Wealth Circle Transformations: Renee S. on Building Wealth for Her Growing Family
Episode Summary
Julia talks with Renee, Wealth Circle Alum and Factora’s Director of Growth Marketing, about how she reevaluated her relationship with money when she transitioned into a new phase in her life. Today, Renee shares how Factora helped her come up with a plan that is comfortable for her and how she’s using investing and real estate to create multiple streams of income to help pay down student loans and build her family’s wealth.
Episode Notes
Julia talks with Renee, Wealth Circle Alum and Factora’s Director of Growth Marketing, about how she reevaluated her relationship with money when she transitioned into a new phase in her life. Today, Renee shares how Factora helped her come up with a plan that is comfortable for her and how she’s using investing and real estate to create multiple streams of income to help pay down student loans and build her family’s wealth.
Love Coffee & Coin?
Subscribe on Spotify or Apple Podcasts.
Leave us a review on Apple Podcasts and help us spread the wealth, literally.
Transcript
-
Money's everywhere, we have to deal with it every day, and some sort of way. And what are other things in our life that have sort of that same frequency and that same inescapability, I've been thinking about it for myself that like, the other places where I have that type of relationship or the relationships with my body, and like the relationship with my family, things that I can't really change. And so when I think about my life, and like the things in the relationships, I'm trying to optimize, like money is definitely one of those things. And I feel like that's something I came on my own fruition, just going through my journey and coming across factorial, like no one really told me or taught me early that like, optimizing your relationship with money, it's very healthy for you, it's gonna help you live like a full life. And it's just important for your overall well being your overall sense of like health and security. And I think those are things that I've really come to adapt with. And when I look at my relationship with money, I want it to be one of bravery. I want it to be one of honesty, I want it to be one where I like, remove the emotion and can just focus on the logic and I, I want it to be mutually respectful. I want to know what money can do for me and also like what I want out of money.
This is Allegra Moet Brantley, and you're listening to the coffee and coin podcast where women talk well, I'm the founder and CEO of Factora. Have company on a mission to lead 1 million women to 1 million in net worth. Because when women have more money, we'll have more power to be the change we want to see in the world. If you're ready to hear real women share their real numbers and investment journeys and have a sneaky feeling you should be doing a little more with your money, you are in the right place. Just sit back, relax and turn me up.
All opinions expressed by Team Victoria and podcast guests are solely their own and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of Factora Incorporated. This podcast is for informational purposes only and should not be used as the basis for investment decisions. Team Factora. And podcast guests may maintain positions in the securities or investments discussed in this podcast. Hello, and welcome back to another episode of Coffee and coin. Today we have a very special guest. Her name is Rene. And she is Factora as director of growth marketing, but I actually really want to set that aside for the purpose of the beginning of this conversation. And I really want to start with your entire situation before Factora because you actually joined Factora totally organically. How many years ago was that? Like? Two was about a year ago? I think a year ago. Okay, and so you you joined Factora completely as a customer. And then it wasn't until after you finish the wall circle that you were like, wait, I want to work for Factora. I want to be around more. So I'd love to start with pre Factora entering your life. What was your situation? How your age your money situation, your family life, your location, kind of give us the snapshot,
Yeah know, no problem. So I'm 34 now. And I'd say my relationship with money as with many of us started when I graduated college, I had a great job out of college, which I was really lucky and happy about and I was working at one of the biggest banks in the world. So from going to college to entering the real world, I had a pretty nice salary. I found myself in New York City. And for the next several years, I was living in La Vida Loca, I was living in the coolest neighborhoods, first in New York City. And then I moved to San Francisco a couple years later, I was going to concerts, I was going to the best restaurants, I was shopping, I was traveling. And for me at that time when I think back money was for fun, like and I use it as a tool for fun. And I did have a lot of fun. But all of that changed a couple years ago. So I just finished grad school I got married, I bought a home and I got pregnant all within a year. Wow. And suddenly I felt like I got hit with adulting like a tidal wave. Yeah. I was so happy with all these changes in my life like so. And love so grateful to be pregnant, so grateful to have a house. But with all of these changes, I realized what I wasn't happy with was suddenly my net worth and my money habits like viewing money for fun. Clearly wasn't going to be working for me in this next phase of life. I had all these big ticket items where you know my savings account before kind of went poof And yeah, and I do want to mention in my 20s, I had a savings account, I was investing in my 401k. I was paying my bills, I had enough to do fun. And so I thought I was good. But as I was entering this new stage, I realized that my relationship with money really had to change. And suddenly money. Like, I knew I needed to reevaluate my relationship and in a very big way, yeah. And so I took a step back, and I was, I realized that like, reevaluating my relationship with money was humbling, and it was hard. And it took some bravery. And it took some, like me having to face myself and some maybe bad decisions in my 20s. And this was definitely humbling for me, because I came from a finance background. Like I knew about stocks, I knew about bonds, but I guess what I didn't know or it was a disconnect for me was, I didn't know how to build wealth, like brick by brick. For me and my family, my growing family, and no one had really taught me that no one had really talked about it. So yeah, I went on this journey. It was really lonely, really humbling at first, and then I came across Factora. And that just totally changed everything for me. So
so in the beginning, you were like, Okay, I need to get my finances together. First question is, did you have a moment? Did you have like, a moment that really was the trigger for you? Or was it just kind of like a general sense?
I think it was a general sense. And again, I point to, you know, this one year where everything changed, you know, I was pregnant with my first baby, I had just gotten married. I had just bought a house. And all of a sudden, I was like, Oh, my gosh, do I know how to manage all these? And also, like, I had never really stopped and thought, like, what do I want for my life and my family's life? And how does money play a part into that I feel like we got to this first hump, which were things I had planned. But I had never thought about things beyond that. And, you know, just feeling like I really needed to change and also wanting to change, like becoming a parent really does make you want to be the best version of yourself and bringing a baby into this world. I knew I needed money as a source of security and a source of like, nurturing my baby, my family, myself. And so yeah, I think there was this moment where I was pregnant, we were just moved into our new house. And it was like, I need to change everything. As far as my relationship with money is concerned.
Well, I can also imagine I mean, a house, a baby and a wedding are like three of our biggest life expenses. Right? And so you did them all within a year. So I can imagine what a wake up call what a lovely wake up call that is, because they're all lovely things. But I think that's so true. Like, as women, you know, we kind of have we have those three goals, like, and society expects us to have a baby have a house have a wedding. And of course, I'm sure you wanted to do those things organically. But that's, that's kind of like, the goals. And then I can imagine, once you finish those, or once you achieve them, you're like, Okay, well, now what, you know, like, I'm not really sure what to do. So I think that's really cool. I also wanted to ask you, what were sort of the first steps that you took, when you were like, Okay, let me figure this out for myself. Where did you turn to?
Yeah, I mean, I think first and foremost, I just, I knew I needed to get educated. And I felt like I wanted a community I wanted a source and that that community and source was hard to come by. Like, I feel like there's definitely a stigma of talking about money among women. I think there is a stigma sort of about talking about wealth building, which is really interesting. Like, you know, I have friends, where I talk like, oh, what stocks are you interested in or whatever, but I didn't have someone like, like, have a trustworthy conversation and feel like I was in a safe place to be like, how are you thinking about your life? How are you like looking at your money, strategies to ultimately build the life you want? And so, you know, I was I went online, and I started looking at I don't know, I just started Google searching, I guess. And I came across a few things. And one of those was General Assembly, I think Factora had something on General Assembly, and I listened. That's how I first learned about Factora. And I think beyond that, I listened to that first webinar. And it sort of clicked. I was like, this is a female, focused, safe place for me to talk about the things that I sort of at the time, like I felt really meek and mild about I kind of felt ashamed about like, I had this amazing experience in my 20s. But I felt like I wasn't teed up for the rest of my life. And it was like, it felt weird being honest about that. And so it was like, it just felt like this safe place. And so I kind of just dug in more So yeah, it was that and it was also like facing the mirror and like facing like, like, what is my net worth? What is my spending habits like taking an honest look, for the first time in a long time was also the trigger of this path?
Yeah, I do think that is sometimes the scariest part of all is just not knowing not knowing where you stand, and sometimes just facing it is really like the most powerful first step that you can take. So I'm curious, do you remember your first session of the wealth circle? What? Like, what came up for you? What were you feeling? What was your experience? Like?
Yeah, I remember being on the first class or lesson, and just seeing all these women there. And we had our first breakout session, and the breakout session had a moderator, which was fantastic. And she encouraged us to talk about kind of our past with money, our past relationship and what our goals were. And for the first time, I think ever, I felt like I was in this room where I could talk about these things with like minded women. And again, like I go back, I started my career at a big bank, I remember starting the wall circle, and I was like, What am I going to learn from this? I already know how stock the stock market works. I know a lot of this stuff. And I think the missing link was, it was this community, it was this safe space. And so for me, it just felt so good to just look at the computer and see these faces and have their names and hear their stories and like, honestly, talk about money for the first time in my life and a personal matter. I think that was huge for me.
Yeah, it is so refreshing to just talk about a topic that feels so taboo. And once you recognize that it's not taboo, it just totally takes the air out of it and makes it so much easier to just have an open and honest conversation about it. So you mentioned your big banking career actually want to talk about that for a little bit. So in your 20s. So you're working at a big bank? And what are you doing? How are you feeling about your career,
I felt good about my career. And I think looking back, I graduated from school, I got this job at this big bank, and I was like, I am going to be a career woman, I totally bought into Sheryl Sandberg leaning mentality, I was like, I'm gonna climb the corporate ranks, like work really hard for decades, make my money. And it's going to be great. And, like talking about another thing that evolved was when I was pregnant, and also when I had my first child, all of a sudden that vision, like lost its appeal, like completely. And I think part of all this journey was I wanted to look at ways to give myself options as a mother like working out of the house for that long. I just, it wasn't totally sold for me. So another thing that I think Factora has taught me has been like one of the values is questioning the status quo, like just because it's been done before doesn't mean you have to do it. And one of my biggest learnings was learning how to set yourself up with multiple streams of income with, you know, real estate investments, so you're not reliant just on your job. And there are women who were like, we discuss her values. And there are women who are doing great and they're doing really things in non traditional ways. And that was also like such an aha moment for me joining this community like everything, I feel like I was taught by society by even my school by you know, things I, I was surrounding myself growing up, it was like, I had a moment where I could be like, I don't have to do it that way. And I think that was meant so liberating. Totally,
it is such a process to have deconditioning. Like, alongside getting to feel like you can create whatever future you want, is also you have to have some deconditioning where you're recognizing the beliefs that maybe aren't your own, that you have been brought up to believe through your parents or through you know, your classmates or society or whatever. What were your money beliefs? Heading into Factora, and what was your kind of money experience growing up?
Yeah, so money was always there. I felt like our family had enough it was never talked about. I feel like it was never talked about by my friends. I felt like there was always enough I never growing up it never felt like there was this scarcity conversation, which I feel super grateful for. But on the flip side is an adult like I never was taught about the management or wealth money, like wealth building, and I've been thinking about this a lot lately starting at Factora and I don't think money defines people, but I think maybe what does define I mean, me and others is our relationship with money. And what I mean by that is like, money's everywhere, we have to deal with it every day, and some sort of way. And what are other things in our life that have sort of that same frequency and that same inescapability, I've been thinking about it for myself that like, the other places where I have that type of relationship, or the relationships with my body, and like the relationship with my family, things that I can't really change. And so when I think about my life, and like, the things in the relationships, I'm trying to optimize, like, money is definitely one of those things. And I feel like that's something I came on my own fruition, just going through my journey and coming across Factora, like no one really told me or taught me early that like, optimizing your relationship with money, it's very healthy for you, it's going to help you live like a full life. And it's just important for your overall well being your overall sense of like health and security. And I think those are things that I've really come to adapt with. And when I look at my relationship with money, I want it to be one of bravery. I want it to be one of honesty, I want it to be one where I like, remove the emotion and can just focus on the logic and I, I want it to be mutually respectful. I want to know what money can do for me, and also like what I want out of money. And so I think that answered your question. I feel like I may have deviated
No, no, yeah, well, yeah, that's really interesting. You bring up a really interesting point that, you know, you you are putting so much effort and work into your other really key relationships that are going to be lifelong. But that money was kind of an area that wasn't getting that same treatment. And I think a lot of women, myself definitely included, fell into that category. I was working so hard at my career, it sounds like you were too. So working so hard at Yeah, building friendships, building relationships, and, and my money I was just completely ignoring. And really, if you think about it, your money really enables you to have a better relationship with your people and with your body. Because you can pay for the care that you want, you can travel to go visit all your friends. So it's so interesting that sometimes a lot of women sort of have this blind spot when they're so intentional in other areas of their lives.
Totally. And I when I look back at my 20s, like, I remember, like beyond setting up my 401k and beyond, like making sure that the bills are paid I view sitting down and looking at my money is like a chore. It was something like I didn't really want to do. And when I reached this point where I was like, I knew I needed to make a change. I knew I needed to rewire that, that I knew I needed to have a good relationship with money and and try to make it feel less tedious or intimidating and scary and more like, Oh, this is fun. Like, oh, this is supporting me. Oh, this is like setting myself up. And I think that's been a huge shift in something like I agree. I feel like a lot of people, it's so easy just to ignore it. Ignore it until it's a problem.
Yeah, totally. So. Okay, so we talked about your first wealth circle session, and you just felt really liberated getting to talk to all these women? When did you start to feel a shift in yourself in your mindset, or even in your tactical finances?
Yeah, I'd say, looking back, I feel like it was at the end of the course, honestly. And the course had encouraged me to really think a lot about important things like what are my values? What is my relationship with money, so it kind of tackled like this emotional layer. I also felt like I all of a sudden had this tactical plan. I knew where my blind spots were my problem areas, and I also knew the strategy of how to get to a better place. I knew what I needed to do. I knew how much I needed to put aside. As far as amounts, I knew how long it would take me to reach x goal. So just like holistically, I think, yeah, at the end of the course, I just felt so empowered, and so clear, and just so ready, and able to make the change that I knew I wanted that brought me to the course.
I'd love to dig into your plan a little bit if you can sort of remember what like tactically, what did you walk away from the course? What was your plan, financially moving forward?
Yeah, I'd say one of the biggest things was, and Victoria has this really great way of presenting it and I just learned this in grad school, but the Maslow Pyramid of think its needs, it's called, but they lay it out that sort of same pyramid thinking with wealth building. And I realized that one of the things that I had not done was build a frothy emergency fund. So one of the first things I did after effect or I was made sure that that emergency fund was there, and like it was an amount that was good for my family and that we felt comfortable with. So that was huge.
And just to explain that, so what Factora does is they have a the Maslow's hierarchy of needs, but instead they put financial terms in there. So at the bottom, it's address your high interest debt. And then it is to fill your emergency fund. And then it's to save for your near term goals. And then it's to invest for your mid and long term goals. And then the top very top of the pyramid is financial freedom, which is the best part of all. So you're looking at this pyramid and you're thinking, Okay, I am actually missing a pretty foundational piece, which is my emergency fund. So that was like your first plan to be able to, like, fill that up? How did you go? What was your target number, and it was
$1,000, which was the amount for like, several months of if my husband and I both lost our job and amount that we felt comfortable to cover our bills, like, give us stability and give us flexibility. And I'd say that's probably the higher end. But again, like, we have a baby. So that's something we did. I think, also coming out, I had always always been investing in a brokerage account. Again, like I came from a finance background, I had interest in stocks, but it was actually looking at what is that percentage that I am investing Victoria calls at the investing rate just
to explain that your investing rate is the amount of money that you invest per month, divided by the amount of money that you earn per month. So if you earn $5,000 a month, and you invest $1,000 a month, your investing rate is 20%. And you want to try to get that rate as high as possible. Because the higher that rate is the closer you are to financial freedom, essentially, which is why that's why it's like one of the key factors that Factora it teaches is so important to optimize. So you recognize that and you were like, Okay, how can I? Do you remember what you're investing?
Like it was the 5%? And I never had thought about it in terms of like, Oh, what is my investing? Right? And so since then, I've definitely tried to have that I also have student loans. So I feel like for the people out there listening are like, can I take Factora if I have student loans? I think Factora has also taught me holistic strategies of dealing with that student loan debt. And I think for me, it's it's been a combo of I'm still investing, and I'm still paying down my loans, like some people are like, I'm gonna totally, like focus on paying off those loans. I'm not investing, I'm just paying off those loans. And I think like, Factora, again, has taught me to sit down and actually look at the plan and come up with something that's comfortable for me, because at the end of the day, I know like if I'm making an investment return, that's more than my rate on my loans, it's probably something I should still do. And like getting to a balance that feels comfortable and where I'm chipping away at kind of all my goals has been important. And then another thing I want to mention is I took Factora I was in my 30s I was married, I was about to have a baby. And I think like we get a lot of questions. Can I take this as as makes sense for me. I think it appeals to a lot of different woman I did it Factora taught me great tactics to bring to just my marriage and like forming a partnership with my husband, when it comes to money, I think has been huge and feeling equipped with that knowledge. And like, if you're feeling like it's too late, like it's literally never too late. If the stuff is so important to learn, everyone should learn it. I think the fact that we don't teach this in high schools is crazy. And like this is something that's very important to all of us and learning the right the right strategies. And even just giving yourself that room to like, think about this stuff to learn about this stuff, giving yourself enough TLC to be like, What is my financial strategies, like Factora really gave that to me. And again, before I think it was so easy, just month to month not to like care about those things or think about those things.
Totally well, so let's go back to your plan, then. So okay, you're filling up your emergency fund $50,000, you had a different approach to your student loans, which was, so instead
of like, I feel like I could just focus everything and pay those down. But I am aggressively paying down my student loans. I'm trying to reduce the time it will take for me to pay those loans by half. But I also really didn't want to stop investing. And I think like part of that was just I like investing. I feel like it kept me up to speed on skills I've learned from my career and from Factora. And I also in my mind was like if I can make an investment return that's more than the interest rate on my loans. It'd be smart just to kind of have this dual approach. So again, this is just me. Some people be like You're nuts. You should just totally pay off those student loans. But this is something that I've sat down with I've really like looked at myself and the numbers and my strategies. Isn't that something I feel comfortable with doing?
Amazing. So you basically realized, Okay, I am going to invest but also paid on my loans at the same time and it's okay that I'm doing both of those things. What other strategies did you walk away from? And and also if you had any new goals coming out of that, because that was another thing you mentioned like, Okay, I did the house I did, baby, I did the wedding. Now what now? What
am I say one of the coolest things I learned from Factora was just real estate investing. Like I walked away from Factora of being like, this is so cool. I walked away feeling so empowered, that I could do different things with real estate investing. I think one of the neatest things about the Factora community is there are several women who found each other through Factora and I've like gone in on purchasing properties and renting them out. I think because of Factora, my husband and I, we have a condo in Austin. And that was our first home. We've since moved and bought another home. But we rent that out and just seeing what that's done for us has been amazing, like so I think, yeah, definitely trying to get more real estate is top of mind for me. And also, like I go back to I really like being a mom a lot. So I think figuring out different income streams, whether it be real estate or something else, but something that might give me more flexibility within the next five to 10 years would be amazing, because the kids are only small for so long. Again, like Factora has opened my eyes. So there's different way of doing things. And that's something I'm like trying to figure out. But that being said, I just started effect Torah, I joined this company, because I believe so much and what this company is trying to do, like I'm from a family of four girls, I feel like I'm the first woman in my family in generations, who is playing a very leading role, and managing the family finances. I think money is such a tool, it can be so empowering. And like I want as many women as possible to feel confident in investing, and come up with their strategies and just feel like money is a tool for them. And isn't, you know, something just to be thrown away on brunch and clothes and whatever else. So that's very important to
me. Yeah, totally. I mean, even choosing to work at Factora, you know, which is a very early stage startup, it was a lifestyle choice, too. And it wasn't necessarily, maybe you weren't gonna be making as much money as you were at your corporate job, but you're gonna have more flexibility and more ability to exact change. And so probably even realizing something like that was a takeaway from the course
100%. Yeah, the confidence I've gained from Factora has definitely spilled over to other things. And one of those is like, having a moment where I was like, Yeah, I can work at a startup, I can work at a company that I really am aligned with. And like, it's okay, if maybe it's not the same amount of money or more money, but day to day, I just feel so much better about what I'm doing. And it's so much more aligned to like my core. And that feels so good. And again, like Factora just teaches you to reflect on what is your core? And how can you use a tool like money to let your record just thrive?
Yes, I love that. I love the way that you put that. So what are your next financial goals? What are you guys saving up for the the more tactical, the better? You know, we love numbers on this podcast. So we did the emergency fund $50,000. So you're you said you're investing right started at 5%. Now
is 1%, which feels really good. And again, that's this is sort of combined household, which I think is sort of this unique scenario. My husband and I want to invest in more real estate. So we're looking at unique strategies to buy a duplex in Austin and rent that out. So figuring out how best to do that do we bring on that partner? What did zoom out we need for the downpayment. I think that's that's very top of mind for us within the next year or so.
Really exciting. And in terms of your net worth, I know it's a little bit different for networth because of student loans, I can definitely that definitely like plays a role. But what was your net worth increase before Factora it's been
like $60,000 net worth increase. And that's just making very thoughtful changes to my lifestyle to my spending habits to how I'm dealing with my student loan debt. So it's been fantastic honestly, and I'm really proud of myself and I feel like the changes I've seen have, again, built so much more confidence has made me feel like I'm a better partner, a better mother. And I know that the sky's the limit. I know if I keep just doing the things I've been doing, especially once I get past the student loan not it's going to be just amazing. And I feel so thankful that I took the time at 33 or whatever I was to kind of lay out what I wanted the rest of my life to look like and just put the right plans in place. I just feel so good. I feel so much more in control than I did.
Well, even listening to you talk about, you know, the duplex. It sounds like, you know, you don't know the answers yet, but you're very confident that you can figure them out. And I think that's a really cool part, too, is just feeling the confidence that you know, you're not going to have all the answers, but you at least have the tools to find the answers and the confidence that those answers will be the right ones for you.
Yeah, and I feel like learning that things are possible. And I talked to a lot of my girlfriends or my sisters who are younger, and they sound like them buying their first house is so almost not attainable, or in the future. And I'm just like, yeah, it is you guys do it. Like you just have to get over that fear and intimidation, like get that pre approval, find out how much of a house you can get. You can do it. And I think that I think is huge. Like you can get a brokerage account, you can be investing monthly, like you can you can do these things that feel so maybe far away or like, you can't and I think that's something that is so awesome to see being still part of this vector community is people coming in me and like I have no idea what's going on. I feel like I suck at this and all sudden being like, I am doing these things it is working. It's actually not so hard and not so scary. And seeing women come in like having more investments in their 401 K having not only their first home, but rental properties, business endeavors. It's just so cool. And I think it's so important.
So you own two properties, and you bought both of them. Pre Factora we bought one of them perfect for one. Okay, so you bought a second property after Factora. I talked to me about that. If you can share the numbers on that. That'd be amazing. Yeah.
So we have this condo in Austin. And it was an adorable condo right in Tarrytown. And then, of course, COVID hit. So we were living in this, you know, condo, that was a great size for a couple. But as soon as you add a baby and all the gear, it felt a little small. And we were feeling super isolated. And so we decided to go to upstate New York, which is where I grew up and where I family. And we were originally going to go up to escape the summer heat. And that turned into let's stay for the Fall foilage. And then I got pregnant with my second baby. And it turned into actually, let's stay up here because it's great being a family when the world feels like it's imploding. And oh, by the way, having your parents help with childcare is just optimal. So we decided to buy a primary home here in upstate New York, and we had a decision of being like, should we sell the Austin condo. And I feel like because of Factora, I was like, we should totally try to hang on to that and try to rent it out. And one thing I definitely learned from Victoria that I did not know going in it was short term rentals can actually be more lucrative and less wear and tear on your asset, which I always thought you'd want a long term rental. But I think because of that I encourage my husband to look at short term rental. So we did and it's been booked ever since. And we're covering our mortgage plus making some money on it, which has been literally amazing. So yeah, we have two properties. It feels great. And like I said real estate's really fun. It's really lucrative. I feel like if you can find strategies to cover your debt obligations plus make a little more, it's sort of like the sky's the limit, you can expand your portfolio, which is why we're looking to do exactly that. And my husband loves real estate, my mom's an interior decorator. So get leaning into sort of the real estate space was something I never thought I would do or be able to do. And it's been so fun and surprising to do.
So when you're looking in upstate New York, what was your budget? How did you guys save for the downpayment?
Yeah, so the real estate here in upstate New York is pretty affordable compared to in Austin, we got kind of a nother pre approval on how much we could afford, which was up to like $600,000. And we're like, we're not doing that, like I need to pay down my student loans. We want to try to be investing. So we basically tried to find a house for $300,000. And we did so at the time we had my husband and I had figured out strategies to save up for the downpayment. We did just like I think 10% down and you know, we got the second house. I thought the pre approval was going to be really scary. Because we had this house in Austin. I had the student loan but it wasn't again, it's like you build these things up in your head and you just it's was totally fine. And it was great as they were using sort of the rental income from our Austin con know to help us get pre approved for the second home. And yeah, I would have never guessed I did have two homes at this age. But here we are, did it and it's been great. So we have this great house and upstate New York, it's perfect for our family. It's 10 minutes from my parents, my kids, grandparents and life is good. We have the four seasons. I know it's so hot in Austin, and I still feel connected to Austin having the real estate because I did we both love Austin and we feel very connected to Texas.
That's great. I love that you have an asset in a city that you feel really connected to, because I think that's one of the reasons why everyone loves real estate so much. I think Oprah said real estate is one of the asset classes that you can actually touch. So it can be so emotionally rewarding, which makes it so much more fun.
Yeah, I mean, for us like since we're doing short term rentals, we try to get to Texas to visit my husband's Texan. So to get back to visit family and friends. And just there's some great times of year in Texas where we can escape the cold. And like this past year, we spent several weeks in Texas and we blocked off the Airbnb on her condo and stayed at her condo. And it just felt so cool to have this at our fingertips. So yeah, we're really grateful that we've done it. And, again, did not think we could but we did it.
Totally. And you're going to do it again when you buy a duplex. So I have one last question for you. Well, I guess I have two more questions for you. Number one, what do you think your biggest takeaway from your Factora experience was?
I think the biggest takeaway was sort of what I've just been talking about was I can like I can achieve the life I want. And utilize money in ways that I want to build the life of my dreams before I said money was fun. But money was also kind of scary and weird and felt uncomfortable. And now it's just feeling in control, feeling less emotional about it feeling like it's something that's supportive for me. Those are, I guess, emotional things that have come from Factora. But yeah, I think that's the biggest takeaways, when I reflect on my experience sector, or gave me this time and space to give TLC to my relationship with money. And it was almost like going to therapy or something like couples therapy, and sort of like couples therapy with my money. And I think just feeling on such a better footing with it emotionally and also tactically, has been so rewarding and confident building and it just feels so good. I feel so good.
That that's amazing. On a related note, my last question for you is what should the people know about what's going on at Factora, and the next couple of weeks,
so we are opening registration for our next wealth circle. And the wall circle is the 12 week course that I took last year that I feel like totally changed the paradigm for me. And there is a free informational webinar coming August 3, if you are interested in learning more, this is a great kind of first step to learn more about our approach and what we do. I'm so excited to meet kind of this next batch of women who a lot of them are coming from a place where I was and I cannot wait to see just the transformation that they they go from. And if you're listening to this and you feel like your relationship with money is weird, I encourage you to just be brave and take the first step, whether it's doing it with Factora or some other way. This money and wealth building sort of is a game it is so empowering to learn the rules of engagement, and removing just sort of the emotion from it. And getting to more of a place that is knowledge based is very empowering. So I encourage you to like make those changes, be the best version of yourself that you can be and make money work for you. Because money it used to be for fun. But now I can just say money is fun, like money is fun. And I think that is such a amazing evolution and one of maturity that I want as many women to feel and it's not too late. If you feel like you're too old or like it's not the right time. Just go for it and do it and you'll thank yourself later.
I love that and we'll put all the links to everything in the show notes. Thank you so much, Renee. This was so fun, and I will see everybody in the next episode.
Thank you so much.
If you enjoyed this episode, come join us in a while circle. It's our live online 12 week course and community where we teach you how to create a personalized financial plan alongside hundreds of other women building wealth. It will change your life and your money for good. You can apply after factorawealth.com forward slash wealth circle that's factorawealth.com forward slash wealth circle See you in the next episode