Financial Journey

Got a Raise and SMASHED a Goal Already!

AlexLeave a comment

2025 has been full of surprises so far… both politically and financially. Focusing on the good (aka financial) surprises, we’ve already smashed our $10,000 Emergency Fund goal, and now have $15,000. We’ve decided to work towards $25k, as that would cover 6 months of expenses for us, and even a full year of expenses once we’ve paid off our debt obligations, which we anticipate doing this year.

Also, my partner got a sizeable raise at work, going from $82k/year to $105k/year. Insane. Together we’re grossing $210k/year from our W2 jobs alone, and thanks to living in a LOCL area and have inexpensive hobbies, we’re able to sock away a good deal of our income. For example, here’s a quick breakdown:

Take Home (after 401k and health insurance payments): $11,450
Needs (debt payments, mortgage, utilities): $3,385
Total Leftover: $8,065

We really only ever spend about $2,500 on discretionary expenses, which also includes our food budget, so that means we’re still able to save over $5k a month. And that doesn’t even include the extra income from our rentals. And once we pay off some of our debts this year, that’ll free up even more income.

Safe to say… I’m feeling restless now. Having this level of income really opens up a lot of opportunities, and allows you to take on more risk for more rewards. This year I was going to focus more on investing in stocks rather than real estate, but I’ve decided to lean in a bit more aggressively into real estate. I’d like to pick up 2 more rentals this year to hedge my bets against a volatile market this year. I’ve already got a couple of rentals in mind that I could pick up, so now it’s just a matter of timing.

Talk to you soon!

– Alex

Hello, 2025!

AlexLeave a comment

As usual, it’s been a while.

I had a whole post written up detailing my hopes and goals for 2024, but for some reason I never actually posted it. What a waste. To sum it up and keep it short, I more or less smashed those goals. Instead of writing out what they were, here’s where I currently stand instead:

  • 5 rental properties
  • $1250/mo. in rental cash flow
  • $22,000 in “bad” debt (not including car loan)

My plans for 2025 are simple. I’m going to take a step back from acquiring rentals this year, focus on paying off the remainder of our debt, and build a sizeable emergency/retirement fund. So, here’s my short list of what I want to accomplish:

  • Be 100% “bad” debt free
  • Max out our IRAs
  • earn $1500/mo. in rental cash flow (via rent increases)
  • Have a $10,000 emergency fund (currently at $5,500)

Since I’ll be taking a step back from rentals this year, I’ve decided to go ahead and start learning to day trade. It’s something I’ve always wanted to do, and now that I can work from home with flexible hours, it seems silly to not take advantage of the opportunity. I started last week and had some decent results, although I was only trading with 1 share at a time with really cheap stocks as a test run. Hopefully it wasn’t a fluke and I can continue my winning streak. We’ll see.

Here we go!

– Neurotic

Well, I Have 5 Rentals Now!

AlexLeave a comment

That’s it. That’s the post. Because I’ve come to realize that I suck at keeping a blog updated, even though so much has happened in such a short amount of time…

  • I picked up 2 rentals just these last few months, in January and February of 2024.
  • I’m now making $1550/mo. in pure cash flow from rental income, and that’s after all expenses and setting aside $200 per property each month for future repairs and maintenance.
  • I went from making $65k/year in 2022 to $90k/year in 2023 and now $105k/year in 2024. Safe to say that I’m shoveling all the money I can into paying off debt AND acquiring more property. Coupled with my partner’s $85k/year, we’re living very comfortably given our choices!
  • My partner also decided it was time they went to college, so that’s what they’re personally working on. Hoping that shiny new degree helps catapult their salary, lol.

It took me a long while to get here, but I’m so happy! Still in a bunch of debt, but that’s been slowly going down over time, and now I have a way to really kick things into high gear. I’m trying to decide whether or not I want to dedicate the rest of 2024 to pay off as much debt as possible, or if I want to focus on picking up another property or two. Perhaps I’ll just go with the flow and work on paying off debt, but if the right opportunity comes along, I’ll seize it. I think that’s best.

Until next time!

Alex

Happy New Year! 2023 Goals, and How I Ended 2022.

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I wish I could say that I ended 2022 by completing all the goals I had on my list, but to be frank, I’m not even sure I had made goals for the year. Either way, I definitely know that I didn’t achieve my ongoing goal of tamping down debt as aggressively as I had wanted, but that’s mainly because (1) I ended up purchasing a rehab project, (2) my partner traded in their car for something newer and more practical, and (3) we were paying a good of a friend’s rent for the entire year. So, here’s a quick review of my 2022 finances, plus the goals I’d like to achieve in 2023.

Continue reading →

Progress Report #2 | Slow Savings

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There’s nothing new to report, but since it’s been a month since my last post I figured I should update with something.

So far, my savings have taken a bit of a halt due to recently moving. I need to purchase all new bedroom furniture, plus a desk, so it’s setting me back a good $1000.

…I’m also splurging and building myself the PC that I’ve been putting off for literal years, so make it more like $2000.

Regardless, I’m still putting away $500 minimum into my savings for a property down payment, so that’s good! I’ve got a total of $6,500 saved up so far… Only a $700 difference from my last update post, but oh well!

One of these days I’ll make a post that shows my current breakdown of my income and expenses. You know, once I have a desk to work at, lol.

Why is furniture so expensive?

In the mean time, I’m still working toward investing in Fundrise as well as trying to build that affiliate website… I don’t have much time outside of work, unfortunately, but I’m trying! Haha. Oh, and I’ll definitely make a post about Fundrise when I finally get around to trying it out!

’til next time!

NP.

Progress Report #1 | My First $5,000!

AlexLeave a comment

I’ve saved up a total of $5,000.

That’s insane.

To be accurate, I’ve actually saved up $5,800 so far since starting my new job back in later September of 2017. That might not sound like a lot, but to me, it’s quite a hefty chunk of change — plus I was still able to take a nice week-long California vacation!

As I said some time ago in my last post, I’m currently saving up for a down-payment on a multi-family property. I’m thinking about $10,000 to $12,000 should be plenty enough for the price range multi-unit properties go for in my area, so I’ve still got a ways to go. Still, I’m proud to be able to say that I’ve saved so much!

Aside from that, I wanted to make a short post to keep this place updated on what I’ve been up to and where I’m currently at, financially. So I’ll lay it all out in a quick bullet-point list:

  • Saved $5,800 towards down-payment for first investment property.
  • Opened a Roth IRA at Vanguard with $1,000 to start.
    • Set up automatic deposits of $200/mo. from my checking account.
  • Got a (very small) raise at work. New salary? $34,050.

That’s it. Nothing to really write home about, but it’s something.

Anyway, while I’m saving up for that down-payment, I’ll be working on two small goals. (1) I’ll be working on building a niche affiliate website to see if I have the knack for it, and (2) I’ll also be saving up a little chunk of $500 so that I can give Fundrise a try.

‘Til next time!

NP