This has been a BUSY quarter for me. I put up a fence, installed french doors, changed a bunch of windows, painted the fence, my garage and entire house, built a car port and a bunch of other little things.

All of this was done at my owner occupied rental property. When I bought this house and moved in four and a half years go, I figured I would move out in a year or two. As it turns out, it’s not only really convenient to live here for a few different reasons but the current state of the market makes it difficult to buy anything else. My new plan is to make this place as comfortable as possible until I do move. On top of that, I want to be sure that when I am ready to move I don’t have any remaining projects to finish here and I can seamlessly transition into the new place.

If you caught last quarters update you’ll remember that I was talking about possibly purchasing a single family house from my friends father. As you can probably expect from all the work I’ve done here, that fell through.

2021 Passive Income – $16,860.41 YTD

Owner Occupied Rental – $4,350.00

Rental Properties – $10,529.68

Dividends – $881.25

Interest – $29.58

Other – $1,069.90

I like to calculate my FI (Financial Independence) ratio in two parts. The first part being passive income vs. necessary expenses. The second part being passive income vs. total expenses. The first calculation makes sense because I know that I could cut all, or most, of my unnecessary expenses if I had to, this is often referred to as “Lean FI.” The second calculation makes sense because this level of FI would require no changes to my every day life and I could continue living exactly as I am now. The purpose of these calculations is to determine how close to financial independence I am.

Passive Income vs. Necessary Expenses

$16,860.41 / $20,712.87 = .814 x 100 = 81.40%

This 81.40% means that my passive income for the first half of 2021 was ~19% short to cover my necessary expenses.

I anticipated being well over 100% by this time this year. I’ve spent a ton of money on my owner occupied rental property this year. None of the things that I’ve done were immediately necessary and some were completely unnecessary but I funnel any house related costs into my necessary category within my budget. On top of that, I sold my truck and bought a different one. This swap wasn’t entirely necessary either but transportation as a whole is. Regardless, I still have time to exceed 100% this year.

In terms of dollars, this 19% amounts to about $642 per month that I was lacking in order to afford all my necessary expenses without working.

Passive Income vs. Total Expenses

$16,860.41 / $26,212.02 = .6432 x 100 = 64.32%

This 64.32% means that I was about 36% away from being able to afford ALL of my expenses for the first half of 2021 without needing to work.

This ~36% amounts to about $1,558 per month that I was lacking in order to afford all my expenses without working.

Net Worth +12.87% YTD

I’ve been tracking my net worth since 2016 and it’s both motivating and inspiring to see the progress I’ve made. I saw a 12.87% gain during the fist half of 2021. That puts me way ahead of schedule for my yearly goal of 18% and I certainly can’t complain.

I use Personal Capital to track my net worth. It’s phenomenal, honestly. I login almost daily to keep an eye on things. If you’re interested, use my link to sign-up here. (It’s free)

Total Amount Invested and Annual Savings Rate – $18,103.47 / 41.21% YTD

I have managed to invest $18,103.47 into the market so far this year. My goal for the year is $35,000. I’m currently on track to invest about $30,000. I’ll need to step it up to hit my goal for this year.

I’ve found that it’s extremely easy to invest money when it’s an automatic process. Trying to decide whether to invest more or save for another rental property is much more difficult, to me.

I have managed to save 41.21% of my net income so far this year. Calculating your savings rate is a great metric to track as it really opens your eyes to what an expensive month or two can do to an entire year of savings. That’s basically what’s happened to me this quarter. I’ve spent a ton of money and my savings rate is suffering because of it. I’m pretty much maxed out on the amount that I can comfortably save so any differences in savings rate mainly come from increases or decreases in spending. I still have some projects to complete but hopefully by the end of the year I can get back into the mid 50% range.

Goals For 2021

Financial

• Invest $35,000 – Current: $18,103.47 / $35,000
• Increase Net Worth by 18% – Current: 12.87% / 18%
• Achieve a 60% Savings Rate – Current: 41.21% / 60%
• 100% FI Ratio (Total Expenses) – Current: 64.32% / 100%

It looks like the only financial goal that I’m solidly on track to achieve is an 18% net worth increase. Though, the market could tank and send this goal spiraling down with it, of course. I’ll mark my $35,000 invested and 100% FI ratio as possible for now. My 60% savings rate goal is still possible but I would have to dramatically change my plans for the year to achieve it. I’d still like to see 50%+ by the end of the year.

Fitness

• Run 100 miles this year – Current: 28 / 100
• Bench press 325lbs (@ ~175lbs bodyweight) – Best this year 315lbs @ 178lbs
• Squat 365lbs (@ ~175lbs bodyweight) – Best this year 370lbs @ 178lbs
• Deadlift 455lbs (@ ~175lbs bodyweight) – Best this year 365lbs @ 178lbs

I underwent surgery in April and that screwed up my fitness goals pretty badly. I’m way behind on all of these goals for the year (besides squats) and I’m way too busy right now to realistically expect to achieve any of these this year. I’ll get back after it soon.

Other

• Read 30 books – Current: 23 / 30 (Check out my book recommendations!)
• Total of 2,000 blog subscribers – Current: about 2,151 / 2,000 (Subscribe here!)
• Travel outside of New York – No progress

I’m way ahead of my reading goal and I don’t see any reason why I won’t be able to read 20 more books this year. I got a Disclosure: We may receive a referral fee if you sign up with a service through a link on this page.

Check out Personal Capital to track your net worth. It’s phenomenal, honestly. I login almost daily to keep an eye on things. If you want to check it out, use my link to sign-up here. (It’s free)

What I’m currently reading:

For a variety of different reasons, we all want to increase our net worth. Increasing our net worth and accumulating wealth can be used synonymously for the purpose of this post. Achieving financial independence requires the accumulation of wealth. In order to be successful in the game of wealth accumulation we need a couple different teams. The first team will run our offense. The second team will run our defense. Our job as the coach is to manage both of these teams. One without the other is ineffective at best. 

Offensive Team

Offensive teams in the sports world focus on scoring goals, points or touchdowns. In the game of wealth accumulation offense is a little bit different. 

The offense in the game of wealth accumulation is responsible for receiving income. The offensive team is made up of earned income, passive income and capital gains. The team may include, full-time or part-time job players, rental property players, interest players, investment account players and more. 

Defensive Team

Defensive teams in the sports world do just the opposite of the offensive team, prevent goals, points or touchdowns from being scored against them. 

In the game of wealth accumulation, the defensive team has a very important job. Their job is to safeguard the income that the offensive team earns. The defensive team may include budget players, saving players, investing players and more. 

Scenario One: Strong Offense – Weak Defense

In this scenario you have a strong offense but a weak defense. Your offensive team is bringing in a large amount of income for you. Great, right? Sure, except your defense isn’t keeping your money for you. They’re allowing you to spend wastefully on things you don’t need or find value in. Your wealth accumulation is net zero because you are spending all the money that you are earning. This scenario is often seen with lifestyle inflation: earn more, spend more.

Scenario Two: Strong Defense – Weak Offense

In this scenario your offense isn’t the greatest but they’re doing enough to keep you afloat. The lack of offense creates a need for a strong defense. Budgeting and limiting wasteful spending are the key players on this defensive team. Your wealth accumulation in this scenario is also net zero. What this scenario provides is the opportunity to start accumulating wealth slowly as the offensive team becomes more efficient. 

Scenario Three: Strong Offense – Strong Defense 

This is the ideal scenario. Your offensive players, full-time job, rental income and capital gains are bringing in a large amount of income. Meanwhile, your defensive players, budget, saving and investing are safeguarding a large percentage of that income. Your wealth accumulation is net positive in this scenario.

Coaching

The coach of a wealth accumulation team is no easy task. It takes a lot of planning and maintenance. Making each player work together within your team will be crucial to your team’s success.

Building a strong offensive team can be a large hurdle for those who are later in life. Drafting a new full-time job player is difficult. It often makes more sense to recruit passive income and capital gains players to your team. 

A strong defensive team is a must for success. This is possible for coaches at all levels and ages. Recruiting budget players, savings players and investing players can be done almost instantaneously. These players often require more planning and maintenance than offensive players do. A strong defensive team has the ability to create more opportunity even when working alongside a weak offensive team. Defense wins championships right?

Putting The Game Aside

Let’s put the game aside for a moment. Accumulating wealth can be very simple. We need to earn income and then save some of that income. The more that we save the more wealth we will accumulate. Earning a large income on its own is not enough.

Earning a large income is nice and may provide you with many of the creature comforts in life. A big house, luxury imported car, frequent vacations and trips to fancy restaurants, etc. All of these things do little for wealth accumulation. True wealth accumulation comes from saving and investing. 

Earning $200,000 per year and spending all of your income will not help you accumulate wealth. Earning $50,000 per year and investing 20% of your income will rapidly increase your ability to accumulate wealth. Learning to manage the money you make will have a greater impact on your wealth than how much you earn.

This is part three of a series of interviews affectionately deemed “The Average Millionaire Interview Series” exclusively here on Live Off Dividends. Despite contrary belief, millionaires are real people who face adversity just like you and I. This interview series allows us the unique ability to gain some incredible perspective from these amazing, successful individuals. 

My hope for this series is that it will provide an inside look into the lives of a variety of fairly normal, or “average” if you will, individuals that just happen to be millionaires. We all come from different backgrounds and have unique experiences and opinions and that’s exactly what makes these interviews so important. The insight provided in these interviews is invaluable and I hope you will enjoy them as much as I have.

This interview was done with Jason Edwards. Let’s jump right into it.

1.) Tell us a little bit about yourself. How old are you? Where did you grow up? Where do you live now?

I am 47 years old. I grew up in a small-town in Minnesota. I now live in Rhode Island have been on the East Coast for 20 years. I hope to someday return to the upper Midwest, but generally like where I live.

 2.) How much education did you receive? 

I have a Ph.D. in Communication Studies with an emphasis on rhetoric and politics. I am one of the few people in the FI community that loves politics. It is what I do my research on and teach for a living.

 3.) What is your current occupation? How long have you been doing that? What were some of your previous occupations?

I am a college professor and the chairperson of our department at a mid-size university in New England. I have been teaching at my current university for 15 years and teaching college courses for 25 years. I have worked the typical teenage jobs like fast food, grocery store. I was also a college speech and debate coach and have worked as a front-desk coordinator, detox technician, and a community correctional facility. For a time I also worked as an Education and Political Affairs Coordinator for a local agency.

4.) Is your current occupation your dream job? If so, what do you like most about it? What would you change about it if you could? If not, what is your dream job and what has prevented you from pursuing it?

I love what I do. I never thought I would be teacher when I was in college, but I kind of fell into it. I thought I would coach speech and debate or go into the foreign service for the state department. I think what I dislike the most is the customer service mentality of students and the administration. The ivory tower isn’t all its cracked up to be. However, I still love teaching and research. I hope to do it for the rest of my career. Maybe not full-time after a few years, but I hope to always teach and be on a college campus.

 5.) At what point did you realize you were a millionaire? How old were you and how did it feel? 

I am not quite a millionaire, but I did have a million dollar turn around in eight years. I went from 150k or so in negative net worth to over 950k at the time of this writing. That fluctuates daily based upon the market. I hope to hit 2 comma club by the end of 2021, but that depends on the stock market.

6.) What were the most important steps that you took to get where you are today? 

I think there are a couple of things. First, I dedicated myself to saving at least 30k in investments for the past 8 years. Mind you I did have about six figures in investments, but a lot more student loan debt. 2) I taught extra courses and every extra duty I could at my university for extra money for the past 10 years. I hope to back that down a bit now that my wife is earning more money. 3) I earned Public Service Loan Forgiveness, which knocked our debt down about 50k, but I also paid off over 150k in debt on my own. Still have a ways to go before we are debt free.

7.) In general, how do you feel about debt? Are you willing to utilize debt to get further ahead or would you rather be entirely debt free?

Generally speaking, I am not a fan of debt. I don’t know if the borrow is slave to the lender as Dave Ramsey says, but it is a pain. If I was a braver man I might try the leverage game with real estate, but generally speaking I am not a fan and prefer to be free. However, I don’t condemn folks that do it. Staying out of credit card debt and car loans and the like is probably the most important.

 8.) Do you track your net worth? If so, what does your process look like? 

Yes, I use Personal Capital. I am not a spreadsheet person, but I do check Personal Capital way too much.

9.) If you could change any one thing in the world, what would it be and why? 

Wow that is a tough question. I would probably change how the world grows in concert with each other. I think that there is so much uneven growth and dealing with global problems that it creates inequities everywhere. I would like to be different then I think you can tamp down some of the global animosity that exists.

10.) What are some of your short term goals, say less than 5 years out? What about long term?

Short-term goals. My top goal for my job is to write another single-authored book. I have written one and edited 3 other ones with co-authors, but I would like to write another book. I hope to reach FI in five years. I hope to be at my job for another five years to obtain health care should I want to retire. I want to lead more global study tours for my students.

Long-term goals would be to reach FI by the time I am 53. I would like the option to retire by the time I am 55. I want to leave a financial legacy for my son. I would like to get to the point that I would be able to teach at another university and possibly other ones abroad. I have a pretty good reputation in my field, but that might come after I am 60. I would like to live abroad for a year or two with my wife and son. Giving him an international experience is important to me. 

11.) If you had to give just ONE piece of financial advice to your younger self, what would it be? 

Start investing earlier. I didn’t start until I was 33. Even just 2k a year would’ve made a ton of difference. I plan on making my kid investing when he gets his first job/income.

12.) How would you describe your perfect day?

I think a great day would be going to the gym in the morning. Coming home having breakfast with my family. Some activity with them for the day (e.g. museum, going to see some historical site, bowling, whatever). Then at night meeting friends for dinner and drinks and just sitting in a good bar/pub talking about life and issues and whatever. I really like people and need that kind of comraderie.

 13.) Do you have any side hustles? If so, which are your favorites?

I sell tradelines and give plasma. That makes me about 8-10k per year. I also teach extra classes but would like to back that down a bit. Too much work.

 14.) What was your biggest financial mistake? What lesson(s) did you learn from it? 

I took out some student loans when I didn’t need them. The vast majority were for school/living expenses, but I took a loan or two that I didn’t need too. That was probably about 10k total. 

15.) What is your favorite place to vacation and why?

I love Mexico. I used to live there for a short time a long-time ago and got a degree in Spanish as an undergrad. I love Iceland because it is the first place my wife and I took a trip together. However, I am not really a fan of going to the same place twice. I want to try new places. Maybe that will change, but there are so many countries I want to see.

 16.) If you had $20,000 given to you, how would you spend it and why? 

If you asked me that question last year I probably would’ve put it into my kids 529 plan. However, if I have to spend it I would definitely take a NICE vacation. It has been a while since we took a vacation. We have traveled, but it was always tied to work. I would like to go somewhere where I don’t have to work. That hasn’t happened in like 7 years. I think it is time to remedy that.

17.) What is your favorite personal finance related book?

The Simple Path to Wealth by JL Collins is something I wish I could give all my undergrads.

 18.) If you aren’t retired, when do you expect to retire? What are your retirement plans?

I don’t know if I will ever truly quit working altogether. My dream is to be able to retire by 53-54. I could then retire from my current job and make sure we have health care until Medicare. Then I would like to teach for another university closer to my family for a few years. I would hope that one of those gigs might be abroad. And then when my son goes off to college I would love to teach at universities across the world for a couple of years just to see what it look like. Getting to travel and be paid to do it would be AWESOME!

19.) Favorite non-personal finance related book?

I think every politically minded person should read my books of course (ha, ha). No seriously I love a book called The Lover’s Quarrel by Elvin Lim. It explains historically the political development of the U.S. and gives the roots of why we have as much discord as we do in the U.S.

 20.) Do you have a product, service, website, etc that you would like to tell us a little bit about?

I don’t have a product or anything. I do some financial coaching on the side to help people. I absolutely LOVE coaching. It is so much fun to see other people do well and to know you might have had a small hand in that. That is probably why I like teaching so much.

 21.) If you could step into my shoes, what would you have asked yourself that I didn’t? How would you have answered?

Another tough question. I guess I would ask what is the reason you want to obtain a certain level of financial success. Why pursue FI or FIRE?

My answer is that I want the option to leave the workforce if I need too and also leave a legacy for my son. This sounds corny but I love oil paintings, particularly portraits. I have a dream of 7 generations from now an oil painting of my wife and I hangs in someone’s home (hopefully our descendants) and they live a good life and give back to people and help the world and they look at that painting and say they started this. I would hope that by the time that 7 generations that the people who would be there would be deeply involved helping the world. They would give a lot more than they took.

Concluding Thoughts From Our Interview With Jason Edwards

Jason and I are on the same page with Personal Capital and recommending The Simple Path to Wealth. Jason gave us some great advice. Particularly, to start investing as soon as possible and don’t take out more loans than you need. He also showed us how diligent saving/investing coupled with hard work can make you successful. Although Jason is just shy of a million dollar net worth, his $1M+ turnaround in just eight years is nothing short of spectacular. I hope to update this post in the next few months to affirm Jasons millionaire status.

I hope you enjoyed our interview with Jason as much as I did and that you learned a thing or two. Here’s to the Edwards descendants, seven generations from now, admiring the oil painting of Jason and his wife hanging above their fireplace mantel.

If you’d like to check out the previous installments of this series you can find them below:

Average Millionaire Interview Series Part 1 – Steve Ankerstar

Average Millionaire Interview Series Part 2 – Craig Smith

Would you, or do you know someone who might like to take part in our next Average Millionaire Interview? Feel free to reach out via our Contact page!

Disclosure: We may receive a referral fee if you sign up with a service through a link on this page.

I use Personal Capital to track my net worth. It’s phenomenal, honestly. I login almost daily to keep an eye on things. If you want to check it out, use my link to sign-up here. (It’s free)

Books I’m currently enjoying:

This is part two of a series of interviews affectionately deemed “The Average Millionaire Interview Series” exclusively here on Live Off Dividends. Despite contrary belief, millionaires are real people who face adversity just like you and I. This interview series allows us the unique ability to gain some incredible perspective from these amazing, successful individuals. 

My hope for this series is that it will provide an inside look into the lives of a variety of fairly normal, or “average” if you will, individuals that just happen to be millionaires. We all come from different backgrounds and have unique experiences and opinions and that’s exactly what makes these interviews so important. The insight provided in these interviews is invaluable and I hope you will enjoy them as much as I have.

This interview was done with Craig Smith. Here’s a little bit about Craig before we get into it.

Craig is 61 years old and in good health and active in many things. He views life’s priorities as health; spiritual; family and finally financial independence!  His current net worth is about $8.4M, adding another $1M if you include real estate. He came from a small family and had great parents who are now deceased. He lives south of Pittsburgh now. Craig is Protestant by faith, both sides of his family go back about 7-8 generations to mid 1700s here in America before arriving from Gloucester, England and Ireland, respectively.

Let’s jump into the interview:

Tell us a little bit about yourself. How old are you? Where did you grow up? Where do you live now?

I started my life in north WV and now reside in Pittsburgh, PA. Played sports in high school and trumpet in the band. Though never in sales formally (we are all in sales the minute we rise out of bed), I recall selling strawberries at the age of 5 in my little wagon for a quarter in the mid 1960s, selling fishing worms through the local classified paper and shoveling snow as a teenager. Worked with my dad after school hours and summers assisting in property surveying. Always interested in making a few dollars.

Then onto University to earn a BS in civil engineering. Played a little rugby and worked summers with the highway department. Summer employment is very impressionable on one’s career at that age. I still have useful memories of the skills I learned. The pint here is the reader should have their children being very active in their pre-20 years – not being idle.

How much education did you receive?

BS Civil engineering.  Some graduate level courses.  

What is your current occupation? How long have you been doing that? What were some of your previous occupations?

Retired. Retired at 56 with 30 years time / age 55 eligible. Spent 30 years with same employer as engineer and on a lock and dam. Always a second income. Investing in the stock market. Currently a landlord. My properties include a duplex in Pittsburgh (1990)…sold a multi unit in 2018 in Pittsburgh (owned since 1990)..bought current house in 2018 (see pic)…5 SFH in WV (acquired  2002- 2011) Always a 2nd income. 

Is your current occupation your dream job? If so, what do you like most about it? What would you change about it if you could?

Yes retired, but work full time on my properties. I am one who believes time spent improving property is a good way to spend time and make a living at it. I like most the ability to answer to myself and no one else. Not to have to explain myself, even to my fiancé. I would change the driving. Some drives are almost 2.5 hours.

At what point did you realize you were a millionaire? How old were you and how did it feel?

Age 47 in 2007, then saw it dip to $750k in 2009 and back over in 2010. The 1st million took me 22 years.

What were the most important steps that you took to get where you are today?

Persistence. Never, never give up, ask questions and develop a can do attitude.

In general, how do you feel about debt? Are you willing to utilize debt to get further ahead or would you rather be entirely debt free?

Mortgage debt is fine, pay it down as fast as you can. I use it for write-off in schedule. Auto debt at 0% is fine, we have a new Subaru with 0% interest. Leverage is a good thing as long as you’re not overextended and you have a Plan B if Plan A falls apart.

Do you track your net worth? If so, what does your process look like?

Yes I jot it down daily and monthly – especially in a good market. In a bad market (like last week) I don’t look.

If you could change any one thing in the world, what would it be and why?

CHINA. I’d knock their CCP down a peg or two. We are not winning this war, a war with no bullets. They have a 50 year plan seeking world domination and we are not fighting back nearly enough. Buy American. 

What are some of your short term goals, say less than 5 years out? What about long term?

Short term goals: Weigh 200 pounds, all properties rented, more jogging, travel Europe with fiancé, see Italy again, more South America travel, more United States travel and possibly buy a condo in Naples, FL.

PRIORITIES:  Spiritual growth. (Serving) then good health, then those i love, then business (career/money).

I have a VALUES and NON-VALUES list also: VALUES: Balance (in life) / De-clutter (stuff) / Experiences (more) / Moments (live more) / Time (free time; manage time; avoid time wasters). NON-VALUES: CAREER (real estate) / Community / Family / Fitness / Finance, etc.

If you had to give just ONE piece of financial advice to your younger self, what would it be? 

PAY YOURSELF FIRST.

How would you describe your perfect day?

Fully productive, things jotted down are ticked off, daily goals achieved or some progress, making others laugh and feel good, wasting no time and optimizing experiences in that day. Or relax on the beach.

Do you have any side hustles? If so, which are your favorites?

Just my real estate, some opportunities come spontaneously. I used to always be engaged in ‘side hustles’ (it used to be called ‘moonlighting’) , but not as much now. I’m hoping for gas royalties. I might help volunteer at the church or in explaining taxes. Facebook has great sites to learn from, possibly mentor young people.

A critical area upon building wealth and going into retirement is: TAXES. I spend an inordinate amount of time studying US tax regulation, law, CPA guidelines and doing my own taxes. No one knows how to guard your wealth better than you do. I encourage the viewer to do their own to learn everything about their spending and income. You might say this is my side hustle from December thru April 15th.

I did hire a contractor in January to install new kitchen cabinets, sink, electrical and duct work for a dear elderly friend. She was my late mother’s best friend and could never have afforded it. (When I was younger, I would do this job – but I will not do too much work for family and friends – seldom ends well. A takeaway from this is “never do business with family, friends, or unsuccessful men”).

What was your biggest financial mistake? What lesson(s) did you learn from it?

Investing in commodities (cotton, cattle, etc., beware the brokers in Wanamaker Street in Chicago). Lesson: don’t part with money unless you understand what your investing in.

What is your favorite place to vacation and why?

I am practicing to become a snowbird in Florida. I like southwest Florida from Fort Myers to Naples on the gulf side.

If you had $20,000 given to you, how would you spend it and why?

Invest it, not spend it, in index stock funds and think about the return. For example: $20k at 10% returns, $2k/year or about $650/month pretax. I’d spend that.

What is your favorite personal finance related book?

I tell young people to build their library with: ‘Think and Grow Rich’ by Napoleon Hill, ‘The Millionaire Next Door’ by Stanley.

Importantly, I record podcasts and Youtube lectures to listen to with earplugs while driving, walking the dogs, working, etc. Always looking to get more information. “Information is the great equalizer.”

If you aren’t retired, when do you expect to retire? What are your retirement plans? / If you are retired, at what age did you retire? Do you have any regrets about retiring at that age?

Checked that off my bucket list at age 56! Present plans are just staying fully invested, improving and maintaining several properties, spend time with fiancé and dogs and cat and keep in touch with friends. My regrets for retiring at that age? NONE. My dad once said “If I’d known it was this good. ..I’d did it 20 years ago!”

Favorite non-personal finance related book?

Hmmmm. I’m all non fiction. Outside of personal finance – my library is mostly self-help, real estate, history, biographies. I credit Brian Tracy, famous speaker, with helping me develop a can-do mindset, ‘think and grow rich’ on developing a prosperity consciousness. Currently enjoy ‘The Vikings’ on Hulu, so good. I also like Chicago PD and Law and Order SVU.

Do you have a product, service, website, etc that you would like to tell us a little bit about?

Thank you, buy my book when it’s finished. Draft title is ‘To Prosper’, quotes and observations written down over my lifetime.

If you could step into my shoes, what would you have asked yourself that I didn’t? How would you have answered?

One answer is to always ask yourself at any age “What is the best use of my time?” Another: stay single, marry if you must and no kids – until later.

Concluding Thoughts From Our Interview With Craig Smith

Craig provided us with a plethora of great advice. My favorite pieces of advice were to understand what you’re investing in, pay yourself first, be persistent and never stop learning. I hope you enjoyed our interview with Craig and that you learned a thing or two.

If you’d like to check out part one of this series you can find it here: Average Millionaire Interview Series Part 1 – Steve Ankerstar

Would you, or do you know someone who might like to take part in our next Average Millionaire Interview? Feel free to reach out via our Contact page!

Disclosure: We may receive a referral fee if you sign up with a service through a link on this page.

I use Personal Capital to track my net worth. It’s phenomenal, honestly. I login almost daily to keep an eye on things. If you want to check it out, use my link to sign-up here. (It’s free)

Books I’m currently enjoying:

2021 seems to be looking up, in general. Vaccinations rates are up and things are beginning to open back up. I think we’re on the right track for things to be back to normal before too long. On my side of things, I had a great quarter financially.

I finally closed on my fifth multi-family rental property at the end of February. My original “on or about” date was scheduled for October and we faced delay after delay. I’m very happy that deal is finally closed. Everything went well and I managed to fill the vacant back unit pretty quickly. I’ll have more information on this property (and my other four) in my Q1 2020 rental property update within the next week or two. Subscribe so you don’t miss it!

I’m still waiting for a phone call on a single family property that I may be purchasing. I know the owner’s son pretty well and this would be an off-market deal. I’m currently owner-occupying the first two unit property that I purchased so if this deal works out I’ll likely move into the single family and rent my unit. I’m pretty excited for the possibility.

2021 Passive Income – $6,990.08 YTD

Owner Occupied Rental – $2,175.00

Rental Properties – $3,599.68

Dividends – $318.56

Interest – $17.26

Other – $879.58

I like to calculate my FI (Financial Independence) ratio in two parts. The first part being passive income vs. necessary expenses. The second part being passive income vs. total expenses. The first calculation makes sense because I know that I could cut all of my unnecessary expenses if I had to, this is often referred to as “Lean FI.” The second calculation makes sense because this level of FI would require no changes to my every day life and I could continue living exactly as I am now. The purpose of these calculations is to determine how close to financial independence I am.

Passive Income vs. Necessary Expenses

$6,990.08 / $7,592.42 = .9207 x 100 = 92.07%

This 92.07% means that my passive income for the first quarter of 2021 was ~8% short to cover my necessary expenses. I owed NY state and the Federal Government a bunch of taxes this year (one of the joys of owning rental properties), and this amounted for a large percentage of my necessary expenses this quarter. I should be well over 100% after next quarter. This 8% amounts to just $200.78 per month that I was lacking in order to afford all my necessary expenses without working.

Passive Income vs. Total Expenses

$6,990.08 / $9,652.89 = .7241 x 100 = 72.41%

This 72.41% means that I was about 37.6% away from being able to afford ALL of my expenses for the quarter without needing to work. This 37.6% amounts to $887.60 per month that I was lacking in order to afford all my expenses without working.

I didn’t receive any passive income from my fifth rental property until March. Going forward, I should see a nice jump in passive income. I think my goal of $30,000 in passive income this year is very achievable.

Net Worth +6.56% YTD

I’ve been tracking my net worth since 2016 and it’s both motivating and inspiring to see the progress I’ve made. I saw a 6.56% gain during the fist quarter of 2021. That puts me way ahead of schedule for my yearly goal of 18% and I certainly can’t complain.

I use Personal Capital to track my net worth. It’s phenomenal, honestly. I login almost daily to keep an eye on things. If you’re interested, use my link to sign-up here. (It’s free)

Total Amount Invested and Annual Savings Rate – $11,438.47 / 55.29%

I have managed to invest $11,438.47 into the market so far this year. More than half of this came from maxing out my Roth, I don’t expect to continue at this trajectory all year. I do think my goal of $35,000 for the year is possible though.

I’ve found that it’s extremely easy to invest money when it’s an automatic process. Trying to decide whether to invest more or save for another rental property is much more difficult, to me.

I have managed to save 55.29% of my net income so far this year. This is a great metric to track as it really opens your eyes to what an expensive month or two can do to an entire year of savings. I’m pretty much maxed out on the amount that I can comfortably save. The annual increases in my savings rate are largely due to an annual raise at my job as well as saving money from side jobs. As long as I can control my spending, I should see a nice bump this year from my new rental property.

Goals For 2021

Financial

• Invest $35,000 – Current: $11,438.47 / $35,000
• Increase Net Worth by 18% – Current: 6.56% / 18%
• Achieve a 60% Savings Rate – Current: 55.29% / 60%
• 100% FI Ratio (Total Expenses) – Current: 72.41% / 100%

My financial goals are looking great so far. Honestly, the one I’m least optimistic about achieving is investing $35,000. Unless the market tanks, bringing my net worth down with it, I should be able to make the rest of these goals happen.

Fitness

• Run 100 miles this year – Current: 24 / 100
• Bench press 325lbs (@ ~175lbs bodyweight) – Best this year 315lbs @ 178lbs
• Squat 365lbs (@ ~175lbs bodyweight) – Best this year 370lbs @ 178lbs
• Deadlift 455lbs (@ ~175lbs bodyweight) – Best this year 365lbs @ 178lbs

I’ll start by saying this, running sucks. I run a mile before each of my workouts and should hit my goal of 100 miles so long as I keep that up. As far as my lifts go, I’m a touch heavier than I originally set for these goals, but I don’t care much. These goals were derived from my best lifts ever, back in 2016. These goals will get me back to as strong as I’ve ever been. My plan is to attempt a one rep max at the end of each quarter.

I did better than I thought I would on bench. I pressed 315lbs and then failed at 325lbs. I squatted more than I ever have at 370lbs and didn’t attempt anything heavier, maybe I’ll hit 405lbs this year. My deadlifts didn’t go so well. I worked up to 365lbs and then failed at 385lbs. I was about half way up with 385 and felt a little tweak in my back so I immediately dropped the weight. 455lbs feels like it’s a lifetime away so we’ll see how it goes.

Other

• Read 30 books – Current: 10 / 30 (Check out my book recommendations)
• Total of 2,000 blog subscribers – Current: about 1,855 / 2,000 (Subscribe here!)
• Travel outside of New York – No progress

I’m way ahead of my reading goal and I don’t see any reason why I won’t be able to read 20 more books this year. 2,000 blog subscribers might actually happen before next quarter is over, which would be amazing. I would love to go on a vacation this year but, I just don’t see it happening. There is a chance I do a weekend trip outside of NY, so maybe!

Disclosure: We may receive a referral fee if you sign up with a service through a link on this page.

Check out Personal Capital to track your net worth. It’s phenomenal, honestly. I login almost daily to keep an eye on things. If you want to check it out, use my link to sign-up here. (It’s free)

What I’m currently reading:

Setting financial goals is an important step to lead a financially secure life. If you don’t work toward anything specific, you are likely to spend more, save less and find yourself behind where you would like to be. Setting goals can help you to stay focused and work hard towards specific achievements until you accomplish them.

Things can become a bit complicated when you set these fantastic goals only to find that these goals do not align with your budget and are therefore unaffordable. It isn’t uncommon for goals to feel daunting at first. For example, if your goal is to achieve financial independence, you might think that building an investment portfolio large enough to support your lifestyle won’t be possible any sooner than traditional retirement age. After running some projections and using compound interest calculators you may find this can happen much sooner than you think!

If you find that it will indeed take until traditional retirement age to reach FI, here we have listed what you can do if your financial goals are too expensive.

1.    Review Your Budget

If you are unable to dedicate enough funds for your financial goals, you should review your budget first. Setting a budget is similar to setting financial goals in that you need to keep things realistic.

A budget in its simplest form is a list of your income and expenses. By having this written down it allows you to see exactly where all your money is going and possibly where you are overspending. By reviewing your budget on a consistent basis, you are able to identify the categories where you can cut down your discretionary expenses like entertainment, eating out, etc. Hopefully, it will help you to save more and make your financial goals more achievable.

2.    Break Your Large Goals Into Pieces

An advisable first financial goal is to save an emergency fund. Financial experts suggest that your emergency fund be 3-6 months worth of monthly expenses composed of liquid assets. 

Three to six months of expenses sitting in your savings account may seem unattainable. The fact is, you don’t need to fully fund your emergency fund in one month.

Start by saving a specific amount every month for your emergency fund and plan your budget accordingly. In any month, if you can save a bit more than what you usually do, stash it to the emergency fund and chalk it up as a win.

3.    Start A Side Hustle

According to a 2019 Fortune report, 49% of people under age 35 in the United States have at least one side hustle. Starting a side hustle will allow you to create multiple streams of income, earn more income and make your financial goals more affordable. 

Try to opt for a side hustle that fulfills your passion. This can be a win-win, earning extra income and also enjoying the time you are spending earning it. Some common side hustles include managing social media for small businesses, starting your own blog, teaching online, renting your extra rooms on Airbnb, etc.

4.    Seek Professional Help

Do you have a goal of repaying debts? If so, it might seem unaffordable if you are having a huge amount of unsecured debt. The incessantly high-interest rates of unsecured debts like credit cards make it cumbersome to repay them. There are debt consolidation companies out there that may be able to help before things progress.

If you fail to repay, the creditors can sell off your debt to a collection agency and you may start receiving collection calls. Besides, they can file a lawsuit against you and if the judgment goes against you, they can garnish your wages too.

In that case, you can consider the option of filing bankruptcy. Filing bankruptcy is a bit complicated and it can take months to complete. So, it would be better to go through bankruptcy counseling by hiring an attorney who has knowledge of bankruptcy laws.

A fee-only financial advisor may be able to help you achieve your goals more efficiently as well.

5.    Modify Your Goals

If you have reviewed your budget, broken your goals down into smaller pieces, started a side hustle and even sought out professional help and still can’t seem to achieve your goals it may be time to reconfigure.

Let’s say, you can save $6,000 per year. By stretching your budget and doing a side hustle, you can save a maximum of $9,000 per year. Your goal is to save $15,000 a year. 

This is an example of an unachievable or unrealistic financial goal. By setting unrealistic goals, you may lose motivation and abandon pursuing your financial goals.

The bottom line is, rather than giving up if your financial goals seem unaffordable or unrealistic, try to look for effective ways to achieve them. Stay focused and remain patient. Great things take time and achieving important financial goals are no exception.

This is part one of a series of interviews affectionately deemed “The Average Millionaire Interview Series” exclusively here on Live Off Dividends. Despite contrary belief, millionaires are real people who face adversity just like you and I. This interview series allows us the unique ability to gain some incredible perspective from these amazing, successful individuals. 

My hope for this series is that it will provide an inside look into the lives of a variety of fairly normal, or “average” if you will, individuals that just happen to be millionaires. We all come from different backgrounds and have unique experiences and opinions and that’s exactly what makes these interviews so important. The insight provided in these interviews is invaluable and I hope you will enjoy them as much as I have.

This interview was done with Steve Ankerstar. Here’s a little bit about Steve before we get into it.

Steve Ankerstar served 20 years as an Air Force fighter pilot, now he serves his clients and their families in both cultivating and preserving their wealth and financial well-being. Steve is the owner of Afterburner Financial, an Austin Texas based financial services firm as well as the host of the wildly popular On Time On Target personal finance podcast. Of note, Steve dropped the first bomb of the “Shock and Awe” campaign in 2003 from an F-117 stealth fighter at the beginning of Operation IRAQI FREEDOM. In the media, Steve was recently featured on the cover of the August 2020 issue of The Platform Magazine, the inaugural 2020 issue of Kosen Magazine and has been selected for the 2021 Edition of the “Top 100 in Finance” for Top 100 Magazine.

Average Millionaire Interview With Steve Ankerstar

Tell us a little bit about yourself. How old are you? Where did you grow up? Where do you live now? 

Steve Ankerstar, 51 years old. Father was Air Force so we moved all over.  I went to high school in Ohio and college at Iowa State.  I joined the Air Force where I lived in 11 places in 20 years.  My family and I retired to Round Rock, Texas in 2013 and don’t plan to ever leave the Austin area.

How much education did you receive? 

Quite a bit courtesy of the Air Force. Undergraduate degree in Engineering.  Three Masters Degrees and I have completed the first two years of my PhD in Finance (all but dissertation). 

What is your current occupation? How long have you been doing that? What were some of your previous occupations? 

I was a fighter pilot in the Air Force for 20 years where I flew both the F-15 Eagle and the F-117 Stealth Fighter. I retired from the Air Force in 2013 and opened my own investment management firm where I now manage over $35M in assets for upper middle class families. I also host a personal finance podcast and YouTube channel called “On Time On Target.”

Is your current occupation your dream job? If so, what do you like most about it? What would you change about it if you could?

Yes. I love what I do every day. Financial independence frees you up to do whatever you choose on a daily basis.

At what point did you realize you were a millionaire? How old were you and how did it feel? 

Age 43. I’ve always tracked my net worth so it was always a goal. Like achieving any goal, it felt great, but nothing really changed in my daily routine.

What were the most important steps that you took to get where you are today? 

I started investing at 16 (thanks to my parents really) and stuck to it through the years. Compound returns are amazing.

In general, how do you feel about debt? Are you willing to utilize debt to get further ahead or would you rather be entirely debt free? 

I have an entire podcast episode on debt versus leverage. In general, I don’t use debt at all. However, I define debt as an interest rate over 3.5%. If anyone is willing to loan me money for 3.5% or less, I consider it leverage. But currently, I only have mortgages which are below 3.5% and I do not pay them off early. I can make more elsewhere and keep the difference.

Do you track your net worth? If so, what does your process look like? 

Daily. Schwab has a great app for free that tracks not only your various brokerage accounts, but also let’s you import real estate value (through Zillow) as well as all bank, mortgage and credit card accounts. Building wealth can be very addictive.

If you could change any one thing in the world, what would it be and why? 

Rid the world of health issues like cancer and disease.

What are some of your short term goals, say less than 5 years out? What about long term? 

Write my PhD dissertation, then write another book. Continue to grow my business, podcast, Youtube channel and get increased exposure through major media channels.

If you had to give just ONE piece of financial advice to your younger self, what would it be? 

Go into individual stocks earlier. I spent decades in mutual funds.

How would you describe your perfect day? 

Wake up early. Study the stock market for about an hour. Record my morning show.  Make any money moves needed and be free to hang out with my family for lunch. The rest of the day can be spent with family, friends, or helping clients. I love to travel and work from the road, so bouncing around to cool locations is preferred. I’m generally in bed by 10pm.

Do you have any side hustles? If so, which are your favorites? 

My podcast and YouTube channel are my side hustles. I have merch as well.

What was your biggest financial mistake? What lesson(s) did you learn from it? 

Mutual funds and over diversification.  These can be the right instruments for those that are passive investors  and or choose/prefer to be hands off. But if you are willing to pay attention and be a lifelong student of investing, focusing your portfolio can make a huge difference.

What is your favorite place to vacation and why? 

Anywhere that makes my family smile. I’m happy when/where they are.

If you had $20,000 given to you, how would you spend it and why? 

I’d invest it. Same if I won the lottery. Nothing really changes.

What is your favorite personal finance related book? 

George Clason’s “The Richest Man in Babylon.” If you can understand this short book, it’s all you need to become financially independent.

If you aren’t retired, when do you expect to retire? What are your retirement plans? / If you are retired, at what age did you retire? Do you have any regrets about retiring at that age? 

Someday I will step away from day-to-day operations of my business, but I plan to stay engaged in the investing decisions as long as I have the mental capacity to do so.  So, hopefully, several decades.

Favorite non-personal finance related book? 

Raymond Feist’s “Magician”

Do you have a product, service, website, etc that you would like to tell us a little bit about? 

Check out my “On Time On Target” YouTube channel or podcast! Links are available through my website at www.ototnow.com. I teach others how to do what I have done. And it’s free! It’s my way of giving back, so please educate yourself.

If you could step into my shoes, what would you have asked yourself that I didn’t? How would you have answered?

Didn’t really get into dividend investing like I thought you might. I’m a total return investor myself, but have several clients where I design their portfolios to generate income for them to live on. Would be happy to talk more about this if you want.

Concluding Thoughts From Our Interview With Steve Ankerstar

Invest as early as possible and track your net worth regularly. I hope you enjoyed our interview with Steve and that you learned a thing or two. Be sure to check out Steve’s Youtube channel and podcast! Apple users can find Steve’s podcast here and all other users can find it here. Steve’s business site can be found over at https://www.afterburner-financial.com.

Would you or do you know someone who might like to take part in our next Average Millionaire Interview? Feel free to reach out via our Contact page!

Disclosure: We may receive a referral fee if you sign up with a service through a link on this page.

Check out Personal Capital to track your net worth. It’s phenomenal, honestly. I login almost daily to keep an eye on things. If you want to check it out, use my link to sign-up here. (It’s free)

What I’m currently reading:

When we think about our hourly wage, we don’t usually think very hard about it. We typically see it as a relatively fixed number that may increase periodically. Unfortunately, the fixed wage that we think we’re making is actually less, probably much less. Our real hourly wage is pretty simple to calculate it just requires a little bit of thought.

What We Think We Make 

The typical approach for calculating our hourly wage is very simple. Weekly pay divided by hours worked equals hourly wage. Let’s use Phil as our example going forward. Phil makes $1,000 per week before tax and works 40 hours per week. $1,000 weekly pay / 40 hours worked = $25 per hour. Sadly, it is rarely this simple when all factors are considered.

Phil, along with most of us, have a handful of expenses that accompany our jobs. On top of added expenses, we also have time demands outside of our normal work hours. Without these expenses and time demands, our jobs wouldn’t be possible and these are the things that need to be considered while calculating your real hourly wage.

Added Expenses and Time

Phil has a bunch of factors that play into his actual hour wage. Taxes, his commute, fuel, car maintenance, work clothes and time spent preparing for work.

Taxes – Phil’s gross pay is $1,000. After paying taxes his net pay is $850.

Total: $150 per week.

Commute – Phil lives about 20 miles away from his job and it takes him about 15 minutes to get to and from work. This costs him 30 minutes per day.

Total: 2.5 hours per week.

Fuel – Phil’s truck averages about 25 miles per gallon and gas is currently costing him about $2.50 per gallon. With this, his commute is costing him about $4 per day or $20 per week. (We could also quantify the amount of time it takes Phil to go to the gas station and pump his gas.)

Total: $20 per week.

Maintenance – This added mileage requires Phil to change his oil an extra time each year, costing him $25 or about $0.48 per week. He also needs new tires every other year costing $1,000 or about $9.62 per week. (The added mileage on Phil’s truck is making it depreciate faster than it would otherwise, this could be quantified and added to our calculation.)

Total: $10.10 per week.

Work Clothes – Phil’s job requires that he wear steel toe boots. He spends about $150 per year on boots or about $2.88 per week. He also spends another $150 per year on pants, shirts, etc. (Phil spends time and fuel going to the store to purchase these items, this could be quantified and added to our calculation.)

Total: $5.76 per week.

Added Time – Phil’s work day doesn’t start until 7AM, but he wakes up at 6:30AM to get ready for work and prepare his lunch for the day. This costs him about 30 minutes per day.

Total: 2.5 hours per week.

Recovery – Phil works a physically demanding job. He is exhausted by the end of the day and he typically needs about an hour each day to recover and relax after work before he is ready to be productive again. 

Total: 5 hours per week.

The Real Calculation

These added expenses amount to an additional $185.86 per week. Instead of making $1,000 per week, Phil is actually only profiting $814.14. The additional time demands amount to a total of 10 extra hours per week. Instead of just working 40 hours per week, Phil is committing 50 hours per week to his job.

These numbers change his hourly wage quite drastically. Using the same formula, weekly pay / hours worked = hourly wage, Phil now makes much less per hour. $814.14 / 50 = $16.28 per hour. This is almost a $10 per hour difference than his original $25 per hour. 

Final Thoughts

When it comes to work, we all have different time and expense demands unique to our situation. There are a plethora of different circumstances that could affect our real hourly wages. You can go pretty in depth with these calculations if you’d like. For example, all of the things that “could have been quantified” in the above examples. 

I personally stick to the bigger ticket items and don’t go too crazy with the small things. If you have lots of small things that amount to larger amounts, that’s a different story. Either way, this can be a pretty eye opening exercise. This can be especially useful when comparing job offers or contemplating a job switch. In that scenario, it may be more beneficial to factor in as many different time demands and additional expenses that you can.

Disclosure: We may receive a referral fee if you sign up with a service through a link on this page.

Check out Personal Capital to track your net worth. It’s phenomenal, honestly. I login almost daily to keep an eye on things. If you want to check it out, use my link to sign-up here. (It’s free)

What I’m currently reading:

I think it’s pretty safe to say that 2020 was one of the worst years in recent memory. I can only hope that things start to normalize quickly during 2021. Despite 2020 being downright awful, the market did surprisingly well. My rental properties did pretty well this year too, considering the circumstances. 

My 5th property is under contract at the moment, my “on or about” closing date was set for October originally. This deal has been nothing short of a nightmare and I still don’t have a closing date set. I imagine I’ll close sometime in January, but I’m done getting my hopes up. The property is a two unit, 3 bedrooms 1.5 baths on one side and 2 bedrooms 1 bath on the other side. 

I’m currently waiting for a phone call on a single family property that I may be purchasing. I know the owner’s son pretty well. I’m still owner-occupying the first two unit property that I purchased so if this deal works out I’ll likely move into the single family and rent my unit. I’m pretty excited for the possibility.

2020 Passive Income – $19,078.49

Owner Occupied Rental – $8,475.00

Rental business – $8,400.00

Dividends – $2,005.11

Interest – $178.20

Other – $20.18

I like to calculate my FI (Financial Independence) ratio in two parts. The first part being passive income vs. necessary expenses. The second part being passive income vs. total expenses. The first calculation makes sense because I know that I could cut all of my unnecessary expenses if I had to, this is often referred to as “Lean FI.” The second calculation makes sense because this level of FI would require no changes to my every day life and I could continue living exactly as I am now. The purpose of these calculations is to determine how close to financial independence you are.

Passive Income vs. Necessary Expenses

$19,078.49 / $15,507.53 = 1.23 x 100 = 123%

This 123% means that I could have afforded all my necessary expenses for the year without needing to work. The 23% extra would have amounted to an extra $297.58 per month that I would have left over after all necessary expenses.

Passive Income vs. Total Expenses

$19,078.49 / $27,867.26 = .685 x 100 = 68.5%

This 68.5% means that I was about 31.5% away from being able to afford ALL of my expenses for the year without needing to work. This 31.5% amounts to $732.40 per month that I was lacking to afford all expenses without working.

This was a pretty great year for passive income. With the new property in the pipeline, I’d like to see $30,000 next year. If my expenses don’t increase too dramatically, my passive income may cover my total expenses next year. That would be quite the milestone for me.

Net Worth +52.31%

I’ve been tracking my net worth since 2016 and it’s both motivating and inspiring to see the progress I’ve made. A 52% net worth gain seems almost impossible. I’m pretty astonished with the amount that I’ve gained this year, being that it was a pandemic year and all. I’m certainly not complaining, but it does make me wonder how much longer the market will keep this trajectory.

I use Personal Capital to track my net worth. It’s phenomenal, honestly. I login almost daily to keep an eye on things. If you’re interested, use my link to sign-up here. (It’s free)

Total Amount Invested and Annual Savings Rate

I managed to invest $31,396 into the market during 2021. This is quite a big jump from 2019, but it is still short of my goal of $35,000. Maybe I’ll make it there next year. I’ve found that it’s extremely easy to invest money when it’s an automatic process. Trying to decide whether to invest more or save for another rental property is much more difficult, to me.

I managed to save 58.93% of my net income this year. This is a great metric to track as it really opens your eyes to what an expensive month or two can do to an entire year of savings. I’m pretty much maxed out on the amount that I can comfortably save. The annual increases in my savings rate are largely due to an annual raise at my job as well as saving money from side jobs.

Goals For 2021

Financial

• Invest $35,000
• Increase Net Worth by 18%
• Achieve a 60% Savings Rate
• 100% FI Ratio (Total Expenses)

Fitness

• Run 100 miles this year
• Bench press 325lbs (@ ~175lbs bodyweight)
• Squat 365lbs (@ ~175lbs bodyweight)
• Deadlift 455lbs (@ ~175lbs bodyweight)

Other

• Read 30 books
• Total of 2,000 blog subscribers
• Travel outside of New York

Disclosure: We may receive a referral fee if you sign up with a service through a link on this page.

Check out Personal Capital to track your net worth. It’s phenomenal, honestly. I login almost daily to keep an eye on things. If you want to check it out, use my link to sign-up here. (It’s free)

What I’m currently reading: