The last ten days have been very interesting. I continue to wake up early and drive around prior to starting my work-from-home day. On my drives I’ve been getting quality education from podcasts. This week I heard Jeff Booth interviewed on two different podcasts (The Investors Podcast and The Pomp Podcast) and he really impressed me; I even bought his book, The Price of Tomorrow, which discusses the underlying deflationary effect that technology has on society. I hope to write an update after I read some of the book but let’s get to the 10-day refresh:
10-day BS Refresh
Analysis Intelligence
The Opening NW in the 4/30/2020 column is the closing NW from the 4/20/2020 column.
Fortunately my properties didn’t go down in value quite as much as I thought; housing values may go down after more of the COVID pain is felt and more numbers come in. Long term, with the money printing, one would expect for the asset prices to go up but I would have thought in the near term that some would be trying to liquidate, at fire sale prices.
The cells in the white are the actual numbers compared to my projections at the beginning of the ten-day period. I spent a little more than I thought the last ten days. I bought Jeff Booth’s book and I bought five 100-Day Goal Journals, which I’ve grown to love as a helpers for actuarial exams. I also put a bit more cash to work with Bitcoin purchases. I remain bullish on Bitcoin and think the May halving will reinforce the fixed supply of Bitcoin idea that can be contrasted with the world printing of fiat currencies.
My takeaways are as follows:
- Gold and Bitcoin have been going up driving the increase from currencies. As more money is printed and fear/uncertainty spreads through the economy people will flee this paper money, as it loses value
- Still haven’t received my one April rental check for $350
- Market volatility will likely persist and throw off my projections for the next couple of months with the stock projection
Crystal Ball
4/30/2020 I ended with a NW of $304,577. I inadvertently counted my 5/1 paycheck towards this 4/30 number; and so going to 5/10 I won’t collect another paycheck. I will be collecting the NC house rents and the Michigan rents hopefully. My property manager said about 30% percent of his 300+ rentals have expressed trouble paying for May, none of them being mine, but fingers crossed. I’m paying off a lot extra of mortgage on the Michigan properties as I still plan on having them all paid off by 12/1/2020.
Ideas for increasing NW
- Start Fired to FIRE
- My ebook, The Bet is Round, is for sale on Amazon. I personally don’t like ebooks though so I’ll be releasing the paperback soon. After conducting a survey amongst 50 Amazon Prime members I have decided to change the name of the book to “Make Better Bets”. I remembered from 4 Hour Workweek that Tim Ferris did surveying of his title prior to release and I should have done the same as well. The feedback I was getting was that “The Bet is Round” didn’t do a great job communicating what the book was about. I’ll put the results in the Notes below if you’re interested in the options.
- Look into refinancing some/all of the Michigan properties to pull cash out at these very low rates. Or should I stay with the plan and not refinance until I totally pay off the loan in December, and focus now on studying for my final actuarial exam? Paying an extra three grand to pay off principal has been challenging and I don’t want to leave myself spread too thin.
- I did look at two for sale by owners in Bay City. One was 1200 Marsac. This was a large home and had four bedrooms. It would need a lot of revamping and the price indicated this. They were asking $35,000 and my property manager said that place could fetch probably $850/month in rent. The owner allowed their children to live in it and they turned it into a party house. The other house is much smaller, only 900 square feet and officially a one bedroom. The upstairs wasn’t used and could potentially be turned into another bedroom but would need a closet and some new carpet. That house had been on the market awhile but appeared to be rent ready. One thing that house has going for it is that it’s been sitting for awhile. In the winter they were asking $34,990 and now they’re asking $29,990. I feel like I could get a slight COVID discount and have it rented for around $550/$600 a month. This house seems much less risky but still with a good return. I’m going to get more information as to the taxes and insurance on that house and will continue the analysis.
Notes:
- If you want the excel workbook that I use to help me track just message at jackallweil@gmail.com
