Hey there. Welcome to issue #5 of The Frugal Rich newsletter. JC here with your weekly dose of darn good money advice. 

My only goal here is to help you build real wealth without sacrificing the things that make life enjoyable. 

In this email, you’ll find: 

But first– 

6 years ago, I was paying $530/month to rent a room alongside 3 other roommates. 

Today, I pay $2,600/month to rent a townhome where I now live with my forever roommate (aka my hot wife). 

So, if you do some ugly math, I have spent over $80,000 on rent since 2020. Gross! 

I could go back in time, but I wouldn't do anything differently.

It’s become way too popular to “condemn” renting. 

After all, “You’re just throwing away your money!”

But renting has allowed us to buy some time to fully prepare for everything that goes into owning a home, not just the Zillow monthly Zestimate. 

Somewhere along the way, the American Dream became synonymous with “owning a house”. 

And “owning a house” quickly became the road map for the only way to build real wealth.

White picket fence. Two-car garage. A 30-year mortgage with your name on it. 

Daily panic attacks from the weight of being house poor. 

Ahhh– the American dream. 

And if you don't have that? You're behind. You're throwing money away. You're renting. Which apparently is one step above just lighting your paycheck on fire every month.

But I have really good news for you. 

There isn’t just one way to build wealth. 

And you aren’t inherently doomed if you are still renting at 30. 

And that’s why– 

(Heads up: I share how much I pay in rent + how much I’m saving for our down payment at the end)

Let's start with the part nobody puts in the brochure.

When you buy a home, you're not just buying a home. You're signing up for:

None of that is building equity. That's just the cost of owning.

I'm not saying homeownership can't build wealth. We are looking to buy within the next 2 years ourselves, and we’ve been saving up a FAT down payment. 

And in the right market, bought at the right time, with the right financial foundation, a home can be a powerful asset.

But I don’t think you (or me) should feel pressured to own because it’s been sold to you as the only sign of wealth and stability. 

That’s the main part I want to push back on.

When someone finds out you're renting, the assumption is you're wasting money. But here's the question that almost never gets asked:

What are you doing with the money you're not spending on home ownership?

If you are renting, you likely have excess money left over each month that you wouldn’t have if you were a homeowner right now. 

Personally, this has been a great opportunity for my wife and I. 

It’s meant we: 

I don’t think that last point is talked about enough. 

But for us (and I know for a lot of our friends) we aren’t sure where we want to be planted for the next 5+ years. 

And renting has allowed us to try out different place so that when we do buy we feel confident it’s where we want to be and not somewhere we have to be because we own a home and can’t move. 

I go more in depth about the benefits of renting, what I pay in rent, and how much my wife and I are saving for a down payment (each month!) in this video. 

Question: What are your thoughts on getting a debt consolidation loan or personal loan to pay down credit card debt? (If the loan interest rate is lower than the credit card) 

Answer: I actually think there is some wisdom in using something like a debt consolidation loan or even a 0% balance transfer card. 

On paper, it makes sense. If you can lower your interest rate, you could save money and get out of debt faster.

But this is the really important part most people skip over: That strategy only works if your behavior changes.

Because a lower interest rate doesn’t fix the reason you ended up in credit card debt in the first place. It just gives you a little breathing room. 

And if nothing changes, what usually happens is people move the debt… and then slowly start building the balance back up again on the original cards. 

Now they’ve got the consolidation loan and new credit card debt on top of it. 

What was “giving yourself breathing room” becomes a suffocating spiral. 😫

So I’m not against it, but I’d only recommend it if you’re actually ready to be disciplined about it. 

And most importantly, create a PLAN with a CLEAR TIMELINE for how quickly you're going to pay off this debt. Ideally, you should get someone to help hold you accountable to that plan.

Right now, I’ve got a few spots on my calendar open for conversations just like this. 

Whether you want someone who can double-check your debt repayment plan or you are just feeling “stuck” in your finances, it’s totally free, and you can decide what we talk about.  

If you are thinking of buying a home — this year, next year, or at any point in your lifetime — read this carefully.

The difference between a 7.1% mortgage rate and a 6.6% mortgage rate does not sound like much.

On a $350,000 home, it is $115 per month. Every month. For 30 years.

That is $41,400 out of your pocket — not because you made a bad investment, not because the market turned on you, but simply because your credit score was lower than it could have been on the day you applied.

Now here is what most people do not know.

Credit bureaus make mistakes. There are even examples of credit bureaus combining information from two different people with similar names. 

Imagine needing to secure a loan and suddenly finding debts, late payments, or accounts that don't belong to you ruining your hard work and good name. 

Your score has dropped. You have no idea why. And you only find out when you're sitting across from a lender, and the number on the screen isn't the number you expected.

Your credit score lives across three separate bureaus — Experian, TransUnion, and Equifax. An error on one does not automatically appear on the others. Which means checking one bureau gives you, at best, one-third of the picture.

ClearWorth monitors all three. Every hour. Every day.

The moment something changes — a new account, an unauthorized charge, a reporting error — you are alerted the moment it happens. 

A single point improvement on your credit score, applied to a 30-year mortgage, will cover the cost of your membership (and then some! Enjoy a few nice dinners out to celebrate, go on a trip, splurge on the nice new couch.)  

If you are considering a home or another large purchase that requires financing, this is a financial foundation you don’t want to overlook. 

Use ClearWorth for:

And more. 

Build a firm foundation with ClearWorth.