Pressing the Pause Button on our Life!

[KevinMatwichuk]

My Family and I would like to thank Don, Russell, and the rest of the REIN team for teaching us how important it is to have a `Personal Belize` (ie. Life Plan). We joined REIN in June 2005 after attending the Calgary Quickstart. We then did what Don teaches and slowly bought 18 properties over the following 3 years, followed the REIN systems, and of course made a tonne of mistakes along the way (The mistakes were no fault of Don).

Well, my family and I just finished living out the first part of our Personal Belize. A week ago we returned from a 7 month sailing adventure in which we toured the Caribbean and the Bahamas on a 42ft. catamaran. The trip was not as much about sailing as is was about us as a family slowing down from the hectic pace which was becoming normal to us. I was able to spend every minute with my wife and 4 kids for 7 straight months. We got to know each other at a whole different level!

REIN has taught some very important lessons over the past few years:

1) Set out your goals/dreams and go after them!
2) Ignoring the dream stealers along the way. (Try telling you family and friends that you are taking your family to live on a sailboat in the Caribbean for 7 months and see what they say!)
3) Use real estate investing as a vehicle to your dreams in life, but don`t make real estate investing your life!

We a now back to our busy life again and are now continuing to increase our portfolio slowly until we are able to live the next chapter of our `Personal Belize`

Check out our adventure at OneLifeSailing

Thanks REIN!!!

Kevin, Kendra, Kiana, Cole, Luke and Tyler

 

[KimFranz]

Wow! Amazing story! Congratulations on your success.

Kim

 

[seanverret]

That`s an awesome story Kevin, way to go!

 

[RArora]

WoW! that is such a great story! one we get to see in advertisements but in this case being members of REIN we know this one is really true-so it can really happen!!!

Congratulations to you and your family!

 

[dobiso]

Am inspired and motivated!!!
This is WHY I joined REIN.

 

[RArora]

just went thru your blogspot and all the pics! what wonderful memories your family has made!!!

 

[RebeccaBryan]

Money smarts, Personal Life Smarts. What a fantastic role model for your children. That`s a WOW story.

I`ve had the experience of being lucky enough to have made the decision many years ago to have home educated my oldest three children in their early years of school. The connection I made by spending time and doing things with meaning gave them treasured memmories. My oldest children will tell you that it was the best years of their life. Not having to adhere to "schedules" is an amazing experience and educating your kids through hands on expereinces just can`t be matched by "institutionalizing" kids.

 

[DonCampbell]

Kevin,

All I can say is WOW! Thank you so much for `getting it` and understanding that life is not all about chasing money, staying on a treadmill and then retiring. Life is about living it TODAY, and that is why i continue to do what I do. Real estate provides freedom if done right.

Kevin, you made my day... and more importantly you created memories and experiences for your children that they will take with them for the rest of their life. You took the steps (18 properties in 3 years) to make it happen, make sure you have a `proud` moment for yourself.

We all have a choice, and how I like to put it into perspective is `If your future self could talk to you what would it say. Thanks! or Thanks for Nothing. I KNOW yours will be saying thanks!

 

[qdsouza]

That`s so amazing Kevin. Thanks for sharing. Your story certainly helps to inspire me. It seems to be regular people who do extraordinary things that have attracted me to REIN.

Enjoy!

Quentin

 

[ChrisDavies]

That`s amazing Kevin! I want to do the same thing one day! I`ll have to buy you a drink the next time I`m in Edmonton and hear more. I`m a sailing addict too.

Cheers,

Chris

 

[GSI]

What an awesome journey! I read your post and visited your blog, fantastic pictures. Danielle (my wife) and I read posts from your adventure and reminisced about many of our past travels and future ones that we`re planing.

Your story reinforced a lot of thoughts and themes that we`ve been discussing lately. We have been fortunate to build a decent portfolio of real estate, travel and live abroad. But, sometimes we get caught up in the day-to-day mechanics of our business and of purchasing more properties, reaching more goals... But, you reminded us to take time out to realize the important day to day goals and lifestyle choices that we make.

We`re expecting our first child this fall (October, a son) and have many plans ahead as a family. In fact as I type this email a huge storm passes through and the rain shakes our house. On top of my desk there is a picture of a sailboat (I don`t know how to sail!) and other images of our home in Canada. We`re in the middle of an 8 year adventure now, but seldom see it that way as life settles in and routine follows (We live in Japan and that used to be an adventure), but your blog reminded me to see how great everyday is.

Hey, typhoons smashing against your window and the sound of reed flutes touting fresh tofu for sale ARE an adventure- and sometimes I forget- part of my Belize.

So, much to do with our family too.

Thanks for your great story. Next time you sail out to Japan, let us know, maybe we can catch a ride over to the Philippines, Australia or Africa with you?

Todd and Danielle-

 

[PhilipMcKernan]

Well done to you all!

There are many great lessons in this but for me one stands out. Dont wait to life your life. No matter what comes and goes from here on no one can take the time and memories away from you all that this trip has provided.

What a great real life story.

 

[MarkRivers]

Kevin,

Thank you for your post. Very inspiring! I feel extremely privilidged to be a part of a group like this. A group where people are focused and action takers but also, it seems, aware of the truely important things in life. I remember a quote from the movie "The Dead Poets Society" where Robin Williams tells his boys that "medicine, law, business (Real Estate) are all noble pursuits and worthy to sustain life, but love, poetry, art (family, friends, helping others)...these are the reasons we live". (My own thoughts in brackets.) This is not a philosophy preached in the general business community and it is so refreshing to have it expressed in stories like this, over and over again.

Thank you!

Mark

 

[KevinMatwichuk]

Thanks for all of the positive feedback!!

One piece of advice to all those who have dreams of taking time off as we did to live out part of their Belize. Pick a specific date and then take some sort of action which will commit you to the date. (ie. Tell a bunch of people, book airline tickets, etc.). If we had not done this we probably would have just continued on with our busy lives and not taken the plunge. Believe me I had plenty of second thoughts during the planning stage of our trip and was tempted to call it off or drastically scale it back on several occasions, but thank goodness I did not.

REMEMBER: There will never be a perfect time to do these type of things. Don`t get caught later in life wishing you had followed you dream!!

Kevin

 

[joeiannuzzi]

Kevin, this is truly an outstanding story! Way to go and congratulations!!

 

[BLongstreet]

Hello Kevin, Kendra, Kiana, Cole, Luke and Tyler,
I was thrilled to read your story. You started with a dream, made a plan, followed it, and now can bask in the rewards that your efforts have brought. Congratulations to you all. Smile into the camera!

Sincerely,
Bruce.

 

[ltcgraha]

I just reviewed your story and I am really inspired. I am looking to start investing in Real Estate and would appreciate any information you could share with me regarding how to jumpstart my Real Estate career.