All Forum Posts by: Chase Jones

"Military Money"--A personal finance workshop for young service members

My name is Chase. I am a Non-Commissioned Officer in the United States Air Force. I've been enamored with the idea of wealth management since I purchased my first stock at age 14 (for reference, I'm 24 now). One thing I've struggled with since joining the Air Force 4 years ago is finding other people who want to build lasting wealth. Many people I speak with have very limited knowledge of wealth management, asset accumulation and minimization of liabilities. In fact, for most people, when I mention these subjects they tend to clench up and shut down. They respond with limiting beliefs based on fear; fear of losing money, and fear of what they don't understand.

Our society doesn't encourage the "average" person to accumulate wealth building assets. It encourages us to go to college, incur student loan debt, get a decent job to pay off our debt, and then incur more debt as we finance homes, vehicles, and other accessories using a limited salary. I am convinced that the difference between an "average" person and a "wealthy" person is education and a strong support system. Therefore, I've decided to start up a personal finance workshop within my unit to teach young Airmen the concepts that society has not made readily available for them.

While budgeting is a huge aspect of asset accumulation and debt reduction, I don't wish to spend a whole lot of time teaching adults how to budget their money. I will speak briefly to the fundamentals of "what goes in" and "what comes out" of our bank accounts. I will address practical ways to cut down on expenses. And I will tell them that in order to generate wealth, it requires investing in assets that produce a steady, dependable return.

But more importantly, I want to demonstrate the lies that people are told about their finances. I want to expose the falsehood of money management that their peers, teachers, and struggling family members have lead them to believe. My intention here is pure; sit young airmen down and show them that the way they've been taught to manage money might not allow them to retire any earlier, but instead, it may only end up costing them money through irresponsible spending.

So I ask you, BiggerPockets community. If you were in my shoes. How would you begin to reveal to young men and women--of various backgrounds--that there is a truth to wealth management that can free them from financial struggle; that they have the power and capability to direct their financial destiny? How would you show them that by using money as a tool, rather than a crutch, they can live a life of increased fulfillment?

Any and all feedback is welcome. As a disclaimer, please understand that I believe that our military employs people of great intelligence and talent. I hold no beliefs that are condescending toward our military population. The opinions that I hold have been reinforced through direct interaction with my military peers. Thank you for taking the time to read this and thanks in advance for your thoughtful contributions!

Greetings!

Is it possible to save blog posts in a "favorites" or saved section? There will be a BiggerPockets blog post that hits a really important aspect of something like personal finance that I want to save. Sort of like how facebook allows you to save posts, videos, etc. and there is a tab to go back and view your saved items. Whenever I'm talking with my friends about a certain topic, I usually remember a blog post that would be really helpful for them to read. The only problem is...I can't find it later on!

So far, I haven't found a way to do save blog posts. I know that you can "follow" forum discussions and comments. But I have not found a similar way to do this for blog posts. So far I just save them in my bookmarks, but that method only saves to the device I'm using, not to my BP account, which is accessible from anywhere.

Any advice or tips leading to a great solution would be profoundly appreciated!

Thanks in advance!

-Chase

@Rob Sawyer thanks for your service, first off. And I'm glad to meet other people with a similar experience as me. Like you, I still talk about it anyways! I can't help it when I'm so passionate.

@Ben Meisel Thank you, and I greatly appreciate your support! We do it proudly.
@Amber L. Thanks for the encouragement! I truly think this community is an invaluable resource of knowledge and networking.

So you've got a dream: financial freedom. But you've also got no money, no time, no knowledge and no experience. I get it, those are all valid reasons to stand by on diving into real estate. But there is something that you do have that can compensate for all the things that are lacking: your voice.

Having no money means saving more and earning more. Having no time means making time through effective task management. Having no knowledge means absorbing it various resources. Having no experience means gaining it through applying principles, big or small. But having a voice more than makes up for anything you're lacking. If you need help, ask. If you've got a story, tell it. If you have advice, share it. Having no money, time, knowledge or experience can be made up for by simply asking someone how to satisfy those needs.

The irony in me saying this is that it took me 1.5 years to post on BiggerPockets for the first time. I was a shy newbie (still a newbie) who never contributed to the community. Why? Well, to be honest, I was intimidated to put myself out there because I didn't feel "qualified" enough. I decided to sit on the sidelines and wait until I felt like I had enough experience for people to listen to me. Looking back, I see how misguided that sentiment was. Largely because in order to gain experience, I needed the help of other investors! Keep in mind that I am well aware of the fact that we have newbies contributing to the site each day. But this post is intended for the newbies like me. Who hide in the shadow of their IP address but never make a name for themselves.

I recently came back from a deployment to the middle east. While there, I ordered 4 BP Publishing books to occupy my spare time. I was hooked. I talked to anyone and everyone about what I was learning. But alas, it fell flat on a majority of my audience. But not here! Shortly after returning from my trip I posted on the New Member Introductions page. Within hours, I had gotten several warm welcomes and a handful of colleague request from investors in my area. I've spoken to many of them in my down time and I'm looking forward to the kinds of relationships we can build and the value we can add to one another. Over the last 19 months, I've earned over $19K through "house-hacking" (my first blog post explains how), and now I'm ready to put that money to work in my next deal!

The BP community is so unique because most of us are here in search of a very similar goal. In my military work life, I have so few friends that get fired up about ideas like disciplined money management, wealth building and financial freedom. But for the BP community, that's what gets us out of bed each day!

I invite you, timid newbie--no, I challenge you to take the dive into the BiggerPockets forums. Do more than just watch; participate! You'll greatly jumpstart your journey by taking an active role in this community. And there's no telling how much this community can learn from hearing your perspective.

So, what are you waiting for?

@Matt Morgan awesome to meet a close by REI neighbor! I plan to be there on the 17th. Hopefully I'll see you there. And I'd for sure like to talk to you more about your experience in the area. Thanks!
@Craig Stasnbury Thanks for the welcome. I love biggerpockets. It's crazy to believe that something like this exists. I'll go ahead and take a look at he other group. Thanks for that tip!

@Daniel Thomas Thank you very much, Daniel. I gave that a look after it was mentioned earlier. I'm definitely interested in attending!
@Eric Siebert Thanks, Eric. And thanks for your service! If everything goes according to plan, I should be there.

@Collin Schwartz Thank you for the warm welcome. I'll definitely be in touch with you about the meetups. Thank you!

@Mike Cumbie Thank you very much for the warm welcome.

@Charlie MacPherson I definitely do my due diligence in researching them. Thank you for pointing me in that direction! 

Greetings and Happy New Years to you all.

My name is Chase Jones and I live in Papillion, Nebraksa --just south of Omaha. I am a Non-Commissioned Officer in the United States Air Force. I have an academic background in clinical psychology and work experience in communications/linguistics. 

I've been a member of Bigger Pockets for a year and a half. Currently, my interests in real estate is primarily rental property investing. I've been "house hacking" for 1.5 years with two roommates living in my single family home. Recently, I became convicted that I should introduce myself to the community rather than just soaking up information on the sidelines. The more I read from Brandon Turner's works, the more I bought into the mentality of networking being a lifestyle. I was captivated by his framing of real estate investing as a mentality of solving problems.

I--like almost everyone else on this site--wish to invest in real estate to create consistent passive income in order to achieve.....you guessed it, financial freedom! In a nutshell, what that means to me is a lifestyle free from certain worries; worries of dedicated work hours, financial emergencies, and most importantly, time away from loved ones. 

I strongly believe in the principles of frugality, self-discipline, prudence and good stewardship. These virtues will guide me in my journey to financial independence.

Some of my personal interests include: physical exercise, travel, camping, flying my drone, shooting, reading, (binge) watching Netflix, spending time with friends and family, and mentoring others in leadership and financial management.

If any of you reading this live in the Omaha area, or anywhere at all, please feel free to message me. I'd love to meet more people with the same passion and goals as myself. I can't wait to get to know you more!