Future Plans

I turn thirty this year and I don't have much to show for it. I still have a large car loan, massive credit card debt, and student loans on top of it all. I don't own a home and my wife currently lives in another country. That is all going to change.

In the next 12 months (July 2011 - July 2012), I will pay off all of my credit cards and make as big of a dent in my car payment as I possible can. Right now, I am paying $1,000 every paycheck towards this goal. Yes, if you do the math...26 paychecks in a year x $1,000 = $26,000 = the amount of credit card debt I have. It will be a little stressful at times, but I do have leeway in this plan. If in one month an unforeseen expense comes up, I can still pay cash by reducing my debt payment a bit. At least I won't be accruing more credit card debt.

The next phase (July 2012 - July 2013), I want to buy a multi-unit home, like a duplex or fourplex. I figure that with no credit cards to pay, I can save almost $2,000 a month plus any money my wife can put away as well, which should be almost $10,000 for the year. So that would give us about a $34,000 plus another $6,000 that my wife had previously, for a $40,000 down payment or 20% on a $200,000 house. Also, my wife have has already saved $16,000 which would be used as renovations/emergency money.

After that, its onto the family phase. We hope to start a family after getting our first home and that will definitely cut into our investment ideas. For the next two years (July 2013 - July 2015), I would like to save $50,000 for a down payment on an residential property. That's about $2,000 per month towards the down payment and an other $1,000 per month towards the kid's college fund (wife's salary). The residential property would be our primary home and the duplex/fourplex would be come our investment property.

It is now Fall 2015, and God willing, we have two kids and a dog, living in a good home. Repeating the process from earlier, we save $50,000 for a down payment on our second investment property over the next three years. So by 2018, we will have purchased our second multi-family property.

We continue the same process every three years. 2021, another property. 2024, another property. 2027, another property, which brings us to five investment properties total. The first one was purchased 14 years earlier in 2013 and should be almost paid off (bi-weekly payment plan). At this point, we would look at where we want to be in life in the next ten years. I would like to not be working and have a steady income coming in.  The plan from this point would be to sell off the first three properties, take the profits, and using a 1031 exchange purchase a large 40-unit apartment building.

Then for the next 5 years, we would pay down the remaining two smaller investments and improve the apartment building. In 2032, I will be retired from the government and my kids will be off to college. Al this time, we have saved $1,000 a month (kids get expensive so I had to cut back on the investments) for a total of $60,000. I would want to sell the smaller properties and purchase a second large 50-unit apartment building with the $60,000 and 1031 exchange of the other investments. That would give me 90 apartments generating $90,000 per month ($1,000 rents) with a Before Tax Income of $10,000 per month. (A 89% Operating Expense and Debt Service rate is very high but I am being conservative)

From here, we would live life where ever we want and how we wanted. Our primary home would be paid off and we could manage the two apartment buildings on our own. As we saved more money each year, we would make large equity payments to the properties so that by the time we both 60, the apartments would be paid off. That would mean at age 60, we would own outright a home, and 90 apartments that generate $60,000 per month in income. Life would be good...

Learning about Real Estate Investment

Over the past few weeks I have been reading about real estate investing, especially small apartment buildings. There is a lot of information out there and my goal is to own an apartment building in two years. I firmly believe that if I research the topic, learn the material, and apply the concepts, I will be able to buy an apartment building. I never knew anything about buying real estate but the more I learn the more confident I become.

To me, having real estate as an investment (primary home doesn't count) is one of the safest ways to generate wealth. A lot of people might disagree given the state of the real estate market these past few years. My response to these naysayers is simple: don't buy what you can't afford. Too many people took on too much debt and when the collector came, they couldn't pay. A real estate investment should break even at the minimum, meaning that taxes, insurance, maintenance, and loan payments are all covered by the rental income. If it doesn't break even, its not worth buying...for me at least.

First big coupon trip

This past weekend I was able to purchase $75 worth f goods from Rite Aid for $7! I used some coupons, store credit coupons, and a few rebates that I had. Now I have enough razors, body wash, deodorant, and shaving gel to last me a whole year. My next target will be cleaning supplies (i.e. laundry detergent, bleach, paper towels, etc.). I am not ready to stockpile a large quantity of food because I don't eat that much. I have some canned goods and pasta because they will keep for a few years and are handy when I don't feel like cooking a big meal.

I used websites and blogs to help me with this shopping trip. WeUseCoupons.com and Bargain Blessings are two of my favorite sites. They are completely free and offer lots of ways to save using coupons. I probably spent maybe 2 hours last week prepping for the shopping trip. One hour was spent reading the forums, websites, and gathering information about upcoming deals. The other hour was used to prepare my shopping list and get the right coupons.

One thing I learned from all of this: Don't use a coupon just because it will expire soon. So what if it expires. There will be others. This happened to me at Genuardi's and I spent about $40 more dollars than I wanted to. I did get a lot of stuff at 55% off but some of it was a little over board. Lesson learned. Make a list, stick to the list, buy items only on sale or with a coupon, save non-perishables, and stay within budget.

Completed my petition

I was able to complete my I-130 today and mailed it in. An I-130 is a petition for a family family to immigrate to the US permanently. My wife, whose French, lives in Paris and I want her here with me. Go figure...a husband wants ot be near his wife. Anyways, it should take about three months and then I'll have my wife here with me. The crappy thing is that it can take up to 6 months if things are processed really slowly. We shall see.

In other things, I have started to unpack the remaining of my boxes from the move. I am realizing that I need a desk or at least a desk drawer. I m ight break down and get one of those 3-drawer plastic things so I can put some office supplies away. Its okay for a bachelor, which I am until my wife gets here, but I will need a bit more organizing.

I have many projects to do this summer: wedding photo album, 5K training, couponing, real estate investment research, and so on.

Debt sucks

I am aggressively trying to pay off my $30,000 worth of credit card debt and its tough. Yeah, I know: how did you get $30,000 in credit card debt? The answer is I attempted to run an online MLM business and it didn't pan out. Stupid I know now, but I thought I could change the world by doing it so I don't regret trying. I am hopeful to pay off $15,000 by year's end. I contribute $1,000 each paycheck to knocking down the debt. I am living pretty frugally right now (coupons, no excess spending, etc.) but too me its necessary so that I can be closer to debt free.

Having this large chunk of debt is pretty stressful. I am constantly thinking about it and I should be focusing on other things. Like my new wife, Natacha, and how to get her into the country. Long story for another day.

Out of Shape!

Today I begin a running regimine so that I can run a 5K in late September. I am using miCoach from Adidas to help me with my goal. It is a free app that you can downlaod to your iPhone. It was great using it today because it tracks you via GPS and tells you when to pick up the pace or slow down. My only problem was that I COULDN"T RUN LONGER THAN 20 MINUTES!!!

I know its the beginning of the training but that is pathetic for me. I hope to get better and better with the running because I want to run the 5K in under 25 minutes. An underlying problem of mine is that I am overweight by about 20 pounds (I weigh around 190) and that I eat crappy foods.

Also, I started a new entertainment package I call "My Preferences". No it doesn't exist but I made it just for me. I use the internet a lot, watch movies a lot, and play video games. I don't watch a lot of TV, maybe 3-5 hours a week, and thats mostly because I like the noise in the background. So I have decided to cancel my cable, enrolled in Netflix and GameFly, and hopefully save about $50 a month. Each service is $15/month and my cable bill is $100 which does include the internet. Maybe I won't save $50 but at least I'll save close to it.

Starting Out...

I started to blog all the things going on in my life so that I may have a record of what I have done. I turn thirty this year and I have many goals I want to accomplish. I will be blogging about life, finance, love, and anything that comes across my mind. This will be my online journal and I plan to write several times a week. A little here, a little there, and just let my story unfold. I hope you enjoy reading and commenting is welcomed.