Posted on Leave a comment

Want To Prosper During These Tough Times? Eliminate These Two Things

What if I told you life was pretty simple if you want to become financially independent? Would you believe me? What if I told you by eliminating two things you could exponentially accelerate your path to financial independence? Would you be skeptical and not believe what I am saying? I know I would for sure be skeptical to listen to anyone who told me if I did two things I would be able to become financially free at a much younger age.

Well my friends, you are in luck. Time to share the secret sauce.

What’s The Secret Sauce?

Okay, before sharing the secret sauce let me make one thing clear. These things aren’t secret. I did not come up with these by myself. This has been talked about in many financial independence books and podcasts well before I started this blog or TheYoungRetireeBy33 Instagram page.

Now for the secret sauce. Figure out what your two largest expenses are in your monthly budget and ATTACK THEM! That is right. It is that simple.

Do you know what your two largest monthly expenses are? If you don’t know what those expenses are, take 30 minutes right now to figure that out. Let me give you a little help because many studies have been done about this.

For the majority of people (90%+) their two largest expenses are housing and transportation. There is a chance food expenses are higher than transportation for some, but typically largest expenses are housing and transportation.

Cool, I Know My Two Largest Expenses, Now What?

Good, have them figured out? Now determine how to eliminate or significantly reduce both of these!

How to eliminate housing expense? Ah, I thought you would never ask 🙂 house hacking is by far the single greatest thing one could do to fast track your way to financial independence. What is house hacking? I also thought you would never ask. At a high level, house hacking is renting out portions of your home (single family or multi family) while living there. To read a complete breakdown of different ways to house hack, checkout this article I wrote a few months back. Want to get a full breakdown of how to house hack from beginning to end? I have teamed up with @househackingsuccess to help get the word out about the incredible course they have put together to walk a beginner through how to house hack. If you are interested in this course, click the link here. 

How To Eliminate Transportation Or Food Costs

The next biggest expense on a monthly basis for individuals are either transportation or food costs.

Why transportation? People love lifestyle creep. The second someone gets a raise at their day job, they have already figured out a way to spend it. A lot of times this comes in purchasing a brand new car and taking on a massive monthly car payment. I have heard and talked to people my age who took on a $600 a month car payment because they felt like they had earned driving that nice new car. I usually don’t give them my two cents because I don’t want them to feel like they didn’t deserve the car. Do you really need that nice new car? You will be taking on a huge car payment and also a higher insurance bill. Don’t forget, there are many more costs to owning a car than simply the price tag.

How do I attack my transportation costs? Don’t purchase that brand new car. Drive used cars that you can pay for in cash. When you get a raise at work, invest the excess cash. Trust me, you don’t need that new car. It can wait till later down the road.

Why food? People are lazy by nature. People want to always get out and about. This typically means going out to eat more often than we should. I mean, who wants to sit at home and cook every day. Interestingly, this pandemic has made things very interesting for many individuals who would previously go out to eat all the time. I feel pretty confident hundreds of thousands of people are going to be shocked at how much money they have saved during the pandemic by not going out to eat all the time. It’s a balancing act though.

How do I attack my food costs? As humans we enjoy paying for convenience. For the purposes of food that means eating out versus cooking at home. The problem becomes the costs to eat out every meal add up quick while eating at home is much cheaper. This isn’t to say never go out and enjoy a happy hour or going out to eat with your friends every once in a while. That is not the intent of attacking food costs. The intent is to think a bit more about how much you want to go out to eat versus eating in. Simple concept but much easier said than done.

Key Takeaways:

  • Want to become financially independent at a young age? Figure out how to attack  your two largest expenses. 
  • Take time now to figure out what your two largest monthly expenses are each month. Was I right that they are more than likely housing and transportation or food? 
  • Don’t buy that new car just because you received a raise at work. Don’t go out to eat for every meal. Keep things simple. 

Follow 👇🏼
@TheYoungRetireeBy33

Always remember @TheYoungRetireeBy33 3 Core Principles:
1 – Your money should make money for you
2 – Start early to realize the power of compound interest
3 – Eliminate your largest expense by house hacking

Posted on Leave a comment

How Much Clearer Do I Need To Make Myself – Asking The Same Question For The Third Time

I have had zero luck with this HOA to this point. How much clearer do I need to make myself. I have asked the same question for the third time now and they continue to not want to answer the specific question I am asking them. This is not only frustrating, but they are using this tactic to continue buying them time. I am a real estate investor, and have been a real estate investor for the past 3 years. This is the first time in my real estate investing journey that I have had issues with an HOA. I never would have imagined to have these issues with a HOA. But now that they are here, I am definitely taking this as a learning opportunity to continue getting better! What doesn’t kill you only makes you stronger if you want it to make you stronger!

Get caught up on everything that has happened to this point! This has been a wild journey to say the least and it is definitely not over! Below are the links to all the craziness in this saga!

Quick Recap Of Where We Stand

It has been a wild real estate investing journey up to this point. Now time to give a quick update on where we are at. The last email I sent to the HOA was clearly stating the pivot I was making on my business model. It is clear based off the Executive Order from the governor that no short term rentals are allowed anymore. At least while the Executive Order is in place.

I decided to pivot my business model into rentals of 30 days or more. To my knowledge, there are a few things that need to be true about your property for this to be legal:

  1. You can’t have it listed on short term rental sites
  2. You have to advertise it as 30+ day rentals
  3. For my situation with this HOA, any rentals between 3-6 months must be approved by the HOA/Board.

Awesome, now that we know where we stand, time to dive into the HOA/Board’s response from my latest email telling them I plan to pivot!

The HOA/Board Response To My Pivot Email

Now time for more fun, this time, a few back and forths with still a lot of frustration from my end.

In my last email response to the GM and Board, I clearly articulated why what they explained was misleading to all homeowners. They are simply creating more confusion than they are helping the situation. Especially for homeowners who are investors and don’t live in the area, which is the majority.

Here is the response they had to my last email:

Good Afternoon YRB,

We are working under the premise that EO-87  (Emergency Management – COVID-19 – Vacation Rental Closures) ends tomorrow. If the ban is not extended or a new ban issued then new guest rentals will be allowed entry as of Saturday.

Please note that clubhouse amenities will remain closed until further notice.

Thanks and stay safe.

Well, that response literally didn’t answer the only question I had. I clearly stated why their first email was misleading and then asked to rent my place long term. They don’t even want to think of offering other alternatives to investors, instead, they simply outlined the fact that they would allow new guests in once the ban is completed.

Here is the simple fact that both them and myself knew. There was a 99.9% chance the governor of Florida would sign an extension to the ban on the day of expiration of the first executive order.

Here Is What Is Frustrating

I usually can keep my cool pretty well. In this scenario though, the HOA/Board took over 48 hours to respond to a simple question. Not only did they take over 48 hours, they didn’t even answer the damn question I asked them to answer!

They knew the response they sent would just allow them to kick the can down the road even longer. Not to mention the fact that I am sure they are fed up with me at this point. I continue to point out holes in their arguments and they believe I won’t seek further damage because of the actions they have taken. More to come on that front.

In the meantime, I decided more email communication would be necessary to get a very clear direction to the Board/HOA on what I wanted them to answer.

My Follow Up Email

I was tired of them giving me the run around again and again and again while they know they are not doing the right thing. Time to be extremely clear on the ask…AGAIN!

Here is the email response I sent back to them:

Thanks HOA GM. 

I would like to ask the question again about long term residents as the law states long term rentals are still allowed. I will ask the question again for the third time and try to rephrase it in hopes this will help you understand what I am asking. 
This is in regards to long term residents, not short term. 
 
Question
Regardless of the Executive Order being extended, are new long term tenants not allowed to check in and stay at my place? 
Thanks for your time, I look forward to hearing from you soon regarding this very important and time sensitive matter. 
TheYoungRetireeBy33

 

If this isn’t clear enough, then I don’t know what is. I didn’t state anything but the fact that I want to know if I can rent long term.

Ok, now for their response which was again delayed for over 24 hours!

Hi YRB,

As per our Docs there are no restrictions on guest staying from 1 to 90 days.  Owners are allowed to make reservation for up 90 days. Guests staying from 90 days to 6 months will require HOA approval prior to check-in. And as per our Docs no guests are allowed to stay beyond 6 months.

Hope this answers your question.

I have been overly patient with the HOA and Board. They are continuing to dance around the question. There is only one reason they are continuing to stall. Because they know they are not abiding by the law and they have no grounds to stand on here.

My Hair Continues Falling Out By The Minute

At this point, I just hope I am right about the pivot I have determined to be legal for me to make. My understanding is 30+ day rentals are allowed in Florida and I continue to get the runaround from the HOA because I think they realize the bullshit they have gotten into.

I am still a firm believer they are doing this because they think I won’t seek damages for them to pay.

Time for another response back to the HOA:

Thanks for the response.

This doesn’t answer the question if I am allowed to rent my place long term under the direction per the latest email sent from the HOA. The direction makes it clear that no new guests are allowed into the resort. 
Long term rentals are still allowed per the law. If the law permits long term rentals, does the HOA still stand by not allowing any new guests and not abiding by this? If so, could you please point to what specifically in the HOA Bylaws and/or Declaration documents give the HOA the authority to create restrictions beyond the executive order?
Thanks for you time, I look forward to hearing from you soon regarding this important and very time sensitive matter.
Oh yeah. I went there. If the HOA is not allowing any new guests in, could you please send me where in the Bylaws/Declaration documents does it give them the authority to do so.
Now time to sit back and wait for their next response. Hopefully the next response isn’t another 48 hours away!

If you aren’t already, don’t forget to follow me on Instagram!

Thanks again for all the support and continuing to come back each day for new updates in this saga!

Checkout the next post in this saga below!

How Many Times Do I Have To Repeat The Same Thing – Real Estate Investing Problems

Posted on 4 Comments

Financial Independence Core Principle #2: Start Early to Realize the Power Of Compound Interest

Have you ever wondered why people talk about investing early in your life? The simple reason is the power of compound interest. If you start investing early in your life you will realize the power of compound interest and will greatly speed up your path to FI. This is an incredible way to build wealth at a young age.

Want to see what the power of compounding can do? You can see a simplified compound interest calculator here, you can input a few numbers to see what the power of compound interest looks like.
Let’s take the below example over a 30 year timespan:

  • You started with an investment of $500
  • You add $100 to this investment every month
  • Let’s assume this investment earns you a 7% return

What Does Compound Interest Look LikeIn the above example, here is what your money would look like after 30 years!

What are we looking at? The y-axis indicates the dollar value. The x-axis indicates the number of years. The blue/green line shows the amount you contributed over time and the red line shows the future value of the money after compounding.

Here is what I find most interesting about compound interest. Early on in the investment, you won’t see much difference between the red and blue/green lines. For example, in the graph above, you don’t see much difference in the two lines until year 14. This would make most believe the strategy isn’t working. Some would quit. Some would think they wasted a bunch of time. But wait, there is more.

It is the later years where you begin to truly see the separation. Beginning around year 14 we begin to see exponential growth take place. Growth compounded on more growth will only speed up this curve faster as you look further out.

Don’t believe me, let’s look at what a 50 year time horizon would look like:

But What If I Didn’t Start Early?

This is a very common question I get. Many believe if they don’t start early then they should not start at all. This is part of the challenge of having a Fixed vs Growth mindset. If you want to read more about what the difference of theses mindsets, click here.

Don’t let the fact that you didn’t start young stop you from starting! You learn new information every day. Take the new information you learn each day and figure out how to apply what is relevant. Investing in your future self and the ability to become financially independent will always be relevant.

Key Takeaways:

  • The power of compound interest is real. Be patient and start early!
  • If you haven’t started yet and you aren’t young, SO WHAT! Start now. Don’t let this be the excuse to never get started.
  • The longer you look out on a compound interest timeline, the more compounding you see. This is true for any scenario you plug into the calculator.

As always, don’t forget the first core principle: Your money should make money for you.