About Us
Hi! We are Lee and Kat! We’re glad you stumbled on our site. We love our story and love sharing it! BUT WHY SHOULD YOU LISTEN TO US?
Well, here’s a bullet point recap on our WINS AND STRUGGLES and why we think our show will help you live a life of FINANCIAL FREEDOM and INTENTIONAL GENEROSITY.
Our Wins and Struggles:
- Lee drove cross country to Los Angeles with $700 TO HIS NAME.
- He had to ask for RENT PAYMENT EXTENSIONS at one point.
- Kat moved from a THIRD WORLD COUNTRY to the States with NO SAVINGS.
- She was an ILLEGAL IMMIGRANT for a few years and worked all sorts of odd jobs that paid cash, including CLEANING TOILETS for people’s houses.
- She chose a dance career which is very unstable, unreliable and a FINANCIAL DEATH SENTENCE.
- Collectively, we had OVER 80K in CONSUMER and STUDENT LOAN DEBT when we got married.
- After three years of trying, we finally got checked and FOUND OUT WE CAN'T HAVE KIDS.
- We spent OVER 30K in RENTAL PROPERTY REPAIRS in one year!
- Lee’s Dad UNEXPECTEDLY PASSED AWAY recently and it was our first time dealing with funeral arrangements and the ABSENCE of a WILL/TRUST and LIFE INSURANCE.
- 2 YEARS of ROCK BOTTOM in our marriage but we fought through it and didn’t give up.
- We are completely DEBT FREE (Student loans and consumer debt).
- Kat operated a business that GREW EXPONENTIALLY WITHIN 5 YEARS of operation.
- Lee owned a SUCCESSFUL MARTIAL ARTS STUDIO.
- We saved up and bought our first property, a 3 UNIT MULTI HOME IN LOS ANGELES.
- We’ve had 10 YEARS HOUSE HACKING EXPERIENCE. Currently still house hacking and our rental income is paying our Mortgage which means we are MORTGAGE FREE living in LOS ANGELES!
- Bought 3 RENTALS IN UPSTATE NY.
- Invested in a 222 UNIT APARTMENT BUILDING in Kentucky.
- Closed on our first deal as NOTE INVESTORS!
- We’ve always DONATED 20% of our income and we’re intentional about serving our family and community.
Our marriage has certainly been full of flaws and crazy ups and downs but what’s kept us together is a lot of grace, forgiveness and believing the best out of each other even when we make horrible choices. In a nutshell, we are two people who are passionate about living our best life, learning how to navigate through the bumps (even when we’re both sometimes kicking and screaming), and believing that we can truly get through anything life throws at us. Oh and we are absolutely, obsessively bonkers in love with our two cats, Boogie and Goose (we both used to hate hate HATE cats and we’re also both allergic… so here’s proof that people can change!). Well, thanks for stopping by! If you want to know more, check out the visual timeline of our story below.
We truly hope our show and our stories inspire you to take action so you can live your own version of a Wildly Wealthy Life!
Lee was born in Kendall, NY to Steve and Cyndy Hughes.
He grew up with his younger brother, Michael.
Kat was born in Bacolod City Philippines to Luke and Delia Dingcong. She grew up with her younger brother, Kevin.
Kat’s parents left her and her brother in the care of her grandmother, grandfather, 3 aunts and 2 uncles as they went to the US to look for better opportunities.
Kat grew up loving dance and everything active from playing the piano, singing, acting and playing sports.
Lee co-owned and ran a martial arts studio called Arikata Martial Arts.
They focused on teaching Isshin-Ryu Karate and the studio kept its doors open until 2015.
Lee graduated with a Bachelor of Science Degree in Business Administration from SUNY Brockport
Kat graduated with a Bachelor of Science Degree in Psychology and Communications from Ateneo de Manila University, Philippines
Right after her graduation, she went to NY to audition for her dream school, The Alvin Ailey School of Dance. She got accepted but with no savings and no financial assistance for international students, she went to LA to live with her parents for the first time after being separated from them for 14 years. She got accepted to the scholarship program at Edge Performing Arts Studio and spent a year of rigorous dance training and started working in the dance industry right after graduating from the program.
Lee went on a cross country trip from NY to LA with his friend Pete Zizzi who later became our realtor and has helped us secure amazing deals on multiple rentals in NY.
We met through Friendster and started talking for a couple months. Who knows what Friendster is?!?
We met in person for the first time. We went Christmas shopping at The Grove for our first date and we hate to be so cliche, but the rest is history. Been together since that day we met!
Lee proposed to Kat after he had her do a whole scavenger hunt all over Los Angeles that led her to The Grove (first date location) where Kat’s closest friends and family were there to witness the proposal.
We got married – 2 weddings in one year! The first was at the courthouse with one witness, Lee’s best friend Joe.
The second was a renewal of the vows at a church along with hundreds of other couples. Cake was free, drinks were free, photography was free, flowers were free. Average wedding cost is $10,000. Ours was a total of Free99! So boom we saved 10 grand! Thank you In His Presence Church!!!
Honeymoon in the Philippines!
Lee met the rest of Kat’s friends and family.
Lee had a great time being the token white guy in all the gatherings 🙂
We couldn’t find an apartment when we got back from the honeymoon so in our first 2 months of marriage, we slept on the mattress that was on the floor right next to Kat’s parent’s bed in their 750 sq ft 1 bedroom apartment. The living room was taken by Kat’s uncle who also lives with her parents. The mattress was still wrapped in plastic because Kat’s mom refused to take it out of the original plastic it came with – Filipino moms for the WIN (they want to keep things new and clean)! But hey, we saved about $2000 in rent that month!
Kat’s mom also got cancer and we were happy to be close enough to help Mom during her illness.
Lee worked at three different schools from a Tech School, a Design school and now at a Film school. Throughout these years, he’s gotten multiple promotions as he successfully leads every team he’s had the privilege of serving.
Lee joined Eastern Sky Theatre Directed by Trey and Aerial Fernald. The team performed all over Southern California, bringing the message of hope through powerful plays and skits, that were eventually filmed and now available on DVD. They are currently raising funds for their second film.
We paid off over 80K in debt! Student loans, car loans, credit card debt! AND saved for a down payment for our house!
We got our first house! A triplex in LA! We closed Escrow in the middle of a Halloween Dance Show at the Avalon Theater in Hollywood.
The Triplex is a front house, 4 bed 2 bath and a 2 bed, 1.5 bath duplex behind that we’re renting out. Officially our first house hack (though at that time we didn’t even know what house hacking meant)! We’ve had guests stay with us from all over–New Zealand, Canada, London, Philippines, and across the US. Getting this house was a miracle, we’ll share this story soon!
Our favorite part of owning a house is planting fruit trees! We have grapes, mangoes, apples, walnut, calamansi, lemons, blueberries, avocados, and this is us harvesting from our banana tree!
Kat partnered with a friend and opened an after school dance program called Sky High Dance. Her friend provided some capital to fund the business and Kat did all the operational legwork, growing the business from 1 teacher (her) to 40 teachers and from 5 schools in its first quarter to over 60 schools all over Los Angeles and Ventura County within 5 years of operation.
Lee’s brother got married to an amazing woman and we inherited 3 beautiful nieces and a nephew!
We got two more Multi Family properties in upstate NY!
A 4 unit multi in the suburbs
…And a 3 unit multi in the city.
Kat freelanced as an aerialist all around LA.
She also worked for Aerial Experience Productions
…and traveled all over the world, including living in Korea for 4 months and performing as the lead for an aerial multi media presentation by Samsung.
Kat worked for Disney California’s Aladdin a Musical Spectacular as the Magic Carpet and was also a part of Cantinas Dance Project.
Kat volunteered for a mission trip to Fiji, teaching dance at various schools.
She also went on a solo trip to New Zealand she’s always dreamed of.
It was an adventure packed trip from skydiving, bungee jumping, rappelling 300 ft down into a cave and spending 7 hours navigating her way to the other side of the cave and more!
Our lives changed forever! A scrawny, shivering, wet, starving kitten who was sneezing big yellow snot filled boogers came to our door and cried for 30 minutes until we let him inside our house. We hated cats and we’re both allergic so we didn’t plan on keeping this kitten.
Long story short, we fell truly, madly, deeply in love and we now can’t imagine what life was like without cats! **Cue Music: “Never knew love like this before…”
Kat traveled all over the US for the Marvel Universe Live Tour.
She performed as an aerialist and also played the role of Rocket Raccoon.
Lee got laid off from work and was out of work for 3 months. Kat also came back from the tour and was out of a stable income. Our NY properties decided it was a great idea to have major breakdowns which cost us about $30,000 to fix and Lee’s dad had a seizure and got sick for quite some time. And we had issues with our marriage that gave both of us anxiety and depression. When it rains, it pours! But we got through it!!!
Kat started teaching piano (www.onmypianobench.com) and pursuing stunts and acting. Kat booked her first feature film, playing the role of Tabitha for “12 Pups of Christmas” directed by Michael Feifer and was aired on ION TV in December
Sold one of our rentals in NY and bought another one! A 2 bed 1 bath Duplex. Also invested in a syndication deal through DeRosa Capital on a 222 Unit Apartment Building in Lexington, Kentucky
Lee’s brother and sister in law gave birth to Hudson Lee Hughes! We’re so happy to have another nephew!
AAAND, we also got our second rescue kitten. We named him Goose because he looks like Goose from the movie, Captain Marvel.
He was found at a 7/11 parking lot at 3 weeks old all by himself and a friend picked him up. They couldn’t keep him and we ended up taking him in.
Now we can’t imagine what life was like with only one cat! Two is definitely better than one!!!
Celebrated NYE in upstate NY where Lee’s side of the family was able to gather together for the first time in years.
Went back to LA and a few weeks later got news that Lee’s dad unexpectedly passed away.
But we are focused on the brighter days up ahead! Kat is actively pursuing acting, currently about to finish her 1st year Meisner program. She also became a part of Monick Halm’s Real Estate Goddesses Mastermind group and is finishing up a 10 week Master Class on Note Investing with Paige Panzarello. Lee continues to work at the film school and plans to retire in two years. We’re both loving life and doing our best to achieve financial freedom and excited to launch our passion project, Wildy Wealthy Life Podcast!
And somewhere in all those years were awesome Christmases with the family.
Always celebrating with fun themes.
The most memorable Disney trip.
And fun trips we’ve taken around the US and all over the world, including our favorite trip to Thailand when we volunteered for Zoe Children, an organization that rescues kids from human trafficking!
Here are some of our fun trips: 4 am hike to the top of this mountain in Bali, Indonesia to see the sunrise over Mt. Batur Volcano
Just right before boarding a Pirate Ship in Cozumel Mexico where we ate the tastiest lobster we’ve ever had while in the sea with a bunch of Pirates.
Big Bear Cabin Summer with the family.
Living our “Spirited Away” dreams at an Onsen in Tokyo Japan
Tandem Biking Fun in Seoul Korea
Hearst Castle trip with the family.
Gearing up for our first scuba dive in St. Croix US Virgin Islands
Elephant Adventure in Chiang Mai, Thailand.
