I have mentioned from time to time that I'm making 10% back on money ($125k so far) I've loaned to a friend who's buying real estate. Some of you more perceptive (and interested) readers have picked up on this and sent me notes. Here's an example of one I received recently: From reading your money blog I see that one of your income streams comes from lending money to a … [Read more...]
The Pros, Cons, and Alternatives of a 1031 Exchange
I have been considering various options for my real estate investments. My preference would be to buy more rental units, but both markets I'd consider (where my current places are in Grand Rapids, Michigan or my current city of Colorado Springs) are waaaaaaay over-priced IMO. And I'm more of a value buyer when it comes to real estate. I could just call it quits and sell … [Read more...]
Seven Ways to Invest in Real Estate to Get Across the Retirement Finish Line
As regular readers know, I'm a big fan of real estate investing. For those who don't know, you can get caught up by reading why I got started in real estate, how my real estate investing plan came into being, and the results I've had from real estate investing. The summary: It's been awesome and I wish I had bought more when I had the chance! I've been thinking about … [Read more...]
What You Need to Know about Fundrise and DiversyFund
As you probably know, I'm a big fan of real estate investing. I currently own three properties with five buildings and a total of 14 units. We purchased them when we lived in Michigan a few years after the real estate meltdown of 2007-2009 and as a result we got them at great prices. As such, they churn off a good amount of income plus have appreciated quite nicely. I … [Read more...]
The Characteristics of Successful Investors
I think most ESI Money readers know I'm a big fan of The Millionaire Next Door (it's on my list of the only five money books anyone needs to read). In case this is new news to you, the reason I'm a fan was that I read it as a younger man, did what it advised, and became wealthy as a result. Pretty simple. Some of you may know as well that the book's author, Dr. Thomas … [Read more...]
Nine Investing Strategies Millionaires Use to Accumulate Wealth
Today we continue to review the findings from my first 100 millionaire interviews. Before we proceed, let me know if you'd like to do a millionaire interview. I'm always looking for more millionaires to learn from. To get everyone on the same page, here are the posts we've already done regarding the first 100: Findings from 100 Millionaire Interviews: The Numbers … [Read more...]
Five Tips for Growing Wealth Through House Hacking
When I wrote How to Go from Zero to Millionaire I detailed what I would have done differently financially if I had to do it all over again. But after some time and thought, I realized there are a couple things missing even from that re-writing of history. One of them: I would have gotten into house hacking. Many of you have probably heard of house hacking, but for those … [Read more...]
Crowdfunding Real Estate Investment Options
As you might imagine, I get a lot of questions here at ESI Money. I can't possibly respond to them all (hey, I'm retired and want some free time!), but when I see the same question over and over again, I usually do one of two things... I either write a post about it if I'm familiar and/or experienced with the issue or ask someone who is familiar/experienced with it to … [Read more...]
Dividend Investing Will Always Beat a Side Hustle
The following is a guest post by Millionaire Mob, a blog focused on ways to better your financial future through passive income, dividend investing and travel hacking. As many of you know, I am a big fan of side hustles and have also talked a bit about dividend investing (including offering specifics on it from a friend of mine.) Personally, I don't think it's a … [Read more...]
Deciding the “Pay Down Mortgage or Invest” Debate
Today we have a guest post from Your Money Blueprint. There's been a bit of discussion recently on whether paying off your mortgage or investing was better -- both here at ESI Money (see Which is Better: Paying Off a Mortgage or Investing More?) as well as on Rockstar Finance (see Money Match-Up: Pay Off Debt Versus Invest and here Money Match-Up: Pay Off Mortgage Versus … [Read more...]
