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! 

How Two Families Got Richer

Miss my car, but don't miss spending ~8K a year 

Over the past 5 years, I've been adamant about eliminating liabilities.

Here is the theory:


Liabilities take money out of your pocket.

The more liabilities you get rid of, the more money you keep for yourself.


Every dollar you keep, you can put to work by acquiring assets.


Assets put money in your pocket.


Once money from your assets cover your needs, you are financially free.

Hence, eliminating liabilities expedites your financial freedom

Easy! Right?

Not really!

It took me over five years to make the decision to get rid of one of my biggest liabilities - my car! 

In Love with My Car

In love with my car

My husband and I knew precisely the cost of owning two cars. Yet we hesitated. We had a lot of questions: do we really need both cars? can we do with one car? how much extra time will we spend on logistics if we were to get rid of one of the cars? which of the cars we keep? how much can we save?

Most of uncertainty and hesitation came from the fact that my car was really important to me. I loved it! It was an integral part of my life.

It was hard to imagine not having my own car. I was used to being free to go whenever and wherever I want.

Managing our properties, driving kids to schools and sports, visiting our parents, getting tons of food from Costco, etc. all required a lot of driving. My husband and I often had to be in two or three different places at once. Eliminating one of our cars would cause a lot of stress and cost time.

After discussing pros and cons, we always came to the same conclusion: we had to keep both cars.

Even though I knew my car was an expensive liability, I loved it too much. I couldn't let it go.

Annual Car Cost = Seven Weeks Working 

It's been taking a TON of money out of my pocket. In 2018, relevant  expenses added up to $7,878:

Costs	Amount
Gas	$3,473
Insurance	$2,435
Fixes	$1,507
Parking	$463
Total	$7,878

At 17% tax rate, this equals $9,492 of pre-tax money.

An average family with 73.7K annual household income has to work for over seven weeks to earn enough money to cover this liability. This is a recurring expense, so it's not just a one time seven week work project. You'd have to work for seven weeks every year to pay for all the car expenses expenses that year.

Time for Change

All good things must come to an end

This year our personal situation changed.

Our oldest son moved out.

Our middle son became fully self-sufficient. He prefers TTC.

I work from home most of the time.

My husband takes train to work.

We noticed that both cars are parked and idle during most of the time.

The next step was obvious. No more hesitation. We no longer needed two cars. Time to sell!

My Ex-Car is now an Asset

Once we made the decision, selling was easy. We found a buyer on Kijiji.

What I loved the most was that he turned the car into an Uber! It's now an asset and is putting money into the buyer's pocket.

One transaction made two families a little bit richer:

My family got rid of a liability. We now keep more money for ourselves.

The buyer's family acquired an asset, which puts money into their pockets.

Discovery of the Year: Passive Income Exists! and why I say so

Lo-o-o-o-o-ng road to Financial Freedom

Up until very recently, I thought that 4% return on your money was a GREAT deal.

In fact, I believed that anything better than 4% was most likely a SCAM.

Given this information, my freedom seemed practically-unattainable:

My financial freedom was THREE MILLION dollars away

3 million @ 4% = $120,000 / year = $10,000 / month

Imagine, how HAPPY I was when I learned that there are 

NUMEROUS LEGITIMATE WAYS

to make more than 4% on your money! 

How about 6%, 8%, 12%, 17 % or even 20+%?!?

With higher returns, the path to financial freedom is much shorter! 

For example, at 8% return, financial freedom is

1.5 million away:

1.5 million @ 8% = $120,000 / year = $10,000 / month 

Discovery of Private Exempt Market

During summer, I started investing in what is called private exempt market. I learned about this type of investing from a good friend, whom I met at a networking event about a year ago.

Investing means lending your money to someone who will use it to create value and pay you your money back with a profit.

You have to remember that investing can be risky - you can lose time, money, go through a load of stress, etc.

This is why there's a whole slew of regulation around investing in private exempt markets, which is in place to protect consumers (aka you and me) from making bad decisions and getting themselves into financial trouble.

Private market means all non-public businesses, from mom-and-pop-shops to huge private enterprises.

Exempt means that there are rules for investing into these private deals.

You have to meet one of the exemptions to qualify. 

These exemptions are governed by law. Their purpose is to protect the consumers from financial losses, which they can't withstand.

Up until a couple of years ago, only accredited investors were qualified to invest in private exempt market and private companies could not advertise investment opportunities to non-accredited investors.

Accredited investor is someone who meets at least one of the following criteria:

• Earns more than $200,000 per year before taxes
• Together with spouse, earns more than $300,000 
• Owns more than $1 million before taxes of financial assets but net of related liabilities
• Owns more than $5 million of net assets 

Needless to say, the whole concept of private exempt market was invisible / forbidden / unattainable to average middle class professionals because most of us don't qualify as an accredited investor, so we fall under the protected class.

I personally had no idea about these deals. Protection worked :)

The Good News!

The good news is - the legislation was updated and we now qualify and can learn about investing in private exempt market. 

Here is the recently added Eligible Investor exemptions:

1. Owns $400,000 or more net assets
2. Earns more than $75,000 per year before taxes 
3. Together with spouse, earns more than $125,000 

Lastly, there is one more exemption - Any Investor!

Legislation still protects us by setting the limits of how much Eligible and Any Investors can invest.

Yet, we all now have an opportunity to invest into many of the same deals that accredited investors have been investing into. And I bet, most accredited investors wouldn't be too thrilled investing into something like this, which I constantly see in my Facebook feed:

This is NOT a good deal.
Hope you aren't clicking on ads like this one...

My First Two Assets in Private Exempt Market

11% vs. 3.2% - Gets You There Faster!

I invested in two private exempt market deals so far. Here are the key reasons why I chose them:

1) Like the horse and bet on the Jockey 

• I educated myself about the details of the project and understood it. I checked with people who are a lot smarter than I will ever be.
• I am very clear about the business model, project plan, exit strategy, and underlying securities 
• Most importantly, I verified the track record of the Jockey. I know that they’ve done what they are about to do over and over and over and over again successfully. 

2) Operating within my comfort zone

• Using RRSP money, which will not be available to me anyways for a couple more decades 
• NOT putting all my life’s savings into a deal all at once - I allocated two chunks and spread them across two independent projects 
• Selected projects within the real estate niche, which I'm familiar with
• Am comfortable with the timeline and the fact that my money will be locked for 3-5 years

3) Trust but verify

I chose one asset with frequent cash distributions and another one with higher return and longer waiting period.

The former pays investors quarterly. I chose it because I wanted to see how the asset works start to finish, before looking for any other deals.

I got my first quarterly deposit! Over $900 dollars - a single quarterly payment covered my family's internet for an entire year. Not bad!!!

The best thing is this income was purely passive.

I can imagine how much work it has taken the private business to generate this return.

For me, it is truly passive - zero effort - 11.06% annualized return.

Now, that I've completed this small proof of concept, the sky is the limit :)

Hope this blog post helps.

I wonder if you knew these deals existed and 6, 8, 10, 17% or 20+% passive return was achievable? 

What was your experience? 

Feel free to leave a comment below! 

Can't Afford Financial Freedom? Start with these THREE Steps

Overcoming the No Money Hurdle.
This is how I feel when I need to finance a new deal.

I recently sent out a 2-minute survey about financial freedom. If you haven't responded, feel free to  fill it out HERE -  it's fun, super-quick, and your response will help me understand what's important to you.

It'll also give you a moment to think about your personal financial goals.

One of the survey questions was:

"What's holding you back from reaching financial freedom?"

So far, the top-most response with 58% vote is:

"I can't afford it. Not enough money" 

I thought it would be helpful if I gave you the exact steps I followed to finance my real estate assets. This approach worked for me over a dozen times.

Step 1: Acquire an Asset not a Liability 

An asset puts money in your pocket. A liability takes money away from you. 

Assets are easier to finance than liabilities. 

By definition, assets make money and, hence, provide a less risky security for a prospective lender.

A typical A or B lender always makes money, no matter if you pay your mortgage or not:

• If you pay mortgage, they make a LOT of money (see my previous blog post - Mortgage Free by 2023).

• If you stop paying your mortgage, the lender can collect the rent instead of you. This is why many lenders require a current lease agreement, so that they have a way to verify how much income you collect from the asset. This gives them a method to make money, even in the worst case.

• In case of default, the lender can choose to sell your property. If your property makes money and is priced under market, there will be lots of buyers - the sale will be quick and easy. This is why most lenders will also require that an appraiser they approve off, provides a current market assessment and confirms the market value of the property. The bank will only finance up to 65-80% of the value. 

On the flip side, all your liabilities add up and play against you. You may be able to get financing for the first few real estate properties, which are not cash positive, if your personal income can support paying for them. However,

• Most traditional lenders will turn you down, if your debt service ratio is worse than 44%. This means that at the most, 44% of your income has to be enough to cover all your interest, tax, and heating payments. 

• When you go after liabilities, you reach this 44% ratio very fast. As soon as that happens, most traditional lenders stop giving you money. Your strategy becomes too risky for them.

Keep in mind that you can usually find more creative ways to finance the deal. However, in my experience, creativity usually is expensive. You have to get more expensive money from lenders who don't mind extra risk or trade equity for money. Either way, mathematically there is a point at which financing cost turns your property from an asset into a liability - you start losing money.

Long story short - getting financing for assets is a LOT easier and more affordable than getting financing for liabilities. 

My recommendation is to focus only on assets and stay away from liabilities. 

Step 2: Play by Lenders' Rules 

There are numerous lenders out there. Each lender has their unique underwriting rules and procedures. These are similar on a high level, yet minor nuances sometimes make a big difference. You might not qualify with some of the lenders, but be a perfect candidate with others.

Underwriting is the process by which a lender determines whether you qualify for a mortgage or a loan with them. Knowing how the underwriting process works is half the battle.

Hence, it's beneficial to work with an expert who knows this process inside out and can help you navigate through the mortgage application, and position you properly with the lenders, where you have the most chance. It's similar to resume writing and interview process - a good mortgage broker can help you with your money resume and your money application.

If you don't qualify at the moment, an expert mortgage broker can explain to you what may be missing. This way, you can plan your next step and work your way to your next deal. Alternatively, knowing what is missing, you can find ways to partner with friends, family, or third parties to fill in the blanks and make the deal work. Understanding lenders' rules gives you a chance to structure your deal correctly and make things work.

Financing is a repetitive task. At the minimum, you have to review financing for each asset every 5 years. When you build your portfolio aggressively, financing becomes a never-ending ongoing task.

You are always looking for money. You are always looking for ways to replace expensive money with more affordable money. Every time you find cheaper money, your cash flow goes up. 

Financing mistakes are costly. In my experience, each finance/re-finance transaction ends up costing at least $7,000 on a small residential deal. On an ongoing basis, my regular mortgage payment is often just under 50% of gross rent.

It makes sense to have a good partner on financing side of things. The last three transactions that I completed were possible thanks to the help I got from the Loan Central team. 

If you are in GTA and access to money is your biggest hurdle, give Loan Central a call! It doesn't cost you anything to ask the question. You could also drop in and attend one of their weekly meet ups. I've attended several and found lots of great FREE information and connected with a few like-minded people.

Here's Loan Central's contact info. They helped me multiple times.
If you have financing related questions, ask them!

Step 3: Be Extremely Organized 

No matter how many assets you plan to acquire - one, two, ten, 50, or a 100, stay organized.

On many occasions, lenders, mortgage brokers, and money partners complimented me on giving them the information they needed quickly and in the format that was easy for them to follow.

Lenders typically need a lot of information to complete their underwriting process and determine whether you qualify for a loan with them.

The way you present the information and its accuracy makes it easier or harder for lenders to make the decision.

It's in your best interest to make your application to be as easy to evaluate as possible.

• Provide complete accurate information 
• Double check all numbers against supporting documents before you submit information
• Make it a rule to keep track of information on a regular basis - after all, making money is what you are after. 

You will make MORE MONEY, if you keep track of it.

This is how I feel
EVERY TIME
when I finalize financing for a new deal

Here is a link to download my Excel tracking template. If you'd like it FREE, please email me and ask me to email my sample Excel portfolio template back to you. I'll respond as quickly as I can.

Here's an old blog post on what sort of documents you'd typically be asked to provide when you apply for a mortgage.

Hope you find this blog post helpful. If you have any comments or questions about money, please leave me a comment below.

PS You also might be wondering how you can come up with a down payment. That'll be in one of my future blog posts. Please stay tuned.