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in Financial Independence | Retire Early · July 23, 2020

What is Financial Independence (FI), Anyways?

I was introduced to this concept by my friend Nicole. She read a blog post from Millennial Revolution which explained a movement called FI/RE, Financial Independence, Retire Early.

Initially, I was like “Ok, cool”. This was at a time where I was trying to figure out my life and was burnt out. So, I didn’t want to bother with anything new.

At this time, I was already working on getting my finances life together and had recently acquired my first real estate investment property (Deal#1).

Eventually, I decided to read the book “Quit like a Millionaire” by the authors of the Millennial Revolution blog and it was eye-opening.

I realized I had been chasing the wrong dream.

I had this vision of my “perfect life” where I would build a real estate empire that would make me a millionaire living in a mansion and driving a Bentley.

For years, I had been working on doing this non-stop. I didn’t have a social life per se. It was work, study, work, work.

I stumbled across this financial independence concept at the right time. It was a time where I was willing to take it all in.

In this book, the authors lived a frugal life while working their 9-5, saved and invested 70% of the income for several years, and then retired in their 30s with a million-dollar investment portfolio and now live off their stock portfolio with only $40,000 a year.

While I am not particularly a fan of their strategy, I love the concept. As you probably already know, my retirement strategy is real estate. However, this changed my whole concept of what it meant to be wealthy and financially free. I could also be a millionaire and happy without the real estate empire, the Bentley, and the mansion.

I realized I could obtain my freedom without becoming miserable in the journey. Since then, I have been reading and learning everything I can on Financial Independence. I also came across this amazing book, Retire Early with Real Estate by Chad Carson.

The official definition of Financial Independence is having sufficient income to cover your living expenses without formal employment which is highly desirable by many.

I believe that financial independence means different things to different people. Before you begin your journey, you must define and visualize what financial independence looks like and feels like to you.

To me, Financial Independence means being able to pursue what makes me happy rather than being a slave to a job or business that I am not passionate about just because I need it to cover my bills. It means waking up every day to know that I am doing something that I WANT to do rather than NEED to do. In my case, that thing I want to do is real estate, travel the world, and most importantly spend time with my loved ones.

If you want to read more about how I plan on reaching financial independence and what I am doing today to get there. Check my plan here.

So now I ask you, what does financial independence mean to YOU?

You can get a copy of the books mentioned in the book within the following links.

How to Quit Like a Millionaire link

Retire Early With Real Estate link

This post may contain affiliate links. I may get commissions for purchases made through links in this blog.

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New Blog Post 🚨 In this week’s blog post I am New Blog Post 🚨 In this week’s blog post I am going over why we bought a short-term rental, our experience so far. Plus what we did prior, during and after purchasing our first short-term rental in March 2022, a Cabin in Blue Ridge, GA.

Check it out at www.beyondjustnumbers.com or link in bio @beyondjustnumbers
I can’t stress this enough. Some investors are l I can’t stress this enough. Some investors are looking to make money from day one, but that’s not always the case. It wasn’t for us and I’ve talked to a lot of rookie investors who have told me “Thank God I have my personal finance situation together.” 

This is just my opinion. Do you agree? Let me know in the comments!

Want to join a free community of like-minded individuals? Join our REI Coffee Chat Community where we talk real estate investing, personal finance and financial freedom, and much more! Link in bio @beyondjustnumbers

Want to learn more about investing in real estate? Read my blog www.beyondjustnumbers.com

#realestateinvesting #realestateinvestor #creativefinancing #investmentproperty #buyrealestate #firemovement #debtfreejourney #financialindependenceretireearly #rentalproperty #investinginproperty #personalfinanceblog #wealthbuilding #planforretirement #investorlife #livefree #airbnb #moneyisfreedom #enjoythejourney #reicommunity #realestateinvestments #shortermrentals #cashflow #realestate
I used to think that investing in real estate was I used to think that investing in real estate was for the rich. I became in love with real estate while working for a real estate investment company that owned hundreds of units. This was back in 2011 and I was 20 years old at the time. I had less than 5 years permanently living the US, so I had no idea about anything. I grew up in Colombia and the only talk of money we ever had was the lack of it. 

The investors I worked for were a wealthy family, so naturally, I thought… Real Estate requires wealth. I don’t have wealth. Therefore, I cannot invest. 

I figured… well shit, I need become wealthy so I can invest in real estate. Eventually, after educating myself I realized how wrong I had it. You can build wealth BY INVESTING in real estate.

Took me a couple of years to figure it all out. Hence, why I didn’t start investing until 2019. I wish I had figured out earlier, but it is what it is. In just 3 years of investing in real estate, I was able to accumulate more wealth than I ever thought possible. 

Just to give you an idea…Did you know you could invest in real estate with as little at 3.5% of the purchase price? For a $150,000, that’s only $5,750. Buy a duplex that needs a little bit of work, fix it up, rent one side and live in the other. This will reduce your monthly expenses significantly, save the money and do it all over again.*

Of course it’s not that simple, but it’s also not that difficult. There are some particular steps and considerations which is  why I recommend doing further reading on the subject. 

Book Recommendation:
✅“The House Hacking Strategy” by Craig Curelop and ✅“Investing in Real Estate with No (and Low) Money Down” by Brandon Turner. 

#realestate #realestateinvesting
🚨 New Blog Post! Continuing the “Getting Star 🚨 New Blog Post! Continuing the “Getting Started in Real Estate Series” 

You’ve found a property either on your own or through a realtor, you’ve run your numbers, you’ve got a lender and now you are ready to make an offer. What’s next?

In this post I want to discuss a few items:

✅Key components of a real estate contract
✅How do you make a compelling offer to ensure you get the property you want
✅The main contract contingencies and how they work
✅Communicating with your realtor

I also provide real examples of what we have done personally. 

Check it out at www.beyondjustnumbers.com

Let me know what you think!
If I listed all of the hats, I’d never end 😂. If I listed all of the hats, I’d never end 😂. Anyone else? Show me the multiple hats you wear and tag me. Let’s have fun with some reels.

Trying to get good at the real game like @investinginyourwealth. How did I do?
The fact that you are not where you want to be doe The fact that you are not where you want to be doesn’t mean you won’t get there. Greatness takes time. Focus on what you control.

And remember, it’s okay to pivot.

#mindset #realestate #firemovement #realestateinvesting #realestateinvestor #rentalpropertyinvestor #rentalproperty #cashflow #motivation #financialfreedom #financialindependence #financialindependenceretireearly
We see a lot of advice around hiring a real estate We see a lot of advice around hiring a real estate friendly CPA. However, when you look up  CPAs that specialize in real estate, they can be pricey.  However, that doesn’t mean that other CPAs or tax professionals aren’t good. They might not be particularly aware of certain items, but they can research and collaborate with theirs peers. Perhaps it may require you to do a little of work to compensate. Things you can do:
✅ listen to The Real Estate CPA podcast or join the Facebook group
✅follow social media accounts of the pricey Real Estate CPA and take notes of what they are saying
✅attend free educational events 
✅read BiggerPocket book on Real Estate taxes 
✅if you know anyone working with a really good Real Estate CPA firm, ask them what they are doing

Then use that to go your CPA or tax professional and be like “Hey, is this something we can do for me?” They’ll probably say, “Let me look into it”. 

If they are good, they are going to research it and/or ask their CPA peer group. (CPAs and tax preparers also have Facebook groups where they collaborate with each other).

Here is a piece of advice, if they tell you “No, we can’t use this loophole or no, you don’t qualify to use this strategy” —> Ask WHY and “How can I qualify in the future?.” This way you confirm they did their homework and aren’t just being lazy. Don’t just take no for an answer. You can then get a second opinion by asking a question in a forum or to your peers.

So don’t panic if you don’t have a real estate CPA or tax professional. 

Next video I’ll be answering the question… “Can I skip the tax professional altogether and do my own taxes?”

#realestate
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