About

I graduated from college with a degree in electrical engineering and spent 4 years working in that field before switching to database administration, which has been my main career for the past 15 years. I am currently the senior DBA at the largest credit union in Arizona.

Twelve years ago, I became interested in finance and started investing in real estate. That path led me to become more interested in the power of passive income and that is where most of my investing interests lie today.

I enjoy teaching others and sharing knowledge. I've created this blog and my previous real estate blog to explain financial and real estate investing concepts and to document my investing journey. I've created several online video courses teaching Microsoft's SQL Server. I'm also a co-author of Tribal SQL and a couple of ebooks.

In 2013, I got my first close up look at a Tesla Model S at the Tesla showroom at Scottsdale Fashion Square and I was instantly smitten. I am a total technology geek and the car appeals to the electrical engineer in me. That same day, I went home and started saving.

The Model S is not a cheap car and saving the money to buy one will take some time. It will take even longer for me than most because I have decided I’m going to pay for this car using passive income. Rather than save up some money and buy the car, I’m going to save up some money, use part of it for a down payment, then invest the rest and use the money generated by the investment to make the car payments. This way, I end up with both the car and the money (less what I pay for the down payment, of course). By my estimates, this will allow me to purchase a $100,000 car for about $35,000 out of pocket. Unfortunately, this means the total amount of money I need to save is slightly more than the total cost of the car. But remember, I’ll still have most of that money after I buy the car, so I’ll be better off in the long run. This blog will document my progress towards this goal. Along the way, I’ll also talk about general personal finance topics. Please note I am not a financial adviser. Do your own due diligence.

UPDATE: I ended up buying the Tesla without using passive income. See this post for the reasons why I changed my mind.

From time to time, I may recommend products or services. I may receive some form of compensation. See my disclosure page for full details.