If you were to take a survey of the #1 obstacle to signing up for a triathlon, or going on a long cycling adventure, you would find that the lack of money is what prevents many from taking action. Do you have to be rich to live a traveling lifestyle? Who told us, we don’t have the money? I would often catch myself asking the very same questions. Wait…hold up, how do others do it? Haven’t we all seen people blogging, sharing youtube videos, instagram and facebook posts of their adventures? If they can do it, why can’t I? Let’s nip this in the bud right now and find ways towards planning and living the life we want.
DISCLAIMER: I’m not a professional financial planner, nor do I work at a financial firm. My husband and I have made the decision to live DEBT FREE and create multiple passive incomes not only to cycle travel whenever we want, but to be free from financial bondage. We’re spending countless of hours researching and learning from financial professionals and successful entrepreneurs, so we can implement these financial strategies ourselves. Join in on the financial adventure! If you find other financial tips beneficial, please do share. 🤜🏼 🤛🏼
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It’s money that shows up in your bank account on a consistent basis, 24 hours a day, or month-by-month.
Wouldn’t that be amazing? 🤑🤑🤑
So, how do you make $$ “while you sleep”?
There are a plethora of opportunities when you educate yourself on the world’s needs, wants, and habits.
Also, you don’t need to reinvent the wheel as there are plenty of successful passive income ideas already out there making a killing for you to mimic, invest in, or even purchase.
Ok, then why isn’t EVERYONE sold on this?
People aren’t willing to put in the upfront effort.
It takes time.
It also takes money.
So, here we go again.
“I just don’t have the time AND the money.”
OR perhaps, given the benefit of the doubt, we were just not taught this in school. 🙋🏻♀️🙋🏻♀️
I sure wasn’t and didn’t know about this ’til later in life.
It’s time to unlearn your old-ways and learn new life-changing skills, beginning with what YOU are telling yourself.
When you MAKE A DECISION to really really want a cycle traveling lifestyle, you HAVE the ability and tenacity to MAKE THINGS HAPPEN.
“Anything is POSSIBLE” right, triathletes? 💪🏼💪🏼
What a great Ironman motto to live by!
Come on folks, you have ridden hundreds of miles, conquered huge mountain passes, or participated in all kinds of suffer fests like an Ironman.
You took it upon yourself to get disciplined, get educated, and get trained for what most people in the world wouldn’t do.
It’s the same ENERGY, but in finance.
It’s gonna suck in the beginning.
You will see the weight of your finances like the dreadful number on your weight scale.
Your heart will beat fast,
you will sweat profusely,
Just like climbing that next high-grade hill as you fight to CONTROL your budget CONSISTENTLY.
Heck, you may even see the reality of your future just like getting ready for an endurance race, but lacked the training.
The odds of a DNF-L is…most likely.
This time…you Did Not Finish LIVING.
So, are you ready to change? Let’s get disciplined, get educated, and get trained in FINANCE together!
If you haven’t created a budget, today is the day, you start mastering it. For everyone else, it’s time to reevaluate your set expenses:
RENT / MORTGAGE– Because of the recent pandemic, banks are providing little to no interest rates on loans across the board including mortgages. Call your bank to see if there’s an opportunity to lower your current interest rate.
Re rent, the BIG QUESTION is Do you really need that extra bedroom, 2 car garage, house rental when you are single?
You know what I mean.
Do you really need all that space?
You won’t be living there much, because you plan to travel more right?? Right.
This is the biggest expense in your budget.
Renting is money in the trash.
Again, we are talking about developing a new cycle traveling lifestyle here.
CAR PAYMENT– Here’s another loan that can be discussed with your bank on lowering interest rates.
It’s best if you didn’t have a car payment at all. But, if you do need a car, buy a used one in cash at a car auction.
We bought a Dodge Durango for $3,000 and that baby lasted 10 years, got into an accident twice.
Thank God everyone was ok.
Luckily, it wasn’t our fault, so we got a check from the other vehicle’s insurance.
We decided we could live with the dents and used the funds for something else.
Technically, my car paid for itself and eventually made a profit too! 🤑🤑🤑
CABLE BILL – Read your cable bill carefully.
Understand the hidden monthly charges.
I was surprised to be paying for additional TV networks that I don’t ever watch.
Honestly, I would do without cable these days when NETFLIX, AMAZON, YOUTUBE, and NETWORK apps are now available for free or for a fraction of the cable subscription.
I would only pay for high-speed internet.
CELL PHONE – Do you really need extra perks on your phone like insurance if your phone is 3yrs old?
How about a voicemail subscription even though most people text nowadays?
How about the next iPhone XXXX? 🤔🤔
There are a ton of student / military promotions from cell phone companies too.
I’m learning that T-Mobile is the best carrier for US Travelers.
They do offer military rates plus provide a NETFLIX subscription for free.
That just saved us $10 a month.
UTILITIES – Check out options from your power, water, or gas company. They may offer senior, military, student, or going-green discounts.
Your power company may also offer “budget billing”.
They average the bill out to create a flat-rate with no surprises rather than fluctuating bills due to the season.
HEALTH INSURANCE – This is probably the most costly next to rent / mortgage, unless the company you work for pays for most of the tab.
As cyclists and triathletes, we can’t get around this.
Very important to have in case of an accident.
I’d study what your Insurance offers, however, and see if you can downgrade if needed.
AUTO INSURANCE – We do have a $1M coverage because of where we live. Los Angeles has plenty of expensive cars driving around. You crash into a $100,000USD Mercedes plus injury, hospital bills, etc.
Having minimal $25,000USD coverage just won’t cut it.
It may be time for me to seriously rethink where I should be living since we plan to travel 6-months every year.
HOME INSURANCE – Worth getting home insurance if you have multiple expensive bicycles.
You get your bike stolen in your home country or overseas and your home insurance can cover the cost. Worth the approx $5/mo
STUDENT LOANS – Also the best time to check with your bank to lower interest rates as well.
CREDIT CARD PAYMENTS – Credit cards can be very beneficial for cycle traveling, but paying it in full every month is key to prevent interest fees.
Let me just break this down in numbers, so you can really see how much $$ you can save per month.
Coffee: Buy at a Grocery store ($5/week) vs. Starbucks ($5/day)
Mo Savings $130USD
Cooking at Home: ($35/week per person) vs Eating Out ($30/day)
Mo Savings $760USD
Gas: ($20/week per car, work at home or cycle to work) vs ($100/week per car)
Mo Savings $320USD
TOTAL SAVINGS per month: $1,220 😱😱😱
from just changing 3 spending habits!
That’s a great start!! 🙌🏼🙌🏼
What other non-essential spending can be cut or downgraded?
How about when you purchase home decor, clothing, gadgets, entertainment, and recreational products?
See if you can purchase those items ‘used’ on Facebook Marketplace, 5miles, LetGo, and OfferUp.
BTW Cycling + Triathlongear is considered ESSENTIAL items, not discretionary for us! 🤪🤪
However, budget and be frugal in your spending here.
Remember the bigger picture!
You want a cycle traveling lifestyle, right? 🚴🏼♀️
BONUS TIP: Give yourself an allowance per week AND per month to buy anything you want. This helps for some guilt-free spending! 💸💸
Take advantage of the number of discounts offered to Seniors, Military, and Students worldwide.
Senior Discounts from 180 Brands
250+ US Military Discounts If you are from another country, google your country’s military discounts.
100+ Student Discounts
DISCOUNTED GIFT CARDS can tally up huge savings too from thousands of retailers!
You can purchase as high as 34% off on RAISE.
Their app provides instant ecard delivery.
Use this LINK to receive $5 when you make a purchase withing 30 days.
We love using the discounted gift card search engine, CARDBEAR, to determine which gift card online seller has the best deals.
You can create a SETUP ALERT for them to notify you of any increase in discounts towards your favorite retailers.
WARNING: Gift card sellers can be scam artists and may sell the same gift card to multiple buyers. I’ve purchased cards with no cash value before. That’s why we love RAISE because of its1 YEAR GUARANTEE. However, we would rather purchase the discounted gift card and use it right away.
For online purchases, we use google extensions such as WIKIBUY and HONEY to find better offers, automatically apply the best coupon code at checkout, and both notifies us when prices drop on products we’re interested in.
Then right before the final purchase, we would also check the retailer or brand using EVREWARD.
It has a directory of online shopping rewards, coupons, and special offers. It helps us maximize our discount for that purchase.
So, like I said, no more buying full price. 🤑🤑
BONUS TIP TIP: If you live in Los Angeles, California, and MUST eat out often, check out the Off The Menu app.
For $20/mo, you get a complimentary item daily from curated eateries once a day!
BIG SAVINGS and a great way to check out local restaurants.
This is just the tip of the iceberg.
I’ll have to break this down further on future articles. 🤩🤩🤩
“Keep your eye on the goal, keep moving toward your target.” – T Harv Ecker
STAY ON TARGET. Now that you have reassessed your budget, cut costs, and committed to being frugal with your discretionary spending, it’s time to use the money you are saving towards 2 kinds of savings fund.
Set up a Financial Freedom Account (FFA)
10% of your income
“The Millionaire Mind” author, T. Harv Ecker, and his holistic way of money management has been a game-changer for my family.
FFA’s sole purpose is to fund investments (with returns or profits) such as stocks, mutual funds, passive income vehicles, real estate investing, etc.
This account is used for building wealth for your future financial freedom.
You must NEVER spend this money.
Set up a Long Term Savings for Spending Account (LTSS) for your Cycle Traveling Lifestyle or next Triathlon Trip.
10% of your income
Remember the $1,220 savings we calculated earlier?
Split that amount to include them in these savings accounts and watch it grow!
In 12 months, you would have $7,320 USD for each account!!!
That’s just cutting costs!! 😱😱😱
I haven’t discussed how to make more $ yet.
Credit: gustavofrazao – stock.adobe.com
There is an abundance of passive income ideas to work on that I will break down in more articles to come.
Let’s start with passive incomes with the least amount of effort first with STUFF YOU ALREADY DO!🤩🤩🤩
Cashback Rewards + Points Credit Cards
WARNING: If you don’t have the discipline to pay your credit card IN FULL every month, DO NOT apply for one. The interest alone will just eat up your income and more.
If you do have the discipline, optimizing a rewards credit card can literally pay for your entire trip!
We averaged approx $300-$500 in cash backs using the Citi Double Cash Credit Card 2% Cash Back every 3-4months.
Free $$ baby!!! 💰💰💰💰💰
Using this credit card to pay all our expenses every month, have literally paid for our plane tickets, race registrations, hotels, food, and much more!
Check out the latest best travel reward credit cards HERE.
Cashback + Rewards Apps & Extensions
Set up your mobile and desktop gadgets to make $$ and give you perks.
RAKUTEN (formerly EBATES; app & desktop) partners with 2,500+ stores to give you cash back every time you shop.
New members get a $10 welcome bonus after spending their first $25 at a partner store. Get cash back from physical partner stores too! Very cool!
DOSH OMG. This mobile app is so easy to maneuver. Link your CC and use that card at one of its partner stores, restaurants, and even HOTELS then booyaah!
More automatic cash back opportunities!
BEFRUGAL is very similar to RAKUTEN where you can earn up to 40% cash back at more than 5,000+ stores including exclusive coupons and the most up-to-date promo codes!
If you find another site with better rates, they will match plus 25% additional back. WOW!
New members get a $10 welcome gift!
TOPCASHBACK offers a very generous revenue-sharing policy by actually sharing 100% of the commissions it earns with its members. With their revenue coming from ads and sponsors, they can offer some of the best cash back deals on the internet! They will even match if you find a better deal elsewhere.
New members get a $10 welcome bonus too!
SEATED rewards you up to 30% cash back every time you go out for food and drinks. Limited to restaurants serving in New York, Chicago, Boston, Philadelphia, and Atlanta.
If you shop on Amazon and other online retailers, EARNY automatically gets you REFUNDS on purchases when prices drop. Love this!
Phew! Did I blow your mind yet? 🤪🤪
This is just the beginning…
So, let’s get back to the questions
Do you have to be rich to live a traveling lifestyle?
Who told us, we don’t have the money?
It’s not that you have to be rich to travel…
It’s about beingSMART with your money, so you can travel.
Let your money make money…so you can do the things you love most with the time you have left.
“Rich people have their money work hard for them. Poor people work hard for their money.”
– T. Harv Ecker
The mic has dropped. 🎤
Peace out for now. 🤩✌🏼
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