I have two younger brothers. And as their older sister, I cannot help but worry about them and their future. It’s my job as the older sister. And lately, I have been worrying about my brother that is closest to me in age.

My brother is very gifted at things that require the use of his hands, a lot of patience, and great attention to detail. He’s been a carpenter, a chef, and has also rebuilt cars. He’s amazing at all of it. However, he is not so skilled when it comes to managing his finances.

He’s only in his 30s, so he foresees that there’s lots of time left for him to continue working and saving for retirement. He makes up for the fact that he practically has nothing saved by using his age as an excuse. That’s why I worry- the government isn’t going to take care of us in our old age and pensions are mostly a thing of the past. If he doesn’t save something for his retirement, he won’t ever have enough to retire.

So, I decided to make a plan for him. There are probably a lot of ways he could save money, but the big thing I focused in on was the fact that he owns three cars! One of the cars has to go, and with it gone, he will be able to save about $500/month, plus he can add the proceeds of the sale to his savings.

Side jobs are great source of extra income and carpenters are always in demand. Building fences and helping with kitchen renovations could also add thousands of dollars into his savings in a short period of time. The savings can then be used as a down payment to buy a fixer-upper which could probably be purchased for around $200,000.

For a couple of years, he can live there while fixing it up and continuing to save more money. Then, he will turn that house into a rental property, renting it out for about $1,400/month. He then buys and moves into a new property that he will call home.

Now, keeping this really simple, lets look at what my brother has when he retires in 25 years:

If his repairs add $25,000 in value and the house appreciates by 4% every year, then in 25 years it’ll be worth approximately $576,743. That means that his original investment has almost tripled in 25 years! Imagine- $1,900 a month of someone else’s money going toward his retirement ($576,000 divided by 25 years divided by 12 months)!

“But wait”, you may be thinking, “property doesn’t always increase by 4% per year”. While that might be true, historically the average appreciation of property has been 4% per year. Regardless, after 25 years the mortgage will be paid off by his tenants and the rent he continues to collect can go toward his retirement. Rents and expenses normally increase by 4% each year as well, so in 25 years he could see a positive cashflow from the property of around $2,350 each month.

In 25 years, he will have his own primary residence paid off as well. If he owned nothing else but these two pieces of property, then he will have about $1 million worth of property for his retirement. Doesn’t that seem like a simple way to have other people help you save for your retirement?

So are you wondering what happened to my brother? He followed my plan, sold one of his cars, and now he’s doing side jobs and saving up for a nice down payment for his first investment property.

Learn How to Retire with Real Estate with Julie’s free Real Estate Investing Starter Tips Guide. Learn how to create retirement savings, positive cashflow and massive wealth with tips like: How to find quality rental properties, finding and keeping great tenants, and easy ways to make more money with real estate.

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