The Four Month Blueprint

The month of February is going to be tough. Making that 13k quota won’t be easy with the car repairs and all the other things I had to pay for at the beginning of this month. My best calculations show that, if Nicky pays her full rent of $800 this month, I will reach my 13k goal. To have a plan hinge on Nicky is a scary thought.

My plan is to have a total of 30k by June of 2012. Making my quotas will be much easier now that the shipping depot pays me bi-weekly. This means that every week I will be receiving a little over $600 from either job. This also means that there will be four months this year that I will be getting five paychecks. The first of those months is March. March’s quota is 16k, meaning that I’d have to make and save at least $3000. That shouldn’t be an issue since I’m paying all the big expenses this month (car repairs, water bills, etc.). April’s quota will be 18k. My best guess is that I’ll be able to make more than $2000 that month, so anything extra should make up for any unforeseen shortcomings.

May’s quota is 20k. By then, the next cycle of water bills should be out (April 16th) so that’s another $400 expense. May will also be the month that Nicky’s lease will be up, so it will be very interesting to see how the turnover goes. My hopes are to have her out before the end of that month, then get a much better tenant with a “move-in” special that will pay half security deposit and $900 a month for a 6-month lease. June will be second of the “five-paycheck” months, so the quota will be 23k. At the end of June, even with my savings account at $5000, I will come up $2000 short. That’s where the tax returns come in! I should get back a little over $3000 from my tax returns, and that will put me over the 30k mark.

By the middle of June, I should have already put an offer in for a commercial property. While the paperwork is processing I will continue saving so that, when the time comes to finally purchase the property (late July or early August), I will have over 30k in my business account and won’t have to dip into my savings account at closing. 23k in the business account, 5k in the savings account, and at least 3k in tax returns. The quotas are reasonable enough. I still have to do more research on buying commercial properties and getting commercial loans, but I can say right now that my overall plan is solid enough. Placing quotas in front of each month gives me structure and something to work for every month. It will keep my mind off of insignificant things like idiot co-workers and focus on what I’ve been working for all along—my first commercial property and a step closer to financial freedom.