Need a new Lifestyle Plan. Heck, I need an INTERVENTION!

[Conway Churaman]

I had $30,000 ready to invest a year ago......HAD!  Where did it all go?  Grandmother's funeral, other unexpected life expenses.

That freaking job of mine.  That dead end 9 to 5 life and time waster at a New York City agency.  My savings are gone, I'm 46 but still feel like a 26 year old intern with no progress in my life.  They keep loading me with responsibility with ever increasing stress.  

I've had it.

I'm ready to do something crazy and different....I need to do something before it's really too late and I get too old to chase dreams.

I think I know what I want but my mind is clouded by stress and I can't see it all clearly yet. The parents are getting older and they've asked me for help. Perhaps I can start all over and temporarily move back in with them to save on rent while I have a chance to seek out BP mentors in the Florida market that would take me under their wing and expose me to the business. I've got a resume ready and I'm looking for accounts payable positions in the Orlando, Florida area that would help pay my bills while I learn about REI. I think the prospects of positioning myself down the road for REI in the Florida markets might be better or at least easier to initiate than for a beginner in the New York markets.

@Account Closed @Paula Pant and anybody else who may have creative ideas on how my life can possibly go this year.  

I thank you all.

[Account Closed]

Why do you feel that real estate is the avenue that will help you change your life? There are many people that come here and seem to want start investing in real estate in order to escape their job. Perhaps the big question is are you more interested in real estate investing or just freeing yourself from the 9 to 5? There are people that work for themselves and just work from home on a laptop and make more than most real estate investors. I invest in real estate because I love it and don't really want to do anything else. It's my passion. Unless it's your passion it will become your job and you will wish you could just draw a paycheck again. Best luck in your endeavors and don't be afraid to take chances but make sure passion drives you.

[Conway Churaman]

@Account Closed , I'm reading a little bit about your company and I will be looking forward to meeting you indeed.

[Michael Johnson]

Hey man, I wish I had something for you to just step into.. But I may have a couple Ideas to help you along. First off, meditate. I'm not saying slow down but you need to find a way to get some inner peace or some mumbo jumbo.  There are a thousand what ifs. They will drive you crazy.. Haven't they? 

Secondly, Uber cant hurt especially driving for dollars. 

Heres my Idea that I havent heard anywhere. You can start it wherever, to immediately get started (granted I havent started doing it yet.) Its simple. Find someone in preforeclosure (they're motivated). You tell them "I am the only one who will tell you this next sentence honestly..... I want to keep you in your house." Then you tell them you want to rent out their rooms and they can be as hands OFF or ON as they would like. Basically making you a property manager.. You pay off their lis pendens or whatever (Be careful, be ready to lose your investment, Its a sinking ship as is.) Pay their mortgage w/ the rents and take the rest to recoup your investment (Hopefully). Im sure there are legal matters to figure out. This idea will work (in my mind) because of the actual desire to help. It has to be a case by case scenario. 

My personal guidelines are that 1. They can afford at least half of the mortgage themselves. 2. Confidential (message me, I think it can be dangerous to just say it.) 3.Minimal kids because they need to basically move out of the rest of the house, and live in their own room. 4. The homeowner doesnt fight and resist at every step. Look for the person who needs you and help them. This doesnt give you capital, but it gets you started immediately for cheap. 

I know its not what you were hoping for but I hope it helps. 

[Laura Williams]

Conway Churaman
Don't be so hard on yourself. New York City is a really tough city. If you don't have an amazing high paying job or trust fund then its a huge struggle for the average person just to survive here. If you want a life change then you got to do what you got to do ...save money by any means necessary ..living with parents ...part time job etc, and make it happen. It won't be pretty for a short time but the rewards will be worth it. I do think there are better opportunities in real estate for people without huge cash reserves in other (less expensive) cities than New York.

[James Caruso]

@Conway Churaman I currently run a successful Amazon FBA business, if you do plan on going that route feel free to DM me, I'd be happy to give you some tips.

[Scott Trench]

I don't know of a way to make tons of money and completely change a financial picture in a reliable manner in less than a year. Perhaps someone else can help with that. 

What I believe, that which is in my context and perspective, is that progress is made incrementally at the outset, and exponentially down the line. I incrementally saved my first $20,000, $1,000 at a time, month by month. I used that to buy an investment proeperty/house-hack, but if I was in NYC, I might have instead used that first $20K as a buffer to live off of while pursuing another income opportunity that offered a real chance for scale, or I would have used it to move out of such an expensive place to an area where I had a greater likelihood of pursuing financial freedom.

Financial freedom can be a herculean task, pursued from the eyes of someone living in NYC, but to me living in a less expensive city, financial freedom is just $3,000 to $5,000 per month in passive income, or 5-10 solid properties. That seems like a lot of money to me and very achievable (I currently enjoy about $1500 in cash flow per month) as someone that lives for free, has little debt, and does not have expensive tastes. It may seem like very little to a New Yorker. 

[Conway Churaman]

@James Caruso Oh you bet I'll be contacting you.  Thanks.

[Conway Churaman]

@Scott Trench I had to wait till I got back from work to reply. From your post you are basically selling me on moving to Florida. Guess what? I don't have expensive tastes. I do have some credit card debt though. I'm single with no kids so no expenses in that respect. I don't need to cash flow a lot to become independent. I just want to free up some time so I can pursue other things that are more important to me. I'm considering a combination of things such as running an Amazon FBA business as well as REI to help me reach my personal goals. I would still need a regular job in Florida to help with my expenses initially and to help with investments in myself and my business.

Please understand, I'm not looking to become totally independent in a year.  But I want to be able to say that I'm well on my way to that before the year is out.  And, I want to enjoy the year as I'm working toward that goal.  It will be EXTREMELY difficult at first because I would have to suck it up and move back in with the parents temporarily.  But I think starting out in the Florida markets is the way to go.  

If only I hadn't had to spend my savings I could have started out much easier!  

[Dan Genzel]

Does your sphere of influence contain 25 people or more with $10k each in savings or retirement.  I have yet to meet a person over 30 who didn't.  If so your off to the races you just need a plan.  It's all about mindset.

[Sarah Lorenz]

What about getting a new job in your same line of work in Florida while you move in with your parents and save a little money, then use your W-2 income to buy a four unit property that you move into, with 3.5% down? Then in two years, you can show the rents on the other three units as income and buy another four unit property to move into, again with a low down payment. In the meantime, do as much creative saving and investing as you can through wholesaling, getting a real estate license, working for other investors, etc.

[Michael Johnson]

I wasnt going to say it before but I'll go ahead and throw it out there for everyone. 

If you find someone who trades in the stock market, let them read this. They will tell you its risky (by nature) and that IF it works it WOULD be amazing. Im here to say that its working for me right now. But honestly its pretty much too late for others. But it WILL happen again... Without further ado... 

Michael Johnson's Stock trading formula for the legalization of Marijuana.. And stupid profit. 

Buy CBIS @ less than $0.03 Sell at more than $0.06.

Cannabis is illegal, so what. The stock market is fine. 

Buy super-low. Sell medium before the bubble bursts. Dont get greedy.

Specifically, what I did..

I bought 100,000 shares of CBIS at about $0.02 (Ooo Penny stocks, scary) Invested 2k 

Right now (1/18/17) its worth $0.0941 That is equal to about 10k ...... $7,910 profit SO FAR. 

Im not going to type for the next hour seeing as how its possible no one may be interested. But If anyone wants more info or other stock picks let me know. Free of charge etc. Actually..... One more added value. BLOZF is developing a breathylzer that can measure cannabis and alcohol. That can take over the entire police force.. enough said. Just buy it.. If you are completely new to stocks (i dont advocate its sustainability be careful) but you can copy and paste these into google and It will pull up all you need. 

1. CBIS stock price

2. CANN stock price

3. MJNA stock price

4. BLOZF stock price

Look at the 5-year chart.. those  crazy spikes you see are nothing but a feeding frenzy during legalizations. They are bubbles, over inflated.. dont get greedy. 

People have paid me for less information than this. Dont undervalue me.  

[Abel Curiel]

Good morning @Conway Churaman,

I first read this thread last night and just read the additional advice posted by BP members since. Looks like you've got plenty of options. I also live in NYC and have been working on ways to get financially free. 

I'm not sure what "FBA" means but if you're planning on using Amazon as an e-commerce business for yourself I would say DO IT!!! I've been selling on Ebay for a couple of months and I've got to say that I wish I would've started sooner. Garage sales, clearance sales, and thrift shops all give you an opportunity to buy grossly underpriced items which turn into nice profit margins when selling them online.

Uber sounds like another great idea. My business partner has done some Uber driving for a few hours/day and picked up some decent side money while ALSO being able to drive for dollars and build relationships in our target areas.

@Sarah Lorenz makes some awesome points. House-hacking is a great way to get started. I second her suggestion. I hear that the 1031 exchange may be changed or unavailable sometime soon but that was just 1 article I sent. That could potentially be a game changer but with a good CPA, I'm sure there are plenty of ways to limit your tax exposure.

Getting your RE license is a huge plus as well. I can give you more info on this if you PM me.

Sarah also mentioned wholesaling which my partner and I have begun doing to raise capital. I also see you've reached out to @Account Closed brought up perhaps one of the most important things- incremental progress. Taking your end goal (whether it be your 2017 or 2030 goal) and breaking it down to realistic weekly and daily goals is THE BEST way to map this all out. Devising a plan and executing it is what separates those who REACH goals from those who SET them. I.e. go to 3 thrift shops/garage sales per week; send out 100 yellow letters to absentee owners per week; drive for dollars for 30 minutes per day; send out 5 handwritten letters each day (to your D4D properties); analyze 5 properties per day;... the list can go on and on. 

The point is that you're in a spot where you know some changes need to be made in order to get to where you want to be. As I mentioned before, you have tons of options. Now its all about figuring out the best one and devising a plan to execute. 

Best of luck to you!

-Abel

[Paula Pant]

Originally posted by @Conway Churaman:

@Account Closed , I'm reading a little bit about your company and I will be looking forward to meeting you indeed.

I love @Tim Chapman's remark: "Perhaps the big question is are you more interested in real estate investing or just freeing yourself from the 9-to-5?"

I notice that in your answer, you stated: "But It's high time now that I pursue it so I can find out for myself if it's for me."

But ... is it?

I might be misinterpreting or misunderstanding your situation. But based on what I'm hearing you say, it seems to me like your #1 priority, at this time, is to shed the stuff that's bad ... namely, your job and your high-cost-of-living environment.

So that's Step #1. And I'd focus on that first, before foraying into real estate investing.

Quitting your job, moving to another state and investing in RE for the first time -- those are three massive, seperate undertakings, and they're better pursued one-at-a-time.

So here's what I'd recommend:

Prioritize those three goals. Decide which one you want to pursue first, and focus on that. Stay focused until you can confidently put a "checkmark" next to that goal; you can mark it as complete. And then move to the next major undertaking.

If quitting your 9-to-5 is the primary goal, then do that first. Figure out how to support yourself without an employer you despise. Create income outside of your 9-to-5. Rebuild your savings. Then (and this may happen near-concurrently, due to your HCOL city) decide where you'd like to live. And then, once you're comfortably settled away from your current energy-draining and soul-sucking situation, start thinking creatively about real estate.

You'll have more space to be creative -- and more fun -- if your life can support your passion, rather than burdening your passion to support your life. 

[Conway Churaman]

Priority #1, get rid of the soul crushing job. I just set up my LinkedIn profile focusing on looking for new employment as opposed to being a newbie REI. I have resumes uploaded to various sites. I suppose you are right @Paula Pant that I should not burden my passion to support my life.  I need to eliminate the negative job so I can think creatively again.  I'm keeping my options open for New York and Florida.  I have important questions to ask about my life and where I want it to go.  Getting a new job for now is great.  But I want to take steps this year to put me on the road to financial independence.  I don't have to get there this year but I want to be on that road.  Paula, I really want to enjoy life this year somehow.

[Michael Johnson]

conway... you Will enjoy this year Somehow. say it to Yourself Until you believe it. 

[Michael Johnson]

@Abel Curiel update from my stock trading.

I pulled out my original investment, I still have alot of shares left. It over inflated a little because it grew too fast. Maryland is introducing a bill on monday for legalization, So hopefully that will keep it from dipping. But whatever... more importantly....

BLOZF is now the only pick that i would recommend buying  at this point, though it has grown with the rest of the stocks on the market, and yes its more of a "green bubble" than a steady increase. BLOZF aka Cannabix Technologies is developing a breathalyzer that can measure it on your breath instead of taking urine or saliva samples. Doing this keeps the window that one person would be "dirty" shorter, This takes care of the whole "drugged driving" situation which is one of the biggest obstacles facing legalization. 

Now in addition to all of that, it also measures alcohol. I believe it could take over the entire police force, one day anyway. 

Now like i said its more of a bubble so it may fall from where it is. $0.62 a share. But as a long term buy and hold I think this is Relatively speaking getting in on the ground floor. Although I personally wont be buying it yet it is a relatively cheap investment that can have an awesome upswing over time. I am not saying it will blow up like the others mentioned above. That's more of an exception not the rule. But in my opinion it is the only one that I would still recommend as of today. Saturday Jan 28.

[Jeremy Hazelwood]

I would say from experience it all starts in the mind. You have to constantly feed your brain with the best information. It's definitely true that knowledge is power. Yes I believe the best way to rid the 9-5 is to develop a real estate business. It doesn't really matter how much money you have to start honestly. It's more about how bad you want it and are you willing to spend time reading or listening to tons of books on real estate. Then once you equip yourself with the knowledge it's time to execute execute execute. If you don't get out there and attempt to do a deal then you won't get anywhere. Get on amazon and read all the books you can on kindle which is cheaper and faster. Of course bp has plenty info. Get a cheap course like the 10hour wholesaler and just try those techniques and see what happens... if you do enough networking as well as looking for deals in your hometown maybe driving for dollars, you will eventually get a deal done. There is no magical way it's just knowledge and execution coupled with timing..

[Account Closed]

@Conway Churaman any updates on your situation?