All Forum Posts by: Michael Slockers

@Samuel Tzeng welcome!

My suggestion would be to state your goals. What are you after? Where would you like to be in ten years?

@Grant Doyle Good for you! Gotta love FHA requirements!

It'll be worth it!

@Brian Eastman I probably need to read your reply another 5-6 times to try and absorb it all, but seriously, THANK YOU for such a well thought-out response! It is so helpful! 

@Justin Hutchins It seems a simple piece of information is missing: What are you trying to keep books for? Your personal description says you are a Realtor. 

I use Stessa for my rentals, and so far I really love it. I started using it officially January 1. For buy-and-hold it is a great tool and can export financial statements for each property, or for the whole portfolio. I am totally confident it will be making my tax-prep so much easier too. The only struggle I'm having with Stessa is how to handle the rehab before a property is rented. It kind of jacks up the monthly cash flow numbers to show 20k in one month of capital expense. But I guess it's accurate... 

For our active-income real estate (wholesaling or flipping), I am using <<<cringe>>> Mint.com. I hate it. But I'm stuck. I find that Quickbooks is more geared towards folks who do a lot of invoicing and collection of payments. I don't do that. I make mint.com work but if there were another free or cheap option for a few flips a year and just normal business expenses, I'd be more than happy to ditch Mint.

Hello all. For all the following, please note I am under 50 years old!

If I am understanding correctly, the current maximum contribution for the 2019 tax year for your (single member LLC) Solo 401K is $19,000 as Employee and $37,000 as Employer total contribution on this account would be $56,000.

For someone who has a W-2 job offering a 401k plan with a company match:

1. 1. How am I to calculate the limits on the solo 401k contributions? Assume I will first get a full match on company 401k.
2. 2. For common terminology, is the $37,000 limit on Employer contribution also considered "profit sharing"?
3. 3. I read a couple articles online, including a good answer from @Dmitriy Fomichenko, but still, I'm not clear on limits.
4. 4. Is there an advantage towards putting into the solo-401k vs putting into an IRA? Both are self-directed. I'm aware of the IRA limits and they seem real simple to understand!

Thanks,

Michael

@Grant Doyle Looking for an update on this. Where'd you land?

@Anita Anand

The feelings you've got going on, and the fear itself, are all part of the growth process.

I would suggest just going for it. The numbers don't have to be perfect, and I have recently learned something called GETMO: GOOD ENOUGH TO MOVE ON

Sometimes we have to stop analyzing and say GETMO.

Other suggestions to consider: share your deal numbers for help in analysis, get a mentor, get a partner, or invest in a different market? But don't stop taking action. More time in the forums is not the answer.

My wife reminded me yesterday that exactly 3 years ago we bought our first flip. It was a disaster, but I learned so much from that and from each of our deals since then, I have no regrets about jumping into this. In about 3.5 years we have done about 25 deals total. Some winners, some losers, but no regrets because it's been a great education. Just like others have stated, with experience comes a certain grit, and eventually you realize it's not a total roller coaster after all!

@Travis Watts I'd like to hear more about Tulsa syndications... I'll message you!

@Carl Suverkrop I'd love to hear more about it personally!

@Komi Agbodzie

Assuming there is enough in the 401k to cover the full purchase price plus reserves for maintenance, taxes, insurance, etc...

... Then I think the decision is whether you want the cash in your personal budget or in your retirement account, untouchable until retirement age.

Also consider whether you have enough cash outside the account to buy outright, so you can compare apples to apples.

I say, why not do both? But two houses, one in each account. 😉