7 Traits of Highly Successful People
The past 5 years or so of my life have really kicked my finances into high gear. It’s not just a feeling of success either; it’s real and backed by data. By tracking my net worth over time, I have the data to tell me whether or not my finances are moving in the right direction. And in the past few years alone, I’ve seen my net worth increase by a couple million! That said, it’s important to self-reflect and understand how I’ve come this far in such a short period of time. In this post, I wanted to share the things that have really helped my partner and I become so successful so young.
Making The Leap Into Entrepreneurship? Do These 4 Things To Make Your Life Easier (And To Save Money)
Gearing up to become an entrepreneur is nothing short of thrilling. The planning and prep work that you’ve put in until this point is finally about to pay off. Even after spending countless hours researching various topics and speaking with fellow business owners, there is always something new to learn. When continuing to grow as a soon-to-be entrepreneur, some of the most helpful tips are ones that save you money and reduce your stress levels. The experts at Buck by Buck share top strategies that all brand-new entrepreneurs should use to make life easier — and to save big.
Risks and Tradeoffs of Real Estate Investing
In my past post, 6 Reasons Why I Invest In Real Estate to Build Wealth, I talked about the many benefits of investing in real estate. However, it’s important to highlight the risks and tradeoffs, too. So what are they, and are you willing to accept those risks anyways?
Why Everyone Should Start A FIRE Journey
Embarking on a FIRE (Financial Independence, Retire Early) journey isn’t just for those who want to retire early; it’s for everyone. While the premise may sound bold, I believe my reasons are pretty compelling. As a reader, I want you to think long and hard about the questions I will pose throughout this post and see where your answers take you.
Bad Debt, Better Debt
Okay, you made a mistake of carrying your credit card balance over one month. So what? It’s just a month. Next, you continued to carry that balance over one more month. No problem, you’ll pay it off in the 3rd month for sure. Uh oh, time has really gotten away, and now it’s been an entire year, and that balance has really grown! Now you’re in a real pickle and don’t know how to stop the vicious cycle. How will you get out of this cycle?
6 Reasons Why I Invest In Stocks to Build Wealth
A few months ago, I wrote an article on why I invest in real estate to build wealth. While I am a huge fan of real estate investing, there are many benefits of investing in stocks that I also love. In this post, I’ll dive into the top reasons why I invest in stocks to help bring me closer and closer to my $10M fat FIRE goal.
How the Rich Create Generational Wealth Through Real Estate
Investing in My 2nd Triple-Net Leaseback Rental Property
For those of you who read about my 1st investment in a triple-net leaseback rental property, I talked about how amazing my returns were. In just 2 years, my total return on investment was a whopping 58%! But as the saying goes, past results don’t predict future results, as you will soon find out about my 2nd triple-net leaseback rental property. And, unfortunately for me, my returns turned out to be quite abysmal.
3 Little-Known Ways To Access Your 401(k) Penalty-Free Before 59 ½
If you’re part of the FI/RE community and are thinking about retiring early like I am, you might be wondering why you should contribute to your 401(k) if you won’t be able to access those funds by the time you retire. In most cases that’s true, and the only penalty-free way to withdraw from your 401(k) is to wait until age 59 ½. However, there are 3 little-known ways to work around that age restriction that give you access to your 401(k) accounts early!
With $8,200,000 In Debt, When Will I Be Debt Free?
In my previous post where I shared my $10 million FIRE goal by age 40, I mentioned that my investment allocation will be 30% in real estate. That’s $3M of my own cash invested in rental properties, and I fully intend to leverage that $3M as much as possible, leaving me with a whopping $7M of debt! That doesn’t even include my current $1.2M jumbo mortgage for my primary residence, which would have a remaining balance of around $900K by then. That leaves me asking myself, “After voluntarily acquiring $8.2M in debt, how long will it take before I become debt-free?”
Predictions of 2021’s Economy and Investing Landscape
Between COVID-19, the March 2020 stock market crash to all-time highs for a basket of stay-at-home stocks, no one could’ve predicted what 2020 had in store for us. Let’s have a little fun today by looking into our crystal balls and predict what 2021 has in store for us! At the time of writing, it is December 30, 2020. By the time you’re reading this, some of my predictions may have already come true!
2021 Business and Personal SMART Goals
Happy New Year! To kick off every new year, I like to set goals for all aspects of my life, both personal and professional. To make sure that my goals are clear and reachable, I create Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Time-bound (S.M.A.R.T) goals. By publicizing my goals, it helps me stay accountable for the things I set out to accomplish for the year. In this post, I’ll talk about my personal finance and business goals. Now, let’s dive in!
End of 2020 Reflection on My Retirement Accounts
It’s an understatement to say that 2020 has been a crazy year. Nevertheless, at the end of every year, I like to review how well my investments have performed. Regardless of how good or bad each account has done, I find it healthy to review them as objectively as possible to see if any changes should be made to them for the following year. In this blog post, I will go through each of my retirement accounts one-by-one, see if I met my contribution goals, check their overall performance, and determine if my current 401(k) plans need any rebalancing or reallocating.
Ways to Evaluate Rental Properties
There are many factors to consider when evaluating a prospective rental property. While it largely comes down to a numbers game, there are other factors that are important that math can’t highlight. In this article, we will learn about a few ways to quickly evaluate properties at scale, how I scrutinize a prospective property in greater detail, and list out other important factors that are crucial to building a successful buy-and-hold rental portfolio.
Investing In My 1st Triple-Net Leaseback Rental Property
Most investors have never heard of the terms “triple-net” or “leaseback.” For me, my 1st time investing in this niche area of real estate yielded a 58% return on investment (ROI) in just 2 years! So what are they, and why did I invest in such a deal?
9 Ways To Get Started With Real Estate Investing
Most investors I know park their money in the stock market. It’s arguably one of the best ways to build wealth, and it doesn’t require much cash to get started. Many of those same investors hear about the potential of real estate investing, but most of them don’t know how or where to get started. Luckily, there are many ways to dabble into the world of real estate investing nowadays, and they don’t all require large amounts of capital.
What's A Mega Backdoor Roth?
If you like your Roth IRA for its tax-free growth, you’re really going to like a mega backdoor Roth! Contributions to a Roth IRA are funded with after-tax dollars and earnings grow entirely tax-free. Similarly, a mega backdoor Roth is also funded with after-tax dollars and earnings grow tax-free but with a much higher contribution limit!
How A Self-Made Millionaire Budgets
Have you ever wondered how much a millionaire spends per year? Do they even have budgets? What do they spend their money on? Speaking from firsthand experience as a self-made millionaire, I definitely do have a budget, and I know exactly where my money is spent every month. It’s important to know where my money is spent no matter how high my net worth is. Tracking my expenses and comparing them against my budget is crucial to attaining financial independence some day. Becoming a self-made millionaire in my 20s didn’t happen by sheer luck; it was calculated. Budgeting helped me get to where I am today, and I assure you that it will continue to help me reach my goal to attain financial independence by 40.
6 Reasons Why I Invest In Real Estate to Build Wealth
I know plenty of successful investors who invest entirely in the stock market and in no other asset classes, like real estate. On the other hand, I also know many successful investors (myself included) who have done even better putting their money to work in real estate. Consider the following 6 reasons why I include real estate in my portfolio and why you should consider it too.
Reaching Financial Independence in Silicon Valley With $10,000,000
Financial Independence, Retire Early, AKA the FIRE movement, has become a major theme among millennials this past decade, including myself. Shortly after you start reading about it, you’ll learn that FIRE means different things to different people. In this post, I’ll give my take on what FIRE means to me, why I think it’s important, and how I determined my FIRE number. That is, how much money one needs to reach financial independence and retire early.