BiggerPockets Money Podcast - 257: 20 Year-Old Minimum Wage Marine with $850k in Real Estate

Episode Date: December 13, 2021

We have a lot of impressive guests on the show, and they just seem to get younger with every new episode. You’ve heard the stories of people in their twenties buying rentals, people in their thirties hitting coast FI, and people in their forties and beyond making many, many millions. But, what about a marine recruit, making a low salary, buying more than $800k in real estate within his second decade on earth? Now that sounds like an interesting story. Jabbar Adesada fits the bill exactly! After moving in with his father, he was given strict instruction to read books like Rich Dad Poor Dad, I Will Teach You To Be Rich, and Automatic Millionaire. Jabbar decided to put down his NBA/med school dreams and open up a brokerage account. Lucky for him, right around the time he started investing was the 2020 stock market crash, giving him all the discount he needed to make his first profits. After running some “when will I be a millionaire?” scenarios, Jabbar realized that real estate, and not the stock market, was the best path to financial independence. Jabbar shares the story of how he was able to find funding, a down payment, and a property that would allow him to house hack, Craige Curelop style. Not only that, Jabbar just closed on a short-term rental in the Smoky Mountains, which puts his real estate portfolio north of $800k! Let’s mention this again: He’s twenty years old!  In This Episode We Cover Why early financial education can make or break your child’s path to success The best finance books that you (or your child, cousin, niece, or nephew) should read  Why crashes aren’t a sign to panic, but a sign to buy more House hacking at a young age, and how to get pre-approved for loans without an extensive job history  Having an “obsessive mindset to be wealthy” and using it to help not only yourself but others Practicing delayed gratification and building a brighter future with each investment And So Much More! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Welcome to the Bigger Pockets Money podcast show number 257, where we interview Jabbar Adasada and talk about pursuing financial independence at a very early age. I have an obsession. I have like an obsession with becoming wealthy because I want to create a better life for when I eventually have children and then for other people who kind of are underserved in the community with stuff like that. So I think that if I'm able to accomplish that at like a younger age, like if I like do all the hard work now while I have all this energy and I can wake up at four and only get five hours of sleeping, you know, and do all this stuff, then by the time I'm older, I'm going to be very like happy about it. So it's just like the opportunity cost. Hello, hello, hello. My name is Mindy Jensen. And my guest host today is Dan Sheeks, author of First to a Million, a Teenager's Guide to Achieving Early Financial Independence. We had Dan on as our guest last week, and I liked him so much. I brought him back to guest host with me today. Dan, thanks for joining me.

Mindy, thanks for having me. So happy to be here, and I'm super excited for our interview today. Glad, glad to make it. I am too. Dan and I are here to make financial independence less scary, less just for somebody else. To introduce you to every money story, including those that start at age 18, because we truly believe financial freedom is attainable for everyone, even teens, no matter when or where you're starting.

Whether you want to retire early and travel the world, go on to make big time investments and assets like real estate or start your own business will help you reach your financial goals and get money out of the way so you can launch yourself towards your dreams. Dan, I am so excited to talk to Jabbar today. Today's show is actually probably not for you directly, our loyal listener. Rather, it's for your child, your niece or nephew, your next-door neighbor, your best friend's kid. Today's episode is for the teens in your life. And by introducing them to this concept of early financial freedom, you could very well change the financial trajectory of their entire lives.

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for me over over 10 years. Kickstart your well-being journey with your first audiobook free when you sign up for a free 30-day trial at audible.com slash BP money. Jabar, Ida, welcome to the Bigger Pockets Money podcast. I'm so excited to talk to you today. Thank you so much. It's truly an honor. So I want to jump right into it because we have a lot to cover, even though you're only 19.

Where does your journey with money begin? Oh, oh, wait, wait, wait. You're active duty military, so let's do that. I don't represent the military spiel before we jump in. Oh, yeah. Okay. So to start off, my views and comments and thoughts are my own. I do not represent that of the United States military or Marine Corps.

And I'm actually 20. I just turned 20. Two months ago. Oh, okay. Okay. Oh, well, now you've got a lot of journey under your belt. So let's get started. I know, right?

Where have you been in your 20 years? In my two decades of life that I'm displaying. I grew up in a very, I guess, really strict education-focused household. So I'm Nigerian-American. I'm first-generation Nigerian. And education is like a really big deal. And obviously, for where we come from,

money is not much over there. Everyone who comes here, comes here, gets a lot of money, and tries to become successful. And education is just a way. So middle class, grew up in Maryland, lived there for about 15 years. And I was actually, I had a really tough childhood. So when I was 15, I had to get taken away from home because mommy wasn't so nice to me.

So I moved with, I moved in with my dad. And I guess I should have mentioned that my parents were divorced. So my growing up, like, mom is, I lived with my mom and my dad is in Texas. And so I moved with my dad when I was 15. And so when I was 15, and so when I was. 15, that's when my entire perspective of life, money, finances, and everything changed because my dad was very big on me kind of doing like investments and like he would always talk about business and different types of ideas he had. He, he himself didn't have a business. He's a, he's in IT. But he would always talk about like, hey, if you create like a software development app, you'll be like a million. it or something like that. So I was always like intrigued by it. But I really wasn't paying enough

attention and I really didn't listen because I was like 15 and 16 live with with them. And I was always thought I knew everything. So I was really into basketball and sports and things like that. And I just struggled. I struggled that I struggled that I guess being focused on the future. So one day, I guess my dad had enough of me not listening and paying attention and, you know, focused on my future. And he took my two basketballs and he popped them like in my face. And basketball was like my entire life growing up. So like I wanted to go to the NBA. That was like my dream.

I wanted to play basketball professionally. Be on TV. I wasn't really focused on school or anything like that. I just wanted to be an athlete. And so when he did that, it just shook my world. And so, and the reason he did that is because my pastor had given us an assignment to read Rich Dad, Poor Dad by Robert Kiyosaki and write a book report on it. And I didn't do it because I didn't care.

It didn't have anything to do with basketball. So he passed my basketballs. He makes me read the books and read the book. And I wrote a report on it. And I just ate it up. It was like that it's like the book you read like from cover to cover. Like I was I was like, wow, like assets versus liabilities. You know, he just, it just completely changed my mentality.

But I just put it away because I was 15. I didn't have any money. So, but, you know, I just, I was like, okay, when I start making money, I'm going to start investing. So whenever I get, you know, I start working, I'm going to start investing. So fast forward a little bit. My dad just ban. I'm not allowed to play basketball anymore. He just wants me to focus on school so I can go like the traditional route.

Because in my culture, in the Nigerian culture, you're either a lawyer, a doctor, an engineer, or a disappointment. So I was like, all right, we'll try being a doctor. So I kind of went on the path of like getting back in the school. focusing. I went from like a C student to like an all-A student because I was like, I'm going to be a doctor, make all this money. I want to be an orthopedic surgeon. So they make like a lot of money. So I'm in school, just grinding it out. Keep mine. No money. Red rich dad, poor dad, and not thinking about money. If I had money, I was going to spend it. Like, that was it. Like if I had money, I'm going to buy like shoes, clothes, jewelry, things to

like look nice. And then my senior year came and like it just dawned on me like, wow, college is expensive. And I have like, I mean, my grades were good, I guess like junior and senior year, but before they were terrible. And I was like, I don't think I'm going to be able to get an academic scholarship. I'm not allowed to play basketball. So I'm definitely not going to get a sports scholarship. So what exactly am I going to do?

And so I wanted to be a doctor, but I didn't want to get into all. that debt. So I was just thinking, I was like, man, like, how can I, how can I do this without, you know, coming out, like, you know, with a negative $500,000 network? And so I saw the man with the dress blues passing out pamphlets in the cafeteria and he had the Marine with him on the pull-up bars. I was like, wow, these guys look cool. So I walked up to him. I was, you know, just curious, you know, that's how to get you, you know. You're just curious. And so I walked up to and I was like, hey, I want to do, I want to, like, see what's going on, like, what's up with the military?

Because I heard they had really good benefits. And my dad had mentioned before to me that it might be a good idea to, like, look into it, to pay for school and stuff like that. So he talks to me. He tells me, like, hey, like, we can help you pay for school and everything like that. And so I was like, I was hooked. I was like, all right, it's great. Well, if you can pay for my school, that solves my issue.

So now I don't have to go apply for student loans. I'll have college paid for. And then my plan was to join the military, get all the education benefits, do college, so I can become a doctor debt-free and then start investing and making money and stuff like that. So, you know, graduate high school, enlist right after high school, go through boot camp, get out of boot camp. And now I have, like, the most money I've ever had. in my life. I think it was like $2,500. And so now I had very rich that I know the importance of investing a little bit, not really the power of it. And so the first thing I do is I think

I think I spent like $1,000 on clothes, shoes of like clothes shoes and, you know, like this like devices, like a phone or something like that. And then the remaining $1,000 I gave to my family. So now I'm back to, so I had like $500 left. And so in between training, so from boot camp to you do another training, it's combat training. And during combat training, I had the opportunity to kind of go off to, like, I got hosted. Yeah, I got hosted by family for like the holidays because we weren't able to go home. And it was in Orange County, California.

So I got hosted by this family, the Massins, and I mean, their lives looked amazing. They had like a happy family, the beautiful house. They were the type of family to, like, Phil will come home and he'll take his wife to, to like Paris for the weekend, just randomly. Or like, he'll go skydiving in the morning and scuba diving in the afternoon. Like I was just like, wow, like, like, what do these people do? Like, whatever it is, I think I should do that. And so, um, I, you know, I spoke to him. I started talking to him.

And then he told me he, you know, he does like investing, like, you invest in stocks. So, um, he's a, he's a financial advisor. He does like company 401ks and stuff. And so, um, he gave me a book. So he gave me two books, actually. He gave me automatic millionaire by David Bach. And then I will teach you to be rich by. Ramit Sethi. So these are like what finance book number two and three. And so I read those cover to

cover. And then that's when I realized I made so many dumb decisions with my money getting out of boot camp. But yeah, it just changed my life forever because once I've read those books, it talks about like frugality, saving and investing your money, putting away for retirement so you could be a millionaire, like automatically, like direct deposit, save first and all that stuff. So I was, yeah, when I, when I read that, I was just obsessed. Yeah. So I, yeah, I couldn't, that's all I focused on. That's all I talked about. I started getting really financially savvy and really like trying to learn more about how I could live like Phil. But yeah, that's like the long-winded story of my money, my money beginning. Awesome, Jabbar. I mean, that's, it's a great story. And thank you for your service in the

Marines. A quick question. So that dinner at Thanksgiving, and I've heard this story before from you, but that dinner at Thanksgiving up until today, how long ago was that dinner? Where the two books came your way and you really kind of opened your eyes to early financial independence investing and stuff? So that was less than two years ago. So two years ago next month. Okay. So we haven't even gotten into the good stuff, which we will, but the good stuff has happened in the last two years, which I just want everyone to be aware of. Yeah. That sounds like foreshadowing. So you mentioned three books. Rich Dad, Poor Dad. I will teach you to be rich and automatic millionaire. I have a stack. I have so many books to recommend for you. And you might have

already read some of them, but there's more that are going to just resonate with you. The one I'm going to mention right now is the psychology of money by Morgan Housel. It talks about, from a position of like people who are my age, I'm slightly older than Yutivar, could be your grandmother, from a position of people my age, here's the things that they are doing wrong with their money. And by learning these lessons when you're 19, well, 20, I'm sorry, I have all of this prepared because you're 19. You're already 20 now. By learning these lessons when you're 20, you're going to not make these mistakes. I've said this before on the show. Sorry for those who have listened and are like, oh, we're sorry of hearing this Mindy. It bears repeating.

There was a study done. If you invest $2,000 a year from the time you're 22 to the time you're 30 and then you never invest another dime for the rest of your life, you will have more money at age 65. Then if you invest $2,000 a year, starting at age 30, going all the way to age 65. At age 65, you'll have more money from those first eight years than you would from the 35 years of investing. And you think to yourself, okay, $2,000 a year times eight years is $16,000. And $2,000 a year times $35 years is $70,000. Your math doesn't make sense. Compound interest tells me that, and I've done like articles on this, which I will link to in the show notes for this episode, but you have something like $596,000, assuming 10% interest of blah, blah,

with the 35 years of investing. You have $700,000 with the eight years of investing. And that's only if you never invest another dime. The power of compound interest is so great. It can't be said enough. And the hopefully people who are listening to this are in their teens. And it sounds kind of silly. $2,000 a year might sound like a lot, but you just had $2,500 and you blew, well, you gave $1,000 to your family. That's very generous of you, but you blew $1,000. You were halfway to my 2000 just on clothes and shoes and devices. And, you know, I'm not trying to make you feel bad because you've, you've turned it around. There's some foreshadowing there from Dan, you've turned it around.

And you are crushing it. You are doing way better than I was at age 20. I read that study, by the way, when I was like 20. Did I invest $2,000 a year from 22 to 30? The answer to that question may shock you. No, I didn't. So, Jabbar, let's kind of pick up where you left off. You're 18.

You just joined the Marines. You've read three finance books. You're hooked. You're sold. take us from that point and get us kind of to where we are today. All right. Cool. Thank you.

And I just want to say, Bindy, like, the compound interest study, I think that's what, I guess, made me want to invest so much more. Because I was like, wait a second. Like, I am that 18-year-old, you know? So, like, if I do it from now and then, like, let's say, I think you said 30 or 35 or something, like, I'm going to, there's no way I wouldn't be a millionaire. Like, I'll be rich. So, but so, and just so like put some time, time on it. So I think I made, I started the journey really like January of 2020. So January of 2020, I was like, you know, I was like big into like stocks, right?

Because those books, they primarily focus on stock market investing. So I was saving like 80% of my income, like maybe sometimes like it, yeah, Let's say just say 80%. And then I was just trying to learn as much as I can. I was reading all the CNBC articles and reading tons of more finance books. I got into Grand Steffen on YouTube and meet Kevin and all those guys like that. And I was just really big into like saving and investing as much money as possible. People would make fun of me all the time because Marines were notorious for like spending money on like cars and, you know, financing really nice.

vehicles and I'm here just like I don't I don't want to go out to eat like I get mad I would get mad like spending like 10 cents more on the product that I know I could get for 10 cents less so I really took it to the extreme so when I so January February March I'm like you know doing this investment journey and then the market crashes and so since I've already been investing before I was like oh my gosh like everything is on sale right now I need to, like, find money because, like, I'd already been putting all my money in. And, like, we don't make that much money. I was making, like, I was an 18-year-old Marine making, like, I don't know, like, $1,500 a month.

So I guess I was maybe, let's say, I was able to put maybe $1,000, $1,300 in a month. But I didn't have that much. So I was, like, thinking, man, like, I'm going to go try and take a loan to buy stocks. And I was asking people like, hey, like, can you give me like your paycheck and I'll invest it? And then I'll give you my paycheck back later because there's just like a once in a lifetime opportunity. And I was just, oh my God, I was, it was like a kid in the candy store. And I joked that last year you could have tied like a monkey onto your shoe and like had the monkey pick your investments. And you would have been up like 100% today because it really, yeah, it was greatest time ever.

I was so happy, but I didn't have any money. I ain't have that much money at least. So I want to jump in here. I want to jump in here really quick. You didn't have money, but you had a mindset that was far different than adults. And this goes back to your, oh, I was 15 and I thought I knew everything. So did I when I was 15. So did Dan when he was 15.

That's like 15itis. You just think you know everything. So I love that your thought was everything is on sale when the market is crashing and it wasn't, oh my goodness, I'm going to lose my money, I have to sell. Because that's what a lot of adults were doing. Oh, the market went down. I got to stop my losses and pull all my money out. And what they missed was the rebound.

Yeah, it went down. It went down a lot. We just had a pandemic for the first time in 112 years. So, you know, things were kind of freaky, not to use your word incorrectly, Dan. Dan's got a teen mastermind called Sheeks Freaks. Is that a good way to describe it, a teen mastermind? Yeah, yeah, it's not just teens. It's probably 15 to 25-year-olds.

And that's where I met Jabbar about a year and a half ago. So right after the crash, I'd say, is when I started up that mastermind. And Jabbar was one of the first members in there. So I've been able to follow the journey he's been on the last year and a half, which has been amazing and we're still not to the good stuff, but we're getting there. Yeah. Well, what do you mean we're not to the good stuff? This is all great.

You've done basically what everybody does. They are 15, they're 16, they're 17, they're making a little bit of money, they're spending all of it. Like, that's not unusual. That's the American way. So to change your mindset, to go into the military, to, to, you know, to. to save 80% of your income is enormous. And we don't, I really think we don't do enough on this show in general of celebrating these wins.

That's huge. You could have very easily gotten your very low interest or no interest loan and gone out and blown it on a car that so many of your other fellow Marines are doing. And yeah, they have nice cars. What kind of car do I drive? Nobody knows. Nobody cares. I drive a minivan because I'm a mom and that's what we do.

And do you think less of me? Well, if you do, I don't care because who are you to think less of whatever kind of car I drive? And don't you work in the Marines? Like, where do you go? You have a job, right? Are you on base? Exactly. Look at my nice car sitting in the parking lot.

Who cares? Put that money in the stock market. Okay, sorry. I jumped in there. No, trust me, I have these conversations all the time. And it's like talking to a brick wall. It's crazy. But yeah, so I was, I was doing, like, I was doing tons of research.

Oh, and then I guess like one of the mistakes, not mistakes, because I did make money, but I was definitely picking individual stocks. I had read all the books about why you shouldn't. And I thought that I was Warren Buffett. So this is where I saw the power of investing. So I think it was around June or, no, it was July. So July 2020. I had been in the military for less than a year,

and I think the military had paid me $12,000 or $13,000 in total. And so July of 2020, I had like 20 or maybe, it was like $20,000 or $25,000 in my brokerage account. So I literally had more money like in that month, just in my investment account than I had ever had. like made in my life. I thought it was rich. I was like an 18 year old kid

like with 20, 25 grand. And it was, yeah, it was amazing. It really showed me like the power of what I did and or what I was doing and gave me like that proof of concept.

Like this works, you know? And so, and I was like, I was trading options like all the cool kids on Robin Hood. So not all of that was just like me like saving and investing. It was me getting lucky on like Tesla. And,

and yeah, and different. things like that. And then I think that's when, yeah, so July of 2020. And so I have like a little bit of money. I'm thinking like I'm bawling. I don't spend or anything, but I'm like, all right, stocks are fun, but I'll do all these compound interest, these compound interest calculators. And, you know, you take like the conservative returns of the market, like seven to 10 percent, depending on how you're feeling that day. And then, you know, you know, you. know, just people have different opinions on it. And then, like, I said, okay, I can invest,

let's say, a thousand to $2,000 a month. And if I do that every single month, I'll be a millionaire by the time I'm like 34 or 35. So, like, that sounds great. And like, that's not old or anything. But for me as an 18-year-old kid, I do not want to wait that long. So I just was like, all right, how can I like scale this up? I kind of don't want to, um, You know, and then I started getting like, you know, the 4% rules. And then I was like, okay, a million dollars would be really only $40,000. And I saw like all like the flaws and things like that. So I was like, man, I kind of want to pivot a little bit to something that I can control.

Because just like we can break the record for all-time highs in the stock market, I just don't want to be unlucky in that 15, 20-year time period that we break the record for all-time lows. So that's when I've really started trying to figure other means. And, you know, I was in like all these stock market disc chat, discords, discord. And one person, and thank God for that person, I don't know who they are. But they were like, hey, I asked the question. I was like, hey, I'm looking into real estate as an option for investing.

Does anyone know I can learn more? And then he sends the bigger pockets podcast. And that really, that, that really, that really. changed by life. So like now my life has changed like times two. Because I got, I listened to the podcast. It was Todd Baldwin's episode, uh, the house hacker. He like house hacks in Seattle and he makes hundreds of thousands of dollars just renting by the bedroom over there. And that was the first podcast I ever listened to. And I was like, oh my God. Like there's like, because he wasn't getting like, you know, your seven to 10% returns. He was getting like, um, he was getting like, he was getting like,

crazy. He was getting like 80% and like 60%. I mean, and like I know real estate 12 is good, but when you're house hacking, that low down payment really amplifies and makes your money stretch further. So I was like, okay, I need to figure out, I need to learn this. I need to learn how to be that guy. And like he was only like 25. He said when he became a millionaire. So I was way younger than 34. So I think that I'm going to just learn, you know, I was dabbling my toe into like just learning. So I listened. I started an episode, one from the OG Bigger Pockets podcast. I just went up like four to five hours, maybe even six hours a day.

I was just consuming Real State podcast, Googling every single thing I don't know, and trying to figure out how to be like Todd Baldwin that I heard on the Bigger Pockets podcast. And that education was really, it really, really helps me now today because I understand things more than like the surface level when it comes to real estate invests, at least I think I do. But yeah, and then also paired with the fact I already had like a little bit of money saved up, I was just like, all right, I need to figure out how to buy my first deal. So yeah, I just, I was doing all the education was against analysis paralysis. I was like, I'll figure it out.

I don't care if I lose money. I'm going to, this is my college education here. So I was like, I'm going to, I'm going to house hack. No, no, that's not what happened. Dan, so I was doing networking on bigger pockets, like, figuring out I had, like, this plan to be fincy free by 30. And Dan commented on the post, and we talked, and that's how I got into Sheiks Freaks and stuff. And then Dan told me about, like, Craig Curlop, who you guys have had on the show. He's been on the podcast, and he has the house hacking book.

And he was like, yeah, Craig is, yeah, he's already a millionaire. And he's, like, 20, he was like 25 or something like that. and you just house hacks. And I was like, and keep in mind, my thought was Burr. I thought Burr was the way I think everybody kind of thinks that because it sounds like super sexy. But when I learned, like, you can get like that much cash flow out of like a house hack prop possibly and like the opportunity that is there,

I was just like, all right, I'm going to do that. So I just fast forward a little bit. I went to a field exercise. I read the house hacking strategy, the bird book, long distance real estate investing in a couple of other of the bigger pockets. Real estate books came back and then like I think so what August is when I started like my education journey. And then in February is when I bought the house. So my first house. So it was a house hack.

And I can kind of go in a little bit about that because there's some funny and cool stories there and learning lessons. But yeah, that's that first house hack. is definitely way better than what I was getting in the stock market. Okay, because we're hoping to have a lot of people who, this might be their first introduction to financial independence or real estate investing. Can you explain really quickly what is what you mean by house hack and what you mean by Burr? Oh, yeah, sorry. So a house act, basically you purchase a property.

Typically, you're using owner-occupied financing. So there's different down payment options that you get for primary residents. So you don't need 20% down. You can get in it for like zero to me as three and a half, five percent down. And then basically you buy a house and then instead of just living in it, you rent out parts of your house. So if it's a single family home, you'll rent out bedrooms. Maybe you'll buy a duplex, a quadplex or a triplex and you rent out the other units. sir. I mean, you can do what I do and what Craig did and sleep on the futon and rents out all the rooms and make money.

So it's a really great way to get to financial freedom quickly, depending on your market, obviously, because you can get into it for very little out of pocket. And if you do it right, you could make, I don't know, I've seen people make $2,000 a month on house tax because they put the rooms on areas. B&B and stuff like that. So the possibilities there are endless. It's just how creative you can be, but you have to live there for the year. So yeah, that's house hacking.

And then Burr, it's a real estate strategy is buy. So you buy a house. You buy it using cash or hard money, but you can even use a conventional mortgage. I guess I shouldn't say hard money. But you just try, you buy the house with short term financing usually for cash. then you rehab it, you fix it up, so you improve the value so that it's worth more. And then you rent it out because most of the time you need to rent it out for a certain amount of time to be able to do the next step, which is refinance.

And the goal with refinancing is to get as much as your money out of the deal as possible. People aim for 100%. Sometimes people take out more money than they put in. And then you do it again. So you use that same money that you use to buy it because you just got it back out the deal and you put it to the next deal. So for people who don't make a lot of money, that sounds like, like, you know, like amazing. I don't want to make any crude references. It sounds amazing because you can use that same capital over and over and over and over again theoretically.

So I've been asked many times, Jabbar, what Burr is because my wife and I, we do some burring. and your explanation of Burr that you just gave is one of the best I've ever heard, including what I try to tell people. So good job. You're obviously, you know a lot about this stuff. You've listened to the podcast. You've read books. You're on the forums.

You're talking to people. My question is, you know, if you go back to when you really kind of started diving into all this information about, and I'm more focused on the real estate investing piece of it. But, you know, up until today, I'm sure there was a point where you were kind of by yourself. You mentioned before that, you know, your friends, you've tried to talk to your friends, your fellow Marines about what all this stuff is and why it's important and they have no interest. And so at one point, you were kind of the lone soldier out there, you know, going down this path by yourself,

nobody around you that was really equally as interested. Now I think, you know, you're in a different place. How important has it been to you to be around? like-minded people to know people who have the same aspirations goals using the same strategies. How has that played a role in your, you know, and what you've done over the last couple of years? Oh, yeah. Dan, it's fantastic. Because when I started out, I would like bug my mom to death about like just everything I was learning. First it was stocks. Then it became real estate. And I'll talk to her for hours. And I love my mom to death. And by my mom.

It's my dad's wife that I live with in Texas or that I lived with in Texas when I left from Maryland. And she would listen to me go on and on. But, you know, I kind of felt bad because I knew like it's not as important to her. And then, you know, I told my, when I was living in the barracks, I told my roommate all the time, like all the things I was learning and doing. And he definitely didn't care. So when I finally got to be in a group of people who like actually care and they speak the language, they love the language, they're obsessed. They have that same like obsession. It just, oh my God, it just turned my life around because now I have people who I can collaborate with.

I get to see what's possible. So I see what other people are doing because you get to watch other people's journeys. and I really get to kind of just grow. It's like you're growing together. So it's like that saying you're like the average of the five people you spend the most time with. So for me, I was spending my time with my podcast. It was the podcast and books. That was it.

Podcast books and YouTube. That's it. Like I didn't really have friends because no one wanted to hear me talk about investing all the time. Because if, I mean, it's still now. People hate when I start talking because they know I'm going to talk about money. But in the. Marines. But now, like, I can call up, you know, like Leo, Marcel, Aiden, people in the Sheiks Freaks community and really, like, have a conversation and we can have, like, these high-level

conversations and gain different perspectives and kind of introduce and kind of keep each other accountable. Because the journey, it can be tough sometimes. There are things that, like, you know, sometimes I want to buy, like, I really want a Tesla. And I really, really want a Tesla. It's, like, such a nice car. And I drive like a 2004 Toyota Camry that looks horrible. And so like if I was surrounding myself with like the Marines all the time, not the Marines, but some Marines that, you know, are my peer group or people my age, they're not, you know, they're going to be like by the Tesla. Like I'm going to have all this like outside energy saying like you should spend your money, spend your money. But because I'm in an environment in a group or I'm in a group where I can

have like this environment about money saving financial literacy and, um, you know, go aspiring to be wealthy and like impact, leave impact on the world. That's kind of like, it holds me accountable and it keeps me committed. So it's definitely like a game changer. And it helped me buy my house because I told everybody I was going to buy a house before I bought the house. Now I have to, right? Because otherwise I look stupid.

You're accountable at that point. Yeah. So I love this. And I think for anyone, I don't care how old you are, your journey to your goals becomes so much easier when you surround yourself with people who are on that same journey. I mean, that's just a fact. It's that networking effect that catapults you towards your goals. So if you could tell us a little bit more, Jabbar, about you mentioned some guys that

you've become friends with through the community. What does that relationship look like? How often are you talking to each other? How are you talking? How are you communicating? You know, I think these guys are from all around the country. Have you met them? how do you hold each other accountable and how important has that been to your progress?

So I have an accountability group. So like BiggerPockets talks about masterminds and surrounding yourself of people who are going to help you keep accountable towards your goals all the time. So me, Aiden, Leo, Marcel, these are people in the Sheiksricks community. We formed our own little accountability group where we meet every single morning and we just go. over our commitments. Every morning we have an agenda, hey, like, did you, what were your commitments, or what are your commitments?

Did you, like, meet the mark, essentially? Did you, let's like, did you wake up on time? We're all miracle morning guys. So every morning, I wake up at four, unless I got less than five hours of sleep. And I do my miracle morning for like almost, it's almost two hours. And it's tough.

It's tough. Like, if left to my own devices, I probably, if I have someone to report to every morning. I might not do it every day, but because, I mean, I know I'm going to hear so much from them about how terrible I am. If I don't do it, I do it every morning. And it helps a lot, too, with like real estate stuff. It's like, all right, hey, you want to get to this point. Well, what are you doing to get there? And it's like, all right, well, how, like, what are you spending your time doing? Why are you watching YouTube instead of, you know, analyzing deals or

why are you kind of, it's like, it's that kind of accountability. We meet every day and it's, it's, I think for me, for my growth, it's been very, very powerful because they're just challenging me to think bigger. So my goals keep getting bigger and bigger. Every time I keep on having to expand them because it's like, okay, well, are you setting this goal because you're afraid of a bigger goal or because like this is actually what you want? And nine times out of ten, it's because you're afraid of the, the bigger goal.

So, yeah. Yeah. Bill Gates has a quote. You often overestimate what you can accomplish in one year, but you underestimate what you can accomplish in five or ten. And that's huge. That's, he's right. Think of what you're, you're setting your goals for in a year.

Oh, I'm going to do X, Y, Z. And then you get to the end of the year and you're like, ooh, I did X, sort of. But then you take that and you're like, okay, my tech. your goals is I'm going to do X, Y, Z, and then A. But you can accomplish X, Y, Z, A, B, and C in year three. So, or year eight. Or, you know, so setting realistic goals is really important. And setting goals, keeping track of where you are on your progress is huge. Having an accountability group that meets every single day. To me, that sounds a little daunting because my mornings are kind of crazy. but that is my life is very different than yours.

I have two kids and I'm trying to get them off to school and that's like hurting cats. So, you know, my point is that I'm making very poorly is this accountability group and getting in that mindset when you're 20, when you don't have two kids that you're trying to get off to school, when you don't have other responsibilities and you can get in there and do this, it's huge. You start setting these habits and then your morning's going forward. are always going to be like this. And the way that you structure your life is going to be a little bit different because

this is such a priority because it's such a habit. But also finding people who are in the same mindset, you can find, I bet in your life right now, you can find 100 people that'll tell you all the reasons why real estate investing is wrong or shared the stories of how people they know lost money in real estate. I got a whole website full of people who have made mistakes. And that's something that makes bigger pockets so great as you learn from your mistakes. But the people that are telling you it's not going to work didn't learn from their mistakes. They didn't learn from other people's mistakes.

They made the mistake. They're like, I'm out. And that's, you know, quitting is a great way to not accomplish anything. You don't sound like a quitter. Oh, no. No. I'm anti-quipped. Yeah, no way.

knowing Jabbar, I have known him for about a year and a half. This guy is one of the most motivated young people I've ever met. And I want to get into your mindset later. I've known for about 30 minutes, and I can agree with that. Yes. Tax season is one of the only times all year when most people actually look at their full financial picture, including income, spending, savings, investments, the whole thing. And if you're like most folks, it can be a little eye-opening. That's why I like Monarch.

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Get more with Northwest Registered Agent at Northwest Registered Agent.com slash money-free. At Desjardin, our business is helping yours. We're here to support your business through every stage of growth, from your first pitch to your first acquisition. Whether it's improving cash flow or exploring investment banking solutions, with Desjardin business, it's all under one roof. So join the more than 400,000 Canadian entrepreneurs who already count on us and contact Desjardin today. We'd love to talk, business. I want to dive into the House Act, to the first. real estate property purchase that you did, which by the way, happened at age 19.

This is phenomenal. This is so freakish to do it at such a young age. You know, you started learning about real estate. I would, you know, less than a year later, you're buying your first property. I think maybe right at about a year somewhere in there. If I remember right, it was a $300,000 or $400,000 house. You are housing, house hacking it. So tell us how did that process go.

How did that search the financing? I know it's a long story, but we'll try to keep it kind of brief. But walk us through how you got that property and what it's, what it looks like today. All right. Yeah. So I'll try and keep this one as short as possible. And I think it was six months. So when I started learning from August to February, yeah, six months.

But so went through the process, was learning as much as possible. And, you know, still, still, I'm still like 19. So I still think I know everything. And I recognize that it's not the case now. But I'm going through trying to figure out how to buy my first property and going through all the steps that Bigger Pockets talks about. So first I got pre-approved for a mortgage. It was the most difficult process ever.

It was like pulling like teeth from a kid. I think that's the saying. But I talked to 13 different lenders at first and all of them did not. me. So I had like 13 heart inquiries, 13 denials. And they were just told me no. I mean, some of them would tell me like there is no way. Like, because I would, I mean, I'd argue with them. I'm like, there's got to be a way. Like there has to be something. And someone them would tell me, yeah, there's no way. It's not happening. Wait till you're 20 or so you make more money. You get a basic housing allowance. Yeah. So I didn't have that. So it's called

BAH. For anyone who doesn't know, it's like the military stipend that they give service members for housing. It's a it's whatever. It's kind of like tailored to the market. So it depends. But because I'm like single and I don't have a wife or family, I don't get any of that. So I just get my normal pay, which is very small. It's like, I don't know. It was like $18,000 a year at the time. And so I'm talking to all these different banks. A 14th bank told me maybe. So that opened up the possibility. And then once she told me maybe I just started reading. I was reading like the VA guidelines and the FH guideline. So I started figuring out like the right questions to ask and what I needed to do to buy house now because I wasn't taking no for an answer. Essentially, basically,

I had no, the reason why I was not getting approved for a mortgage is because one, I didn't have credit. I ended up having credit like two weeks into the process of applying for it, but I didn't have, I just, I got a credit card like six months prior. Two was how little my income was. three was I had less like a year and like 13 months of job history and then the fourth one. I don't know the fourth one. But yeah, it just wasn't happening. So the way that I got around it was for the income part of it, what I was going to do was I was going to get a very close friend of mine. And we're going to co-barrow on the mortgage together to buy the property.

So that was what I was going to do. we were both going to be on the loan and now I was going to house hack it and then a year later turn into investment property and then we split profits how we agreed upon. And the credit issue, obviously, my credit score finally came out. I had like a $7.50 in six months, which I don't understand how that math works. And then what else? I think. And then the job history, I got around it's because I'm a Marine, I have a five-year contract

stating I'm going to be employed. So they kind of did like the workaround and said, that's fine. And I think you can actually do it in six months. Like that's actually the guideline for, and don't quote me on this. I'm not like a profession or anything like that. But the lender that spoke to me said that, yeah, like six months is really all I need to qualify to use my VA loan. Eventually, when I got to the process of buying the house or of getting the house under contract, the, what else I'm going to say?

The lender came back to me and said that if I put 5% down, I would be able to buy the property by myself. So I just did that because it made sense to do so. And so I bought the house. Now I'm a homeowner. And then I got the call that I was getting sent to like the middle of the desert for field exercise for like two months. So I had the house, but I didn't have any tenants.

And I didn't want to pay my mortgage. You know, I bought the house to house act, not to pay my own mortgage. And so I basically, I made, I created, I took, I created, the system trained a buddy to do all of it for me and ended up renting out all the bedrooms while I was gone on that exercise. And it's a phenomenal deal today. I get, uh, it depends on the month like $13 to $1,500 a month in cash flow because I rent out all the bedrooms and I sleep on a futon. And I think it works out to like a, a 20 or 70% percent return or something like that, it's abnormally high because I only had to put 5% down. But that's like the rough breakdown.

Oh, should I go like deeper into the numbers like purchase prices and stuff like that? I want to do that in just a minute. But before we get into that, I want to give a little bit of an explanation. So because you're a veteran, because you're active duty, you have the option of a VA loan, which typically comes with a zero percent down payment. It's one of two loan programs that I know of that are zero down payment options, most like a convention. is a 3% down is the lowest you can go and a FHA loan is a 3.5%. I don't want to get too far into the weeds because this is aimed at younger listeners, but the VA loan normally comes with a 0% down,

but he couldn't qualify with his current income and all of his situation with the 0% down. But if he could come up with 5% down, then he qualifies by himself. So that's a very interesting option. I'm so glad your lender told you that, because if you have the opportunity to buy a house by yourself, you are ultimately responsible for everything. But then also you get all of the sweet, sweet cash flow of, what did you say, $1,500 a month? That doesn't happen in rental property unless your cash, unless you're house hacking. I like what you said. I didn't want to pay my mortgage. I wanted a house hack. I wanted somebody else to

pay my mortgage. Good for you. I was going to say, just before we get into the numbers of the house Jack, Jabbar, I want to take a step back and focus on a couple of things you mentioned in that journey of making your first purchase that have to do with mindset, I think. So you went, you went to lender number one and said, I'm a 19-year-old Marine. I want to buy a house. I want to live in it. And maybe you told him about the house hacking strategy probably didn't matter. They said, no, hard no. Jabar went to lender number two and did the same thing. He went to 13 or 14 lenders, I think it was. And I remember as you were going through this process of no after no after no. And in my mind, I'm thinking, this kid will not take no for an answer. He just kept going

and this all goes back to mindset. And we can get back into this maybe later in the interview. You know, where does that mindset for you come from? And then the other piece that illustrates that is that, and I remember when Jabbar was going through this too, because we do a weekly Zoom call in the Sheeks Freaks. And so Jabbar, is one of the guys that's like he's he does everything you can to be on it. So as soon as he closed on that house, he got, which is on the East Coast, I think you were in the desert in Arizona for that field mission. And he's logging into the Zoom calls and his fatigues and it's in the debt.

And you can tell he's in the middle of nowhere in the desert. He's operating this house hack from probably really spotty Wi-Fi in the middle of the desert on assignment. you know, three time zones away. He trained his buddy to do it. He was emailing and texting and phone calls as much as he could to get that thing rented while he was, you know, across the country. That mindset as well, that fortitude, that perseverance to say,

whatever roadblocks come at me, I'm going over them. I'm breaking through these brick walls. I'm going to make it happen. It's going to happen. And most people after the first lender says no, say, well, I tried. I guess I'll just wait. So I'm 20 or 21. Jabbar said no.

I'm going to go to 13 more lenders until I get a maybe. And then he made it happen. So we'll get into mindset later, Jabbar. Let's dive into those numbers a little bit on the house stack. What did you buy it for? What was the negotiation like? What are you getting per room? All that good stuff.

Yeah. So purchased the house for $246,000. They were asking, I think, $255,000, brought them down a little bit. I think I offered like $2.30, but not in this market. But it was on the market for a little bit. So it came down to $246 and then had all my closing costs paid for and stuff like that. So that was all into it for $22,000 because I put $5% down. So that's like $12,000 and plus like furniture.

and then my funding fee, the VA funding fees. That's something there. And so I get between 732 and 850 per bedroom. The house is in Savannah, Georgia. It's not like a high cost of living area or anything like that. I just, Todd Baldwin, if you listen to his podcast on the OG Bigger Pockets podcast, the real estate one, he talks about the different amenities he has, like a professional house cleaner. lawn care and just creating like an environment that's or just creating like a house hack or a rent by the bedroom business rather than just like renting a bedroom to a buddy.

So I just copied that same strategy, employed it. And it works it worked great. So I get I guess. Yeah, like I said, $13 to $1,500 a month in cash flow. It really varies depending on like the level of maintenance that I'm doing or utilities. They fluctuate a little. bit. And so I think like that works out to like 70%. If I was getting, yeah, it's like it's, it might be higher than that. And that's just on, that's just cash on cash return on investment. So that doesn't count like the other wealth generators that make real estate such an amazing asset class to invest in, like the tax benefits, the loan pay down, which really, that's like forced retirement savings. And then your potential appreciation. So yeah, it's definitely, definitely the best decision I've ever made in my life. And then another thing to point out,

the reason why I started like, I paid that pivot into real estate is because with stocks, right? I invest, let's say, $1,000 to $2,000 a month. And then I have a million dollars at $35. 4% rule tells you 4% of a million dollars is $40,000 a year.

So that's how I kind of like do the comparison in my head because what matters to me is cash flow. I want that passive recurring income. So with a house hack, I'm able to get like, I don't know, that's like almost a third of the way there with like $22,000. So like just I do one this year. Imagine I just do one this year, one next year, and the one the other year and then the fourth year, boom. I'm already like greater than that $40,000 mark. And I put way less of my personal capital in every month.

So it really, really makes a lot of sense. I think house hacking is it's just a way for like the little guy to really become the big guy because it just changes everything. And that's just by buying one a year. So imagine you buy two and three, four, you know, the stack you exponentially grow. And all of a sudden, you're sitting very happy and in a short amount of time. So that's why I kind of start focusing on real estate. And now like I don't invest every month into the market.

So hopefully no one's mad at me about that. but I save money to invest in more real estate because that's like the goal anyway. And that's a great transition, you're right. I would love to spend more time in the house sack, but we want to kind of get to where we are today. So you bought that first house hack. You're living in it and you're renting out the bedrooms and it's going really well. Between then and now, what have you done with real estate? Where are you at now?

So I just closed on another property. about 17 days ago. It's a 600,000 three-bedroom, three-bath short-term vacation rental in the Smokies. I just partnered on that one. Someone from the Sheets Freaks, that's another

value of being in a group like that is like, you guys could kind of solve each other's problems because when I spent that $22 grand on that house hack, I didn't have enough money to go out and just start, you know, deploying capital over and over again. So I kind of just was like, hey, I don't have a lot of money, but I still want to buy more houses.

So the way to do that for me was by partnering with somebody else because you don't need in real estate, you need the time, the expertise, and then the money, I think it is. But you don't need all of them. You just need like maybe one. Did you say you bought a $600,000 house? Yeah, I know. It's crazy, right? At age 20. Yeah.

Short-term rental in the Smoky Mountains. So now you own your second property. I'm looking up buying the third one. I'm trying to get to a million-dollar real estate portfolio before the end of the year. It's kind of difficult with only two months left. Well, only two months left, but you have a $600,000 house and a $250,000 house. So you only need another $150,000 house to get to a million dollars. in real estate by age 20.

Yeah. Okay. So it sounds like I could talk to you all day long, but it sounds like we need to get you on the real estate rookie podcast with that, once you get to that million dollar rental property, what was it, million dollar rental portfolio because that's so sorry you don't have any confidence in yourself or you don't have any ambition. Holy cow. I look at it.

It's like forced retirement. Can you speak to that just real quick, Jabbar? What is it that you think creates the mindset for you to accomplish these things at such an early age? What is it that, you know, because it's different. This is not what the normal 19, 20 year old is doing. You know, just in a paragraph or two. how do you approach mindset?

How do you learn about it? How do you maximize your capability? For me personally, and this comes back to, I spoke about it very poorly at the beginning, but I talked about how I was abused essentially when I was younger growing up. And growing up, I was told I was never going to be anything. I was told I was going to fail.

I was told that I was going to be a janitor. Like my, she used to tell me, like to stop doing my homework and to come down and sweep the floor to work on my job. janitorial skills. And so I took that and I didn't like let it. I started, you know, I started to live life. And I was like, I'm not going to be that person.

It just kind of like lit a fire under my belly to say like, hey, I'm going to be something. I'm going to do something with my life and try and be successful. And worst case scenario, I become successful because I'm not going to take no for an answer. So that is a little bit that has something to do with it. Another thing is like every single day. I mean, I'm waking up and I have an obsession. I have like an obsession with becoming wealthy because I want to create a better life for when I eventually have children. And then for other people who kind of are underserved in the community with stuff like that.

So I think that if I'm able to accomplish that at like a younger age, like if I like do all the hard work now while I have all this energy and I can wake up at four and only get five hours of sleeping, you know, and do all this stuff, then by the time I'm older, would be very happy about it. So it's just like the opportunity cost. Like put in all the time and effort and work now so that in the future, and it can be very quickly if you go hard enough, you can have like your cake and eat it too. It's just like delaying the instant gratification. Yeah, I just, I work on my mindset every single day in the morning.

I do affirmations, do the manifestations and all that stuff. And yeah, and I just don't like losing or quit. or any of that stuff. I just want to kind of figure out how to make it. You just kind of have to have that mentality. It's like I'm not going to fail. I'm going to just succeed. Awesome.

You are going to just succeed. You're not going to just succeed. You are going to be the manifestation of that Bill Gates quote, I said. You're going to think you can do this much. And in 10 years, you're going to be like, wow, I thought it would be cool to have a million dollar real estate portfolio, but now I have $20 million. In five years, Jabbar will be running the country, and in 10 years he'll be running the world.

It's basically what it comes down to. I love it. Actually, no, in five years, he's not able to run the country. You have to wait until you're, is it 35 or 40 to be president? Gosh. So, you know, work on other things until you have aged into the president. You'll be retired for 10 years by then. Yeah.

And that's another thing, because like, this is the money pocket. right? It's like with real estate, you can really expedite your, like, way to financial freedom. I feel like so much faster. Because we've all seen that, like, Instagram post that if you put $20 away or $200 a month away for 40 years, by the time you're 65, you'll have a million dollars, I look at that as low paydown. Like, loan paydown is that's that. You know, you get a million dollars of real estate. And over 30 years, it gets paid down. Now you have a million dollars free and clear in assets. But then the great thing is like you get like the cash flow that helps you quit your job now.

That gives you that passive income to step down and, you know, focus on what makes you happy. And then your appreciation just makes you rich. So now like you just, you're just walking around like all happy and stuff because you have like the trifecta of, I don't know, financial freedom, personal finance, fire. Because like this, this property I'm buying will put me at projected, right, projections. Like nothing's short and free and clear stuff like. That will put me at like $30,000 a year, right, in cash flow. $30,000 a year in cash flow, now that's another down payment on, you know, on, I guess, cheaper houses. But like, it just starts to scale up from there.

So then you get another one or another two, and now you're at $60,000 and another two. And now you're at math, math, $90,000. And so now, like, I mean, maybe you're making more money than, you know, you were at your job and you can, you can just step away. For me, I can't step away. I can become financially free today. I still have three more years left on my contract. But by the time I'm finished with my contract,

I won't have to work again. That's the goal. No, I won't have to work again. Unless obviously life happens. Life will happen. Let me just tell you as the voice of experience here. Life will happen. But you are,

so something that Dan mentions in his book, it's called First to a Million. It's a really amazing book. You have to read this book. If you're listening to this episode and are at all, inspired by Jabbar, as I am. Like, I have goosebumps.

Your story is so good and you're so enthusiastic and numbers don't lie. But the whole reason that you pursue financial independence is to open up your life options. You're 20 years old right now. You are most likely going to be financially independent by the time you're 25 when you get out of the Marine Corps. You could fall in love with the Marines in the next. three years and want to renew. That's the option that you have. But if you took every dime that you made from your salary right now, and you weren't investing in real estate and you weren't investing in the stock

market, and you were instead investing in iPhones, which is not an investment, you are spending your money on things that don't generate money back. So it's not an investment. You spend money and maybe you look real sharp all the time in those brand new clothes that you have and you're always going out to dinner and you're going on a ton of dates and you're spending every dime you have, your only option in five years is to either renew and continue on this place where you know or go out, not renew, go out and get a job to continue in generating income so that you can do all of these things that you want to do. But by changing what you're doing now, these little tiny bits, it's not like you're surrounded by millionaires and everybody else is spending all this money and you're just like, oh, man,

I don't have anything. You're in the Marine Corps. You don't have a lot of like free time, right? They kind of tell you what to do. They run the show. So what good does it do having a $50,000 car sitting in the parking lot all day long? Like maybe sometimes you can go and look at it, but you're not going to be able to drive it because you have to do your work.

But in five years, you are free. You are open and you can do anything, which includes continuing to work if you choose. It includes volunteering if you choose. It includes not working for a while, take some time off and travel. Do whatever you want because you've gotten your financial situation taken care of. And now the whole world is open to you. And that's the whole reason we pursue financial independence. That's the whole reason that we continue to promote this.

idea and the younger you start, the less you have to invest because you have the power of compound interest. And I know I sound preachy and luxury and I sound like your mom. And that's okay because I'm a mom. It's my job to sound like this. I'll throw in real quick. The book that I wrote first to a million, Jabbar is highlighted in that book as a featured freak. So if people want to learn more about Jabbar's story, he is, he's highlighted in the book. And it tells more about his journey and where he's been. Yeah. This book is, I was reading this book and at first I was reading, I was just flipping through

it to see, you know, first I was finding Jabbar's episode or Jabbar's interview here. And then I'm flipping through it, and I'm like, you know what? You could read this book in several different ways. If you just flip through and find the quotes, there's a lot of quotes. They're big prints. They're real easy to see. Find the quotes first. If this, if you're thinking, this sounds interesting, but I'm not sold.

Read through the quotes. Just slip through the book and read through the quotes. You're like, that makes sense. That makes sense. I can see how that's, yep, yep, yep. And all of a sudden, you're going to be like, I've got to go back to the beginning and read the whole book. It's so easy to read.

It's so non-preachy. I didn't write this book, Dan did. It's so non-preachy. And it's so, it's just opening your mind up to a different way to think about money. And when you get money out of the way, you can go on to lead your best life. And that is exact, knowing Jabbar and knowing his heart, when he reaches early financial independence,

he's going to do exactly that. He's not going to just be selfish with all of his freedom and time and money. He's going to be giving back. He's going to be helping others. He's going to be mentoring. And that option to help other people much earlier than where most people get it is the reason I wrote the book is because I think that if young people can reach early financial independence and then they have options. Some of those options are

going to be passing it, paying it forward, passing it along, mentoring others, helping others, volunteering, donating, et cetera, which I know Jabbar will do. Yes, sir. I just want to throw one or two things, but really short though. Just like for young people, because this is something like I feel like most of us really need to realize. is that like our real advantage just comes from us being young. Like the time aspect of it is like such a big deal. Because let's say I go on this journey and then five years, I lose everything or something like that, right?

My worst case scenario is I go and get a job. And you know, my worst case, I'm like everybody else. I go and get a job and I'm like everybody else. Or I go to school like everybody else went to school. Like that's my worst case scenario. My best case scenario is I get to be financially free and getting a job is optional. Or like, you know, because at some point you're going to, you're going to long for something. You're going to long for some type of freedom.

You're not going to always want to do the same routine or have to. So just give yourself that option. And then the second thing is surround yourself with other like-minded individuals who are going to push you and like motivate you towards your goal. So I said it before. five, you're the average of the five people you spend the most time with, like, start actively reaching out and connecting with people who are high level. I know people who are my age doing way better than me. So like that, those are people, I'm chasing them. I know like a 25-year-old making like 140 grand a month. And like, I'm like, wow, I want to make 140 grand a month. Like,

how do I do that? But it shows me that it's possible. So don't look at my story, Dan story, Mindy's story, anyone's story and like feel jealous or kind of feel like you can't do it. Look at the stories of other people and draw inspiration from it because that inspiration can give you an idea of how you can kind of do something with your life. Because I had no idea. Like that was even, you know, some things were even possible until I got to hear other people's stories. So just like actively like look for that.

Actively look for what's possible because it'll blow your mind. Absolutely could not agree more. I have loved spending time with you. This is probably my favorite episode that we have ever recorded. Your enthusiasm, your excitement. I'm so excited that we were able to talk today, but we're not done. We still have more. We still have our famous four.

And I didn't mean to rhyme like that. It just happened. Jabbar, are you ready? Yes. Okay. Of all the finance books that you have read, what is your favorite finance books? Oh, this is a tough one. And I was thinking about this.

I'm just going to out, everyone cops out at rich staff for that because that's what started for me, but I'm going to say I will teach you to be rich by Remis Sethi. I think that's what kind of opened my eyes. And I hope I said his name right, but that's what opened my eyes to, like, what is even possible. I didn't know, like, you could almost

calculate how you can almost like 99% increase the probability that you'll be a millionaire. by like investing. And he really gave you like that breakdown. So I'd recommend that one. It's a great personal finance. Yeah, that's an awesome book. Sorry.

It's dance. It's dance. First to a million. It's a tie. Well, you'll just say it's a tie. Yeah. It's tie with Rameet.

Wow, that's good. Okay. So first to a million is actually available starting today. You can find it at the Bigger Pockets Bookstore, BiggerPockets.com slash store or wherever books are sold. All right. Next, Jabbar. Question number two. What is your biggest money mistake? Oh, hmm. I thought about this one too. And so on my finance journey, you know, you just kind of want to get there a little bit faster. So I was reaching out to people like social media influencers on Instagram. Maybe this will be a lesson for other people.

I reached out to this guy. He has like 30,000 followers on Twitter. And he had this like investment. I mean, he was. looks like he's making crazy money. Like he flexes like three million dollar crypto portfolios and making tens of thousands of dollars a day. So basically, um, he does this thing where you give him money, you give him $2,000 and then you put, I think, like $2,000 in the account. He trades for you and then you split it 50-50. And for me, since I've been following this guy for so long, I thought it was legit. So I gave the guy by $2,000 to start it up and never heard from him again. and lost my $2,000. So that one stung.

But learning lessons, that was my last scam. I won't be scammed again. Happens once and then never again. Hopefully, I am sorry that you lost $2,000. That's a lot of money. We're throwing around million-dollar sums here, like you just are swimming in cash. But $2,000 is still a lot of money.

I hope that guy stubs his toe every day for the rest of his life, his baby toe, just whack that on the table every time you walk past it. And I hope he gets caught. That is awful and he is a terrible person. A good rule of thumb is, if it sounds too good to be true, it probably is. Dan, you have an amazing bit of advice here in your book about cryptocurrency. That is fantastic. You shouldn't invest in anything you don't understand.

That is a quote from Warren Buffett. and you said, you know, cryptocurrency is this hot new thing and everybody wants to, you can find anybody on the internet saying that they've made a billion dollars a minute in cryptocurrency. I am a very savvy investor and I have zero dollars in cryptocurrency. I don't understand it. I don't believe in it. I am not asking anybody to call me up and explain it. Please direct those emails to somebody else.

I'm not interested in cryptocurrency. I do just find in real estate. I do just find in the stock market. I'm good. but there's this fear of missing out and there's this like shiny new object syndrome. So you say, in your book, you say, test your knowledge. Go to one of your parents and ask them if they understand how cryptocurrencies work. If they don't, explain it to them.

When you're done, ask them if they now understand cryptocurrencies. If they still don't, you probably don't fully understand them yourself and you should either do more research or stay out of cryptocurrencies altogether. Scott is the co-host that helps me with your episode, Dan, last week. And Scott has like $5 in cryptocurrency. I can't remember how much he has, but he has like very, very little in regards to his net worth. He could afford to lose it all and he'd be fine.

And if that's another rule of thumb for investing, if you're putting in so much money that you can't afford to lose it all, you shouldn't have it in there. And that's for every single kind of investment. Jabbar, you have this I could never, ever, ever, ever lose attitude, which is awesome. But I also want to encourage you to run your numbers when you're doing your real estate just to make sure that it makes sense as the investment that you're trying for. And also, does it make sense in a different method? Like your Smoky Mountain property, you have it as a short-term rental. The Smoky Mountains short-term rental business is almost a can't lose.

But again, I'm not encouraging you to go down to the Smoky Mountains. I'm encouraging you to do your research. But the Smoky Mountains isn't established. Like, it's the number one visited national park in America. So there's a steady influx. It's not like everybody goes there today and then next week it's not going to be cool anymore. Like it's been consistently the number one. And if you look at where it's located, it's within a day's drive of like 45%

of American population or something. There's a reason that it's so popular. So that as is, the short-term rental is great. And they just had a fire a few years ago. So like everything was wiped out. So now that there's houses again, people are coming back and they're super excited to go see it. But, you know, definitely run your numbers.

And if you're going to do short-term, does it also work as a long-term rental if the short-term mental market dries up? And again, the Smoky Mountain short-term rental market drying up is probably not really going to happen. But, you know, multiple exit strategies is another great way to ensure your success in real estate. And I feel like I'm lecturing, so I'm going to stop

and just ask you the next question. Well, and then just last thing is just like, have reserves. Like my friend Eric, he taught me a lot about real estate when I was first learning, or starting guy, met him on bigger pockets. And he told me, he said, cash solves a lot of problems.

So if you're going to make an investment like that or if you're going to invest in anything, just have a lot of money set aside to kind of mitigate your risk. So I have reserves. I have reserves for all of my property, the two properties that I own. And I don't be a paycheck to paycheck landlord or real estate investor because it will not end well for you. Oh, so that was my next question. What is your best piece of advice for people? who are just starting out, yes, have reserves because cash does solve a lot of problems.

I like that a lot. I like that quote a lot. All right. Next question, Jabbar. What is your favorite joke to tell at parties? Oh, see, I spent like so much time trying to figure this out. And then I memorized the joke because I don't go to parties and I don't tell kid-friendly jokes because I'm a Marine. and I forgot the jokes.

So could I get an alibi? Oh, I have a lot of jokes. Oh, Dan, do you have a joke? Go ahead. I have a lot of teacher jokes, as we talked about last week. I'll throw in there, Jabar. I'll ask you, why was the math book so sad? Because he had so many problems. Teacher joke all day long, teacher joke.

It is bad, but it made you laugh. What is the name of the Marines' favorite book? The Marines' favorite book? Harry Porter. Harry Porter? Porter. That's pretty bad, too. It's a C joke.

Oh, okay. Yeah. Yeah, when you have to explain them, they're really awful. Okay, Jabbar, where can people find out more about you? If you've been listening to this episode, I think you should reach out to Jabar because he's apparently got nothing better than talk about money and real estate all day, every day. Yeah.

I have, I'm on almost everything, so you can follow me on Instagram and TikTok at Jabar underscore Invest Star. So it's J-A-B-B-B, so there's two B's in there, A-R, underscore invest star. So instead of investor, invest star. And then Bigger Pockets and Cheats Freaks at Jabbar at DeSada. And we will include links to the episode that you talked about with Todd Baldwin and your social media links in our show notes, which can be found at biggerpockets.com

slash Money Show 255. Jabar, I have absolutely loved meeting you and hearing your story. This is one of the most inspirational stories I have heard. And your can-do attitude and I don't take no for an answer and I'm never going to quit is just going to propel you to millionaire status way before you're 34. Thank you so much. This is great. I want to throw in just one extra little discount opportunity. Anyone listen to this podcast or a young person or if you know a young person, we met.

mentioned the sheiks freaks community that Jabbar is in. If they want to go to sheiksfreaks.com, there's a free membership option, and there's also paid. If they want to do the paid membership option into Sheeks' Freaks and meet up with people like Jabar, they can use the discount code Jabbar, all lowercase, and they'll get a nice discount on the paid version of the Sheeks Freaks' Online Community. The free version has a lot of value, too. Either one is a great option. So discount code Jabbar. That's awesome. That discount code is J-A-B-B-A-R.

Okay, Jabar, thank you again for your time. This is so much fun. And we'll talk to you soon. Okay, Dan, that was Jabar Adis Adda. And he has blown my mind. I love his enthusiasm. I love his love of life and his attitude and his just, I'm going to do it all.

And he was absolutely amazing. I'm so excited to have talked to him today. Yeah, I'm glad it worked out to have him on the show. He is definitely one of the leaders in the Sheiks Freaks community. He's on all the Zoom calls. He's in all the forums, and he's giving advice, and he's a leader. And what he's accomplished is impressive, but I cannot wait to see where he is five years from now. It's going to be mind-blowing.

It absolutely is. And I want to highlight something from his story. He is doing it. He is taking action. He is making things happen. He's not sitting back and waiting for life to drag him along. And we didn't highlight that enough during the show. You can't get to where he's gotten to by doing all the same things that everybody else does.

He could very well. It's easier to spend all your money and do what everybody else is doing and not. think outside the box. But when you think outside the box, you can set yourself up for life. He is set for life. And now he has to wait those extra three years for the rest of his military contract to be done so he can live his best life. But he's not waiting. He's still pushing forward and moving forward. And I'm so excited for what he's going to accomplish in two years, three years, five years. When he gets out of the military, he's going to crush it.

He is absolutely crushing life now. And it's really kind of hard to remember that he's only 20 years old as he's telling his story. I've heard that same story from people who are starting out at 30, starting out at 40, starting out at 50, 60. He's figured out the secret to finances at age 18. And it is simply spend less than you earn. invest wisely and keep pushing forward. And he's just the embodiment of all of that.

And I loved his story. Yeah, he's in the Featured freak interview that's in the book. He mentions his favorite money technique is just to pay himself first a set amount of money, which I think is, by the way, one of the most important money strategies for anybody is just to pay yourself first. but then he also got into the house hacking. And I also believe that house hacking is one of the, if not the best way to get into real estate, especially when you're young. And he's not going to stop.

You know, he's going to, I kind of call it the Craig Curlop effect. He's going to take that strategy and do one and then another and then another. But he didn't wait another year to get that second house hack. He said, no, no, no, no. I need my second property now. He bought that short term rental in the Smoky Mountain. but he knew he couldn't do it by himself. So he another barrier came up.

He found that way around the barrier. He found a partner who had the money. He had the time and the expertise. He's just, he's a solution finder. And he won't take no for an answer. It's awesome. Yeah, there's Brandon Turner from the real estate podcast has a saying that he says frequently, 50% of a good deal is better than zero percent of a deal.

No, wait, what does he say? Zero percent of no deal, yeah. 50 percent of a good deal is better than 100 percent of no deal. And it's for people who are like, oh, I don't really want to have a partner. Having a partner will teach you a lot of things about working with other people and what you can do for someone, what they can do for you. They can fill a gap in your, in this case, in his funding. There's, he didn't have to wait. And he's now able to generate income from a property that he otherwise would.

be able to generate income from. So partnership is not always a bad word. And you can learn a lot about a ton of different things. The best partner brings in things that you don't have. So if you're really great at finding deals, partnering with somebody who's really great at finding deals might not be the best partner. But if you're really great at finding deals but you don't have any money, partnering with a money person fills the gap. So you really want a partner that like helps you become whole. Yeah. And I wouldn't bet against Jabbar. I mean, he mentioned that he wants to have, I think, a million dollars in rental portfolio by the end of the year. I think I would not bet against.

He'll find a way to do it. I would not bet against him either. That's absolutely right. Okay, Dan, this episode ran really long today, and I could have talked to Jabbar for another five hours. He's awesome. But we should get out of here. Are you ready? I'm ready.

From episode 255 of the Bigger Pockets Money podcast. He is Dan Sheeks, author of First to a Million. And I am Indy Jensen, hoping you are the first to a million.