One Spring, when I was about 9, I saw Dad sitting at our dining room table doing what looked like homework…

“What are you doing Dad?”

“I’m doing my Income Taxes. Would you like to help?”

My father never missed an opportunity to share knowledge he knew would one day help us kids navigate the practicalities of life.

That’s when I heard a fascinating story…

Half a dozen years earlier, my parents had moved their young family from Nova Scotia to Toronto so Dad could go to dental school.

The real estate market in Middleton wasn’t great at the time, and they’d been unable to sell our family home — so they rented it to another military family instead. And, that other family had been living in our old house and paying for it all this time! That, in turn, enabled my parents to pay down their mortgage and earn a little profit on an appreciating asset.

Dad showed me how he and Mom had become accidental investors. He used simple math to explain why rent needed to exceed expenses, and he told me that something called inflation meant that the house was now worth more than when they originally bought it!

I’ve never forgotten lessons learned at that dining room table, and I’ve been intrigued by real estate ever since.

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