60 Comments

1. Hey congrats on getting married. Help paying for the wedding is a bonus in my book. 50K in company stock seems a big risky, but like you said you read up on it a lot. Good luck and welcome to the married club.

   • Thanks EL! I agree the 50k in company stock is a lot but it was all given to me practically for free. I have been with the company for a long time and was granted them for a miniscule amount. That makes it a lot easier for me to keep knowing I didnt really put anything into it. Mostly free money!

2. You made an interesting decision about your 401(k). What about the tax benefits of your contributions decreasing your taxable income for the year?

   • Hi Aliyyah,

     Yeah I think the tax benefits dont outweigh the returns I can get from putting that money into real estate instead. As long as im not getting matching contributions, I don’t think its a wise move for me to put in money into the 401k. At least for now. 🙂

3. Considered you survived a major life event and expenses like a wedding with minimal damage, looks like a great month. I guess there was a mix up with the mail because I never got my invitation. 🙂

   • Haha indeed your invitation was sent back to us! 😉

     At the end of the day, I really did make it out super easy with the wedding. Im grateful for sure!

4. Congratulations on your marriage, and thanks for your transparency with this post! Your portfolio of rentals is impressive.

   • Thank you so much! I love my rental portfolio and hopefully I can retire from it in the near future. Have to keep at it but I do know I need to diversify as well so I need to work on that.

5. Congratulations on the wedding! That’s definitely a big deal. I agree with you that a -$3K drop in your net worth is not a problem at all, especially if you just went through a wedding. Some might even say that you got off easy!

   • Thanks Biglaw!! Haha yes I did get off easy but I was prepared for the worst. 😉

6. Congratulations sir on the wedding. These net worth reports are always very detailed and thorough. It’s interesting to see how your cash flows each month. Makes my balance sheet look pretty darn simple (basically no assets and a few huge liabilities). Well done!

   • Thanks Andrew! I love writing up these updates because it keeps me super informed on my own finances so I try to be as thorough as possible. The cash flow definitely differs each month and hopefully I can keep growing it!

7. Congrats on the wedding! I appreciate your detailed cashflows.

   • Thanks ZJ!!

8. I can second you on the car loan. I purchased my “dream car” and I don’t have any regrets with that part, but the regret is getting attached to material goods. I know once I sell it, I will never get another one again.

   We recently paid cash for a family vehicle & are really happy not having a loan.

   • Definitely! I think the only other vehicle purchase I will make will be when we are ready to have a “family vehicle”. What I have now is definitely not a family vehicle. LOL

9. As you get closer to the 10 property mortgage limit, will you potentially pay off some of the smaller ones like #7 at $33k? I am kind of far from needing to worry about this, but curious to see how you handle it.

   • I havent thought it out exactly how I will do it but I am definitely leaning on starting the debt snowball payoff strategy on the mortgages once I hit 10. I am either going to start with the smallest loan amount or the one with the highest interest rate. Will just need to brainstorm a bit but im still a few years away from getting to that point I think.

10. Congratulations on your marriage! This must be such a happy and exciting time for you both! Despite the minor loss, it looks like you are still doing very well here and making great progress. That’s awesome how your new in-laws picked up a big part of the tab to help you guys out!

    • Thank you so much! It is very exciting times for me right now and I couldnt be happier to see what the future holds. And I love my new in-laws!! 🙂

11. Hi Alex,
    Great post – I enjoy seeing your progression from month-to-month.
    You have accomplished a lot within a short period of time. Keep up the good work and “don’t stop writing about it.” Your post are informative and your “first-hand lessons are teachable moments!”

    • You are too kind to me Nancy!! 😉 Thank you so much. I dont plan on stopping anytime soon.

12. Looking forward to seeing more updates about Amazon FBA. I just recently listened to a podcast about selling on Amazon FBA but the couple mainly bought clearance items from Target, Walmart, etc. They mentioned in passing about sourcing from a manufacturer but didn’t say much about it so it’ll be interesting to read about how your experience goes.

    • Im looking forward to my amazon updates also. Whether i fall flat on my face or if I make some decent money from it I will be documenting it all. I just wish it didnt take so long to get it going.

13. I think it’s fine your worth went down a lil bit this month, it could have gone down a lot more! I bet you’ll be back on track next month. Congrats 🙂

    Tristan

    • Yeah you know in the year that I have been tracking my net worth, I have only had 2 months that were negative and the first one was because of the stock market fiasco we all experienced in september and now this one because of the wedding. All in all I am confident it will be much better next month.

      • Long term trends are what matter, and yours is definitely going upwards. Plus, getting married is the best thing you can do. Spending time and money on your wife is the best investment you can make every single day of your life 🙂 Happy wife, happy life. Never forget that.

        Tristan

        • True words spoken my friend! I love that!

14. Alexander,
    I work in the mining industry so I hope you are right about that 5-year bull run! That’s all I will need to FIRE!

    • Haha there is nothing like speculating on mining stocks! I wouldnt recommend anyone get on that but I like to be risky and I like the gut feeling I have on it 😉

15. Wow that is an impressive amount of properties!! You look very organised as well, I am totally impressed.

    • Thanks Francesca! I like to think I am a pretty organised person. My wife might say otherwise though. 😉

16. Hey Alex, I notice you have to properties turning over this month. Are you expecting a full month vacancy to get them fixed back up and re-rented? That seems very excessive to me. We just had two turn over and I was able to rent one again the next day with no gap in renters (we paid the people who were moving out, who had just bought a house and closed early, $200 or 10% of total rent to let us come in and turn it over for the 4 last days of the month) and the other one only has a week vacancy since we advertised, showed, and re-rented it as soon as the previous tenant gave us his notice.

    Just wondering if the full month was going to be a standard or if you cna put the whip to your property management company to reduce that in the future.

    • Hey Nate! I really dont know what to expect but I am estimating a one month vacancy in my numbers so I need it to not go over a month. In the next post ill let you know how long it actually took to have them re-rented. If the houses were local to me and I was doing my own PM then I guarantee you it would be way less then one month but that is just one of the caveats of having a property manager. That is super cool you were able to turnover in 1 day, that is pretty much what happened to me with my local house here that I PM myself and it was awesome.

17. Congrats, married man! You have quite an impressive portfolio. I look forward to reading more of your updates!

    • Thanks Latoya!! 🙂

18. Congratulations, Alexander! What a great way to celebrate the month of May. 🙂

    I haven’t finished up my May completely, but I think I took a small loss in NW too.

    I’m sure you’re been super busy with the wedding stuff etc, but any thoughts for another property in 2016? What’s your current outlook?

    Cheers!
    Michael

    • Hey Michael! Thanks man. This year has been super busy and I havent had time to do anything especially buy more rental properties but that is now back on my radar. I am on the hunt now for a new one. Its really difficult to find the kinds of returns I have been getting before.

19. Great net worth update, Alexander. We’ve just come across your blog and really like what we see.

    We’re predominantly invested in stocks and bonds but are wanting to diversify with real estate and other business ventures. Looks like you have valuable experience to share with real estate, and the Amazon business you’re starting.

    We’ll definitely be reading more here!

    • Awesome! Im really happy you came across my post. I checked out your blog too and enjoyed it. You are doing good things over there. I always like reading about how other stock investors are in the game and their strategies.

20. Just a little blip in the direction. Thanks for sharing your net worth…I love reading these updates even though I dont share my net worth online 🙂

    Upwards and onwards
    R2R

    • Thanks bud! Yeah a little blip is not so bad. Its quite scary sharing info like this for the world to see but lucky for me, there are only a handful of people who know the real me and my association with this blog. I have kept this blog a secret from all my family and most friends.

21. Net worth post and income post are my favorite to read. I have not seen any blogger with as many rental properties as you, cannot wait to see how you funded all of them. Interesting perspective on the 401(k), my girlfriend is actually in the same position with no match so I am considering telling her to contribute her money towards a Roth IRA instead and investing in some dividend stocks.

    • Hi Stefan, my mother paid the down payment on my very first primary property which was converted to a rental. After that I bought the 2nd one before the market crash so i was able to get 100% financing on it. Then the next ones were pretty much just saving money for down payments and buying after i had the cash reserves to do so. Although most of them are in the midwest so the down payments were small because the houses were cheap.

      I personally would invest that money into an IRA or stocks rather then a non matching 401k.

22. Congrats on getting married. Has she gone through your closet yet and thrown away all the clothes she always hated but never told you abut while you were dating? :-). Just kidding. Congrats on a good month. All months can;t be like last month but as long as you have renters and your real estate is appreciating, you’re in a good place.

    Question on the stock. Are they RSUs or options? I guess what I’m asking is are they vested and can you sell or are they tied to future dates? My company grants me $25k a year in RSUs, but they vest over 4 years. I sell all my shares when they vest just because I don’t like owning stock in the same company that pays me. But when it’s free it’s awesome.

    • thanks! Haha yeah we actually cleared the closest before I got married. 🙂 Its okay though because we needed to clear up space for her stuff. As for the stocks, they are stock options and already vested so I can sell whenever I want. I am actually planning on getting my first batch of RSUs in a few months. Its the same deal as you, they are giving me RSUs and every year up to 4 years, I get a certain amount. I also plan on selling them as soon as I get them so hopefully I will get a nice chunk of change to play with later on. Just have to continue working there which I hate. 😛

23. Congrats on getting married! I wish you a lifetime of happiness.

    I find your blog very interesting as I have long pondered becoming a landlord and owning rental properties. Right now I invest in individual stocks, including REIT’s. The REIT’s currently fulfill my landlord desires, but eventually I would like to own physical properties. I believe real estate is a quicker means to financial independence, but the potential headaches and nightmares keep me away!

    Great stock portfolio you have, your gains are ridiculous! I want to see gains like that in my portfolio!

    Good luck with all your future endeavors!

    • Thanks Mr TOL, I think owning rental properties will propel me to early retirment faster then any other type of investment although it does come with its issues. Like you said, the headaches of being a landlord will always be there and its just part of the drawbacks of having rental properties. I think its worth it though at the end of the day.

      OMG I cant believe the returns I have made on my little stock portfolio. I regret not dumping a ton of money into those stocks when I first bought them. Its crazy!

24. Wow that’s a pretty detailed analysis of your finances. Very neat indeed. Will be following your blog!

    • Thanks Sam!! Ill be sure to check out your blog too. 🙂

25. Congrats on getting married. I love seeing all that rental property! As everything life has its ups and downs and financially just happened to take a few extra expenses out, I’m sure the rebound will be quite nice.

    • Thanks Steven! I love seeing all that rental property too!! 🙂

26. Congrats on getting married man, happy for you! You’re gonna love it. Thanks for posting this I look forward to it every month. I’m really interested in seeing what the damages are and how your property managers handle the make ready. I am living vicariously through you until I pick up a couple of these houses myself! Keep up the great work.

    • Hey Ryne! Awesome thanks man! I am loving married life so far and really looking forward to our honeymoon in September. Dont worry ill keep you updated on how much everything costs and stuff on those rental properties. 🙂

27. What’s the reasoning behind the precious metals optimism? I wouldn’t so much call the last five years a bear market as I would a reset to norm. The Fed can’t continually kick the bucket down the road given our economy, so it’s inevitable we start drifting away from non yielding assets. Personally, I just sold out of nearly all of my biotech and biomed assets. It’s been a great run, but their new IPO’s and VC funding is getting out of control. I won’t be there when that bubble bursts.

    I am predicting a bit of a dip in the economy soon though. The economy is “getting better” but people don’t seem to believe it and I see consumer confidence slipping and hurting spending. Because of that, I’m starting to move towards steady dividend players and utilities (get to access those non-cyclical goods). However, I don’t see the dip being large enough to spur a run on gold.

    • Most of the research I have done on precious metals shows that we have been in a bear market in that sector for the last 5 years while traditional stocks have been on the rise for the past 7 years. From looking at historical data, it seems like to me that its just a matter of time before both turn around. Plus there is another blogger who I follow (FIFigther) who has a really interesting approach and outlook on the precious metal sector and I have been learning a lot from this blog too! At the end of the day of course its all speculation so I wouldn’t recommend anyone to get into it without doing their own research.

      So far it seems to be paying off for me.

28. When do you think cashflowdiaries.com will be a line item? 🙂

    • Haha well if the blog ever starts making more money and consistent then I will have to add it but for now its not generating a ton of money.

29. Quick question, does 401k, Roth/traditional IRAs, and self-directed IRAs in real estate contribute to net worth?? I wouldn’t think so, because its not money you could use now (without significant penalties). Secondly, any of us can be dead at 60 or 65. So if you don’t plan on using the money until then, how can it be your CURRENT net worth? That’s my line of reasoning..

    • Hi Andrey,

      Oh yeah its definitely considered net worth. Just because its not available now does not mean its not your money. If your net worth was only liquid assets that wouldnt make much sense. I do agree with you about any of us dying before we get to use the money. That is not good for anyone but its just a part of like. I personally dont like 401ks unless I get a matched contribution.