Build FIRE

01/08/2023

Newest in The Catskills is complete. West Kill in Greene County is very close to Ulster County and main towns are Hunter, Phoenicia, Tannersville, Windham, Woodstock and Margaretville. So many places to explore.

10/06/2022

Lots of work goes into taking care of your Airbnb. Skies like this and having people enjoy your hard work makes it all worth it.

08/21/2022

Newest Airbnb is almost ready. Lots of work and careful planning plus a great team of design and construction.

06/09/2022

03/10/2022

Anytime someone else pays you to use or occupy your property, that's rental income. And yes, we mean anytime. Unless you rent your property for less than 15 days in a given year, you'll need to include all of the following forms of passive rental income in your gross income and report it on IRS Form 1040 Schedule E to avoid running afoul of Uncle Sam.

1. Advance rent
Even if your tenant gives you an advance rent payment for a subsequent year, you must include it in your gross income in the year you receive it.

2. Service in lieu of rent
If you receive services, instead of money, as rent, you should include their fair market value in your rental income.

3. Property in lieu of rent
Sometimes a renter may offer you property in place of cash payments. If you accept this form of payment, you will need to include the fair market value of the property in your gross income.

4. Expenses paid by tenant
If your tenant pays any of your expenses for the repair or maintenance of the room or property, you'll either need to fully reimburse them for those costs, or include the payment for the expense in your gross income.

5. Security deposit
Requesting a security deposit is a pretty standard practice in the real estate industry, but IRS regulations oblige you to handle them with care.

03/03/2022

The reason wealthy people around the world flock to real estate as an investment is due to the leverage on the return on investments. When you buy a property, you may put 20 percent as your initial investment and finance the rest. When the property value increases by 20 percent, you did not just earn a 20 percent return, rather you earned close to 100 percent return on investment (before selling expenses). That’s the power of leverage you can hardly find in any other other investments.

Leverage is the cornerstone of a successful real estate business if you are a real estate agent, broker, or investor.

We all have the power to become who we want to be, but we do not realize it because we allow the barriers in life to cloud our vision. Instead of walking around the barrier or destroying it, many people simply stop in front of it.

Our minds are our biggest asset, yet if used incorrectly, the mind becomes our biggest obstacle.

03/02/2022

Recessions
Where egos are reset, entrepreneurs become employees again, and real estate agents sell their Mercedes Benzes in a fire sale.

Investing
Do it every day. Invest money so money works for you. Or you’ll work hard for the rest of your life for no reason.

Salary
The lowest amount an employer has to pay so you’ll come to work. Start here. Don’t end your career here.
A salary is low risk. That makes it addictive. And that’s why a salary is financial crack. Automatically put a percentage of every paycheck into your investments.

Interest rates
Everyone wants them low so they pay the least amount possible. When interest rates go up debt becomes more expensive. The people who have too much debt can’t afford the higher rates — they get wrecked.

Savings accounts
Your bank’s free investment fund. A scam that pays you 0%.
A fake safe place to store money. If the bank goes down then your money goes with it. Yes, governments will do their best. But if 2008 happens again, your bank doesn’t have to give you squat.
Google the term bail-ins.

The biggest financial decision…
Who you’ll marry.
Stay away from the crazies or they’ll take your cash in a divorce.

02/26/2022

"Unretirements" are coming back: The share of retirees returning to work is approaching levels not seen since before the pandemic.

Why it matters: The pandemic drove millions of Americans into early retirement. Getting some of those folks back to work should increase the labor supply at a time when companies are still struggling to hire.

"Continued strong demand for workers, and vaccinations, are allowing folks to step back into the workplace," Nick Bunker, economics research director at jobs site Indeed, tells Axios.

By the numbers: 2.8% of the workers who said they were retired in January 2021 went back into the labor force by January 2022, according to data Bunker pulled from the census bureau's Current Population Survey.

These numbers started picking up in the second half of 2021 and continued their climb even through Omicron.

The big picture: Retirement isn't quite what you might think. Yes, there are folks who walk away from the workforce and disappear into a happy new life golfing or doing stuff in Florida — but there has always been a small percentage of people for whom retirement doesn't quite take, or who just need some cash.

02/17/2022

What is an emergency fund, and why is it important?

As the name indicates, your emergency fund, also known as emergency savings, is to help you weather unplanned life circumstances and emergencies. Having a stash of cash to fall back on when "life happens" means you won't have to rely on credit or rack up debt to resolve your situation.

It's the difference between having your car break down unexpectedly and leveraging cash you had already put aside for this exact purpose versus maxing out a credit card and figuring out how to pay for it later.

The latter scenario means an additional or higher credit card payment, more debt, and more money woes to worry about. And more importantly, you are now further away from your financial goals. This can be majorly demotivating.

So essentially, you can think of your emergency fund as a form of insurance. An insurance policy that you create for yourself that keeps your financial goals intact.

02/14/2022

Economists and professionals in the restructuring sector of business and real estate have been anticipating a distressed economy for the past 18 months. Thus far they have been wrong.

The public is just plain confused. Many people today don’t trust their politicians, their news sources and, surprisingly, not even their health care providers and professionals. This lack of trust, coupled with the pandemic-driven mandated way in which many employees work remotely, has caused many people to reassess their lives and the location from which they are willing to provide their services.

Steps to Consider
The best advice we can offer is for entities to deal with their distressed assets early on.

For homeowners, interest rates will almost certainly increase in the near future. If a homeowner can refinance his or her mortgage to take advantage of the current low interest rates, that course of action should be considered.

For consumers, accelerating the timing of any major purchases will make sense since the looming inflation will make the dollar worth less and less and make the effective cost of an item more expensive as time passes.

Individuals should also consider exiting the stock market or minimizing their stock portfolios as soon as possible. Conversion of stock to cash is not a good strategy during a time when the value of the dollar will steadily decline. Conventional wisdom dictates that investment in precious metals, such as gold and silver, is a safe harbor. Thus, selling stock and buying gold and silver makes sense.

Business owners should analyze their businesses based on the assumption that the near future will bring high inflation, high interest rates and a continuation of supply chain disruption. It is prudent to take steps to restructure the business in a way that will mitigate the damages if those future assumptions come to pass.

The general public will be looking at inflation and rising interest rates and will react accordingly. The earlier people and businesses accept and respond to these changes, and react appropriately, the more likely it is that Chapter 11 bankruptcies can be avoided.

02/12/2022

With employer matching, employers match your contributions up to a certain percentage of your salary. For example, they may match up to 6%; in this case, if you make $50,000 per year, they will make matching contributions of up to $3,000. So if you contribute $3,000 into your 401(k), your employer will contribute $3,000 without any extra work or expense on your part.

02/10/2022

All of us want to give our children the best, and often that includes financial security after we’re gone. In a nation where even people making six figures may be living paycheck to paycheck, creating not just a nest egg for your kids but a sustainable inheritance can prove intimidating. But fortunately, building wealth that can live on and grow for generations to come isn’t as difficult as one may imagine.

Have a Clear Plan for Your Money

Invest, Invest, Invest — ASAP

Buy Real Estate as Investments

Be Tax Aware When Putting a Savings Plan in Place

Have a Solid Estate Plan (Including a Will and a Trust)

Get Life Insurance