Let's start off with some quick numbers for a frame of reference for you.

In 2019, the average new car cost $40,000 and have an average monthly payment of $550. If you wanted to include things like gas, insurance, and maintenance AAA and Kelley Blue Book calculated it as below. 

If you want to try looking into this on your own you can use Edmunds' calculating tool to find the car you want to see how they break it down. 

Okay, so we've established that a new car payment can be expensive but now let's talk about depreciation. The moment you buy a car it immediately begins to lose value. It is estimated a new car loses 9-11% the moment you drive it off the lot. Let that sink in. 

Your brand new $20,000 car is now worth only $18,000. Instantly!

In only three years that vehicle is worth almost half of what you bought it for.  Which might be a great range to buy that car... I bought a 2008 Camry in 2012.

We've established that a brand new car is going to have expensive payments and will instantly lose value. But it'll save on repairs!

Well AAA data shows that a new car costs you 8.94 cents per mile. If you drive 12,00 miles a year it'll cost you $1,073.80 per year. This coincides with the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics number that in 2018 people spend $890 a year on car repairs and maintenance for all ages of cars.

If you want to take a peak for yourself you can use this calculator.

Okay, what we've established so far is that new cars have expensive payments and lose their value instantly after you buy them. 

Let's say you saved your money and were able to buy your car in cash. If you started at the age of 21 and just put that $600 "car payment" into an investment account in 38 years when you could pull it out you'd have 1.3 million dollars. If you wanted until you retired at 65 you'd have over 2.3 million. This is assuming you get a market average 8% return. 

Maybe being a multi millionaire doesn't appeal to you. Maybe you'd still want a fancy car or wouldn't be able to save up to pay in cash - I sure didn't when I bought mine. Let's say you cut that $600 payment down to $300. You'd then have almost 800,000 in 38 years or over 1.3 millions in 45 years.

If you don't trust my calculations you can do your own here.

Although you might feel you 'deserve' or 'want' a new car just try and think about the long game. Would you rather have a brand new car or be a millionaire? Because that is the decision you'll be making. 

I can already hear the argument though of what if I can do both? If that is what you want to do with you money, buy something that will lose half it's value in 3 years then do it but your money can be used in a much better way!

Off the bat you might be thinking that I make a lot of money and it is easy to save half. Unfortunately, that is not the case. I work in a school and although I am paid more than what I think I should it is nothing crazy! I supplement some of my travel through travel hacks which helps get me free flights. I also have side hustles to help get extra spending money which also comes in handy - last year I almost made $7,000 doing my favorite one. ​

Any who, here is the official breakdown. 

Fixed Income - 27.75%
    Mortgage - 19.85% - I'm currently living in deal 3 and have help with my mortgage from my girlfriend who I live with.
    Electricity/Internet - 4.5% - This isn't every month but more of an average. Summers are expensive and winter is less so. 
    Car Insurance - 1.8% - I have a '09 Camry that is completely paid off.
    Phone - $0 -  My mom pays for my phone but I take care of all the streaming services so it's the same price. 
    Gym Membership - 0.8%
    Netflix - 0.4%
    Hulu - 0.4%
Variable Income - 10.3% 
    Food - 7.7% - I usually don't spent this much but like to have extra just in case. 
    Gas - 2.6% - I live like 5 - 10 minutes for work so it's usually less than this. 
Savings - 54.4%
    Travel - 10.24% - My summer trips are a priority that I like to save for.
    Car - 2.5% - I like to save for a future car that I don't know when I'll get it but I'll want to pay cash. 
    House - 30.73% - Always trying to save for my next rental or personal property.
    Savings - 10.88% - I am not paid in the summer so I need to save extra but also to max out my roth ira.
 Fun Money - 7.7% - As I mentioned early this isn't a lot but I make an extra $580 a month through this one side hustle. ​

I bought the entire way down and actually lucked out by making my largest purchase at the very bottom which was 34.97% cheaper than the price 5 weeks earlier. My average purchase was 24.19% lower than what the peak was back in February and it still isn't back to that peak although it is getting close. ​

I wasn't able to get this at quite the discount I was for VTSAX but I'll still take an average of 15.95% off.

These kinds of discounts made me want to buy more in my Robinhood account that I had stopped using. ​

The 1% rule is making sure your rental property will get 1% of the purchase price in monthly rent. This helps to quickly analyze whether a deal will be "good" or not. This will help to ensure that you have enough cash coming in to not lose the property if things start to go wrong. 

This rule isn't the end all be all of investing as buying homes in California, New York City, or the Bay Area may not make sense and people are still doing that. It should be used as a quick filtering tool to help decide whether you want to analysis a property further and I'll be working on a post to determine when is the right and wrong time to use it. ​

If you are looking for more material on ways to begin real estate investing or analyzing a deal here are some books I recommend. ​

Home Depot offers part-time hourly employees up to $1,500 per year, full-time hourly employees up to $3,000 per year, and salaried employees up to $5,000 per year. Half of their reimbursement goes toward books and course fees, and the other half covers tuition-related fees.

Approved courses can help employees working toward an Associate's, Bachelor's, Master's, Doctoral, or Technical degree. ​

BANK OF AMERICA offers employees who have been employed for six months and work a minimum of 20 hours a week up to $5,250 per calendar year for both undergraduate and graduate programs. They do have stipulations to how relevant the course is to your field. ​

After a year of work Amazon’s Career Choice program will pre-pay up to 95% of your tuition and fees if you earn a degree or certificate in an in-demand occupation. This would be things like nursing, aircraft mechanics, and computer-aided design - It doesn’t even have to be Amazon related!

The classes are offered on site at Amazon to make your transition into your next job easier. They’ll also reimburse you for up to $12,000 of all your tuition, textbooks, and fees for up to four years. ​

Glassdoor says FedEx offers part-time employees up to $2,500 annually and full-time employees up to $5,000. FedEx’s tuition assistance program must be job related and in preparation for career advancement opportunities at FedEx. ​

Listed above are some EXCELLENT options that I wish were around, or I knew about, when I was in college. I would have been able to not only earn money but also got some tuition help as well. If you combined this with looking for scholarships you will be in a good situation! ​

3. Visit Your Guidance Counselor Or Financial Aid Office
If you are still in High School stop by and talk to your guidance counselor or visit your college’s financial aid office. These are professionals who know grants and scholarships inside and out. They might know about local scholarships and grants that might aren't listed on larger online databases and have less competition.

Counselors are typically the first to be notified when new scholarships and grants are available. They might also offer to help guide you through the application process, proofread any essays, and help you submit every piece of required information.

4. Talk To Your Employer
If you’re an adult and want to go back to school there’s a chance your employer offers tuition reimbursement. This is actually how my brother got his Master of Business Administration (MBA). Talk to your company’s Human Resources department to learn if there is a program like this and if you’re eligible.

If there is a program make sure to get the details upfront like what courses are eligible. Some companies only offer tuition reimbursement for classes or programs directly related to your current role, while others have no limitations on eligible courses.

You'll want to figure out how they provide reimbursement also, do they pay up front, or will you have to pay first and then get reimbursed?

You can also ask your HR department if they offer any employer-sponsored scholarships for children of employees.
​

1. Zinch is a resource provided by Chegg and since it's one of the newest to the scholarship game it has the most appealing platform. The service is free and has provided more than 25,000 different scholarships worth more than $1 billion. Once you create your account you can browse for scholarships that are relevant to you. They allow you to use your zip code or cumulative GPA in high school to find scholarships that are a fit and let you review deadlines and submission requirements. 

2. CollegeScholarships.org allows you to search through over 23,000 scholarships and grants by specific categories that you may qualify for.

3. Scholarships.com has more than 3.7 million scholarships with a total value of more than $19 billion in their database. The site is free and easy to use and once you've become a member you can choose which scholarships you are most interested in. They update things every few months so you can always check back! 

4. FastWeb.com is another free resource and provides access to more than 1.5 million in scholarships and a total of $3.4 billion.  You can browse scholarships based on amount, type, or requirements before submitting an entry. They also boast about not selling or distributing your personal and private information to another third-party without your permission which is nice I guess.. 

Their data bases are updated every 24 hours which means they are the most updated scholarship search engine. With your account you can receive emails whenever a new scholarship that meets your criteria is available.  

5. FinAid.org is one of the most well-known resources for information about scholarships and financial aid. They don't have a live search for scholarships like the other sites but they will provide authenticity of scholarships before submitting your personal information. They also provide insight into potential scholarship scams and tax liabilities you may face with different scholarships. 
​
6. College Board is one of the first educational-based organizations and today has turned into a massive database of scholarships worth more than $3 billion. New scholarships are added annually but they make updates or changes on a monthly basis. They also offer a book version if you are looking for a paper copy!

7. ScholarshipMonkey.com is a free online database where you can compare more than 4,000 scholarships and see how they've given $3 billion worth of scholarships since its launch. You'll want to opt-out of sharing your information and personal data by requesting your information be stored privately by sending a handwritten or typed letter. 

8. SallieMae is not just for loans anymore as they have become a resource for people looking to find scholarships through Scholarship Search by SallieMae. They have shared more than $18 billion worth in scholarships since they started providing resources and opportunities. The site allows you to find ideal scholarships based on your field of study, areas of interest, or the type of college or university you have in mind.

Once you become a member you'll get access to the scholarship searching tool, college-planning calculator tool, and a letter analyzer to look over what you'll be sending to colleges and universities you might go to. 

9. The U.S. Department of Labor has a free scholarship search tool that has more than 7,500 scholarships, grants, and other financial awards.

​This isn't really a website but MyScholly is an app that is helpful also!

Luckily all these services are free which means if you are having to pay to search for scholarships it may be a scam or better options are out there. Applying for scholarships can be daunting and time consuming but coming from someone who thought I didn't want to spend the time I wish I had! ​

The general gist is to try and be smart before going to college by doing the best you can in high school. Get the best grade point average (GPA) and SAT/ACT scores you can. Try and get as many college credits as cheap as you can. While in college look for ways to earn "free" money and graduate as fast as possible. If you have the time start a side hustle. After college look for employers or programs to help with loan forgiveness. 

The moment I paid off my students loan was very anti-climatic as the lender didn't see it as quite the celebration I did but it was a great moment for me! ​

I started the process, as with most things, by doing a big overview of companies. I started looking at reviews online, both the positive and negative. If the negative reviews were tenants complaining about the property manager being strict on rent collection or enforcing rules that was actually a positive review for me. Because, no one will care about your property as much as you do but you want to make sure your investment is safe. 

​There are horror stories of property managers that rip people off, take security deposits, charge extra for repairs so I wanted someone I trusted. I first looked to see if they were licensed with the National Association of Residential Property Managers (NARPM). This is an added certificate that made me more comfortable with their education, ethics, and continued desire for improvement. I then looked if they had any association with the real estate investing resource BiggerPockets.com.  This might let me see how they interact with people or information they know and are sharing. Not a requirement but just something I checked. ​

Below are the questions I used in my first initial 30 - 45 minute conversation with the prospective property managers. This is something they expect as I often asked one question and got answers to three different questions. They also sent their working agreement which you should read what you are agreeing to but will also answer several questions. ​

23. How do you handle tenant calls for repairs? Do you try to solve the problem before sending out a repair person?
I’ve found that often the problem can be handled by asking a few questions and the tenant doing a few easy tasks. This can end up saving a lot on unnecessary repair expenses. Like, if there is no power just push the GFCI outlet or if the dryer is broken clean the lint trap, both real situations I dealt with. 

You should ask your property manager to send over a picture of the damage, how they believe it happened, how they discovered it,  and an email for who should pay for pay it  and why and what in lease or landlord case law justifies it?

24. Do you establish a threshold dollar amount on repairs above which you always call the owner? If so, what is that dollar amount?
This is common and typically will be anything from $200 to $400. This why  they can go ahead and get things taken care of without reaching out. They should have a portal where you can log in to see what happened if you have any further questions. 

25. Do you mark-up maintenance and repairs?
You need to make sure that a prospective property management company doesn’t make a profit any time they do maintenance. If they are willing to charge you for maintenance then your profits could greatly diminish.

26. Who do you use for repairs? Electrical, plumbing, appliances?
Do they have a handyman that they use for most repairs or do they use outside vendors? If they have a skilled handyman you may get quality work for less.

27. What is your philosophy on repairs and replacement?
Do they try to find the least expensive solution since this is a rental, or do they prefer a value solution so the repair or replacement will last? Different owners and property managers have different approaches. You want to find a property manager that shares your same philosophy. ​

Things were slowly building up and then it happened. A tenant of mine locked herself out and I had to drive 20 minutes to unlock her door and drive back. As I was driving there it finally hit me that my hour of time was worth more to me.
​
I finally reached out to see what it would cost or if I liked any of the companies I researched last year. I was prepared to negotiate their 10% management fee to 7.5% since I had 4 units. But there was no need!  They offered to manage it at $50 a door which is 5% of my total monthly rental income. The leasing fee, depending on the unit, was either going to be around 50% or 33% of the first months rental income. It was waaayyy cheaper than I thought.  This was something I could get on board with, but, I'm a bootstrapper - I still debated whether to do it. ​

The more I thought about it when I was contracting in the hospitals I was lucky enough to be able to make $49 an hour. Someone put an hourly rate on my time and that was it. Hiring a property manager for $50 a door made the math simple.  I knew I spent close to, or more than, 4 hours a month dealing with issues. IT WAS TIME! 

Hidden reason for wanting to hire a property manager -  The past two years were the first time I owed when it was tax time. I'm hoping this will increase my expenses which will reduce my taxable income. Not managing the property while hopefully paying less in taxes and still benefitting from appreciation, depreciation write offs, and loan pay down.  That all sounds good to me! Obviously, consult a tax expert. ​