Subscribe now

Legally avoiding taxes can:

- Save you money.

- Make you money.

- Help you leave 9-5 life sooner.

Unfortunately, taxes are a big part of life.

The Lifetime Tax

According to a recent article by Yahoo Finance.

The average person pays over $700,000 in taxes during their lifetime which includes:

- Sales tax.

- Payroll tax.

- Income tax.

- Property tax.

- Plus many more.

It can be frustrating.

Especially if looking at a paycheck and seeing how much money was subtracted in total taxes.

But there’s also ways to save on taxes.

Ways they don’t teach in school.

Ways worth knowing.

This recent viral post got me thinking about one of those ways.

It got me thinking about the beginning of my investing journey.

And starting with a 401k retirement account offered by my employer.

Up until that point, none of my previous jobs offered a retirement account.

And I didn’t have much money to invest.

But learning about my first retirement account while working at an AT&T cellphone cart in the mall near Los Angeles in my 20s changed everything.

The Millionaire Math

Building $1M of investments from scratch while working my 9-5 job felt impossible at first.

But learning if I put $100 into my retirement account automatically each time I was paid.

And my employer also put in $100.

That meant I’d have $400 going towards retirement every month ($200 from me and $200 from my job).

While tinkering with the retirement account online.

I also learned the money would be invested in the stock market, which grows 10% bigger each year on average.

And the online investment calculator estimated I’d have this much money in the account in my 60s if I stuck with that plan:

It blew my mind.

And I had a hard time believing it at first.

How could investing $100 per paycheck.

Plus getting a $100 match from my employer each time I was paid turn into $2M?

After tinkering with the online calculator a bit more, I realized the math was right.

“Compound interest is the 8th wonder of the world.”

— Albert Einstein

The thought of becoming a millionaire while selling cellphones in the mall for 40 years was amusing at the time.

But learning these things about investing motivated me to get started.

Eventually, I no longer sold cellphones in the mall.

And spent 10 years working as a banker at a local Chase Bank.

Which helped me learn how to get rid of my $80,000 of debt and build $1M of investments in my 30s.

It was a wild ride.

And I also made some painful mistakes along the way.

But it’s also where I learned about investing tax-free.

The Powerful Roth IRA

Here’s 5 things to know about tax-free investing using a Roth IRA (things I wish I knew sooner).

Hope it’s helpful.

Let’s dive in.

1. What Is A Roth IRA?

A Roth IRA grows your retirement savings tax-free.

Investment growth inside a Roth is tax-free.

And money taken out of a Roth in retirement is tax-free.

Opening a Roth IRA is a great way to invest while legally avoiding taxes.

2. How Does It Work?

The Roth IRA has annual contribution limits based on your age.

Which means your age determines how much you can invest inside a Roth IRA.

The current limits:

If you’re under 50 and want to contribute the maximum each year to a Roth IRA, you’d need to save around $20 per day (less works too).

3. Who Can Use It?

To be eligible to use a Roth IRA, you must make less than the IRS income limit.

If you’re single:

You must make less than $168,000 per year.

If you’re married:

You much make less than $252,000 per year.

But one important thing to know...

Many employers who offer a retirement account, also offer the Roth 401k option.

And with the Roth 401k:

- Anyone can contribute.

- The annual contribution limit is higher.

Using a Roth IRA means opening your own account if you’re under the annual income limit, or using a Roth 401k at work if your employer offers it, or using both (if you want).

4. What Else Is There To Know?

Here’s a few more things worth knowing:

- If you take money you earned from investments out of a Roth IRA before age 59 1/2 you’ll pay a 10% penalty, but special exceptions are allowed like buying a home.

- But if you take money you deposited into an Roth IRA out there’s no penalties, you can withdraw money you deposited anytime, for any reason.

- After opening a Roth IRA, don’t forget to pick your investments. My favorite retirement account investment is an S&P500 fund.

- You can start investing using a Roth IRA with as little is $1.

A Roth IRA is one of the most flexible retirement accounts and can grow your retirement savings tax-free.

5. Where Can I Open One?

There’s thousands of online investment companies that offer the Roth IRA.

Here’s 3 of the largest ones:

- Vanguard.

- Fidelity.

- Schwab.

You can open a Roth IRA online in just 10 minutes.

The bottom line

Learning about investing accounts can feel overwhelming at first.

It did to me.

But like learning anything new, it gets easier with time.

One investing hack I wish I learned sooner was to think in days instead of months.

For example:

The thought of investing $300 a month near the beginning of my investing journey felt impossible.

But after realizing $300 per month works out to saving $10 per day to invest.

It felt doable.

After setting up my investments to come out of my paychecks automatically.

And watching those investments grow.

From $100 to $1,000.

From $1,000 to $10,000.

From $10,000 to $100,000+

It was exciting.

Month after month.

Year after year.

Making money with your money to build a freer life and watching it grow is a beautiful thing.

That’s all for today.

See you next Saturday.

Whenever you’re ready, there are 3 ways I can help you:

1. ​The Guide:​ My 4-step money guide I’ve used to go from $80k in debt to $1M (it’s free).

2. ​The Playbook:​ The exact playbook I've used to get $30,000 when buying a house (it's free).

3. ​The Weekly Newsletter:​ Read 100+ past newsletter issues for practical tips and tools to beat debt and build wealth.

Disclaimer: All information provided is for educational purposes only and does not constitute investment, legal or tax advice, or an offer to buy or sell any security. Always do your research before making any financial or investment decision.

Privacy Policy​ ​Disclosure

Subscribe now

Avoiding investing traps can:

- Save you time.

- Save you money.

- Help you be a smarter investor.

Unfortunately, there’s many traps to avoid.

The Ultimate Fear

A huge part of investing is knowing:

- What to avoid.

- Why to avoid it.

- How to avoid it.

Many people are unaware of these traps.

Especially new investors.

And lord knows I’ve learned many of them the hard way.

“There are really just two rules of investing: Rule 1: Don’t lose money. Rule 2: Don’t forget rule number one.”

– Warren Buffett

Becoming a millionaire while working my 9-5 job became a weird obsession in my 20s and 30s.

Not because I wanted to buy:

- Fancy cars.

- Fancy houses.

- Or go on fancy vacations.

These things are nice.

But my main motivation was:

- To not have to work a 9-5 until age 60.

- To quit fulltime work a few decades early.

- To be able to work just part-time for myself.

- To spend more time with friends and family.

Learning to invest became the solution.

And there were many investing traps along the way before leaving my fulltime banking job in 2020.

7 Investing Traps to Avoid

Here’s a list of investing traps I’ve learned the hard way.

Hope they’re useful.

Let’s dive in.

1. The Herd

Not following the crowd can be tough.

Especially when you hear things like:

“NFTs are at an all time high.”

“Dogecoin is at an all time high.”

“Fart coin is at an all time high.”

^{(The fartcoin crash)}

Following the crowd is often a trap.

“Only buy something that you’d be perfectly happy to hold if the market shut down for 10 years.” — Warren Buffett

2. The Bets

Being overly confident can be costly.

During my investing journey, there’s been some great gains and some lousy losses.

5-figure and 6-figure losses to be exact.

I’ve found big mistakes often come from having too much confidence in 1 thing.

“I knew that no matter how confident I was in making any single bet, that I could still be wrong.” — Ray Dalio

3. The Media

News outlets drive emotion.

And emotion can lead to action.

(like selling investments)

For example:

But what’s interesting.

Stocks went up 20% from May 2025 through the summer of 2025.

Making investment decisions based on the news can be a trap.

“Far more money has been lost by investors trying to anticipate corrections, than lost in the corrections themselves.” — Peter Lynch

4. The Timing

Buying low and selling high is hard.

As a new investor, I thought a lot about trying to time the market.

But eventually realized trying to predict the future in the short term is nearly impossible.

Investing long term is easier (and less stressful).

“The big money is not in the buying and the selling...it’s in the waiting.” — Charlie Munger

5. The Doomers

Fear is contagious.

For decades certain people have been talking about a “big” stock market crash.

Some say it’s an 80% or 90% crash.

People believing this idea sometimes sell their investments to wait for “the big crash”.

And some waited for decades as the stock market continued to grow.

^{(Stock market since 1989)}

“Despite some severe interruptions, our country’s economic progress has been breathtaking. Our unwavering conclusion: Never bet against America.” — Warren Buffett

6. The Gurus

Confidence is contagious.

Someone’s always claiming to know which stock will double, or triple or go up 1,000%.

People regularly open their wallets to pay for this “advice”.

But the harsh reality.

Many hot stock tips lead to lost money.

“One should only invest in what they know. Do not listen to hot stock tips.” — Jim Rogers

7. The Luck

With investing, it’s easy to confuse luck with skill.

Especially in the beginning.

It’s something I’ve also experienced.

For example.

Getting a loan to buy my 1st tiny condo that went up in value $100k in 2 years.

^{(Seattle, Washington)}

When selling that small condo, I felt like a genius.

And got another loan to buy a house.

But over the next 3 years the value of that house dropped $160k.

It was painful.

It was also then that I realized the $100k condo profit in 2 years was mostly luck.

(buying it and selling it right before the financial crisis)

Eventually the value of the house went back up over the next few years.

“People think making money is about luck. It’s not. It’s about becoming the kind of person that makes money.” — Naval Ravikant

The bottom line

Most people want investing to be exciting.

Including me in the beginning.

But the truth is.

It’s pretty dang boring.

The 2 main things that took my finances from $80,000 in debt in my 20s to $1M of investments in my 30s was:

1.) Investing in an S&P500 stock fund like VOO which includes the 500 largest companies in America.

2.) Getting loans to buy real estate.

And hanging on through the ups and the downs of life.

A good reminder:

Everyone’s searching for the secret to $100k or $1M of investments this year.

Hell, I searched for it too in the beginning.

But eventually realized building 6 or 7-figures worth of investments over a longer period of time is a better bet.

And the years sure do fly by.

That’s all for today.

See you next Saturday.

Whenever you’re ready, there are 3 ways I can help you:

1. ​The Guide:​ My 4-step money guide I’ve used to go from $80k in debt to $1M (it’s free).

2. ​The Playbook:​ The exact playbook I've used to get $30,000 when buying a house (it's free).

3. ​The Weekly Newsletter:​ Read 100+ past newsletter issues for practical tips and tools to beat debt and build wealth.

Disclaimer: All information provided is for educational purposes only and does not constitute investment, legal or tax advice, or an offer to buy or sell any security. Always do your research before making any financial or investment decision.

Privacy Policy​ ​Disclosure

Subscribe now

Knowing the 7 most common investing questions (and answers) can help you:

- Learn your options.

- Choose your strategy.

- Invest with confidence.

Unfortunately, investing can be a confusing thing.

The Facts

According to a recent survey by Empower, an investment company.

Most people feel neutral or unconfident about investing including:

- 53% of Gen X.

- 55% of Millennials.

- 61% of Gen Z.

That’s a lot of confusion.

Especially since investing can lead to leaving 9-5 life early.

But what exactly should you know?

And most importantly.

What mistakes should you avoid?

“More important than the will to win, is the will to prepare.”

– Charlie Munger

Like most people, I felt completely confused over investing at first.

But also excited.

Excited at the thought of making money with my money.

While staring at my first investment account, a 401k retirement plan offered by my employer.

20 different investment options stared back at me.

My mind raced..

Which investment should I pick?

Should I pick 1, 2 or 3 of them?

And what if I pick the wrong thing and lose money?

Trying to decide gave me anxiety.

But I figured investing $100 per paycheck while learning more about investing was better than doing nothing.

The Investing Journey

After watching my tiny investment account make a few hundred bucks that first year.

I was hooked on investing.

The idea of making money with my money excited the heck out of me.

And if I could build up enough investments, I figured I could retire early.

Or, I could work part time instead of spending 40 hours of my life each week working for 40 years.

As time passed I found myself opening 3 more investing accounts.

And watching my investments grow from $0 in my 20s to over $500k in my 30s.

Figuring out how to get loans to buy 6 properties after buying my first tiny condo also became a weird obsession.

But I also made tons of mistakes along the way.

Like getting fired at age 29.

Not working for 9 months.

And almost filing for bankruptcy.

Fortunately, getting a job in banking helped turn things around.

And helping other people figure out their money became my new obsession.

The 7 Biggest Investor Questions

After working as a banker for 10 years at Chase Bank.

I noticed people asking the same 7 investing questions.

And I found the better people understood answers to these questions.

The more likely they were to start investing and stick with it.

So here’s the 7 biggest investing questions worth knowing the answers.

Let’s dive in.

1. How Do I Start Investing?

Choose a stock brokerage company.

Opening an investment account takes just 10 minutes online.

Here are 3 of the largest investment companies to choose from:

- Charles Schwab.

- Vanguard.

- Fidelity.

Many investment companies allow you to start investing with as little as $1.

If you have a fulltime job.

You may already have an investment account setup in your name (a 401k retirement account).

Opening an investing account is the first step to start investing.

2. Which Account Type Should I Open?

There’s many different types of investing accounts.

3 common ones are:

1. The 401k: Many employers offer a 401k retirement account. And you can put part of each paycheck into this account. The best part, many employers will match part of the money you put into your account. You then pick your investments and your money is invested automatically.

2. The IRA: The IRA which stands for Individual Retirement Account is another type of investing account. You can open the account online in just 10 minutes. Afterwards, you decide how much money to invest, how often you want to invest and what you want to invest in.

3. The Brokerage Account: The Brokerage Account which is also called a general investing account is the most flexible investing option. You can open the account online in just 10 minutes. After opening it, you decide how much money to invest, how often you want to invest and then pick your investments.

Many people start with 1 investing account like a 401k or an IRA, then add more as they learn more about investing.

3. How Many Investing Accounts Do I Need?

Different investing accounts are for different purposes.

They’re usually broken into 2 categories:

Brokerage Accounts can be used anytime for anything like planning an early retirement. They are the most flexible investing account and money inside a brokerage account can be accessed anytime you want without a penalty.

Retirement Accounts are designed to to be accessed during retirement which the U.S. government defines as age 59 1/2 or older. Plus retirement accounts have lots of rules like:

- How much money you can invest each year.

- When you can take your money out of the account without paying a penalty.

For example:

Someone who wants to retire from 9-5 life early may choose to invest using a brokerage account and choose to invest using a retirement account.

The number of investing accounts you have depends on your investing goals.

4. How Much Should I Invest?

According to Vanguard, one of the largest investment firms.

A good rule suggests investing 15% of each paycheck into retirement.

And making your investments an automatic thing every payday.

For some people (like me in the beginning), investing 15% of each paycheck can feel impossible.

Starting smaller, like 5% of each paycheck or 10% with a goal of reaching 15% can be a good strategy.

Investing any amount for retirement beats investing nothing when just starting out.

5. What Should I Invest In?

There’s thousands of investments to choose from.

Here’s a few of the most common types.

What is a stock?

Buying a stock means you own a small part of a business.

The stock price goes up or down depending on the success of the business.

What is a bond?

Buying a bond means you’re acting as a lender to governments (cities, states, etc) or companies (banks, utility businesses, etc).

Owning a bond is like getting paid interest to loan out your money.

What is a fund?

Buying a fund means you own a small part of many things.

For example: If buying a stock fund, you own a small part of hundreds of companies.

So which of these 3 things should you actually invest in?

People have debated this for centuries.

Here’s one of the most popular answers from a billionaire investor:

“The goal of non-professionals shouldn’t be to pick winners, rather to own businesses bound to do well, a low-cost S&P500 fund will achieve this goal.”

– Warren Buffett

Buffett encourages most people to simply invest in an S&P500 fund.

Which means owning a small part of America’s 500 largest companies including:

- Tesla

- Apple

- Google

- Amazon

- Microsoft

+ 495 other companies

The largest S&P500 fund is:

- The Vanguard S&P500 ETF (VOO)

Most retirement accounts at work also include an S&P500 fund as an investment option.

Another popular way to invest is getting a loan to buy real estate.

There’s many different types of investments and the best type for you depends on your goals and the kind of investor you want to become.

6. How Much Will I Make?

There’s no guarantees in life, especially with investing.

But over the past 30 years the S&P500 has went up 10% per year on average.

^{Stock market history}

Which means every $100 invested in an S&P500 fund 30 years ago has turned into around $2,000 today.

Investments in real estate have been growing for decades just like stock market investments.

^{Real estate prices history}

A $130,000 house bought 30 years ago with a home loan has turned into around $400,000 today.

Will this trend continue?

Time will tell.

Investing isn’t about getting rich quick, it’s about building long term wealth so you have long term freedom.

7. What Mistakes Should I Avoid?

According to JPMorgan Wealth Management.

Staying invested is all about:

- Not getting spooked. Remembering from 1980 to 2018, roughly 75% of the years ended with positive investment returns.

- Not trying to time the market. Remembering it’s nearly impossible to predict what the best days and the worst days of the market will be.

- Keeping your emotions on course. Remembering it’s normal to get emotional when the market moves up or down but sticking to your goals matters most.

Knowing what mistakes to avoid can help you reach your investing goals faster.

The bottom line

Investing can be overwhelming.

And not knowing what to expect can make it feel confusing.

But after learning answers to the biggest investing questions.

Investing can feel a bit less intimidating.

And the path to become a smart investor is a bit clearer (or so I’ve found).

Hope this cheat sheet is helpful on your investing journey.

Keep going 🤓

That’s all for today.

See you next Saturday.

Whenever you’re ready, there are 3 ways I can help you:

1. ​The Guide:​ My 4-step money guide I’ve used to go from $80k in debt to $1M (it’s free).

2. ​The Playbook:​ The exact playbook I've used to get $30,000 when buying a house (it's free).

3. ​The Weekly Newsletter:​ Read 100+ past newsletter issues for practical tips and tools to beat debt and build wealth.

Disclaimer: All information provided is for educational purposes only and does not constitute investment, legal or tax advice, or an offer to buy or sell any security. Always do your research before making any financial or investment decision.

Privacy Policy​ ​Disclosure

Subscribe now

Knowing the 7 most common homebuying questions (and answers) can help you:

- Learn your options.

- Choose your strategy.

- Buy with confidence.

Unfortunately, buying a house can be confusing.

The Overwhelm

According to a recent Wells Fargo survey:

- 80% of people fear making a mistake when buying a house.

- 88% are unsure how the homebuying process works.

- 90% don’t understand their closing costs.

That’s a lot of confusion.

Especially when buying a house is often the largest transaction most people make.

And often becomes the largest asset they own.

Although buying a house has become more difficult lately.

The 2026 Bank of America Homebuyer Insights Report shows:

- 79% of people say they still plan to buy at some point in their life.

“Owning a home is a keystone of wealth... both financial affluence and emotional security.”

– Suze Orman

Getting a loan to buy my first home in Seattle, Washington was exciting.

And stressful.

Not knowing what to expect is where most of the stress came from I suspect.

Plus fearing I’d make a big mistake.

But trusting my real estate agent Tonya, and my loan officer Joe to steer me in the right direction was a big help.

And moving into that tiny condo with a friend and my basset hound at the time is something I’ll never forget.

The Homebuying Journey

After watching the value of that little condo go up $100,000 in 2 years.

I was hooked on real estate.

And found myself learning how to get 6 more loans to buy 6 more properties over the next 10 years.

And lord knows I made mistakes along the way.

I also found myself working as a banker at Chase helping hundreds of other people get home loans.

Watching people figure out their money and buy a home was one of the most fulfilling job I’ve ever had.

The 7 Biggest Homebuyer Questions

The 10 years I spent working as a banker.

The same 7 homebuyer questions kept coming up.

And I found the better people understood answers to these questions.

The more likely they were to buy a house.

So here’s the 7 biggest homebuyer questions worth knowing the answers.

Let’s dive in.

1. How Does Home Buying Work?

Buying a house is 7 steps.

Each step gets you closer to your final goal.

And you work through the steps in order:

^{(Steps to buy a house)}

But don’t worry.

A loan officer and a real estate agent will help you work through the steps.

Knowing the 7 steps to buy a house helps make your homebuying journey easier.

2. How Much Do I Need For My Down Payment?

America has some of the most flexible home loan programs of any country.

These programs are often found in 3 places:

- Banks.

- Credit unions.

- Or through a mortgage broker.

The 4 most common home loans are:

1. The VA Loan: The VA Loan which stands for Veterans Administration does not require a down payment. It’s offered to people affiliated with the military like: veterans, active duty members and reservists or national guard members.

2. The USDA Loan: The USDA Loan which stands for United States Department of Agriculture does not require a down payment. It’s offered to people buying a home in the suburbs or rural areas but you must be under the annual income limit to qualify (which varies based on where you live).

3. The Conventional Loan: The Conventional Loan requires a 3% down payment and is available to all homebuyers that qualify. So buying a $400,000 home with a 3% down payment means coming up with $12,000.

But don’t stress.

We’ll also talk about ways to get homebuyer money.

4. The FHA Loan: The FHA Loan which stands for Federal Housing Administration requires a 3.5% down payment and is available to all homebuyers that qualify. So buying a $400,000 home with a 3.5% down payment means coming up with $14,000.

Your loan officer will help you figure out which loan is best for you.

And getting a loan to buy a house is a common thing.

“91% of first time buyers finance their purchase.”

– National Association of Realtors

Buying a house doesn’t mean you need to pay for everything in cash (unless you want to).

3. What Does My Credit Score Need To Be?

Credit score rules are different based on the lender offering you the home loan.

But in general, for:

- The VA Loan: Many lenders require a minimum credit score of 580.

- The USDA Loan: Many lenders require a minimum credit score of 640.

- The Conventional Loan: Many lenders require a minimum credit score of 620.

- The FHA Loan: Many lenders require a minimum credit score of 580.

Some home loan programs don’t even have a minimum credit score requirement.

Having a low credit score (or no credit score) doesn’t mean you can’t qualify to get a home loan.

4. What Are The Costs I Need To Pay?

Money paid when buying a house is called your “closing costs”.

And it’s made up of 2 things:

1. Your Down Payment: Some loan programs don’t require a down payment at all like The VA Loan or The USDA Loan. But you always have the option to put down more money than required, if you want to have a smaller loan and a smaller monthly payment.

2. Your Other Costs: This includes everything else related to buying a home like: the escrow/attorney fees, government fees, lender fees, title fees. These costs are usually between 2% to 4% of the purchase price of a home. Your loan officer will help you figure all of this out.

Even if getting a loan that does not require a down payment. You still need to find a way to pay for your other costs. For example: A $400,000 home plus other costs of 3%, equals $12,000.

But the good news.

There’s many ways to help cover these costs (if you know how to get homebuyer money).

→ You can read ​how I got $30,000 to help buy a house here​ if you’re interested.

Knowing how closing costs work and how to get homebuyer money can help you buy a house sooner.

5. How Long Does It Take?

Finding a house to buy is different for everyone.

According to the National Association of Realtors.

It takes the average person 10 weeks to find a house they want to buy.

^{(Weeks to find a house)}

It normally takes 3 to 6 more weeks after finding a house you want to buy to close on it and get your keys.

Knowing how long the home buying process takes helps you plan in advance.

6. What If I Change My Mind?

Most offers to buy a house includes the option to cancel.

How it works:

- After finding a home you want to buy. Your real estate agent will write up an offer. And they will present your offer to the home seller.

^{(Example offer)}

- Inside the offer your real estate agent can include “contingencies”. Which is a fancy way of saying if certain conditions aren’t met, you have the option to change your mind and not buy the house.

For example:

- If you do a home inspection on the house you want to buy, and you aren’t happy with the results. Having a “contingency” may give you the option to change your mind and not buy the house.

Having “contingencies” can help give you peace of mind when making an offer to buy a house.

7. What Are Interest Rates Going To Do?

The past few years interest rates have gone up.

But they’re still lower then they’ve been in the past.

^{(Interest rates history)}

Trying to guess what rates are going to do is difficult.

But getting a loan to buy a house doesn’t mean you’re stuck with that loan and interest rate forever.

If interest rates drop in the future.

It may be possible to refinance your home loan to a lower interest rate just like refinancing a student loan or refinancing a car loan.

Remembering it may be possible to refinance your home loan if interest rates drop may save you money in the future.

The bottom line

Buying a house can be overwhelming.

And not knowing what to expect can make it confusing.

But after learning answers to the biggest homebuying questions.

Buying a house can feel a bit less intimidating.

And the path to becoming a homebuyer is a bit clearer (or so I’ve found).

Hope this is helpful if you see yourself buying a home or a rental property at some point in the future. Thanks for reading.

That’s all for today.

See you next Saturday.

Whenever you’re ready, there are 3 ways I can help you:

1. ​The Guide:​ My 4-step money guide I’ve used to go from $80k in debt to $1M (it’s free).

2. ​The Playbook:​ The exact playbook I've used to get $30,000 when buying a house (it's free).

3. ​The Weekly Newsletter:​ Read 100+ past newsletter issues for practical tips and tools to beat debt and build wealth.

Disclaimer: All information provided is for educational purposes only and does not constitute investment, legal or tax advice, or an offer to buy or sell any security. Always do your research before making any financial or investment decision.

Privacy Policy​ ​Disclosure

Subscribe now

Getting your money right can:

- Reduce your stress.

- Grow your investments.

- Allow you to quit 9-5 life early.

Unfortunately, money can be a confusing thing.

The Harsh Truth

In school we’re taught:

- Algebra.

- Geometry.

- Trigonometry.

But little to nothing about money.

Which is interesting because learning to deal with money can lead to big things.

Things like:

- Starting an investing account.

- Investing money every month.

- Getting a loan to buy a home.

Things that can actually build wealth.

“Money is a terrible master but an excellent servant.”

– P.T. Barnum

Spending 10 years working at a local bank was wild.

Starting off in Seattle, Washington.

And ending in San Diego, California.

Over that time I found myself working as a banker in 10 different bank branches.

Watching how money affected people was crazy at times...

- The 1st bank branch I worked at was shot up in the middle of the night.

- A few years later, an employee I worked with was punched in the face by a customer.

- Another branch I worked at was set on fire and completely burned down.

- 2 of the branches I worked at were robbed in the middle of the day.

The Stress Of Money

Having customers cry at my desk happened quite often.

Usually because they were so stressed out over money.

Many of them said they had no one else to talk to about it.

The truth is.

Money can be dang stressful.

Especially when there’s not enough left to pay the bills at the end of the month.

Something I’ve experienced at certain points in life.

Fortunately, there’s tools that can help.

The 5-Habit System

Most of the people I came across in banking who had their money figured out used a system.

A system that helped them stay on track with their money.

A system is what helped me get out of $80,000 of debt and build $1M of investments.

Here’s a money system worth considering (The 5-habit system).

Let’s dive in.

1. Your Ideal Life

Clarify the life you want in 5-10 years.

Write it down.

- Where do you live?

- What do your days look like?

- What kind of lifestyle do you have?

After deciding what you want, it’s possible to create a plan to help you get there.

Knowing what you want is the first step to create your money plan.

2. Your Automated Paycheck

Create a system to automate everything.

- Split part of your paycheck between a checking and a savings account to automatically build up a cushion of savings.

- Set up auto transfers to your investments every month to build long term wealth (many investment companies allow investments as low as $5).

- Put monthly bills on autopay each month.

Automating your savings, investments and bills saves time and helps build wealth on autopilot.

3. Your Money Meeting

Do a monthly money check-in to cover things like:

- What’s working?

- What’s not working?

- What needs adjusting?

Setting a calendar reminder on your phone to do it the same day every month is helpful.

Having a 30-minute money meeting every month helps keep you on track with your money goals.

4. Your Spending Money

Set aside “spending money” every month for things like:

- Hobbies.

- Social activities.

- Personal care products.

- Anything you truly enjoy.

Harsh budgets don’t work in the long run.

Setting aside spending money each month to enjoy life helps keep your money goals on track.

5. Your #1 Enemy

Remembering what you don’t want can help you stay motivated, things like:

- Constant money stress.

- Living paycheck to paycheck.

- Having to work a 9-5 at age 70.

^{My nightmare}

Remembering what you don’t want can help motivate you to give your money the attention it needs.

The bottom line

After working at a local bank for 10 years (and seeing some wild stuff).

Eventually I learned the 2 big reasons most people struggle with money.

#1. They don’t know what to do.

Fortunately there’s many books, courses and financial pros out there to help.

#2. They know what to do, but they struggle to find the motivation to actually do it.

This is the thing I’ve found many people get stuck on.

The thing I’ve been stuck on before too.

If I could go back and give my younger self some advice.

Advice on how to find the motivation to actually do the things I knew I should be doing with my money.

To create the life I truly wanted.

I’d tell myself this:

Imagine your perfect day.

What does it look like?

Maybe it’s:

- Waking up when you want.

- Booking a last minute flight wherever you want.

- Staying there for 2-3 weeks if you want.

- Coming home whenever you’re ready.

Because you:

- Have no boss.

- Have an empty calendar.

- Have total control of your time.

And have a lot of investments you built up over the years.

Investments that allow you to do exactly what you want to do every day.

(with kids your perfect day might look a bit different)

But the point is:

Were you on a beach?

Were you on a cruise?

Were you hiking in the mountains on a random Monday morning instead of commuting to work?

Imagining my perfect day over and over helped motivate me to do the things I knew I should be doing with my money, even when I didn’t feel like doing them.

To eventually...

- Have more freedom.

- See friends and family more.

- Have the resources to build my ideal life.

Anyway, I hope this little money motivation trick I learned that was useful for me is useful for you too (if you need it).

That’s all for today.

See you next Saturday.

Whenever you’re ready, there are 3 ways I can help you:

1. ​The Guide:​ My 4-step money guide I’ve used to go from $80k in debt to $1M (it’s free).

2. ​The Playbook:​ The exact playbook I've used to get $30,000 when buying a house (it's free).

3. ​The Weekly Newsletter:​ Read 100+ past newsletter issues for practical tips and tools to beat debt and build wealth.

Disclaimer: All information provided is for educational purposes only and does not constitute investment, legal or tax advice, or an offer to buy or sell any security. Always do your research before making any financial or investment decision.

Privacy Policy​ ​Disclosure

Subscribe now

Getting out of debt and building wealth can:

- Boost your confidence.

- Build your bank account.

- Give you more options in life.

Unfortunately, most schools teach nothing about money.

The Math Of A Lifetime

According to Our World in Data, the average person spends:

- 28 years sleeping.

- 16 years working.

- 13 years relaxing.

And the rest of their time is spent on chores, childcare, socializing and eating.

Work is a big part of it.

Which means learning how to deal with money.

And after working for 40 years, hoping someday there’s enough money to finally leave 9-5 life for good.

To sleep in more.

To see family more.

To finally go on that trip.

But what if leaving 9-5 life a few decades early was possible?

“Forty hour workweeks are a relic of the Industrial Age.”

– Naval Ravikant

Like it was last week, I remember looking out across the sea of cubicles inside the office I was working.

There were people in their 20s.

People in their 30s.

And even people in their 60s working away.

As time wore on, I couldn’t stop thinking about:

- Waking up.

- Commuting to work.

- Taking a fast lunch.

- Commuting home.

- Relaxing for a few hours.

- Going to bed.

...and doing it all over again for 30 more years.

Many of the people I talked to in their 50s and 60s didn’t seem very happy with taking that path.

And I started wondering if there was another way to live life.

A way to work less, and enjoy more.

The $80,000 Problem

But I had a massive amount of debt at the time.

And leaving 9-5 life early felt like a silly daydream.

As time wore on, I couldn’t stop thinking about what it would be like to:

- Not have to wake up early everyday.

- Not have to ask for time off hoping no one else asked before me.

- Not feel like I was living the same day over and over again on repeat.

So I became obsessed with figuring out how to get rid of my debt.

And how to build my net worth as quickly as possible so leaving 9-5 life early became an option.

The 4 Things Behind $1M

Hearing stories about people getting out of debt, building their investments and quitting their 9-5 jobs early motivated the heck out of me.

And I was fortunate to hear a lot of these stories while working 10 years as a banker.

Here’s the 4 biggest things that helped me get out of debt and build $1M of investments in my 30s (things I learned from people much wiser than me).

Let’s dive in.

1. The Money System

Most people keep track of their money in their head.

That’s what I did too for a long time.

But eventually I realized, that wasn’t working.

So I started using a money system.

The goal of a money system is to make things easy and to:

Here’s the 5-step money system I started using:

Step 1: Save $1,000 in a savings account using automated deposits from your paychecks.

Step 2: Pay off all of your high-interest rate debt using the debt snowball method.

Step 3: Grow a 3-6 month emergency fund with the extra money you now have.

Step 4: Invest in retirement on autopilot (15% of each paycheck is the goal).

Step 5: Build wealth rapidly and plan your early escape from 9-5 life.

Spending just 30 minutes a month using a simple money system can change everything.

2. The Stock Market

Most people are intimidated by the stock market at first.

And I was too in the beginning.

Doing the wrong thing and losing money was my biggest fear.

But coming across famous investor Warren Buffett’s quote helped me feel more confident with my investing plan:

“The goal of non-professionals shouldn’t be to pick winners, rather to own businesses bound to do well, a low-cost S&P500 (stock) fund will achieve this goal.”

– Warren Buffett

Each time I was paid, money automatically went into my retirement account at work and the money was invested in an S&P500 fund, which includes 500 of the largest companies in America like:

- Tesla

- Apple

- Google

- Amazon

- Microsoft

+ 495 other companies

In the beginning, I started with $100 per paycheck.

As time went on, I invested more and more until 15% of my pay was going towards retirement.

Then I opened a non-retirement account (a brokerage account) and started investing there as well.

And I watched the stock market go up 10% per year on average, like it has over the past 40 years.

^{(Stock market history)}

$100 invested in an S&P500 Stock Fund 30 years ago is worth almost $2,000 today.

3. The Real Estate Market

Many people wait for a good time to buy a house.

And before getting a loan to buy my first home, I also wondered if it was a good time to buy.

But after seeing a chart of house prices going up since the 1960s:

^{(House prices history)}

Figuring out how to get loans to buy real estate was something I thought about a lot.

And learning how to buy homes without having to spend a lot of my own money became my weird obsession.

While working in banking I discovered how to get up to $30,000 when buying a house. I call it the Max Cash Method.

It’s a way to get money from 4 different places while buying a home.

- From the program.

- From the agent.

- From the seller.

- From the lender.

And it adds up.

It helped me while getting loans to buy 7 properties.

A $130,000 home bought 30 years ago with a home loan is worth around $400,000 today.

If you want to buy a house without having to save up tons of money all by yourself, you can ​read about my max cash method here​.

4. The Part Time Millionaire

Most people plan to work a 9-5 job for 40 years.

Then “retire” and stop working.

That was the plan I was on too at first.

But then I realized, there’s another option.

A way to leave 9-5 life decades early.

And I watched many bank customers do it.

Justin’s post sums it up:

Eventually I realized, I didn’t want to:

- Work a 9-5 job for 40 years.

- Retire and stop working.

Instead, I wanted to:

- Work a 9-5 job to learn skills.

- Let a salary fund my investments.

- Build up enough investments so I could quit my 9-5 job and just work part time.

I watched several bank customers do this in their 30s and 40s.

They used the skills they learned from their 9-5 and got to a point financially where they could just work part time.

Some even used the skills they learned from their 9-5 to start a small online business sharing knowledge and making money part time online.

The wild part, some of these people made more money working part time for themself then they did working their fulltime 9-5 job. They became part time millionaires.

Leaving full-time work doesn’t mean you have to follow the traditional path of 40 years at a 9-5 job.

The bottom line

Those 4 big things made the biggest difference on my $80k in debt to $1M journey and leaving my 9-5 at age 39.

- Spending 30 minutes a month on my money system.

- Using my salary to invest in an S&P500 fund.

- Using the max cash method to help buy real estate.

- Viewing job skills as a way to leave 9-5 life early to just work part time.

Working part time for yourself is the better option, in my opinion.

When I had $80,000 of debt at age 29.

Paying off bills, building wealth and quitting my 9-5 felt impossible.

But becoming obsessed with getting my money right and wanting to build a freer life taught me anything is possible, when you want it bad enough.

I’m rooting for you.

That’s all for today.

See you next Saturday.

Whenever you’re ready, there are 3 ways I can help you:

1. ​The Guide:​ My 4-step money guide I’ve used to go from $80k in debt to $1M (it’s free).

2. ​The Playbook:​ The exact playbook I've used to get $30,000 when buying a house (it's free).

3. ​The Weekly Newsletter:​ Read 100+ past newsletter issues for practical tips and tools to beat debt and build wealth.

Disclaimer: All information provided is for educational purposes only and does not constitute investment, legal or tax advice, or an offer to buy or sell any security. Always do your research before making any financial or investment decision.

Privacy Policy​ ​Disclosure

Subscribe now

Knowing how to save extra money can:

- Lower your bills.

- Lower your stress.

- Help boost your bank account.

Unfortunately, the cost of living keeps climbing.

The Prices

According to Ramsey Solutions, the most expensive things most people have to pay for each month are:

- Housing.

- Transportation.

- Food.

These things add up quick.

Things I’ve struggled with at certain points in my life.

But discovering unique ways to save can lead to less stress and more money in your pocket.

“Saving is the gap between your ego and your income.”

– Morgan Housel

Being $80,000 in debt at age 29 felt like torture.

My mind raced daily thinking about it.

Would I ever pay it off?

Would I live paycheck to paycheck forever?

How the heck did I even get to this point?

It was stressful.

And mentally draining.

I even thought about filing for bankruptcy.

The Motivation to Change

But being in that situation forced me to learn every money saving hack, trick or short-cut I could get my hands on.

To finally get out of debt.

To have a peaceful mind again.

To focus more on investing and leaving 9-5 life early.

Working in banking at the time was a big help.

Watching all of the different ways people saved money to pay off their debt was motivating.

One guy I came across had almost $500,000 in student loan debt.

But he was chipping away at it like a champ.

The 3 Big Ways to Save Money

Getting rid of my $80,000 in debt taught me a lot about how to save money.

Without having to live off rice and beans everyday.

Here’s the 3 biggest costs most people have every month (and 3 big ways to save money on each).

Let’s dive in.

1. Housing Costs

Most people’s housing costs are over 30% of their monthly income.

That’s huge.

Here’s three different ways to save money.

The Renter Hack

According to the Urban Institute, 92% of landlords that are companies raise rent every year.

But only 52% of landlords that are individuals raise rent every year.

Choosing to rent from an individual person instead of a company can be a big way to save extra money.

The Space Hack

If you’re a homeowner or a renter with extra space.

Like an extra bedroom, a garage or even a downstairs basement.

Extra space can fetch extra money too every month if you don’t mind renting it out and being a part-time landlord.

The Parking Hack

Parking pays.

Especially if you live in a desirable area.

Renting out a parking space you’re not using as a renter or as a homeowner can be an extra source of income.

Renting from an individual person, choosing to rent out extra space or renting out unused parking can save you hundreds of dollars per month.

2. Transportation Costs

Most people’s transportation costs are over 15% of their monthly income.

A hefty chunk.

Here’s three different ways to save money.

The Insurance Hack

According to Consumer Reports, most drivers that switch their car insurance save $461 per year on average.

But many drivers stick with their same insurance company and don’t shop around.

Shopping around just 15 minutes every few years can also be a big money saver.

The Neighborhood Hack

Commuting 30 to 60 minutes to work and 30 to 60 minutes home from work is expensive.

Gas, new tires and oil changes all add up.

Choosing to live and work in the same neighborhood (if possible) can save a lot of money and a lot of commuting time.

Plus, having the ability to go home for lunch everyday is nice and can also be a money saver.

The Driver Hack

An average new car payment is almost $800 per month.

Choosing to keep a car long term without a monthly payment has extra perks like:

- Car insurance is cheaper when you don’t have a car payment because you don’t need to have “full coverage” insurance.

- Getting a loan to buy a home is easier when you don’t have a car payment because you have less monthly bills to pay.

And the life span of a modern car continues to grow.

Shopping for car insurance, choosing to live close to work (if possible) or keeping a car long term can save you hundreds of dollars per month.

3. Food Costs

Most people’s food costs are over 10% of their monthly income.

It adds up quick.

Here’s three different ways to save money.

The Delivery Hack

According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, eating at home averages $3-$5 per meal while eating at a restaurant averages $15+ per meal.

Many grocery stores offer weekly food delivery with no extra shipping costs when using their free mobile app.

More food in the home often means less eating out.

The Appetizer Hack

Meeting friends at a restaurant is a big part of our culture.

So, how do you keep up with friends without destroying your budget?

Appetizers.

Consider choosing an appetizer at a restaurant instead of a full entree when catching up with a friend (especially if you have a bunch of groceries at home because you’re using the delivery hack).

The Envelope System

One way to aggressively save money on eating out is to use the envelope system.

How it works:

- The 1st day of every month put cash in an envelope. For example, $500.

- Every time you eat out at a restaurant, use the cash inside the envelope to pay.

- Once the cash is all gone, you eat at home for the rest of the month.

On the 1st day of the next month, you start the game over again and put more cash inside the envelope.

Another way to do this is to buy a prepaid visa or mastercard at the store or on Amazon if you don’t want to carry around an envelope full of cash.

Using grocery delivery, choosing to eat light at restaurants or using the envelope system can save you hundreds of dollars per month.

The bottom line

Thinking of ways to save money can be a pain.

It can feel stressful and overwhelming.

Especially when it feels like the money going out each month, is more than the money coming in each month.

If that’s where you’re at right now, I feel your pain.

I’ve been there before myself.

Or maybe you’ve made it past that point.

And you’re trying to find ways to save and invest more money.

If so that’s a wonderful place to be.

Either way, I hope one or two of these money saving hacks are useful tools to have on your wealth building journey.

That’s all for today.

See you next Saturday.

Whenever you’re ready, there are 3 ways I can help you:

1. ​The Guide:​ My 4-step money guide I’ve used to go from $80k in debt to $1M (it’s free).

2. ​The Playbook:​ The exact playbook I've used to get $30,000 when buying a house (it's free).

3. ​The Weekly Newsletter:​ Read 100+ past newsletter issues for practical tips and tools to beat debt and build wealth.

Disclaimer: All information provided is for educational purposes only and does not constitute investment, legal or tax advice, or an offer to buy or sell any security. Always do your research before making any financial or investment decision.

Privacy Policy​ ​Disclosure

Subscribe now

Knowing the 7 types of homes can:

- Save you money.

- Make you money.

- Help you buy the right home for you.

Unfortunately, most people don’t know the different options.

The Choices

According to Zillow, most first-time homebuyers do this:

- 85% buy a house.

- 10% buy a condo.

- 5% buy something else.

The truth is.

There’s many options when buying a home.

And most people don’t know all of the different options.

I sure didn’t.

But knowing the options you have when buying a home can be a massive money-saver.

“Every great property decision begins with research.”

– Barbara Corcoran

Getting a home loan pre-approval to buy my first home was exciting.

And scary.

After giving the loan officer my tax returns, bank statements and a recent paystub.

I figured the outcome would be one of these 3 things:

1. The loan officer would tell me I couldn’t get a loan.

2. The loan officer would tell me I could get a loan to buy a house.

3. The loan officer would tell me I could get a loan to buy a condo.

After anxiously waiting for a day or two.

The loan officer called with an answer.

The Options

My loan officer said working a 9-5 job helped qualify me for a home loan.

But I didn’t make enough money to get a loan to buy a house.

Although, I did make enough money to get a loan to buy a condo.

At the time I was thrilled.

And to be honest, I was a bit surprised I qualified for anything.

Because I didn’t have much money saved.

But he assured me getting a home loan was possible.

And a few months later I found myself moving into a tiny condo with a friend on the outskirts of Seattle, Washington.

The 7 Types of Homes

Over the next decade, I got more home loans to buy 3 condos and 4 houses in total.

Which feels strange to say after starting from scratch in the beginning.

Watching hundreds of people buy homes while working in banking helped me learn a lot about home buying.

Things I wish I knew from the very start.

So, here’s 7 different types of homes worth knowing (plus some homebuyer tips to help save money).

Let’s dive in.

1. The Condo

A condo can be the least expensive home to buy.

According to Nerdwallet, the average monthly condo payment is $400 less than the average monthly house payment.

Condo which is short for “condominium”, is also 50% smaller than a house on average.

Condos can resemble an apartment complex and often come with additional perks like a swimming pool or a gym.

^(Condos)

Buying a condo means owning a smaller unit inside a large building.

And paying monthly HOA Dues.

Which stands for Home Owners Association.

The Home Owners Association is normally run by people who live in the condo complex.

And people that choose to live in a condo complex are expected to pay the monthly HOA Dues.

The dues help cover expenses to run the condo complex like insurance, repairs, cleaning the common areas, landscaping, etc.

HOA Dues on average cost $300 to $500 per month depending on the complex.

Buying a condo often means you have a smaller living space and a lower monthly payment than a house, but also means you must pay the monthly HOA Dues.

TIP: Buying a 2 bedroom condo and renting out the 2nd bedroom is sometimes less expensive per month than buying just a 1 bedroom condo (if you don’t mind sharing your living space).

2. The Townhouse

A townhouse is often bigger than a condo, but smaller than a house.

Townhouses are usually 2 or 3 stories tall.

And most have monthly HOA Dues, just like a condo.

^(Townhouses)

Sometimes you can find a townhouse that does not have monthly HOA Dues.

Which means insurance, repairs, landscaping, etc. all become the homeowner’s responsibility since there is no Home Owners Association.

Buying a townhouse can give you more space than a condo but less space than a house.

TIP: Many townhouses have a small yard which can make owning a pet lots easier than owning a pet inside a condo.

3. The Pud

A Pud is like a mini-town.

It stands for Planned Urban Development.

And often includes many similar looking homes.

^(Puds)

A Pud community normally has monthly HOA Dues just like a condo.

But the monthly HOA Dues can be 30% to 50% less expensive than a condo.

Buying a Pud often means having more living space than a condo and may come with a front yard and back yard.

TIP: Sometimes a Pud can be less expensive than buying a regular house.

4. The House

A house is the most common type of home.

And they offer the most flexibility.

Most houses are around 1,800 square feet on average.

^(House)

One big perk of owning a house is having total control:

- Painting it any color you want.

- Designing the yard any way you want.

- Adding on an extra bedroom if you want.

Buying a house gives you the most flexibility to do whatever you wish with your home.

TIP: There’s several ways to make extra money with a house as well like: Putting a tiny home in the back yard to rent out OR using the garage as an extra bedroom with a separate entrance to rent out (if you want).

5. The Duplex

A duplex is like buying a house, plus a rental property.

A duplex often means owning one large building.

A building that includes 2 separate areas, for 2 separate families to live.

^(Duplex)

Buying and living in a duplex often means renting out 1 unit to help cover your monthly home loan payment.

TIP: A duplex can cost more than a regular house but many loan officers can use the expected rental income you’ll get from the extra unit to help qualify you for a duplex home loan.

6. The Triplex

A triplex is like buying a house, plus two rental properties.

A triplex often means owning one large building.

A building that includes 3 separate areas, for 3 separate families to live.

^(Triplex)

Buying and living in a triplex often means renting out 2 units to help cover your monthly home loan payment.

TIP: A triplex can cost more than a regular house but many loan officers can use the expected rental income you’ll get from the 2 extra units to help you qualify for a triplex home loan.

7. The Fourplex

A fourplex is like buying a house, plus three rental properties.

A fourplex often means owning one large building.

A building that includes 4 separate areas, for 4 separate families to live.

^(Fourplex)

Buying and living in a fourplex often means renting out 3 units to help cover your monthly home loan payment.

TIP: A fourplex can cost more than a regular house but many loan officers can use the expected rental income you’ll get from the 3 extra units to help you qualify for a fourplex home loan.

The bottom line

That’s a lot of different homes to consider.

Which can feel a bit overwhelming at first.

To rank these from least expensive to most expensive monthly payment.

I’ve found the options generally look like this.

Least expensive to most expensive:

- Condo

- Townhouse

- Pud

- House

- Duplex

- Triplex

- Fourplex

Of course it can vary a lot depending on the state, city or neighborhood where the home is located.

One nice thing about the duplex, triplex, or fourplex options is having renters help cover the monthly payment (for a homebuyer who doesn’t mind being a part time landlord).

But for home buyers who want to slowly ease their way into homeownership.

I’ve found a condo to be a great place to start.

Some ground floor condos even have a tiny yard for the kids and the pets to use (if needed).

Hope this little cheat sheet is helpful if you see home buying in your future.

That’s all for today.

See you next Saturday.

Whenever you’re ready, there are 3 ways I can help you:

1. ​The Guide:​ My 4-step money guide I’ve used to go from $80k in debt to $1M (it’s free).

2. ​The Playbook:​ The exact playbook I've used to get $30,000 when buying a house (it's free).

3. ​The Weekly Newsletter:​ Read 100+ past newsletter issues for practical tips and tools to beat debt and build wealth.

Disclaimer: All information provided is for educational purposes only and does not constitute investment, legal or tax advice, or an offer to buy or sell any security. Always do your research before making any financial or investment decision.

Privacy Policy​ ​Disclosure

Subscribe now

Building wealth from scratch while you’re still young can:

- Give you more options.

- Give you more freedom.

- Help you leave 9-5 life early.

Unfortunately, many people struggle with money.

The Reality

A recent Ramsey Solutions survey shows:

- 58% of American aren’t saving for retirement.

- 54% say they’re living paycheck to paycheck.

- 34% describe their financial situation as “struggling”.

It’s a stressful place to be.

A place I’ve been before myself.

But struggling can also lead to massive motivation.

The motivation and desire to change everything.

“Before you can become a millionaire, you must learn to think like one.”

– Thomas J. Stanley

Like it was last week, I remember sitting in my cubicle at the bank.

It was 2010.

And I was hired as a banker to help other people figure out their money.

Which was ironic.

Because I was $80,000 in debt and struggling myself.

It was a painful time.

But getting hired to work at a local bank excited me in 2 big ways.

#1. Learning better money habits to fix my $80,000 debt problem.

#2. Talking to self made millionaires and hearing their unique stories.

The Millionaire Journey

Learning how people went from $0 to a $1M net worth from scratch was so darn fascinating.

One guy invented a special coating that went on cellphones to make them water resistant.

Another guy started a small touring company that drove people around town in an air conditioned bus.

One lady climbed the corporate ladder, became a Vice President and invested in stocks and real estate.

Another lady became a scientist and worked with animals at a local zoo and invested in the stock market.

One guy loved motorcycles so much that he opened up a store that sold and fixed motorcycles.

Another guy loved jewelry so much that he opened up a tiny jewelry store to sell rings and watches.

One lady was a real estate agent and decided to get home loans and bought 8 rental properties.

Another guy worked a regular 9-5 job and invested everything he could in the stock market.

There were so many interesting stories about how people built wealth starting from scratch.

And all of the stories included one of these three things:

1. Investing in the stock market.

2. Getting loans to buy real estate.

3. Starting a small business.

And some of the stories included all 3 of them.

But one big thing I noticed all of these self-made millionaires had in common was:

Their money habits.

The Money Habits of Millionaires

Learning the money habits of self-made millionaires while working in banking helped me fix my own money problems.

Paying off $80,000 in debt.

Learning how to get $30,000 to help buy a house.

Growing $1M of investments starting from scratch.

Here’s 5 money habits I learned watching self-made millionaires I wish I knew sooner.

Let’s dive in.

1. The Scorecard

It’s hard to win with money without keeping score.

And keeping score is often called:

- A plan.

- A system.

Or

- A budget.

It’s an organized way to keep track of things.

And not keeping track is like playing a round of miniature golf without keeping score and expecting to win.

Having a plan and keeping score with your money helps you build wealth faster.

2. The Attention

There’s a famous saying that goes:

“What gets measured gets managed.”

It’s so darn true.

Having a written plan for your money helps you:

- Know how much money is coming in each month.

- Know how much money is going out each month.

- Know if you’re on the right track to escape 9-5 life early (if you want to).

Spending just 30 minutes a month reviewing your money plan can change everything.

TIP: Setting a calendar reminder on your phone to do it the same day every month works well.

3. The Automation

Do money on easy mode.

Easy mode means automating your investments and monthly bills.

Here’s a visual:

Having part of each paycheck go towards investments 1st automatically might mean:

- Investing in the stock market using a non-retirement account (also called a general investing account).

- Investing in the stock market using a retirement account at work.

- Sending money automatically to a savings account to help save for a home.

Using automation to split your paycheck between different accounts can help you build wealth on easy mode.

TIP: Many online investment companies allow people to start investing with as little as $5.

4. The Leverage

Choose to work smarter.

When trading time for money (a job).

The only way to make more money is to work more hours.

Or to make more money per hour.

But with investing.

Investments have the ability to grow without doing any extra work.

For example.

The stock market has been growing 10% per year on average since the 1990s.

^{(Stock market history)}

The price of real estate has also been growing for decades (although it takes more work than investing in the stock market):

^{(Real estate history)}

Investing in things you understand can provide leverage and money growth beyond a traditional 9-5 job.

5. The Non-Negotiables

Identify your non-negotiables.

Knowing your non-negotiables make it easier to find the motivation to chase after the things you want.

For example.

Someone with a goal of leaving 9-5 life early to do their own thing may have a list of non-negotiables that look like this:

Identify and write down your non-negotiables.

Knowing what you don’t want in life can help motivate you to chase after the things you do want.

The bottom line

One of the biggest lessons I learned watching self made millionaires while working in banking was:

Become dangerously focused.

Be willing to do the things most people aren’t willing to do if your goal is to become a self-made millionaire.

Things like:

- Having a written money plan (budget).

- Looking at it every month for 30 minutes.

- Finding ways to free up more money to invest.

- Investing 1st every month before paying bills (even if starting with just a small amount).

- Identifying and remembering the non-negotiables to help keep your motivation high.

It’s not exciting stuff.

But it’s the stuff that actually works. The things worth doin’.

And I’m rooting for you.

That’s all for today.

See you next Saturday.

Whenever you’re ready, there are 3 ways I can help you:

1. ​The Guide:​ My 4-step money guide I’ve used to go from $80k in debt to $1M (it’s free).

2. ​The Playbook:​ The exact playbook I've used to get $30,000 when buying a house (it's free).

3. ​The Weekly Newsletter:​ Read 100+ past newsletter issues for practical tips and tools to beat debt and build wealth.

Disclaimer: All information provided is for educational purposes only and does not constitute investment, legal or tax advice, or an offer to buy or sell any security. Always do your research before making any financial or investment decision.

Privacy Policy​ ​Disclosure

Subscribe now

Knowing what to avoid when buying a home can:

- Save you time.

- Save you money.

- Keep your homebuying goals on track.

Unfortunately, there’s hidden mistakes along the way.

The Journey

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, 65% of homes in America are owner-occupied.

That means the odds of owning a home are pretty high for most people.

Which often means:

- Getting a loan.

- Shopping for a home.

- Making an offer on a home.

- Doing a home inspection.

- Closing on your new home.

There’s many steps along the way.

Which can be stressful.

And exciting.

So, what should you avoid doing on your homebuying journey?

“A home is probably the most significant financial transaction most people will ever make.”

– Warren Buffett

Looking back, buying my first home was a bit strange.

Joe the loan officer that helped me get a home loan asked for my:

-Paystubs.

-Tax returns.

-Bank statements.

...and a few other things.

Then, he gave me a loan pre-approval and told me what I could afford to buy.

Which wasn’t much.

At the time, I was selling cell phones in a mall in Seattle, WA for Verizon.

But I gladly accepted the loan pre-approval.

And started looking at tiny condos (the only thing Joe said I could afford).

Soon after, I got a promotion at work from a cell phone sales guy to an assistant manager.

It felt like a big deal at the time as a young guy.

But when I told Joe, he wasn’t happy.

The Promotion

After looking at my job offer.

Joe said he had to adjust my home loan pre-approval.

He said since my base pay was going up, and my commission pay was going down.

It would affect how much of a home loan I could get.

Which seemed confusing at the time.

But Joe gave me a slightly lower home loan pre-approval.

And shortly after, I found a home in my price range to buy.

The 6 Things to Avoid

After buying that first tiny condo.

And watching the value of it go up $100k in 2 years.

I found myself obsessed with real estate.

Joe helped me get 3 more home loans to buy 3 more properties in Seattle, Washington.

Then, I lost my job selling cell phones in the mall (actually I got fired when I was 29...oops).

And I then started working in finance.

After getting home loans to buy 7 properties, and watching hundreds of other people buy homes while working in finance.

Here’s 6 things I’ve learned to avoid when trying to get a home loan.

Hope it’s useful.

Let’s dive in.

1. The New Car

Getting a new car can kill the homeownership dream.

It’s one of the largest payments most people have.

And they’re not getting any cheaper.

Having a big car payment can make it harder to qualify for a home loan.

Avoid getting a new car payment (if possible) before trying to buy a home.

2. The Credit Card

Opening a new credit card can affect getting a home loan.

For example:

Dave gets a special offer from a credit card company.

0% interest for 12 months.

And Dave needs to buy furniture for his new home that he’s closing on in 2 weeks.

So Dave opens the credit card and puts $5,000 worth of furniture on the card.

Soon after his loan officer calls in a panic.

And says they received a notification from the credit bureau that Dave just opened a new account.

And his new $150 monthly credit card payment was going to cause a problem with Dave getting his home loan.

Avoid opening and using a new credit card while buying a home.

3. The Large Deposit

Large deposits can cause large problems.

When getting a home loan, a loan officer will look closely at your recent bank statements.

To make sure you have the money that’s needed to close on your new home.

Things like:

- Money for closing costs.

- Money for a down payment (if required).

And large deposits showing up on a bank statement will be questioned.

But what exactly is a large deposit (A.I. does a good job explaining):

If a large deposit can’t be explained with documentation to an underwriter (the person that approves your home loan).

That money can’t be used to help buy a home.

For example:

Jennifer decides to have a yard sale.

And it’s a big hit.

She deposits $5,000 cash into her bank account, the money she made from the yard sale.

Jennifer is also in the middle of buying a house.

And she plans to use that money to help with her homebuying costs.

But soon after, her loan officer notices the large deposit into her account.

And asks Jennifer to provide documentation showing where the money came from.

Jennifer can’t show where the money came from because it was a cash deposit.

Her loan officer tells her that money can’t be used to help buy her new home.

Avoid making large deposits (like cash) that can’t be fully explained when buying a home.

4. The Career Change

Timing is everything.

When getting a loan to buy a home.

A loan officer will review many aspects of a homebuyers financial life.

And most major changes are questioned.

For example:

Scott’s made good money working in marketing for 5 years.

One day, he decides he could make more money if he quits his job and starts working for himself.

So in January, he quits his 9-5 job and starts his own tiny marketing firm.

Over the next 6 months Scott finds himself making double the amount of money he was making working his 9-5 job.

And decides to get a loan to buy a house.

He talks to a loan officer at a bank and explains he quit his job 6 months ago.

But he’s making more money as a self-employed person.

The loan officer explains, although he’s in the same line of work.

He doesn’t have any tax returns showing his self employment income because his business is new.

That he needs to come back after his business shows up on his tax returns.

Avoid making career or job changes right before buying a home (if possible).

5. The Loan Co-Signing

Co-signing can derail a homebuyer.

For example, co-signing for another person to:

- Get a car loan.

- Get a student loan.

- Rent an apartment.

And it’s sometimes called different things.

Agreeing to be responsible for someone else’s payments can make it harder to qualify for a home loan.

Avoid co-signing for someone else’s debts (if possible) when you want to buy a home.

6. The Credit Card Usage

Using an existing credit card can be a problem.

For example:

Rachel talked to a loan officer and got a home loan pre-approval for $400,000.

Her loan officer told her to avoid opening any new accounts while shopping for her home.

And while shopping for her home, Rachel noticed Macy’s had a watch on sale she wanted.

It was an expensive watch.

Rachel knew she wasn’t suppose to open any new accounts.

So instead, she bought the watch using one of her existing credit cards.

A few weeks later when she was getting ready to close on her home.

Her loan officer called in a panic.

Saying when they did her home loan pre-approval.

That her credit card payment was just $25.

But now her credit card payment is showing up as $175.

And the higher credit card payment was causing a problem with Rachel getting her home loan.

Avoid adding big purchases to an existing credit card when buying a home.

The bottom line

This may feel like a lot of things to remember.

But the one big thing to remember right before getting a loan to buy a home is:

Don’t do anything different.

Things like:

- A new car.

- A large deposit.

- A career change.

- A new credit card.

- Co-signing on a loan.

- Increasing the balance on an existing credit card.

Doing these things right before trying to get a loan to buy a home can make things harder.

I hope this little cheat sheet is useful if you see home buying in your future.

That’s all for today.

See you next Saturday.

Whenever you’re ready, there are 3 ways I can help you:

1. ​The Guide:​ My 4-step money guide I’ve used to go from $80k in debt to $1M (it’s free).

2. ​The Playbook:​ The exact playbook I've used to get $30,000 when buying a house (it's free).

3. ​The Weekly Newsletter:​ Read 100+ past newsletter issues for practical tips and tools to beat debt and build wealth.

Disclaimer: All information provided is for educational purposes only and does not constitute investment, legal or tax advice, or an offer to buy or sell any security. Always do your research before making any financial or investment decision.

Privacy Policy​ ​Disclosure

Subscribe now

Learning how to make more money can:

- Lower your stress.

- Boost your savings.

- Help make 9-5 life optional sooner.

Unfortunately, many people are struggling financially.

The Reality

According to UBS Global Wealth, 40% of the worlds millionaires live in the U.S.

That means 1 out of every 10 U.S. adults are millionaires.

Yet many people are struggling to:

- Pay for rent.

- Pay for groceries.

- Save and invest for retirement.

So how do you go from struggling.

To growing a 7-figure net worth?

“How many millionaires do you know who became wealthy by investing in a savings account? I rest my case.”

– Robert G. Allen

In my early 20s, I thought a lot about becoming a millionaire.

To have enough investments that added up to $1M.

But I didn’t learn anything in school about money.

And I didn’t know any millionaires in real life.

Plus, money was a struggle for my family.

Everyone I knew in the small town I grew up in lived paycheck to paycheck.

But I figured if other people from small towns were able to grow a 7-figure net worth from scratch.

It must be possible.

The more I thought about how to become a millionaire, as a guy that mostly got Bs and Cs in school.

As a guy that identifies as a strong introvert.

The more I realized I didn’t want to:

- Start a big company.

- Invent something new.

- Climb the corporate ladder, get a fancy title and work 50-60 hour weeks.

Besides, it was hard to imagine myself actually doing one of those things.

So, I was left with figuring out how to become a millionaire as quickly as possible while working my 9-5 job.

The Part Time Millionaire

After going from selling phones in a mall in my 20s.

To working at a local bank in my 30s.

I noticed many of the bank customers I came across did just that.

They worked a 9-5 job.

They got their money right.

They saved, invested, and after hitting their investing goal.

They quit 9-5 life.

They became part time millionaires.

Because most of them still worked afterwards.

But instead of working a 9-5 job.

They just worked part time for a company or part time for themselves doing something they love.

And some did it in their 30s, some in their 40s, and others in their 50s.

“80% of millionaires are self-made. They started with nothing but ambition and energy, the same way most of us start.”

– Brian Tracy

7 Money Hacks That Can Change Everything

Working in banking for 10 years taught me so many things about money.

Things that helped me go from $80k in debt in my 20s to $1M of investments in my 30s.

Here’s 7 money hacks I wish I learned sooner.

Let’s dive in.

1. The Car Loan Hack

According to Nerdwallet, the average new car payment is $770.

Wild.

A big car payment makes it harder to:

- Save money.

- Invest money.

It also makes it harder to get a loan to buy a home.

When getting a loan to buy a house, the lender will compare your debt to income ratio.

Having a big car payment often means having a high debt to income ratio.

And having a high debt to income ratio can make it harder to get a loan to buy a home.

Getting a loan to buy a home is often easier when you choose to buy when you no longer have a car payment.

2. The Good Debt Hack

People often think all debt is bad.

And sure..

- Car loans.

- Personal loans.

- Credit card debt.

...can be dang painful.

But other types of debt can be help build wealth.

For example:

- Home loans.

- Business loans.

Some home loans don’t even require a down payment to get the loan.

Like a VA Loan or a USDA Loan.

And some home loans only require a small down payment to get the loan.

Like a Conventional Loan.

Many business loans are also flexible to get like an SBA Loan to buy a business which allows a down payment as low as 10%.

Good debt can help build wealth faster when loans are used to buy assets that go up in value.

3. The Credit Score Hack

Good credit is a massive money-saver.

A high credit score often means:

- Getting a lower interest rate and having a lower payment on a home loan.

- Getting approved for a higher credit limit when applying for a loan.

- Getting a better price when shopping for insurance.

The authorized user hack can be a fast way to boost a low credit score.

For example:

Jennifer and Dave want to buy a home.

Jennifer has a great credit score.

But Dave’s credit score isn’t so great.

Both Jennifer and Dave know his low score can affect the interest rate they get on a home loan and how much money they pay for insurance.

So, Jennifer decides to add Dave as an authorized user to a credit card she’s had for a long time that has a big credit limit and a zero balance.

Jennifer figures if adding Dave to her credit card doesn’t help his credit score.

She can always go back and delete him as an authorized user.

Jennifer logs into her credit card account online and in 2 minutes adds Dave as an authorized user.

Within 30 days, Jennifer’s old credit card she’s had for a long time with a big credit limit and a zero balance shows up on Dave’s credit report.

And his credit score goes up 80 points.

The authorized user hack can be a quick way to boost a low credit score (but there’s no guarantee it will work).

4. The Index Fund Hack

According to JP Morgan Asset Management, between 2002 - 2021 the average investor picking their own stocks grew their investments 3.6% per year on average.

But people that invested in just 1 thing.

An S&P500 index fund.

Grew their investments 9.5% per year on average.

An S&P500 index fund includes the top 500 largest companies in America and the largest S&P500 Fund is:

The Vanguard S&P500 ETF (VOO).

$100 invested in an S&P500 fund today means automatically owning:

- $7.81 of NVIDIA stock

- $6.81 of Apple stock

- $4.53 of Microsoft stock

- $3.72 of Amazon stock

- $3.39 of Google stock

+ 495 other companies

Investors that choose to invest in an S&P500 fund often make more money long term than investors that try to pick their own stocks.

5. The Lower Taxes Hack

Investors get special treatment.

For example.

Let’s say Mike is a single guy renting an apartment.

He doesn’t have any special tax write offs.

And works a regular 9-5 job making $65,000 per year.

Here’s how much money he’d pay in Federal Taxes in 2026 according to the IRS:

^{(IRS estimate)}

The IRS website shows:

$5,623 of the money Mike makes would go to pay his federal taxes.

Now let’s run another example.

This time, let’s say Mike isn’t working a regular 9-5 job.

Instead, he sells an investment inside his general investing account.

An investment he’s had for longer than a year and he makes $65,000 in profit.

If that was his only income, here’s how much money he’d pay in Federal Taxes in 2026 according to the IRS:

^{(IRS estimate)}

Hard to believe right?

This blew my mind the first time I saw it.

The Mike working 40 hour weeks making $65,000 in 2026 pays $5,623 in federal taxes.

And the Mike not working a 9-5 job that sells a long term investment in a general investing account making $65,000 in profit in 2026 pays $0 in federal taxes.

If you want to run your own examples, you can find the ​​IRS Tax Withholding Estimator here​​.

People making money from long term investments are often treated differently than people making money as an employee.

NOTE: With taxes it’s important to talk with a professional about your individual situation before selling investments.

6. The Invest Early Hack

Being young has perks.

Especially with investing.

For example.

Let’s say Mike at age 30 found a way to save $10 a day.

And at the end of every month he had an extra $300 saved.

And he decided to invest that $300 in an S&P500 fund.

If he did it for 30 years, here’s the math:

^(Estimate)

Now let’s say Mike did the exact same thing.

But waited until he was age 40.

If he did it for 20 years, here’s the math:

^(Estimate)

So, if Mike started investing at age 40.

The estimate shows he’d have:

- $217,196

But if Mike started investing at age 30.

The estimate shows he’d have:

- $623,787

A massive difference.

Investing earlier in life means your investments have more time to grow, but it’s never too late to get started.

NOTE: It’s important to remember these are just estimates, not guarantees.

7. The Invest 1st Hack

Paying yourself 1st can change everything.

Most people treat money like this:

1. They get their paycheck.

2. They pay their bills.

3. They invest if they have any money leftover.

The Invest 1st Hack says to change the order of these things.

To do it like this:

1. Money being invested is automatically deducted from the paycheck (just like taxes).

2. Receive the paycheck.

3. Pay the bills.

The Invest 1st Hack says to treat investing just like taxes.

To make it a mandatory thing.

Having your investment money come out of your paycheck automatically means you can’t spend what you can’t see.

The bottom line

Out of these 7 different money hacks.

The Invest 1st Hack was one of the biggest lessons I learned while working in banking.

To always have money that was going to be invested deducted from my paycheck 1st (just like paying taxes).

And then paying bills and learning to live on what’s left over.

It’s what I saw the part time millionaires do.

When I was younger, I tried to do it the other way around.

- Get the paycheck.

- Pay the bills.

- Try to invest any leftover money.

But the thing is, there rarely was any leftover money. I always managed to spend it somehow.

The Invest 1st Hack helps fix that.

Most employers allow the option to split up a paycheck between a checking account, a savings account or an investing account automatically.

(instead of just sending all of the money to a checking account)

So, if you’re near the beginning of your investing journey.

Give it a try.

Split up the paycheck between a few different accounts automatically.

And if you’ve already discovered this little hack (hopefully sooner than I did) and you’re investing. I hope you’re enjoying the 70%+ increase in the stock market’s value over the past 3 years.

That’s all for today.

See you next Saturday.

Whenever you’re ready, there are 3 ways I can help you:

1. ​The Guide:​ My 4-step money guide I’ve used to go from $80k in debt to $1M (it’s free).

2. ​The Playbook:​ The exact playbook I've used to get $30,000 when buying a house (it's free).

3. ​The Weekly Newsletter:​ Read 100+ past newsletter issues for practical tips and tools to beat debt and build wealth.

Disclaimer: All information provided is for educational purposes only and does not constitute investment, legal or tax advice, or an offer to buy or sell any security. Always do your research before making any financial or investment decision.

Privacy Policy​ ​Disclosure

Subscribe now

Knowing when to start investing can:

- Give you clarity.

- Give you confidence.

- Help motivate you to get started.

Unfortunately, investing can be an easy thing to put off.

The Timing

According to Fidelity Investments, common reasons people put off investing include:

- Waiting until they learn everything to feel confident.

- Waiting until they have more money to invest.

- Waiting for the exact right time to start.

There’s many reasons to delay investing.

Especially when you see things in the news like this:

Or this:

But the truth is.

Since both of those articles ran a year ago..

The stock market is up 20%+.

^{The Stock Market (past year)}

Like it was last week, I remember working in The Oaks Mall just outside of Los Angeles, California.

It was my early 20s.

And I was hired by AT&T to work as a cell phone salesman at a little phone cart inside the mall (10 years before I started working in finance).

It was a fun job in my 20s.

Spotting celebrities in the mall like Hulk Hogan, Will Smith and others was interesting.

It was also the year I started investing.

My manager pointed out using a retirement account like a 401k to invest was an employee perk worth considering.

After paying for food, my car payment and the tiny room I was renting inside someone else’s house..

There wasn’t much money left over.

Deciding to invest felt like a huge decision at the time.

And I didn’t know much about the stock market.

Or if it was even a good time to start.

So I read a few books on investing.

And learned the stock market has been going up 10% per year on average for the past 30 years.

And learned I didn’t need to pick individual stocks to buy, I could just buy an S&P500 fund instead which is made up of the top 500 largest companies in America (and most retirement accounts offer this).

So I ran a few experiments to help me decide if I should start investing in my 20s or start investing later in life when I was making more money.

And the results were shocking.

“The big money is not in the buying and selling (of stocks), but in the waiting.”

– Charlie Munger

The “Investor Age” Experiment

Deciding when to start investing can be hard.

Especially when money is tight.

Running little experiments like this helped motivate me to get started which eventually led to $1M of investments.

But before starting, I imagined if the stock market continued to grow 10% per year on average and I wanted to have exactly $1M of investments at age 60.

How much would I need to invest if starting:

- At age 20?

- At age 30?

- At age 40?

- At age 50?

Let’s dive in.

1. Starting at Age 20

Building $1M of investments from scratch meant:

- $180 invested per month.

- Into the S&P500.

- For 40 years.

And here’s the math:

^(Estimate)

Investing $180 per month into the S&P500 growing 10% per year on average for 40 years worked out to: $1,007,029

2. Starting at Age 30

Building $1M of investments from scratch meant:

- $485 invested per month.

- Into the S&P500.

- For 30 years.

And here’s the math:

^(Estimate)

Investing $485 per month into the S&P500 growing 10% per year on average for 30 years worked out to: $1,008,456

3. Starting at Age 40

Building $1M of investments from scratch meant:

- $1,385 invested per month.

- Into the S&P500.

- For 20 years.

And here’s the math:

^(Estimate)

Investing $1,385 per month into the S&P500 growing 10% per year on average for 20 years worked out to: $1,002,721

NOTE:

One big thing I noticed if starting at age 40:

There were only 20 years left to invest.

And with the stock market going up 10% per year on average over the last 30 years.

I realized I didn’t have a full 30 years to invest.

And might not average a 10% return per year (might make less money).

4. Starting at Age 50

Building $1M of investments from scratch meant:

- $4,965 invested per month.

- Into the S&P500.

- For 10 years.

And here’s the math:

^(Estimate)

Investing $4,965 per month into the S&P500 growing 10% per year on average for 10 years worked out to: $1,000,236

NOTE:

One big thing I also noticed if starting at age 50:

There were only 10 years left to invest.

And with the stock market going up 10% per year on average over the last 30 years.

I also realized I didn’t have a full 30 years to invest.

And might not average a 10% return per year (might make less money).

Plus, I might not feel comfortable putting all my money into the stock market if I had less than 10 years until retirement age.

The bottom line

Going from $0 to $1M in investments can feel impossible when starting from scratch.

It sure did to me in the beginning.

But running these little experiments gave me hope it was possible.

Although there’s no guarantees in life when it comes to investing.

I figured even if ending with half that amount at retirement ($500,000)..

It was better than nothing.

The 2 biggest things I learned while running these experiments in my early 20s were:

#1: The best time I could have started to invest was: My very first job in my teens.

#2: The second best time I could have started to invest was: Today. The day I realized just how dang important it is.

If you’re near the beginning or maybe the middle of your investing journey.

I hope sharing my little investing experiments are useful.

Here’s a link to the free compound interest calculator above if you want to run your own investing experiments:

​For Apple.​

​For Android.​

That’s all for today.

See you next Saturday.

Whenever you’re ready, there are 3 ways I can help you:

1. ​The Guide:​ My 4-step money guide I’ve used to go from $80k in debt to $1M (it’s free).

2. ​The Playbook:​ The exact playbook I've used to get $30,000 when buying a home (it's free).

3. ​The Weekly Newsletter:​ Read 100+ past newsletter issues for practical tips and tools to beat debt and build wealth.

Disclaimer: All information provided is for educational purposes only and does not constitute investment, legal or tax advice, or an offer to buy or sell any security. Always do your research before making any financial or investment decision.

Privacy Policy​ ​Disclosure

Subscribe now

Having a lower house payment can:

- Save you money.

- Make you money.

- Free up extra cash to invest.

Unfortunately, living costs keep rising.

The Numbers

Over the past 5 years, according to the U.S. Census Bureau:

- The average house payment has increased by 40%.

- The average rent payment has increased by 30%.

...which is a harsh reality.

And what if you want to make a change?

To go from renting a home to buying a home.

What would the monthly payment actually look like..

And what could you do to keep the payments as low as possible?

Here’s a monthly home loan payment estimate from Bankrate before taxes, insurance and other costs for a $417,700 30-year home loan:

^{(Bankrate estimate)}

When getting a loan to buy my first home, I thought a lot about 2 things.

1. How much money do I need to make it happen.

2. How do I make sure to have the lowest monthly payment possible.

After looking into it more.

I learned America has the most flexible home loan programs in the entire world.

Some loan programs don’t even require a down payment.

And other loan programs only require a small down payment.

And many programs offer a 30-year fixed rate home loan.

Things that are unheard of in many other parts of the world.

But I was worried if I put down a smaller down payment.

I’d have a larger monthly payment.

And going from paying rent every month to paying a mortgage every month is a big jump for most people.

The mortgage payment for a first time homebuyer can be $500 or $1,000+ more per month than a rent payment.

“More important than the will to win, is the will to prepare.”

– Charlie Munger

After learning my monthly payment would be a lot more.

I still wanted to become a homeowner.

But I needed to figure out a way to keep my monthly payment down.

To avoid spending everything I earned on a home.

And the only thing I could come up with at the time..

Was to buy a home with extra space I could rent out.

I noticed buying a 2 bedroom condo wasn’t much more expensive than buying a 1 bedroom.

So I took the plunge and got a loan to buy a tiny 2 bedroom condo as my starter home.

And rented out the 2nd bedroom to a friend.

Receiving rental income helped make going from renter to homeowner a little bit easier for me.

The “Lower House Payment” Checklist

Over the next decade, after getting loans to buy 6 more properties.

I learned more ways to lower the house payment when getting a loan to buy a home (besides having a renter).

Here’s 5 more ways to consider.

Let’s dive in.

1. The Location

Compare several neighborhoods.

Why?

Because location changes everything when shopping for a home.

Especially the price.

According to realtor (dot) com, homes in the suburbs are 23% less expensive than homes in the urban city core on average.

Choosing to buy a home 15 to 30 minutes from a bigger city can save you $100,000+ on the purchase of a home.

2. The Insurance

Shop several insurance companies.

Why?

Because buying a home means needing homeowner’s insurance.

And just like car insurance..

The price of homeowner’s insurance varies.

A $200 monthly homeowner’s insurance policy with one company.

May cost just $80 a month with another.

Spending an hour shopping for homeowner’s insurance on your new home can save you hundreds or thousands of dollars per year.

3. The Assumption

Ask if the seller’s mortgage loan is assumable.

Why?

Because if the person selling their home has an assumable mortgage.

It can a huge way to save money.

How?

Assuming a seller’s mortgage loan means:

The seller’s mortgage company takes the home loan out of the seller’s name.

And puts the home loan in the new homebuyer’s name.

But why would a homebuyer do this?

Because the seller of the home may have a lower interest rate on their loan (a lower rate than is available today).

For Example:

Let’s say James gets a home loan pre-approval to buy a home.

And he finds out the interest rate on his new home loan will be 6%.

And a month later he finds the perfect home.

After asking if the seller’s mortgage loan is assumable..

He finds out the seller has owned their home for 5 years, their home loan is assumable and the seller’s interest rate on their loan is only 3%!

If James decides to take over the seller’s home loan, the interest rate on his loan would be 3% instead of 6%.

Taking over the seller’s loan means James would have a lower monthly payment.

Not all home loans are assumable.

Here’s a few that are:

Here’s a few more things to know:

1. James must apply to take over the seller’s loan directly through the seller’s lender (the company that sends the seller their monthly home loan statements). And James must qualify to take over the monthly payment.

2. James will likely need to get a 2nd loan as well. Why? For example: If the seller agrees to sell James their home for $400,000 and the seller’s loan James is taking over is just $300,000- James needs to get a 2nd loan for the difference.

So..

If $400,000 is the sales price.

If $300,000 is the loan James is taking over.

James needs to come up with the difference of $100,000 as well.

James can use cash to cover the $100,000 if he has money saved, get a 2nd loan or do a combination of both things.

This many sound a bit confusing.

But the good news is..

James’s real estate agent will help him figure these things out if he finds a home with an assumable mortgage he wants to take over.

Assuming a home seller’s low interest rate mortgage loan can save you thousands of dollars in monthly home loan payments.

4. The Down Payment

Put down a bigger down payment.

When getting a loan to buy a home.

The larger the down payment a homebuyer has.

The lower their monthly home loan payment will be.

The most common places people find down payment money include:

- Checking/savings.

- Investment accounts.

- Gift funds from family.

- First time homebuyer programs (the average first time buyer program provides $18,000).

Putting down a larger down payment when buying a home (if possible) means you have a smaller mortgage loan and a smaller monthly payment.

5. The Interest Rate Hack

Consider buying down the interest rate.

What does this mean?

For Example:

If James’s decides not to assume the seller’s mortgage (mentioned earlier).

And wants a lower interest rate on his home loan then the 6% rate his lender offered.

He could tell his lender he wants to “buy down” his interest rate.

What does this mean exactly?

Buying down the interest rate means choosing to pay extra money up front to get a lower interest rate.

After James tells his loan officer he wants to “buy down” his interest rate.

The loan officer may give him a few options that look like this..

^(Example)

In this example, if James wants the lower 5.750% interest rate so he has a lower monthly home loan payment.

He would need to pay an extra $10,000 to his home loan lender when closing on his new home.

But what if James doesn’t have an extra $10,000 laying around (I sure didn’t when buying my first home).

The good news..

The $10,000 doesn’t have to be paid by James.

It can be paid by someone else, like the home seller.

James and his real estate agent could negotiate with the home seller by asking for a $10,000 credit.

And if the seller agrees, James could use that credit to get the lower interest rate without having to pay for it himself.

Choosing to buy down your interest rate can lower your monthly home loan payment (and someone else can pay for all or part of it on your behalf).

The bottom line

Going from having a rent payment to having a house payment can be scary.

Renting out part of my very first home helped give me the courage to take out my very first home loan.

I still remember feeling intimidated while signing the loan papers at the very end 20 or 30 times.

And wish I’d discovered these other ways to save money when buying a home much sooner.

If you see buying a home in your future.

Or maybe buying a rental property.

I hope these 5 ways to save money on a house payment are helpful on your journey.

That’s all for today.

See you next Saturday.

Whenever you’re ready, there are 3 ways I can help you:

1. ​The Guide:​ My 4-step money guide I’ve used to go from $80k in debt to $1M (it’s free).

2. ​The Playbook:​ The exact playbook I've used to get $30,000 when buying a home (it's free).

3. ​The Weekly Newsletter:​ Read 100+ past newsletter issues for practical tips and tools to beat debt and build wealth.

Disclaimer: All information provided is for educational purposes only and does not constitute investment, legal or tax advice, or an offer to buy or sell any security. Always do your research before making any financial or investment decision.

Privacy Policy​ ​Disclosure

Subscribe now

Becoming a 9-5 millionaire means:

- You have less bills.

- You have less stress.

- Fulltime work becomes optional sooner.

Unfortunately, many people find themselves working a 9-5 job their entire life.

The Numbers

Most schools in America teach:

- Nothing about money.

- Nothing about investing.

- Nothing about retirement.

So many people think working a 9-5 job for 40 years is the only option.

I thought that too in the beginning.

And seeing stats about “money needed to retire” while working a 9-5 job...

Can feel impossible to reach.

For example:

According to Fidelity investments, it’s suggested the average person have 10 times their annual income saved to retire:

In my early 20s, I thought a lot about becoming a millionaire.

(this feels cheesy to say)

But I didn’t know any millionaires.

And I had no clue how to actually become one.

Being raised in a lower income family meant I didn’t have much money and was starting from scratch.

So I went to Barnes and Noble to read books for free like:

- Rich Dad Poor Dad.

- Think and Grow Rich.

- The Millionaire Next Door.

But after reading them, I realized as a young person I didn’t want to:

- Start a business.

- Invent something new.

- Climb the corporate ladder.

I just wanted to find a good ol’ 9-5 job.

And use the money I earned to invest in the stock market, and figure out how to get loans to buy real estate.

It felt confusing and intimidating at first.

But I did my best to push past those fears as an introverted young guy that mostly got Bs and Cs in school.

By age 28 I found myself getting a loan to buy my 4th property.

And thought I was on my way to creating a freer life.

“Wealth is not about having a lot of money; it’s about having a lot of options.”

– Chris Rock

But soon after..

Life came crashing down.

I lost my job, didn’t work for 9 months and was $80k in debt between my credit cards and a car loan.

Things went wrong...fast!

I found myself in the middle of the GFC (great financial crisis).

The value of real estate dropped 30% to 40%.

My finances went from “looking good” to “a complete disaster”.

And I was contemplating filing for bankruptcy.

Eating a pint of Ben and Jerrys ice cream every night and gaining 20lbs became my coping mechanism as I hoped for a miracle.

It was a painful time.

Fortunately, that period passed.

And life took a new turn.

The 9-5 Millionaire

I finally got a new job working as a banker for Chase in Seattle, Washington.

And soon after realized I was making a lot of mistakes with my money.

Working in finance eventually helped me fix those mistakes.

And I met many “9-5 Millionaires”.

Just ordinary people...

- Teachers.

- Engineers.

- Accountants.

- And other people...

Who did just 5 things to build extra-ordinary wealth.

Things that also helped transform my finances.

Going from $80k in credit card and car loan debt at age 29, to $1M at age 36.

Here’s the 5 things I learned working in banking that changed everything.

Let’s dive in.

1. The Plan

Have a written plan (budget).

Why?

Because writing things down works better than trying to remember everything.

Knowing exactly how much money is coming in each month.

And how much money is going out each month.

Makes it easier to save money for other things.

If you don’t have a budget, you can ​access the free one I use here​.

Spending just 30 minutes a month on your money can change everything.

2. The Debts

Destroy your high interest rate debt.

Things like:

- Car loans.

- Credit cards.

- Personal loans.

Having a plan (budget) helps free up extra money which can be used to get rid of high interest rate debt like a big car payment.

Getting rid of high interest rate debt frees up more money for other things.

3. The Lifestyle

Live on less than you earn.

Having a plan and not spending everything means having money for things like:

- Saving.

- Investing.

- Leaving 9-5 life early.

This concept reminds me of the Marshmallow Test:

What the heck does this have to do with the Marshmallow Test?

Well..

Having the ability to delay gratification can lead to big rewards.

For example:

Choosing to save and invest first because you want the long term benefits of leaving 9-5 life early..

More than the short term benefits of buying something fancy today like a new watch or a new car.

Living on less than you earn means having more money to invest and build wealth.

4. The Investments

Save and invest every month.

Start small and do more as you make more:

I started with just $100 per paycheck.

But deciding what to invest in can be tough.

Lots of people debate:

Should I invest in stocks?

Should I invest in real estate?

It’s something I also thought a lot about.

Instead of picking just one, I decided to do both:

An S&P500 stock fund, which includes the top 500 largest companies in America (most employers offer this as an option inside a retirement account).

And learning how to get loans to buy real estate (most loan officers are free to talk to and many only get paid if they’re able to help you get a loan).

Starting small, investing more as you can, and keeping it simple helps you build wealth faster.

5. The Total Freedom

Think about the things you want and the things you don’t want to stay motivated.

Becoming a 9-5 millionaire and building a freer life means:

- Using a budget.

- Paying off debts.

- Living responsibly.

- Investing every month.

And to the average person..

These things are boring, boring, boring.

So to stay motivated, to actually do these things.

Here’s what worked for me..

#1: To imagine all of the places I was going to go after leaving 9-5 life early.

Going to Expedia (a travel website), and pretending I was booking a last minute flight to Europe, or a last minute cruise through the Caribbean, or a last minute vacation to New York City and imagining that trip helped keep me motivated with my money.

(these are things I eventually did after leaving my 9-5 job at age 39)

Another thing I found to be helpful was..

#2: To think about the things I didn’t want in life, like having to work a 9-5 job for 40 years.

And not having my health or the energy to travel and see different places.

The third thing that helped me stay motivated..

#3: To think about things I was going to do part time after leaving my 9-5 job to keep myself busy and still make money (like this little online business).

The truth is..

I like working.

I just don’t like having a boss, having to ask for time off, and having to work 40-50 hour weeks.

Thinking about the things you want and the things you don’t want in life can help motivate you to save, invest, and find freedom sooner (if you want it).

The bottom line

After going from $80k in debt to $1M.

And talking with thousands of people about their money while working at Chase.

There’s one big thing I’ve learned.

Something I wouldn’t have believed when I was $80k in debt and eating a pint of Ben and Jerry’s ice cream every night while stressing over my finances...

Life can change fast.

Although hitting rock-bottom feels terrible financially.

It can also be the greatest source of motivation.

To turn things around.

To light that fire within.

To save and invest monthly.

To become a 9-5 millionaire.

And to create a freer life.

That’s all for today.

See you next Saturday.

Whenever you’re ready, there are 3 ways I can help you:

1. ​The Guide:​ My 4-step money guide I’ve used to go from $80k in debt to $1M (it’s free).

2. ​The Playbook:​ The exact playbook I've used to get $30,000 when buying a home (it's free).

3. ​The Weekly Newsletter:​ Read 100+ past newsletter issues for practical tips and tools to beat debt and build wealth.

Disclaimer: All information provided is for educational purposes only and does not constitute investment, legal or tax advice, or an offer to buy or sell any security. Always do your research before making any financial or investment decision.

Privacy Policy​ ​Disclosure

Subscribe now

Finding ways to make extra money can:

- Help you invest.

- Help you buy a home.

- Help you leave 9-5 life early.

Unfortunately, the cost of living keeps spiking up.

The Prices

Since 2020, according to the U.S. government:

- Rent prices are up 30%.

- Used car prices are up 31%.

- Coffee prices have doubled.

Finding ways to make extra money is necessary for survival.

In 2019, I remember sitting in my cubicle at work.

Looking out across the brightly lit office I could see 20 more cubicles full of people.

People working hard to provide for their family.

People in their 20s.

People in their 30s or 40s.

And a few in their 50s.

At the time, I felt grateful to have what some people would call a “good job” working for a bank.

Helping people figure out their money.

Heck..working there helped me figure out my money too.

But I couldn’t imagine sitting in a cubicle for 20 more years.

I felt like I was missing out on life.

That I was living the same day over and over again.

That I would have regrets if I didn’t make a change sooner than later.

So I became obsessed with figuring out how to leave 9-5 life early.

“If you don’t find a way to make money while you sleep, you will work until you die.”

– Warren Buffett

The More Money Checklist

Finding ways to make more money was something I couldn’t stop thinking about.

Because making more money means:

- Having more money to invest.

And having more money to invest means:

- Having the option to leave 9-5 life early.

So over the 10 years I worked in banking, I created a list of ways to make more money (by $100s or $1,000s per month).

Ways I’d often think about.

Ways I learned on my own and ways I learned by watching other people manage their money.

Here are my 20 favorite ways.

Let’s dive in.

1. The Work Raise

Ask for a raise & explain why you deserve it.

Getting a raise can make you thousands of dollars in extra monthly income.

2. The New Roommate

Rent out a bedroom in your home (if available).

Choosing to have a roommate can increase your monthly cash flow by $500+.

3. The Work Promotion

Work closely with your boss to get a promotion.

Earning a promotion can make you hundreds or thousands of dollars more per month.

4. The Spare Parking

Rent out a parking space you’re not using (if available).

Renting out an unused parking space can earn you hundreds or thousands each year.

5. The Rental Increase

Increase the monthly rent if you own a rental property.

Raising rent can boost your cash flow by $500 to $1,000+ per year.

6. The Yard Rent

Rent out space in your yard (if you have a yard) to an RV owner.

Renting out unused space can earn you hundreds of dollars per month.

7. The Company Switch

Work for a different company for better pay (if it’s worth making the switch).

Changing jobs can be tough but can boost your income by thousands of dollars.

8. The Auto Insurance

Update your auto insurance company to lower the cost (if it makes sense).

Shopping auto insurance rates and making a change can save you hundreds of dollars per year.

9. The Rental Refinance

Refinance your rental property home loan if you have one and it makes sense (talk to a CPA 1st).

Re-doing the loan on a rental property may save you hundreds or thousands in interest payments.

10. The Debt Payoff

Eliminate debt early (if possible) to get rid of the monthly payment.

Paying off debt early can free up hundreds or thousands of dollars every month.

11. The Solar Panels

Consider getting solar if you own a home and you live in a sunny state.

Getting solar can save you thousands of dollars per year in energy costs.

12. The Car Refinance

Refinance your car loan if you have one to lower the monthly payment if it makes sense.

Re-doing your car loan can save you hundreds or thousands in interest payments.

13. The Car Sale

Consider not having a car if you live in a walkable city. You’ll no longer have car insurance payments either.

Living in a walkable city can save you thousands of dollars every year.

14. The Home Refinance

Refinance your home loan if you have one to lower the monthly payment if it makes sense.

Re-doing a home loan may save you hundreds or thousands in interest payments.

15. The Car Swap

Sell your car if making monthly payments and get something less expensive if it makes sense.

Opting for a less fancy car can save you hundreds in monthly car payments.

16. The Student Loan

Refinance your student loan (if you have one) to lower the monthly payment if it makes sense.

Re-doing a student loan can save you hundreds or thousands in interest payments.

17. The Student Perks

See if your job participates in secure act 2.0 and helps pay your student loans (if you have them).

Using employer student loan benefits if available can save you hundreds or thousands of dollars per year.

18. The Homeowner’s Insurance

Change your homeowner’s insurance company if you own a home to lower the cost if it makes sense.

Shopping homeowner’s insurance rates and making a change can save you hundreds of dollars per year.

19. The Health Insurance

If married, review the cost of both spouses health insurance plans. Making a change may save money (works for single people too).

Comparing health insurance plans and making a changes can save you hundreds or thousands of dollars per year.

20. The Side Hustle

Start a side business doing something you enjoy like: consulting, graphic design, personal training, etc.

Sharing your knowledge or skills on the side can earn you hundreds or thousands of dollars per month.

The bottom line

In a world where the cost of things keep going up.

I’ve also found it useful to have a list of ways to keep making money.

Finding ways to make more money can help you:

- Save for your kids education.

- Buy a home or a rental property (if you want one).

- Plan to leave 9-5 life early (if you want to do your own thing).

I hope exploring this little list of ways helps you reach your money goals faster.

Thanks for taking the time to read it.

That’s all for today.

See you next Saturday.

Whenever you’re ready, there are 3 ways I can help you:

1. ​The Guide:​ My 4-step money guide I’ve used to go from $80k in debt to $1M (it’s free).

2. ​The Playbook:​ The exact playbook I've used to get $30,000 when buying a home (it's free).

3. ​The Weekly Newsletter:​ Read 100+ past newsletter issues for practical tips and tools to beat debt and build wealth.

Disclaimer: All information provided is for educational purposes only and does not constitute investment, legal or tax advice, or an offer to buy or sell any security. Always do your research before making any financial or investment decision.

Privacy Policy​ ​Disclosure

Subscribe now

Learning how to buy an affordable home can:

- Save you money.

- Make you money.

- Help you build generational wealth.

Unfortunately, many people have given up on homebuying.

The Problem

Over the past 5 years, according to the United States Federal Reserve:

- Home prices are up 22%.

- Insurance prices are up 30%.

And home loan interest rates have doubled.

A harsh reality for hopeful homebuyers.

Leaving many people to wonder..

Will I ever be able to afford a home?

^{(The history of home prices)}

Buying my first home was a scary thing.

But after years of renting and having up to 5 roommates.

I decided it was time to see if I could get a loan to buy my first home.

It was exciting.

And stressful.

Things went faster than expected.

And a few months later I found myself owning a tiny condo near Seattle, Washington without having to come up with much money (around $1,500 bucks total).

My friend moved in and rented out the 2nd bedroom.

So I didn’t have to pay the entire monthly payment all by myself.

Over the next two years that tiny condo went up $100,000 in value.

I was shocked.

And quickly found myself obsessed with real estate over the next decade:

- Getting loans to buy 6 more properties.

- Working at a bank helping other people get loans.

- Teaching over 40 first time homebuyer seminars for the bank.

“Buy land, they aren’t making it anymore.”

– Mark Twain

But my homebuying journey wasn’t always easy.

I’ve made lots of mistakes along the way.

Mistakes I wish I knew how to avoid.

After leaving my banking job.

And starting this little online education business.

Many people have asked how I’d go about buying an affordable home today (without much money).

So here’s exactly what I’d do starting from scratch.

The Affordable Home Framework

Two things I like to obsess over when buying a home include:

1. How to spend the least about of money.

2. How to have the lowest monthly payment.

Here’s the 5 steps I’ve learned to follow to help achieve these things.

Let’s dive in.

1. The Payment Hack

According to the National Association of Realtors.

91% of first time homebuyers get a loan to buy a home.

But how the heck do you make sure the monthly loan payment is something you can actually afford?

I’ve learned the property type makes a huge difference.

The Condo

Many first time buyers choose to buy a tiny condo in a big building.

It’s exactly where I started.

But buying a 2 bedroom condo can have lower monthly costs than buying just a 1 bedroom condo.

Let me explain..

A 1 bedroom condo often means making the entire monthly loan payment all by yourself (unless you have a significant other).

A 2 bedroom condo allows for rental income (if you don’t mind renting out the 2nd bedroom).

Buying a 2 bedroom condo and renting out the 2nd bedroom often results in having lower monthly costs than buying a 1 bedroom condo and making the entire monthly payment all by yourself.

It’s worth it to run the numbers and compare both options.

But what if you don’t want to have a roommate?

The House

Certain types of houses also allow for rental income to help lower your monthly costs (without having to share a kitchen or a bathroom with a roommate).

For example, a house with:

- A small livable unit in the backyard.

- A mother-in-law unit upstairs with a separate entrance.

- A garage converted into a living space with its own entrance.

Finding houses like this take a bit more work.

But can be a huge money-saver.

Choosing a property type that allows for rental income can lower your monthly costs by 25% to 40%.

2. The Homebuyer Money

Most people think they need to save lots of money all by themself to buy a home.

I also thought this at first.

But I eventually learned you can get $10,000 or $20,000 or even $30,000 to help you buy a home.

And the money can come from many different places like:

- The Program: Many first time homebuyer programs offer up to $18,000 on average to first time buyers.

- The Seller: A home seller can help pay part of your homebuyer costs.

- The Lender: A home lender can offer homebuyer credits that help cover part of your homebuyer costs.

- The Agent: A real estate agent helping you buy your home can offer part of their commission to help cover part of your homebuyer costs (if they agree).

To see exactly how this works you can find ​my free homebuyer money playbook here​.

Having a plan to get homebuyer money can save you thousands of dollars and help you buy a home sooner.

TIP: Consider the property type you want to buy and the homebuyer money you plan to get before doing your home loan pre-approval.

3. The Pre-Approval

Do your home loan pre-approval with at least 2 different lenders.

Make sure each lender knows you’re “shopping around”.

Letting them know you’re “shopping around” means they’re more likely to offer you better deals like a lower interest rate to win your business.

It’s also important to share with your lender any homebuyer money you’re planning to get.

Because getting $10,000 or $20,000 or $30,000 in homebuyer money makes a massive difference when your lender is figuring out how much of a home loan you may qualify for.

Any homebuyer money you get can also be used to “buy down your interest rate”.

Which means having a lower interest rate (and having a lower monthly payment).

After reviewing your information, the lender will give you a home loan pre-approval that looks something like this:

^{(Example pre-approval)}
Getting a home loan pre-approval with at least 2 different lenders and sharing your plans to get homebuyer money can help you get a better deal on a home loan.

4. The “What If Game”

Sometimes home loan pre-approvals come back just right.

For example:

- You asked for a $400,000 home loan pre-approval.

- And you got a $400,000 home loan pre-approval.

And other times, they don’t:

- Maybe you asked for a $400,000 home loan pre-approval.

- And you just got a $300,000 home loan pre-approval.

When a pre-approval don’t come back as expected.

One thing you can do is to play the “what if game”.

It’s a game I’ve played many times.

And it often looks like this..

Asking your lender different questions like:

- What if I paid off my car early?

- What if I paid off my credit card?

- What if I took a better paying job?

- What if I add a relative to my loan?

- What if I refinance my student loans?

Playing the “what if game” with your lender can help you identify a path to get the home loan pre-approval that you want.

5. The “Re-Approval”

After reviewing your options and making changes to your finances.

Maybe it takes a few days.

Maybe it takes a few months.

You can ask your lender to “re-approve” your home loan based on the changes you’ve made.

A helpful thing to know about home loan lenders is:

Many of them work on commission.

(I used to be one of them!)

Many home loan lenders only get paid when you get a home loan.

Which means many of them are happy to help you figure things out.

Even if it takes a few days, a few weeks or a few months.

Working closely with a home loan lender can help you figure out how to buy a home sooner.

The bottom line

Homebuying can be a confusing thing.

Especially the first time.

I’ve sure made my fair share of mistakes.

Things like:

- Not exploring how to get homebuyer money.

- Not getting a home loan pre-approval from 2 different lenders.

- Not playing the “what if” game to help increase my home loan pre-approval amount.

Things I’ve slowly figured out after working in banking and getting a loan to buy that first tiny condo.

I hope sharing what I’ve learned helps save you time and money if you ever decide to buy a home now or sometime in the future.

That’s all for today.

See you next Saturday.

Whenever you’re ready, there are 3 ways I can help you:

1. ​The Guide:​ My 4-step money guide I’ve used to go from $80k in debt to $1M (it’s free).

2. ​The Playbook:​ The exact playbook I've used to get $30,000 when buying a home (it's free).

3. ​The Weekly Newsletter:​ Read 100+ past newsletter issues for practical tips and tools to beat debt and build wealth.

Disclaimer: All information provided is for educational purposes only and does not constitute investment, legal or tax advice, or an offer to buy or sell any security. Always do your research before making any financial or investment decision.

Privacy Policy​ ​Disclosure

Subscribe now

Learning how to invest can:

- Lower your stress.

- Boost your savings.

- Offer you a freer life.

Unfortunately, investing can be a confusing thing.

The Math

Making sense of investing terms like:

- Stockholders equity.

- Compound interest.

- Rate of inflation.

...can scare the heck out of any new investor.

It did to me at first.

Which can also lead to not investing.

But that means missing out on stock market growth:

^{(40 years of the stock market)}

Like it was last month, I remember starting my first investment account.

I didn’t know much.

And didn’t have much money to invest.

But after learning the stock market has been going up 11% per year on average the past 40 years...

I didn’t want to miss out.

So to figure out how much I wanted to start investing..

I imagined I was starting from scratch 40 years ago to see how much money I’d have today if I’d invested in the S&P500 (which is the 500 largest companies in America).

Running a few experiments on an investing calculator.

Excited the heck out of me to get going.

Here’s the 3 experiments:

1. The $5 Experiment

Saving $5 per day meant:

- $150 invested per month.

- Into the S&P500.

- The last 40yrs.

And it looked like this:

Investing $150 per month ($5 per day) into the S&P500 the last 40 years = $1,108,693

2. The $10 Experiment

Saving $10 per day meant:

- $300 invested per month.

- Into the S&P500.

- The last 40yrs.

And it looked like this:

Investing $300 per month ($10 per day) into the S&P500 the last 40 years = $2,217,386

3. The $20 Experiment

Saving $20 per day meant:

- $600 invested per month.

- Into the S&P500.

- The last 40yrs.

And it looked like this:

Investing $600 per month ($20 per day) into the S&P500 the last 40 years = $4,434,772

“All the benefits in life come from compound interest (money, learning, relationships).”

— Naval Ravikant

The 5 Steps To Investing

It’s easy to complicate investing.

Here’s 5 simple steps to start building wealth on autopilot.

Let’s dive in.

1. The Brokerage

Choose a stock brokerage company.

Popular choices include:

- Charles Schwab.

- Vanguard.

- Fidelity.

Fidelity is one of my oldest investing accounts.

Pick a reputable stock brokerage company to start investing.

2. The Account Type

Open an investing account with your new stock broker.

Popular Retirement Accounts include:

- The Traditional IRA.

- The Roth IRA.

And a popular non-retirement account includes:

- The General Investing Account (sometimes called a taxable brokerage account).

I like to think of a general investing account as “before retirement age” money.

Which means money that’s available to spend in the 20s, 30s, 40s, and 50s.

And I like to think of retirement accounts as “retirement age” money.

Which means money meant to be spent in the 60s, 70s, 80s+.

Each account takes 5-10 minutes to open online.

Having retirement accounts plus a general investing account can help you build wealth faster.

3. The Investing Order

Contribute your money in order.

My favorite step-by-step playbook to follow:

1. Contribute to the retirement account at work up to the company match (if offered).

2. Contribute to the Roth/Traditional IRA (up to $7,500 which is the max in 2026).

3. Contribute more to the retirement account at work (maxing it out if possible).

4. Contribute to the general investing account (aka: early retirement money).

Using different accounts gives you more flexibility in retirement (and the possibility of leaving 9-5 life early).

4. The Simple Strategy

Have an easy investing strategy.

Picking 1, 2, or 3 low cost stock ETF’s makes investing easy.

Just 1 stock ETF can include hundreds of individual stocks.

(I prefer an S&P500 ETF like VOO which includes 500 of the largest companies in America)

Vanguard has a helpful guide explaining ETFs:

After picking your ETFs.

Automate everything.

For example:

On payday, have money automatically go into:

- Your Retirement Accounts.

- Your General Investing Account.

Using Stock ETF’s and automatic investing helps you stay on track every month without having to lift a finger.

5. The Compounding Machine

Patience pays in the long run.

“Compound interest is the 8th wonder of the world.” — Albert Einstein

The bottom line

Investing can be dang confusing.

There’s so many options.

Fear of doing the wrong thing, can lead to doing nothing at all.

But doing nothing at all, can lead to working an entire lifetime.

Always having a boss.

Always having short vacations.

Always having to live the 9-5 life.

When I first started investing, I only had $100 to spare each paycheck.

It didn’t feel worth it.

And I struggled to pay off $80k in debt near the beginning of my journey.

But staying consistent paid off.

And I was able to invest more over time.

Which eventually turned into $1M of investments at age 36.

If you’re near the beginning of your investing journey.

Or maybe you’ve hit your first $10,000.

Or maybe you’ve hit your first $100,000.

I’m rooting for you.

That’s all for today.

See you next Saturday.

Whenever you’re ready, there are 3 ways I can help you:

1. ​The Guide:​ My 4-step money guide I’ve used to go from $80k in debt to $1M (it’s free).

2. ​The Playbook:​ The exact playbook I've used to get $30,000 when buying a home (it's free).

3. ​The Weekly Newsletter:​ Read 100+ past newsletter issues for practical tips and tools to beat debt and build wealth.

Disclaimer: All information provided is for educational purposes only and does not constitute investment, legal or tax advice, or an offer to buy or sell any security. Always do your research before making any financial or investment decision.

Privacy Policy​ ​Disclosure

Subscribe now

Avoiding money mistakes can:

- Save you money.

- Make you money.

- Help you leave 9-5 life early.

Unfortunately, most schools teach nothing about money.

The Harsh Truth

According to Ramsey Solutions:

- 51% of Americans live paycheck to paycheck.

- 32% of Americans have $0 saved for retirement.

- 37% of Americans can’t cover a $400 emergency expense.

Pretty depressing.

Having a shortage of money and stressing over bills is dang painful.

So how the heck do you avoid becoming one of these statistics?

A week before my 30th birthday, I was unemployed and $80k in debt.

I owed $30k on a car.

$50k on my credit cards.

And hadn’t worked in 9 months.

I was living in a tiny 337 square foot studio in Seattle, Washington.

And found myself wondering how the heck I messed up my finances so bad.

Paying the bills each month was stressful.

Trying to figure out a path forward without destroying my credit score was always on my mind.

But everything changed after a friend helped me get a job in finance.

And I found myself talking with self made millionaires everyday.

“Become a millionaire not for the million dollars, but for what it will make of you to achieve it.”

— Jim Rohn

7 Big Money Mistakes

Spending time around self made millionaires in my banking job helped me realize I was making a lot of money mistakes.

And helped me fix them, going from $80k in debt to $1M.

Here’s a few of the biggest money mistakes I made (and how to avoid them).

Let’s dive in.

1. The Car Trap

According to Nerdwallet, the average monthly payment for a new car is $767.

Add the average insurance payment for a new car which is $200.

And that’s a $976 monthly payment.

($767 new car payment + $200 monthly insurance payment = $976 total)

Yikes.

Luckily, the average modern car lasts around 12 years according to Progressive Insurance.

Keeping a car long term instead of upgrading every few years means you have more money to save and invest.

Bonus Tip: It’s easier to get a loan to buy a home as well when you don’t have a car payment.

2. The Budget Trap

Surveys show around 83% of millennials report they use a monthly budget.

But only 25% stick to it.

Why?

Because most people’s budget lives in their head.

Not on paper.

Writing things down makes a drastic difference.

Having a written budget and reviewing it just 30 minutes per month can completely transform your finances for the better.

3. The Savings Trap

No savings can be painful.

Especially when unexpected things happen like:

- The car needs a new tire because of an unexpected nail.

- The dog has an infection and the vet wants to pull 5 teeth.

- A quick visit to the doctor turns into some expensive lab tests.

Having an extra stash of money in a savings account helps bring more peace of mind.

Bonus Tip: Having your savings account at a different bank than your main checking account helps remove the temptation to spend that money.

4. The Investing Trap

According to the Schwab Modern Wealth Survey, around 58% of Americans invest.

^{(Schwab Modern Wealth Survey)}

But most people only invest using a retirement account.

And retirement accounts have many rules like:

- How much you can invest.

- When you can access your money without a penalty.

Only investing in a retirement account often means:

Waiting until your 60s to leave 9-5 life, when you can also access social security.

But what if you don’t want to leave 9-5 life in your 60s?

What if you want to leave 9-5 life in your 50s, 40s, or even your 30s?

The Brokerage Account

Brokerage accounts offer more flexibility than a retirement account.

Sometimes they’re called a “general investing account”.

And they don’t have any restrictions.

Here’s the biggest perk per Fidelity Investments:

Investing in a retirement account plus a brokerage account means having access to investments penalty free before retirement age.

Personal Note: Using both a retirement account and a brokerage account helped me leave 9-5 life early.

5. The Best Life Trap

A big raise or a big promotion is a great time to celebrate.

Maybe a nicer car.

Maybe some nicer clothes.

Heck, maybe a nicer apartment or even a house.

But according to Yahoo Finance, always inflating these things with every raise is why 40% of people making $500k+ per year still live paycheck to paycheck.

The lesson?

Save and invest more money with each raise 1st, than celebrate your wins 2nd.

6. The Minimums Trap

The average credit card interest rate is around 23%.

Shocking right?

But the more shocking part is what happens if just making the minimum monthly payment.

For example:

If Dave has a $12,000 balance on his credit card.

And he makes the minimum monthly payment.

He’d pay over $27,000.

More than double his $12,000 balance before the card is paid off:

^(Example)

Most credit card bills have a little section like this showing how much you’d pay in total if just making the minimum monthly payments.

Paying more than the minimum on a credit card can save you hundreds or thousands of dollars in interest charges.

7. The More Money Trap

Making more money sure can make life easier.

And often means:

- Buying better food.

- Taking more vacations.

- Helping out a family member in need.

But more money doesn’t fix everything.

Warren Buffett says it best..

“Do not save what is left after spending, but spend what is left after saving.”
— Famous Investor Warren Buffett

The bottom line

When most people think of millionaires.

They think of people who:

- Won the lottery.

- Started a business.

- Invented something cool.

And those are the types of people I thought I’d be helping when I started working as a banker at Chase.

But 10 years later, after leaving my banking job.

I realized most self made millionaires were:

- Teachers.

- Managers.

- Engineers.

- Accountants.

- Etc...

Just everyday people.

People who chose to treat their money a little bit different.

People who decided they wanted a comfortable retirement.

People who wanted to leave 9-5 life early.

So they made a few tweaks to their money habits.

Things anyone can do.

Things so worth doing.

Especially if you want to create a freer life to do more of what you want, and less of what you don’t want.

That’s all for today.

See you next Saturday.

Whenever you’re ready, there are 3 ways I can help you:

1. ​The Guide:​ My 4-step money guide I’ve used to go from $80k in debt to $1M (it’s free).

2. ​The Playbook:​ The exact playbook I've used to get $30,000 when buying a home (it's free).

3. ​The Weekly Newsletter:​ Read 100+ past newsletter issues for practical tips and tools to beat debt and build wealth.

Disclaimer: All information provided is for educational purposes only and does not constitute investment, legal or tax advice, or an offer to buy or sell any security. Always do your research before making any financial or investment decision.

Privacy Policy​ ​Disclosure

Subscribe now

Coming up with down payment money can:

- Help you get a loan.

- Help you buy a home.

- Help you become a homeowner sooner.

Unfortunately, saving up a down payment can be hard.

The Struggle

According to the National Association of Realtors.

91% of first time homebuyers get a loan to buy a home.

But a home loan doesn’t cover everything.

Having money for other things like:

- Your home inspection.

- Your home appraisal.

- Your closing costs.

...is also a necessary part of buying a home.

Luckily, there’s many ways to come up with homebuyer money.

Ways you may not have considered.

“82% of Americans say owning a home is (still) part of the American Dream.”

— Bankrate Study

A few years into my banking career, I remember helping this interesting guy.

He wanted to buy his first home.

And was super motivated to figure out how.

For privacy, let’s call him James.

He was in his 30s.

And worked as a paralegal.

James wanted to stop paying rent.

And figure out a way to buy his first home.

Something that was 100% his.

Something he could make changes to if he wanted.

Something that would help him build long term wealth.

But James didn’t know if he’d be able to get a home loan.

And didn’t have much homebuyer money saved.

“The typical down payment for first-time buyers has ranged from 6% to 9%.”

— National Association of Realtors

Down Payment Hacks

Luckily, not all home loans require a large down payment when buying a home.

But putting more money down when getting a loan and buying a home also means having a lower monthly payment.

Here’s 5 ways to come up with more homebuyer money.

Let’s dive in.

1. The Programs

According to Bankrate, only 1 in 10 people use first time homebuyer programs.

(because they don’t know they exist)

These programs can help with your down payment and other homebuying costs.

And there’s currently over 2,000+ programs.

Many of them can be found at this website:

^{(Fannie Mae search tool)}

Fannie Mae works directly with the U.S. Government to make homebuying more affordable.

Most first time homebuyer programs offer an average benefit of $18,000.

2. The Retirement

Retirement accounts are another way to access homebuyer money.

According to Fidelity Investments, you can generally borrow up to 50% of the available money in a 401k retirement account to help buy a home.

Retirement account loans are repaid with interest through automatic payroll deductions.

And the interest you pay goes back into your own account.

Not all retirement accounts at work allow loans, and using a 401k loan removes invested money from the market which means you could miss out on future investment growth.

So it’s important to review your retirement plan rules and weigh the pros and cons before taking out a loan.

Many retirement accounts at work and Individual Retirement Accounts (IRAs) offer ways to access money to help buy your first home.

3. The Gift Funds

Gift funds are another way to access down payment money (if it’s an option).

For example:

Jessica wants to buy her first home.

She doesn’t have a lot of money saved up so her dad decides to help.

He offers to give Jessica $20,000 to put towards her down payment.

Most home loan lenders would require Jessica’s dad to write a letter stating the money is a gift that Jessica does not need to pay back.

According to the National Association of Realtors, 20% to 25% of first time homebuyers use gift funds to help them buy a home.

4. The Relative Sale

Family selling to family often means not needing a down payment (if it’s an option).

For example:

If Jessica’s dad owned a home worth $400,000.

And he decided to sell the home to Jessica for $380,000.

He’s giving her a $20,000 discount.

Most home loan lenders will consider that $20,000 discount Jessica’s down payment.

The discount Jessica gets from her dad on the property he’s selling her is called a “gift of equity”.

It’s a good idea to talk with a CPA first before doing something like this.

Family selling to family sometimes means the homebuyer does not need to come up with any down payment money because they are receiving a “gift of equity” instead.

5. The One-Offs

There’s several other down payment hacks to help come up with more homebuyer money.

Things like:

1. Adding a relative as a co-borrower when getting your home loan pre-approval. As a co-borrower and co-owner of your home, that relative may be willing to help you with down payment money.

2. Selling a paid off car and buying a cheaper car. Then using any saved money to help buy a home.

3. Selling gold, guns, jewelry, recreational vehicles or other collectibles. Then using any saved money to help buy a home.

One-off tactics can be a quick way to help raise more homebuying money.

The bottom line

After James applied for his home loan pre-approval.

And got the results back.

He realized he needed to pay down a few debts.

And come up with more homebuyer money to get the home loan that he wanted.

So he took a few months to pay down some debt.

Got a $10,000 credit from a first time homebuyer program.

And decided to take a small loan from his retirement account to help him buy his first home.

A few months later James moved into his new home, a neat little 2 story condo not too far from his work.

Eventually James paid off the retirement loan he took out to help him buy the home.

A few years later I saw James again.

He wanted to get another home loan to buy a house.

And decided to keep the first condo he bought and rent it out.

He figured having a renter slowly pay off his loan on the condo would be a good decision.

So he’d have more money in retirement or could help him retire early.

Coming up with money to buy your first home is often the hardest part for most people (it was for me too).

I hope these 5 ways to come up with homebuyer money is useful.

You can find more ways in my ​free homebuyer playbook here​.

That’s all for today.

See you next Saturday.

Whenever you’re ready, there are 3 ways I can help you:

1. ​The Guide:​ My 4-step money guide I’ve used to go from $80k in debt to $1M in investments (it’s free).

2. ​The Playbook:​ The playbook I've used to get $30,000 when buying a home with an example (it's free).

3. ​The Weekly Newsletter:​ Read 100+ past newsletter issues for practical tips and tools to beat debt and build wealth.

Disclaimer: All information provided is for educational purposes only and does not constitute investment, legal or tax advice, or an offer to buy or sell any security. Always do your research before making any financial or investment decision.

Privacy Policy​ ​Disclosure

Subscribe now

Stock funds can:

- Simplify investing.

- Make investing easier.

- Help you build wealth on autopilot.

Unfortunately, there’s over 10,000 stock funds to choose from.

The Options

According to an article in Yahoo Finance.

Top reasons people don’t invest is because they:

- Don’t have enough time.

- Don’t know how to invest.

- Don’t have enough money.

Fortunately, many stocks funds only require $5 to start investing.

And don’t require much time or fancy investing skills.

“Just VOO and chill.”

— A popular saying among stock fund investors.

Like it was last month, I remember getting my first job in finance.

I was hired to work as a banker in Downtown Seattle.

The bank branch was next to a Starbucks.

And there was a 5-story mall on the same block.

It was a busy place to work.

And 10+ years later.

I still remember one of my first customers.

He looked like an average, nicely dressed guy in his 40s.

And said he received a wire transfer of money into his checking account.

And was trying to decide what to do with the money.

It took me a few minutes to pull up his account.

It was my first month as a banker.

And I was still figuring everything out.

But what I saw next was shocking..

Something I wasn’t expecting to see.

This guy had $1M sitting in his checking account.

A little over $1M to be exact.

Something like $1,045,000.

The $1M Checking Account

This was the first time I ever saw $1M in a checking account.

I found my mind racing...

What the heck would I do with $1M in my checking account?

I’d surely pay off the $80k in debt I was struggling with at the time.

I’d surely invest a large chunk of the money.

Hell, I probably would have quit my 9-5 job that week.

Over the next month I found myself thinking a lot about that $1M.

All of the different ways it could be invested.

All of the different types of investments.

How to make the money last as long as possible.

After working in banking for many years.

And finally getting rid of my debts.

And focusing hard on investing.

I became a big fan of stock funds.

“The goal of non-professionals shouldn’t be to pick winners, rather to own businesses bound to do well, a low-cost S&P500 (stock) fund will achieve this goal.”

— Investor Warren Buffett

The Stock Fund

Here’s 7 stock funds worth knowing.

And how each has grown over the past few decades.

Let’s dive in.

1. The S&P500: VOO

This is one of the largest stock funds.

It tracks the 500 largest companies in the U.S.

And an S&P500 stock fund is what legendary investor Warren Buffett suggests for most non-professional investors.

Fund history:

Best Year: +32% (2013)

Worst Year: -18% (2022)

10 Year Average: +14%

^{(The history)}

Many stock funds like VOO allow people to start investing with just $5.

Instead of buying a whole share of stock.

S&P500 stock funds include the 500 largest companies in America.

2. The Total US Stock Market: VTI

This stock fund tracks the entire U.S. stock market.

Instead of just tracking certain types of companies.

It tracks everything.

Thousands of stocks.

Fund history:

Best Year: +31% (2013)

Worst Year: -38% (2008)

10 Year Average: +13%

^{(The history)}

Total stock market funds include the entire American stock market.

3. The Invesco QQQ Trust: QQQ

This stock fund tracks the Nasdaq 100 index.

Which is 100 of the top (non financial) U.S. companies.

It’s heavily focused on technology and innovation companies.

Companies like:

- Apple

- Nvidia

- Microsoft

Fund history:

Best Year: +78% (1999)

Worst Year: -41% (2008)

10 Year Average: +19%

^{(The history)}

Stock market funds that track the Nasdaq 100 index include 100 top technology and innovation companies in America.

4. The Small Cap Value: VBR

This stock fund tracks 800-900 smaller US companies.

Companies expected to grow.

Fund history:

Best Year: +36% (2013)

Worst Year: -32% (2008)

10 Year Average: +10%

^{(The history)}

Small cap value stock funds include smaller American companies expected to grow over time.

5. The Growth Stocks: VUG

This stock fund tracks over 400 large U.S. companies.

Many companies are technology or internet-related and expected to continue growing.

Companies like:

- Apple

- Nvidia

- Google

- Amazon

- Microsoft

Fund history:

Best Year: +46% (2023)

Worst Year: -38% (2008)

10 Year Average: +17%

^{(The history)}

Growth stock funds include large American companies with high growth potential.

6. The Tech Stocks: VGT

This stock fund tracks software, hardware, & other internet technology.

It includes large, medium, and small technology companies.

Over the past 10 years, it’s the top performer on this list.

Fund history:

Best Year: +61% (2009)

Worst Year: -43% (2008)

10 Year Average: +21%

^{(The history)}

Technology stock funds include large, medium, and small American companies focused on information technology.

7. The Total World Market: VT

This stock fund tracks over 9,000 large, medium, and small companies around the world.

60% of the companies are in the U.S.

And 40% of the companies are outside the U.S.

Fund history:

Best Year: +32% (2009)

Worst Year: -33% (2008)

10 Year Average: +11%

^{(The history)}

Total world stock funds include large, medium, and small companies all around the world.

The bottom line

Two months later I saw the customer with the $1M in his checking account again.

He told me more about how he got the money.

That it came from the sale of a piece of property he bought a long time ago with a loan.

That he had to sell it because he owned the property with other people.

And those other people didn’t want to own the property anymore.

He also told me he had decided to invest his $1M into something passive (like a stock fund).

That he wanted something hands off that didn’t require any work.

That he didn’t want to spend time picking individual stocks to invest in.

So investing in a stock fund is exactly what he did.

Narrowing down 10,000 stock funds to just 7.

And picking 1, 2, or 3 of them can still feel stressful for most people.

Deciding which stock fund to invest in each time I was paid.

Was something I thought a lot about the 10 years I was a banker.

Probably too much..

In the end, I chose to invest in just one stock fund.

An S&P500 fund like famous investor Warren Buffett suggests.

Most retirement accounts at work offer an S&P500 fund.

And it’s easy to buy an S&P500 fund like VOO in most non-retirement investing accounts starting at just $5.

Simple and easy.

My favorite 2 things when it comes to investing.

That’s all for today.

See you next Saturday.

Whenever you’re ready, there are 3 ways I can help you:

1. ​The Guide:​ My 4-step money guide I’ve used to go from $80k in debt to $1M in investments (it’s free).

2. ​The Playbook:​ The playbook I've used to get $30,000 when buying a home with an example (it's free).

3. ​The Weekly Newsletter:​ Read 100+ past newsletter issues for practical tips and tools to beat debt and build wealth.

Disclaimer: All information provided is for educational purposes only and does not constitute investment, legal or tax advice, or an offer to buy or sell any security. Always do your research before making any financial or investment decision.

Privacy Policy​ ​Disclosure