True Financial Freedom

Mike: Welcome back to the FlipNerd.com REI Classroom, where experts from across the real estate investing industry teach you quick lessons to take your business to the next level. And now, let’s meet today’s expert host.

Tom: Hello. My name is Tom Olson and I’m the host of the REI Classroom today. I’m going to talk to you today about financial freedom.

Mike: This show is sponsored by PassiveRental.com.

Tom: What is financial freedom and how do I get there? Well, the first thing that I want to talk about is most people have learned from financial advisers over the years that you’ve got to have this huge amount of money. You’ve got to have $10 million, $20 million sitting at this big pot of gold at the end of your lifetime in order to actually have financial freedom. And I’m here to tell you today that that is absolutely false. That is the worst advice I’ve ever heard.

And I actually learned this when I was 12 years old, reading the book called “Rich Dad Poor Dad.” And it really tells you about the different sectors of income, how having a job, working for somebody else or being self-employed, you kind of have another lead where you own a job, and then you have passive income, or you’re an investor, or you own a business.

So those are the four different ways you can make money. But the way I look at this is how can I set up cash machines? I’m not going to be very specific today, but really it doesn’t matter if you’re a lender. And even a high dividend stock or something that’s going to give you a high dollar of return, they’re all good. But I think what you ought to do is put together a plan for yourself. And for me, I call it my freedom plan. I’d highly recommend everybody out there today to consider where you’re at today on your freedom plan, where you want to go, why you want to go there, and then how. And then after you’ve figured out how you want to go there by creating your plan, then you just tell yourself, “Well, what do I need to do today in order to make that happen?”

So let’s just kind of talk through this a little bit today. So let’s just say that you need to make $150,000 a year in order to survive. So if you need to make $150,000 a year to survive, do you need $20 million? Well, just take some math and just look at, if you were earning 1% or 2% interest on that $20 million, how much money do you need in order to retire? In order to get to that $150,000? So 1% you probably need $15 million. Absolutely.

However, [Blank audio 00:02:54] there’s more whether you’re partnering with people or you’re creating relationships that can hook you together with other people to be able to make 8% super easy, 10% really easy. And we’ve got tons of opportunities in our business that are available for that and I’m sure that there are lots of people here that will be able to help you with that.

But if you can just earn 10% on your money, you really only need $1.5 million in order to come up with that $150,000 a year. If you just earn that. And that’s not even taking into account compound interest and many things that you can do with owning rental properties and such.

Financial freedom to me is all about having the choices in my life to be able to do what I want to do. I’m the type of person that I don’t believe in retirement. I believe that I’m supposed to work and then I’m supposed to die. So I just don’t have that belief in me. I love work, I love what I do, I love real estate, and so I don’t really ever see myself retiring. But I put myself on a financial freedom plan two years ago. It was a five-year plan and I’m right there. I’m going to be right there where I need to be.

So what I would ask you to do is ask yourself today what are you doing today to be able to put yourself on that track, to be able to say in five years from now, “This is what financial freedom means to me”? And it’s going to mean something different to everybody. Some people just may want to pay…you know, if you’re a spouse and your spouse is a breadwinner, maybe you just want to make enough money to put your kids through college. And maybe that’s what financial freedom means to you. Some people may say financial freedom is I want to be able to go on nice vacations every year. And that’s fine.

For me, though, it’s about setting up my lifestyle so that way it’s paid for before I even go to work. Not saying that I’m going to stop working because I never will. I mean, you could ask my wife, I’m a workaholic probably. And even when I’m doing lots of fun things that we get to do, I still tend to gravitate back to work. But I love having a financial plan and I suggest everybody do that as well.

Create yourself a financial freedom plan and ask yourself today, “What can I do today in order to make this a reality for myself in five, 10 years from now?” Maybe you’re younger. Maybe you have more time. But especially if you’re older, this can happen very quickly if you have some right connections and if you understand the power of setting up cash machines. Whether it’s a loan that you loaned somebody some money or whether you’re going to buy rental properties and you’re going to leverage that. It’s very easy to do and I’m going to tell you that you can do it. I promise you.

Living in America, the land of opportunity, is just amazing, compared to what the opportunities that other people have around the world. So like I’d say, ask yourself today, “What can you do today to be able to put yourself on that financial plan?” And again, this it Tom Olson. Thank you so much for joining us today for today’s REI Classroom. I will see you next time.

Mike: PassiveRental.com is your source for turnkey, done-for-you rental properties. If you’d like to be an investor and not a landlord, please visit PassiveRental.com to learn how to purchase cash flowing, professionally managed rental properties in the hottest rental markets across the country. We can also help connect you with financing for your next property. Invest the easy way today and get started by visiting PassiveRental.com.

Please note, the views and opinions expressed by the individuals in this program do not necessarily reflect those of FlipNerd.com or any of its partners, advertisers or affiliates. Please consult professionals before making any investment or tax decisions, as real estate investing can be risky.

Are you a member yet of FlipNerd.com, the hottest real estate investing social community online? If not, you can join for free in less than 30 seconds and get access to hundreds of off-market deals, vendors in your market to help you in your business, and you can start networking with thousands of other investors just like you. Get your free account now at FlipNerd.com.

Please check out the FlipNerd family of real estate investing shows, where you can access hundreds of expert interviews, quick tips and lessons from leaders across the real estate investing industry. They’re available at FlipNerd.com/shows or simply search for FlipNerd in the iTunes Store.