Speaker 1: 0:00

So I know we all did this when we were younger. We would just, you know, dream about, you know, being rich and what that would look like to be, you know, have that financial freedom and not live like paycheck to paycheck and, you know, be able to buy all the fancy things. And you know, I was reflecting on it recently and my thoughts on how I view what wealth looks like is definitely different than when I was younger. So recently I was in one of my mastermind groups that I'm in for real estate investing and this week we were kind of reflecting on how our mindset has changed on what we want to accomplish with real estate investing, because our views on financial freedom and wealth has changed. Most of us, when we started this journey, we were thinking like we wanted to be super rich and have like properties and accumulate wealth, and now that has changed a little bit. And so I want to kind of reflect on it and kind of, you know, take you through like the journey of when I wanted all these things and how it has changed now and what my thoughts are now and maybe yours, you know, mindset has changed as well, and I want to redefine what financial freedom looks like, because I feel like a lot of first gens and you know other Hispanic Latinos in our community, we kind of reach for the sky with a lot of things because we are, have a lot of ambition, we have this high drive because we have to prove ourselves and all that, and that definitely was me, because we have to prove ourselves and all that and that definitely was me. I fell into that trap of like, um, really wanting to do the most and the best and you know, you know, go after the degree, go after the high paying job and all that stuff. And now that you know I'm, you know, financially stable and on this financial freedom journey, a lot of that has changed.

Speaker 1: 2:27

And it's crazy because I remember when I was little that we would take these family drives for whatever reason Maybe we went out to eat or something, and then afterwards sometimes we end up driving around. My parents would take me and my sister out on these drives and we'd go to, like, the rich area, the rich neighborhoods, and you know we would see all these casotas, these big giant houses and you know these fancy cars and, like people, you know women walking around with their Louis Vuitton purses and stuff and I, like, I think about it, and I at that age was like this is what being rich looks like, this is what it feels like, and, um, I, when I grew up, I'm going to be like them and get my casota and and get my car. And it's funny because, like, one of the cars that you know uh drew me in was a lexus and um, it was the suv. Um, I can't think of like the model number right now, but to me at that age I was probably like I don't know, like eight or nine and probably some, sometimes maybe maybe middle school age, I guess um, but like that car really stood out to me. It looked just so sleek and so fancy to me and I was like yo, like when I get older and I start making money and everything, like me, voy a comprar ese carro, I'm gonna buy that car. And you know, side know, side, note the funny thing I also would promise my dad that I was going to buy him a Corvette. And you know, sometimes he still reminds me of that that I haven't bought him his Corvette. I mean jokingly, of course, but I just thought that was something that funny that I would say when I was younger. But, but I did end up doing that.

Speaker 1: 4:26

Um, in 2019, I actually did end up buying, you know, my first Lexus and um, of course, thankfully, at that time I was a little bit uh it's still early in my personal finance journey but I had learned enough to uh no, not to buy my Lexus brand new. So I, I bought a pre-owned Lexus and it was beautiful. It was white, it had red leather seats, like dark tinted windows. It was. It was nice, like I liked it. I thought it was fancy, I liked it, I thought it was fancy, it was like bougie and whatever.

Speaker 1: 5:08

And you know, I bought that car for myself in 2019. It was a pre-graduation present because, you know, I was technically supposed to graduate in December, but the two classes that I needed were pushed to spring, so then I had to wait to springtime, so I ended up graduating in May. But me compre el carro, right, I saw it. I've been, I was on the lookout for it. I saw it on the website and I was like, yo, I gotta go get this car. This is what I want, it's my graduation present. And also, I got a promotion at that time.

Speaker 1: 5:42

I became an officer and well, the following when I graduated, so it was like my graduation and my promotion present, and at that time I actually I also bought myself a Louis Vuitton purse which, just like I think I only use it like maybe five times and then it just sat in the closet collecting dust because then I was scared to like mess it up because it was so fancy and whatever, so like that was a waste of money. Um, but then in 2021 I did buy La Casota, right, like the big house that, when I was little, seemed like huge to me and still is right. And I bought that house in 2021 and like I thought I had made it and I was like, oh my god, I'm on track. I got my like the big house, I got my my nice car and, you know, the purse and I'm buying these things. And I did go on a little like spree of buying random bougie things like Gucci, sneakers and whatever. And I was like, oh god, like I reflect on that back and I was like you know what, whatever I had fun. I had the money. I didn't have no responsibilities at that time. So, whatever I had, you know fun with my money and I have some of those things still.

Speaker 1: 7:09

Uh, I sold that Louis Vuitton purse, like last year, uh, cause I got tired of it just collecting dust. I was like you know what, let me let somebody else enjoy it. And, um, the car though, I ended up paying it off, um, but this is where, um, my mindset kind of started to shift and I started seeing, uh, the car, like I still love that car. Like you know, I still miss it sometimes, but I went from, you know, having the big house and the fancy car and the bougie freaking purse to now, like, I sold that house. I'm renting now a two-bedroom apartment and I'm driving around a beat-up 2010 Honda Civic que no tiene AC, doesn't have AC but I feel wealthier and more on track than when I had the other three things, and that is because I ended up selling the Lexus.

Speaker 1: 8:14

I already mentioned that I sold the purse, you know, but I also sold the Lexus because we had three cars. We had bought the Honda Civic for my husband because he has a truck and at that time, gas prices over here in California were like, like basically six dollars, so it was killing him when he had to drive about an hour, uh, to work and back and it was just eating up like our budget, and so we spent like twelve hundred dollars for this little car to get shipped out to California from Texas, and it's. That was in 2021, I believe, and it's been. It's dude, it's a ride and die type of car like it. It works, it's great on. I spent like 40 bucks on it, or 45 bucks a week on it, probably, and it's just. It's just reliable car, and so I took it over, because I ended up deciding that, um, I wanted to buy some land and, um, I needed to get the down payment for for it. So, so I said bye to my Lexus, I sold that car and I used that money for a down payment for 10 acres of land. I feel like, although I missed the car, it was a better financial decision for me, because now I secured the land that I want to be able to build my home.

Speaker 1: 9:51

Which brings me to the second thing, which is that I sold my house and I had a lot of equity in it, but I did end up using some of the equity to fund a surrogacy journey and which resulted with my, my daughter, um, so I had a second mortgage on it and then, of course, the insurance was going up, property taxes were going up and it was just getting like pretty expensive to just have this house and it was a four bedroom home and it was just me, my husband, and we didn't have my daughter at that time. Well, most of the time, um, but like I was like we're not using these other rooms and although I was, uh renting out one of the rooms to one of my friends, it's just like I don't want to keep this house. Um, we need to kind of downgrade because we need to start planning the build for the other home, because we moved back to Texas in another year and so we wanted to just really cut back and get rid of that second mortgage and just really start focusing on the future. And so we sold the house last month, in August, and um, still, you know, ended up with some extra cash on top of paying off the, the, the second mortgage that we took out. And you know, it's all Gucci now. And so now the, the, the funds that I do have, I do plan to put them on, uh, towards another rental property, you know, to continue building my rental property portfolio.

Speaker 1: 11:37

But, like I was saying earlier, the, my mindset has changed a little bit. The goal is still the same, you know building financial freedom, building multiple sources of income and building some generational wealth to leave behind for, you know, my, the kids, right, um, but like, for me now, with you know how much I actually need to be financially free has definitely changed because I no longer want, like a big giant house, like I don't want to build a big giant house on um my property, on my land because, like, realistically, I don't need that much uh space, um, especially, I think part of it has changed now that I downsized to a two bedroom is like I really only need like a kitchen, a nice size uh living room, and the beds I really don't care, because I don't spend time in bedrooms, I only use them to sleep. Um, but the priority is to have a nice big outdoor kitchen and lounge area outside, because I love being outside and I plan to homestead. So I just want to like plant some veggies and grow some food and raise some chickens and maybe some goats, I don't know. So, like, it's going to be very low cost and I do plan on, like you know, building my podcast studio, slash YouTube studio there, and so I'll be able to kind of rent, you know, from my, my business, can rent from myself and get some tax benefits from there, um, and possibly, like, put a, a, uh, maybe some type of rental property on there. So I'm looking into that too, to bring in some rental income as well and, uh, further, get, you know, take advantage of some tax benefits.

Speaker 1: 13:38

Uh, but I don't need that much money anymore. Like I don't, um need to be this multimillionaire like you know, super duper rich and everything like that. I want to have enough to sustain myself, to provide, you know, for my parents that are basically retirement age, you know, coming up on that age. So you know I need to help out with that and be able to travel, provide for the kids. And you know I do want to buy a home in Mexico. So, and that's it. Like you know, I don't need to be able to afford a yacht. I don't need to go buy a condo at the highest building and who knows where, some bougie ass area.

Speaker 1: 14:34

It's like I think a lot of us are going through this kind of reflection period and I see it a lot, at least on my side of TikTok and stuff of where people are just trying to pull back and just trying to not have that nine to five anymore and just be able to have enough financial freedom to enjoy life, provide for their kids and travel or whatever other hobbies you may have. And I wanted to bring this up because a lot of small time investors are just that they just want this financial freedom to do all those things but also probably bring down their own housing costs and stuff. And that's why I'm like here, you know, promoting real estate investing and I'm so passionate about it because, like, when you think of a real estate investor, you do think about these big time companies and these big time multimillionaires with a hundred plus properties, um, and it makes it like feel intimidating and less achievable and kind of like that's not for me, when it can be, because it could help you accomplish, you know, some goals, some of your dreams, and help you build that financial freedom. And I want to change what a real estate investor looks like, because it is, could be a small timer like me or possibly you, and I just want to say like that's okay, like you don't have to want to be rich or, like you know, rich, wanting to just be able to be financially stable. A little bit of financial freedom and things like that is doable and it's okay, and I just wanted to kind of like, change a little bit of the mindset. And so I want to show that, you know, having smaller, uh, goals in regards to financial freedom and wealth and rich, you know, um, it's okay. We don't have to, you know, shoot for the moon or the stars or whatever we can, you know, have it a little bit simpler if you want to live a simpler life, but, you know, not have to worry about money, um, you know, real estate investing can help you do that as well.

Speaker 1: 17:15

So, and so I'm curious to know what does financial freedom look like to you? What does being rich, um, look like to you? Um, and has your views changed from, you know, when you first started your journey to now? And if you want to be super rich, that's super cool too. I'm not saying don't? You know, shoot for that. And don't forget, if you do want to learn about rental property investing so you could build multiple sources of income and build financial freedom. I do have a free download, a free ebook down below on how to buy your first rental property. Make sure you check that out and I will see you in the next one. Hasta luego, bye.