All Forum Posts by: Matthew Steslow

CJ, h I have done a lot of digging about the 401k because I have been so torn about what to do.  As I see it there are three options.  1- take it all out and take the minimum 40% hit for taxes and penalties. 2- take a loan up to 50% of the value.  It all has to be paid back within 5 years and with interest, so it is gonna be a hefty payback amount monthly.  The other down side is I will end up paying taxes on that money twice.  And 3- switch over to a self directed ira and purchase the properties that way.  Downside it will help me retire but not quit my job considering all profit goes back to the ira.  And having a wife we have decided to compromise and go with option 2 (I wanted option 1).  Overall we feel like it will be the best option for us.  And a happy wife is a happy life!

Anyways the LLC. How complicated is the process? Roughly what did you pay? And I've seen a lot of people talking about multiple LLC's for different properties. What is the purpose of that, do you do that, is it overkill or pretty sensible as your business becomes larger?

Thank you for the warm welcome! I really appreciate the advice. We are currently working on paying off the car and plan to have it payed off by the end of the year. So for cutting back expenses we are doing a lot better than what we were. The plan for funding the first few deals is taking a loan from our 401k plan. I am trying to be as pro active as possible, while I'm on days off I go yard sailing with my wife and look for deals in a lot of different areas. I constantly have a BP podcast on, multiple articles, forums, and blogs up on my phone. I am watching as many webinars as I can catch and I'm reading books on real estate. We are still looking at our exact goals and planning how to achieve them. I want to move as fast as possible and my wife has to reel me in from plans of grander. Like I said I'm motivated. Christopher any advice you would have for the williamsport area would be amazing! I feel I have a pretty good handle of the economics of the area but I always have questions and far from knowing all the answers. CJ I am definitely interested in LLC and any information you would be willing to share would be great, as I have a ton of questions about it.

Again thank you for the warm welcome!

A little background first.  I am 30 years old and I have been in the oil and gas industry for six years.  I work at a minimum 60-70 hours a week and most weeks are closer to 110 hours.  The work can be hard and strenuous but it can be easy as well.  I am always away, staying in hotels sometimes thousands of miles from my wife and two kids.  This past Feb I was layed off after surviving the down turn in the market.  And have since moved to other companies, one of which treats people horribly.

After finding a book on personal finance, my wife and I were ignited into getting out of all our debt.  At this point we have one car to pay off and the house that's all.  As I continued to learn and read I found a book that took a machine gun to our bucket of get out of debt and invest in your 401k plan.  Through research and hard thinking I found a plan. 

My wife is a realtor and her license is currently in escrow so she could be home with the kids.  I found bigger pockets about a month ago and have since been reading articles and books ravenously.  And I have learned more in a month than I have in the past year.

I am tired of being away from the family and figured out the money I make is not worth the time I lose with the family.  I am far from scared of hard work and am willing to sacrifice a lot to get out.  

Our plan at this point is to bring my wife's license out of escrow and to have her take care or most of the marketing and deal making.  While I handle the numbers (I love number) and trying to find financing, while I continue to work my job.

We are beyond motivated to get me home, and are willing to take any and all advice and wisdom anyone is willing to bestow upon us!

My goal is to someday being invited on the bigger pockets pod cast, showing that if someone who works a 15 on 6 off schedule and 16 hr days can pull it off...anyone can.