26 years old, seeking basic advice

[James Wagner]

Hi everyone,

I just found this website today. I'm a 26-year husband and a father to two amazing kids (both under 2yrs). We live about 30 minutes north of Cincinnati. My wife and I both work full-time jobs (M-F, 9-5). Together, we make a bit over $100k pre-tax (not including any bonuses). However, a huge chunk of our take-home pay goes to our mortgage, our student loans (we have $100k remaining on those), and toward childcare. Our only debt outside of the mortgage and student loans is a $7k loan for a sweet minivan.

My first big goal is to make enough money on the side that my wife can stay home with our kids. At the very least, I'd need to bring home another $1,500/month (her take-home minus childcare). I've been trying to solve this problem all of 2017; I spent months researching drop-shipping products from China through a website I built with Facebook ads. I ran ads for almost 2 months making $6k in sales. However, I broke even after Facebook took $4k of that. I stopped doing this business as I was preparing for the birth of my son. I said all that to point out that I'm willing to put in the hard work and research, I am just in need of a good plan. After speaking with an investor who is doing very, very well (and is not much older than me), he suggested that I start investing in rental properties.

We only have $4k to 5k in savings (not counting $15k in 401k). We only have about $10k to $12k in equity in our home. Is investing in real estate for rentals even a reality for us right now? With 2 children now, saving anything substantial is not very doable for us at the moment. My investor connection mentioned Lending Club as an option for a personal loan. Is this all too risky? I really would like to help my wife be able to stay home with our kids.

Thanks in advance.