Income: $7,654.91
Expenses: $4030.12
Savings: $3624.79
Updates to our income report
From last month’s February Income Report to this month, a lot has happened! For starters, I sold my first project at the software I work at. While I’d love to say it was easy, the product my department sells is surprisingly hard to get people to purchase. Other sales reps in other areas are pulling in boatloads of deals because marketers have bigger wallets than sales personas. But that’s another conversation for a different day! For the most part, our income was almost completely identical to last month’s. The biggest differences are we have changed the pricing of our Airbnb to reflect the renovations we made to everything as well as to keep with increasing prices in our area. We were at least $800 under any competitor per month so we raised prices around $350. We will see how our bookings turn out and look at what, if any, changes need to be made after another month or so.
I started listing my ebook on a site so I can get paid within the week.This will be very helpful so I can get paid faster as well as have more profit per book sold. But apart from book royalties, side hustles, Airbnb’s, everything is relatively consistent since last month. I did change the HSA contributions I make since I like to take advantage of tax incentives.
Updates to our expenses
Our biggest expenses were travel related or booking flights for upcoming travel. We had a goal this year to go to 3 domestic trips and 1 international trip. We’ve already been to 2 trips this year (San Antonio, and Wimberley, and New York will be this weekend!) This is a new shift in our mindset and we’ll cover more on that in a bit. Apart from travel, all of our expenses have stayed consistent as well. We did get a depp freezer at the beginning of the month and truth be told, it is a lifesaver since we can now store tons of items that are on sale. Each time a purchase is made for a discounted item, we feel it goes towards the purchase. So since the beginning of this month, we’ve already saved $50 by buying items that we would use anyway that are on sale. Apart from the deep freezer, my company gave me some Amazon gift cards for doing a good job at work and I’ve been using those to upgrade the way we live our lives and automate our quality of life. For example, we got a bunch of books recently, upgraded our camera equipment, and invested in other personal development tools.
Thanks to Rami Sethi and his book “I Will Teach You To Be Rich.”
I now pay attention to my money dial and buy things that make me really feel joyous. We only get one life so don’t be afraid to live a little.
Changes in mindsets
We’re way more open to travelling often since we’re now optimizing our credit cards to get as much out of them as possible. We have the Chase Sapphire Preferred, Chase Freedom Unlimited, and the Chase Freedom Flex cards to maximize our points. Throughout the year, when we travel, our trips will be almost completely covered or heavily discounted.
Since life is so short, we have decided it’s time to get out and live life. Money comes and goes but our youth is a blink in the eye. We’re almost 26 and almost can’t believe how quickly 25% of our lives has come and gone. We don’t know when our time is here so while we can, we’re going to live each day as if it is our last.
Ecuador is still a big focus for us. The only challenge is being able to be there permanently or at least for a few years at a time without fully committing is a bit scary for now. If you want to get a permanent residency there, you need to live 21/24 consecutive months there. So essentially, we would have to pack everything up and set our lives up so we would never have to go back to Texas for almost 2 years in a row. And for now, this seems to be a deal breaker. Other alternatives seem to be around becoming an investor in the economy which might not be bad but it would need to be $25,000 or more. This seems to be a legitimate option since we have that cash tied up in various accounts currently. But we’d lean mostly towards buying property which most people state is tough in Ecuador since it needs to be all cash since interest rates are 7-9% usually. However, If we were to finance, it wouldn’t be bad since the tenants pay it for the most part. Anyway, it’s another option to explore.
Moving to Ecuador has become even more of a focal point for us going into 2022. The reason being is;
#1 Healthcare costs. It’s less than $200/m for a family plan with an extremely low deductible and amazing low-cost coverage in Ecuador. Compared to my employer-covered insurance of $600/m for a family plan with a $1,500 deductible and still really good coverage, Ecuador wins by a mile.
#2 being quality of life. Everything there is non-GMO, organically sourced, very little to no additives that can be harmful. Also, everything is within walking distance of what we’d need. It seems like America is known for having extremely far apart locations so it takes you 30 minutes by car to see different things. While this might not be the same for you, that’s what we’ve noticed. After looking into Ecuador, the weather, mixed with the outdoor lifestyle it brings and convenience of locations, it is the best of all worlds.
#3 biggest reason for us is the cost of living. Again, we spend on average $4,500 to $5,000 a month in expenses for what I would consider pretty solid. That does include the mortgage but even then, we’re spending around $3,100/month just to live here and we’re fairly frugal. We cook at home 95% of the month, no cable, cars are paid off, I’ve asked for the lowest cost car insurance we can get, there’s not much cutting of expenses left to do.
Now compare that to Ecuador, you can absolutely live an amazing life for $2,500 or less with $2,000+ being on the high side. That’s if we wanted an upscale place to live for $1,000/m, private fitness, maid services, etc. Even then, it’s fair to say your dollar goes 2X as far there. Also, what’s nice is our mortgage will be covered because we plan to rent out our home in America.
Worst case scenario we make $300/M or more by renting the whole home out. Best case, we rent out the Garage Apartment for $1,050-$1,250, and our home pulls in an additional $300 in cash flow after all bills are paid. Our home would be expected to pull in $1,500 on the higher end of the spectrum. Time will tell with this one though.
Another avenue we’re heavily exploring is which investment we’d like to pursue in Ecuador. Since your dollar goes 2X as far, we’d want to invest in some properties that are more cost-effective and be able to buy 2 income streams for the same price as one in America. While the cash flow per home/investment would understandably be lower, the volume is much higher and would provide more comfort knowing I have 20 cheap investments bringing income instead of 10 more costly investments.
What lies ahead?
I am putting the finishing touches on my kickstarter campaign and I’m hoping that I can get enough backers for that. Worst case scenario, I just spent less than $200 to get a prototype and nobody backs the project. Much better than $5,000 when noone will support it. It’s a great product but I’ll need my audiences support in order to make it a reality for others to purchase.
I’m planning on restructuring my coaching business to have a one time fee which covers unlimited calls and educational sources and a private chat for everyone. Tricky thing is the price point to put it at. I’m going to finish reading $100M Offers by Alex Hormozi and that should give us all the tools we need!
Exciting stuff and we’re looking forward to what April brings us! Stay tuned and reach out if you have any questions!
Until next time,
- Eric