Financial Freedom Now
The title of this article is the title of the tele-seminar I am currently presenting. When I mentioned this title to my 17-year-old son, he said it sounded like a marketing gimmick. And I would ordinarily agree with him. But, the simple fact is that millions of people are tired of the same old 30-year savings-to-retirement plan and want something that works faster than that. So, here we are presenting a series of tele-seminars to help people achieve financial freedom in as few as 5-10 years.
The tele-seminar has been very well received so far and I especially appreciate the many questions asked during our "ask" campaign and the several follow up questions since our first seminar last Tuesday. In this entry, I am going to answer several of the questions that have come up during the past week.
Q: Daniel asks:
Do you have a spreadsheet that we can use to develop our financial statements? This is important as they will always be changing and it would facilitate keeping them up to date.
A: We love this idea, so we have created and posted a spreadsheet at the webpage for our tele-seminar participants
Q: Gus asks:
We have several out of state single family properties as rentals. Regarding Corporations and LLC's - What is the best way to structure a company to protect commercial real and residential rentals for asset protection and from excessive taxes? One LLC per property or all properties in one LLC? One LLC per property per state? I am so confused, everyone I speak to seems to have a different opinion I have spoken to Lawyers, accountants, financial planners and so far no one seems to agree.
A: As with almost all such questions, the answer is "It depends." The problem we find with most financial advice is that it is given without a full knowledge of the facts and without a full and complete set of goals and objectives in mind. The only way to truly answer this question accurately is to sit down with a Strategic Tax Coach and an attorney and strategically determine what the best answer is for the individual taxpayer. Some people may be so risk averse that they want a separate LLC for each property. Others may want the simplicity of a single LLC and they are less concerned about the risk of multiple properties owned by the same LLC. But remember to think strategically and make sure the answer fits within your own strategy and goals.
Q: Ellen asks:
Page 8 in the workbook talks about Cash Flow--I have an accounting background and I am a "SAVER". Consequently we have very little debt. In my "household expenses" I have always got things built in like PAC payments that go to mutual funds, and money to go into savings for various items. I find it very hard to calculate expenses without considering my savings--but I need to know if that is what you want--to find out what kind of cash is left over---without putting ANY away in any type of savings or investments? (I assume so that we can use that cash for investments we will learn about later on?
Page 9 - Balance sheet --- Money we have put away in IRA's and HSA's--I would consider long-term because if we take it out we will be penalized--but need clarification ---- again because we COULD use that money for investments??????
Its hard to get out of the mindset of saving for retirement - but I think I need to re-think that if I am financially free - I don't need retirement money???
A: First, the simple answer to the cash flow question. The answer is that you want to list the amount of actual expenses you have right now, BEFORE any savings.
The IRA question is more problematic. I would put this in the liquid asset category, as it is funds available to be converted to cash (assuming you hold liquid assets within the IRA). If you want to be conservative, list it net of the taxes and penalty you would pay if you were to take it out.
The last question is the best of the questions and I think you have answered it on your own. If you are financially free, then you ought to be able to retire at any time. It is a change in your mindset from retirement (safety) to financial freedom (wealth). Good for you for recognizing the difference!
Q: Ruben asks:
I enjoyed our first teleseminar on Tuesday and I'm psyched to begin developing my personal wealth strategy. I have two questions for you:
1) First, you advised us to report net rental income on our breakdown of income. Here's my situation...I live in one of three units that I own in a tri-plex. I rent the other two. The rent of the two rented units does not cover or exceed the mortgage, therefore there is no net rental income (I pay for the difference between the mortgage and the two monthly rents from my personal funds. How do I account for the rental income to reflect an accurate amount on my workbook?
A: You need to evaluate this as two separate properties for cash flow purposes. One property is the rental. So, 2/3 of the payment belongs to the rental. The other property is the residence. 1/3 of the payment belongs to the residence and should be reported as a personal expense.
2) I have a close friend that offered me a path to begin building my real estate portfolio. She joined a group/company (by paying $16000 to $18500). I attended one of their presentations and it seems like a fancy type of pyramid scheme.
A: I intentionally omitted the name of the organization Ruben asks about because it is not important. What's important is the due diligence required for any such organization. You need to evaluate the company, it's history, and it's financial success. I always suggest involving an expert, such as a CPA, in an evaluation like this. We will talk more about team members in our 4th and 5th tele-seminar sessions.
Q: Barb asks:
My workbook planning has resulted in two different cash-flow goals ... I would like to achieve one within the next 12 months and the other within the next 6 years. But the only wealth goal I am interested in would be the net assets necessary to achieve the cash-flow goals, and I'm not sure how to define that number. I don't want to just pull a number out of the air. Is there any kind of industry formula I could use that defines the relationship between income-producing assets and that income itself?
A: It's great that you have both mid-term and long-term goals. We will get very specific about setting such goals in our 3rd session. The question you need to ask is what return can you expect to receive on your wealth once it is accumulated? We will go over much of this in our meeting tomorrow night when we discuss different asset classes and how to evaluate investment choices.
Q: Aifala asks:
Hello Tom, Thanks again for sharing your knowledge and wisdom. My question
is, if I don't have any money save or negative cash flow showing on my
financial statement, would it be possible for me to purchase a 16 unit
apartment building?. Thanks again for everything.
A: Once again, the answer is "It depends." It depends on the seller, it depends on your negotiation skills, it depends on your credit score and it depends on your current cash flow. I can certainly conceive of ways to do this deal. This is the perfect question for your Wealth Coach. Before you get to this question, though, be sure you have your Wealth Strategy in place. Be sure you really should be investing in a 16-unit complex. I suggest you wait on this question until we complete the tele-seminar series and then go through it with your wealth coach.
These are all great questions and I have enjoyed answering them. As the tele-seminar series progresses, continue to send in your questions and I will do my best to answer them within my blog.
Warmest regards,
Tom