This is a Now page that lets you take a peek at the big rocks I’m focusing on right now. I was inspired by Derek Sivers, founder of CD Baby.
I highly recommend his book “Anything You Want: 40 Lessons for a New Kind of Entrepreneur.”
Starting with a side hustle in 1998, Derek spent 10 years in the trenches building his dream and sold it for 22 million 10 year’s later. This is not a “rah, rah” self-help book. He dives deep into the ups and downs of running a business and knowing when it’s time to exit and move on.
He made a brilliant move by setting up a charitable trust before the sale of his baby to avoid a massive tax bill. Now he lives the good life in Singapore and New Zealand.
Reading
Vagabonding: An Uncommon Guide to the Art of Long-Term Travel. Tim Ferris carried this book with him as he traveled around the globe for 18 months.
Retire Early with Real Estate. I’ve been following Chad’s blog and Bigger Pockets articles for years. He is a great mentor and I like how he was able to move to Ecuador for a mini-retirement with his family. I’m hoping to learn how he systemizes his business as well gain some inspiration on how people were to retire early with real estate.
Real Estate Business
I’m buried in capital improvements as I continue upgrading the five-unit building I purchased in August of 2017. The tenants had leases that ended this year, and I can finally get into the units for significant upgrades like flooring, sheetrock, and updated kitchens and baths.
I let 3 of the units go empty and just finished one of the two bedrooms. The new tenant is a Rockstar.
I should write a post about this building. I acquired the tenants from hell while dealing with multiple city infractions as a result of the prior owner letting things slide. No one wanted to touch this can of worms, and that’s why I was able to pick it up at a $35,000 discount.
Flash Tip: Some of your best deals will come from tired landlords.
I’m also working on automating my leasing process. It’s time to join the digital world by offering a “DocuSign” option for leases. Plus, I got burned last month on some language in the lease contract and need to update to a better one.
Financial Advisory Business
Integrating a new retirement planning tool for clients. It covers all the bases including investment properties which I had a tough time modeling with my old software.
Family
Shopping for colleges for my daughter plus the other kiddo just got her driving permit.
Scary!
Funding for college will be unusual compared to how most folks cover it. I plan to use real estate cash flow to cover all the expenses. While I want my kids to have some skin in the game, I’m prepared to pay for the full ride if things don’t work out as planned.
The worst case scenario is to refinance a property to pick up some tax-free cash. This is why I like a rental property versus a 529 college savings account. It allows more flexibility to pay for college without restrictions on how the money will be utilized.
In my case, I was fortunate to enlist in the Army to help cover college. I graduated with about $2,800 in student loans ($5,039 in today’s dollars). This was paid off in a couple of years, and I only had to hit the “Bank of Dad” my final year for a small amount since the last semester was such a time suck-I couldn’t work enough hours to cover all my expenses.
Adventure
Planning an adventure with the kiddos to Cocoa Beach, FL to take surf lessons and visit the Kennedy Space Center. Kids don’t know that I will be scouting out some real estate as well.
Financial Independence/FIRE
Shooting for another milestone in my net worth by the end of the year. It will be a tough goal to hit due to all the money I’m spending on the real estate portfolio this year.
Wrestling with the financial independence, retire-early (FIRE) concept. I could retire today, but keep wondering what I would do. Technically, I was financially independent (FI) in my early 40’s but decided I wanted to create a significant financial buffer.
As the tide went out during the last financial crash, I could see a lot of people swimming naked. Fortunately, all my properties were purchased for cash flow on day one, and I was able to weather the storm by battening down the hatches on capital improvements along with ensuring I only rented to reliable customers.
Now I’m working on what the ideal retirement will look like for me.
