Journey to Financial Freedom: From Cheapskate to Passive Investor
Achieving financial freedom is a journey, and for many, it involves a transition from being frugal to strategically investing for passive income. In this reflection, we explore the transformation of an investor from extreme cost-cutting measures to embracing a more balanced approach to wealth building.
Money saving ideas for the shameless… (the before)
- Stack Mr. Rebates shopping portal and Groupon discount codes with gift cards purchased from eBay or Safeway with more gift cards and Mr Rebates shopping portal.
- Take a shower at work to save on utilities, water, and electricity – as a side benefit you go to the gym more often (do your 3S’s there, shit, shower, shave)
- If you work in a startup company that caters food, it’s a no brainer— eat at work and bring food home. Maybe you can even befriend someone that works there and join them for lunch from time to time. For extra credit consider a life of “intermittent fasting” and totally binge at these free meals.
- Wash your car in the rain. No mineral deposits left while it dries.
- Costco leasing to own program
- Buy an Anker powerbank and charge it at work. Sadly I never got around to use them during what little time I had at home.
- I would sign up for Microsoft play-tests so I could get a free software to then sell on eBay for money. The sad thing is that I am not even a gamer and it was completely obvious to the playtest team.
- There are soft drinks available at restaurants?
- Why are you eating at a sit down restaurant, you have to pay tip?
- If you must, order food to go and eat on the premises. Best of both worlds!
- Wear clothes with the tag on it and return it.
- I rode my dangerous 50cc moped in the Seattle rain so I would not have to pay $4 per gallon in 2010.
- Use an app like GasBuddy to find the cheapest gasoline station, better yet, double stack your Costco credit card (4% cash back on gasoline) and buy Costco gas.
- This one is a bit morbid, but an important one. Set up a revocable living trust with your lawyer to avoid probate expenses following the death of your family members.
- Susie Orman’s advice – make coffee at home and save yourself the $5 Starbucks Venti Frappuccino
- FAST (intermittently, not forever)! Skip breakfast daily (work yourself up gradually) and when you’re ready to get to the big leagues, attempt to fast for an entire day (no breakfast, lunch or dinner)
- Solar panels
- Maximize and optimize what you’ve got BankPurely has a 1.30% APY since April but most banks have 1.0+% (which is 10x the 0.1% APY rate given by most conventional brick and mortar banks like BofA, Chase, WellsFargo
- https://www.depositaccounts.com/savings/
- Become an Uber driver or deliver post mates
- If you have a spare room not in use, AirBnB it from time to time
- Check out EventBrite or other social event platforms for free lunch/dinner/drinks
- Buy Mod Pizza’s mega salad for $11.27. Dinner for days!
- Paid online surveys
- Coupons (think http://www.freestufffinder.com/)
- Use www.bensbargains.com or slickdeals.net before buying anything online
- Use Honey or Ebates or other discount portals for Amazon/eBay or other internet purchases to save a few %
- Certain credit cards provide 5x bonuses (Chase Freedom has rotating categories) and Chase Business cards are good for auto-pay things like internet with extra bonus categories
- Charging up your electronics/phones/Gameboys at work before you leave for the weekend
- Courthouse wedding
Growing up in Hawaii where a gallon of milk is $8, I was taught to save money in strange ways. (I don’t drink milk)
Some of those were pretty bad which develop into unhealthy money mindsets and can translate to negative social profiles.
Some downright unethical but hey if you are a cheapskate, own it!
I don’t condone any of these tactics but look, it is no coincidence why you folks continuously have so much money to invest and pay your bills on time unlike 4 out 5 of my Birmingham rentals every month.
begin your journey to financial freedom!
My name is Lane Kawaoka, and I hope my blog/podcast will help families realize the powerful wealth-building effects of real estate so they can spend their time on more important, instead of working long hours and worrying about their financial troubles. There are a lot of successful families with good jobs (teachers / engineers / programmers / finance) yet they struggle to make ends meet financially. It is their kiddos who ultimately get the short end of the stick. Being a Latch-Key Child growing up, both my parents had to work and I was left home alone after school to fiddle with my thumbs.
With Real Estate you are able to grow your wealth exponentially faster than the conventional 401K’s and stock investing, therefore you are able to escape the dogma of working 50+ hour weeks at a job that is unfulfilling. And if you are one of the lucky ones who happen to do what you enjoy… well good for you 😛
Money is not everything but it is important because it gives you the freedom to live life on your terms.
Annoyed by the bogus real estate education programs out there (that take money from people who don’t have it in the first place), I set out to make this free website to help other hard-working professionals, the shrinking middle-class. I hope to dispel the Wall-Street dogma of traditional wealth-building, and offer an alternative to “garbage” investments in the 401K/mutual funds that only make the insiders rich. We help the hard-working middle-class build real asset portfolios, by providing free investing education, podcasts, and networking, plus access to investment opportunities not offered to the general public.
“The true meaning of wealth is having the freedom to do what you want, when you want, and with whom you want.
Building cash flow via real estate is the simple part. The difficult part occurs after you are free financially to find your calling and fulfillment.
But that’s a great problem to have ;)”
excerpt from The One Thing That Changed Everything
