There will always be tried-and-true financial strategies we can rely on. However, that isn’t true of all age-old wisdom. Believe it or not, the same advice that worked for your dad and his dad won’t necessarily work for you. If you’re looking for financial wisdom, you must be sure it’s relevant and applicable to your time, circumstances, and personal finance.

In real estate investment (and finance in general) there’s often a raging debate about which is better: cash flow or net worth? The truth of the matter is that we need both to truly succeed in our real estate investment ventures. When we look at lists of the richest people in the world, they’re often ranked solely by net worth.

Edited February 2022

Money management is the single best way for us to create the future we want for ourselves. You can invest with the best of them, have a great paycheck, and still not end up with what we want from our financial future.

If you’re like most Americans, chances are you are not the best at saving money. Both the statistics around debt and savings in the United States paint a picture that highlights a lack of financial wisdom.

We’re well into the fourth quarter of the year. For many of us, our minds are turning to thoughts of holiday meals, gift-giving, and time with friends and family. However, as we approach the new year, it’s crucial that you, as an investor, ensure that your financial house is in order.

Our relationship with money — how we treat it, the habits we adopt, and how well we manage wealth — is something that builds and shapes over time, often unconsciously. Children learn about money and how to use it through their parents. Small comments that we don’t consciously think about have an impact on our financial health years down the road.

For the vast majority of people in the world, work is a means to gain money — and thus, security in life. From food to shelter and transportation to other essentials, we just need to work to make money, almost without exception.

Whether we believe it or not, all of us share a personal relationship with our finances. In most cases, we tend to view money from a clinical, number-crunching perspective. As much as we try to treat money rationally, we often do not act that way. Our emotions can be wrapped up in our finances, which leads to poor decision making, planning, and overall financial well-being. 

You've decided you want to invest in real estate. You're determined, but you don't yet have the capital to comfortably pull the trigger. Because investments are best made as soon as you can (more time to earn passive income, benefit from appreciation, and build a portfolio), you really need to get your finances in order. 

While we may think of living paycheck to paycheck is only a problem that lower-income Americans wrestle with, the truth is, the vast majority of us struggle to save. Studies show that some 78 percent of Americans struggle to make it to payday and that this is a problem that plagues every income bracket.