Jane was the oldest tenant in the 11 unit building that sat in the middle of the city's prominent historic district. Although she rented a one bedroom apartment, she felt a connection to her neighbors. Not the ones inside the other units of her building, who were mostly college kids, but rather the homeowners in this historic neighborhood.

They were mostly Jane's age. Retirement age, or near it, most of them well off enough that earlier retirement was the norm, carrying out days painted in leisure. A palette filled with activities such as organizing committees and associations, walking their dogs, and working on their garden.

They'd bought homes back before residential real estate became a luxury commodity. Back before people went on bidding wars over small plots of land. None of them were working class, but neither were they

Michael Douglas

rich; they didn't shake hands to make wealth. Rather they had regular nine to five jobs that paid a decent salary, invested consistently but modestly into mutual funds, and yes had happened to bought a house in the neighborhood at a price residents today would consider unbelievable. 

Jane's late husband had worked in the trades. A plumber who consistently improved his craft while society found less and less of its citizens wanting to make a living doing things like welding, installing pipes, or laying brick. Everybody wanted to sit at a computer instead. But Jane's man never considered himself smart enough, thought he was too old a dog to get into such things. So he kept plumbing, and to his surprise he kept making more money. People with money wanted their pipes fixed, but they couldn't find the right person to do it. A plumber shortage.  

Once Jane's Man got a taste for money, he started imagining. What if he could own a business. Expand. Take over the entire plumbing market here in town. Instead of investing his earnings into funds like the other salarymen, Jane's Man began pouring capital into expanding. Buying branded trucks, hiring new kids to train, spending on advertising. 

He wasn't reckless with the money though. He and Jane lived at a decent house and they had decent things. Nobody could complain. However, their house and property was rented. It was just to sweet of a deal in prime location that Jane wanted to live there. At the time there was no way they could afford that kind of house in that kind of location, so they kept renting that beautiful house in that prime spot while at the same time saving money and investing it into growing the plumbing business.

All looked like it was going well. Just give it four or five more years and Jane and her man would've been able to buy such a house and not have to rent. Would have enough to start investing into their retirement. But things can go left real quick in life.