Thursday, July 9, 2009

Someone Has Questions

Frugalcoconut stopped by and had some questions for me. How exciting, I write this journal mostly for myself and Mr. Sam (and a few other friends and family that like to keep up to date) so I'm thrilled that someone else had found something of interest here.

FC said - I just read your entire blog backwards ... in sequence from newest to oldest. I would love to hear more about your background as far as being able to attain such a high net worth ... it seems like you both earn a relatively high income from your jobs/careers but also what else goes into it. I'm hoping that you can provide advice on landlording ... including how long you've owned the properties, how far apart you bought them, how did financing investment properties differ from financing primary home, what were some positive things that you've done versus some things that you would have done differently now that you are wiser, is it ever overwhelming having so much mortgage debt as a liability, how is the actual cash flow now versus a year or two ago versus what you initially planned/expected?

I will take a few of these at a time over the next few days.

Background - FC is correct, together Mr. Sam and I earn a good income from our careers. We both have advanced degrees. I think education can be a great way to increase one's earning potential, but education is also expensive. Mr. Sam completed his MBA part time so he was not away from his job and did not lose out on his salary during that time. But, Mr. Sam's MBA student loan debt, $27,000, was our biggest debt when we worked our 2007 Dave Ramsey Debt Snowball. I also incurred student loan debt for my advanced degree and I was out of the work force, attended full time, so I lost out on salary during those years. I had my student loans paid off in five years (the term was 10 years) by not upgrading my lifestyle to professional grade. While I did buy a house right out of professional school I did not make any other large purchases or change my lifestyle.

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