IT IS MAY 8. You know what that means? Um, sooo it is my BIRTHDAY. YAY, 32. I think this is ABOUT to be my greatest year yet (despite my strong belief that it is all rather blah on the birthday front after age 21). So, I thought there would just be no better way to celebrate than to share this AWESOME podcast with my newest BFFs around the IG #reicommunity -- Ali & Josh aka @theficouple -- if you do not know these two yet, you are about to LOVE them.

Their journey to financial independence began in 2017. Ali was about to graduate from her master’s program, and decided to add up how much they owed in student loans. It totaled over $100k! Like I did, Ali and Josh found Dave Ramsey and started the baby steps according to the total money makeover. They were planning a wedding, starting to make progress, and then Josh was laid off. Eventually they decided there had to be a faster way to pay off debt and eliminate expenses. Enter Bigger Pockets and Set for Life. Josh and Ali found their first house hack in 2018 and learned that sometimes no matter how great the numbers look on paper—location trumps all. By 2019 they had paid off $50k of student loans!

In this episode we dive into the ins and outs of FHA loans and live-in flips (windows are EXPENSIVE), the tenant screening process, and how far you can go with networking and referrals. We discuss the real estate snowball and how we feel about using debt responsibly. Josh shares his advice for first time investors that is surprisingly simple (hint: is your personal budget in order?).

If you came here looking for beauty tips, I share the best ways to deal with paint in your hair (occupational hazard). We discuss imposter syndrome and how much we grow as we go through this investing journey.

We had a great conversation that I know so many of you will relate to. Enjoy the episode!

20. FI though house hacking, paying off debt, and the (essentially) endless perks of the small but mighty real estate portfolio | The FI Couple, Ali & Josh