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Back to the Basics – Personal Post

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So here we are again working on our savings. My wife and I have been trying to figure out what we want to do after I retire from the Navy. We are less than 5 years out and we have been messing around with where our money should go. I think we have come to the conclusion that we are going to buy a sailboat to live aboard and travel. We have been toying with this idea for a long time and just never thought it could be a reality. If we don’t do the sailboat, we are pretty certain we want to live overseas somewhere.

What have I been up to?

So, where have I been? I have had some unfortunate medical issues that have kept me away for a while. During those times, I was also working on another side-hustle by creating a few websites to sell. That didn’t really work out to well so I decided to focus back to the basics. What do I mean by back to the basics? Well, we are focusing on our budget and watching our debt. We had some renovations done to our house and we are paying off the loan we took out to pay for the work. Normally, we would stop investing and just focus on the loan, but we have such a low interest rate on it, that I would actually lose money paying off the loan faster versus investing that money.

I have been thinking about different sure things to do on the side here in Hawaii. The real estate market is really good. I was thinking about getting my real estate license or work on my CFA certifications. Sometimes I feel like I need to be doing something else to supplement my income even though we are doing just fine. I keep feeling like I want to put more away for the future! It’s honestly not a bad problem to have. We have this goal of buying a sailboat, but we don’t want to sell the house. 

The Next Adventure

Getting into real estate is something I have wanted to do for years. I have some friends who own multiple properties and they say it’s not that hard. It’s about the effort you put into it. However, effort costs time, and I already spend enough time away from the family thanks to the Navy. So, these ideas remain ideas and float for a while.

I always keep my eyes open for different opportunities. Eventually, the right one will come along be it in real estate or finances, and I will jump on it. Right now, the focus is on the budget and keeping our eyes on the prize. The recent medical issues have highlighted some service-related medical problems from my last deployment. This has been an unfortunate turn, but we will make the best of it. Between my Navy retirement and possible disability pay (thanks Navy), we will be in a better place than originally thought.

Conclusion

So, we’ll see what the future holds. We have our five-year plan to stick with, but there is always room for change, especially if the change is better than the current plan. This post probably reads a bit rambly (not a real word), because I am rambling in my head as I type. Well, that’s it for now. I’ll try to keep up at this blog.

Mike Cavaggioni

Mike Cavaggioni is located in Honolulu, HI and is a REALTOR-ASSOCIATE®, Financial Coach, Real Estate Investor, Podcast Host and retired from the US Navy. He is the founder of Average Joe Finances® and host of the Average Joe Finances® Podcast. Mike has built a community for people to come together to increase their financial literacy and build their wealth.

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