Good morning everyone!!! Got some big news to share…

I’m Taking a Sabbatical…

I’ve written 172 articles for this blog in the past couple years, and there’s 1 overarching theme I hope has shined through… It’s that life is more important than money.

That being said, there’s no better time to practice what I preach and disconnect from work for a few months while I shuffle priorities around. Hanging with my family is my new full-time job, and I’m going to stop blogging here.

It’s sad stepping away from Elite Edge Money because this has been a dream job. And I honestly don’t know if or when I’ll get back to an awesome position like this. The next chapter for me is scary in many ways…

→ Scared about money: Even though my wife and I have more than most people in life, dropping one of our incomes (while our expenses are increasing) is going to put a large dent in our finances. We will have a negative savings rate this year.

→ Scared about future work: This is my second “career break” within a 5-year time frame. My mind is filled with all sorts of *irrational* thoughts like “who the fuck is going to hire me again after this? I have zero skills to offer anyone, ever.” These aren’t realistic or true thoughts but I’d be lying if I said I didn’t have them.

But, even with all these fears and unknowns, this move is still a no-brainer decision for me. We have to take a leap of faith. And, there’s plenty to be excited about too!!!…

→ Excited about a new challenge!: Tackling scary new things in life usually results in more good outcomes than bad ones. You never know what you’re going to be good at unless you try. So, I’m excited to try.

→ Excited about a work break: Sabbaticals result in a lot of personal growth and valuable life epiphanies. I’m looking forward to taking a step back and reassessing passions and work options.

The Show Must Go On!

While the owners of this blog haven’t quite figured out a new direction just yet, I’ve done my best to line up some good content for the next little bit.

Budgets will feature some of my favorite oldies from J$ himself, so you’ll be receiving those posts in your inbox for a while. 

Thank you, thank you, thank you. I’m extremely appreciative to you all for reading my dribble over the past few years. Thanks for your comments, replies and encouragement.

I’ll still be blogging daily over at my personal site if you want to stay connected and receive my overly positive daily epigrams.

Goodbye, all.  

Sincerely,

Joel

[This post, MASSIVE NEWS —> Goodbye, and Thank You., was first published by 5am Joel on Elite Edge Money]

I haven’t told many people this, but my wife decided she wants to go back to grad school and finish off her masters in special ed.

Her plan is to continue working full time as a teacher during the day, plus take on a full schedule of graduate classes at night. Crazy, I know!

But it’s also very inspiring… Because she doesn’t need more schooling (she doesn’t even really need to work anymore if she doesn’t want to) but she’s doing them both anyway because that’s what she enjoys and wants to do in life. Also, this specific master’s degree + special ed credential will unlock even more possibilities and challenges within her field of passion in the future. 

Anyway, this post isn’t about how awesome and smart my wife is (there aren’t enough words to describe that), this is about how we are planning to pay for graduate school. Or rather, how *her parents* have offered to pay for her grad school.

Accepting Big Gifts as an Adult Feels Weird …

When we started sharing her plans for grad school late last year, my wife’s parents’ eyes lit up!… They’d been saving for her college education their whole life and proudly put her through undergrad with the intention of paying for more schooling if she wanted.

About 10 years ago (before we were married), my wife started grad school but stopped halfway through to pursue other stuff. So, her parents think it’s only fair that they continue paying for the remainder of her education now because they had planned to and never finished.

But, if I’m being honest, I feel a little uncomfortable accepting their offer. I wasn’t raised with an option of free college (don’t get me wrong, I come from an extremely privileged background – my parents gave me everything *except money*) so it feels strange accepting a gift of this size.

Not to mention, my wife and I are self-sufficient adults now. We have earned and saved our own money to pay for the things we want to pursue in life, whether it be vacations, lifestyle upgrades, or continued education. I feel it’s our responsibility.

Why let someone else pay for our stuff when we can afford it ourselves?

Now you might be thinking… “Joel, this isn’t a gift for YOU, this is a gift for your wife. It’s between her and her parents.” And while yes that’s a valid argument, we actually both benefit financially from this. My wife and I share everything in life – our money, our passions, our successes, struggles… everything. A gift to her is a gift to me. And vice versa.

Why Do I Feel Awkward Accepting Gifts?

I need to grow up and get over this feeling. So I’ve started asking myself WHY I feel weird getting gifts… And most of my reasons are pretty dumb now that I write them out:

1. I don’t like feeling “in debt” to other people. I don’t know why, but whenever I get a gift, I feel guilty until I can give back something equal in return. Especially big gifts… Like, if a friend got me a gift worth $500 for my birthday, I kind of feel obligated to spend $500 on their birthday, even though that’s way more than I would regularly spend. 
2. I have too much pride and ego. These are things I’m learning to swallow more and more as I grow older and get more mature. But I’ll admit, earning and paying for my own stuff myself makes me feel better than just getting things for free.
3. Maybe deep down I don’t feel worthy? There are 7 billion other people on this planet who probably deserve gifts more than I do. No matter the gift size, someone out there needs it more than me and my wife.
4. I don’t want to be a financial burden on others. Having parents pay for stuff feels like the opposite of financial independence. (Although ironically, receiving money brings us closer to FIRE because we can save more.)
5. I’d rather be the giver than the receiver. I’m getting better at this as I grow older… I’m realizing that part of giving IS receiving. Refusing gifts robs the other party of the very feeling that I love.

Whoa, that was a lot of sharing my feelings. I know this is a first world problem and you probably think I’m an ungrateful little shit. Believe me, I know how blessed I am in life and I 100% acknowledge these are good problems to have. I’m just sharing my situation and being honest.

Accepting Gifts and Changing My Mind-Set

Sooooo… long story short, we are accepting the parents’ offer and they will pay for grad school. My wife only has about 12 months of classes left to complete her degree, and she found an online university that’ll cost about $20k all in.

And going forward, I’m releasing my bottled feelings of guilt, embarrassment and discomfort when receiving gifts… Instead, I’m converting all those feelings into gratitude, appreciation, celebration, and respect for the gift givers. Generous parents set amazing examples, and their acts are teaching US how to be more generous.

Ultimately, my wife and I hope to pay forward all the blessings we receive in life. Perhaps we should add some more funds to our nephews’ UGMA gift accounts? Actually, maybe we should start setting aside money for our future adopted kids’ education?

Any of you out there received massive gifts from your parents? Would love to hear your thoughts/feelings if you’re open to sharing.

Sincerely,

Joel

[This post, I Feel Awkward Receiving Gifts … Time to Get Over It? 🤷‍♂️, was first published by 5am Joel on Elite Edge Money]

[I love hearing how people’s FIRE journeys twist and turn over time. Today’s guest post is from Olaf, a.k.a. the “Mile High Finance Guy” who shares his story and some epiphanies during his pursuit of financial independence. My fav part is Olaf’s overarching conclusion: “Enjoy the pilgrimage as much as the destination.”]

*****

Hi world, I’m Olaf.

I am the Mile High Finance Guy. Today, I would like to share my tale of how FIRE has profoundly impacted my life and the lessons I have learned along the way.

Why should you join me on today’s expedition? Because FIRE took me from the world of wine to financial services to blogging and gave me the courage to take huge risks along the way. So, without further ado, here we go!

Preface

Back in 2014, I was a recent college graduate. Having attained a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration, the world was my oyster. But first things first, I needed a break before spending the next 40-plus years of my life climbing the corporate ladder. Or so I thought. 

So, with ample savings on hand for such a scenario, I took a three-month intermission spent mountain biking. Over 90 days, I rode nearly 90 trails between the Mile High City and Moab. Life was good. But as those final days weaned, so did my bank account. So, off to the world of 9-to-5s I went!

Nearly immediately, I fell into an unusual job through who I knew, not what I knew, and I was working for a foreign winery, helping grow their U.S. presence and sales. Fast forward five years, and many cross-country wine tastings, festivals, and dinners later, it became readily apparent that the business needed a new direction. After much research, I determined either a physical tasting room or a virtual approach was required going forward. 

So, I put my job on the line and presented the owner with my thoughts. After deliberation, the owner and I decided the best course of action, given his changing goals, was to scale back spending and move toward a virtual approach that saw my income and time spent cut by 2/3. 

Newsflash: I now needed to find new full-time employment, as my job-turned-side-hustle was no longer enough.

During this time of upheaval, I was diagnosed with a hip defect that my outdoor lifestyle had aggravated (ah, to be a Coloradan) and now needed major surgery in my late twenties. Furthermore, many of my closest friends moved across the country, and another had shown their true colors and required parting ways. Amplifying these events was my inability to find a job locally in my area of expertise.

Soon I experienced anxiety and depression for the first time in my life. When it pours, it rains (or snows)? I do live in Colorado, after all. 

So, with Colorado being a state not known for wine (beer and marijuana are another matter), I pondered my next steps. Thankfully I had a supportive partner who is now my spouse.

During this reflection, I weighed restarting my career rather than heading west toward the wine country. 

But, if not wine, what was next? The answer burned in the embers of my FIRE journey.

FIREing Into a New Job

Shortly into my journey of entering the professional world, I stumbled upon Financial Samurai. The discovery led me to find Budgets Are $exy, Mr. Money Mustache, Physician on FIRE, and many other money blogs. 

Before I could say Financial Independence, Retire Early, I had begun saving a large chunk of my income. I was pruning expenses left and right, using Excel Spreadsheets to craft sexy budgets, and spouting the wonders of compound interest!

Consequently, my immersion into the world of personal finance sparked and provided the ignition for my next professional endeavor: financial services. 

A Rapid Progression and Departure

Within six months of entering the financial services industry, I attained my Series 7 & 66 licenses. Next, I moved from an introductory role into an advisory one, consulting with defined contribution participants regarding their retirement savings. Often, I would advise on what to do with old 401(k) plans. 

(Defined contribution is a fancy way of saying 401(k) and 403(b) plans.)

Then, within five months, during which I had a significant surgery unrelated to my hip, I found myself in the Pandemic Plunge while relearning how to walk. 

As all hell broke loose in February and March of 2020, the stock market saw breakers triggered daily to halt the sell-off. No longer was the advice that I was giving was theoretical. Instead, it became real. 

The Corona Crash and its Aftermath

During the chaos, I had many heartfelt conversations with individuals who had just retired, were nearing it, or had experienced a layoff. Others had just started investing and were frightened. Regardless, these individuals needed their money to be there for them in days or years ahead, and their accounts were free-falling. 

The most common question I received was how to stop the bleeding. While to seasoned investors, such an idea may seem erroneous, consider that many (but not all) employer-sponsored retirement investors stumble into investing by gaining a job. 

I helped people learn about investing through the many phone calls, reconfigure their portfolios to match their risk tolerance, and raise cash for their immediate living needs (if laid off with no emergency fund). 

At the same time, while many people listened to me about tuning out the turbulence, others didn’t and chose to sell their entire portfolios. However, I respect these choices, as it is their money. It never was my job to force people to do what I thought was best, only to provide them with guidance. If they could not sleep at night, they needed to take action.

After the chaos subsided and the markets stabilized (from unprecedented stimulus measures), life returned to somewhat normal in the financial service industry. Soon after, I received a promotion to a higher tier of the same job, helping clients with higher incomes and net worths. Then, later that year, I had hip surgery after a delay due to the more urgent surgery that had preceded it. 

Upon returning from hip surgery, I soon received another promotion to the top tier within my division. However, that didn’t last long, as four months later, I found myself craving for more and quitting my role due to disagreements with the division’s direction. By this point, I discovered that my job wasn’t aligning with my goals, and the change in upper management and strategy, paired with the constant anonymous grind of working in a phone center, led to me extinguishing this job in hopes of some healing.

Reborn From the Flames

When I quit, my spouse and I were well on the way toward FIRE. But being miserable is an awful thing. 

Fortunately, FIRE gives you the power to say enough is enough and change directions, even if you haven’t reached it yet.

So, with ample savings, a stable and fulfilling job for my supportive spouse, and a side hustle income stream from wine consulting, I said goodbye to my six-figure 9-to-5 job.

However, what began as a sabbatical with no end goal in mind soon turned into a new mission. 

You see, I knew when I quit that I wanted to share knowledge, but I wasn’t sure how. But one day, it struck me: I could share my views and knowledge through a blog, like many of my aspirational figures. Hence, Mile High Finance Guy was born. 

Now, I work two part-time jobs as a winery consultant (for the same winery) and investment advisor while running my blog full-time. I find my life much more fulfilling, but that doesn’t mean that anxiety and depression don’t occasionally make their ugly heads known. After all, to be human is to be imperfect.

My Struggles and Lessons Learned

I have long been obsessive about endeavors I embark upon, as I find balance and moderation theoretical rather than practical. Therefore, throughout my professional journey and up until recently, I struggled with frugality and spending. 

I often pivoted too hard into saving and refused to go out with friends in the past. After all, if the money wasn’t in my budget, it wasn’t there to spend! But such thinking was mistaken. 

Instead, saving and frugality are about enjoying the pleasures of life while cutting down on the things that aren’t. The result is a fulfilled present and brighter future. 

Newsflash: If you cannot enjoy the present without stressing about every dollar, you no longer live a fulfilling life. Instead, you have gone from strategic spending to cheapness (unless you struggle with poverty).

Thus, my biggest lesson learned during my journey towards FIRE so far is to enjoy the pilgrimage as much as the destination, as things won’t magically change once you arrive. 

Furthermore, I put too much of my life on hold to save more. Don’t do that. Find a balance of spending and saving that works for you, as life is too precious to delay or procrastinate away. 

Because money is equal parts math and emotions, finding balance won’t always come easy. But, achieving financial freedom should still be the goal, regardless of how long it takes. 

While you will likely face strain from saving initially, that will probably pass. However, if saving turns into self-imposed deprivation, you have gone too far. 

For me, FIRE has evolved into FI, as I never want to retire early. Instead, I want to do what I want, when I want, and however I want. To me, that means empowering others to learn about personal finance and enjoying the outdoors Colorado has to provide. For my spouse, that means helping others and making an impact, which she already does by working in health care. Thus, while we both may never formally retire (until old age slows us down), you can bet we will be FI until then. 

My 6 Takeaways On Money & Life

• Enjoying the journey of FIRE is as important as reaching the destination. So, learn to enjoy today because life doesn’t magically change when you arrive.
• Strike a balance between saving and spending that achieves your goals in the present and future. Ideally, if you aren’t in poverty, find a way to save at least 20% of your income, but preferably more.
• Money is equally emotional and numerical, so don’t grill yourself too hard about mistakes, and be sure to celebrate your wins!
• Learn your risk tolerance and invest accordingly, as anyone can enjoy the gains during a bull market, but not everyone tolerates downturns with grace. By investing in a balanced portfolio that matches your risk tolerance, you will be ready to face volatility.
• Having an emergency fund while you are in your accumulation phase is essential. By doing so, you insure against an unforeseen layoff and provide yourself with a safety net.
• Ask yourself what you are genuinely trying to achieve with FIRE. If you can implement any of it today, do so! 

Thanks for reading my story. I hope you found it helpful, and I would love to hear your thoughts and questions in the comments below.

*****

[Olaf is a millennial who has a passion for personal finance! When he’s not typing awesome blog posts, he likes mountain biking, hiking, and traveling. Check out more posts over at his blog – Mile High Finance Guy]

[This post, “Enjoy the Pilgrimage as Much as the Destination”, was first published by Guest Author on Elite Edge Money]

Soooo… my wife and I are having a debate right now (actually, it’s not so much a “debate”… it’s more like “we have decided, just discussing the pros and cons”) about hiring a *regular* housekeeper to clean our house.

This is a new area for us, because we rarely outsource tasks.

In the past 12 years living together, we’ve probably hired a cleaner maybe 10 times max. These have been times when we’re extremely busy or in a transition and need a deep house clean before hosting important guests or something. Apart from that, we’ve always found time ourselves to sweep, mop, dust, clean the bathrooms, do our own laundry, and all the other adulting stuff.

BUT… life is about to get pretty busy for us. On top of all our current stuff, we anticipate a little kid or two entering our home soon – and these kids will come with their own full schedule of appointments and activities.

Hiring a house cleaner will let us prioritize work and kid stuff, as well as protect some of our dwindling free time.

It’s not that I’m against hiring cleaners… I just want to consider the long-term effects of this decision before we commit. To me, this feels like lifestyle inflation that could potentially be a one-way street. Once we get a regular cleaning service, it might be hard to give up later.

Financial Considerations of Hiring a House Cleaner

We’ve found a cleaner that can come every 2 weeks, and will charge ~$150 per cleaning.

That’s $3,900 per year.

BTW – we would still need to clean ourselves in the off weeks. (Our German Shepherd alone sheds heavily and we already sweep a couple times a week). So hiring a cleaner could actually cost us more if we need more than every other week.

We can afford an extra $3,900 per year, but there are a few ways to consider the costs:

First, the weekly cost breaks down to $75 per week. Luckily, one of my contracting gigs pays $75 per hour. So if I worked just 1 hour extra per week, this could fully cover the cost without impacting our cashflow. Sounds easy!

Next, if we think about the time savings, it’s probably a cost of ~$20 per hour that we pay the cleaner to save our time ($150 for 8-ish hours work). 

• Is me and wifey’s work time worth more than $20 an hour? Yes, I think it is.
• Is our FREE TIME worth more than $20 an hour? At the moment I would say maybe, but next year with a full schedule I would think Yes, it’s definitely with it.

Lastly, I’m considering the overall impact of our FI number. If this new annual cost continues *forever,* then it’s something that will need to be replaced eventually by passive income.

Given the 4% rule, an extra ~$4k per year of living expenses adds $100k to our FI number. That’s a pretty huge increase to think about! 

There are also opportunity costs (because we’ll be spending $4k instead of investing it each year before reaching FI) which could be another $100k+ of missed growth over the next 10 years.

Again, I’m not opposed to increasing our expenses (we planned for increased costs when we have kids). It’s just a little sticker shock seeing the numbers written down. Somehow a basic bi-weekly cleaning service has a ~$200k impact on our overall financial life!

Lifestyle Considerations

Money aside, I have some weird emotions going on about hiring someone to clean my house.

First, I think I have a pride issue that I need to swallow. Almost every one of my friends here in LA has a regular hired house cleaner. The fact that my wife and I do all of our cleaning ourselves makes me feel great. I’m proud to be a hard worker. And switching from hard work to smart work is more difficult than I thought. It involves releasing control.

Next, I’m scared this lifestyle inflation will be a “creep” that keeps growing and growing. I’m worried that a cleaning service twice a week will soon lead to every week, and then maybe we’ll start to hire help in other areas of life. I guess the unknown future costs are starting to freak me out.

Lastly, I’m worried about getting lazy. When someone else is cleaning, it means I will stop cleaning. This change in my behavior may lead to me stopping other types of chores and looking to outsource more stuff.

Even worse, what will our kids be learning by seeing someone regularly clean for us? When I was a kid, my siblings and I helped with ALL household chores. Cleaning the house was one of the ways my parents taught me to be independent. I’m worried that if our kids grow up with a cleaner, they’ll expect that as the normal thing when they reach adulthood.

All Things Considered …

Am I crazy for thinking this way? Am I being a tight-ass for not jumping at the chance to outsource chores?

Would love to hear from you all. If you have a regular house cleaning service currently, all in all, is it worth it?

Love,

Joel

[This post, We’re Thinking About Hiring a House Cleaner …, was first published by 5am Joel on Elite Edge Money]

Happy Monday, happy people!

Just a short post today… Here are 3 simple questions to ask yourself this morning.

Asking these questions once in a while (especially at the start of the work week) will help you lead a happier, richer, and more intentional life.

Here we go…

1. What Tiny Little Thing Can I Do to Make My Partner’s Life Easier Today?

I freaking love this question. That’s why I put it first.

I personally believe that the quickest route to happiness is  —> making other people happy. A thoughtful 2 to 3 minute activity in the morning can brighten someone’s ENTIRE day, not to mention make you feel great all day, too.

Since I get up one hour before my wife each day, I have the opportunity to do something tiny for her in the morning. Like, making sure her bike tires are pumped before she rides to work, checking if her headphones are low on battery and putting them on charge, or writing a small love note to sneak in her lunchbox. Tiny tasks —> massive impact.

If you don’t have a partner at home, think about a friend, a coworker, your boss, or even a person you just met. What one tiny thing can you do to make their day easier?

2. What Are 3 Good Things That Will Happen This Week?

Positivity breeds positivity. When you anticipate and look forward to good things happening, other random blessings start to manifest in your life, too.

Anything fun going on at work you’re looking forward to? Meeting anyone cool this week? Are you getting paid or making any extra $ this week? What are the fun hobbies you’re doing?

Feel free to think of more than just 3 things. The more, the merrier. Oh, and BTW… They don’t have to be massive or life-changing events… In fact, looking forward to the smaller and more regular things in life will help you build a habit of simple appreciation.

3. What Tiny Good Habit Am I Trying to Form? (Or a Tiny Bad Habit Am I Trying to Shed?)

My favorite Benjamin Franklin quote…

“Your net worth to the world is usually determined by what remains after your bad habits are subtracted from your good ones.”

It’s easy to set big goals and resolutions in life (especially at the beginning of the year). But sometimes we get lost in the grind and forget the small daily habits that help achieve those big goals.

Instead of trying to change everything at once, just focusing on and mastering one habit at a time can be very powerful.

What is the one thing you are trying to improve this week, or month?

*****

Wishing you a happy, productive, and prosperous day ahead!

Love, Joel

[This post, 3 Quick Questions to Ask Yourself This AM, was first published by 5am Joel on Elite Edge Money]

OK … I got a fun question for you today …

Should you LIE during a job interview?

Before you answer, let me give you a bit of context as to where this question comes from…

My First Job Interview, in 1999

I was 14 years old, at my first interview at McDonald’s.

I remember wearing a suit that was way too big for me (my grandpa insisted I dress up) and I was sitting in front of a manager. The interview was going well and all the questions were fun and light. I remember laughing a lot and thinking she was really nice.

Then came a trick question… The manager asked, “If you worked here for one whole year, how many times do you think you’d be late for work?”

Since I was raised to be 100% honest, I thought about the question for a second.   Hmmm… I thought… out of 365 days, how many days would I be late?

My answer was 5. I told her that “I would probably be late 5 times.” You know, because of traffic, or sometimes my siblings hog the bathroom in the morning, or the train might be late coming home from school, etc. Shit happens, and I was just being honest!

The manager looked disappointed. Really disappointed. She shook her head. Obviously she was hoping my answer was ZERO. Employers want their workers to be late ZERO times each year! But, I was just an honest, innocent little 14 y/o boy trying to tell the truth. I didn’t know any better.

Luckily, they hired me anyway. I worked there for 4 years – and if memory serves me correctly, I wasn’t late once!

Anyway, that interview changed me. I remember thinking afterwards… Maybe I should have lied? Maybe I should have just told the manager what she wanted to hear so I could “impress” her more?

Telling People What They Want to Hear

Maybe it was my training in sales. Maybe it was my immature desire to always be liked… Whatever the reason, over the years I got pretty good at telling people what they wanted to hear.

An interviewer once asked me: “How do you feel about cold-calling people?” I replied that I had cold-called hundreds of CIO’s in my sales career and closed many sales deals from it. I know how to do it and I’m good at it! (This is technically 100% true.)

But what I didn’t say is that with each outbound cold-call, my heart dies a little. Although I love making money and will do anything asked of me, I truly don’t enjoy interrupting busy executives in the middle of their day to push my agenda over theirs. Cold-calling sucks!

But you can’t say stuff like that in a job interview, right? You have to hide some of the truth, right?

Same with the “where do you see yourself in 5 years?” question… I remember once a district manager asking me this, and I replied, “Sir, I would love nothing more than having a position like yours in 5 years. I hope to climb the ranks here and get promoted internally. I think this company could be my forever home.”

But what I didn’t share were my true thoughts, which were like… “Sir, in 5 years I see myself handing you my resignation and telling everyone here byyyeeee . I’m secretly buying rental properties for passive income and I really dgaf about your corporate ladder.”

Too Much Lying Can Backfire …

Upon reflecting, I think hiding too much of the truth is one of the reasons my sales jobs never worked out over the long term. I’ve now learned that lying in interviews can be like lying to myself. It’s a red flag that things probably won’t work out with that employer.

If the interviewer/employer doesn’t like me – the REAL me – then I’m signing myself (and them) up for disappointment.

Today I have no problem telling interviewers exactly how I feel and my real thoughts. I won’t lie. I just can’t do it. And thankfully, things are working out just fine. I’ve been offered some killer roles over the past few years and found an awesome home with my current employer without having to hide any truths.

But, maybe I’ve just been lucky recently?

Should You Lie During Interviews?

I definitely want to hear your thoughts. But, I’ll leave you with 2 final points.

First, it’s no secret that employers sometimes lie. Have you ever been promised something in an interview, only to start working there a few weeks later and realize it’s actually the opposite? Companies tend to tell you the good things about working there and brush over bad details. Is it just expected that both sides are lying during interviews? We’re all saying the same shit just to land the job/worker.

Second, if you’ve had an interview lately, no doubt you’ve googled “Top Interview Questions” to prepare yourself. The internet is full of articles that not only tell you the questions that will be asked, they tell you how to respond and what to say. This is just like telling interviewers what they want to hear. Is this lying if everybody does it?

Those of you interviewing right now… What’s your experience?  

Any recruiters in the crowd who want to chime in?

[This post, Should You “Lie” During Job Interviews?, was first published by 5am Joel on Elite Edge Money]

In 1983, the Sydney to Melbourne Ultramarathon was one of the longest and toughest foot races in the world at the time.

This race was a brutal 544 miles distance (yes, you read that right, it’s more than 20 marathons back to back!) stretched across the dry Australian outback. 

Only a small group of elite young runners dared to show up and compete.

But on the starting day of the race, an unexpected contender arrived … a 61-year-old potato farmer named Cliff Young. He was wearing overalls and work boots, and nobody took him seriously.

In fact, they almost didn’t let him enter the race, given his age and strange “racing attire” – or lack thereof.

But Cliff assured the race officials he was serious, saying, “I grew up on a farm where we couldn’t afford horses or tractors, and the whole time I was growing up, whenever the storms would roll in, I’d have to go out and round up the sheep. We had 2,000 sheep on 2,000 acres. Sometimes I would have to run those sheep for two or three days. It took a long time, but I’d always catch them. I believe I can run this race.”

So… they let Cliff compete.

Before the race started, Cliff removed his false teeth (he said they rattled when he ran). The crowd and media laughed at him, thinking he was a kook.

When the starting gun fired, all the runners took off at a blazing speed, except for Cliff. Letting everyone speed ahead, he just started jogging at a slow and steady pace, shuffling along in his own time.

By the end of the first day, all the runners were way ahead of Cliff. But this is where he started surprising people …

Because this ultramarathon was a multi-day race, all of the runners planned to run for 18 hours straight, then sleep for 6 hours each night. 

But Cliff had a different strategy. While the other contenders were resting and sleeping, he just kept on running. The massive gains that his opponents made during the day were short-lived, as Cliff caught up and passed them every night.

Cliff ran for 5 days straight … and ended up winning the race by a whopping 10 hours faster than the person in second place! (He also smashed the previous distance record by more than 2 days.) Only 6 people crossed the finish line in that 1983 race, and Cliff became an Australian hero.

**This is a true story – Cliff Young**

Marathons Are Like Building Wealth

You’ve probably heard a million tortoise-and-hare stories like Cliff’s. And you’ve also probably read many blog posts comparing marathons to personal finance!

So I’ll get right to the main points of this analogy:

1. No matter your age, it is never too late to start building wealth. Yes, it will be hard. Yes, you might have to work overtime. Yes, you might look goofy. But every dollar you save is worth it in the end when you reach financial freedom.
2. It’s OK to save money at your own pace! People will overtake you, get rich quicker than you, and will have fancier strategies than you. But you need to run your race according to what works best for you. That’s why they call it “personal” finance … you get to customize your journey however you like.
3. Bystanders will laugh at you, but pay them no mind. Committing to a financially savvy lifestyle might mean living differently than the regular humans. That’s OK! Because you’re achieving something that the regular humans can’t even fathom – a comfortable retirement on YOUR terms.

Keep Running, My Friends.

I hope Cliff’s story inspires you this week. Keep earning as much as you can, spending less than you make, and saving (and investing!) the difference.

Oh, one last cool thing I learned about Cliff’s story…

After he won that ultramarathon in 1983, he received a $10,000 prize. Cliff wasn’t even aware that there was prize money involved, so he split the winnings between the 6 finishing runners. He said he “felt bad accepting it, as each of the other five runners who finished had worked as hard as I did.”

What a bloody legend!

Have a great week y’all. Happy Monday,

– Joel

[This post, So a Potato Farmer Walks Into the Outback …, was first published by 5am Joel on Elite Edge Money]

Trying to build wealth without tracking your net worth is like not checking the road map because you’re too busy driving. How do you know if you’re headed in the right direction? 

My wife and I check our net worth monthly, and it takes a measly 5 minutes to calculate. It’s just a simple tally of all the assets we own, minus all of the debts and liabilities we have. Each month we try to increase our assets while paying down our debts.

Here is our net worth report from Jan 1 2022 (minus a few private partnerships tracked separately). We share these reports on the blog each month to show how different assets grow and change over time, as well as spark conversations about money and investing – something we all need to talk about more IRL!

Jan 1, 2022 Net Worth: $854,865

MASSIVE increase this month – mostly due to the sale of another partnership rental property that closed in December! 3 down, 1 more to sell!

The sale from this property gave us about $67k in cash, and the other $20k of growth this month came from stock market gains. In total, our NW grew $87,971 since last month’s report.

December Happenings…

Here are the irregular money moves we made last month:

• As mentioned, we sold a partnership rental property and cashed out with $67k. This wasn’t part of our original tracking, so we’re adding it now because the funds will be put into our brokerage accounts. →
• Wifey received a teacher appreciation gift of $435! THANK YOU to all the parents out there who gave their school and teachers a Christmas bonus. Teaching is sometimes a thankless job, so little gifts and appreciation goes a looooong way. Thank you.
• My employer had some additional contract work for me, so I earned an extra $750 in side income from December hustling.
• We signed up for the new Capital One Venture X credit card! This cost us $395 for the annual fee (but in a few months, we hope to reap ~$1200 in bonus travel credits!).
• Gifts and presents set us back about $400 in December, money well spent!
• We also traveled to Boston for Christmas. Flights were paid for with points, and we stayed with family while there … so it only cost us about $300 for Ubers and groceries/booze!  

(I love wrapping presents and choosing fun wrapping paper!)

Detailed Account Breakdowns

Cash Accounts (+$9,010): We’ve been beefing up our cash reserves but only because we plan to invest $12k into our Roth IRAs at the beginning of 2022. Our ideal cash balance is about $5-10k, as we want as much money invested and working for us as possible.

Rental Property + Reserve Account (+$1,148): All was quiet at the duplex last month (just the way we like it!) with no irregular maintenance or issues. Here is how the rental duplex made us money last month…

$1,975  —  Incoming rent from units

(-$138)  —  Property management fees

(-$28) —  Pest control regular service

(-$661)  —  Mortgage principal + interest

$1,148  —  Total rental gain this month

Real Estate Syndication (no change): We’ve owned this building for 3 full quarters and are beating projections on all fronts. Our next quarterly investor distribution is set to come in January and is likely to be $800 – $1,000. Based on our $50k equity, this is a 7-8% annualized return.

IRA – Regular: (+$7,162): The stock market had an awesome run in December, and we finished with just over a ~3.5% increase. This IRA is invested in a total stock market index fund.

IRA – Roths: (+$3,426): Same as above, all our Roth money is invested in a total stock market index fund. This month we’ll be funding both our Roth accounts for 2022 with the maximum contributions ($6k +$6k) which will be reflected in next month’s report!

Joint Brokerage Account: (+$61,428): After the sale of our rental property, we moved $53k into this after-tax brokerage account. The additional growth came from rising stock prices. It’s kind of scary buying stocks in large quantities at all-time market highs… But I’m still convinced that lump sum investing is better than dollar cost averaging when you’re sitting on a large pile of cash and have a long investment time horizon.

*NEW* Solo Roth 401(k): (+$9,641): A couple months ago I opened a Solo 401k with TD Ameritrade, as well as a Roth 401k account. Since I have no work benefits currently (I’m paid as a contractor) I can host my own retirement plan. I decided to go with *Roth* 401k contributions instead of regular 401k because I can roll these directly into my Roth IRA later. This gives me a lot of flexibility with early withdrawals and such before I reach full retirement age. More to come on all this… I’m hoping to max out this Solo Roth 401k with 2022 contributions – this year’s max I believe is $20,500!

HSA: $4,743 (+$180): Since my wife and I don’t have HDHP health plans currently, we aren’t able to contribute to this HSA account. The $180 gain this month was from market growth only.

Breakdown of Liabilities

Rental Property Mortgage: (+$250): I’ve reached out to a mortgage broker to investigate refinance options (again) for our rental duplex. Since we have more than 50% equity in this property we have room to leverage a bit more. Still not convinced it makes sense right now, but it never hurts to explore options! Until then, our tenants are paying down the mortgage balance little by little, month by month.

Credit Card Balances: (+$4,856): We hammered the credit cards this month, but we have the cash to cover all purchases in our checking account. Each month we pay our CCs off in full before any interest hits.

My wife and I have no other consumer debts at this time.

How did your 2021 finish up? Which accounts are you prioritizing this year?

Happy Friday and have a great weekend!

– Joel

[This post, Net Worth Report #16 “Never Been Kissed” (Up $87,971) 📈, was first published by 5am Joel on Elite Edge Money]

Another month, another net worth update!

For those new to the blog, each month I tally up all my assets and liabilities to figure out my current net worth. This helps me monitor financial progress over time to make sure I’m building wealth and on track to hit my future money goals!

Some months we have gains, sometimes losses, but the important thing is consistency in tracking and incremental investing regardless of ups and downs.

Here are the full details from last month

Dec 1, 2021 Net Worth: $766,894

November started out strong with the stock market hitting all-time highs… but in the last week of the month things reversed and ended up a few percentage points down. Our rental duplex valuation made a huge difference this month, bringing a total $18k increase across all assets.

Travel, Gifts, Extra Income, and More Surfboards…

Here are some irregular expenses in November:

• My wife and I took a 4-day trip up to wine country and spent about $1,000 on hotels, eating out and visiting 11 delicious wineries! Mmmm
• We bought about $450 worth of Christmas and birthday gifts this past month. More to come in December because our shopping isn’t over yet!
• I finally got a filling replaced at the dentist, which cost $260. (Not a bad price for no dental insurance, right? Or is it usually that cheap?)
• I also bought 2 surfboards in November (I have a PROBLEM, people!). They were super cheap though… one was $50 and the other $65. The plan is to ride them for a bit, fix them and maybe resell for a few hundred bucks later.

And we also got some unexpected extra income:

• I booked some extra SEO work for my employer and made a cool $1,425 cash on the side last month. I still find the work fun and hope there’s more I can continue with in December!
• An unexpected rent collection came in from an old delinquent tenant from 2018. This added $1,100 to our rental income this month (although the roof replacement expenses took most of that away so our reserve account ended up in the negative ).

Detailed Account Breakdowns

Cash Accounts (+$2,606): We’re now sitting on ~$21k in cash and this is more than I really want… So the plan for December is to invest some of this money and bring our balance down to about $10k. I’m looking into funding my new sexy solo 401k before the end of year but still need to work out whether we want to do regular or Roth contributions!

Rental Property + Reserve Account (+$23,484): Here is how the rental duplex made us money last month…

$3,075  —  Incoming rent (includes the $1,100 old collection from 2018)

(-$215)  —  Property management fees

(-$141) —  Landscaping, maintenance

(-$661)  —  Mortgage principal + interest

$2,058  —  Total rental gain this month

We also added about $30k in asset value due to a new appraisal, and our roof replacement cost us a few grand due to settling our insurance claim.

BTW — The comparative market analysis for that duplex actually showed a mid-range value of ~$266,225. But after more chats with my real estate agent, we think realistically it would sell for a little less than this. So for now, I’m gonna value the duplex at a $250k market value going forward — I’d rather underestimate the value a bit in these net worth reports than artificially inflate during market highs. :)

Real Estate Syndication (no change): Traditionally, the winter is the slowest period for renters moving into apartments and signing new leases. But since this building is still effectively “full” and demand has been so strong, this doesn’t affect us too much. The next quarterly distribution for this investment should come in February, and I’m expecting the dividend to be $875 at that time (7% annualized return).

IRA – Regular: (-$2,818): This account is invested 100% in FSKAX, which is Fidelity’s Total Stock Market Index Fund. Similar to VTSAX for Vanguard except Fidelity has a slightly lower expense ratio fee.  Anyway, the ~$3k lost in this account last month was because of the stock market dipping.

IRA – Roths: (-$1,126): Same as above, my wife and I have all our Roth money invested in the total stock market index. I’m just happy we’re still above the $100k mark for these Roth accounts — and we get to add some new contributions soon for 2022!

Joint Brokerage Account: (-$3,561): There have been no new contributions to this account for a while. But, we’re still actively trying to sell our remaining rental properties (not tracked in this net worth report) and the proceeds will be invested here! Should be crossing the $300k mark soon as long as there are no major market crashes.

HSA: $4,743 (-$71): No contributions or withdrawals for this account… My wife and I don’t have HDHP plans so we do not qualify right now for contributions.

Breakdown of Liabilities

Rental Property Mortgage: (+$250): I love principal paydown. I almost forget about it each month because the balance lowers so slowly. This mortgage is being paid down by our rental tenants and is slowly building equity for us each month.

Credit Card Balances: (+$19): We hammered the credit card this month, and actually hit the $6k minimum spend for our new Amex Platinum card (YAY for 130,000 reward points!). We pay our balances off every month before any interest is due so that’s why we carry a low balance. :)

My wife and I have no other consumer debts at this time.

How’d your November go? Any fun $$$ numbers to share??

Happy Monday!!

– Joel

[This post, Net Worth Report #15 “Young and Keen” (Up $18,783) 📈, was first published by 5am Joel on Elite Edge Money]

Good morning, guys!

Got some fun things going on at my rental duplex this past month I thought I’d share with ya.

The first one is a pretty massive win, but sort of expected given this crazy real estate market…

Our Duplex Increased About $46,000 This Year!!

Hot dang! I just ordered an appraisal of my rental duplex and the new estimated market value is $266,225 (as opposed to 12 months ago at $220,000)!

That’s a bump of $46,255 and a 21% increase. Wow.

For those of you following my monthly net worth reports you’ll have seen that for this whole year I’ve been using ~$220k as the value for this asset. So there’s going to be a massive bump in next month’s report (coming on Monday).

Sometimes I get asked about why I don’t check my real estate values monthly… And I guess there’s a couple reasons I do it annually instead… 1) Because there’s no quick and easy way to value a rental duplex (Zillow and Redfin can be horribly inaccurate, so gotta order a proper evaluation which takes a lot of time). And 2) since this is a long-term, illiquid investment, monthly ups and downs are kind of irrelevant. Even if we did sell, it wouldn’t be at the exact monthly valuation price anyway.

The only downside to annual evaluations is all-of-a-sudden big changes in the net worth reports. Which actually, now that I think about it, isn’t really a downside at all!

Comparing Property Growth to the Stock Market

I’m definitely grateful for this +46k property increase!!!… But I can’t help wondering whether I would’ve had better performance if money had been invested in the stock market.

I know it’s unfair to compare stocks vs. rental properties (especially only over a 1 year timeframe), but I’m gonna do it anyway, just for funsies.

First, the simplest and dumbest way to compare the two different assets is just taking percentage totals over the last 12 months and comparing them to each other.

My duplex value rose 21% over the past 12 months. 

And the stock market rose 30.72%! (using Vanguard Total Stock Market Index Fund ETF (VTI) as comparison.

Looking at it this way, stocks win by far.

But, this isn’t really a fair comparison because my duplex is leveraged.

At this time last year, the amount of equity I had in the duplex was only $115,098. (Prop value – mortgage + reserve cash).

With the new valuation, including principal paydown and positive cash flow throughout the last year, today’s equity total is now $161,152.

This works out to be a 40% increase in equity, which is of course much higher than the stock market’s return of 30%.

Pretty interesting how leverage can supercharge your returns. So for those of you who think all mortgages are evil… think again. Sometimes having a mortgage works to your advantage. In hindsight, I would have done even better if I did a cash-out refi last year. Maybe I’ll consider that this year?

In other news…

We Got a New Roof

It’s a 25-year, shingle tab roof with new felt, aluminium vents, pipe jacks, drip edges, and about 10 other roofing terms I know nothing about.

Anyway, here’s what it looks like…

Quite underwhelming if I’m being honest. Roofs are ugly.

But, the good news is this roof only cost me $2,310. Earlier this year we had a big hail storm which resulted in an insurance claim. Since the damage wasn’t horrible and there was no urgency, we waited many months to do the replacement. The $2,310 out of pocket is my insurance deductible.

Now we don’t have to replace it again for the next 25 years. Or, until the next horrible hail storm comes

And the last bit of news…

We “Found” $1,100 in Missing Rent

This story begins way back in early 2018… We had a bad tenant back then, and they were always late on rent. They ended up moving out suddenly, trashing the unit and vanishing with unpaid rents.

Here’s the lovely mess they left for us on the carpet.

From memory, it was a pretty quick turnaround. After new carpets and cleaning, we had the unit spic ‘n’ span and rented out to someone new within a few weeks. No big deal.

But it set us back about $3k after we applied their forfeited security deposit.

After chasing the tenants for a few months, we just handed the debt over to a collections company. The collections agency chased them up for over 3 years! And last month, the old tenants settled their debt for $2,200!

The collections company took a 50% cut, leaving us $1,100 in recovered rent.

Not a full recovery from the $3k we lost 4 years ago, but not bloody bad for a debt we had completely forgotten about.

I don’t know who this tenant is or why they decided to finally settle their debts…But my faith in humanity is somewhat restored knowing that people out there are taking responsibility for old actions and are trying to get out of debt. Honestly, I have half a mind to track down these old tenants and just give them the $1,100 back, just to encourage them to keep working on their financial situation. (This is why I am such a bad property owner — I’m a softy!)

Welp, that’s all I got for now.

As much as I complain about rentals, sometimes they’re fun to own :)

Happy Friday! Have a killer weekend!
Joel

[This post, Duplex Updates: Big Value Increase $$, New Roof, and Missing Rents, was first published by 5am Joel on Elite Edge Money]