BiggerPockets Money Podcast

419: Finance Friday: Barely Breaking Even? Here’s How You Can STILL Invest

BiggerPockets Money Podcast
BiggerPockets Money Podcast
419: Finance Friday: Barely Breaking Even? Here’s How You Can STILL Invest
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Show Notes

Side income streams are your way out of breaking even every month. If you’re like most Americans and find your savings stagnating, without much room for growth, it might be time to look at opportunities outside your nine-to-five. This is exactly what today’s guest, Liz, did by becoming a real estate agent and growing her seasonal business. But, Liz is in one of the northernmost states, where winters are harsh and home sales halt once the snow falls.

Liz wants to grow her real estate agent side income into a full-blown business, but how can she do so when half of the year is too cold to show houses? If you have seasonal income or an infrequent side hustle to help pay your bills, this is an episode for you! Mindy and Scott will walk through how Liz, or any other entrepreneur, can use the sunny season to grow their businesses to new heights, strengthen their savings, and invest the rest so early retirement isn’t just some far-off dream.

Liz also needs to know where her money is best put to use. With a serious cash cushion, she’s debating whether or not having a large amount of cash is worth the financial stability or if investing it for passive income is a better option. With her own primary residence coming close to closing, what should Liz do with her hard-earned cash?

In This Episode We Cover

How to turn a seasonal income stream into a full-time business that pays your yearly salary

What to do when you’re breaking even every month (EVEN with low expenses)

Becoming a real estate agent and how to find leads in untraditional ways

Cash reserves and where to invest your money when you have too much

REITs (real estate investment trusts) vs. index funds and which makes more passive income

When to pay off debt vs. keeping cash in a high-yield savings account

And So Much More!

Links from the Show

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Mindy on BiggerPockets

Scott’s Instagram

Grab Scott’s Book, “Set for Life”

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Podcast Talent Search!

Listen to The “On The Market” Podcast: SpotifyApple PodcastsBiggerPockets

Fire by 45

Investment Plan

Grab “6 Steps to 7 Figures”

Read More About REITs

Click here to check the full show notes: https://www.biggerpockets.com/blog/money-419

 

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Transcript

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📄 Full Episode Transcript

Speaker 1: Welcome to the BiggerPockets Money Podcast, Finance Friday edition, where we interview Liz and talk about variable income, growing your real estate agent business, and long term portfolio optimization.
Mindy: Hello, hello, hello. My name is Mindy Jensen and with me as always is my predictable co-host Scott Trench.
Scott: Thanks Mindy. Great to be here with my sees through it all co-host, Mindy Jensen.
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 are 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 just get more comfortable with building a financial foundation, 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, before we jump in, I’m going to say the contents of this podcast are informational in nature and are not legal or tax advice. And neither you, nor I, nor BiggerPockets are engaged in the provision of legal tax or any other advice. You should seek your own advice from professional advisors including lawyers and accountants regarding the legal tax and financial implications of any financial decision you contemplate. All right. Now I’m excited to talk about Liz. Liz is coming in today. She is a real estate agent in North Dakota. Scott, did you know that it’s cold in North Dakota?
Scott: I I had heard. I have never experienced it for myself.
Mindy: I have never experienced it for myself firsthand, but I have heard it is very cold in North Dakota, which will make real estate agenting a little bit more difficult in those winter months. So, we are here today to talk to Liz about budgeting for when you have variable income, as well as where she should allocate her finances. Before we bring her in, we have a new segment of the money show called the Money Moment where we share a money hack tip or trick to help you on your financial journey. Today’s money moment is my own personal experience. Downgrade your trash service. Do you routinely find your trash can less than full at pickup time? Contact your trash company to see if there is a smaller can or a less frequent pickup option or both available for a lower price. I cut my trash costs in half when I downsized my curbside can. Do you have a money tip for us? Email moneymoment@biggerpockets.com.
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Mindy: Liz is a real estate agent who just bought her very first house with her partner. Yay! She currently has a nice nest egg in her savings but is wondering where to allocate her money so it works best for her. Liz, welcome to the BiggerPockets Money podcast. I’m so excited to talk to you today.
Guest: So excited to talk to both of you as well.
Mindy: Well, let’s jump into it and look at your money snapshot. We have a salary of $2,800 a month plus additional real estate income. So that’s not real estate agent income, that’s your full-time job income. Additional real estate income, which as we all know is completely variable, subject to the whims of other people, which we have at $19,000 for last year and an additional $500 a year for property management. So that’s decent. We have monthly expenses that total $2,400 a month. But those monthly expenses of 2,400 do not include your student loans at 218. They do not include your real estate fees, which do need to be paid. Um, but they’re business expenses, not personal expenses, and that’s $250 a month. Uh, and when you add those in, not including your real estate income, that puts you into the red where you’re spending $2,957, but you’re only bringing in $2,800. So if we look at where your money is going, I don’t see anything really crazy. Uh, rent looks within normal a 1550, utilities 173, gas is 213 a month, groceries 260 a month, restaurants 390 a month, subscriptions, you’ve got like $45, $50 a month in subscriptions. Gym $32 a month. Uh, travel 250 a month, merchandise random, etc, 333. So I’m not seeing any wild expenses. Um, investments, we have a Roth of 5,400, SEP IRA of an 1,100, whole life insurance at $5,700 is the net value. We have a high yield savings account of $20,000 at 3.75% interest. Yay. Uh, another cash savings account of $5,000 and another cash savings account of $14,000. Debts, we have $13,000 in student loans, $900 in a personal credit card and $800 in a business credit card. That seems reasonable. And, uh, Liz, how old are you?
Guest: I’m 29.
Mindy: And do you have kids? Are you married?
Guest: No kids and not married.
Mindy: My first question then is why do you have a life insurance policy? Um, but we’ll talk about that later. And you are currently under contract or you have purchased this house?
Guest: I’m under contract.
Mindy: Okay, and when does the purchase finalize?
Guest: So, we haven’t got a closing date yet. The, um, sellers are moving to Memphis, Tennessee. So they’re getting things organized down there and then they should have a date to me. I’m hoping in the next week, but sometime in mid July.
Mindy: Liz, can you give us a brief overview of your money story?
Guest: Yeah, so I like to think my money story started when I was 16 and started in the workforce. I was lucky to have family that helped me get a job at when I when I was 16. Uh, shout out to my brother Jason who also loves the podcast. Uh, and I just feel like, you know, some kids are given the opportunity to work for family members and can take advantage of it and I was working eight-hour days in the summer in high school and I feel like my work work my work ethic started there and, um, I just grew from there. After high school, I went off to college and was working doing summer jobs in college and I really feel like I learned how to save when I was doing my job in college, which was bev carting. So working for cash tips. Uh, and I do have like a little hack if you if you don’t mind me sharing. Um, I would take my tips and like the $20 has like a little number and letter on it. And so every time I’d get a $20 bill that had an E or a number nine in it, I would put put it in a piggy bank and save those up for the end of the year and then I would cash them in at the bank or put them into a savings account. And I would save like probably three to $5,000 every summer just doing that. So that’s like a little hack that I wanted to share. Uh, that’s where I learned how to save. I think watching friends and college blowing their money and I’m just like, I do not want to leave college and not have money to pay off student loans and you know. So, then I went to work for family and I wasn’t doing what I graduated with, um, which was marketing. And so I think that kind of killed me for the marketing industry taking a year off there. So, when I went to go back to, so I moved away and then went back to where I was going to settle down at and got a job working for a company and I didn’t love the job. I ended up getting let go. And that’s when I was like, you know, I think I want to do real estate. And so, uh my family’s like, you know, it’s a really hard job. It’s it’s a grind. Like you really have to be invested in it and I’m just like, you know what, I want to do it. And when I put my mind to something, I’m I’m going to do it whether somebody tells me yes or no. Um, I do try and weigh the pros and cons of everything and I got my license and I it was a slow first year as it is for most people, but by year two, I was I was doing pretty well and um, I I just love it. I love being in that business but I think that’s kind of where like that entrepreneur mentality comes into play and I just love being a my own boss and and doing real estate, so.
Scott: Awesome. How’s how’s it going as a as a real estate agent and, um, do you see yourself scaling that this year?
Guest: So right now it’s going okay. I think I think that it will start to pick up now that it’s getting warmer. Uh, it’s I kind of took a little bit of a downturn when I moved from I was in Central Minnesota and then I moved to Fargo, North Dakota. And so the three years of business I built up in Minnesota, I basically had to start from scratch moving to North Dakota. I was lucky to um, have clients right when I moved here. I think that just comes from confidence and, um, knowing my my the business now that I’ve been in long enough that people trust me. Uh, so my first summer here was was pretty good. I had four transactions, um, for somebody new in the in the market. Yeah, I was pretty proud of myself. And then it got really slow when winter came, but you know, you saw it with everybody. It wasn’t just me. So it it made me feel okay knowing that I wasn’t the only one that was slowing down in real estate.
Mindy: Okay, you moved to North Dakota.
Guest: Yes.
Mindy: Here’s a little fun fact. North Dakota’s average annual temperature of the whole year is 37° in the northern part of the state and 43° in the southern part of the state because it gets so cold in the winter time. I have used my real estate crystal ball to see that you will always have a slowdown in the winter time because it is not fun to go out and look at houses when it is 1,000 below zero. Um, so I will say that this is something that you should be planning for and when you do have the four four closing in the summer, you should maybe tuck some of that money away for a rainy day and plan for very, very slow winter seasons. There’s not just not going to be a lot of activity during those incredibly cold times. So I can understand that. Uh, and has it picked up at all in the spring?
Guest: I have some people in the pipeline. Um, I don’t know if interest rates are scaring them out. I think, uh people are still scared of that. Uh housing prices are still high, but I’m not sure why why it’s not picking up. I thought it would pick up a lot faster, uh now that it’s getting, now that we’re above 40°, but, uh, I just think it’s going to take me following up with some people and I I’ve been trying to, but, um, you know, I’m I’m hoping that some people I love when people just all of a sudden they’re like, oh, we’re making a move or we’re looking to buy or sell and it’s I I swear that’s how my business goes. Like it’s a lot of communication, but it’s a lot of, uh, people just deciding last minute that they’re ready to do it. So I’m I’m expecting that to happen, but it’s still, it’s been pretty cold here and I still think some people are a little hesitant of the market.
Mindy: I would agree and I am going to show you a book called sold by David Green, the host of the Bigger Pockets real estate podcast. Sold every real estate agents guide to building a profitable business. This is his first book. I think that skill was the next book. Skill a top producing agent’s guide to earning unlimited income, and then scale, which is his third book. I don’t even actually have it yet. Um, it’s all about scaling your agent business so you turn a real estate agent job into a streamlined business that gives you the freedom to work when you want. So, I want to know if you have these books?
Guest: I don’t.
Mindy: Okay. Well, you will in about a week. I’m going to have my publishing team send them to you. David Green is amazing. He is a real estate agent that just does not stop and he took a moment to stop his real estate agent business to write these books for us and share with you how you can go from regular old Ho Hum agent to super producer very, very quickly.
Guest: Awesome, thank you.
Scott: Liz, how much um, uh, what what are you doing for your day job outside of the, uh, the agent activities?
Guest: So, I work for a local promoter. Uh, and we book comedy and concerts in the area. So I I book the shows for the Fargo Moorhead area. For I don’t do all of the booking, but our company does, uh, go into a lot of the venues around here.
Mindy: Awesome.
Scott: Is this um, full-time? What what’s the nature of this of this job? Because it it’s paying less than 3 grand a month, is that right?
Guest: Correct. So when I went in for my interview, I I went in with the intention to let them know like I do real estate like it is a priority in my life. This job, it’s super cool. Uh, I love my I love my job right now. Um, but it was it was a lot to accept the fact that I was going to enter back into a 9 to five. Um, so I had that conversation right out out of the gate with with in my interview, I just said, you know, I I want to have some flex here. I don’t know what you’re if you’re butts in seats for eight hours a day in front of your computer. Um, but I just don’t want that lifestyle. And so they’ve been really flexible. Like if I have showings for the apartment that I do property management for, they’re like, yep, just, you know, work a 20 more minutes a day to make up the time or they’re really flexible. Like if I have to go show a house, it’s not a problem. So I really can work real estate in really well with this job. I think the only thing is that it’s probably taken away from my my marketing time where I could be promoting myself and and doing my learning and going to events that would help my business and real estate. Um, just because it’s it’s time consuming working an eight to or nine to five.
Scott: Yeah, it’s also um, so so it it is essentially full-time work?
Guest: Yes.
Scott: With flexible flexible hours. Okay. Um, and what’s your hourly rate for this?
Guest: I think so I’d have to do the math. Um, but I’m making 42.5. My salary is 42.5. And then, um, my my paychecks every two weeks are somewhere around 16 hundred and then after tax I’m at 14 10.
Scott: Okay, great. Um, and and so I I think that this is where Mindy was getting at at the beginning of the the show here is that we have the the salary minus your expenses is not enough to cover a on a on a recurring basis, and, what’s alarming to me is you don’t have an allotment for miscellaneous expenses, the big car insurance payment, the unexpected, you know, um, uh health issue or whatever it is in there. So what, but while that I can observe that, the reality of your balance sheet, your net worth statement is that you have 40 grand in cash and 14 and a half in debt. So clearly you are managing to get ahead and this habit, um, you know, going back to the the story of your high school days where you saved every $20 bill with an eye or an E. that mindset has been preserved through this period and you are coming out ahead. Um, but it it’s it’s saying that the side bets you’re making are what’s getting you ahead, not your fundamental um, position. Is that is that accurate?
Guest: Yeah, I’d say so. I think I’m I have a hard time knowing where to put my money to make it work for me. Um, and I do have like health insurance through work now. So I’m not as worried like benefit wise, but I don’t have a 401(k) through work. So that’s still on me to figure out how I’m going to um, plan for retirement and all that stuff, but, yeah.
Scott: Okay. So, so our situation is we’ve got a job that is barely getting us by or neutral, and we’ve got the side income from the real estate agent business. Um, and you’re high on the real estate agent business. That’s what you want to do. You want to be want to do that full-time and and invest in addition to that. And the question is, how do we bridge that in a healthy way. And what’s jumping to my mind, uh, as one potential solution is going back to Mindy’s seasonality comment, I imagine that yes, all real estate markets are seasonal. I have no trouble believing that Fargo, North Dakota is particularly seasonal and that all of your business essentially is going to come in a four to six month window and then transaction volume will drop off a cliff. Is that accurate and in terms of your understanding of the market?
Guest: Yeah, I believe so. Even back in Minnesota, it was just was really, really slow in the winter with people not wanting to move. um, but I feel like I feel like I’m pretty good with managing my money and I can I can slow myself down in the winter months.
Scott: Okay. Well, again, my my my instinct here is you have a seasonal business, go big and make that your full-time focus, potentially or consider making that your full-time focus either this year or next year in the summer and get another job for the winter. Right, because you don’t want to just be idle for six months and there’s nothing, like what activity says are you going to do to grow your agent business in September through March in Fargo, right? Like I I just I mean, you can form relationships and all that kind of stuff, but there’s no way I I just I don’t I just can’t see a path to adding a ton of value to customers in that time period on a full-time basis for six months of the year. So, what what are your thoughts on that? Is there are there any opportunities for seasonal work or or or those type of or or jobs where you can earn a decent but not great living for those six months and then make your hay while the sun shines, literally, uh, in in the summer months?
Guest: I think there so the nice thing about like the jobs that I’ve had in the past are all summer seasonal, so that I mean, that doesn’t really work here because I’m looking for supplemental income in the winter months. Um, when I did move up here, I was working at a brewery and bartending there, which which was nice and kept me kept me a float, but then when it got really slow, I started to I just don’t like pulling out of savings to pay for bills and stuff if I don’t have to. So I started to get a little a little panicky there and I’m like, you know, it’d be nice to to have a consistent a consistent uh paycheck coming in every month. So that’s kind of why I looked into to doing like a more of a full-time position and it wasn’t that I was searching actively for the job. It was it popped up and I’m like, wow, this looks super fun. So I ended up applying and it ended up working out for me and I figured, you know, I uh could balance both of the jobs out, but I think I’m it’s it’s hard now to find the time to do um things like marketing or ads for myself in my personal life because I’m just burnt out on I’m burnt out at the end of the day and I want to just relax.
Mindy: Okay, you just said it’s hard right now. In the winter, it’s going to be super easy because you’ve got nothing to do and nowhere to go. So that is uh something that I wanted to ask you about. You studied marketing. What is your brand? What is your personal real estate brand? Have you thought about that? Have you started marketing yourself and during the winter months, that’s the time to plaster yourself everywhere. Liz knows Fargo, Liz sells Fargo, Liz is Fargo. Uh, however, it is that you are going to market yourself. Um, I haven’t thought about it, so don’t use my ideas. But you need to use that your downtime to like get ahead of the marketing so that while you are busy, your marketing machine is still running and you can pre-schedule all of your social media and start writing them now and have blog posts that are going out later and, you know, focus, who do you want to work with? Do you want to work with primary, I’m sorry, first-time buyers or investors or are you going to like you can’t be everything to everybody, but you can certainly target different portions of of different uh, you know, demographics to hit them with your marketing as well. And the winter time when everybody’s hunker down and just drinking beer at the brewery is when you can be out there cranking it out. But also tell everybody that you know that you are a real estate agent. All those people at the brewery, maybe they don’t know that you’re a real estate agent.
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Guest: So I actually had three of my clients last year come from the ru. I like to think that I’m pretty good about talking and like adding it to conversation. Um, I still do it, uh, even though I’m I’m full-time at another job. I still try and slide it in there into conversation like organically. Uh, as far as like my brand, I I like to think I’m kind of funny, so I started to trying to make TikToks and Instagram reels, uh, probably back before I started this job. I was I was a little more consistent at it. Um, and I made some pretty funny videos if you ever want to check them out. Uh, but I just I wasn’t and I should have just kept going with it. It’s you you don’t see results right away. and I know that, but trying to think of content all the time, I just I need to just be focused on it, but I was just like not getting results, um, and I didn’t know if the content was reaching people that wanted to see it and so it was kind of hard for me, but I know I’ve seen other people do it and it works for them. So I I can’t give my I can’t get my hopes up.
Mindy: I can get your hopes up for you. I’ll get your hopes up for me and say, uh, Scott, what’s that Pat Hiban book seven? Seven steps to seven figures?
Scott: Yeah, seven steps to seven figures.
Mindy: Yeah, seven steps to seven figures. That is a, and Bigger Pockets just republished that. So we’ll send you that book too. Um, seven steps to seven figures is a real estate agent or something. One of the tips that he suggests is to copy, like borrow from other people. Don’t borrow from the other Fargo agents, but borrow from somebody in Minnesota who was doing really great videos and you think they’re funny. Rebrand them in your own face and your own style and your own way of talking. And somebody in Florida is doing something awesome. Do it for you too. Hey, we don’t have pools up here in Fargo, but we do have snow. Look at what you can do in this house. or like whatever it is you’re you’re doing. Social media, especially like you have a phone, right? Everybody has a phone. It’s so cheap to do a good video, to do your own promotion, and people get used to seeing Liz’s beautiful face, they will look for these videos again. I’m sorry, Scott just corrected me. It was six steps to seven figures.
Scott: Six steps to seven figures. That’s right. Uh, and yeah, I think I got that wrong. Um, but yeah, I think that’s that’s a good one.
Mindy: That’s even better, you’ll only have to do six things and you’ll be making seven figures.
Scott: So I think that would be good. And then one tip, I’ll just kind of give you, you should talk to your attorney about this, but something I’ve used in the past is called the shotgun clause, which means that if for some reason, parties want to break up, either you guys or, uh, some someone, you know, um, in the in in the, um, you know, one of the heirs, um, someone who inherits the state. Um, the shotgun clause basically allows you to break the the agreement with a very simple uh, out. You just say, I’d like to I’d like to end this. I will buy you out at $343,000 valuation, right? And the other person can either accept or they can they can say, nope, I’ll buy you out at $343,000, right? So that means that parties are going to come to the table with a single good offer, single counter accept or pull the trigger the shotgun and you’re out. And it’s just a very it can be a simple tool for something like this where you just know the rules of engagement going in. So you might want to ask your attorney about that if that’s something that you guys decide to pursue. Um, and you can it may work in your situation.
Guest: Awesome. And yeah, I noticed I was saying 45, 65, my math is off there, so. Thanks, 35, 65. All right.
Mindy: I no worries on the math. Also, uh the w person that Scott really likes is a, I don’t know how to pronounce this, Jesse Scola, J U S S I Escala A S K O L A from seeking Alpha.
Scott: Yeah, I think that guy and I read a few of his pieces, but I think so far from what I’ve read he’s he’s got an interesting beat on the market. He’s very bullish on on certain reads. I’m I’m personally a little bit more skeptical on commercial real estate right now. Um, but that’s a temporary thing. Over a long period of time, Read, real estate investment trusts tend to perform worse than the stock market. So, um, you know, an index fund of the stock market for example. So I personally own no reads. I own no real estate investment trusts. doesn’t mean that they’re a bad investment and that the future could be different. Um, I just haven’t liked what I’ve seen from an historical return perspective and instead prefer to put my money, um, if I’m going to put it into public securities into like a Vanguard index fund personally. But to each their own. So that would be a good resource to I think that guy does a good job of analyzing a lot of real estate investment trusts uh over at uh seeking Alpha.
Mindy: Liz, what else can we help you with today?
Guest: So, I just have some cash on hand and I’m wondering where I can be putting that cash to be working for me or if I should have it sitting around for a rainy day.
Scott: My my personal preference here. I I think your your position is very strong from a balance sheet perspective. So, what do we what do we do with cash? We put it to the highest and best use. So, first, what are the interest rates on your student loans?
Guest: They’re in deferment.
Scott: They’re in deferment, right?
Guest: Yeah, they’re deferred right now.
Scott: Okay. Um, let’s say that they were above 6 or 7% interest. In that case, I would take once the deferment period ends, I might consider taking some of the cash out of your position and paying those off, right? Why put them into your and say, you know, savings account earning 3% when you could just pay off the student loans at a higher interest rate. That seems like a good use of cash. After that, there’s a number that you will be comfortable with in terms of the amount of cash you want sitting in your bank account and not being put to work, right? If you have a very stable job, uh, that that you’ve been at for 10 years and is clearly not going anywhere, you might have a very low savings balance, three months of cash on hand and put everything else into investments and expect that to continue. If you’re a real estate agent with very variable interest rate, very variable income, you might want to have six months to a year of cash accumulated and that might be a good business decision allowing you to focus on on uh growing your income rather than having to worry about um cash flow management. That might provide really good returns for you in a subtle way you can’t see. If you wrote a book called set for life and would be very embarrassed to go broke, you might have a year and a half to two years of cash on hand um because you couldn’t handle the jokes if that were to ever happen. So it just depends on your personal preference, but I’d pick a number and then say everything above that number, I’m then going to invest and you may find that after this down payment on the house, you’re not there yet and the best use of cash is either paying off these student loans or just building up to what I would ballpark to be 20, 25, $30,000 in cash again after the down payment and maybe after the student loans are paid off.
Mindy: I will tell you what I’m doing with my extra cash. I am putting it into Vanguard, I’m sorry, VTSAX and VTI when it comes up. My husband really likes uh, QQQ, which is a super fancy ETF. I don’t pay attention when he talks about that. And of course, he’s always looking for more Tesla stock to buy. Uh, so, what is it that you like? Are you comfortable with the Vanguard Total Stock market Index Fund? Do you want to be, he’s my my husband was a computer programmer. He reads every tech report ever about everything. We invest more on the tech side. If that’s not you, then, you know, maybe the total Stock market index fund is better. That’s, that’s the, like, the darling of the personal finance community is just the total stock market index fund, set it and forget it. Um, and there are other options available. Um, if you really like tech, maybe go for a tech fund, if you really like insurance, or, you know, maybe a REIT is the best. I would say, uh, do some research into, you know, what feels good to you. There are some sectors that I don’t invest in just because I either don’t have any interest or I don’t want to support it. Um, so just look at what you what you want to support and what you like. Um, But I was typing the, like waiting for Scott to finish so I could say, oh, yeah, and I would say, you know, what is it feel comfortable? How much feels comfortable having in your emergency fund? You don’t have to get rid of it all just because you’re like, well, I have too much money in cash. No, you have to be able to sleep at night. So how much feels good being able to sleep at night?
Guest: I really relate to uh Alex’s episode. Um, I don’t know what an episode number it is, but it’s the um fire by 45. I feel like I’m in a somewhat similar position other than the fact that I don’t have $120,000 of cash sitting around to like do like an assumable mortgage, which I wish I could have done, but um, I I liked that episode for relevance to kind of how I am right now.
Scott: Yeah, your your position is very stable, very very very strong balance sheet. It’s just a matter of now, grinding, setting up a a grind, a several year accumulation process with this and having a plan for where you want to put those those assets. You have time, um, you know, it’s to figure out the acid accumulation piece and this summer is about making it rain with the real estate business.
Mindy: Yep, and we’re going to send you those books so you have a lot of reading to do. Let us know what you think.
Guest: Awesome. Sounds great.
Mindy: Okay, Liz, thank you so much for your time today and we will talk to you soon.
Guest: Thanks you guys for having me. It was awesome chatting with you.
Scott: All right, Scott, that was Liz and she has some interesting circumstances. She is actually doing really well despite her expenses being slightly more than her monthly income right now, which is due to her super fun tip of saving money and just her her mental state of I’m not going to spend all the money that comes in. I still save and that’s uh she’s saving her real estate agent income.
Scott: Yeah, I I think Liz is doing just fine here and getting ahead involves thinking through how do I solve this problem of wanting to be full-time in real estate, which I we imagine, we could be wrong on this assumption, but we imagine there is no real full-time for a real estate agent in that particular area because transaction volume we believe is going to be so seasonal in um in that region that you’ll need to find find other income. So once she once she stabilizes that and gets a path to accumulation that is predictable and or has big upside, um then it’s about having a plan for where she wants to go. and that needs to be thought through a little bit more. We we can always if you ask me for the answer, how should I build my portfolio? I’m going to give you what I would want, which is not what you might want, right? What I want is flexibility. I want a financi financially flexible position with a big cash cushion, stable spendable passive cash flow and I’m willing to forego investments in retirement accounts, HSAs, um, home, a nice primary residence equity, those types of things. Uh nice car, whatever, in order to get that. That may not be aligned with your values and that’s where we always have to come back. If you let me ground the situation, I’m going to give you what I want which which which I think um Liz needs to do some more searching and thinking about what it is that she wants fundamentally from her portfolio in in what amount of time and the tradeoffs necessary to achieve that.
Mindy: Scott, you missed the Fargo pun. You would be willing to forgo this.
Scott: Oh. Oh. Oh.
Mindy: It was set up for you.
Scott: It was set up for me. That’s a minus. I get an F minus.
Mindy: It was set up for you.
Scott: Also, that’s right. If you ask me what you should be investing in, I’m going to tell you what I’m investing in. This is specific to my circumstances. I’m not investing in bonds even though I’m 50 years old. I’m investing in aggressive growth because I’m looking for aggressive growth.
Scott: All right, Mindy. 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 saying Cheerio Dingo.

Speaker 1: If you enjoyed today’s episode, please give us a five-star review on Spotify or Apple. And if you’re looking for even more money content, feel free to visit our YouTube channel at youtube.com/biggerpocketsmoney.
Mindy: BiggerPockets Money was created by Mindy Jensen and Scott Trench, produced by Calen Bennett, editing by Exodus Media, copywriting by Nate Wineb. Lastly, a big thank you to the Bigger Pockets team for making this show possible.

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