Mindy: Welcome to the BiggerPockets Money podcast, Finance Friday edition where we interview Tiffany and talk about increasing your income and rental real estate. Hello, hello, hello. My name is Mindy Jensen and with me as always is my disappointed Eagles fan co-host, Scott Trench.
Scott: That’s right Mindy, the Eagles could not hold on to that Super Bowl win, huh?
Mindy: They couldn’t. That was uh, that was a little sad Scott. I’m very sorry for your loss.
Scott: They couldn’t hold on. All right, let’s move on.
Mindy: Oh, is that a comment about that garbage holding call at the very end of this?
Scott: I didn’t say anything.
Mindy: Scott and I are here to make financial independence less scary, less just for somebody else, to introduce you to every money story because we truly believe financial freedom is attainable for everyone, no matter when or where you’re starting.
Scott: That’s right, whether you want to retire early and travel the world, go on to make big time investments in assets like real estate, start your own business or consider changing careers and marching on with your real estate portfolio with the next live-in flip, we’ll help you reach your financial goals and get money out of the way so you can launch yourself towards your dreams.
Mindy: Scott, I am super excited to talk with Tiffany today. She has a great financial picture. She is younger than I thought she was when we first started talking to her, so that makes her financial picture even better. And she has no debt, which is I think her biggest strength, having absolutely no debt and pursuing financial independence from a position of financial strength. Before we bring her in, we have a new segment called Money Moment where we share a money hack, tip or trick to help you on your financial journey. Today’s money moment is, do you need a vacation? Consider a cruise. Unlike air travel, cruises actually decrease in price the closer to the launch date, which makes them great for last minute travel. Cruises also include meals and entertainment, which makes it easier to stay on budget. You know what the entire cost is going to be up front. Do you have a tip for us? Email us at moneymoment@biggerpockets.com.
Scott: And as a reminder, we’re always looking for guests to come on the show to share their money story or be coached on one of these finance Friday episodes. So if you’re interested, please apply at biggerpockets.com/guest or for the finance Fridays, biggerpockets.com/financereview.
Mindy: All right. Before we bring in Tiffany, let’s take a quick break.
Mindy: Today we’re speaking with Tiffany. She is debt-free and she owns a house that she’s currently house hacking and plans to turn into a rental when she has enough saved up for her next down payment. She’d like to be financially independent and has a great start by tracking her expenses and investing for her future. Tiffany, welcome to the Bigger Pockets Money podcast.
Guest: Hi Scott, hi Mindy. Thank you for having me.
Mindy: I’m super excited to talk to you today. So let’s run through your numbers really quickly. We have a monthly income of $2,424 with additional income of $1,000 a month for the house hack and music royalties that vary. So far this month is $115. So woo. Expenses, we have $1,200 for a mortgage, $125 for an HOA, $180 for utilities, $205 for gasoline, $200 for groceries, $30 for restaurants. You have NA for household, so I’m gonna want to talk to you about that. $10 for subscriptions, $10 for a gym, $50 for clothing, $50 for charity. No car payment. Hooray. But you set aside $50 every month for maintenance for the car, just in case, which is a fantastic idea. $50 for gifts, nothing for entertainment, so we’re gonna talk about that too. And you set aside $50 a month for travel. That looks like a fairly good set of, uh, expenses. I have miscellaneous expenses for self-education, $50, internet, $50, cell phone plan, $35. Savings you contribute $50 a month and your Roth IRA contributions are $100 a month. So since you included those in your expenses, I included them when I added this all up, which gives me $2,300 approximately. So on a salary of $2,400, it leaves 111. Now that’s not taking into account the $1,000 a month for the house hack. So you’re still spending less than you earn, which is a key point, but that salary is not doing you any favors. So guess what we’re going to talk about later. Investments, I have nothing in a 401K, so uh, that should that should indicate to you that we’re going to talk about that too. $10,000 in a Roth IRA. That is fantastic. Good for you. Uh cash savings, another $10,000. That’s amazing. $3,000 in an emergency fund on top of cash savings, so that’s great. And $135 in an HSA balance. This is a great picture. Tiffany, how old are you?
Guest: I’m 23.
Mindy: 23? Oh my goodness. Okay, that’s this is a fabulous picture for a 23 year old. This is really awesome. What do you do for a living?
Guest: Yes, so I am a social media specialist. That’s the title for a college.
Mindy: Social media. Okay, I know social media pays more than than what you’re making, but you’re at a college which can be less upfront salary and more benefits on the back end, but I know that there aren’t a lot of benefits on the back end with your specific position. So I hopped on over to Glassdoor and I peeked at what social media managers are making right now. You have five years of experience. I’m showing a median salary for social media managers at $51,000 a year. So my first comment is, uh have you thought of starting your own social media business? This is something that can be done out of your house. You can test the waters and discover that you make oodles and oodles of money and then you can leave your job. Or you can discover that it’s not something you want to do and you want to just go and get your own job.
Scott: You you’re your take home pay is 2,200, 2,400 a month, right?
Guest: Correct.
Scott: Um what is your pre-tax salary?
Guest: So pre-tax it’s about $41,000 a year.
Scott: Okay. Yeah, I I would tend to agree with everything Mindy just said. I just wanted to double check that because yeah, I I think that there’s a uh there’s at least a $10,000 spread between this opportunity and and the market for for a role of your type. Is there a particular reason you’re at this job or would be hesitant to look for a new a new role?
Guest: I am not hesitant. I actually went to this college right after high school. Um and I think a a good quality I have, but could also be faulty as I’m very loyal. So and also this college did change my life. So I and it also I’m getting to learn a lot of skills there. I learned not only social media but sales and marketing there. Um so I I see it as a great opportunity just to deploy those skills, learn while I’m there. So that’s the only reason why I’m there because I’m a m a loyal little little girl.
Scott: Well, that’s wonderful. and you have paid them tuition, presumably and now you’re donating $10,000 a year in services to the the college on top of that. So you’re that’s that’s yeah, you you’ve done a very good job being being very loyal there and I and I also don’t think you have any uh you owe anything here given the the contributions you’ve made with that. I don’t know what what do you like that way to to phrase it or or put it?
Guest: I like that.
Mindy: Okay, so you have learned a lot from your job and created a great first job for your resume by having five years of experience. That shows that you are loyal, which is a great characteristic to have. employers want to see uh job hopping isn’t such a big issue anymore, but hey, there’s this girl who has five years at the same company. That’s awesome. Uh and now we’re going to look out for what’s best for Tiffany. So Tiffany needs to make more money. Have you considered ft striking out on your own, opening up your own shop and working nights and weekends for somebody else?
Guest: No, um but something that does uh intrigue me is content creation like these online content creators just because they do when they do come out with like their own product or their own service and they sell it to their audience, they’re generating this extra amount of money. So, yes, that’s a great opportunity, but then also adding value to an audience and having your own audience that intrigues me a lot.
Mindy: Okay, so I’ve got your first homework assignment. Let’s take your five years of social media experience and start building the Tiffany brand. So, come up with a name, get all the social media handles for that name, and start providing value. Content creation is all about giving with no expectation of return. So it isn’t, hi, my name’s Tiffany, you should sign up for my email list. It’s, hi, my name’s Tiffany, here’s some information, the end. Hi, my name’s Tiffany, here’s some information, information, information. And then after a while, by the way, if you want more, here’s here’s sign up for my email list. It’s giving with no expectation of return gives you so much more back. um and let’s hop on over to Fiverr and see what people are looking for with regards to social media help. Sometimes it’s a one-off job. Sometimes people are looking to uh test you out in order to hire you for a permanent long-term position. Um see if you like working with other people, see if you like running your own shop. I see posts all the time in the Fin Con community, in the local Facebook communities for real estate where people are looking for part-time social media help and you can make a lot of money in social media just by doing sma like maybe Scott needs somebody to run his social media for five posts a week or six hours a week or whatever it is, you decide what your time is worth and you decide what a post is worth, what a campaign is worth and pitch that. um, and start, start with one client and see if you like working with them. Start I mean, I I think there’s so much opportunity for social media managers going forward.
Scott: That’s awesome.
Scott: I I would also start with, you know, um, well, a couple in addition to the great points made, I would say, dust off the resume and kind of go out there and maybe maybe stick it out and apply for a couple of jobs and see see what comes back. You may find that you can get into that 50, 50, 51, $55,000 range. That’s an incremental 7 or 8 grand a year after taxes that you’re going to be able to start saving. and they may come with much better benefits than your current, um job like a 401K match and those types of things. So that could be a $15,000, $20,000 annual boost to your wealth accumulation by just shopping around and and doing the old fashioned change and change in jobs in preparation for that. I would, you know, look back on the last five years and say, okay, especially recently, what have I done that has won at at the company? Like have I have I been able to produce, um posts that have gotten more engagement, um, have certain trend lines moved in the right direction? What are what are some things that the next hiring manager is going to care about that I can do? And you know, can have some idea. Can I look at this a company I’m applying to and say, oh, there’s some obvious things here. What have you tried this? Have you thought about this? I would love to start in the first three, two, one to three months, I would go with this, this, this, this and this and this experiment and I can run them all myself because I’m skilled at image creation, at writing the copy, at posting, at tracking, reporting, all that kind of stuff. So, just kind of getting ready there, that might be a 10 or $15,000 endeavor. and that does not preclude you from also doing the great suggestions Mindy had there and potentially also having a side hustle or two where you’re you’re running social for, um, a couple other folks and and building up a personal, a personal business in the social media space.
Guest: That’s awesome. Thank you.
Mindy: Yeah, that’s a great suggestion too, Scott. Yeah, do both. and now you’re making $300,000 a year and you can’t stop buying real estate. That may take a while. Okay, so fine. She’s not going to make $300,000 this year. Let’s talk about your real estate plans. How many properties do you eventually want to own?
Guest: Great question. So prior to learning about bigger pockets, I thought I wanted to own like 300, 400 units, but now I’m learning about that small and mighty investor. Um so 10, 20.
Mindy: And when did you buy your current house?
Guest: Uh August of 2021.
Mindy: Okay, so you are well past the one year where you have to own or occupy it per the uh rules of your loan. So you could technically move out if you found a new property.
Guest: Yeah.
Mindy: Did you buy with a conventional loan or with an FHA loan?
Guest: Conventional.
Mindy: Ooh, so you could use an FHA loan for the next one. Lots of options. Just so you know, FHA loans are assumable. So that’s something, but you have to live in it. So something to think about in the area where you live, it there’s a lot of people moving in and out. It’s a more, I don’t want to say transient area, it’s a more fluid population than most. So there could be the opportunity to assume an FHA loan that still has the lower down payment or I’m sorry, the lower interest rate like you had. You would have to bring cash to closing to cover the difference.
Guest: Okay.
Mindy: I think you might be able to get a loan for the difference, but that would be in a second position and it’s a lot of monkey business. Let’s just say you’ll have to bring cash to closing for the difference. So if you find a house that’s for sale for 300,000 but they only have 200,000 on the mortgage, you’re bringing 100,000 to closing. So you’re assuming a great loan, but then you have to, you have to uh bring the difference in cash. Um, it’s it’s something to put in your back pocket and think about.
Guest: But hur.
Mindy: uh, but you have $10,000 saved up for another potential house hack. Would you house hack the second one?
Guest: Yes, I would house hack it and you did bring up the FHA loan. Ann option that I’m thinking about is the FHA 203K product. um, it’s like a flip with training wheels. Of course, I’d live in it for one year, but I’m thinking of using the FHA 203K, living in here and then burying it, using the burst strategy with it. I’m curious what your thoughts on that, if you have experience with it, heard of people doing that?
Scott: In Tiffany, you’re in the um, Colorado front range area with relatively more affordable, not quite as expensive as like Denver, Boulder, uh one of those areas, right? Is that correct?
Guest: Correct. And where I’m looking to do it is in Pueblo because it their cost of entry is lower.
Scott: Okay, awesome. So you’re thinking about investing in. Now, your current house hack, what happens when you move out? What’s what are the financials?
Guest: So it brings in $1,000 each month um from my other my tenant who lives here. When I move out, I’d rent out the master for 1,000 or 1,000 and more. I’ll keep it furnished just in case I want to turn it to a short-term or mid-term.
Scott: Okay, and great. And and so you you you’d think that it’ll be rent for 2,000. And what’s your payment on this place?
Guest: It is just over 1,100.
Scott: Awesome. So 1,100 for the payment and then you have um any other expenses associated with it?
Guest: Yes, I do keep reserves for Cap X, um and repairs, vacancy. The percentage is low just because I still live here, but I’ll increase that percentage when I I move out.
Scott: Okay. And so what do you estimate the cash flow would be fully burdened after you have an allocation for Cap X, vacancy, maintenance, repairs, and um, perhaps property management.
Guest: I’d say conservatively two, $300.
Scott: Awesome. And how much did you put into it? How much down payment?
Guest: I put in 3%. so that would be, I think I put in 9,000.
Scott: Awesome. So this this is a great, you you you really did a good job with this. This is a solid, single, double, house hack. It’s not going to make you rich overnight, but it is the it is a great start for someone in your position with this and you really ran your numbers, I think in my opinion, fairly reasonably here with allocations for Cap X and all these kinds of things. and you will have a very reasonable shot at a cash- flowing rental after making those allocations for for reserves there. So, not, you know, I I I think that’s fantastic. And and walk me through what what a deal would look like in Pueblo where you where you’d move to.
Guest: Yes, absolutely. So, um, why first of all, why did I pick Pueblo? So, I don’t know, you see health came out with an article saying that they’re going to invest about like 52 some huge amount of millions of dollars into a current hospital there into building it out and also investing in the nurse’s education-wise. So I do see an opportunity there for those homes to grow in value as they’re building out and extending those hospitals. The homes I’m looking at are definitely need a rehab in horrible condition and those are about 140, 130. Um and I’m looking at homes that have sold, like in December, November, um past a couple of months and those have sold for 240, 260. I’m not a pro at analyzing, but if I’m just looking at it from a dummy perspective, it it makes sense. Yeah.
Scott: Awesome. So you’re you’re thinking I want to do a live-in flip next in Pueblo and I’m starting to get a pretty good idea of what the the the comps are for for those types of projects.
Guest: But her.
Scott: Um and I love the fact that you’re analyzing sold deals, not active listings and those types of things when when thinking about the market. That’s a big mistake a lot of a lot of folks make as they look at something that, you know, um I guess you have to pull the sold ones to look at the comp for the ARV. But um love the analysis there and and yeah, so um how can we help you with in kind of thinking through the the next phase of your investment journey here?
Guest: Yeah, absolutely. So with looking at the pueblo market, I just thinking about the FHA 203K loan. What are like the situations there? What can I cannot do? Of course, I’ve been all over the bigger pockets forums just asking people, have you ever like bird with the 203K loan? Can you refinance an FHA loan? Just these general questions there first and foremost.
Mindy: So the 203K loan, you can’t do any of the work yourself.
Guest: Okay, but her.
Mindy: You would have to hire it out. If you are a DIY person like I am, then the 203K loan really makes you mad. If you are a hire it out person, the 203 that stipulation is like no big deal.
Guest: Her.
Mindy: Um the FHA lender is going to send people out to make sure that the work has been done before they release the check.
Scott: Can you clarify what you mean by no work? You can’t do any work, Mindy? Can you not do any work that you use the 2 or 3K loan for or can you not do any work?
Mindy: I believe it’s that you use the 203K funds for.
Scott: So you could, you could for example paint and clean and install even even flooring and stuff with your own personal funds and then use the 203K loan to fund plumbing or electrical work that you would never consider doing um on your own for example, um or that would require a certain level of skill.
Guest: Okay. Well, I’m just
Scott: So your, when is your timeline for this next purchase, Tiffany?
Guest: So, I’m thinking to do it to get pre-approved within this month but then start looking and buy this year.
Scott: And, and how much do you expect to accumulate this year with your current job, assuming we don’t get change jobs and we don’t get a uh side hustle going. How much what how much cash you have 10,000 now for this purpose. How much would you have by by the time you purchase?
Guest: I could say if I really put in the work like an extra three or four, but then that comes in to play. I it’s I’m after the door and I just can’t increase my income anymore.
Scott: So my my my instinct here is you you got a stable situation, but I think that, you know, trying to pull off a flip, even even a um a flip um in that lower priced market for example, would be a little risky given your current cash position. I’d love to see, you know, um and how much would the down payment would be on this property? at least 3%, right?
Guest: Yeah, 3.5.
Scott: Okay, great. So on on a 140,000 purchase, that that means you’re going to bring at least kind of 4,500 to $5,000 probably to purchase the place. Um plus then you’re going to have a big remodel which you can finance here and I like the I like the instincts to go with the 2 or 3K loan where you can there’s research to figure out, but for a flip, I’d also really like to see a little bit more in the in the um context of reserves. A rule of thumb might be 10 or 15,000 for property one and add another five or 10 in reserves for property two before the expected repairs. That may be a little bit of a stretch, you may feel a little comfortable being a little bit more aggressive with that um uh at this point in time and taking a little bit more risk, but that would be where I’d feel I’d be very uncomfortable until I got there. I’m not saying don’t do it before that. I just say be very uncomfortable if you don’t have that level of cash reserves because um you’re going to flip a property and and that’s going to involve a lot of a lot of work and and nasty surprises for sure. Um but I think the instincts are great. What would it take to get you to 10 what’s call go from 10 to $25,000 in savings by the end of this year.
Guest: Oh, it would probably take me staying in the same position I’m in probably a year and a half. so this year and to next half to save um an extra 10.
Scott: Okay. and we could change it overnight with a new job and then potentially accelerate that with a couple of of side side gigs on this one. Is that right?
Guest: Be her.
Scott: Does that does that seem realistic to you to get to 25,000 if you were to um, change jobs in April or May and then also be be pursuing some of those side hustles?
Guest: Yeah, that definitely seems a realistic.
Scott: Awesome. So that that would be my advice would be to attempt to just crush that across the income side here. Keep doing what you’re doing on the extending on the expense side. You’re very responsible with your spending. your budget’s really great and you’ve got a house hack going. So love that. Um but I I don’t see any reason why by the end of this year, you could be very close to that that position and and be in a reasonable position to take on your goal of that next uh house act.
Guest: Yeah, okay, awesome.
Scott: I guess live and flip, to be more precise.
Scott: Hey, Tiffany, I I understand that you’re also looking into another uh level of higher education. Could you walk us through what’s going on there?
Guest: Yeah, absolutely. So currently I have my associates. I paid for it all with cash, didn’t take out any loans. So with just where we are with YouTube, these books, different courses people are coming out with, certifications coming out too. I’m wondering if it’s something still worth pursuing just because of the high cost. I did listen to y’all’s episode with the gentleman who had made his own database where you plug in the college and the major that you’re looking to go into. and of course, there was a a higher um return on investment with um the major that I’m looking at and the college that I’m looking at. So I’m looking at what to do there. Yeah.
Scott: Okay, well great. I think that uh, I think this is a little bit of a twist in that uh, some some of the salary ranges that uh I think Mindy looked up before the episode for a social media manager with five years of experience may apply to someone with a bachelor’s degree, uh a college degree. Um, I’m not sure if that’s the case, but that would be homework for you to kind of research and say, hm, what’s the deal there? And then when we think about ROI of college, um, for you, um, as someone who’s already got an associate’s degree, you’d have to compare, what is the ROI of the degree I’d go into versus the salary I could make in this social media role right now. Um, and there may be a spread with some degrees at some colleges and there may not be uh in some other in in some other colleges and professions. So I think that’s the right way to think about it. Um the biggest conclusions we got from um Mr. Preston Cooper.
Mindy: Uh, Preston Cooper joined us on episode 251 of the Bigger Pockets Money podcast and he did exhaustive research both on undergrad degrees and then came back and joined us again to discuss the the ROI on a college degree and in many cases, it’s not worth it and in many cases it is worth it, it just depends on what you’re studying. So if you’re studying business administration, yes, it can be worth it. What do you want to do with business administration that you can’t do now? Um, and by business administration, are you talking about an MBA or you just talking about a an undergrad four year degree for business management?
Guest: Undergrad.
Mindy: Okay. so you already have five years of work experience and I think that kind of makes up for the fact that you don’t have a four year degree. I think, especially in social media management, what you’ve done is a more important than your college degree to a lot of companies. Um, same with computer programming. They just care that you can do the work, not that you sat in a classroom. So if you enjoy your classes, if you have plans for using your business degree after you graduate, then maybe it’s worth continuing to pursue it. If you don’t really have any plans and you’re just going to college because you want a four-year degree, I would look into why you have a four-year degree and what you think you could do with that degree once you graduate because yeah, it is expensive and if you don’t have like rock solid plants. I wasted my college years. It was I have I have degrees to put on my resume, but they’re kind of silly and I never used them. So for me, if I would have been thinking ahead, if I would have been 23 and asking intelligent questions instead of doing stupid things, um I would have had a much more successful life. So I’m very uh impressed that you’re asking these questions. I think it’s something that you’re going to need to dive into yourself and and think, you know, what am I going to do with this degree once I get it?
Scott: Yeah, I I I would have a hard time believing I, I would be willing to bet and you should go and confirm this, but I’d bet that if you went out and market yourself, you could get very close to that $50,000 plus job as a social media, um, manager in your local market or in a remote job. um uh especially if you kind of worked on that that pitch and um showed off your accomplishments and came with a plan and some ideas. Um and we’re we’re had a high energy about it. I also think you could get some side side gigs there. I I think that the first job out of after graduating with a business administration degree from an undergraduate program would likely be very comparable to that. So that would be something to research. Um I could be very wrong on that and so you you should do that a research on your own. Um but I think that would be my my instincts talking there. I I do want to commend you though on self-funding your undergraduate degree, your your your Bible college, your associate degree here, uh graduating debt-free, and then be in a position to to explore this seriously, self-funded as well, I presume. So you’re you’re really crushing it. You’re you’re pretty remarkable in the way that you’ve set yourself up here, um to be debt-free at 23 and, and, and and aside from the house act mortgage and I, I really think you’re you’re set up for, you’re prime to get, to get get going here, uh on the wealth building journey.
Guest: Thank you. Thank you so much. Yeah. With college and like, um, all of that and just wanting to do it debt-free, Dave Ramsey of all people, he actually came out with a documentary called Borrowed Future, and I was still in my associate degree when that came out and I was watching the documentary and it was just showing how many people don’t know what they’re signing when they write when they sign their signature on the dot line with, um these loans, if they can’t afford it. so then they’re chained to paying it back and that really changed my mindset. If I’m going to do it, I’m going to do it debt-free. If it comes to a place where I can’t pay for it in cash, I can pause and I can and just keep working and pursuing these other side side hustles and things like that. So that that’s where that mindset came from.
Scott: Yeah, I think you’re, I think you’re blowing it out of the water. You’re gonna be, you’re you’re in great shape. Um, you look the the the deal is income. That’s gonna be very common for everyone who’s 21 to 25 for the most part getting started in their career and it’s just making the most of that. That is a high stakes decision right now, um from a strategy perspective because you’ve got to, you know, if if you can get that, if you can negotiate those those raises and find positions right now, that will carry through for the next 10 years and you don’t want to be sitting in a place three years from now where you’re making 44,000 at the same company because then it’s going to be really hard to make the big the next jump. um in there it’ll be much easier if you’re able to to kind of um maximize your income potential now. Um and that that will compound later. So I think that’s the big, the big strategy point, but there’s really, but that’s really the only major kind of area for improvement that I’m seeing right now in your financial position, you’re really responsible with your debt. that mentality and how you’ve how you funded your your college um and and and learning from that the that that having that concept top of mind. That was that’s not common and I think a lot of people don’t think that through and graduate with a big problem. Like there’s a lot of people out there making 40, $40,000 a year with um in a work similar work to you after graduating with their undergrad who are 40, $50, $60,000 in student loan debt. So you got a massive head start here. You’ve already got a property, you’re thinking about the next thing, you’ve clearly invested in your education in financial literacy to a large extent. and you’re you’re you’re on fire. This is fantastic.
Guest: Thank you.
Mindy: Yeah, absolutely everything that Scott says is true. Uh, you’re doing fantastically and the fact that you’re even thinking about this at age 23 without all of these, uh, investments that you have would be amazing. But the fact that you’re debt free, you have a $10,000 Roth IRA balance, you have cash reserves saved up for your next down payment, you have emergency funds, you have, um, well, I said I was going to talk about the lack of a 401K. If you decide to look for new employment, I would I would weigh that heavily in the job search. Do they have a 401K? Do they have a match? Um, but you can make your own 401K too if you decide to strike out on your own. You can self-fund, if you have self-employment income, you can have a self-directed solo 401K which also allows you to invest in real estate, which is, we should do a whole show, Scott, on the self-directed solo 401K and the self-directed IRA. um but you can contribute up to $54,000 a year to your 401K balance every year with partial of your contributions, your company’s contributions, um, so it’s a once you start knocking it out of the park and making $300,000 a year as the Tiffany Social Media Company, um, then you’ll have to come in, we’ll talk about that self-directed solo 401K.
Guest: Sounds good. Absolutely.
Scott: So you, so social media and and marketing and and those types of things are really where you want to, um, kind of focus on over the next couple of years, but it’s all in the context of moving towards a real estate portfolio that achieves financial independence at an early age. Is that, is that a way a good way to summarize that?
Guest: Well said. Mhm.
Scott: Perfect. Okay. So, so in that case, yeah, I think, I think that pursuing the the maximum income in that space, becoming a master of your craft, I think that, um, I would, I would encourage you if you were to go to undergraduate degree, go into marketing or consider marketing instead of business administration, if you do decide to go down that path and broaden that skill set because if, you know, that that’s the next logical progression and in a career like that is, yes, master your social media, but then also master email marketing and then also master paid marketing and also master, um you know, analytics and those types of things. Those are all skills that would help round out that career that can’t hurt from a social media perspective. But those would be areas that I encourage you to study either at an undergraduate degree or go read say, I’m gonna read 25 books this year. Um something ridiculous, something very intense like that that will round out my skill set. Um your future employer would respect that tremendously if you said, look, I don’t have an undergrad degree in marketing, but I’ve been doing this for five years and I read all of these books and implemented these practices and look at what’s look at the numbers move um at my current gig with that. That would be, that would be similarly impressive, I think, or maybe even more so than an undergrad degree in that. and and and couple that with with the uh the work you’re doing on your side hustle and your real estate business, right? So there’s always, there’s always um room for more people to talk about the success that they’re having in in real estate. um uh especially folks who are getting started in a very um repeatable, you’re your situation is wonderful for real estate investing because you’re not doing, there’s nothing um unrepeatable about the situation that you’ve got into, right? I cash flow my way through my associate’s degree, I make 40 grand and I’ve bought a house hack and I’m going to do another flip using a 203K and FHA loan. That is something, that’s inspiring. you’re, you’re, like that’s something that folks, you know, should, should look up to you for and attempt to repeat, um a lot of folks out there and and you’re doing it on on a low income and controlling your expenses and hitting the fundamentals bit by bit, making one move every year or two. So I think those are all good things to think about in building up your, your social media, personal presence.
Mindy: Uh, yeah, I would say, given this new information, I would lean towards not continuing with the business degree and instead going to YouTube University or even reaching out and, uh, reaching out, checking out masterclass.com. Uh, you are learning from people who are a master of their craft. There’s a lot of different classes on master class that are great to learn from, and that’s a lot less expensive than another two years at university.
Guest: Yeah, this is great information.
Mindy: All right. Well, Tiffany, did you have any other questions for us before we let you go?
Guest: Um, no, thank you all so much. This has been great. I have lots to think about and thank you all for the homework. I’m definitely going to do that. And, uh, yeah, it’s been good.
Mindy: Great. Well, I want to hear back from you in the next six months and hear what direction you went and get some updates from you. I think that you have a very bright future and I’m super excited for you.
Scott: I agree.
Guest: Thank you. Thank you so much.
Mindy: Okay, Tiffany, we’ll talk to you soon.
Scott: All right, Scott, that was a super fun episode with Tiffany. I love all the possibilities that she has before her. It is, she’s in the beginning of the slog where she’s now like, which one of these fantastic options do I choose? And I just have to wait until I become financially independent. But I think she has a lot of really great options in front of her.
Scott: Yeah, I mean and and her her biggest strength is, you know, Tiffany has a remarkable backstory that got her to this situation and putting herself through college and and uh getting into this position where she’s debt-free and has a house hack. So kudos to her. She’s starting um well into the race here to build wealth as opposed to having to dig herself out of a hole with student loan debt and other types of things. So she’s she’s crushing it. Um I think that uh, uh she’s going to have a ton of really great options in front of her and it’s really about that she decides and that she goes all in with that decision and optimizes for it, uh which I’m sure she’ll do. So I, I cannot wait, you know, there’s no way in three years from now that Tiffany has not built a couple $100,000 in incremental net worth and um not gotten that next investment unless she gets very, very unlucky. um uh and and something so because she’s, the discipline, the formula is all there and it’s only going to accelerate if she keeps making good decisions.
Mindy: I see big things on her horizon and I really hope that she checks in with us again in about six months. In fact, I’m going to go put that on my calendar right now and preemptively check in with her in about five and a half just to see what she’s done because I bet she’ll have a great story in six months.
Scott: one thing I do want to ask for help on maybe in the Facebook group is, you know, we we talked about uh, how maybe, you know, we’re we’re kind of skeptical about the benefits of college or had some some some debate points on that. and I’d love to hear what other people think because I think that uh, you know, that that’s unsettling to say no, don’t finish your degree or at least be really thoughtful before you make that decision. Um, if it feels like that’s the correct thing, but I would love to get some pushback or feedback from, from some listeners and and and tell me what you think. Um, you can do that in the Bigger Pockets Money Facebook group at facebook.com/groups/bpmoney.
Mindy: Yep, that would be a great conversation. So I look forward to jumping into that Facebook thread and seeing what people are saying. So I’ll see you over there. All right, Scott, should we get out of here?
Scott: Let’s do it.
Mindy: That wraps up this episode of the Bigger Pockets Money podcast. He is Scott Trench and I am Mindy Jensen in honor of Girl Scout cookie selling season. Peace out, girl scout.
Mindy: Bigger Pockets Money was created by Mindy Jensen and Scott Trench, produced by Calen Bennett, editing by Exodus Media, copywriting by Nate Wine Troub. Lastly, a big thank you to the Bigger Pockets team for making this show possible.
