A few months after giving birth to my twins I was struggling with my self-worth. We had three little girls under the age of 3 and child care for those three was more than I could make with a Bachelor’s degree in English Education. A high school teacher salary could not afford child care for three (it can barely afford child care for one!). 

We made the economical choice for me to be primary caregiver and Travis to be primary breadwinner. But I was struggling. I like to feel useful and that I am contributing in all aspects to my family. Yes, I did the cooking, cleaning, laundry, book-reading, and game playing, but I felt like I had much more to contribute. I needed to use my brain!

While reading a blog, I stumbled upon this concept of becoming the CFO of my family. And I had an “Ah-hah” moment. This is something I could do. Now, this blog post suggested I get really good at the stock market and become an expert on this subject. So I dove in. I checked out a bunch of books from the library and started my research.

But I soon became overwhelmed and frustrated. Why? Because the stock market is intangible. It was hard for me to wrap my brain around something I couldn’t touch and feel. I quickly abandoned the stock market research and instead dove into budgeting and cost control. This was something I could wrap my brain around.

But, again, that didn’t seem enough. There are two ways to make money: 1. increase your income, 2. control your costs.

I was darn good at controlling our costs. But how could I help increase our income? I toyed with all sorts of ideas…..medical transcriptionist, virtual assistant, in-home daycare, teaching swim lessons, selling stuff online. But none of that seemed enough.

Again I turned to what I had been learning about investing. I wanted to learn how to invest and become good at it. But if not the stock market, what else was there?

Real Estate.

The first book I read on real estate was “Building Wealth One House at a Time” by John Schaub. This book blew my mind. Not only was real estate something I could touch and feel, it had MUCH more power to turn my money into a rocket ship than the stock market ever could. And thus, my journey began.

Education is powerful, my friends. And I commend you for spending time learning whether it is on my site, reading books, listening to podcasts, or other sites. You can become the Chief Financial Officer of your home whatever that home looks like. Be the one who is educated and then make good financial decisions.

And if real estate makes sense to you like it did to me, I am here to help you every step of the way. You can invest with For Good Investing and then drive by the apartment building you co-own and see for yourself how much good your money is doing not only for yourself and your family, but for other families who need a nice place to live.