Our Story
Early on in our relationship Katie and I caught the #vanlife bug. There was something about that lifestyle that this arrangement offered. We could bring our living room, ahem, a van with a small house inside almost anywhere in the World. For context, this was 2015, far before Instagram made this idea mainstream. We fueled our inspiration from blog posts and magazine articles. The journey spoke to us and we were listening. We had one hangup with this life though. We had good paying, stable jobs and while we were willing to give them up we were a little confused on what we would do for money when we returned home. We felt giving up so much for a one-year journey was risky so we re-evaluated our dream to see the World.
We were simultaneously hearing more and more about how it is possible to invest in rental real estate and earn passive income; an income that could potentially last a lifetime. We recognized how this was a way to stop trading our time for money; something very attractive for a couple in their 20’s who wanted to take a stroll down the Pan-American Highway in a van.
We decided to start the financial journey before the journey offering more scenery. In the first year we tried so many different things and explored several paths. Here’s the thing, we found countless dead ends on our quest to fulfill the task at hand but we knew that if we pushed on we would find the solution. Well, today, we can’t share in words how thankful we are to our past selves for staying the course and sifting through all the options that, at the time, seemed like a lot of wasted time exploring. You may be able to relate with me when I say it’s difficult on the personal/family morale when you commit to something that ends up taking way more mental capital than initially thought to realize in the end that it doesn’t make sense to pursue it. I think a lot of people quit after a few attempts at anything that takes an extraordinary amount of time when the results don’t follow. We eventually landed our ship on real estate investing. Back in 2013 we didn’t have all the resources available to us today. Passive turnkey real estate wasn’t as mainstream. We decided to begin with Airbnb and rented out our own home as often as we could. Having a vision for becoming financially free we saved our cashflow for the next property, a single family rental in Charleston South Carolina. Unlike the Airbnb operation back home the full time rental in South Carolina was far less than what we could make renting our own space out but the realization was a powerful one: the income from our rental was 100% passive. The rent just came in each and every month. We knew we had to scale. We led with education and expanding our mindset. With that came a rapid expansion of our network. The seed of our family empire began to grow.
Just a few short years later we amassed a very modest portfolio of rentals. Not enough to quit our jobs but it was becoming very clear that rentals are stable and consistent and they provided freedom in present times, very unlike a 401k. We committed to this strategy after a few rentals and got rid of other stagnant ‘holds’ in our financial lives. We doubled down on learning and buying more.
In 2018 we stumbled across a financial strategy that would end up changing the course of our lives. The strategy matched a financial tool that has been around for over 200 years. It is a vehicle that the wealthy have been using for centuries. When married with real estate or business it would act as a sort of afterburner allowing your wealth to grow at all times with virtually no chance for a down year. The more we read the more we learned that stability and consistency would get us there.
At the writing of this article we have amassed a portfolio of 34 rental units, we own a flipping company and this wealth strategy business, Axiom Wealth Solutions. The seed that started the growth was an honest conversation about a life we wanted to live. We knew then like we still know today that so many Americans are stressed out financially. It affects their relationship with their spouse and prevents great experiences with their kids. We also know that that life isn’t necessary.
We were taught to fund our 401k’s, pay down our house (heck, or even worse, buy too much house) and hope that someday maybe, just maybe we will have enough to live a comfortable modest life. We like comfort and we like modesty but not in this context!
We have learned to dream again. We have learned what makes us happy. The secret to making us happy is having our time be ours.
Do you want something more? Something different? Would you trade your 401k contributions for cash flow today? If you boil down our strategy that is basically all we did. We built a stable foundation with the dollars we had and then we created an empire that is still growing today.
I encourage you to join us. The experience is worth every second and your entire family will be happy you did. Thanks again for reading.
—Mike Bargetto