Early retirement was a goal for today’s guest, Antoinette Munroe, the moment she started making money. Her money journey started in second grade when she sold her Halloween candy for extra cash. By high school, she graduated to selling a wide variety of different things and even started her own distribution network with her cousins at their respective schools.
By the time she got to college, her main focus was staying out of trouble, avoiding debt and saving. It wasn’t until her last semester of grad school that she had to take out loans. After graduation, her priorities shifted, and she got a job to pay off her debt. Starting with her first check at her new job, she laid out her budget ABCs. Her ABCs follow a simple principle; automation, balance, and consistency. And after two years, she paid off her $27,000 debt!
In 2015 she decided to start looking for a home, and by the end of 2015, she purchased one. She did a complete rehab on the house while also adding an addition in hopes of getting rid of her expenses to achieve her ultimate goal of not having to work. She put the finished addition on Airbnb, and it now cash flows and pays her expenses. After she realizing the power of real estate investing to build net worth and generate wealth, she did this three more times and now owns four cash-flowing properties. She is now retired and lives the free life of leisure she always envisioned for herself.
Mindy:
Welcome to the BiggerPockets Money podcast, show number 295, where we interview Antoinette Monroe and hear her journey to financial independence through real estate in just five short years.
Antoinette:
I realized that I didn’t want to be a contractor. I was cool with the real estate investing part and so that’s April 29th on my birthday at 36, I said, “That’s it. Not working for anybody else anymore. I’m just going to chart my own path. There’s enough cash flow that if I don’t want to work, I don’t have to, but I like this real estate thing,…