My current net worth is €527,843.94 (78.78% of my first goal – €670K).
I am sorry, guys.
This blog used to be an obsession. As I moved on with life and my illness became really debilitating, I stopped thinking about it… naturally, other priorities came into my head.
Today, I am fighting a big fight: a fight for my health. As you may know, I’ve dealing with heavy metal toxicity and other things, which cause severe CFS.
My health has been declining over the last months, although that was expected to happen. According to the protocol I am doing, it is supposed that we get worse before we get better. I just didn’t expect this much worse…
I’ve been also working hard to support my company and my partner. There are some of us know, but I’ve been pretty much away from the operation in the past 2 months, when I really got worse.
The GO-TO mode I was into was cool. I ran on adrenaline and got a kick out of life, but I crashed badly; I don’t think it was due to overwork until January. I think it was more like the normal course of the protocol I am doing and the season flu I caught. Yet, I need to rest a lot now.
So, while I am still alive, I’ve been close to dysfunctional in the past 2 months. Do not fear – Ben will return stronger and happier! I am just afraid this will take a few years, though.
So how did you increase your net worth?
I’ve learned one thing over the last 24 months: owning real estate gives you wonderful opportunities at times. Just owning it. People may throw offers at you when you expect them the less. And make tons of money too.
This is what happened. RP#4 was sold for a nearly 80k profit. This ain’t no joke! Last November, I said that I had gotten an offer on RP#4 and I decided to sell. The deal went on for a while, until the capital and documents were up and running, but it came to a close.
A lot changed since the last report, but essentially I’ve been able to sell a property at great profit. I also sold what I used to call RP#5, for a minor profit (but enable me to negotiate for real now, as I am sitting on more than 100k!).
You really need to see and read the networth report…
OK, how is my networth and how did it grow?
I can clearly see my financial independence now. It will be a matter of time, that is it. There is not much I do do in terms of screwing it up…
Networth update
RP#1 is still my Primary Property (PP) and I am still living in it.
The rental income in March was €2,005, which is quite some money. As I mention later, my goal is to reach €4,170/mo in rental income until the end of the year. It will decrease next month(s), because two leasings are due, but I will get back on track and more.
Now, a few things changed. More money on checking accounts and interest accounts are due to having sold one of the properties for a substantial profit.
I’ve got more money on receivables, and it is a matter of time to get them back. While I sold RP#5, I bought two other properties since (RP#4 and the “new” RP#5). These are properties that I bought way undervalue and decided to “flip” without actually flipping them (I listed bought properties and I actually expect to sell both in 3 months – without picking up a hammer). As they rent very well after being renovated, I will remodel them myself I don’t sell them soon enough. Still, the goal is to sell them after the renovation anyways (I am really focused on buying and selling now, as you may tell).
I also bought a new car (overall value 10k) and I reappraised my company.
Real Estate Company
Our company is also doing well.
The company grew a lot, shrunk a bit and it’s now operational. We decided to move more from consultancy to selling products and courses, which is a much tough biz (but way more scalable). We don’t own assets yet, but we do have quite some money in the bank and almost $10k in inventory. We have enough money to keep us afloat during the hard test of figuring out whether products is really better than services.
How much more I need?
To reach the 670k mark, I need less than 150k, but I am hoping to make 200k on flips alone until December. So yes, I plan to retire January 2020.
Even if I fail to make 200k on flips, I will probably make 50k easily and I will make at least 70k on my other revenue streams. This would some up to 120k, to which I would add my company’s worth (I hope 150k or more by the end of the year). I would not even have to sell the company – I could simply cash out 70k in dividends).
So, yes, I hope to report I am financially free and able to retire, this year, until December!!!
What to do next?
As I fear a heck of a crisis coming over, the plan is pretty simple:
1: Do not put more money on the stock market for now
I plan to have a small dividend-aristocrat portfolio which I won’t ever sell. I hope that pays enough to cover my super basic expenses, that is all I need. We’re talking about $500/mo.
But for now, I see a huge problem at the stock market. The corrections through 2018’s last quarter are simply putting off the real correction. I don’t want to put more money in there. Plus, I know how to use it for the better…
2: Real Estate flips
As I’ve been saying, buy and hold is cool, but doesn’t make us rich quick.
Becoming rich is not necessarily a goal for me right now, but attaining financial independence is, and more money would come in handy.
My plan is still the same: I will concentrate most of my money in real estate flips. I will focus on properties that I can monetize while holding onto them, but flipping them ASAP.
3: Follow the plan and don’t screw up
I really need to drop the ball badly not to accomplish my goal. The plan until December is actually pretty simple:
- Make about 200k in profit from flips (but 50k-100k would do the trick too), using my highly liquid position. Remember, I’ve got 100k in the bank, expect at least 50k from the first property I’ve got listed (meaning a 25k profit) and at least 35k from the other property listed (meaning a 12.5k profit). So let’s say I’ve got 200k to play with. I definitely believe I can make at least 300k from it. Please be aware that I’ve been working with several agents for a few years now, and they go out there to find properties and buyers for me.
- Make 50k from my other revenue streams. This is pretty easy for 2019.
- Cash out at least 30k in dividends from my company.
This may be an aggressive goal, because we must make 50k in profit for this to happen (50k profit last year summing up to 100k).
Based on this, in December I’d been looking at:
- 350k in cash at the bank;
- A rental portfolio bringing in about €1.600 a month (I’ve got mortgages summing up to €400/mo);
- At least 20k in the sock market or equivalent;
- A property worth €45.000 free of mortgage, to sell;
- Wanting to buy/having bought a 120k property for myself, putting down about 15k and financing the rest;
- Wanting to buy/having bought a 100k property for myself, in the woods, without mortgage.
If this holds in December, then I will have 350k+45k-15-100k = 280k, plus my dream properties to live in.
With 280k, I could easily make 28k sustainable rental income, which would make me 52k/year in real income (with 10k in mortgages), more than enough to retire (€42.000 is, even with 30% tax, almost €2.500/mo, and I currently need no more than €1.000.
Goals for April
- Stick to my perfect routine regardless.
- Continue on using deep breathing techniques (check out Wim Hof).
- Go for a walk every single day, in the morning.
- Continue to learn inverted pull ups and handstands.
- Go to bed before 10:30pm.
- Another 3-4 rounds of the Cutler’s protocol.
- Get better; the past months have been crazy difficult.
- Post at least once on this blog (sorry guys can’t do more right now).
- Make a deal to sell 1 or the 2 properties I’ve got listed.
- Be happy.
Enjoy life guys!
Ben