Getting Kids Involved In Your FIRE Journey with Pongee Barnes

Getting Kids Involved In Your FIRE Journey with Pongee Barnes

Episode Description

Pongee Barnes – a seasoned real estate investor from Chicago, serial entrepreneur, and the founder of Little Owners, a company dedicated to educating kids on the various paths to career and entrepreneurial success, talks to Neil Henderson and Brittany Henderson, the hosts of The Road to Family Freedom podcast. Pongee Barnes talks about investing in real estate in Chicago, writing business-related books for children with her children, and incorporating investing into her children’s upbringing. 

 

Post-Interview Analysis 

  • Key Lessons Learned: Don’t overwhelm your kids with entrepreneurship lessons and make them end up resenting it. Go with your kid’s interests.  
  • How did they acquire their knowledge or what knowledge did they need to acquire? Be really solid with your numbers and be aware of the costs involved. Learn delayed gratification and business vocabulary.
  • How much money did it take to get started? She got a mortgage on the first flip then took profits from flips and used cash to purchase buy-and-holds.  
  • How much time does it take now? She is doing real estate and property management full-time.   
  • Could they do this strategy from anywhere in the world? She probably couldn’t.   

Episode Highlights:

  • Schedule a video chat with Neil Henderson at roadtofamilyfreedom.com/connect
  • Neil Henderson introduces Pongee Barnes.
  • Pongee Barnes talks about beginning in real estate in 2005 as a college student.  
  • Pongee lost money on her first property flip.    
  • How did she move past this loss?  
  • Pongee Barnes and her husband currently have 13 doors.
  • What did her first buy-and-hold deal look like?  
  • Property tax is very high in Chicago suburbs. 
  • She has continued to buy rentals with cash with each one located in Chicago.   
  • Why did Pongee Barnes and her husband decide to be their own property managers?
  • Pongee Barnes shares her tenant screening process. 
  • She is full-time in real estate and her husband maintains his job. 
  • What does she do when she has a problem with a tenant and they stop paying? 
  • What was the origin of Little Owners? 
  • Does she have a background in writing and what are the titles of the books?   
  • Pongee Barnes co-wrote her books with her children and they were involved with conceptualizing the illustrations. 
  • What do parents need to get started? 
  • Diversify where your money comes from.
  • Children should be taught delayed gratification and business vocabulary. 
  • Pongee Barnes talks about teaching her children to reinvest the profit.    
  • What does an allowance look like with her children? 
  • How much time is spent teaching business to her children?  
  • Pongee Barnes discusses working towards investing in vending machines. 
  • What is her children’s involvement in their real estate business?   
  • Does Pongee Barnes see herself investing in real estate outside of Chicago?
  • Leadership and delegating are key skills for entrepreneurship. 
  • What advice does she have for parents trying to integrate their children into their business?
  • How does her 6-year-old’s business activities differ from their 9-year-old?   
  • What are the top three money lessons she wants her kids to learn?    
  • How involved are her children involved in rehabbing their properties? 
  • Neil Henderson’s and Brittany Henderson’s children talk with Pongee Barnes’ children.

Books and Resources Mentioned:

About the author, Neil

Neil Henderson is the co-host of The Road to Family Freedom, a self-storage investor, and avowed proponent of short-term rental house hacking. He founded The Road to Family Freedom to guide busy parents to financial freedom through passive real estate investing.