ones like FG.
I shall do those probably the rest of my life if I'm able to. It just feels like a great way to save money that isn't too time-consuming. Plus, it's hard to enjoy those fine-dining types when working them (guest always does though!).
I shall do those probably the rest of my life if I'm able to. It just feels like a great way to save money that isn't too time-consuming. Plus, it's hard to enjoy those fine-dining types when working them (guest always does though!).
Foodluvr raises a good point. Many people with paid off houses in major metropolitan areas and a decent 401k have assets in the seven figures. That doesn’t mean they could loan you a million on short notice.
Your mentality changes as you get older. One time I got a twenty thousand dollarish settlement. I bought two cars, paid a k plus to get my kids and I a big 3 bedroom house rented, went out to eat, bought some shoes. This time, I got almost 9k in a refund and another 5k just now for stimulus. The only major expenditure I've spent is to buy a motor for my car, that I need to fix to sell and get the note off me. I've been paying my credit cards down. But most of the money is just sitting in the bank for what purposes I have planned for it. I've never just held money to invest in ways to make more money. My whole thought process has changed. I haven't bought any clothes or shoes. I haven't even got my nails done since last July, (mostly because of COVID). I have splurged on taking the animals to the groomers because bathing them is tough on my body. But I want a big house and a swimming pool. That's my dream. So I will buy another tax lien, fix the one I got and sell the car. My eyes are on the prize. With enough tax lien houses, someday I will be able to afford that big house in the country.
This video was what got me started looking into mystery shopping last year (stopped bc there were no restaurant shops, but now they’re back, baby!). I was like what! $25 a month on food! I don’t have to spend $200 on a nice dinner out of pocket?! Sounded great. No where near $25/ month on food but am on my way to getting $700 reimbursed this month.
I totally get this mentality. Time is money, yes. But if my time was going to be spent lying on the couch binge watching Netflix and eating a tub of ice cream anyway, writing a report to get an expensive meal with my husband or friends seems good to me!
Edit for clarity
Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 06/20/2021 03:18PM by asleep.
I totally get this mentality. Time is money, yes. But if my time was going to be spent lying on the couch binge watching Netflix and eating a tub of ice cream anyway, writing a report to get an expensive meal with my husband or friends seems good to me!
Edit for clarity
Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 06/20/2021 03:18PM by asleep.
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