Overwhelmed? Here's The Solution

Attend to YOUR needs!
Then, you can help your loved ones!

I wanted to share this simple rule of thumb that helped me, and many of my coaching students keep all the balls in the air without feeling overwhelmed.

It works exceptionally well for perfectionists and high achievers, who often put others' needs ahead of their own.

The rule of thumb is this -

     PUT YOUR OXYGEN MASK FIRST 

The back story.

When I was still a workaholic, I used to travel a lot.

Every time before the plane took off, flight attendants would review the safety procedures and turn on a safety video. In the video, they'd show an emergency, with oxygen masks popping out in front of all passengers. One of the passengers, a mother, would put on an oxygen mask on herself, then turn to the left and put another mask on her little boy. A voice in the video advised passengers, "Be sure to adjust your own mask before helping others."

During one of those flights, I went to the bathroom and as I was coming back to my seat… I fainted.

Flight attendants helped me up. They took my blood pressure. It turned out I fainted simply because I was exhausted and haven't had anything to eat that day. My blood sugar was too low. So they gave me a (free) sandwich and some orange juice.

This was my wake up call. 

It suddenly hit me that I had three kids at home, 9, 7, and two years old at the time. I better start putting on my oxygen mask! So I can be around to help my kids when they need me…

I'm sharing this story with you to encourage you to take note of your day-to-day priorities and do a quick safety check-in with yourself:

– are you prioritizing what is truly valuable for you?

– is your behaviour in line with your core values?

– is your oxygen mask on?

Take good care of yourself!
Anna

www.50doors.com
Author | Investor | Financial Wellness Coach

PS Hope, you enjoyed this story – feel free to comment below if you'd like to share a comment or ask a question. I'll be happy to hear from you!

50 Doors Annual Results as of Jan 2020

2020 is the 7th year on my road to 50 doors!

The journey started in 2014 when my husband and I decided to go after passive cash flow and financial freedom. Without any prior experience, we set out to get 50 rental units within five years. Each unit would theoretically give us $200 of passive income. Overall, we aimed to achieve 10K/month cashflow.

Here we are seven years later! Happy to share actual results and lessons learned as of the end of 2019.

Financial Freedom Strategy

• Invest in Assets, which put money in my pocket
• Eliminate Liabilities, which take money away
• Until the positive cash flow from the assets covers my family's day to day needs aka we are Financially Free

BIG DREAM and THE DREAMLINE

I am working towards September 2022 deadline.

Or should I say DREAM-line? Ba-dam-shh...

The plan is to go away on a sailing trip during the 2022/2023 school year.

Timing will be perfect. Our little guy will still be in middle school. We'll do some sailing and sight-seeing and come back for his first year of high school in 2024.

My two oldest sons will be independent by then. Ha-ha, we'll see how that goes! As a side note, I would have never thought that handling teenagers can be A LOT TRICKIER than real estate investing! But this is a topic for a different type of blog.

WITH THIS IN MIND, MY BIG 2020 GOAL IS TO GET THE BOAT!!!

Status as of the End of 2019

KEY POSITIVES

• Our portfolio now has 17 assets. We added one in 2019.
• The total door count is 20! Only 30 more doors to complete the original 50 Doors plan
• I'm thrilled that our cashflow has bounced back up to 15K from the 2018 dive down to 3.9K.Tight hands-on asset management definitely paid off.
• I am most grateful for the caring, responsive, and responsible tenants and their families, as well as reliable and easy to work with property managers, handymen, trades, advisors, and partners.
• However....

THE KEY LESSON LEARNED

My biggest 2019 takeaway is EASY DOES IT!

Continuous rapid expansion can be emotionally exhausting and extremely stressful.

Every new asset you add to your portfolio requires resources - time, money, skill, energy, etc. Ever since we started, all equity and cash flow from older assets were going right back into the growth funnel and used to acquire new assets.

Too many times over the past year, my safety cushion was too thin. I relied on pure luck to make ends meet, juggle, and balance all the in-flows and out-flows.

Choosing the right pace is crucial in the long run. Giving myself ample cushion room yet still making great headway is the art I'd like to master.

Update on Objectives for 2019: Mostly Complete

1. Eliminate a big chunk of my most costly liability, Bad Debt. This will increase my overall cash flow. With less debt, I'll attract other people's money on better terms. Done!
2. Acquire assets that put money in my pocket at a reasonable pace without getting new bad debt. This will increase positive cash flow as well. Done!
3. Sell non-performing assets in Spring 2019 to improve cash flow. Kind of done! I was able to improve operations without selling the assets.
4. Acquire liquid assets. You can't buy groceries on real estate equity. Liquid assets will be my rainy day fund to protect me from a fire sale in case of an emergency. Great progress! Lots done and way more still to be done!
5. Plan ahead for the sailing trip! Budget, research, and make sure my husband gets his sailing license. Getting there! Break your leg, Anton! :) Good luck on your skipper exam in a couple of months

Objectives for 2020

1. Double revenue & double cash flow! Not sure how yet... don't ask.
2. Take it easy & enjoy life - read, yoga, meditate, be active, have fun, help and support my loved ones, and give back.
3. Last but not least - Get The Boat!   

Numbers

Link to My Portfolio 2019 is here.

Link to My Portfolio 2018 is here.

How to free up 80% of your time without feeling guilty

Imagine you had LIMITLESS time for yourself?
Image by Myriam Zilles from Pixabay

I wanted to share this simple technique that helped me, and many of my coaching students free up time without feeling guilty.

It works exceptionally well for perfectionists and high achievers, who often put others’ needs ahead of their own.

Here is how it works…

1. Imagine you’ve won the lottery and gave a two-week notice
2. Put together a transition plan
3. Execute it! Do everything in your power for your colleagues to succeed, without you

Let’s play through this together.

Imagine you are working on an urgent, important project. The deadline is approaching fast. You are one of the most valuable contributors to this project. Everyone is counting on you! It’s late in the evening. You know you should stop for the day, yet you can’t. You do what you have to do and what you believe is the right thing to do. You work hard.

You sacrifice your sleep, dinner, and family time.

Suddenly your husband calls.

You know he’ll be asking when he can expect you back home.

Feeling both annoyed and guilty, you pick up the phone:

“HONEY, WE WON THE JACK POT!!!!! COME HOME! IT IS TWENTY-SEVEN-MILLION-DOLLARS!!!”

he yells into your ear….

You can barely contain your happiness. Your chest is exploding with joy. Tears of happiness running down your cheeks. Numerous euphoric thoughts rush through your mind. You are thinking of multiple bucket lists of everything you will now be able to do. You tell your husband you’ll be home right away and hang up.

A message pops up and brings you back to earth. Your boss is asking – “Is everything on track for the product launch in three weeks?”

Now what?!?

You know you MUST go home and be with your loved ones. You also MUST help your team succeed.

This is what you do…

1) You give a two-week notice
2) Put together an extraordinary effective transition plan
     3) Flawlessly execute it!

Now let’s come back to reality. The hard part….

I was a workaholic one day. I used to think I had to work hard. I self-sabotaged.
On three occasions, I physically collapsed…

I let my team down because I could not be there for them up to the finish line. I had to quit without a plan. Repeatedly. Then, I finally learned and applied the oxygen rule – put on your oxygen mask first, then you can take care of your loved ones.

If you feel tired, stressed, depressed, or overworked and desperately need a break,

then YOU MUST imagine you won the lottery and have to hand off your responsibilities.

**TO BE CLEAR: You DO NOT actually quit. Simply use this metaphor to re-gain your time - become a stronger player in a stronger team **

You’ll be amazed that YOU CAN free up 80-100% of your time using this technique and, at the same time, help your colleagues become more efficient, self-reliable, and confident, while you take some time to re-charge and re-energize.

Trust me! Stop surviving on adrenaline and ignoring yourself.

So many people end up taking stress-leave or even quitting just because of work overload.

Take good care of yourself!

Anna Belov
Author | Investor | Financial Success Coach
www.50doors.com

PS Hope, you enjoyed this story – feel free to share and post your comment/question below. I’ll be happy to hear from you!

The Universe Has Your Back - A Real Estate Fable

I thought I was helping
Image by Gerd Altmann from Pixabay

One of my tenant families struggled to pay rent. It's been an issue over the past three years.

The family would miss a rent payment. Then take a few months to catch up. Once caught up, they'd miss another payment the very next month. The cycle repeated.

I deeply empathized with their problems. I had experienced many of them in my past too - a close relative going through a critical illness, losing a job, going through challenges raising kids, car breaking down at the most horrible time, etc.

I thought I was helping the family by being patient through all their troubles. It seemed that they were trying so hard and needed a break. Besides, they seemed to have been able to always come out on top.

The Universe Has Your Back

Things always work out
Image by Gerd Altmann from Pixabay

Finally, the universe heard them. Things started turning around. First, a social housing program helped them catch up on rent - $2,200 was gifted to the family. Next, both parents found part-time jobs. Shortly, they worked full-time hours and multiple jobs. Once they apologized for a delayed reply to my text because they were too busy working! Hurrah!

With a sigh of relief, they told me one day that money wasn't an issue anymore. They'd be okay from now on. They sympathized with my dependance on their rent payment to pay my mortgage and other costs. They said that I shouldn't worry about their rent anymore.

I felt grateful to the universe! Things always work out somehow.

You Just Have to Do Your Part

Just a short month later. Another missed payment.

This time, the auto-deposit process on my end glitched. All transfers usually get auto-deposited, but

Did I misread the signs?
Image by TiNo Heusinger from Pixabay

this one went back to the sender because of a recent new release of the banking app. Not realizing this had happened, the tenants unintentionally spent the returned rent money. They had no money to pay rent. Understandable. A new cycle of struggles began.

My tenant put together a payment plan. They sent it in writing and laid out upcoming catch-up payments. Date - payment - date - payment - date payment...

Then, they missed the first catch-up payment.

What happened? 

No answer. 

What's the status? 

Apologies. CRA delayed our child tax benefit payment. It won't happen again.

Then, they missed the next planned payment.

Worried, I followed up again.

The Universe Has My Back

My tenant was frustrated. She confessed that there was a time when they didn't have any money to buy groceries for weeks and were getting food packages at the church.  Once they started working, they've been handing over their full paycheques to me. There was a list of issues at the house they weren't happy about. They didn't get sufficient value and service from me as their landlord, for their money. They brought up a poorly executed door replacement job from two years ago and said that I hired a drunk...

Please move out! I pleaded.

I checked and verified that there were more affordable housing options in the area for a family of the size. I don't want your full paycheque. Please don't give it to me! It's not right that you don't buy food. It's not right that you don't love your home.

Please, please, please don't stay in the house, especially if you are not getting a good value for the price you are paying. You know where the door is! Please please please move out.

I was sending my thoughts to the universe, begging it to resolve this nonsensical situation.

My tenant didn't reply. 

They sent the next rent payment on time. 

And then the next one. 

To be continued?

Quickbooks: Real Estate and Personal Bookkeeping Must Have

Bookkeeping used to be my nightmare

I recently started using Quickbooks (referral link with 50% discount) for all personal finance and real estate bookkeeping. Now, I wish I did this a long-long-long-long time ago!

Prior to Quickbooks, I used an Excel-based manual process. I logged into online banking once a month and downloaded transactions. Then, I copied them into an Excel template. Assigned a category to each transaction. Refreshed my pivot tables and reviewed the results. Seems easy?

This process actually took an incredible amount of time! With every new rental property I purchased, the work-load increased. The volume steadily grew to an average of 300 transactions a month coming from 27 bank accounts. I was spending roughly three work days a month on data entry and review. And by the time I was done, the next month was already midway! Ughh...

Quickbooks gave me my time back!

I signed up for Quickbooks and linked it to all my bank accounts. So that all income and expense transactions automatically flowed into QuickBooks from CIBC, RBC, NBC, Scotiabank, BMO, Equitable, Questrade, CapitalOne, etc. No more download or copy-paste was needed.

Quickbooks keeps me organized!

In addition, I created auto-rules to categorize the incoming transactions from the feeds into the appropriate categories and classes. Most of the data fell into the buckets I needed all by itself. As for the remaining transactions, Quickbooks app lets me classify them on the go. For example, while I wait to pick up my son from Karate, I open the app and swipe things into places. Bookkeeping happens naturally in real time.

Quickbooks helps me collect rent!

Another feature I love is reporting! The Customer Detail report shows me the rent roll. I can easily see all completed and missing rent payments when I run current and past months data, side by side. It takes me just a couple of seconds to follow up on outstanding rent payments. I issue invoices for past-due rent and keep track of all the catch-up payments as they come in - all tenant activity is in one central place.

Quickbooks keeps me accountable!

The moment I log in, I know my income, expenses, and net profit or loss exactly, to the penny. I can drill into data by property, tenant, partner, company, time period, etc. I use insights from QuickBooks to plan on how to become financially independent sooner.

Quickbooks knows if I spend more or less than I make; 

if my assets are cash positive or negative; 

if my net worth is rising or falling. 

Quickbooks helps me make the decisions that are right, not the ones that are easy.

If you'd like to give Quickbooks a try, use this link to get a 50% discount.

Hope you love this tool as much as I do! Let me know how it goes :)

A Landlord Toilet Story with Numbers

When a tenant calls, I expect an issue

It's been almost five years since we acquired our first rental property. Still, every time a tenant calls, I hesitate before picking up the phone. I know that they wouldn't call me if everything was going smoothly. 

Tenants only call for two reasons:

1) They can't pay the rent on time
2) There is a repair or maintenance issue

Either way it's not a happy call. So I dread picking up the phone. I look at the phone display with the tenant's name. I count down in my mind.

Five, four, three, two, one. Then, I pick up the phone.

My skin is getting thicker.

After five years, I know that whether I pick up the phone now or listen to the voice message a bit later, the issue will need to be addressed. I also know that the sooner I resolve it, the least costly it will be. Rarely, I see issues resolving themselves. Unfortunately, most of the issues not only stick around but also worsen rapidly whenever I procrastinate.

However, I also learned that there are always different ways to resolve an issue. The easiest way is often the most costly.

Let me give you an example.

What's the Issue? 

O-oh! Hard water, ruined tap

A couple of weeks ago, my tenant called and let me know that they have a few problems: the shower tap is broken, kitchen and laundry room faucet leak.
I scheduled a local plumbing company. They visited and gave me a quote....

I always expect the worst. So I wasn't even in complete shock. But still... this specific quote made me nauseous.

It's January - the first month of the new year - and the cost of this repair basically wipes out most of my profit for the entire year. 

Any future maintenance issues at this place would eat away cash flow from other properties.

How is this possible? All it takes is a broken tap and two leaking faucets?

I reviewed the quote:

Service Charge   $49.99
Kitchen Faucet   $599.45
Laundry Faucet  $368.31
Shower Valve Remodeling Plate $192.33
Handle Wall Mount Tub & Shower w/ Valve $911.50
Become an Advantage Plan Member $99.99 and get 15% off
Member Discount ($248.60)
Tax $256.49

Grand Total: $2,229.46

We thought we could
handle the easy stuff 

That was the worst case. The best case quote was for $1,420.13. Better, but still bad.

The quote seemed high. I just got my own new bathroom faucet for $47 off Amazon. $599.45 for a new kitchen faucet seemed absurd in comparison!

I checked with my property manager. Does the price seem reasonable? He'd quote around $1,200 for the worst case. I called a different local plumbing company. They quoted $1,500 for the worst case.

My husband and I went to our favourite store. You guessed it right - The Home Depot.

We decided that we'd at least be able to get the easy stuff done on our own. Then, call the plumber for the hard stuff and save that way.

We showed the tap picture to a Home Depot staff member.

How do we go about it? 

In the best case, they told us, we'd be able to buy the parts and replace what's been broken. We just had to know exactly the brand and type of the faucet and taps.

In the worst case, we'd have to call a licensed plumber. They didn't recommend that we'd attempt to cut the tile on our own. We didn't look handy enough...

This time we were lucky!

My husband was able to replace just the broken parts. We decided not to worry about the laundry faucet for now as the issue seemed to be very minor when we examined it up close. So my husband fixed the kitchen faucet and the shower tap.

Actual Costs

Aaawwww....
My husband fixes our tenants faucet

Manor faucet    $79.98
HANDLE         $13.49
FLANGE          $5.92
FLANGE          $5.92
WASHERS       $3.94
CARTRIDGE   $9.56

Tax: $15.45

Grand-total: $134.26

Problem Solved!

All I can say is: Tenants are happy! We are happy! 

Forced Appreciation for Noobs

You know those customers at Home Depot, who point their finger and call everything "Thing" or "Thingy" when seeking advice. 

They have no idea what any of the tools are called in English. They just show up and trust the Home Depot staff will understand their mumbling and point out a way to resolve the issue.

Well. That's me. And trust me - the approach works!

Ever since I started 50Doors, I mostly point my finger, gesture, mumble and draw the best I can whenever it comes to building, renovating, and fixing things and thingies.

And people around me not only understand me but also gladly help me out!

To my big relief, I realized that not knowing can be advantageous.

Through lack of knowledge and skills, I learned how to trust people who know better, how to tell experts from talkers, and how to create real value from simple ideas.

Here is an example.

I had an idea of renting a property, which was never rented out before, but I was unsure because cash flow wouldn't be good enough. I talked my idea over with a friend who is a lot more experienced. He suggested that I renovate, split the place into two units and double my cash flow. My gross annual rent will increase by $14,400 and result in positive cash flow.

I loved the suggestions, but I was unsure that I could split the unit into two apartments. I talked it over with my husband who is a lot handier. My husband thought the concept was feasible and explained to me how the unit could be split. Together we made these drawings:

I loved our discussion and the drawings, but I wasn't sure how this could actually be accomplished and what it would take.

So I sent our drawings to my friend, who runs an on-demand property management company. Within a week, I had several quotes and a start-to-finish renovation project plan. I now knew that a $25,000 investment will be required. The work could be finished within about three weeks.

Wow! That's a 57.5% return on investment!

ROI is $14,400 / $25,000 = 57.5%

It's been almost three weeks since the start. The work is nearly complete. Two separate units are now a reality.

I am starting to look for tenants! It seems surreal that the ideas came to life so fast and soon there will be two families moving into their new homes and starting to build their memories.

Simple ideas turned into real value, which will positively affect the lives of many people for many years to come.

I am extremely grateful to the amazing property management company that actually got the job done!

Fortune Property Management 

converted my mumbling into 

two beautiful apartments 

within a couple of weeks.

Thank you!

When You Thought You Could Fly and Then... Got Stuck

When you thought you could fly
but then got stuck
and are really afraid!

Sometimes, the moment you think that you've figured out how to become financially free, the situation changes and you have to adjust your plan.

Approaching the Financing Wall

In the past five years, my strategy was to get a new property using expensive private money, renovate it, get a great tenant, then re-finance with more affordable money.

The refinance step is critical. It improves my cash flow. In addition, after the refinance, equity starts to build up within the asset because my mortgage is interest-plus-principal-paydown, rather than interest-only.

Without refinancing, holding on to the property is pointless. The property doesn't bring much positive cash flow. It doesn't accumulate equity over time either. The downpayment money is getting lazy. It's stuck inside of the property, not doing much.

This strategy worked for me five times.

With five different properties, I got a private interest-only loan to acquire a vacant asset. Renovated. Advertised. Got a great tenant. Enjoyed my skinny cash flow for a few months. Then, qualified for a traditional mortgage at a better rate. Refinanced.

Voila! Much better cash flow and principal paid down by my tenants. How nice!

The process worked like a clock. Over and over again. Until it failed.

Slammed Against The Financing Wall

At the end of 2017, I acquired three properties with private money. My plan was to replace the expensive interest-only loan with a more affordable conventional loan in a few months. Like previously, this would lead to improved cash flow and principal paid down by tenants.

Except, this time I couldn't qualify for a conventional mortgage!

The problem was that I no longer met the bank's underwriting criteria. In simple language, the lenders concluded that it was too much risk to give me another mortgage.

In the past, I had a job. My salary looked great from a lender standpoint.

Today, I am self-employed. My rental income is considered risky. Even though it is supported by 17 families working at 17 different jobs, lenders believe it's riskier than relying on my old one-woman paycheque.

In the past, I had one property. It looked great from a lender standpoint, as having a mortgage was so typical.

Today, I have a bunch of assets. Yet, most lenders don't approve more than five mortgages. They consider it risky because a borrower with more than five assets doesn't match their typical good borrower profile. Having more than five mortgages is not typical.

Investors call it the Financing Wall.

When you just gained the momentum, then slam - no more money for you!

Through and Beyond The Financing Wall

Long story short, let me jump to the conclusion of the story:

Don't give up when you don't qualify for a mortgage four times in a row. 

Don't give up when your credit score went from Excellent to Good to Fair. 

Don't give up when your situation doesn't fit a conventional good borrower profile.

Don't give up when your credit card payments give you creeps.

Instead:

• Make sure your mortgage broker is as awesome as mine! See their contact info below
• Eliminate liabilities! read through my prior blog post on how eliminating liabilities can decrease the burden of expenses and expedite your financial freedom
• Make sure you have Plan A, Plan B, and Plan C and you do just fine with or without better financing
• If your profile doesn't match the characteristics of a good borrower, learn what those characteristics look like and tweak your profile to change your financial future, so you can qualify down the road. Here is a link to an Excel template that I use to help me stay as organized as possible and make a very good impression on potential lenders
• Keep learning, so you can adjust your strategy or start using new strategies! There are infinite number of different ways to accomplish a goal.
• Ask! What I didn't realize far too long is that no matter what your situation is, chances are someone has been there and will gladly help you find a way out. Email me at ask@50doors.com

Here's the info for my broker, who has helped me with financing many-many times when I doubted there was a path forward. In fact, he shared this quotes with me when we broke through the Financial Wall after a few unsuccessful attempts:

"Never give in. Never, never, never, never--in nothing, great or small, large or petty--never give in, except to convictions of honour and good sense." 

-- Winston Churchill

If you need a mortgage in GTA, check out these guys

PS Did you know that a $300,000 mortgage with 3% rate will cost upwards of $575,000.00 and you could save 10 years and $90,000 of interest if you were to pay just $200 more per month? Here's an Excel tool that I use to do all my numbers when it comes to planning accelerated mortgage pay down and tracking my results

How to Become 22% Financially Free

Most of my girlfriends think that
living with my parents is
a horrific idea :)

Over the Christmas break, my family made a very big decision. We all finally agreed that it's time to eliminate one of our biggest liabilities - our home! 

We decided to join efforts cross generations and consolidate two residences: my family moved in with my parents.

This is not only because we love each other to pieces, but also because we saw a great opportunity to optimize our spending. This is a step towards our financial freedom goal and a part of the following chain reaction:

• Spending goes hand in hand with saving.
• Saving goes hand in hand with investing. 
• Investing goes hand in hand with multiple streams of income.
• Multiple streams of income go hand in hand with financial freedom.

I understand if you think it's a crazy move. Even my nine-year-old jokes:

My son: Mom, how do you feel about living with your Mom when you are almost 40?

Leaving 16 years of memories behind

Me: I like it

My son: Why? [Pauses] Free food?!?

Then, he bursts into laughing loudly at his own black humour.

All joking aside, this is a big change for our family. Kids had to change schools, karate dojo, pack
and move all of their stuff, and try to make new friends. My husband and I packed 16 years of life into boxes and garbage bags and piled it in my parents' basement. My parents now have to observe our semi-chaotic living in their previously idyllically quiet home.

Why? Because this change takes us closer to achieving our financial freedom goal. Now, our upcoming year-long Sailing Trip in a couple of years is more real than we've ever imagined.

Myth: Home is an Asset

Most people consider the home that they live in to be an asset.

There is a lot of evidence all around us in favour of this myth. For example, real estate agents will tell us that home is the most expensive asset we will purchase in our lifetime.

A creditor will ask us to put the market value of our principal residence at the top of the Assets column on their credit application.

Our personal financial advisor will ask about the value of our home and enter it on the first line of the assets section of our Personal Financial Information form.

Let's be pragmatic about facts:

A real estate agent will get paid a commission based on the purchase price you pay for your home. 

A creditor will collect thousands of dollars of interest payments when you borrow from them and secure a loan against your home.

A financial planner will help you in many ways:

a mortgage, insurance, a secured loan, an investment portfolio, and a repeating annual financial plan update, all of which is based on the market value of your home; all of which comes with a price tag.

Please keep in mind that I am a grateful customer to a few amazing real estate brokers, mortgage brokers, and financial planners. Knowledgeable advisors help me tremendously on my way to financial freedom! The value of the products and services they provide to me greatly outweigh the associated costs and propel me forward. In fact, I wouldn't be able to achieve what I've done so far without their help. If you are reading this - Thank you!

The trick to appreciating the value of these services is to know exactly what you are after.

The advisors, especially great ones, will give you the advice that you'd like to hear. This is because a huge part of their job is to help you achieve your dreams. They will cater services to your tastes and help you make the decisions to achieve your desires.

Therefore, if you go with conventional definitions and believe your home to be an asset, you will inevitably purchase an expensive home and spend a lot of money on it! Your advisors will help you do it to the maximum.

Your Decisions are Yours to Sponsor

Since my goal is financial freedom, I make it my highest priority to fully understand the costs of each of my liabilities, including my home.

I am fully and solely responsible for all the associated home expenses such as:

Mortgage Interest and principal 

Mortgage insurance 

Life and disability insurance premiums 

Property taxes 

Property insurance 

Maintenance and repair costs 

Snow and grass care costs 

Cable 

Internet 

Phone line 

Security alarm system 

Furnace lease 

Water tank lease 

Utilities 

Interest on the furniture bought on credit card 

Interest on the car as fancy as my neighbour's

Netflix

Amazon Prime 

Cleaning lady (I notice that the trend is more bathrooms than people in a house!)

A second car if the house is far from work 

Given my personal goal, I choose to disagree with the conventional definitions and concur with Robert Kiyosaki, who insists that we put our home on the liabilities side of the equation.

In order for me to balance my personal budget, I have to face the harsh reality and be ready to pay the bills that I signed up for. There's definitely a lot of bills to pay when it comes to home ownership!

Consequently, my advisors strive to help me find the best bang for the buck, save every penny possible, and use my personal home to the fullest.

Abundant Opportunities

Homeownership combined with the home being classified as a liability (as opposed to being an asset) gives you tremendous opportunities.

First and foremost, I bet you can save two to three hundred dollars a month, if you carefully revisit all of your regular expenses, decide which of them you no longer need, and stop paying for them.

Keep in mind that small savings add up.

For example, over the past couple of months I shaved off the following on little things:

- Replaced mortgage and loan protector insurance with whole life and disability insurance +$100

- Stopped paying for a home thermostat rental +$15

- Cancelled Netflix +$12

Sub-Total: $127 per month = $1,524 per year = $1,836 before tax.

After moving to my parents, I've also added the following savings:

- Cancelled internet +$65

- Cancelled home insurance +$40

- Cut utilities and property taxes in half +$500

Sub-Total: $605 per month = $7,260 per year = $8,746 before tax.

Adding $656 monthly saving I shared last month, grand total becomes:

$127 + $605 + 656 = $1,388 per month = $16,656 per year.

At 17% tax rate, that is $20,067 of pre-tax salary.

An average family with 73.7K annual household income has to work for over eleven weeks to earn enough money to cover these expenses.

Given the recurring nature of these expenses, it's not just a one-time eleven-week long work project. You'd have to work for eleven weeks every year to pay for all these obligations.

For me personally, getting rid of these liabilities means that my husband can be on vacation for 11 weeks out of 52 every year. 

This alone makes us 

22% FINANCIALLY FREE

Sailing Trip Awaits!

Not bad, eh?

PS Saving and being frugal around your home-related expenses is just one side of the coin. Being a homeowner can open many investment opportunities and become the basis of your future wealth and financial freedom. Email me at ask@50doors.com if you'd like to learn more

Tax Saving on Steroids: Better than RRSP

Two years ago, I had a great job. I loved it. In fact, I loved my job too much.

I'd wake up at two or three am in the morning a few times a week to get some work done, while it was still relatively quiet and almost nobody else was working. I'd work through the day, and then put in a few more hours right before bed time, usually late at night, after my kids and my husband fell asleep.

I loved the job. It felt like a game. Loved solving puzzles and moving up to the next level. I was addicted. 

I was a conscientious super star at work and a dedicated WORKAHOLIC

Once, I even managed to impress the CEO and the CFO. I doubled an important business metric while holding an interim job for a quarter, in addition to my own regular job. I got a performance bonus! Hooraaah! That felt amazing!

Extremely shocked was I when only half of the bonus got deposited to my checking account. How could that be?

The answer was simple: Taxes.

Blinded by Success

Blinded by Success

That was the first time I actually noticed the impact taxes made on my net pay.

That same year happened to be the year of the highest earnings I ever achieved being a full time employee. I was really proud to be in a high marginal tax bracket.

Taxes didn't hurt. On the contrary, I was certain that it was a good problem to have:

The amount shown in Box 22, Income Tax Deducted, Line 437 of my T4 slip felt as a badge of honor.

I felt successful.

That year I finally saw the benefit of contributing to RRSP. At the very last minute just before RRSP contribution deadline,it occurred to me that for whatever contribution I can make, I'd get almost half of the money back as a tax refund.

For every RRSP dollar that'd be deducted out of my earnings, I would put 50 cents of tax refund back into my pocket

Wow. I got cash advances on several credit cards and took some money out of my TFSA and made my first ever RRSP contribution, which ironically became my last RRSP contribution as well.

Bingo! A couple of months later, taxes were filed and almost half of my contribution came back. I paid back the cash advances. "Wow! I rock," - I thought looking at my RRSP savings.

Unbearable Tax Burden

Stressed. Depressed. Overworked

Some time has gone by. It became obvious that I couldn't keep working 16 hours a day. I was exhausted. Tired. Depressed. Rock bottom was approaching fast.

I remember the day when I gave up.

I was driving to work in the morning. This was the forth 20-hour day in a row. Tears were running down my face.

Why am I even doing it to myself?

Is it worth it?

The recent performance bonus felt like a mean prank now.

I felt like a failure. I knew that this was the end of my career. I didn't make it to the top.

I thought again about my performance bonus slashed in half by tax and many thousands of dollars of tax I paid that year to CRA.

I thought about 50 cents deducted from every dollar. 

50 cents from every dollar that I made during those horrific 20-hour long days and short four hour nights when my dreams were a continuation of the previous day's train of incoming emails, never-ending meetings, and insurmountable workload.

Every minute my brain kept persistently telling me "Why are you doing this to yourself? Stop! It's not worth it"

Finally I heard my own subconscious scream for help. I knew I wouldn't last until retirement at this pace. I'd just collapse. This wouldn't be the first time when I'd have a break down and have to take a stress leave to recuperate.

Enough! I am not going to drive myself into the ground. I gave my notice and quit working.

The Best of The Two Worlds: High Income, Little Tax

The irony is that if I worked smart, rather than hard, I would have had time to learn that there were ways to minimize tax. 

I could have had the best of the two worlds: high paycheque and little tax.

Alas, I missed my chance.  I am sharing my knowledge with you, a successful high income earning employee, who works smart at a fun interesting job and wants to find a way to pay less tax.

The Best of The Two Worlds: High Income, Little Tax

This is all legal. This is all risky. You should do your own research, due diligence, etc. and check with your accountant. 

The steps are simple in this Tax-Optimization Strategy:

1. Work smart, earn a LOT and get into high (or preferably highest) marginal tax bracket
2. Invest in a flow-though fund that's eligible for up to 100% tax deduction and get a tax refund, which basically reduces your capital at risk by 50%
3. Convert your income into more tax favourably taxed capital gains, essentially reducing tax by 50%.

A sample calculator and a detailed example of how flow-through fund works can be found at Maple Leaf Short Duration Flow-Through fund website here. 

I am a big proponent of tax saving strategies. I was thrilled when I learned about this flow-through tax optimization and investing strategy a few weeks ago. 

Certain alternative energy projects
are qualified to issue flow-through shares

Keep in mind that the window to invest in flow-through shares is very short: late fall to early December.

If you'd like to discuss or learn more about this topic, please send me an email or post below. All questions, feedback, ideas are welcome. 

When Frugality Fails

Being a landlord can feel EXTREME

Earlier this month, I started feeling as if

someone somehow 

made 

the God of Appliances 

MAD

Every time I picked up the phone, I heard one of my tenants deliver the bad news.

It started on Sunday morning.

Ring-ring. My fridge stopped working.

Monday morning. Ring-ring. My dryer stopped working.

Monday evening. Ring-ring. The washing machine doesn't drain.

At that point, I made a strategic decision of letting the phone ring and go to voice mail, while I was sorting out all these appliances issues.

Luckily, this was it for the time being!

Extreme Efforts Being Frugal

Most properties I get, come with appliances and in most cases they are pretty old. Hence, I expect at least some of the appliances would break fairly soon after the purchase.

In the past, I always looked for a used appliance to replace the broken one. I thought this was the most cost effective approach.

For two to three hundred dollars, I could find a decent used washer, dryer, stove or whatever needed. A new appliance would be about $500, almost twice more expensive.

With a used appliance, I also had to figure out a way to deliver it to the tenant, get it installed, and get rid of the old broken one.

Luckily, my husband is quite handy and could help with most of this.

This is How We Did It

I'd find the most affordable decent used appliance and negotiate the price.

Then, coordinate child sitting, so we can free up either a Saturday or a Sunday.

Our weekends are packed with our youngest son's Russian lessons, music, hockey, and occasional birthday parties.

Our youngest son is nine and the oldest is almost 19. My parents and my-in-laws have 6 grand kids each. They used to be eager and excited to babysit the oldest couple of grand kids.

Let's be honest, after 19 years on grand-parents duty, I can't say any of the grand-parents are thrilled when I ask them to spend a day driving grand son #6 back and forth, trying to bribe him with just the right amount of doughnuts, chocolate milk, and chips as he goes through a back to back list of all sorts of developmental activities and sports.

Having said that, more often than not, our parents still agree to help us out.

Childcare arranged - Yay!

Next, we'd borrow our friends' mini-van. Our friends have three kids of their own. So this is a hassle for them as well. They have to move car seats, strollers, and downsize their life for the day every time we need to borrow their car.

I'm grateful every time they help us out! To thank them we always bring back their car with a tank-full of gas.

Transportation Arranged - Yay!

The following step is to make an appointment with the tenants, at least 24-hours ahead. This is usually the easy part since the tenants look forward to getting a working appliance.

It has to be on the weekend, though! Because my husband has a day job. All this investing jazz is happening after hours and on weekends.

Tenants on Standby - Yay!

On the day of, usually a Sunday

1) Wake up early in the morning, seven-ish

2) Get Starbucks, it's going to be a long day!

3) Pack and drop off the child

4) Give extremely-detailed-instructions to the grand-parents about all the activities they have to tackle including a back up plan in case the child is in a whiny mood

5) Get the mini-van from our friends

6) Pack all tools and hardware

7) Remember to take the key, in case tenants aren't home

8) Go and get the appliance from the seller, typically someone I found on Kijiji

9) Drive to the tenant, either to Barrie or Guelph

10) Attempt to install the appliance

11) Find out that something doesn't work or is missing - pipes, outlets, drains, narrow doorway. It's guaranteed that something is going to be messed up or in our way.

12) Go to the hardware store for the parts and tools, minimum twice

13) Finish appliance installation super-late in the evening

14) Roll out the old appliance to the curb. Comply with local city and safety rules (ex., if it's a fridge, take off the door!)

15) Get fast food. We are super hungry and done with all the snacks by this time

16) Drive back to Toronto. No traffic on the way back - Yaaay!

17) Fill up the tank and return the mini-van

18) Pick-up the child from the parents

19) Go to bed at two or three am

20) Wake up four hours later

The job is done! Yay!

How Much Money-Wise?

With do-it-yourself approach, we'd pay about $300 for the used appliance, $50 for gas, $80 for a full tank of gas as a Thank You to our friends, get coffee, fast food and realize one out of every four new used appliances would break within several months after purchase and we'd have to fix it.

In summary, used appliance would cost about $600, while a new one would be about $800.

	Used Appliance	New Appliance
Appliance	$300.00	$500.00
Delivery	$-	$100.00
Installation	$-	$200.00
Starbucks for Two	$12.00	$-
Fast Food for Two	$20.00	$-
Gas & gas re-fill	$130.00	$-
Fix New Used Appliance	$132.50	$-
Total $ Cost	$594.50	$800.00

How Much Effort-Wise?

In addition to dollar cost, we'd need to collaborate with and inconvenience a whole bunch of family and friends to coordinate appliance re-placement.

Collectively, we'd spend over 150 hours either putting in heroic efforts AND/OR sacrificing our weekend.

The result would be subpar. After all this time invested, our old new appliance will likely break soon or stay functional for just a couple more years. So we'd need to re-group and fix it again!

People Involved	Do It Yourself Delivery /Install	Professional Delivery/Install
Grandparents @ 12-14 hours	2	0
Child @ 12-14 hours	1	0
Friends @ 12-14 hours	5	0
Husband @ 12-14 hours	1	0
Self @ 2-4 hours admin work	1	1
Self @ 14-18 hours inspiring my husband to put in heroic efforts over the weekend	1	0
Handyman @ 2-3 hours	0	1
Tenants @ 3-6 hours	2	2
Total # Participants:	13	4
Total Time Needed from everyone involved	128 to 156 hours	8 to 16 hours

With PROFESSIONAL help,
being a Landlord feels smooth

Landlord Job gets Easier with Professional Help

As my portfolio grows, appliances issue come up more and more frequently.

Sometimes, as often as three times a day!

My friends and family will NOT want me to hijack all their weekends, so that I can save $200 on an appliance.

I will never see my son again, if spend all my time trying to get and install cheap used appliances.


Also, my husband would very likely ask for a divorce if I queue up appliance deliveries and other handyman work for the next three-four-five weekends in a row...

Lately, I always go for NEW appliances and pay for PROFESSIONAL delivery and installation. 

This is the ONLY way I can scale to 50 doors.

Vacancy: Landlord's Worst Nightmare

Vacancies Keep me Awake at Night!

A few days ago we filled our last vacancy.

What a Relief!

The search took about three weeks. Our property manager began advertising the unit on November 19th. 

We started with $1,650 asking price, which was higher than the average for similar units in the area. There were barely any inquiries at that price. 

December and January are typically slow months for tenant search. People are busy with holiday prep and after holidays they go into hibernation-mode for the remainder of the winter. I was worried that we'd have a vacancy until Spring.

Vacancies Keep Me Awake at Night

The reason I am so afraid of vacancies is because they are very costly. Every month of vacancy, I'd have to come up with money to pay the mortgage, property taxes, utilities and, in case of this specific property, property management and condo fees as well.

Ouch!

Typically, they recommend that you include 2-5% vacancy fee in your cash flow calculations.

Given 5% vacancy, my annual cash flow would be $1,280. Or $100 a month.

In reality 5% only works if you manage to go without vacancies for a while. Actual losses are a lot higher!

For example, my annual loss for a year with one month of vacancy is about ($1,660). That's because:

I will not get a month of rent of $1,600
Pay about $300 for the utilities during that month
Pay about $2000 for tenant search and making the unit ready - fresh paint, minor fixes, etc. add up
Pay all regular expenses of $16,960...

If my property is vacant for two months, the loss will be ($3,560).

With three months of vacancy, I'd lose ($5,460).

Once I do find a tenant, it will take a l-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-ng time to catch up.

I'd need the tenant to stay for almost 2 years, to catch up after one month of vacancy.
The tenant will have to stick for over 3.5 years to catch up after two months of vacancy.
Lastly, the tenant will have to stay for almost 6 years, to fully catch up after three months of vacancy.

My math is simplified, of course. I don't take rent increases into account at all, for instance. Still, you get the idea why I hate vacancies. Vacancy losses are horrific.

The danger is on the flip side as well. If you rush and get a BAD tenant, you can end up with thousands and thousands in losses... See my blog post here for details - My $30,000 Mistake.

Here is a chart with the numbers in my examples above:

	Projected: 5% Vacancy	Actual:    1 month    Vacant	Actual:     2 months     Vacant	Actual:     3 months     Vacant
Gross Rent	$19,200	$19,200	$19,200	$19,200
Less Vacancy	($960)	($3,900)	($5,800)	($7,700)
Rent Income	$18,240	$15,300	$13,400	$11,500
Expenses
Financing Cost	$6,860	$6,860	$6,860	$6,860
Condo Fee	$5,304	$5,304	$5,304	$5,304
Property Taxes	$1,961	$1,961	$1,961	$1,961
Other	$1,200	$1,200	$1,200	$1,200
Property Management	$1,094	$1,094	$1,094	$1,094
Insurance	$540	$540	$540	$540
Total Expenses	$16,960	$16,960	$16,960	$16,960
Net Profit (Loss):	$1,280	($1,660)	($3,560)	($5,460)

Success! Got a Great Tenant

Needless to day, the pressure was on.

We lowered the price by $50 to $1,600. Luckily, the interest picked up! 

The ad generated over 230 views, 15 inquiries, three viewings, and a great application on December 9th. 

Our property manager uses Naborly for tenant screening. I've never seen a Naborly report before and was quite impressed. The multi-page document covered most of the information that I typically review for a candidate and gave some additional insights. Here is what the report covered:

• General info about all occupants
• Previous addresses and address verification
• Equifax credit summary and score
• Debt summary including monthly debt payments
• Rental history
• Financial information
• Employment history
• Analytics showing the likelihood of key tenancy risks (late payments, eviction, property damage) 
• Analytics showing the likelihood of a successful tenancy during the entire term.

Our property manager also collected a photo ID, a full credit report, and a letter from the employer. They conducted a face-to-face interview and verified employment and personal references. My property manager summarized their findings including possible risks.

I reviewed all the information as well and did my own due diligence. I typically research every piece of factual information and make sure all facts align and make sense. The way I do it is very simple: research every name, every address, every company name, every email, and every phone number that the candidate provided; look in Google and on all social media platforms; contact all references and chat with them; verify income.

In this case, all checks were successful. I accepted the application and to my delight, the tenant confirmed that they'd like to go forward as well.

No Vacancies!!!!!
Overwhelmed with JOY and
will definitely sleep like a baby :)

The property manager impressed me very much! This was the first time when they found a tenant for me and I loved how smooth the tenant on-boarding process was. 

As soon as this last vacancy was filled, I started sleeping like a baby again!