Angela Yee Cuts her mortgage payment in half by house hacking...

Summary

Earn Your Leisure Podcast

Episode: Angela Yee Cuts Her Mortgage Payment in Half by House Hacking...
Original Air Date: January 5, 2026
Hosts: Rashad Bilal, Troy Millings
Guest: Angela Yee

Episode Overview

This episode of Earn Your Leisure features Angela Yee—renowned radio host and entrepreneur—discussing her journey with "house hacking," a smart real estate strategy that has allowed her to cut her mortgage payment in half. Angela breaks down her approach to personal finance, leveraging reward points, business investments, and the value of staying organized and disciplined. The conversation provides actionable insights into wealth building, entrepreneurship, and maintaining balance while managing multiple businesses.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Angela’s Approach to House Hacking and Smart Real Estate (03:44–06:17)

• House hacking for wealth building:
  Angela explains how buying a two-family house allowed her to drastically reduce her mortgage. By renting out one unit and living in the other, the rental income subsidizes her living costs.
  • "It’s a two family house. So that pays half my mortgage, and my mortgage is less than what my rent would be for something... If I would have had a three family house, it would have probably paid the whole mortgage." — Angela Yee (03:44)
• Financial goal-setting:
  Angela emphasizes setting clear monthly savings targets to prepare for investments and avoid frivolous spending.
  • "Every month I have a goal of how much I want in my account for the next move I’m about to make." — Angela Yee (04:31)

2. Maximizing Spending Power and Rewards (04:46–05:57)

• Leveraging rewards and points:
  Angela details how she uses her Amex credit cards for purchases—especially renovations—to accumulate points for travel and luxury shopping.
  • "I have a new house in Brooklyn that I’m renovating. I’m putting everything on my Amex card so I can get those points. And then I’ll be buying furniture with the points..." — Angela Yee (04:52)
• Spending strategically:
  The group discusses a friend who spends heavily on ads, generating reward points redeemed for luxury items.
  • "He spends $100,000 a month on Facebook ads on his AmEx cards. And he gets like $7,000 reward points back. So that’s $7,000 reward points. He just goes to Neiman Marcus and just goes crazy." — Charlamagne Tha God (05:36)
  • "I bought my first Louis bag and my first Chanel bag with points on my amex card." — Angela Yee (05:52)

3. The Economics and Lessons of House Hacking (06:00–10:00)

• Educational emphasis:
  The hosts stress not to overlook house hacking’s value as a wealth-building tool—highlighting that humility and smart sacrifices pay off.
  • "She’s famous and she’s humble enough to live in a two family home...she understands that it makes economic sense." — Charlamagne Tha God (09:26)
• Risks and realities:
  Angela talks about buying her home sight unseen, showing commitment and calculated risk-taking.
  • "I didn’t even see it." — Angela Yee (09:55)

4. Entrepreneurship and Business Growth Goals (10:06–13:29)

• Portfolio and diversification:
  The conversation transitions to Angela’s many business ventures—juice bars, coffee shops, a podcast, and a newly opened hair supply store in Detroit.
  • "I did open a store in Detroit, also a hair store, a private label. And I can’t forget that; I just opened that in January." — Angela Yee (10:42)
• Balance and self-care:
  Angela shares her method for managing intense workload and maintaining wellness:
  • "I always try to have one day out of the week...that I don’t have a lot to do. That’s when I handle stuff I need to handle for myself...I try to make sure one of [the weekend] days is not super busy for me." — Angela Yee (11:04)

5. Vision for the Future (12:13–13:29)

• Scaling and franchising:
  Angela outlines her ambitious goals for her businesses: achieving large-scale profitability and franchising her coffee shop brand. Education is a core value for her, both for herself and customers.
  • "I want [my businesses] to be huge, multimillion, $100 million dollar businesses... I’m building [the coffee shop] out so that it’ll be franchisable." — Angela Yee (12:19)

6. Live Q&A: Roth IRA Practicalities (13:36–15:33)

• Community engagement:
  During a listener Q&A, the group gets into the technicalities of opening a Roth IRA and explains the necessity of earned income for contribution eligibility.
  • "Yes, it has to be earned income that you receive...once he starts working, then he can start putting money into his retirement account." — DJ Envy/Charlamagne Tha God (15:22)

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On house hacking’s power:
  "I think what you have to do is think of what a smart investment is to you. And if you’re living here, you would have been paying rent somewhere else. So to me, that’s money you would have been spending anyway." — Angela Yee (03:51)

• About rewards and lifestyle:
  "When you have goals like that, it makes you realize how unimportant [shopping] can be. Not that you can’t treat yourself, but...let me do something nice for myself." — Angela Yee (04:28)

• On risk-taking:
  "You couldn’t walk in the property before she had it... I didn’t even see it." — DJ Envy and Angela Yee (09:51–09:55)

• On business growth:
  "Every business that I do, I try to make sure that I’m always educating myself on it and taking classes and learning everything so that I become somewhat of an expert on it." — Angela Yee (13:14)

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Timestamps for Important Segments

• 03:44 — Angela Yee introduces her two-family house, house hacking strategy, goal setting
• 04:52 — Discussion of Amex points, renovation spending, and travel perks
• 05:36 — Rewards hacking with ad spend (Charlamagne)
• 09:19 — Charlamagne and Envy emphasize humility in house hacking
• 10:42 — Angela’s Detroit store and business diversification
• 11:04 — Angela’s methods for maintaining work-life balance
• 12:19 — Angela’s five-year business goals and plans for franchising
• 13:57 — Q&A: Roth IRA requirements and earned income

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Conclusion

This episode is an invaluable resource for anyone interested in practical wealth-building, especially through real estate and entrepreneurial ventures. Angela Yee’s candid sharing offers motivation and real strategies, specifically highlighting the impact of financial discipline, leveraging rewards, and methodical business planning, all while stressing the importance of continual learning.

Transcript

[Angela Yee]

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[Angela Yee]

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[Angela Yee]

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[DJ Envy]

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[Angela Yee]

I think the best thing to do is to have a goal, right? Like buying a house. To me, I'm living in this house and it's a two family house. So that pays half my mortgage, you know, and my mortgage is less than what my rent would be for something. This s three bedrooms, you know, two and a half bathrooms, full backyard, brownstone. And so I think what you have to do is think of what a smart investment is to you. And if you're living here, you would have been paying rent somewhere else. And so to me is that's money you would have been spending anyway. And so the two family house or a three family, if I would have had a three family house, it would have probably paid the home mortgage. It was just coming up with that down payment. And so that's why I'm a big fan of having a goal of financially every month I have a goal of how much I want in my account for the next move I'm about to make. So I go really hard to reach it. And I've been doing really good at that. And so it helps me not because I used to be Such a spend. I used to love to shop. Like, I would be at the mall literally every week. You know, what can I buy? What can I get? But when you have goals like that makes you realize how unimportant that can be. And not that you can't treat yourself, but it'll be like, okay, I hit this goal. I made this money. I have an extra fifteen hundred dollars. What am I going to do with it? You know, let me do something nice for myself. But I really do things. Like, I'm really big on using points. I use my amex cards for everything. And like, even with the new. I have a new house in Brooklyn that I'm renovating. I'm putting everything on my amex card so I can get those points. And then I'll be buying furniture with the points that I got from using my amex card. You know, when I travel, I always fly on Delta because I have so many free flights now that I can use. And I get upgraded all the time because of my status on there. So I just try to do things that I know make sense.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

For me, that's something that's extremely important. Shout out to him. 500.

[DJ Envy]

A wise man told us that he.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

Has like and all this stuff, but he was like, he's not buying all this designer stuff. He spends $100,000 a month on Facebook ads on his AmEx cards. And he gets like $7,000 reward points back. So that's $7,000 reward points. He just goes to Neiman Markets and just goes crazy.

[Angela Yee]

I bought my first Louis bag and my first Chanel bag with points on my amex card.

[DJ Envy]

Let's not skip over the ad spin, though.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

That's a gym in itself. Well, it is that. Well, we got to save that one. That's a different one. But Angela, that's something that's extremely important. As far as house hacking, I don't want people to breeze over that because. Shout out to MG the mortgage guy. We talked to him and he always talks about Earnest.

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[Ryan Seacrest]

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[Angela Yee]

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[Charlamagne Tha God]

House hacking. House hacking is like when you live like what she's doing. She's a two family home. You live on one unit, you, you rent out the other unit or three family or four family, whatever. So I think it says it a lot when somebody, she's famous and she's humble enough to living in a two family home, renting out the other part because she understands that it makes economic sense. A lot of us, like some people are struggling day to day and they got too much pride, sacrifice somebody else.

[DJ Envy]

Right, right.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

Like I'm saying. So it's like I don't want that to get missed in this conversation.

[DJ Envy]

Let alone. You couldn't walk in the property before she had it.

[Angela Yee]

Yeah, I didn't even see it.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

No, that's, that's, that's a lot to think about if you really think about it, like I said, because she's not like she has to do that, but she understands the importance of it. And it's like, why not?

[DJ Envy]

Can we talk about balance, me and Rashad, we go back and forth all the time about balance. He likes to have life unbalanced. Just how he operates. I like to have balance. I'm listening to you. You're waking up at 4am Most people can't do that. That's dedication. Right. Hall of fame radio career. Right. You have the real estate portfolio. You got the juice bars. You just said, you got the coffee shop. People forget that. You actually have a very successful podcast. Right. Lip service. By the way, we came to your live show.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

We did come to the live.

[DJ Envy]

Excellent. We were in audience.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

Thank you.

[DJ Envy]

Great show. Davies was there. 85 South. Our brothers were there.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

Yeah.

[DJ Envy]

What does balance look like for you?

[Angela Yee]

Oh, and the last thing I want to say is I did open a store in Detroit, also a hair store, a private label. And I can't forget that I just opened that in January.

[DJ Envy]

Congrats on that, everybody on seven Mile.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

Go support.

[Angela Yee]

Yeah, thank you. It's on eight Mile and dequinder. Baby, come see us.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

Heavy in Detroit.

[Angela Yee]

Yeah.

[DJ Envy]

Listen, how do you manage this off?

[Angela Yee]

So balance for me is like, look, I've been working all day today. I know I have things that I have to do, but what I try to do is I always try to have one day out of the week during the week that I don't have a lot to do. So on that one day I might have like a couple of really light things. And that's when I handle stuff I need to handle for myself. And then on the weekend, I try to make sure one of those two days is not super busy for me also because it is important to take a break. Like I try to make sure I get enough sleep. If I know I've been up working, I make sure, like I'm going to bed at nine o' clock on, you know, Thursday night. Because I plan it like I plan everything. My schedule is just super rigid and organized, like down to the minute. And so, you know, that's it. And then a lot of times I try to mix business with pleasure as far as if I know I have some things to do and you know, before there was a pandemic. But if I know I had somewhere to be, I'll invite some of my friends to come with me because I know they'll have a good time. For me it might be work, but for a lot of them it's fun. And so that makes work fun for me when I have people that are fun around me.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

There you have it.

[DJ Envy]

Sounds like our.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

Friends you're trying to achieve over the next five years and how can we help?

[Angela Yee]

You said what?

[Charlamagne Tha God]

What's the biggest goal you're trying to achieve over the next five years and how can we help?

[Angela Yee]

So my biggest goal is for these businesses that I started. I want them to be right now I'm in an investment stage of everything, I feel like, you know, except for the juice bar which has been open for a few years now. But like with the hair store, I need that to, you know, start making money. And I mean, it makes money now, but I need to get the return on my investment for the coffee company. The goal for the coffee company is for me to be able to be in stores and I have all these meetings with different supermarket chains coming up for that and for the press juice company. And so I want to make sure that those businesses are, you know, huge, multimillion, $100million dollar businesses. And that's the goal for those. And then I'm going to franchise the coffee shops. And so I'm building it out so that it'll be franchisable so that other people can open their own. And we're doing a whole education program when it comes to coffee because there's a lot in the coff that people don't know about. And every business that I do, I try to make sure that I'm always educating myself on it and taking classes and like learning everything so that I become somewhat of an expert on It. Because I think it's the worst thing if you open a business and don't know anything about the business that you open.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

That's a gym. That is a gym. Ladies and gentlemen, are we gonna take a question?

[DJ Envy]

Can we. Yeah.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

How are we doing with Tom? I know you gotta get up early. You got a couple more minutes?

[Angela Yee]

Yeah, I'm fine.

[DJ Envy]

Can we try, like, an ask you segment?

[Charlamagne Tha God]

Yeah, let's do it. Let's do it.

[DJ Envy]

I think she's familiar with that.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

Let's do it.

[DJ Envy]

All right, let's go. Drew Grimes.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

We're not getting. We're not getting relationship advice.

[DJ Envy]

No relationship advice.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

Please be respectful, Drew.

[DJ Envy]

I'll read yourself. You've been unmuted. What's going on?

[Charlamagne Tha God]

How's it going, y'?

[Angela Yee]

All?

[Charlamagne Tha God]

My question is actually for. For you guys, it was about opening up in Ross. So I just had my brother open up a Roth, but when I was looking up Roth accounts on Investopedia, it was saying that it has to be earner earned income, and he doesn't work a job, and he never has. So, like, is he able to open up that Roth account? How old is he? He's 19. I mean, they're not really gonna check it like this. It's really for the minors. I mean, but. Yeah, it's supposed to be like. I mean, but how is he gonna put money if he doesn't. If he never had. If he doesn't work, you're gonna put money in for him? Well, he has a. He has a bank. He has, like, a savings account with some money that he's made throughout his life, and we were just gonna move that money into his ride. Yeah. I mean, to give you. Because every. The bigger we get, a lot of people, the technical police are coming down on us at an alarming rate. I put a post of Caesar, and they're like, that's tax fraud. He's gonna put you in jail. So pay your taxes. Yes. It has to be earned income that you receive. So I'm gonna give you the technical answer on this. Tell him that once he starts working, then he can start putting money into his retirement account. My graduates from my school being Forbes. Bag drop. Bag drop. Mic drop. Bag drop.

[DJ Envy]

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