10 Questions with Cash Flow Diaries

Today is the 14th edition of our new periodic guest post series called 10 Questions. We have a list of 17 NEW questions we pose to fellow financial bloggers, and they are free to pick and choose 10 or answer all of them. Let us know if you would like to be featured in a future edition of 10 Questions. (If you have already answered the first set of 10 questions, please feel free to answer these new ones.)

Today, we feature Cash Flow Diaries. Just like me, Mr. CFD works in information technology:

The company is great and the pay is decent but the thought of working for someone else and repeating the same thing every single day is mind boggling.

Also like me, I smell a streak of independence. Unless it’s Charlie Munger or Warren Buffett giving the orders, I’d rather not be told what to do either. Always remember, the best boss is no boss at all…

Tell me about your blog and why it’s great.Tell me about your blog and why it’s great.

Cash Flow Diaries was born on May 22^nd 2015.  It is still in its infancy stage and I’m still learning how to:

• Find the perfect diaper – Making changes and tweaks for the look I want it to have.
• How and when to feed it – How often to make posts and when they should be posted.
• Keeping it healthy so that it has a successful life – Learning all the tips and tricks of how to keep the internet gods happy. (SEO, Search Engines, Social Media, etc.)

My blog’s focus is on Finance and Real Estate.  It’s designed to show you how I will reach Financial Freedom by writing about all my experiences and sharing what I have learned and will learn during this journey.  It’s full of awesome information on turnkey rental investments and other financial tips and tricks I have acquired to get me where I’m at today.  These are the methods by which I will reach financial freedom.

If you don’t know what turnkey rental property is you will want to read this. What is a turnkey rental property?

What goals do you have for your blog, short and long term?

First I’d like to say that goals are a super cool thing to have and having goals improves lives.  If you don’t have a goal set for anything, I encourage you to set one and fulfil it.  It’s inspiring to see the drive and motivation that overtakes people when trying to complete a goal.

This inspiration and motivation is exactly what has taken over me for creating Cash Flow Diaries.  My short term goal for me right now is to save, save, and save more money so that I can purchase Investment property #5.  I closed on my 4^th rental property on June 1^st 2015.  I have posted all the details and numbers of that investment here.

My short term goal for the Cash Flow Diaries is to build enough content so that it can actually help someone or at least keep you mildly entertained.   I have had numerous people ask me about how I’m purchasing my turnkey rental properties and what kinds of returns I’m getting with them.  For that reason, the majority of the content I have been working on so far in Cash Flow Diaries is just that.  Detailed info on each of my investments and great tips and experiences on how I have purchased them.

My long term goal for me is reach Financial Freedom.  Ah what a beautiful phrase.  Financial Freedom!! Don’t you love saying that?   I know, I know!  You’re tired of hearing this same goal for every financial blogger out there.  Okay how about if I put it like this.  My long term goal is wake up whenever I want, sit it my boxers for few hours and then decide what awesome outdoor activity I want to do that day.  Ha, that may have been a little TMI (too much information) but you wanted something different so there you have it!

My long term goal for the blog is to continue building it and creating awesome content so that I can at inspire or help at least one person reach their own financial freedom.  Briefs are required though! 😉

What post are you most proud of and why?

Considering I don’t have a whole lot of writing experience and my blog is so new, I don’t have a myriad of content quite yet however I feel very passionate about a few of the posts I wrote because I wrote them based on first hand experiences and having actually utilized the information for myself to get where I’m at today.  They are basically “How to” type posts and will actually help you if followed.

The first one, The easiest way to increase your monthly income is …, are the steps I took to clean up my monthly bills and increased my monthly cash flow by hundreds of dollars.  Many of you may have already gone through these steps but for the ones who haven’t, you would benefit greatly by reading it.

The second one is specifically on turnkey rental properties.  It is a question I have been asked quite often by other newbie real estate investors and there is not a ton of information out on the web for this.  So for all the people out there who are considering ever purchasing a turnkey rental, I created 31 Questions to ask a turnkey seller which incorporates every pertinent question you would want to ask a turnkey provider in order to get the most valuable feedback.  It is the most comprehensive set of questions available on the interwebs.

Do you enjoy writing?

Prior to my new little baby (Cash Flow Diaries), I had not written anything of consequence since my college days which is well over 10 years ago.  I didn’t like writing back then because I was forced to do it.  That experience led me to believe I would not like writing however what I discovered is that when you want to write because you want to and on your own terms, it can be quite enjoyable.  So far I have really been having a fun time writing articles and posts.  When writing, it makes me think outside the box and improves my thought process on dealing with my own investments and life in general.  Try it out.  You’ll see!

If blogging isn’t your full time gig, what is? 

Blogging is most definitely not my full time gig but that would be pretty great if it ever was.  I just don’t see that as being a realistic goal.  My blogging is for self-improvement and to help others that are interested in similar goals.  My real full time gig is working at a software company in the development department.  The company is great and the pay is decent but the thought of working for someone else and repeating the same thing every single day is mind boggling. I don’t know how anyone could live like this for the rest of their lives.  I am on a red alert high intense mission to get away from this and the best way I know how is by creating so much passive income from rental properties, that it will sustain me for the rest of my life and my future family.

When you are 90 and look back on your life, what do you hope you have accomplished? 

90 might be pushing it a little too far ahead.  I mean, I just don’t want to ever get to an age where someone has to change my diapers and spoon feed me.  Hopefully by keeping healthy I won’t ever come to that but I know that if I do get to the age where I can reflect back on life, I really want to be able to say I helped people improve their lives.  I want to be able to leave a legacy for my future children and leave an impact on all the people who knew me.   What great way for to me to start this by writing my experiences and sharing my knowledge on my Cash Flow Diaries.

How do you handle people with different views on money, ie spendy people?

People are awesome!  If it wasn’t for people I would not be who I am today or be able to get to my financial freedom.  For example.  I love using other people’s money to buy real estate,   I love learning what not to do from other people’s mistakes, and I love eating the amazing meals and food that people create.  I have a passion for eating!!  And my girlfriend has a passion for cooking which makes for a winning combination.   I have been trying to get her to create her own food blog actually and I think she may just do that.

Over the course of your life you will come across every kind of person out there.   Big time spenders,  big time frugalers (I know this is not a word but you know what I mean 😉 and really smart and educated financial type people.  I welcome every single types of these people and am eager to meet new ones.  The amount of information you can learn from people is astonishing.  I have never been one to judge anyone and don’t ever plan on doing so which is why I don’t ever try and tell people what to do or how to do it.  The best I can do is to show them how I am doing it, how I am living, how I am building wealth and hope that they can learn off of me and we can learn off of each other.

Did you grow up with money? How did your money situation growing up influence you?

My parents were born and raised in a third world country and moved to the United States for the possibility of making extra money and being able to live a much better life.  Unfortunately the money part never happened.  We only ever had enough money for the bare necessities.  I wouldn’t say we were poor however I would classify it as lower middle income.  Not having the luxury of having money growing up has greatly influenced me because it teaches you how to live frugally.  Living frugal can be a powerful tool to add to your tool belt for building wealth and getting to early retirement.  It teaches you how to save money and more importantly, how not to spend money on unnecessary items.  By using these skills today, I’m able to save money quite rapidly which allows me to purchase more rental properties.  Cause you know I love me some rental properties!!

Did your parents teach you about money as a kid? How so? 

As mentioned above, my parents never had an abundance of money so they never taught me anything regarding financing because they never quite figured it out themselves.  What they did teach me though was how to have a crazy high work ethic.  My parents were the hardest working people I have ever met.  They never once complained about their jobs or even about how much money they had.  At least not in front of me they didn’t.  Having lived with this my entire child hood, it had a great impact on my own work ethic.  To this date I have a huge drive to try and be the best I can be at any task, job or goal that I have.  You won’t ever hear me complaining about anything or talking about what I don’t have.  There is not any positive attributes that can arise from that.  If it wasn’t for my work ethic which I learned from my parents, I would not be on my way to early retirement.  They showed me to work as hard as I can, do the best I can do and have a positive outlook on it.  Those traits alone have allowed me to get to where I’m at today. I didn’t get to my position by education as I don’t even have a bachelor’s degree. I got to it by busting my butt from the bottom up and working my way to the top!!

What is your favorite style of beer – and what is your favorite beer in that style? 

Mmmm, beer!!!  (in Homer Simpson voice).  Beer is a great thing.  Not so good for your belly but oh so good for everything else!  It’s always good to kick back and have a few beers with some buddies.  It’s a great outlet to have and for me it helps keep me happy.  As I’ve grown older I have grown to love IPAs!!  IPAs are filling, great taste and can give you a buzz even after just a couple.  What is there not to love from that!!??  Right now my favorite IPA is Double Stash IPA by Independence Brewing Company. I like to have a 6 pack of this in my fridge at all times just in case I ever want to enjoy a nice cold one.   Okay, now I just drooled a bit on my keyboard just thinking about it so off to the fridge.

Back!  Yum, I just took a nice cold refreshing sip.  So cold and refreshing as it goes down my throat and into my belly!!

On that note, its time to kick back, put my feet up and think about more awesome posts I can do for my blog.  Great talking to you and I hope you check out my blog and provide feedback.

Visit Cash Flow Diaries now.

Thank you Cash Flow Diaries for you submission! Give Mr. CFD a follow on:

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And hey Cash Flow, let’s have an IPA while listening to some Old School Metallica some day.

Onward!