Do you dream about owning rental properties so you can generate semi-passive income while spending more time with your family?
I want to hear about those dreams. What would you do with that time?
Travel?
Exercise?
Read?
It’s so motivating for me to learn what you would do with that kind of freedom.
At the same time, it’s my job to remind you to not ignore key personal finance fundamentals while you’re dreaming about the future.
When it comes to buying rental properties, this is especially true.
Let me explain.
If you’ve been keeping up with the blog, we’ve now learned how to run the numbers on potential real estate deals.
In fact, I showed you that the analysis is not actually that hard. Your job is simply to account for the fixed costs and make informed predictions for the speculative costs.
Then, we did the math together on an actual property in my target zone. By using a real example in Chicago, my goal was to further convince you that running the numbers should be easy.
Finally, we talked about how to evaluate a rental property when the initial math looks bad. The truth is most rental properties are not going to immediately look like great investments. It’s our job as investors to negotiate and look for potential.
By this point, you may be thinking that buying a rental property sounds great, except for one big problem:
How are you supposed to come up with the money for a downpayment?
Great question.
It’s such a great question that it requires us to take a step back.
Before evaluating rental properties, you need to evaluate your personal finances.
It’s no secret that in order to buy a rental property, you first need available money for the downpayment.
Unless you plan on taking on partners or getting the money from family, coming up with a sufficient downpayment is a major challenge.
Yes, there are loan options available that require a smaller downpayment. We’ll soon talk about some of those options. I’ve used loans like this in the past.
Still, a “smaller downpayment” does not mean “no downpayment.”
So, how can you come up with a downpayment?
For a downpayment, you need to have available money.
To have available money, you need a budget that actually works.
To have a budget that actually works, you need honest, powerful life goals.
Does this sound familiar?
It all comes back to money mindset.
When was the last time you checked in on your money mindset?
If you take a look at the Think and Talk Money homepage, you’ll see six main category tabs across the top of the page:
Each one of these categories builds upon the previous categories.
It all starts with money mindset.
A strong money mindset is the foundation of the personal finance journey. Maintaining a strong money mindset requires constant and intentional thought.

I revisit my money mindset every week by taking a quick look at my Tiara Goals for Financial Freedom.
It may seem overly simplistic, but money mindset is what separates people who reach financial freedom from those who struggle to get ahead in life.
Don’t believe me?
Budgeting is really not that hard. We all understand the basic concept: spend less money than you earn. Still, most of us can’t do it.
The same applies to debt and credit. We all know to avoid debt. We know to use credit responsibly. So, why don’t we do it?
Investing can seem complicated at first. Is it really that hard? Entire books and websites have been created to show you how to create massive wealth through simple index funds.
What about buying rental properties? We did the math together. Analyzing deals is not that hard. The impediment for most people is coming up with the money for a downpayment.
You may be in a similar boat right now. You want to buy a rental property but you’re discouraged because you don’t have the downpayment saved up.
It’s not just about how much money you make.
Buying rental properties is not just about how much money you make. Plenty of lawyers and professionals make a lot of money and struggle to come up with any excess money to invest.
Sadly, the struggles don’t just relate to coming up with money for investments.
Lawyers as a profession have long struggled with mental health issues. I first learned about these challenges during law school orientation. Today, I see it in practice.
Being a lawyer is a hard way to make a living. When you work as a lawyer, the hours are intense and stress levels are consistently high.
In 2023, the Washington Post analyzed data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor to determine what the most stressful jobs are. The study confirmed that lawyers are the most stressed.
Of course, lawyers are not alone in struggling in this regard due to long, stressful hours.
The same study showed that people working in the finance and insurance industries were right up there with lawyers as being highly stressed.
Well, what can we do about it?
How can we address these struggles?
Where can we find money for a downpayment?
I have some thoughts.
How motivated are you to truly get ahead in life?
Are you truly motivated to get ahead in life?
Have you worked on your money mindset and found the motivation to actually create a budget that generates savings?
If you’ve successfully created a budget and still need to generate more fuel, have you thought about a side hustle?
When I mention side hustle, is your initial reaction that you’re too busy or important?
Some lawyers and professionals reading this won’t even allow themselves to consider a side hustle. They automatically think, “I’m way too skilled or busy to even think about another job.”
In my personal finance class, we spend a lot of time challenging that notion.
Very few people- and I mean very few- are too important or too busy to take on a side hustle.
For most of us, it’s an excuse.
You may think you’re one of those “too important” people.
I would challenge you to assess whether you’re confusing “too important” with “too stressed” or “too tired” or “too cool.”
Is continuing to worry about money really better than spending a few hours a week earning extra money doing something you love?
Setting that conversation aside, the ideal side hustle is something you enjoy doing that can earn you extra money at the same time.
Some examples of side hustles my students have come up with in class include:
- Bartending. Entice your friends to come to your bar by offering cheap drinks. You get to hang out with them and get paid at the same time.
- Fitness instructor. Instead of paying $48 for the spin class you love, become the instructor and get paid to lead the class.
- Dog Walker. If you love dogs and don’t currently have one of your own, what better way to fill that void in your life while making money. The same applies to babysitting.
- Home Baker. Make homemade treats with your kids and sell them to parents who don’t have the time.
How about this idea for aspiring real estate investors: part-time property manager?
My wife and I recently needed some help with apartment showings. We reached out to one of our favorite young people in the world to see if she’d be interested.
A chance to make some money on the side and learn a new skill?
She jumped on board without hesitation.
We’ve known her for years and were not the least bit surprised. She’s exactly the type of person who will no doubt be successful in whatever she chooses to do.
There is always a way to make more money.
The point is there are always ways to make more money by doing things you like to do anyways. Even if you’re busy. You just have to exert some mental energy to figure out how.
Then, when you make that extra money, put it to work for you. Make all your hustle worth it.
At that point, we can talk about investing or buying real estate.
Unfortunately, most people don’t want to go through this process.

Too many lawyers and professionals come to me and primarily want to talk about investing or buying real estate.
They want to skip the foundation and jump right to the more exciting stuff.
Most of the time, these are people who have never kept a budget. Or, they have massive student loan debt with no real plan to pay it off. Maybe they have a good W-2 job but no other sources of income.
When I start exploring their situations with them, it’s clear they haven’t thought much about the personal finance building blocks.
When they mention how hard it is to save for a downpayment, they haven’t considered looking for a new job that pays more or starting a side hustle.
Before jumping right to owning rental properties, these are the personal finance obstacles that need to be addressed.
If this sounds like the situation you are in, your ongoing mission is to generate more cash to fuel investments.
The fun part is once you’ve discovered your motivations and established strong habits, you will consistently have money available so you can invest month after month for the rest of your life.
My wife and I would not own five properties today if we didn’t first learn personal money wellness.
My wife and I would not own five properties (11 rental units) today if we had not first learned money wellness fundamentals.
I don’t just mean we wouldn’t have had money available to invest, although that is certainly true.
I also mean we wouldn’t have the skills and knowledge to successfully run our real estate business.
If you’ve ever wanted to be a business owner or investor, working on personal finance skills now is critical.
Robert Kiyosaki put it best in Rich Dad Poor Dad, “It’s not how much money you make. It’s how much money you keep.”
If you knew someone that made $1,000,000 per year, and at the end of the year, had only invested $20,000, what would your reaction be?
What if you knew someone who made $100,000 per year and invested $20,000? Did your reaction change?
How often do you think about your money mindset?
Do you tend to think more about the “fun stuff” (investing, real estate) than the fundamentals (money mindset, budgeting, debt, etc.)?
Let us know about your money mindset in the comments below.