Productive Use of Your Money and How to Make it Work for You!

The funny thing about positive cash flow, is that the more we have, the more we spend. We’re all guilty of this from time to time. Extra money burns a hole in your pocket through dinners out, that sale item that was just too good of a deal to pass up, weekend trips that were supposed to be inexpensive, or even just ordering in instead of going to the grocery store. Most of us work to live, not live to work, but if you start thinking about the long term and how to use your money wisely, you can create a situation where passive income (income with little or no effort required) becomes your reality.

Let’s think about the numbers for a minute: Say Bob goes out to eat about once a week, orders in and gets a movie once a week, and buys at least one item (clothing or household etc) a week. Dinner for he and his wife is about $100, Pizza for the family $40, and new drapes for the living room $100. If Bob does this on a weekly basis, he’s spending $960 a month without even realizing it. I think a lot of us tend to do these things more than once a week with our consumer driven society, but as a guideline, Bob could be saving $11,520 in addition to what he already does by being conscious of what he’s spending, what’s really necessary, and what can be eliminated.

So what do we do with the extra money saved? Well, there are a lot of options, stocks and bonds, gold, IRAs, etc. but, what if you created a plan to make your money work for you in buy and hold Real Estate Investments? It creates additional monthly income to add to your savings, builds equity over time, and if managed well, can be almost completely passive, or hands-off income. Of course, you’ll need to do your research, find a well versed agent in investment properties, and ideally, a great property management company. The right one can help you find the right investments, manage your portfolio over time, and manage the tenants and properties themselves so you have none of the headache, just YOUR MONEY WORKING FOR YOU.

“ Wealth can be built through real estate investing on the side if you just make a plan and stick to it.” –BRANDON TURNER, BiggerPockets.com

And my favorite quote of 2014:

"Ultimately, true passive income can only be created by acquiring assets that generate an income entirely independent of the input of time, money or energy of the owner." -by Koos du Toit, Real Estate Investor Magazine