Jason and Candida
YT/ Money Guy Show

When Jason and Candida started dating, he was 31, and their combined finances were a wreck. Student loans north of $100,000 (£79,000) each, a car loan, and credit card balances. Together, they were roughly $250,000 (£197,000) underwater. Neither came from money. Neither had parents who talked about investing.

Now 54, Jason appeared on the Money Guy Show's Making a Millionaire series alongside Candida and laid out a total net worth of $4.2 million (£3.3 million). Nearly $5.5 million (£4.3 million) in property, offset by about $2.5 million (£2 million) in mortgage debt, built primarily through rental and mixed-use properties.

'We spent our entire 30s getting out of that $250,000 worth of debt and then our 40s building what we've built thus far,' Jason told hosts Brian Preston and Bo Hanson.

They are far from alone. Around 13 million US households carry negative net worth, roughly 10.4% of all families, according to an Aspen Institute analysis of Federal Reserve survey data. The median age in that group is 34. Jason was squarely in that bracket when the couple decided something had to give.

How Real Estate Turned Couple's Finances Around

Their first home was financed with an FHA loan at 5% down. They fixed it up, sold at a profit, and repeated the trick in Atlanta, this time putting 20% down to dodge private mortgage insurance. Neighbours in Kansas planted the bigger idea: a father who had bought his college-age kids a townhouse, kept it after graduation, and quietly collected rent.

'That was smart,' Candida recalled. 'We should do something like that.'

Their first proper investment was a short-term rental in Savannah's historic district. 'We had no idea that it was the market that it was,' Candida admitted. They got the seller to secure a rental certificate before closing and slid in just as the city capped new permits.

Jason, who manages senior living acquisitions by day, later rolled old 401(k) funds into a self-directed IRA and used them to buy a cabin in Gatlinburg, Tennessee, for $187,000 (£148,000) with a 50% non-recourse loan. They sold two years later and put the proceeds into a larger cabin with better elevation and stronger demand.

Not every bet paid off. A Memphis property attracted tenants who, as Candida put it, 'would pee in the bed.' Jason once kitted out a rental called Hello Sunshine with branded amber shampoo bottles, custom labels, and matching throw pillows. Candida watched the money go out the door, knowing none of it would last.

Simplifying The Real Estate Portfolio For Retirement

At its peak, the portfolio stretched to about 16 properties. Four have gone in the past year. The plan is to hold just six: five townhouses in Gainesville, Georgia, and a mixed-use building in northern Michigan. Mortgage-free, Jason reckons those six could throw off about $8,000 (£6,300) a month.

Preston and Hanson ran the numbers on the show. Sell the rest, clear all debt, and park roughly $1.1 million (£870,000) in diversified markets. That would leave about $2.1 million (£1.66 million) in liquid investments. Add the rental income, and the couple could sustain roughly $15,000 (£11,800) a month. If they hold off until Jason hits 59, that figure climbs to nearly $200,000 (£158,000) a year.

Candida, a speech pathologist who works remotely, has no desire to stop entirely. What she wants is 'quarterly living'—three months in Vietnam, three months in Paris, the rest at home. Jason's ambition is blunter. He wants to try doing nothing.

'Everyone says that it'll be impossible for me,' he said. 'Let me give it a shot.'

The average US household net worth sits at about $628,000 (£496,000), according to Empower data drawn from the Federal Reserve's most recent quarterly report. Jason and Candida are sitting on nearly seven times that, built without inherited money and without a financial adviser for most of the ride.

'For your audience members that are like, I'm not rich, look at me, neither am I,' Candida said. 'But it can be done.'

Writer's pick