What are the Best Real Estate Books, Index Funds, and Mortgage Loans – Rapid FIRE Money Q&A

Transcript:

On this episode of the personal finance podcast. We're going to do something new, a rapid fire money. Q and a

what's up everybody. Welcome to the personal finance podcast. I'm your host, Andrew founder of master money. co and today on the personal finance podcast, we're going to be going through a rapid fire. Money Q and a, if you guys have any questions, make sure to hit us up on Instagram, Tik TOK, Twitter at master money co.

And if you want to get your question answered, join the master money newsletter and respond to any of those newsletters that come out every single week. And I will personally see that come through and you may get your question answered on the show. And if you're getting value out of this show, follow us on your favorite podcast player and consider leaving a five star rating and review on Apple podcast, Spotify, or whatever your favorite podcast player is now today, we're going to be diving into 12 of your questions.

So I'm going to run through these. Real quick. And then we're going to dive into each one of them. And the goal for these rapid fire money Q and a, as we may do these more frequently is to try to answer the question in two minutes or less. And so I want to answer a high volume of questions. That may be something that we can answer quickly.

Sometimes they actually require a longer answer. And so what we're going to do is try to answer each of these questions in two minutes or less so that you can get a bunch of great content. All in one episode. So that's the entire goal. You guys love these Q and a episodes, by the way, these are the most requested episodes, which is why for the most part, we do them weekly.

And so as we start to progress with some of these, we wanted to try, uh, the rapid fire format as well, and we'll maybe do this monthly or quarterly. We'll figure it out if you guys like this. So let me know if you like this format, uh, and keep me posted and we will definitely continue to do this. And so the questions that we're going to go through today, favorite place to set up a Roth IRA favorite real estate investing books.

Why the 6 percent interest rate is the threshold for a high interest debt? Where to park money if you're going to buy a house? Some of the top index funds and which ones are my favorite? Are you supposed to move money in a target date retirement fund? When do you pay capital gains in a taxable brokerage account?

How to invest if you're self employed? What do you need to have ready to buy your first rental property? What cyber security classes would I recommend? Some questions on the traditional IRA versus the Roth IRA. And then some questions on mortgage loans as well. So we're going to dive into all of these questions.

We've got topics all over the place from personal finance to real estate investing, to investing in index funds, to everything in between. So without further ado, Let's get into it. All right. So question number one is what is your favorite place to set up a Roth IRA? So this is a very simple answer for me.

There are only really two places that I'm super interested in setting up a Roth IRA. Number one is Vanguard and Vanguard is always going to be my default answer for most things, but. When it comes to, Hey, where should I start a Roth IRA? Where should I start my 401k or a traditional IRA? Typically it's going to be either Vanguard or Fidelity and Vanguard and Fidelity.

The reason behind these two is because they have some of the best index funds that are out there. They have some of the lowest cost index funds that are out there. They've been around for a very long time. And those are the two places that the majority of my brokerage accounts and or retirement accounts are now I have a 401k in one of the location, but Every other investment account that I have is in either Vanguard or Fidelity.

Love having both of them. In fact, my first investment account that I ever opened at 15 years old was at Fidelity and Vanguard was the first place I opened my Roth IRA. And so between the two of them, I have a fond long term history with both of them. I'm not associated with either one of them. I just really like both options and they are the places that I've had my money the longest.

But in reality, both of them, I think. By far have some of the best funds that are out there. Question number two. What are some of your favorite real estate investing books? So this is a fantastic question. And books were the foundation for me to really learn as much as I possibly could about real estate.

Now, I say this a lot in the podcast. I think I read Too much at the beginning, meaning that I had a little bit of analysis paralysis when I started to invest in real estate. And so when I went through this process, I went through tons and tons of books. In fact, I read over 50 real estate books in one year alone, and sometimes you just got to take action on some of this stuff as well.

So I would encourage you to read, um, maybe five to 10 books and then get started is kind of the thought process that I would have. So I'm gonna give you some of my thoughts. favorite ones that you can start with that will really help you. And some of these are tactical. Um, and some of these are books that I think are just really helpful with mindset.

So the first one is a mindset book and it is rich dad, poor dad. A lot of people have read rich dad, poor dad. If you have not, uh, it is definitely one of the best books that are out there for real estate investors. When it comes to mindset, it teaches you the difference between, you know, why assets are so important, but Also, it just changes your mindset on how you think about literally every single business in life.

Um, it's not only a real estate investing book, but it's also a business book. And Robert Kiyosaki is the author. Robert also has another book called the Cashflow Quadrant, which isn't talked about as much, but I actually, I've read it. Almost like that book more than Rich Dad Poor Dad as a side note. Now, Robert, as of late, has made some wild predictions.

And I think a lot of the stuff he says now is I wouldn't agree with. But in Rich Dad Poor Dad and the Cashflow Quadrant, those are two great books that I think are absolutely fantastic. Now, another one, Is the millionaire real estate investor, and this is actually written by Gary Keller and Jay Papp is on, and this book is a fantastic book that interviews.

It's similar to the millionaire next door, but it interviews a bunch of millionaire real estate investors who started to buy rental properties and what they did, and it goes through the exact same process. I think that's a great beginner book. One of the, one of the first books you should read building wealth, one house at a time by John shop.

So if you're interested in single family homes and investing in single family homes, this is one of the greatest books I've ever read. I had the chance to meet John at some real estate meetups and he is awesome. exactly how he sounds in the book. He's an awesome guy in another underrated book, I think out there for real estate investing that I think most people should read building wealth one house at a time.

I think that system is also a great system for most people who want to build a retirement portfolio with the real estate investments, not just get super, super rich. And so that's another great one. The book 36 things you need to know about cash flow is a great tactical book that you need to utilize in order to understand how to run your numbers.

So if you didn't know already, by the way, we have a real estate calculator that you can use. I think it's 17 bucks or something like that. Uh, so if you're ever interested in that to run your numbers for real estate investing, we have that available that you can buy, but 36 things you need to know about cash flow.

A lot of those metrics in that book. Uh, we also utilize in the Calculator. So that book kind of got me into learning how to run the numbers on real estate properties and what everything means like cap rate and net operating income and diving even deeper into some of the other ones as well. And so that is a fantastic book for you to understand some of the financial side.

And I think that's really, really helpful. Uh, one author I want to recommend, which is pretty much all of his books, but, uh, Brandon Turner, who was just on this show. Now, you know, he has over a billion dollars in real estate, but Brandon Turner started writing books when he was, you know, had like 20 units.

And if you go back to some of hers. Early books with bigger pockets. All of his books are fantastic. Now he has one that he wrote with his wife on managing rental properties that I used as like my Bible for my first couple of rental properties, and it has great systems in there, but he has a ton of other ones as well that are really, really good.

So all of his books, I would highly recommend. And the last one is my friend, um, coach Carson, who has been on this show as well. And he has a book called the small and mighty real estate investor. And this is also a great one for people out there who want a smaller portfolio. Maybe you want a portfolio of, you know, five to 15 properties, and you're trying to buy real estate so that you can become financially independent.

Well, this is a great book for that. And honestly, he lays out the case. And it was one of my favorite books. Real estate books that have been written the last five years. Uh, he lays out the case why you should be a small and mighty real estate investor instead of just building this huge portfolio. So that is another real estate investing book that I would definitely consider as well.

Question number three. Why is the 6 percent interest rate the threshold for high interest debt? Alright, so this is a very good question and the reason why we stop at 6 percent and this is something that I came up with in my own finances and why I fully believe in this because a 6 percent interest rate is the line at which you can either make more money investing your dollars if you had low interest debt and or less money if you had high interest debt.

What do I mean by that? So on average, The stock market, most people will say the stock market makes between 7 to 10 percent depending on how you're investing your money. If you have a portfolio like a 70 30 portfolio, maybe you're getting closer to that 7 percent range. If you are fully invested in the S and P 500, you may be getting closer to that 10 percent range historically.

And so because of that, One thing that I do when I run retirement simulations, like if you've ever talked to me in like our master money coaching that we do that we don't do very often. Uh, but if you ever talked to me in that situation, you know, I run the numbers on retirement numbers at a 7 percent rate to be conservative.

And the reason why I do that is because I think it's a very conservative way to approach future projections of the market and where you're going to land. So if you have debt, That is anywhere above a 6 percent interest rate. You are now encroaching into that 7 percent interest rate on where you most likely will land.

And you'll be in the range of what the rate of return would be in the market. So instead, I would rather you take those dollars outside of your mortgage. I would rather you take those dollars and pay down that high interest debt because you cannot make more money investing those dollars. And anywhere else you put that money would be a bad use of that money.

Outside of obviously paying your bills and all that other stuff, but anywhere else that you would put those dollars would be a bad use of your money. Whereas if it's a below a 6 percent interest rate, then your money is most likely better suited being invested in the market. If the debt does not bother you.

Now, if the debt bothers you, no matter what the interest rate is, if it gives you stress or anxiety or anything else, then it needs to be paid off. But if the debt does not bother you, then below that 6 percent interest rate, I am comfortable with. investing those dollars instead of utilizing it for that debt.

And so hopefully I did not overcomplicate that explanation, but anything above a 6 percent interest rate, it would most likely not outperform the stock market. Anything under a 6 percent interest rate would most likely be better suited invested because the stock market returns 7 to 10%. And so that's where we come up with that number and why we have that fine line of that 6 percent high interest debt.

Question four, I want to upgrade my house in six years. Where do I park the money? Great question. Simple answer. If you have something like a house that you're going to be buying with it, usually it's within the next five years, we tell you to do this, but six years is right on the line. And because it's a big ticket, I don't like a house high yield savings account.

High yield savings account assures that your money will be there at the time you are ready to go buy a house. So let's say, for example, you invested the money instead, if you invested the money instead of keeping in a high yield savings account and the market took a dip right before you're about to buy a house, all of a sudden you can't buy that house and you cannot achieve your financial goal that you've been spending six years trying to save and build up.

So instead, Keeping it safe in something like a high yield savings account is going to allow you to make sure the money is there. And right now, interest rates are fine in terms of keeping them in a high yield savings account. Your money is actually going to get a little growth going on in there as well.

And so I have no issues keeping cash in a high yield savings account right now. Um, but that's where I would keep it is in a high yield savings account. I would not overcomplicate it. You could put it in a bond, you could put it in a CD if you want to as well, cause you have plenty of time. But I would not invest it in the market or anything like that because of the timeline.

Now, if you had 15 years, that'd be a different story, but because there's only six years, I would keep it in a high yield savings account. Question five, V O O V T I S C H D or a combo of all three in your twenties. Another great question. So if you have not seen our YouTube channel yet, androgen, Cola, YouTube channel on YouTube.

We actually break down. We have individual videos of all three of these funds. If you really want to see a deep dive, I actually dive deep into each and every single one. But I'll give you one thing at the top here. My portfolios have V. O. O. My wife's portfolio has V. T. I. Meaning like her Roth IRA, stuff like that.

Everything else is pretty much combined and neither of us own S. C. H. D. And I broke down SCHD and kind of went through the, some of those reasons why, but I know a lot of people love SCHD. And so if dividends are a big part of what you want to do, then maybe it would be an option for you to consider, but it hasn't been around long enough for me to be interested in going through and owning SCHD long term, I'd rather own VOO or VTI.

Now owning both of them has a lot of overlap, and so you really don't need to own both of them. But for me personally, some of the portfolios just kind of work out that way. One of the two would be my anchor point in that portfolio and be the majority of that portfolio as well. Question six, are you supposed to move money from one target date retirement fund to another as you get older?

Great question. And this is one where I'm going to kind of explain how target date retirement funds work first so that you can get a initial understanding and then we'll kind of dive into should you move it. So typically how they work is that They have this initial investment that you put in, so you select a target date fund based on the year closest to when you plan to retire is what most people do.

Now, I say you look at what the asset allocation is inside that target date retirement fund, meaning what percentage of bonds versus what percentage of stocks they have and whatever fits your risk tolerance is how you buy that at first. Okay, then they have the asset allocation, which just is the mix of stocks and bonds that they have in there.

And then they have what is called a glide path. Now the glide path is something that follows whatever that target date is. So the target date is going to say like, you know, 2030 Vanguard target date retirement fund. So the glide path is following that date. And as that date approaches, the fund automatically adjusts its asset allocation, the mix of stocks and bonds to become more conservative.

And the way they do that is they gradually increase the proportion of bonds inside that portfolio. And so target date retirement funds naturally get more conservative as time goes on. So if you are someone who wants to follow that glide path, you can see the glide path, by the way, when you look at the target date retirement fund, if you're someone who is interested in having a more conservative portfolio, as time goes on, you do not have to sell your target date retirement fund ever.

You can just buy it, set it and forget it and leave it there. That's the beautiful thing about it. Now I like target date index funds. Target date index retirement funds are the ones that I like because they have lower costs. Uh, that's just a quick side note, but you don't have to sell it ever if you're just following that glide path.

Now, I think the returns on target date retirement funds, if you just leave it in there are suboptimal. And the reason for that is because it gets more conservative over time. And the more conservative your portfolio gets, the lower your returns are going to be. That's just the nature of the beast. But at the same time, you can also sell and continue to buy more target date retirement funds.

at a later retirement date. So say, for example, you plan on retiring in 2035. Okay. And every five years or so, the new target date retirement fund is going to come in. So there's the 2060, there's a 2065. And you really just want to keep it at a 90 percent stock 10 percent bond portfolio. Well, you can look at the 2065 portfolio and say, Hey, I.

I like that asset allocation more. I'm going to move my money into that asset allocation every five years or so, so that my portfolio does not get more conservative. You can absolutely do that. And, or if you want to be more conservative than your retirement date, you can also move it to a different date.

It doesn't have to be when you retire is when you select that target date retirement fund. So that'd be the time to move it is if you're going to move it from one fund to another. It needs to be for a reason based on asset allocation. and your risk tolerance. It does not need to be for a reason. Um, any other reason outside of that really.

So if you want to follow your glide path of your retirement year, you can that you selected and or you can leave it as is and not worry as much about it. So that's how target date retirement funds work. They naturally get more conservative. Over time. Let's jump to a break and then we'll be right back.

Question seven. I am new to taxable brokerage accounts. When do you pay capital gains? Great question. So on this, when you pay capital gains on a taxable brokerage account, I encourage you to listen to our episode where we break down taxable brokerage accounts and why they are great. They're super flexible.

There's a ton of great reasons to own them, but you pay taxes when you sell that investment. And so there's realized gains and there's unrealized gains. So unrealized gains are what you kind of see On paper, when you look inside of your taxable brokerage account, maybe you open up your fidelity or Vanguard app, or you open up whatever else you use and you see, Hey, Apple just made me 50 today.

Well, that's an unrealized game because you haven't sold that yet. Whereas a realized game is when you sell an investment for profit, that game becomes realized. And that's when it becomes subject to capital gains tax. Now, there are two types of capital gains tax that you need to understand. There's short term capital gains tax.

So if you sell a stock and have not owned it for an entire year, you're going to pay more in taxes than you would if you sell a stock and you've owned it for a year or longer, because short term capital gains tax is higher than longterm capital gains tax. So. What you want to do is when you buy an investment, you always want to make sure that you are going to hold that investment for a longer period of time.

Warren Buffett always says it best. I quote this all the time. If you're not willing to own a stock for 10 years, do not even own it for 10 minutes. And so that's where you want to own these. Stocks for long term because you pay significantly less in taxes. It could take away a significant portion of your gain in taxes up to 37 percent if you have short term capital gains.

And so instead you can have long term capital gains, which depending on how much you make, if you make less than 400, 000 a year. But more than 40. I think it's 42, 000. If you make more than 42 but less than 400, 000 per year, then you're gonna pay 15 percent in capital gains tax, which is not bad at all.

It's lower than your income tax and everything else. So that's exactly how it works is when you sell that at the time of sale is when you sell that and you'll report the gains when you file your tax return, and that's when you pay it. So it's not like the moment you sell it, then boom, There's a tax bill that comes in the mail.

It's you'll report those gains when you file your annual tax return. Now, if you're making a lot of money on these, uh, you may have to pay estimated taxes. The IRS always wants you to pay estimated taxes if you're making a ton of money. Uh, but most of us are not going to need to pay estimated taxes. Most people will pay it when it's time for their annual tax return.

And then you may also own capital gains tax on your dividends as well. So just make sure you note that. And so in your taxable account, You'll have things like qualified dividends and non qualified dividends. And I won't dive too deep in the weeds, but qualified dividends are taxed at a lower rate longterm than non qualified dividends.

So that's another one as well. But just to note, it's when you sell that investment is when you have those realized gains. So question eight is how do you invest if you're self employed? So for this one, uh, there's a bunch of ways you can invest. Obviously a taxable brokerage account is always in the cards.

A Roth IRA is always in the cards no matter what your employment status is. But if you're talking through something like how do I get a 401k, you have a couple of options. So I use what is called a solo 401k and the solo 401k allows me to have a 401k through my company. But if you have a bunch of employees.

within the company that you're utilizing the 401k through, then you can look at something like a SEP IRA. Uh, and the SEP IRA is a little more complicated, but that is also another way for you to be able to, uh, invest your dollars as you go through. I have actually have both. Uh, but right now I only focus on the solo 401k.

Question nine is what do you need to have ready to buy your first rental property? Number one is you need to know how to run the numbers. And like I said at the top of the show, we have a rental property calculator that does all the work for you. It's 17 bucks or 19 bucks. Can't remember how much it is.

Um, but that'll show you how to run the numbers. We also have two episodes teaching you how to run the numbers that you can check out. Um, but number one is knowing how to run the numbers. Number two is you need to have a way to either finance or buy the property. So how are you going to finance that property?

Are you going to put a down payment and get a bank loan? Are you going to live in one unit and house hack it? And so you're going to get an FHA loan. Are you a veteran? Are you going to get a VA loan? And, or are you going to get private money? Are you going to get hard money and flip the property? It depends on how you want to do it, but which way are you going to finance the property is number two.

You need to know that and have that pre qualified and ready to go. And then number three is have your team in place. So your real estate agent, if you need one, your handy person, um, a contractor, and then if you need a property manager, you need those in place as well, if you need to fix up the property.

So a lot of people say you need to have all those things set and ready before you buy your property. Honestly, you can use stuff like Thumbtack or whatever else that is out there that helps you find some of these contractors. And I found like my main contractor now, uh, and my main, actually, my main home renovation, uh, team as well is all from Thumbtack.

I mean, I find people left and right on there, uh, but there's other, you know, I'm not associated with them, but there's other apps and platforms out there that honestly help you find good talent because they, they are incentivized to be good, uh, through some of those platforms. So I actually like those platforms a lot.

So those are the things that I would have in place first. And then obviously some knowledge you need to have some knowledge in place and understand what the heck you're doing. Um, because that is another thing. So reading books, talking to other real estate investors and going to real estate meetups is helpful, but just, you know, six months is plenty of time to learn.

And then you can get started. Question 10, what cyber security classes would you recommend that you have learned from? So the only class that I have ever taken is a great one. And the one that I highly recommend is called hack proof by Joshua sheets. So Joshua sheets. Is the host of radical personal finance, which is a really underrated.

I think he has a really big audience, but I think it's really underrated in terms of most people. I don't hear talk about it as much. Uh, I've learned a ton from Joshua, so I'm going to give him a shout out here. Uh, but he has a course called hack proof that literally teaches you about cyber security and how to protect yourself.

Uh, so that's a great one in the only one I've ever taken, but it's great. Question 11. Is the max contribution combined for a traditional IRA and a Roth IRA? So yes, the maximum contribution limit is combined for both the traditional and Roth IRAs, which means that the total number you can contribute to all your IRAs in a given year cannot exceed the set limit, regardless of how you split the contributions between traditional and Roth accounts.

So for example, in 2024, the max out for the Roth IRA and the traditional IRA 7, 000. And so say you're under the age of 50, you can choose to contribute 7, 000 entirely to a traditional IRA. You could choose to contribute 7, 000 to a Roth IRA, or you can split the contribution between the two. So 35 to traditional 35 to Roth or however else you want to do that.

However, the combined total across both those accounts cannot exceed the annual contribution limit for your age group. So you got to make sure that you are aware of that. And that's 7, 000. Hopefully what you're asking there and to answer your question. But yes, the max contribution is combined for both traditional and Roth.

Question 12. This is the last question. I actually kind of like this format. Just ripping through some of these questions. It's fun. So question 12. What is your mortgage loan preference? So I am kind of assuming here on what you're asking me. Um, so my mortgage loan preference, if I was going to go get a mortgage right now in my house would be 30 years.

The reason why I go 30 years instead of 15 is if you want to pay it like a 15 year mortgage, you can. But you still have the flexibility of a 30 year mortgage. Um, in case something happens in life where you need to make sure you don't have as high of a debt liability as you would on a 15 year mortgage because your payments go much higher on 15 year.

And so I am just more interested in doing that instead of the Just getting the 15 year and being required to make those payments. Um, so I would set it up as 30 years and then whatever fits your total cost of ownership number. So if you've never run the numbers on buying a house, it's amazing to me that people don't run the numbers on probably their biggest purchase in their entire life, which is their personal residence.

And so you need to know how to run those numbers. We have a free spreadsheet that shows you called the total cost of ownership calculator. Um, and in that total cost of ownership calculator. You'll be able to run the numbers on that, but whatever works for your number. So like, I love the FHA loan for a lot of people because you only have to put three and a half percent down.

Um, the VA loan is also great. Those are both really, really good in low interest rate environments and higher interest rate environments. You may be interested in putting a larger down payment down just so you're not paying so much in interest. Pretty much all of my mortgages. Um, have been traditional loans.

I didn't use the FHA. I didn't use the VA. Um, I've always used traditional. So that's another thing to think through as well. Now for your first house, I have grace in what you put as your down payment for your second house. I don't have grace. You need to put 20 percent down and that's just so you have some skin in the game and what you're doing.

But specifically trying to think through that you'll also have equity you can roll in from your previous residence. So 20 percent down is kind of what we want you to have just so you have some skin in the game and make sure that you are making the right choices there. So that is my loan preference.

There's a bunch of other loans out there that you can consider. There's some very, very intricate specific ones. One great YouTube channel, by the way, if you're like considering one loan or the other, there's a great YouTube channel out there called when the house you love. And, um, I got to get that guy on the show, but he is really, really good.

And he has like an hour long videos explaining each loan type. I think they're amazing. And so, um, that's a great option. If you have not checked him out yet, he is one that I would definitely check out because it's a very, very interesting way to, uh, think through this process. So yeah, that's how I would structure it.

30 years, whatever loan kind of fits your numbers, but you got to run the numbers when you buy a house and then kind of go from there. So that is the 12 rapid fire questions that we have for today. If you guys like this episode and you want to send me rapid fire questions, we got all of these from actually an Instagram story.

I just threw out and said, Hey, I'm going to do a rapid fire episode today. Shoot me your questions. Um, and you guys shot these over. So truly, truly appreciate everybody sending over their questions. These are fantastic questions. And thank you guys so much for investing your time here in us. You are investing in yourself.

That's what happens when you listen to this podcast is you are investing in yourself. So thank you so much for doing that is absolutely amazing that you are here with us, and I'm really excited for you to hear this week's second episode. So make sure you are following the podcast and you'll see that come up this week.

Thank you guys again for joining me and we'll see you on the next episode.