Income Insurance; Or Not!
This Nugget written
by Jim “Gymbeaux” Brown, Revised November 2012
DISCLAIMER: The numbers used in this publication were picked at random and do not reflect any standard or predetermined commission structure and are provided for training and demonstration purposes only.
It is the end of the year and most businesses, but not most real estate agents,
certainly not you of course, have already prepared their 2013 business plan and
budget. But just in case you haven’t,
this Nugget WILL help you
figure out just what you need to be doing for the next twelve months and
beyond.
What is the first question you
ask yourself or that a coach might ask you when establishing goals; you do have
goals, don’t you? “How much money do you need to
make?” The emphasis
is on the word “need”, meaning
you have a number in mind that you MUST
make in order to pay the bills you have and maybe put a little aside for that
“rainy day” we hear so much about, not to mention having sum fun.
Well Bubba, the rain hasn’t
stopped in several YEARS – or put
another way – the rainy day has become what one might now be called the “new
normal” day. Look at these example numbers:
- Economy drops 20% (that is just a number it does not
represent a factual number).
- Agent A’s income for the previous year was $68,000
and that was Agent’s A break even point where Agent A had sufficient
income to pay all of her business expenses, pay all of the living expenses
and as stated above maybe put a small amount aside for the rainy days and
fun days.
Along comes the rain. Now Agent A’s income, keeping in line with
the economy that has also dropped 20% and prices for food, shelter, gas, etc, have
had a corresponding INCREASE. Therefore
it now costs MORE just to live and for most people they are making less; not a
good compensation. 20% of $68,000 is
$13,600 for a net income of $54,400. If
Agent A was not saving at least $13,600 a year for rainy days, there is a
deficit and Agent A is spending more than Agent A is making.
Now look at Agent B who the
previous year earned $250,000. Agent’s
B’s income also dropped 20% over the same period in time maintaining pace with
the economy or $50,000 for a net of $200,000.
The question then becomes was Agent B saving $50,000 a year for rainy
days?
Here is another very serious
thought to consider. If Agent B’s
average sales price was $400,000 and the average Board’s sale price is
$200,000, do you think that Agent’s B’s income might be affected a bit more
than the economic average? Hmmmmmmm?
BARE TRUTH! In most cases
certainly not yours, neither Agent A
nor Agent B were saving $13,600 or $50,000 respectively. Income can best be compared to the storage
space in our homes. The more storage space
you have, the more stuff you collect to fill it. Purchase more storage space like a shed or
off-site storage and you guessed it, you collect more stuff. Being in the Military for 20 years had one
very definite advantage over most folks.
Every 2 or 3 years we moved and when we move you guessed it, we got rid
of stuff. But if you don’t move, the
stuff overwhelms you. Then one day, one
or more of your children leave home.
Wow, I have more room now that Johnny has moved out. Yes and you have more room for more
stuff. The unplanned consequence is that
Johnny does not have enough room in his new place so he still uses your home
for some of his “stuff.” And this
vicious circle seems to go on forever.
“I can’t get rid of that; I might need it some day!”
Income and expenses are no
different. The more money people make the more money they spend and I
know this because……. It is almost as if
it was a Law of the Universe like gravity; it will happen to everyone unless we
plan for it NOT to happen. We are in
very odd economic times and while I am not an economist, I think I know enough
about past economies that would lead me to believe that the world is in for a
very rude awakening when future revenues fail to make up the difference between
what was spent today and what comes in tomorrow as revenue or lack
thereof. That is a formula for inflation
and disaster. At this moment in time our
Government does not seem ot have a clue as to how to fix the spending and
entitlement programs to create a balanced federal budget. I can only hope I am wrong but I don’t think
so. Individual financial planning
becomes essential for survival in spite of what our Government is doing, or
not.
A great many people do not
control the amount of their income as people in sales can. Need
more money? Make more sales! The formula is that simple. There are other ways to make more money and
they are, (1) cut your expenses to the bone – that effectively increases your
disposable income. (2) Earn more money on the sales you make – that
also effectively increases your disposable income. (3) Be
more selective regarding the quality of probable buyers and probable sellers
you work with meaning you work with fewer people but the ones you do work with
are ready to buy or sell and waste less of your time on those who are not. While that does not directly increase your
income it does increase your dollars of income per hour worked and that is
always good thing. (4) Become an expert
on the Federal Income Tax Code or hire someone who is and take advantage of tax
savings, especially for Independent Contractors, that would be you. Saving more on taxes is effectively earning
more to save or spend. (5) A combination of all four.
This is what I know. Correct
that, this is what I positively know!
The following is a plan and any plan is better than no plan just in case
you do not have one:
Review your expenses for the past
12 months. Every expense, not
just the car payment, house payment and utility bills – EVERY KNOWN EXPENSE! While you
track them down, try to identify if there are any seasonal increases/decreases
like spending more on electricity and gas during the summer months or buying
more presents at Christmas time. Here
are some expenses that most people should think about:
- Insurance premiums like annual Flood Insurance, you
do have flood insurance, don’t you?.
Semi-annual, or quarterly payments like various insurance
premiums. Health insurance or
supplemental health insurance.
E&O.
- Christmas, birthday, anniversary, wedding and shower
gifts, Mother’s Day, Father’s Day (this
is typically a great deal more than you first think it is)
- Annual dues to trade organizations like the Board of
Realtors, MLS, personal designations like CRS, or groups such as the
Women’s Council of REALTORS®, etc. For most real estate agents it costs
upwards of $1200 KNOWN EXPENSES EVERY YEAR JUST TO REMAIN LICENSED.
- License renewals
- Personal development like attending Family Reunion
(convention for those not with Keller Williams), off-site training (travel,
food and lodging), books, CDs, DVDs for your personal growth library (you
do have one don’t you?)
- Unscheduled repairs to your car(s), home, tools and
equipment.
- Personal loan payments
- Student loan payments
- Credit Card payments
- Charitable donations and church donations
- Political donations
- State income taxes as applicable
- Federal income taxes as applicable
- Property taxes
- Telephone service
- Internet service
- Cable Television
- Co-pay medical payments
- Gas for the car
- Tuition for the kids
- Emergencies (especially evacuations due to storms)
- Unscheduled trips to visit relatives due to family
emergencies
- The cost of pets (much higher than you might think)
- Date Nights (entertainment in general)
- Cost of hobbies, golf, crafts, photography, etc.
- Cost of smoking.
Question. How much does it
cost you to smoke? Do you mean if
you do or if you don’t
- Cost of drinking (and that does not mean milk and
water)
- Expected or unexpected increases in any of these
categories (requires planning)
- Accounting expenses
- Legal expenses
- Advertising and marketing expenses
- Customer gifts and entertainment
- Tools and equipment required for work (or still
needed for work)
- Effect of Government regulations and/or changes in
the tax laws
You hopefully get the idea and
here is a way to fine tune the list. Get
some of your co-workers and form a mastermind group. Ask them to bring their check books with them
and then using the above list, work towards improving the list by reviewing
what they have spent money on over the past year. A side benefit of this activity is that you
just may identify more deductable expenses than you had realized were available
for tax purposes. You should also use this group to identify ways to cut your budgets.
Let me give you an example of
just how out-of-control expenses can be.
How much do you spend at Christmas?
Do you know? Do you really
know? A lot of folks buy Christmas
presents all year long which if they are bought on sale may not be a bad
idea. How many birthday gifts do you
buy? How many flowers to you buy? (A better question might be how many flowers
SHOULD you be buying?) Wedding Shower
gifts? Do you spend $3,000 a year on
gifts? You might at first say, no
way. But if you have a family of 5 (3
children) that is $630 a year per person.
But wait, do you have parents to consider? Now we are down to $428 per
person. Add in a niece, nephew, an aunt
or uncle, someone getting married, best friend, etc, and suddenly $3,000 is an
insufficient amount to budget. Tell me I
am wrong on this. But wait, if you
divide $3,000 by 12 months that means you have to budget $250 a month in order NOT TO OVER SPEND during the year. If you think you are spending $3000 a year on
gifts, are you saving $250 a month for that purpose? If you are like most folks, I doubt it.
Before you can set a financial
goal for the year, you MUST
absolutely identify every penny that you know you will spend or even might
spend. How can you just pick a financial
goal out of thin air if you really do not know how much you are currently spending? I would wait for the answer but unless you
are independently wealthy, there is no answer to that question.
At this stage in creating your
financial plan, take time to analyze your expenses and cut them where you
can. When you identify exactly how much
you are spending in the various categories, it becomes very obvious that you
may be spending entirely too much on several categories. Cut and consolidate where you can. Do your homework on what is most cost
effective like hard line telephone service in addition to cell phone
service. Consider the new technology
available like Vonage or MagicJack to cut phone costs. Where else can you make cuts? Do you really need that “new car” car
payment?
If you are in real estate sales, how can you “cut your commission” on a
sale or listing if you do not know how much on average working a sale or
listing REALLY costs you? Do you know?
If you have children, are you
planning NOW for them to attend
college LATER? How much does it cost for a college education? Let’s say for argument purposes that it costs
a frugal $25,000 a year (at some time far into the future and that is going to
probably be a very low estimate). That
is $100,000 for a four year college education PER CHILD. Let’s say you
have only one child who is 5 years old and you have thus far saved
nothing. Therefore you have
approximately 13 years to put away $100,000.
Without considering the effect of earning interest on your money, saving
monthly with the goal of saving $100,000 for when your child reaches 18 and
goes off to college would mean that you
would have to save $641 a month times the number of children you have. Here is the good part; if your child receives
a scholarship, you can use the money to implement Plan B – buy a boat! J
Then you must account for the
things you do not know and the big one is the rainy day. Let’s go back to Agent A who said she
“needed” to make $68,000. If Agent A did
not go through the expense part of this Nugget, I would suggest that $68,000 is
an insufficient amount and that $75,000 would be a more conservative
estimate. If you then calculate a
percentage over and above that amount for your “rainy day” contingency, you
have a more realistic goal. How much
more would be sufficient?
Well Bubba, there is yet one more
step. If you read the Nugget “The SECRET
is in the BAG”, you know that everyone should have a BAG (Big Ass Goal) and
that would not be a financial goal. A
BAG goal would be more like putting all your children and maybe even your
grandchildren through college – now that is a BAG! Or being financially independent but to know
that, you would also need to know what your future expenses will be and then
how much money you would need to maintain an income and life-style without
working, another huge BAG! You decide,
what is your BAG?
Once you identify your BAG, you
need to estimate just how much longer you intend, must, and/or be required to
work to attain it. Therefore, your
annual financial goal needs to include (1) what you need to make to break even,
(2) money for a rainy day, (3) an amount that will insure you achieve your BAG
and, (4) paying yourself 10% FIRST!
Where did number 4 come from?
Read The Richest Man In Babylon
by George S. Clason. Clason suggests
that you take 10% of whatever you earn and pay yourself before you pay anyone
else. Of course you still need to pay
all your bills but imagine the nest egg you could build yourself by paying
yourself 10% FIRST! Keep in mind, we all tend to spend what we
make. Therefore get in the habit of
spending only 90% of what you make!
Using Agent’s A’s numbers, Agent
A NEEDS $68,000 annually (based on
the upcoming 12 months and obviously this will change from year-to-year). Agent A calculates that she needs to earn at
least 15% more for that “rainy day.” And
not knowing what Agent A’s specific BAG is, let’s add in another $15,000 (that
would be conservative for most BAGs).
Now we have a financial goal:
$68,000
– Need to have
$10,000
– Rainy Day Fund (equal to 3 to 6 months
of income in reserve)
$15,000
– BAG account
TOTAL $93,000 (Remember it was once only $68,000)
Now we are talking!
That means Agent A needs to earn
$7,750 a month. What does Agent A need
to know to insure that she earns a gross $7,750 a month?
Not just the Market’s Average
Sales Price but HER average sales
price; they are not necessarily the same.
For the purpose of this Nugget, HER average sales price is $175,000.
Now Agent A needs to know what HER average commission percentage is
on each sale and how much of the total commission does Agent A get to
keep. This is a bit more complicated for
agents on a 100% plan where part of the commission is earned on one percentage
and the balance for the year on a 100% plan.
To make this easy, let’s say the first $36,000 of earned commissions is
on a split of 70/30. And for calculation
purposes, let’s say the gross commission on a $175,000 sale is $4,500 and
therefore the agent’s net would be approximately $3,150. If you divide $36,000 by $3,150 you discover
that Agent A would need to close 12 sales on a 70/30 split to reach the point
where Agent A would then receive 100% of the commission. If Agent’s A’s goal is $98,000, subtract
$36,000 from $98,000 and that leaves $62,000 to be earned at 100%. Divide $62,000 by $4,500 and you discover
that Agent A needs to close an additional 14 sales to reach her goal. 12 Sales at 70/30 plus 14 Sales at 100%
equals a total of 26 sales for the year.
That equates to 29 Sales and equals 2.1 Sales a month or .5 Sales each
week. Then at the end of each week that
agent could ask herself, “Did I do anything during the week that would equate
to being able to close just ONE-HALF of
JUST ONE real estate transaction
this week?” If so the agent is on track;
if not she is not. Watching the numbers IS the battle!
This is where it gets
interesting. Gary Keller’s The Millionaire Real Estate Agent (MREA) book
indicates that you should expect to close 2 sales for every 12 people you put
into a MET Database and who you
touch 33 times a year FOREVER! But let’s be conservative and say it is 1 sale
for every 12 people. This principle
works for real estate sales. If you are
in another form of sales like car sales, there are numbers that work for you as
well; find out what they are! Using the
above numbers, how many people would you need in a MET Database in order to
reach Keller’s numbers? 348.
Does Agent A know 348 people?
How many do you know? Keller also
stated that you should expect to close ONE sale for ever FIFTY people you have
in an UNMET Database PROVIDED you
contact them ONCE a MONTH FOREVER!
Therefore, first put everyone you
know into a MET database. Calculate how
much money you established using the formula above as your financial goal. Then calculate how many people you need to
put in an UNMET Database to make up any shortage.
You must then become disciplined
to your goal. Gary Keller suggests that you play red light – green light with your
money. Simply put; this is what you
are about to spend money on going to help you reach your big life’s goal
(BAG)? If yes, green light – spend
it. If no, red light – don’t spend
it. I like Joe Tye’s
Direction-Deflection-Question (DDQ) to help you in this regard.
IS WHAT I AM ABOUT TO SPEND MY HARD
EARNED MONEY ON LEADING ME TOWARDS MY LIFE’S GOAL (BAG) OR AWAY FROM IT?
Use the DDQ every time you
contemplate spending a dime! The one
category that should never be cut is education.
Remember, “Education” is what you
get when you read the fine print; “experience” is what you get when you don’t.” If you want to get better at what you do,
create a self-education plan and stick to it!
One more suggestion from the book
“Somebody’s
Gotta To Say It” by Neal Boortz.
Neal suggests that from this day forward, NEVER SPEND ANOTHER ONE DOLLAR BILL. Spend only $5.00 bills and larger. When you receive your change, do what you
will with the loose change but put the dollars in a jar on your dresser. These one-dollar bills add-up in a hurry and
it would be very easy to save $1,000 a year or more from your loose one-dollar
bills. This is a great savings
technique that provides you with emergency funds, date-night funds, etc. Try it, you’ll like it! You should be able to easily save enough real
cash to pay your annual license renewal, board renewal, E&O premium and MLS
dues by the real cash $1.00 bills you save in a year’s time IF you are actually
doing it. If you really want to see this
cash reserve grow, do it with $5.00 bills as well. The
secret to making this work is to NOT use your credit card for purchases, use
REAL CASH. See your money actually leave
your hand works extremely well with the Red Light/Green Light explained
above. You tend to spend less when you
spend cash as compared to using a credit card.
If the economy shifts for the
better – you are in fabulous shape. If
it turns even further south, you should be okay. Remember, the market is what the market is
and it never stays the same. You must
reevaluate your financial goal every year based upon REAL numbers from the
year(s) before. Now that you know, what
are you going to do about it? Do they
teach this stuff in our schools? I don’t
think so.
Planning example:
It has been my experience that
most years real estate agents seem to fail to plan or account for funds due to
maintain their businesses. Here is a
breakdown of known fees that should be accounted for MONTHLY instead of waiting
until the end of the year and then be short of funds.
Board Dues $450.00 Due December each year
License Renewal & E&O $300.00 Due December each year
MLS Dues $360.00 Due July each year
Total Amount Due During The Year $1110.00
If you begin to withhold EACH MONTH $92.00, you will have
sufficient funds available when these dues become payable. Keep in mind the suggestion to save $1.00
bills throughout the year; it would cover these costs if you do.
If you are licensed in both
Louisiana and Mississippi your total annual dues will increase respectively and
should be accounted for.
You are strongly encouraged to
literally write yourself an invoice each month for either $92.00 to insure you
have the funds to pay your required statements to remain licensed – no
exceptions – by placing the money into a savings account in order for that
money to be available when it is needed to keep your business running smoothly.
Imagine how better off you would
be if you deposited in a savings account EVERY
MONTH an amount sufficient enough to insure that all your licensing, dues
and annual expenses are accounted for when they become due. Now
imagine how you would feel if you also deposited into this savings account 30%
from every commission check you received for the purpose of insuring you had
enough funds to pay your state and federal income taxes.
Remember The Millionaire Real Estate
Agent premise, LEAD WITH REVENUES –
NOT WITH EXPENSES. If you fail
to save enough money to be able to pay your annual renewal dues and your income
taxes in cash, you are only adding to your cost of doing business by either
putting the expense(s) on your credit card(s) or taking out a loan(s), either
way you are not only paying your renewal fees and taxes, you also are adding to
the cost by now incurring interest fees as well.
This is a great time to discuss
having not only a business budget but also a family budget. Most real estate agents combine their income
and expenses but these need to be maintained separately. In fact you should maintain at least three
banking accounts:
·
Checking account for home purposes
·
Checking account for business purposes
·
Savings account for taxes and known renewal fees
Whenever you receive a commission
check, immediately deposit it into your business account. From that account make a deposit of either
$92.00 into your savings account plus an additional 30% for tax purposes.
You should have created a family
budget including income sources. From
the budget and projected income you should know how much annually you NEED to contribute to the family budget
from your real estate business.
Therefore, you should write a check and deposit it into your home
checking account for home expenses. By
maintaining two checking accounts, your accounting for taxes would be greatly
simplified when you write checks from your business account to pay ONLY BUSINESS EXPENSES.
Real Estate Schools teach you how
to pass your license exam but touch very little on running a business. It would be hard to find a successful
business of any kind that did not have a working budget (except for our Federal
Governement) to identify expenses and income.
As a real estate agent you are a business. Without the knowledge of how much it costs
for you to be in business, how can you possibly know when you have made a
sufficient number of sales and received a sufficient “net income” to pay all
your expenses and make a profit? Don’t
even think about it – YOU CAN’T!
Better yet, if you have no idea
how much it costs you to run your real estate business and you have no idea how
much it costs to work with a seller and/or a buyer, how can you possible cut a
commission you charge a customer for the service you perform – YOU CAN’T.
Red Flags go up for me when I see agents routinely cutting
commissions either to make a deal work or through their illogical thinking that
the customers “expect” you to cut your commissions. Really?
Do doctors negotiate their fees?
When was the last time a Barber or Beautician charged you less because
you expected them to? I’ll wait for your
answer……………………………………………………………………..