In this letter, we’ll share:

• 2024 Airbnb Gain/Loss Recap 💰💸
• Our Airbnb cleaner 🙏
• Best news of the week 🥳

It’s a slippery slope

Last week, we took a trip to Hà Nội and left the laptop behind—unplugging feels SO good. Phones are already enough of a distraction.

But that means we skipped the newsletter… again. 😅

Breaking habits can be a slippery slope. 🫣

But newsletters are fun, so we’ll always come back to it. Bad spending habits, though… That kind of slippery slope can cost years of freedom. 💸

May 2025 be the year we break many bad financial habits! 😤

2024 Airbnb Gain/Loss Recap

One of the most helpful habits Angie developed in 2024 was doing bookkeeping every quarter. 🤌

It gave her clear insight into our Airbnb performance and saved her from a heart attack trying to do it all at once!

So, how’d we do? 🥁

• Net profit: $15k (after all expenses, incl. mortgages and utilities).
• Equity boost: Our Airbnbs added $12k to home equity.
• Tax benefits: Business write-offs and sweet depreciation savings.
• Lifestyle perks: Living mortgage-free and making extra cash while traveling (by Airbnb-ing our own space).
• Betting on appreciation: So far, so wonderful! 📈✨

The lesson is 👨🏻‍🏫

The choice to house hack, in our case, results in an additional ~$60k in our pocket annually. And that doesn’t include tax savings, appreciation and compound interests. 💰

We wrote more about house hacking here. 😉

Of course, it’s not all sunshine 🤷🏻‍♀️

• Ungodly hour guest calls when we’re traveling in different time zones (rare, but disrupting our sleep).
• Dealing with difficult guests (also rare but the bad apples 🍎🐛 tend to be more memorable).
• Working closely with our cleaner after firing the managers last year due to incompetence.

Talking about our Airbnb cleaner. We’re not only endlessly grateful 😭 for her but also deeply admire her. 🙇🏻‍♀️🙇🏼‍♂️

Our Airbnb cleaner

She has a heart of a Saint. 💖

She juggles multiple jobs to fund her charity projects in Vietnam. Despite not earning much, a huge portion of her income goes straight to those causes.

Years ago, we used to think, the more money we make, the more people we can help.

But that shifted when we embraced the idea of “enough.”

Generosity, we’ve realized, isn’t about how many people you can help—it’s about the percentage of what you give.

If someone earns $2,000 a month and donates $1,500 of it, that’s far more admirable than someone giving away just 5% of their wealth while claiming to help many.

Now, we focus on making enough to care for ourselves and contribute meaningfully to others. It’s brought us freedom and peace of mind, freeing us from the endless chase for more. 🙏

And every month, we make a small donation to our cleaner’s wonderful projects.

Best news of the week 🥳

Angie’s Dad is officially retired! 🎊 After 25+ years of hard work supporting the family, it’s a BIG day!!!

Now it’s Angie and her sister’s turn to step up and support their parents. Of course we’ve already factored this into our Financial Freedom plan. 🧮

Safe to say, their most successful investment ever 💰 was raising their two daughters. High risk high reward… we guess. 🤭

Lastly, Happy Lunar New Year to all who celebrate! 🧧 Wishing you a year filled with good health, joy, and peace.

May all beings be happy, healthy and live with ease. 🙏

Hope it's helpful for your journey to Freedom 🙏

Love you to freedom and back, 🫰

Angie & Tyler

Things We are Loving Right Now ❤️‍🔥

🧳 Travel

• 💡Reading light: Need some light while your partner’s snoozing (looking at night owl Tyler 👀)? Dealing with dim or blinding lights in your Airbnb or hotel room? Grab this compact, portable, non-blue light lamp! Angie got one for Tyler to protect her sleep. 😴