Tentmaking Tips

And most of them would like to be financially independent before retirement age.

They just wonder if that’s even possible.

Financial Independence (FI) is simply where your investments will cover your living expenses in perpetuity.

JL Collins is one of the bloggers who first started writing about FI.

His Stock Series became so popular that he eventually turned it into a book, along with other financial principles that have contributed to his financial independence.

This is a book I often recommend to people as a good place to start in learning about FI.

It’s called The Simple Path to Wealth (JL Collins).

This book helps to simplify the process of becoming financially independent.

Late last year he released another book with 100 stories of people who have gone on a similar FI journey.

I just finished it, and thought it was great, so I wanted to recommend it to you as well.

It’s called Pathfinders (JL Collins).

The welcome bonus is typically 60,000 points after $4,000 in spend in the first 3 months of the card.

They just increased the bonus to 75,000 points.

Those extra 15,000 points could be worth an additional ~$300 in free travel for a total of over $1,000 in free travel through that one welcome bonus.

This card has a $95 annual fee with the following perks:

• 5x points on travel purchased through Chase Travel

• $50 annual hotel credit

• 3x points on restaurants

• 2x points on other travel purchases

Just the hotel credit & your restaurant spend will likely make this card worth keeping.

Also, this card gives you the ability to transfer Chase Ultimate Rewards points to Chase’s travel partners. This is often the best way to maximize the value of each point.

If you don’t have the Chase Sapphire Preferred card, now would be a good time to take a look!

And if you decide to get it, her

This is an important metric to track on your journey toward financial independence.

Your freedom number is the amount of money you need in investments in order for the return on investments to equal your living expenses.

Once you hit this number, your investments will pay your monthly expenses and you’ll become work optional.

Work optional just means that you can choose whether or not you want to continue generating more income since you don’t need it to sustain your lifestyle.

Many people think the best way to calculate your freedom number is to multiply your yearly expenses by 25. This is based on the 4% withdrawal rule in early retirement.

For example, if your annual expenses are $60,000, then $60,000 x 25 = $1,500,000 becomes your freedom number. Once you accumulate $1.5MM in investments, you can likely retire financially and live off your investments.

By reducing your annual expenses, your freedom number gets smaller, and you can “retire

And it probably won’t surprise you to find that your taxable value went up… again.

Sometimes it makes sense as to why it went up. You’re aware that home prices have risen in your area. Other times you’re confused as to why it went up because sale prices have stagnated or gone down in your area.

Remember, in either scenario, your value is subject to negotiation.

That’s why I protest every year.

Here are a few tips for protesting this year:

1. Submit your protest right when you receive your notice.

I received my notice recently and immediately went online to protest. Thousands of other people will be doing the same thing, but because I did it quickly (literally the day of), I was able to get an appointment the next day to see an appraiser.

2. Negotiate with one of city appraisers first

In Texas, both the local appraiser and the appraisal review b

The annual fee is $695.

Am I crazy?

Maybe a little - haha!

For me, as I calculated the benefits I’d receive from the card, I found that I would receive far more in benefits from the card than the $695 fee I would pay this year.

Here are a few of the benefits that are valuable to me:

• 100,000 welcome bonus = ~$2,000 in free travel

• 30,000 referral bonus (from my wife referring to me) = ~$600 in free travel

• $200 in statement credits for hotels = $200 in value

• $200 airline fee credit for incidental fees = $200 in value

• $12.95/mo Walmart+ Credit ($0.10 reduction in gas at certain stations + free grocery/online delivery) = $155 in value (not including gas savings)

• $20/mo Entertainment Credit (can be used toward my Hulu subscription) = $240 in value

• $15/mo Uber cash + $20 in December (which we’ll use to cover some of our regular eating out budget each month) = $200 in value

• $189
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That’s simply not true.

In fact, new cards add new accounts to your credit which can improve your credit score.

And new cards, and new credit limits, actually reduce your overall credit utilization which also helps your credit score.

Because of the “hard” credit pull when a credit card issuer pulls your credit, you may notice a few point temporary drop in your credit score, but it shouldn’t be long before it comes right back up again. So, don’t apply for a credit card the day before you go & apply for a mortgage (that’s two “hard” credit pulls back to back).

Again, long-term, more accounts help your credit score.

What keeps your credit score high is:

• Making all of your payments on time

• Not getting derogatory marks (from other types of bills going to collections)

• Keeping your credit card utilization low

Don’t believe the myth that applying for new cards lowers your score long-

And the answer is really simple.

It doesn’t matter.

Huh?

I tell people this all the time. How you get started in real estate really doesn’t matter. The key is just getting started doing something.

Why?

Because once you get into the real estate world, you’ll find out over time what interests you the most. Just get involved somewhere.

Sometimes people overthink where & how to get started and I remind them that the where & how don’t matter that much.

Here are ways people might get started:

• Landlord

• Multi-family

• Development

• House Hacking

• Flipping Houses

• Real Estate Agent

• Short-term Rentals

• Commercial Brokerage

The list could go on.

Perhaps a great way to choose is to find someone you know & respect that is involved in real estate. Take them out to lunch & ask them to tell you more about what they do. Maybe they’ll offer you the opportunity to tag along & learn from them. That could be a

Here’s a quick guide:

1. Employer’s Match - if your employer matches your retirement contributions up to a certain amount, invest at least enough to meet the match. This is free money. Make sure you take it.

2. Health Savings Account (HSA) - if you’re on a high deductible insurance plan, you may have an HSA plan option. Max this out next. You can contribute tax free, it grows tax free, and you can pull it out tax free for medical expenses (a triple dip). You can invest up to $8,300 in 2024 for families.

3. Roth IRAs - both you and your spouse can contribute $7,000 in 2024 for a total of $14,000. You can use a Traditional IRA if you are above the income limit for a Roth.

4. Max Out Employer’s Plan Above the Match - for 2024 this could be up to $23,000 per person.

5. Taxable Brokerage Account - once all of your r
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Perhaps the best way to build this list is to create a lead magnet that you give out for free in exchange for an e-mail address.

A lead magnet could be:

• A PDF Guide

• An eBook

• A short course

Or anything you can give away for free that helps your audience accomplish some goal.

For me, I offer 3 free PDF guides on the following topics:

1. Make $1,200 Quickly Guide

2. Free Hawaii Trip Guide

3. Earn Extra $10k Guide

These cater to my audience of pastors, missionaries and Christian leaders wanting to earn extra income in their spare time.

Another way to capture e-mail addresses is by starting a newsletter to offer weekly valuable content to your subscribers.

Once you have your lead magnet and/or a newsletter, you can start encouraging people to grab one of your guides or subscribe to your weekly newsletter.

This will begin to build your

Let’s do the same today with listing a house.

Why not make it a goal to list just one house this year?

You may be overwhelmed by thinking about helping clients list or buy many houses this year. But what about just one?

Here’s how I think you could accomplish that goal this year:

1. Tell your friends and family that you’re getting your license and would love to help them list their home and/or help them buy a home this year if they’re thinking about moving. Start putting the word out.

2. Get your real estate license online over the course of one month just by working on it a little bit in the evenings (or on weekends). It doesn’t take long.

3. Find a flat free broker to hold your license so you make 100% of your commission for each listing/purchase minus a flat fee paid to the broker. Otherwise, you could end up paying 25-50% of your
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