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Show Summary
In this conversation, Kathy Cuevas, a financial coach, shares her inspiring journey from financial struggle to becoming a multimillionaire through real estate investing. She emphasizes the importance of financial literacy, particularly for women over 40, and discusses her passion for helping others achieve financial independence. Kathy provides insights into her coaching methods, the significance of teaching financial literacy, and the strategies she used to overcome personal and financial challenges. Her story serves as a testament to resilience and the power of determination in achieving financial goals.
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Investor Fuel Show Transcript:
Kathy Cuevas (00:00)
My gosh, I have been told so many times to write a book from my experiences, because I’ve been through hell so many times and pulled myself up by the bootstraps. And you’re looking at it, what people look like, oh, you’re a single white woman. Well, I’m not exactly white, I’m half Spanish. But nonetheless, I came from a very poor upbringing where I had a Spanish mother who was divorced when I was five, never saw my dad, and raised me cleaning houses. So if I can come from that to being a multimillionaire now, thatThat’s a testament to determination and things like that, what I’ve been through.
Q Edmonds (02:06)
Hello everyone. Welcome to the Real Estate Pros Podcast. I am your host, Q Edmonds. And I’m excited today. I’m excited about my guest. I’m excited for you all to get to know her a little bit better like I have. I am instantly like a fan. She has a husband, so I can’t say in love, but I like this person a lot. Let’s just put it like that. I got a wife, she got a husband, but I like this person a lot. And I’m really sure that you’re gonna find her very infectious as well. You’re probably gonna fall in love with her just like me.But I’m excited. I’m excited for you just to get to know what she’s doing from her advantage looking at things through her lens and so I want to introduce you all to miss Kathy Cuevas How did I do miss Kathy? Okay, pretty good
Kathy Cuevas (02:50)
pretty good.You’re like a 95%.
Q Edmonds (02:58)
If my wife was here, she would have stared at me, you know, like really, like because, you know, she speaks Spanish. She wrote how to roll her syllables. She would have did so much better anyway. But thank you so much for being here. Again, I’m excited to have this conversation. And Ms. Kathy, honestly, I want to dive in. I would love for you to tell the people what your main focus is these days. A little bit of an origin story of how you got started, how you got to where you are.And if you want to tell them a part of the world you’re in for now, because you you may, you told me, you know, you, plan to hear now, but you got, you know, big aspirations and so big things planned. So if you just tell them what your main focus is, origin story, if you don’t mind and where you are in the world, I would appreciate that.
Kathy Cuevas (03:46)
Well, my focus now is to travel the world and enjoy my retirement. And I was all possible through my story. my story begins quite a few years ago when I was in my 30s going through my first divorce. It was really tough. he, I don’t want get details, but he did a lot of things that caused me financial ruin and I almost lost the home I was in. his stresses were real. And then go into my 40s, I’vefinally start investing in my own retirement account through work because we had put everything in his because his work matched it. So getting through that turmoil in my life, my 40s was my turning point where I started getting financially more knowledgeable. Now, granted, I was a business major and I’ve always loved business and I’ve loved houses and things like that, but I’ve only usually owned my own except that at that time we had one rental. So we were able to afford to buy our second home without that down payment from the first house. So anyway.
Fast forward, so I started investing in real estate in 2008 during that market crash. And I’ve always been a really good saver after my demise, let’s say. And I started saving very good. I had, just, wasn’t knowledgeable about investing in the stock market, anything like that. Personally, I did start investing through work. I did have a financial advisor and he, you know, started off at $10 a month, cause that’s where I was financially.
Now the dude comes to the school that’s authorized, he gets $25 and so forth. Excuse me. So I started off slow, but eventually I started teaching myself more about real estate. My sister and her first husband were in real estate and they actually bought and sold. were real estate agents, the both of them. So that went very well for them. had like 16 homes or something like that at a time. I thought, my God, that’s not quite an empire. But then the bad times hit and they ended up selling almost every one of them, including their own home.
So I saw the good and the bad of it, but I thought, know what, I’m a business major. I’m more business savvy. I save my money when it comes in. They spent it when it came in. So knowing that I was able to actually buy my first rental and it was coming home from vacation that you sign up the freeway new homes. Oh, let’s just go look. And they seem to know I’m buying a house. And that was kind of like a not planned trip or not planned purchase.
But shortly after that, the market crashed and I was able to buy three more homes within a year for under a hundred thousand that originally went for about up to two fifty to three hundred and fifty thousand dollars. They’re all everybody get there. Like you look at neighborhoods and everything is empty because people just walked away from the homes and stuff that lost jobs or whatever happened. I I don’t know that was during the dot com or something. I was in the 80s. But whatever it was, it was a bad time. Even Palm Springs was rolling up, looked like a ghost town.
almost like Vegas looking at a ghost town. So I bought those rentals and I still have one original rental left. ⁓ But my main thing is I always thought things like that, even see my sister, but I never thought they were never what I would call millionaires, not even on paper. They just had a bunch of properties that were mortgaged to the hilt. ⁓ So I did it differently. And I learned that you don’t have to be a millionaire to invest in real estate. The common person can.
You just have to do it safely and carefully. So I learned a lot of things. I made some mistakes, I reminded to the wrong people before I learned about screening and so forth. So I do all that. And then I ended up teaching personal finance in high school, my last 13 years of teaching. And that was a blessing. I had so much knowledge to give these kids. I had them for a whole year. I wrote the curriculum for the advanced class. They learned about investing in the stock market. They learned about investing in real estate. They heard the good, the bad, the ugly for me. And I said, whether it’s
I said that the three biggest ways people get rich is Warren Buffett’s your sugar daddy, he drops dead and you get money. Happening to any one of us in this classroom is zero. The other two ways millionaires are made are either through real estate or through investing. So I taught them all of that in the advanced class, learn how to trade stocks like Warren Buffett does. So I’ve got that background. So I started investing myself, I went to seminars, things like that for stock investing. Excuse me.
So I learned a lot and I passed that on to my advanced kids, but the real estate part, I said, you have to have the stomach for either one because when the stock market goes down and people panic sell, that’s when you realize the loss on paper. You hang on to it, you don’t. The same thing with property. That first house I bought, I bought it for like 215,000. It went down to like maybe 125,000. And a lot of people at that time walked away from their houses. And I go, why would you walk away from house if you’re living in it? I said,
just because the value went down, it’s still your home and people made mistakes and just walked away from things, ⁓ which was kind of sad. So I kind of teach people how to invest smartly in real estate. So that’s the, you got where I’m from, you got my thing. What was the third question you want me to answer? like I- no.
Q Edmonds (09:39)
You answered the third one. The third one you answered right off the top when I said, what is your main focus? You was like traveling. It’s like, yeah, yeah, yeah. But so you told us about the main focus. You told us about the origin story of kind of how you got to where you are. And I asked you where you are in the world. I’m not sure if you answered that one or not, but I can’t remember.Kathy Cuevas (10:01)
Yeah, I’m in California, Southern California. It’s usually nice and warm, but not this week.Q Edmonds (10:41)
Yeah, absolutely. Thank you so much. I always say thank you for the gift of your vulnerability because you shared things that you didn’t have to share, but I appreciate you sharing. And I think I told you this before, as soon as, from the first time you kind of started talking, I just felt so much inspiration in your story and what you have accomplished, what you’ve overcome. I too, you know,I’m divorced, ⁓ remarried, but when I went through my first divorce, only divorce, know, prayerfully, you know, knock on wood, but it was hard on me financially, you know, and ⁓ it was my late thirties and I told you now I’m in my early forties and I really feel like, ⁓ I’m still being impacted by some stuff. I’m being honest. And I don’t really, it’s funny because I really never talk about
how hard it was on me financially, you know? And I don’t know if that’s a man thing or not, I’m not sure, but you know, there was just some unfair things that you had to kind of just push through. And so listening to you talk, listening to how you have reinvented yourself, the new identity that you have, I’m gonna say it like that, because I read atomic habits, right? And so it’s like,
It’s not just about goals. It’s about just a new identity that you have. It’s very, very encouraging. And so with that being said, Ms. Kathy, I kind of want to ask you a personal question. Hope you don’t mind asking. I appreciate you. So, you know, I always say destiny has no wasted moments. Kind of meaning like as you go through new reiterations of your life, you pick up new skill set, new tools that help you be the person that you are today. And you pull from that person that you was and like,
Like this is who I am today because of some of the things that I’ve been through. So what are some of the things that you feel like adversity that you’ve been through to help you be who you are today? What have you pulled from to kind of help you be the person that you are that I’m looking at right now?
Kathy Cuevas (12:45)
My gosh, I have been told so many times to write a book from my experiences, because I’ve been through hell so many times and pulled myself up by the bootstraps. And you’re looking at it, what people look like, oh, you’re a single white woman. Well, I’m not exactly white, I’m half Spanish. But nonetheless, I came from a very poor upbringing where I had a Spanish mother who was divorced when I was five, never saw my dad, and raised me cleaning houses. So if I can come from that to being a multimillionaire now, thatThat’s a testament to determination and things like that, what I’ve been through.
And my mom has always been a giver and a lover. She’s passed away in 2000, but she always taught us to give of what you have. And even though she was poor, she gave what she had to people, like the poor story. And you know, the woman that gave the little pence to the God and everybody gave these million dollars, she gave the most because she gave everything she had. So I’ve learned from my hard things, whether it been my financial stuff, my lessons from divorce, how to set yourself up to not go through the hell I went through to have that emergency account.
I’ve taken all my stuff and I now started a coaching business now that I retired from real work. And I help women and I focus on women 40s and above, but I’ve helped men too with their businesses and keeping their business and personal life separate as far as their finances go and things like that. So I’m open to people, but my focus was because that’s where my turnaround point was. And I need to help, you know, women or whoever at their turning points or their bad parts in their life to try to avoid them. So if I can get anyone who has
living paycheck to paycheck and none of it’s going into savings, how to get it in savings. And if you want to, can later on maybe teach those who are more, I don’t want to say a fluid, because I wasn’t even a millionaire when I started investing in property, but now I’m a multi-millionaire because of all the properties. think my properties are worth over, let me check really quick my spreadsheet. My properties are worth almost $2 million. Yeah. Just my properties. And then you got my retirement top of that. I got my pension from work.
but the properties are pulling in somewhere around almost $80,000 a year in income minus expenses. But that’s a lot more than what most people have. And if you even have just one rental, can during tough times, you know how to, and I got a system right, I use to screen tenants. I’ve learned now things to like not accept anybody under 640 FICO score.
I’ve had co-signers when it’s like an exchange person. They had like a sponsor. I’ve had them co-sign, which actually saved me the one time I had somebody who had that. But I’ve just learned so many things that I have a passion like my mom to help people and, and, you know, give it back. I’ve volunteered financial coaching at church and I started my own online business, ⁓ where I help fight people and financially their messes go from rags to riches or from rags to normal to having a debt free, that burden off your shoulders life.
⁓ things like that. I’ve, I’ve learned a lot and I also help people in real. I’ve given a few tips along the way about real estate, but I never really focused on that, but I definitely could easily do that just from what I’ve been through in real estate learning, you know, where to buy a house, ⁓ where not to buy a house, what, you know, crime rates, ⁓ things like that, families, the schools, because people want to have their kids in good schools. So I’ve learned probably a lot and you don’t have to be like that. I used to love watching them.
flip or flop shows on TV. But they have a whole freaking crew and they’ve got millions backing them up. Most people don’t. So I help the people who don’t have all that, who don’t want all that. And the most I’ve ever done in a house I purchased was maybe done flooring and maybe I’ve done painting a wall. I keep it simple. And from that, I’ve now built my little empire that’s now keeping my retirement dreams so I can sit there and travel the world as I feel like it and help. And I bought my sister tires for her car.
Q Edmonds (16:54)
Yeah.Kathy Cuevas (17:21)
You just help people. I have now I the means to help. I’ve given more money to my church when they’ve had a special thing that they needed to do, although they never asked for money. Tithing is kind of on the low Q, but our church has so much because of our our great pastor and his philosophy. Tithing is never mentioned. There’s never a year end thing for the next year. None of that stuff.you know, so I’m just like, I’m loving it. I’m able to help now. So all what I’ve built up is now helping other people. So I’m just, grateful. I’m so blessed to be here instead of where I came from.
Q Edmonds (17:54)
Yes indeed. Thank you so much. Again, thank you for just sharing. Again, so many things that you said are relevant. Just pertinent. Me and my wife was talking about tithing the other night we were talking about tithing. And just so many different things that you said. It’s funny because I wish my wife was beside me doing this podcast together because y’all would just really be just vibing out so much.⁓ I just finished my first book and so ⁓ when I heard you talk about writing your book Yeah, you know well people saying you should write a book add me to that list miss Kathy I definitely think you should write a book it but you know You know a book is one way of getting your story out but I just firmly believe that you got to continue to tell your story because your story is Impacting people on a major level just from you being a coach, but just meeting a random guy named Quinton
over the podcast. You have really just even so seasoned me. So I really appreciate you. And so I’m gonna ask you this question. I kind of feel like I may know what the answer is, but I’m gonna ask, what is the next real goal for you, Ms. Kathy? What are you looking forward to next? What’s next for you now?
Kathy Cuevas (19:15)
of my trips for next year.Because I got the money to do it. Yeah. yeah, help. I still got help family. Actually, one of my daughters lives in one of my rentals. And she’s not even paying market rent. She went through divorce or started divorce two years ago, and she still hasn’t picked herself up in the bootstraps at 39 years old. So that’s the last teacher, but she’s gonna listen to mom. So you gotta put your big girl pants on. But yeah, no, I’m just I’m blessed that I can’t even help her and afford to lose the rent, but I’m gonna lose another
2300 the minute I sell the one condo. So I’m really watching my finances carefully, but I’ve got so much extra stashed in the bank, like local like emergency camp. I always I back in the day they said as long as you have like, I think it’s like two to four months, two to three months of emergency funds. But after COVID, the new rule is six to nine months. And I preach to my students even before that six to nine months, because you don’t know what’s going to happen or what could happen. We’ve had more than one type
job market. mean, my husband’s son, graduated with an engineering degree straight A’s two years ago, still hasn’t found a job because he doesn’t want to leave California. But things like that can happen. know, so you don’t know the job market unless you’re an entrepreneur, you can’t control it. And actually, technically, if you own a bunch of rentals, you can do that. But also mention one thing, an easy way to start for like younger kids, they say the the new millennials or whatever the 20s, they can’t afford to buy a house.
but there’s ways they can still do it. they can maybe have a parent, maybe not co-sign, but maybe give them part of a down payment. Or if they have the first time home buyer plans, buy a bigger house. need to buy that three bedroom and rent a bedroom and have that third person that you screen just as well as you would give them the whole house, someone that you know you get along with and trust and self-worth in your house. Help them pay your mortgage payment or have them pay your mortgage.
Q Edmonds (21:11)
That part, yeah.Kathy Cuevas (21:13)
You know, there’s ways even the young kids, even in this horrible market for them that they can still get into a house and what they call house hacking. It’s a new term now, house hacking. So you hack one, then you go do another one. Then you rent all the bedrooms out and you go to another place and do it all over again. So the younger people that aren’t getting married as early as we did, I mean, back in my day, we all got married in your twenties. My daughters got married late twenties to thirties. So,know the times have changed, so while you’re still single if you want, unless your spouse is with you on the same page as mine, strangers living in your house. I mean, you’re going to. You’re going to going to, you know, scrutinize and carefully and so forth, but there’s ways that younger people still get into real estate.
Q Edmonds (21:49)
Absolutely, absolutely. I appreciate you so much, Ms. Kathy. This conversation has been really good for me. I think really good for our viewers, really good for our listeners. Is there anything, now this is not the call to action just yet. I’ll, you know, we’ll do that after this, but is there anything else that you feel like we haven’t talked about that you want to talk about? Is there any kind of word of inspiration, education?anything that you can think of that maybe our viewers would benefit from the end.
Kathy Cuevas (22:22)
Actually, I can. ⁓ I know how I felt like when I was in debt. You have the shame, you have the fear, and you’re thinking this is me. One thing I talk to my coaching clients is your past or your current situation do not define you unless you allow it to. You can have your picture of where you want to be, and that is you. You just have to get there. People like me help you to get there.Um, coaching, because none of it, wish I would have had a coach back in the day, but I don’t think they had them back when I was going through my hell. So there’s a lot of us here now that, know, if it not me, pit finds someone, even someone at your church can give you a little bit of advice. They’re, not like the long-term coaching, but they can certainly give you advice and steer you. Um, get help. You, you determine who you are. You determine your net worth, whether it’s on paper or just your physical part. No one can tell you who you are, but you don’t let the.
Nancy negatives the Debbie Downers say you are this person because you’re not you are who you say you are so put that little sticker on the mirror every morning say you know like the I can’t think meant the I mean if you saw the movie the help
Q Edmonds (23:34)
yeah. Yeah, I am. am. I’m kind. I’m important. Yeah, you talk about that. Yeah. Yeah. Yes, ma’am. Yeah.Kathy Cuevas (23:41)
that little girl from, was like two years old, you know, you do it to yourself. You tell yourself, I am good. I’m great. I’m worthy. I can do this. I can overcome this certain situation. If you’re in a bad spot, that’s the biggest encouragement I can do for somebody. And I’m the biggest cheerleader for my clients. you know, anything, anybody needs, I’m here to help them with. And I have a free consultation also, but still, but I just want to help people. That’s my passion. That drives me to, you know,pay it for, I guess.
Q Edmonds (24:12)
Absolutely. So you’ve mentioned church, you know, so I’m going to talk a little Bible for a little bit, not to make this all religious, but they’re just some really good nuggets in the Bible. That just applies, right? And so there’s a scripture that says we overcome by each other’s testimonies. And so meaning we overcome by other people’s stories, by other people triumphs.by what other people have overcame. And so I’m saying that because as our viewers listen to you, I want them to know that you can overcome your situation because of Ms. Kathy’s testimony, because of what she’s telling you. And so really taking in the heart what she’s saying because she’s proven that it can be done. I’m gonna say this too, this may be a little controversial when I’m gonna say it.
Again, I’m gonna tell you another Bible scripture. I’m not trying to make this religious, but again, it says pastors feed people with knowledge and understanding. That’s what pastors do. Pastors feed people things that they know. And so when I look at coaching, I always kind of parallel it to pastoring because you are helping people with what you are experienced in. And so when I look at you as a coach, I really look at you shepherding people, helping people, nurturing people.
to get past situations that they can’t get past themselves. To show them an angle of, maybe you are, there’s a little place right there that can hurt you and I’m gonna help you show you how to not let that hurt you again. That’s what we do with sheep, right? We bring them back when they kind of veer off. And so I say that again, because I want our viewers to know that Ms. Kathy has done her work. She’s experienced and she has come in from…
Picking herself up to not just being a millionaire to being a multi-millionaire So when you see that coach at the end of her name Just know that she can help you and so that’s my little commercial for you miss Kathy, and I just want to say I appreciate you so much Thank you for being here if someone wanted to reach out to you connect with you learn more about what you’re doing How can they get in contact with?
Kathy Cuevas (26:25)
The best way would be through my website and that’s financialfreedompathway.us. On there you can contact me, you can ask me questions, can get a free consultation, you can see my social media, you’ve got my email, you can contact me, multitude of ways from my website. So that’s probably the best way to find me. And then you see a little bit about what I’m about on there as well.Q Edmonds (26:50)
Absolutely. Ms. Kathy, I got to say sincerely, one, definitely thank you for your time because your time is valuable. You were coach, you know you can put a premium on your time. You know people will pay for it. So thank you for your time. Definitely thank you for your story. Thank you for your gift of your vulnerability. Again, walking us through where you came from, where you are now. I appreciate that. And lastly, thank you for your perspective. Thank you for the way you think and bringing that mindset to this podcast to help so many others.I really appreciate you. you for being here today.
Kathy Cuevas (27:21)
Yeah, it could only be real, but thank you. It’s been my pleasure. Hopefully help somebody out there with anything I might have said.Q Edmonds (27:26)
Absolutely. Well, listen, we plant the seeds and we water the seeds and so we can’t determine the growth, but we put the seeds out there. So I’m sure it’s going to impact somebody. They take it in and let it impact them. So again, thank you so much. Y’all definitely check out Ms. Kathy, but definitely make sure you are subscribed here because we are going to continue to bring up amazing people just like Ms. Kathy. So thank you again, ma’am. And to everyone else, we will see you on the next time.
