Financial Freedom Mentors

Like the majority of people, I didn’t get much of a financial education growing up. Not from my parents, not from school, not from anyone. My parents never talked about money when we were kids, at least not around us. As a kid you don’t know middle-class or upper-class, you primarily just think rich or poor. I knew we weren’t poor, we always lived in a decent house in decent neighborhoods, we had decent cars and we always had food on the table. I also knew we weren’t rich because “We don’t have the money” was a frequent response in our house. It didn’t matter if we were asking about going out to dinner, getting a new toy or going on vacation. My dad left for work long before we got up for school, drove an hour plus each way, and was usually home by 6:30 just in time for dinner, but we still never had extra money.

​Jump ahead a few years and I’d gotten married, been in a career for a few years and getting by on the poor financial education I had, we found ourselves severely in debt with no hope in sight of getting out. Our bank account was overdrawn most of the month, with the exception of the first few days after we got paid.

​I had a brother-in-law who was living the lifestyle I wanted, golfing, traveling, and not having to go to a J.O.B. He was heavily involved in real estate and I tried unsuccessfully over and over to get him to teach me about real estate investing. I finally decided that since he was unwilling to help that I was going to have to take it upon myself to learn if I wanted to achieve my financial goals. I listened to podcasts, read books like crazy and got a second job to help me get started as quickly as possible. Even though my parents weren’t financially savvy themselves, I talked with them a lot about what I was learning. Luckily they trusted me and loaned me a little money and I bought my first rental property. I rehabbed it, rented it out and ended up living in it with a roommate for over a year after my wife and I were separated. After two years, and a divorce, I sold the house, moved back to California, paid my parents back and paid off all of my credit card debts.

​That feeling of being debt-free was the best feeling I had ever felt, and I never wanted that to change. I could finally pay my bills on-time and without my bank account going negative. I could finally go out and have dinner with friends without having to buy the cheapest thing on the menu.

After helping a number of friends and family get their financial houses in order and continuing our financial freedom journey, I realized this is my passion. I want whoever is in debt to feel that relief of stress that comes with getting out of debt. I want everyone to experience the feeling of being in control of their financial lives, and I want everyone to live their definition of financial freedom. Financial Freedom Mentors™ is my avenue to coach, guide and encourage others.