Adulting Is Easy: Making Personal Finance & Real Estate Easy

Imagine slowly losing one of your senses. For 10 years, you know your time is limited with this sense you were born with but are destined to lose. That’s what happened (and is still happening) to Adam of the Blind Luck Project. Adam is kind enough to detail what it’s been like losing his vision. It’s an emotional conversation, but of course Lauren and Adam do talk about how Adam is making the best of it. Long term disability insurance plays a big role in this episode. It’s impossible to listen to this story then feel like you can’t accomplish your goals, especially if you have nothing standing in your way. Adam left the workforce at 32 and is making a great life for himself. You can too.

If you liked this episode, you may also like episode 91 where I talked about my car accident and the financial impacts from it. You may also like a more traditional FIRE story as told in episode 77.

About Adam:

https://blindluckproject.com/

https://blindluckproject.com/news-letter

https://twitter.com/blind__luck

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XLI7HkXI-m0

To learn more about Adam: https://www.financialsamurai.com/going-blind-during-your-career/

This real estate investing journey started when Mike and his wife bought a house in Florida from Ohio, and started short-term renting it to friends and family only in between using it themselves. Then, the family moved to North Carolina for work. Mike got fired while his daughter was in high school. His wife also got fired. They moved into the Florida house for a short time. Now scrambling a bit, the family bought a fixer looking for appreciation, then did arbitrage. What is short-term rental arbitrage? Mike rented the house to a tenant who would be the STR host. He did the maintenance himself. He met the arbitrager through Bigger Pockets. The value proposition for him: save time and learn. Then a bit later, Mike took the management over. In the meantime, they were building their portfolio. Now, Ronnalee is retiring and taking over the STR management of their portfolio and others! This is a story of guessing, learning, and letting the real estate investing “career” unfold as you go.

If you liked this episode, you will also like Episode 123: When You House Hack an STR and It Has Mold But You Still Make Money and Episode 119: Cost Segregation.

About Mike:

Mike Terry is the CEO and founder of RMC ReDevlopment, which is a diversified real estate investment company that he runs with his wife of 27 years, Ronnalee, in Southwest Florida and South Georgia. Mike was a former teacher and college basketball coach who became an accidental landlord and over the last 5 years has flipped 14 properties, built a rental portfolio of 26 doors including two Short Term Rentals. Mike and Ronnalee remain firmly focused on attaining financial independence and real estate has been an integral part of their journey.

Connect with Mike:

Email: [email protected]

Bigger Pockets: Mike Terry RMC ReDevelopment

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mike-terry-9a3b73a7/Donate to the show: https://cash.app/$AdultingIsEasy

Athena got into the personal finance content creation world to help the Latina community (and everyone) learn along with her. She’s passionate about helping her community because of the wage and income gaps present. Athena discusses the importance of diversifying income streams, as well as her investment portfolio. Since she literally wrote the (for dummies) book on budgeting, of course Lauren and Athena dove deep into this topic. The first method they talked about was zero based budgeting. The second was the 50/30/20 method, Lauren’s favorite. The third budgeting method discussed was the cash envelope method, Athena’s favorite. Finally, they talked about the pay yourself first budget, which is often not thought of as a budget at all! She offers tactical tips for sticking to a budget, like having groceries delivered. Athena also recommends an accountability partner, which can even be anonymous. Everyone should have a budget because it’s the foundation on which all personal finance goals are based.

About Athena:

Connect with Athena:

https://twitter.com/accordingathena

https://www.facebook.com/moneysmartlatina/

https://www.instagram.com/moneysmartlatina/

https://www.slate.com/paydirt – submit a question

Sponsored by Fintor: download the app here https://fintor.app/start and use code @adultingiseasy to get a free share

Subscribe to the Adulting Is Easy YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/@adultingiseasy

If you liked this episode, you will also like Episode 144 with Jannese from Yo Quiero Dinero called You Should Have Multiple Streams of Income and 56 with Jrod called Simple Financial Advice.

Donate to the show: https://cash.app/$AdultingIsEasy

Connect with Lauren:  

⁠⁠https://twitter.com/AdultingIsEasy ⁠⁠

⁠⁠https://www.instagram.com/adultingiseasyreal/⁠⁠

Real Estate Guides mentioned: https://adultingiseasy.gumroad.com/

Lauren starts by asking Suni about what it was like to compete in the Olympics. Then, they move onto a gut wrenching aha moment at the corporate job. Everyone around her was making more and doing less! Cue the personal finance wind tunnel. Suni is still working on balance, after growing up working extra hard as an athlete. She breaks down her 10 doors and reminds us you don’t have to grow for the sake of growing. Remember what your goals are! Get this… you can pay properties off if you want! The two dive a little deeper into her short-term rentals, like making the initial STR choice because it was a small, weird space. Suni furnished her first one with used furniture. It was “fine.” She details converting a duplex into a triplex, and whether it was worth it or not (it was!). It’s not all rainbows and butterflies though…. Lauren and Suni talked about both the pros and cons of STRs. Finally, she talks about her Nightmare Before Christmas themed Airbnb. Is this the future of STRs?

Sponsored by TouchStay Digital Guidebooks: https://touchstay.com/

About Suni:

Fourteen years ago, Sunitha “Suni” Rao retired from nearly a decade of playing tennis professionally and competing on the world’s largest stages – including the 2008 Beijing Olympics – at the age of 23. Upon retiring, she was equipped with a sixth-grade education, almost no money and very little knowledge of how the world worked outside of her sport. Fast forward to the present, she has graduated with honors from Villanova University’s MBA program, and has built a thriving real estate business with ten doors in her portfolio. Suni manages the behind-the-scenes efforts on the popular personal finance podcast “Afford Anything”, while co-hosting the “Afford Anything: Invest Anywhere” podcast series, alongside Paula Pant. Suni has been featured extensively on BiggerPockets.

Connect with Suni:

https://www.griffixpropertygroup.com/

https://www.instagram.com/suni_rao_/

Connect with Lauren:

https://twitter.com/AdultingIsEasy

https://www.instagram.com/adultingiseasyreal/

https://www.housemoneymedia.com/

Sean got into personal finance when a boss told him to focus on his retirement. Even though he was just out of college, he listened! He and his wife have been invested every 2 weeks for almost 9 years. They’re more than set for retirement at this point. Lauren and Sean talked about maxing your match in your 401k vs maxing the match. The Wealth Dad broke down stocks, index funds, and ETFs, and why index funds are a great way to get rich and stay rich in the long term. He touched on meme stocks and the idea of “getting rich quickly.” The two agree that the max you should set aside in your portfolio for gambling and speculating is 10% (ideally less). Sean broke down his portfolio piece by piece and the breakdowns. Spoiler alert: the whole portfolio is in stocks right now, which makes sense for a 31-year-old. He recommends reading two books before you invest. Sean’s kids are very young, and he’s already investing for them. Naturally, Lauren asked about that and Sean gave his take on investing for his kids. What scares him the most for kids? It’s not college – it’s home prices! The idea is having your kids live a better quality of life than you did. It sounds like Sean had a great upbringing and he’s using that as a blueprint for his kids. He might hide the wealth though by keeping their townhome. Finally, Sean gave his thoughts on side hustling, with the goal of increasing disposable income. If you can do what others are unwilling to do for a few years, you’ll live how others can’t in the near future.

About Sean:

Sean, the Wealth Dad. Sean is a husband, father of 2, and investor. He works a 9-5 and side hustles as well.

Books Mentioned:

Just Keep Buying

The Little Book of Common Sense Investing

Bogleheads Guide to Investing

Millionaire Next Door

The Simple Path to Wealth

Psychology of Money

Connect with Sean:

Twitter: https://twitter.com/thewealthdad

Instagram https://www.instagram.com/thewealthdad/

Donate to the show: https://cash.app/$AdultingIsEasy

James has 2 deaf parents, and he thought other families talked about money (which probably wasn’t true). So, he started researching money and found the FIRE movement. He grew up in near poverty (my word, not his), and decided he wanted his financial future to be different than his past. James knew the best way was real estate. He and his wife, Emily, were able to retire with 10 doors. It only took them 3 years to do it! They’ve converted a handful to short-term rentals (and mid-term). The two split responsibilities, with James doing the day-to-day and Emily handling the bookkeeping. James goes into more detail about what their process looks like. He talks about the systems they have in place for the long-term rentals. Get this, he doesn’t handle turns. He only handles the full renovations, of all things. What real estate? You get to FIRE more than a decade quicker than you do with the stock market. How do you get around the late-night toilet calls? Only buy places with 2 toilets! Tenants should only contact you overnight for fire, flood, or blood. James and Emily are still trading up and doing deals, even in retirement. Short-term rentals are not as hard as you think. Basically, it’s the furniture at risk. So, don’t be afraid to take the risk!

About James:

James and his wife, Emily, were just two regular people, working regular jobs, living in a regular town when they found the financial independence movement. They went all in and focused on real estate buying their first property in 2017. Within two years they had 10 units and enough cash-flow to leave their jobs. Now, they’re still two regular people, but they live an extraordinary life of travel and adventure while self-managing their small portfolio.

Sponsored by TouchStay Digital Guidebooks: https://touchstay.com/ 

Connect with James and get free stuff:

Twitter: https://twitter.com/rethinkratrace

Instagram https://www.instagram.com/rethinktheratrace/

https://rethinktheratrace.com/adultingiseasy

Donate to the show: https://cash.app/$AdultingIsEasy 

Connect with Lauren:  

https://twitter.com/AdultingIsEasy 

https://www.instagram.com/adultingiseasyreal/

Danny started his career in investment banking. His wife was a lawyer. This was NOT conducive to the life they wanted to live. Lauren interviews Danny about side hustling, using Amazon FBA (fulfilled by Amazon) to leave his 9-5. Rather than take on flipping product full time though, he sold that business. Between that sale and real estate, his family is financial free and expanding - the two welcomed a baby girl last year. Learn how to balance your W2 with your side hustle and what to expect when you leave the 9-5 world behind for good!  

About Danny V:  

Danny is a recovering W2 nerd with a passion for helping high earners reach financial independence. At age 26, he founded an eCommerce company and built it to $2M per year in revenue -- all while keeping his day job. He sold that business in 2022 and diversified across more than a dozen commercial real estate syndications as a Limited Partner. He's now building Wealth2 and sharing advanced strategies to grow your side hustle, invest in tax-advantaged commercial real estate and build a diversified cash flowing portfolio.   

Connect with Danny V:  

Twitter:  https://twitter.com/itsDanny_V

Newsletter:  https://www.wealth2.com/join-free/

Website Homepage:  https://www.wealth2.com/ 

If you liked this, you may also like Episode 154: FIRE Off the Grid with Steve Adcock and Episode 100: Lawyer Shocks Everyone by Retiring   

Sponsored by: Hemlane  https://www.hemlane.com/all-in-one-property-management/?utm_content=&utm_term=&utm_medium=affiliates&utm_source=adulting-is-easy&utm_campaign=

Donate to the show: https://cash.app/$AdultingIsEasy

Connect with Lauren:  

⁠https://twitter.com/AdultingIsEasy ⁠

⁠https://www.instagram.com/adultingiseasyreal/⁠

Bernadette (Bernadebt?) Joy went from being in debt to crushing her money goals and now she helps others too! She tells Lauren how cutting too much from

About Bernadette:

https://www.crushyourmoneygoals.com/

https://www.instagram.com/bernadebtjoy/

https://www.linkedin.com/in/bernadebtjoy/

Sponsored by Fintor: download the app here https://fintor.app/start and use code @adultingiseasy to get a free share

Subscribe to the Adulting Is Easy YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/@adultingiseasy

If you liked this episode, you will also like Episode 147 about using credit cards the right way and 133 when we interviewed a bankruptcy lawyer about debt.

Donate to the show: https://cash.app/$AdultingIsEasy

⁠⁠https://twitter.com/AdultingIsEasy ⁠⁠

⁠⁠https://www.instagram.com/adultingiseasyreal/⁠⁠

Danny Rusteen wrote the book on hosting. Actually, he’s written 2 of them. According to him, living in Airbnbs is a life hack, it actually makes your life less complicated. That’s why he does it! Lauren has been rotating among her own units for years. This is a good thing – hosts should stay in their places at least a couple of times per year, according to Danny. He suggests spending time in the towns where you’re going to invest. Controversy alert: he thinks you should take your own pictures. Danny talks about being employee number 700 at Airbnb. Lauren and Danny touched on the relationship Airbnb has with both guests and hosts. Will they always be so dominant? Airbnb has been souring its relationship with hosts for a few years now. Lauren suggested thinking of Airbnb as a marketing platform, and definitely using other platforms and direct bookings as well. How about getting bad reviews removed? Make the customer service rep’s job easier. A gap may be widening between all star hosts and others. Danny’s new book helps hosts from soup to nuts. Listing tip: highlight in your listing copy what they can’t see in the pictures. He talks about cleaners: go local! Finally, he talks about undiscovered vs discovered markets.

About Danny:

Sponsored by TouchStay Digital Guidebooks: https://touchstay.com/ 

If you liked this episode, you will also like Episode 96: Branding Your STRs and Episode 118: STR Regulations.

Connect with Danny:

https://www.youtube.com/c/OptimizeMyAirbnb

https://www.instagram.com/optimizemyairbnb/

Buy the book: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0BZBS4C4F?ref_=cm_sw_r_mwn_dp_F5VJ77YBHBWNZFSVN3T7

Course: https://optimizemyairbnb.com/Profitable-Properties

Discount code for the course: EASYADULT23

Donate to the show: https://cash.app/$AdultingIsEasy 

Connect with Lauren:  

https://twitter.com/AdultingIsEasy 

https://www.instagram.com/adultingiseasyreal/

The American Dream fails people. There are other ways to make the dream happen though. Devon Kennard talks about the grueling NFL schedule and fitting in writing a book as he creates his own America Dream. Did you know they do 50-60 hours per week, plus playing on Sundays? We talked about how much NFL players really make after taxes and for how long they usually make it. The average career is 3.5 years, and injuries are always possible. On the bright side, more NFL players are talking about investing now than there used to be! When cash flow is the problem, the stock market isn’t the solution. Devon and Lauren then transition into talking about how he got into real estate. His first deal was a partnership deal where they each only brought $12k to it, and this was during his rookie year! The first deal is a great learning experience. He learned right away to invest in a different area because he couldn’t scale there. He’s expanded into Cleveland, Kansas City, Tennessee, and Florida. Devon is focused on small multi-families right now. He uses both cash and leverage, depending on the deal. Lauren then asks about syndications, which Devon invests in as well. What’s important there? Vet your partners! The two even covered creative financing. Finally, they discussed his future plans for both the NFL and real estate. You’ll walk away from this episode with great takeaways, even if you’re not a professional athlete.

About Devon:

http://devonkennard.com

https://twitter.com/DevonKennard

https://www.youtube.com/@devonkennardchannel

https://www.instagram.com/devonkennard/

https://www.facebook.com/DevonKennard/

https://www.linkedin.com/in/devon-kennard-b1080547/

Sponsored by Fintor: download the app here https://fintor.app/start and use code @adultingiseasy to get a free share

Subscribe to the Adulting Is Easy YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/@adultingiseasy

If you liked this episode, you will also like Episode 139 Pro Soccer Players Opens First STR and Episode 83 Buying 7 Rental Properties in 2 Years.

Donate to the show: https://cash.app/$AdultingIsEasy

Connect with Lauren:  

⁠⁠https://twitter.com/AdultingIsEasy ⁠⁠

⁠⁠https://www.instagram.com/adultingiseasyreal/⁠⁠