August 2016

Protecting Yourself When Buying Rental Property

Protecting Yourself When Buying Rental Property

When I bought my first house back in 2003, I had plans to live there for a couple of years, fix it up, and then turn it into a rental property.  The idea sounded simple enough, but I ran into a lot of headaches along the way. I knew location was important, but I didn’t know where I should be looking.  I also didn’t know how to properly determine cash flow and ROI (return on investment).  And I didn’t take into consideration […]

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What Do You Want to Be When You Grow Up?

What Do You Want to Be When You Grow Up?

I recently asked my 6-year old daughter “what do you want to be when you grow up?”  She answered back that said she wants to buy duplexes. That’s my girl! Now, before you start chastising me for trying to force my daughter to be something she doesn’t want to when she grows up, let me explain. When I grow up… When I was young, I had my sights set on being an artist for Disney.  I had a pretty good knack for drawing and that just

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It’s Not How Much You Make, It’s How Much You Keep

As I was going through college, I had my mind set on getting rich.  I envisioned a good job that paid a ton of dough.  After all, the more money you make, the richer you are, right?  Fresh out of college though, I wasn’t building savings, I was chasing the money to have and to spend in the present day. And I did alright.  While I was still in school, I was working at Walmart.  I started out with it being

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Is It Possible to Reach Financial Independence with Kids?

Is It Possible to Reach Financial Independence with Kids?

When I set out on this journey toward financial independence, I knew I had some work to do.  I started out with around $30k of credit card debt and didn’t know anything worthwhile on how to make it happen. I even bought into one of those late night real estate scams on how to get rich.  I wasted some of my hard-earned money late in my college years thinking that was the way to go… it wasn’t. Eventually, I got on track.  I read as many books as I

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Do I Cut Back on my Roth to Reach FI Sooner?

Do I Cut Back on My Roth to Reach FI Sooner?

As some of you know, I’ve been a little bummed lately with my countdown to financial independence (FI) and early retirement being a ways out.  Although I have a plan to retire before my 50th birthday, I just feel like this is too far out. Every day that I spend at work is one less day that I get to spend with my daughter.  Granted, this is the summer when she’s not in school, but it’s tough regardless (which I’m sure it

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