“My wife is officially is quitting her job at the end of this year. Thanks for helping us be able to do that. One of her friends had to go back to work 10-weeks after having their second kid because they need her income to pay the mortgage. It makes me cringe just thinking about that.” –Hui Deal Pipeline Club Member
The typical SimplePassiveCashflow tribe member asks a lot of questions.. Why do I have to work 40 years at my JOB? Why do the wealthy always get ahead? Why do I stay up late at night reading Quora?
I know I was beating the drum of the Turnkey rental a few years ago but I am admittedly a work in progress and this is my journey.
Sign up for the mailing list and join the free web course “Journey to Simple Passive Cashflow.”
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Preview of what is to come in my jump start to cashflow guide that encompasses all the lessons in the past few years…
Week #1 – Introduction to the “Journey to Simple Passive Cashflow”
Week #2 – Seeing the Matrix – You will know why the middle class is shrinking and what you can do to continue your same standard of living
Week #3 – About Me – Learn about my background and why I have the formula for high paid working professionals to escape the rat race
Week #4 – Real Estate Investing from a 30,000 foot view part 1 – You will understand real estate investing and all the options. We will cut through the noise and identify what are the best options for the high paid professional
Week #5 – Real Estate Investing from a 30,000 foot view Part 2 – Continuation with the addition of downloadable tools
Week #6 – A free special gift
Week #7 – Fundamentals – You will get to know the basics of what every investor needs to know without reading a gazillion books or going through hours of boring podcasts
Week #8 – In-Field Experience – A guide to effectively network and build your investor circle
Week #9 – 2018 Trends – The Fundamentals don’t change but the market climate changes so here is the latest market report and things to be on the lookout for
Week #10 – Buying a Rental Property Part 1: Acquisition – Start shopping for deals and refine your criteria to be able to spot out your next addition to your growing portfolio
Week #11 – Buying a Rental Property Part 2: Lending – You can’t buy anything and use leverage effectively if you don’t know the basics of using the bank to your advantage.
Week #12– Buying a Rental Property Part 3: Operation – Congratulations you are a rental property owner but that’s only half the battle. Now we focus on managing the manager so we can optimize our returns.
Week #13 – Buying a Rental Property Part 4: Mentorship/Networking – You net worth is your network. Don’t be that guy who repels help and good ideas and the last person to hear of the latest trends or work with bad vendors.
Week #14 – Half-Way Point! – Build your portfolio with the end in mind and with a holistic approach
Week #15 – Syndications + Apartments Part 1 – Understand why most sophisticated investors scale up to larger investments
Week #16 – Syndications + Apartments Part 2 – Find out how you can get access to deals once only accessible to the wealthy within the country club
Week #17 – Investor Mindset – Once you get started you realize that the possibilities are endless (I know it sounds cheesy but some people sign the front of the checks and some people sign the back)
Week #18 – Productivity – Following up mindset the limiting factor might be the fact that you suck at getting things done. Here are some of the best tips to increasing your output and having more time to do what you want to do.
Week #19 – Taxes – You will learn what you will need to know to prevent legal chrn from a lawyer who does not know what they are doing
Week #20 – HELOCS/Refinancing – A great way to find lazy money to put to cashflowing rental real estate
Week #21 – 1031 Exchanges – Don’t be fooled but this talked about tax strategy. It is often not what cutting edge investors use.
Week #22 – QRPs – Got funds locked up in retirement funds? Lets free that lazy equity!
Week #23 – Life Insurance Banking – Its called life insurance but its use by the wealthy to bank from yourself and avoid taxes.
Week #24 – Other Financial Hacks – Other secrets I pick up by hanging out with wealthy people
Week #25 – Covering your assets – You will learn some ways to build legal protections around your financial empire
Week #26 – Conclusion – Pulling together the basic and advanced topics for you
This is the stuff you don’t hear talked about from co-workers!
Most so-called financial planners don’t even have a clue – although they are probably a nice guy.
These are the secrets of the uber-wealthy and specific mentorship groups that I have spent over $40,000 to learn over the past few years.
All too often I see hard-working people with good jobs struggling to get by.
These are the same people who are forced to take stressful promotions at work, commuting in the car for a couple hours a day (hopefully listening to the SimplePassiveCashflow.com podcast), going home to the home they think they own but in reality, they are just a slave to the mortgage company.
These “good citizens” are victims of an engineered system to keep then investing in 401Ks, mutual funds, and stocks.
This financial system is setup where the insiders are stealing the majority of your returns (and you take all the risk – to learn more about this go to SimplePassiveCashflow.com/FP).
After over 2,000 calls (Now available to Hui Deal Pipeline Club members) between 2016-2018, I have found that most people Major in the minor things…
For example if you are trying to clear space in you iPhone. #FirstWorldProblem
You are wasting your time with this…
When you should be spending time on this…
And don’t get me started with mentorship. Most people are worried about how much the shovel costs when they are trying to dig a hole.
I am trying to lead folks out of financial entrapent! Lets get out of the rat race together!
Welcome if you are new! And welcome back… here is what I have been working on…
1 ) Just closed my second syndication in my own name. If you want access to these opportunities they are only available to folks with a pre-existing relationship. So sign up for my Hui Deal Pipeline Club and setup a time to chat.
Hui Deal Pipe Club acquisition stats (Estate-2016)- Acquired over $90M dollars of total real estate and $8 million dollars of funds raised.
2) Working with my coaching clients and Starting group coaching. Honored to be part of this paid Mastermind. Email if interested.
4) I stopped looking for deals… I only hunt the hunters to partner with if the deal makes sense. Not to sound high and mighty but after doing this podcast thing for a few years I have reached “critical mass” for social capital and deals are now coming my way. There are about twenty deals I get from brokers in my email everyday and a few syndication deals that are pitched to me every month.
5) I’m just trying to find happiness. Read along on my personal newsletter by signing up here.
Goal: Turn “C” and “B” class properties, 60-300 units (stabilized with value-add opportunity) with at least 75% LTV/25 year amortization. We plan to hold 3-6 years and sell when we have doubled our investors’ money. Utilize Non-Recourse debt for extra security.
Buying Criteria:
Seeking MFH at least 60 – 250 units.
1. Value-add component: typically 85-90% occupancy for non-recourse loan & discount based on condition or motivated seller
2. Price: $1,500,000 – $9,000,000, per unit cost under $55K.
3. Location: secondary and tertiary markets across
4. Class: D/C/B Property in a B/A neighborhood
Current holdings as of co-owner of MFPE Investments LLC (1400+ units in OK, LA, IA, TX, and WA)
“I read a book called, “The Millionaire Next Door” and it explained why my pain points were motivating for me, and how I channeled that frustration into something productive…the desire to make my family proud and ‘come up’ in life and pull my family into a better socioeconomic situation, and to ‘have what others have but i never could’ but somewhere along the way, I learned quickly that the ‘having of stuff’ is not what brings happiness so I dont pursue the shiniest of immaterial things… just the MED…. minimum effective dose of what I truly want which is surround myself with a few quality people and necessary things to subsist on than a bunch of trendy new things and fads that will fall off eventually” . –Hui Deal Pipeline Club Member
Networking with other Buy-Hold investors I discovered 2 things:
1) Passive investors are hard to spot out among the typically ‘active’ RE crowd that are majority at most local REIA meetings. Trading best practices was very difficult and I got lost in the fix and flipper group think mentally too.
Always consider the source of your advise.. I think we can all agree that going to your mom/dad for financial advice may or may not be the best place to go.. Sure they may be retired but consider the path the took to get there with different circumstances.. In 2015, I started to realize that going to my local Real Estate investing group was probably not the best place for me to go.. I started to pay a lot more to get into more qualified groups and conferences and I found that mostly everyone were real investors and not just Wantrepreneurs.. I got even more focused and as an engineer still working the day job I sought out groups with other investors who were primarily working professionals (doctors, lawyers, accountants, engineers).. A lot of these people were a little older than me which helped me find my highest and best use as an investor but gave me a high-level view of how to put together a holistic life plan.. An example of this happened the other day when I asked my guy at the Mercedes dealership what other people do with their leases do at the expiration of their contract.. Notice I would not ask that at the Honda dealership because people there don’t lease their cars.. By the way I don’t know why you would want to buy a card…. I did the math.. The takeaway is find people who are similar to your pedigree in terms of time/money/knowledge/network and use those as role models.. Grant Cardone has a saying “who’s got my money” which I think is misinterpreted as a war cry to get out there and make money.. I take it as a subtle hint to find those who have what you want and they “type” of money (active or passive).
2) Passive investing is often boring since this is not a get rich quick method of building wealth and uneventful (if things are going well there aren’t too many cool stories).
This podcast and blog are meant to distill content just to the golden nuggets for the passive Real Estate Investor. I plan to go beyond the newbie tips that clutter the internet and cocktail parties because lets’ face it, as a passive investor your time should be spent on things that you love to do and those who are important to you (not trolling real estate internet forums or making makeshift plumbing repairs on your property).
As I get more experienced, I recognize that there are a lot quicker ways to make a lot of money in Real Estate such as apartment investing, flipping high-end properties, or development but for the time being I have a full-time job that is alright and until that changes this is the path that I have zeroed in on. So if you are like me, join me on this train and if you don’t like your job and want to quit you can get on board too we will wake you up when it’s your time to escape the rat-race.
Real Estate has empowered me financially I wanted to give back to the investor community.
“Overwhelmed by the amount of stuff is on SimplePassiveCashflow.com? Don’t know where the heck to start? Text the word “simple” to 314-665-1767 for the curated course to get you up to speed on the past two years of content.”
My Motivation For Creating this Site:
1) Begin with the end in mind and decide now what you want your obituary to read. We are only here on this earth for a finite period. I like this picture because this is what will probably be on the welcome table at my funeral. I hope you can make it! Rich Cohen wrote that there are four rungs of being remembered after death: “newly dead; dead but remembered; dead and all those who knew you dead; dead and all those who knew those who knew you dead.” In terms of YOU…All that matters is what happens when you’re alive. Your legacy will offer you no pleasure after you’ve passed so live how you dream but know that there are some unconventional paths that you have to take (like buying cashflowing rentals not in your home state). And for myself…fame will do you no favors for me once I die but at least people can use SimplePassiveCashflow.com to get out of the rat race. And if that does not get your going listen to the wisdom of Frank Ostaseski.
2) Create a repository of information where my unborn children or others can reference with some context into what I was thinking. Similar to Seattle Seahawk, Marshawn Lynch’s “Beast-Mode”, I have tried to live my life in “Legacy-Mode”. And I really want to have a real book!
Why a Podcast?
I jumped on the podcast ban-wagon in 2007 while I was working on the road when I did not have a friend near me. It got me into Crossfit in 2008, Paleo in 2009, Real estate investing in 2010, intermittent fasting in 2013, internet marketing in 2015, and led to meeting and creating friendships with a lot of you because we are aligned on the same wavelength. Yes… The phrase “we met on the internet” is totally acceptable! Obviously, a few of these interests have come and gone but in the macro sense, podcasts have instilled a lifelong interest and ability to learn.
When you ask a kindergartner how do you make money? Why don’t they say “invest in cashflowing real estate?” Because their parents don’t have a clue!
3) While I am alive I want to teach/empower others to fish for themselves. In real estate, we use leverage and by teaching others, I am leveraging other people to achieve their financial goals in hopes that they will pay it forward. I poke fun at MLMs a lot but I would like to create a pyramid scheme of philanthropy.
What is the change that you want to make in the world even if its a 1% move in the needle? Financial education – people have such struggle so much to make ends meet.
I was baptized on Easter 2016 and searched for a way to give back. I want to help others but I struggle with giving money away because I know I can grow my money much faster and I am much more frugal than any philanthropic organization. Bill Gates gave back only after he amassed a fortune. Tithing as you go along has a smaller cumulative impact. My end game is to give away my wealth to rightful causes via a Charitable Remainder Trust.
4) I hope my blog/podcast will help families realize the powerful wealth-building effects of real estate so they can spend their time on more important, instead of working long hours and worrying about their financial troubles. There are a lot of successful families with good jobs (teachers/engineers/programmers/finance) yet they struggle to make ends meet financially. It is their kiddos who ultimately get the short end of the stick. (Cool graphs on this subject) Being a Latch-Key Child growing up, both my parents had to work and I was left home alone after school to fiddle with my thumbs.
With Real Estate you are able to grow your wealth exponentially faster than the conventional 401K’s and stock investing, therefore you are able to escape the dogma of working 50+ hour weeks at a job that is unfulfilling. And if you are one of the lucky ones who happen to do what you enjoy… well good for you 😛
Money is not everything but it is important because it gives you the freedom to live life on your terms. And we are being misled by the Wall Street institutions and prevailing dogma. Don’t listen to your financial advisor who gets paid based on commissions.
As a great time in history to be alive with general peace and technological convinced, I see a silent war being waged upon the shrinking Middle Class. This is the Civil Rights movement of my time. In a way, people are having a Stockholm Syndrome with Wall Street profiteers being the captors. Let’s work together to redirect money from the Wall-Street casinos and corrupt financial institutions…To help the endangered ‘Middle Class’ savers find safer, more profitable investments in Main Street opportunities benefiting local communities.
“I wanted to say thank you to all of the Simple Passive Cashflow listeners. The content has been all over the place from Turnkey Rentals to Turkey Rentals and now to syndications and private placements. The feedback from some of you is that it has been a bit of a roller coaster or “Korean Drama” to follow the websites content. To memorialize the past and de-cuttler the past two years of content I have created a FREE web course to get you up to speed by texting the word “simple” to 314-665-1767.”
Why this podcast/website/syndicating deals is the perfect storm:
Self-awareness is truly the most important aspect of being an investor/entrepreneur. My job being a syndicator is to find opportunities and lead other investors like you to them and using my podcast and experience makes this a logical step for me. I always encourage folks to find out what their competitive advantages and disadvantages are. I can usually help point people in the right direction in a 15-minute free chat – Click here to schedule.
By doing the podcast I found that there was a lot of things and people that I did not know. As Robert Half says, “When one teaches, two learn.”
What are my downfalls?
Being an engineer and introvert communicating was something I was never good at. However, I think I get it after hearing these “straight from the 1990’s salesmen.” I don’t like to waste people’s time, no tricks, no games, the deals should sell themselves.
What is my competitive advantage?
1) I don’t have kids. After learning about hundreds of listens situations via free calls I hear that this sorta complicates things… 😛
2) I am an ISTJ (introversion, sensing, thinking, judgment abbreviation used in the publications of the Myers–Briggs Type Indicator). I don’t really know what the last three manifest in my life but I am a recovering introvert – a side hobby is this group I started to help others get out of their shell. I believe an introvert has nothing to do if you like people or if you are loud and annoying. Your affinity is determined where you derive your energy. Going to the day job and working with you know “others” was really tiring for me. The weirdest thing is that when I talk to others over the phone or in-person I get so excited and sometimes a little too passionate. That’s how I knew I was on to something. I’ll say it many times but what really fires me up is redirecting money from the Wall-Street casinos and corrupt financial institutions…To help the endangered ‘Middle Class’ savers find safer, more profitable investments in Main Street opportunities benefiting local communities. And it would be awesome to help out people in Hawaii where I now live where so many struggles with finances. I’m not looking to change the world just a portion of it.
3) I do recognize that there are seasons in life and right now I am accelerating my syndication business along with my own investments via my Hui Deal Pipeline Club. Sign up here.
Right now my goal is to get to $10-15k per month of passive cashflow as fast as I can. Once I get there, I plan to put things into cruise control. Sophisticated investors call this going from the “growth stage” to hitting “critical mass”. At that point, I will continue to help others get where they want to be via my syndication business which creates good options for passive investors with so little time on their hands. I trust that at this point deals and opportunities will fall into my lap and the Hui.
4) Some people say they work smart. Bust guess what? I work smart and work hard (2-4 hours every day after I get home from the day job). Right now I am working at a pretty unsustainable pace but I am motivated by being so close to activating cruise control.
5) I don’t think binary. I see the world as shades of grey and zero-sum trade-offs when win-win deals can’t be made. I am able to evaluate deals analytically and make holistic decisions. I seem like a machine sometimes but don’t act like one 😉 Robert Kiyosaki says “there are always three sides to a coin.”
6) Integrity – Through these podcast interviews, I had the idea beat into my head not to chase money. I did it in my W2 career in construction management trading money for a poor quality of life working in something I did not like with people who were jerks. Being a younger investor, I realized that was going to hit “zero-gravity” or financial freedom well before my 40s. And then what the heck would I do??? I plan on doing this for a while… at least a few market cycles. I always wanted to act with my investors best interests in mind. The last thing I want to do is not act ethically and have someone put a hit on me as I check my mail at my PO Box.
“I started the Hui Deal Pipeline Club because I want to see each of you get to your goals financially so you can focus on what is really important to you. There are other fundraisers out there that will train their investors down to 10-15% IRRs on crappy deals and do “deals to do deals” or to pick up acquisition fees. Between investing alongside you folks and wanted to grow my track record the right way with the best product I know you guys will keep coming back and bring your friends.”
“Are you absolutely bored at social gatherings because everyone is super passionate about their JOB and too shameful to get naked and talk about their finances? Been drinking the SimplePassiveCashflow Latte (got your own coffee parcel) and feeling a little lonely? Re-engage your friends having them text the word “simple” to 314-665-1767 to begin the Free web course “The Journey to Simple Passive Cashflow” so they can get back up to speed with financial independence and investing. Remember if you don’t tell them now about it who are you going to have mid-day lunches with when everyone else is still at the day-job.”
If you are new to the site here are the recommended posts to read if you had a couple hours:
I would recommend using the Command-F button and seaching in this spreadsheet to find what you like: Master Spreadsheet of Every Simplepassivecashflow Podcast Link
Please do me a favour and share with your friends. Because you can change someone’s life.
“I started the Hui Deal Pipeline Club because I want to see each of you get to your goals financially so you can focus on what is really important to you. There are other fundraisers out there that will train their investors down to 10-15% IRRs on crappy deals and do “deals to do deals” or to pick up acquisition fees. Between investing alongside you folks and wanted to grow my track record the right way with the best product I know you guys will keep coming back and bring your friends.
SimplePassiveCashflow.com is for working professionals who are looking for diversification and better returns outside of traditional investments such as mutual funds and stocks. The Hui Deal Pipeline Club is a free investor club where I filter investments and underwrite the numbers and partners myself. Unlike other investor lists and groups, my investors have personal access to me and know that I personally have skin in the game investing alongside with my investors.
Let’s work together to redirect money from the Wall-Street casinos and corrupt financial institutions…To help the endangered ‘Middle Class’ savers find safer, more profitable investments in Main Street opportunities benefiting local communities.”
This site is just my method to make passive income via real estate. It’s a N=1 kind of thing for you statisticians out there. This is my path and does not mean it’s for you or your situation. This website is not the bible for real estate and not even the model for buy and hold investing, but at the very least use this site as another data point and get some of my lessons learned.
Traditional options from a financial planner (just another commission based sales person) or options from your Vanguard/Fidelity type broker offer do not fit any of these criteria.
My three rules of investing:
1) evaluate income and expenses for positive cashflow – Good Rent-to-Value Ratios (More info – http://simplepassivecashflow.com/podcast-3-rent-to-value-ratio/)
2) leverage with favourable debt terms so you maximze the leverage while still cashflowing (we are becoming a nation of renters. The new tax laws are putting the W2 employee even farther behind) – Insomniacs report of homeowner rates
*gold is a hard asset but does not produce (1) cashflow or (2) leveragable… Of course you could leverage it via Mining Stocks but then you would not be (3) hard asset. Don’t get me started on Crypto but it does not produce income and not leveraged.
“Hoping and praying” does not work and those who blindly follow this strategy subconsciously know it and live like Scrooges, pinching every penny they have.
The following is the financial secret that has mislead the majority of hard working Americans…
The system is rigged against you. Dare I say, “engineered” to extract your hard earned wealth from you without even knowing it.
Did you ever see the movie “Office-Space” where the disgruntled trio made a plan to steal a small point zero zero one fraction of every transaction from the big bad company?
We that’s what Wall Street, Mutual Funds, 401Ks, and special interest groups are doing to you. But instead of taking .001 fraction they are gutting you alive often taking over 20% without you even knowing.
This is the reason Hui Deal Pipeline Club members are able to retire in 5 years, instead of 40. Or have one spouse stay at home or work part-time in something they actually want to.
Warning: If you are broke or financially irresponsible this site is not for you. You need to learn from Dave Ramsey, Suze Orman, or the hundreds of personal finance blogs out there that preach frugal lifestyles and delaying gratification. The content contained herein is for the hardworking middle-class who have been misled by the conventional dogma of study hard, get a job, work until you are old, and only then you can retire and live the remainder of what life you have.
As you can tell I’m going to tell it straight. Yes, I raise money for deals but I am going to do it my way and being authentic. And as you can tell when I interview someone for my podcast you are not going to hear the same old boring (limp) interviews of “make your bed in the morning to set the day” then “Blah blah mindfulness thing” and fluff.
My articles will also not suck like some articles just made for search engine optimization (SEO) on their website.
This site is not for those looking for the quick handout or magic pill. There are dozens of other gurus that plague your local Reia that show you how to buy real estate with little to no money. There are a lot of tricks out there and like the cereal cartoon bunny says, “Trix are for kids.”
If you are not financially mature, when you find wealth with real estate, you will not be a good steward of that wealth and leave a meaning legacy. Think I’m kidding… Here is the real version of the above video:
The Real Estate Universe
The Real Estate universe as you know is pretty big… you got flippers, wholesalers, rehabbers, bird-dogs, tire kickers, buy hold, all sorts of strategies that take up various places on the “Passive-Active Spectrum.
I have a pretty busy W-2 job being an Engineer staring at my Microsoft Outlook Inbox most of the day. I don’t flip, wholesale, or do any other active real estate activities. (What’s the deal with flippers and wholesaler calling themselves “Investor”. In my opinion, these are jobs and should be called real estate “traders.” We don’t call stock “day-traders” – “day-investors” do we?) (BiggerPockets seems to be mostly active people rant)
ERRR, anyway I guess I’m a tab jealous of active real estate guys since some of them are pretty awesome and very experienced at their craft, however, I don’t have the patience or time to do what they do.
Hi, my name is Lane, and I am a lazy, passive investor because it fits my personality, current lifestyle, and in the future, I don’t want to replace my current job with another one licking the stamps on my wholesale letters or swindling buyers who don’t know any better.
Ok OK, I know I’m being a little harsh but just saying.
On another level, my big beef with the Wholesaling/bird-dogging model is how it is reliant on the three D’s: Divorce, Despair, or Death. I personally take exception to the ethical validity of this type of business. I see it as taking advantage of those in a bad situation. And I see it as a scorch the earth mentality for profit. The active camp will say that your are solving “their problem” and “providing a means out of their situation”… I call that justification BS. Call it like it is and take the righteousness junk out it. Now I don’t think that these people are bad its just not something I would feel right doing.
On the other hand, buy and hold rentals are about improving properties and providing fair housing – the key is being a responsible investor and always remembering that you need to provide good living conditions for your tenant. If you can improve neighborhoods in the process, then great!
Who This Site Is For
As I mentioned I am fortunate to have a full-time job, and I don’t have the time to find those amazing deals that you hear about that allow you to source… 100% ROI, no money down, this weekend only for a limited time!
I want to introduce this concept of the “Time-Money-Experience Triangle”. (Triangle, not to be mistaken by the triangle that ‘Link’ from the ‘Legend of Zelda’ is always searching for or the “Scope-Schedule-Budget Triangle” that I manage at my day job that I search every day for on my computer screen… man it seems like the Legend of Zelda guy has a lot more going for him, he’s always on some adventure. But back to the “Time-Money-Experience Triangle”, you have to recognize what skills you have, your resources, and what you lack. If you have another job, there is no way you are going to do it all by yourself. Leverage your time and money. Don’t be that so-called “investor” who works in your business not on it, in other words, the guy who spends his weekend painting and fixing toilets when he should be finding deals and working with banks for lending. If you are that guy, “when are you going to be an ‘investor’ and stop being a landlord”.
Yes, I’m that 4-hour work week, outsource the most you can person. At the same time, I am also that guy who believes in achieving my best and highest use and spends time on what is most important outside of real estate.
You can read more about me in my “about me” section.
This site is for three types of people:
1) Folks who have pretty well-paid jobs. Let’s face it, the reason you came here instead of googling W-2 work ideas on you free time is saying something. You are not the guy googling “How can I increase my leadership qualities to manage diverse employees with different backgrounds” or “How to talk my employee to giving me a raise” or “How can I better network at my year end Christmas work party”.
2) Another group that should read on and subscribe to free articles are straight up rich people who are tired of getting those paltry return on bond and mutual funds.
3) If you’re a government conspirator who believes the mutual fund and stock market is a big Ponzi scheme, you can join too, just be on your best behavior.
The Why
Whatever category you fall under come on and join the party! We all share a vision as being financially free as Uncle Tony (Tony Robbins) defines financial freedom as having the “freedom to do what you want where you want”. What is fundamental to achieving that goal is that passive cashflow is the end game.
You should “start any journey with the end in mind”. <insert corny metaphor of plane knowing where the destination is but not knowing what the exact path is, complete with a diagram of not to scale airplane and a dotted line illustrating a wavy flight path>
I would like to introduce a term called FYM which stands for “F- You Money”. Have you ever seen that commercial with the creepy orange number following the man or woman around supposedly representing the amount of money that person needs to acquire to retire? It’s sort of like that but under the SimplePassiveCashflow definition of FYM, the “number” is more of a “cashflow number” that sustains your lifestyle and the “F- You” part comes in when that day where you get pissed off at work and be like “F- You, I don’t need to be here”. You know at work there is one last samurai-ish 65-year-old co-worker who has 50 years of service (illegally working when he was like 15 years old) with the grumpy attitude who says that he could retire at any time and does not help anyone. That guy obviously wasted his life away with traditional wealth-building methods but he is at a point in his life where do does not care, and you can be like that guy (except without all the wrinkles and the fact that people might actually like you).
Imagine coming in to work because you want to, because you choose to, and actually want to hang out with your co-workers. For some, you might just merely tolerate the day job for the stated W-2 income to qualify for bank loans and the fact that you get free coffee and you get to use the toilet for free because every flush is approximately 10 cents worth (trust me I did the math I’m an Industrial Engineer, I took into account the water and lifecycle cost analysis of the crapper and your time to clean the thing). In all seriousness, you might like your job, and that’s great for you, the important thing is to do what you want, on your terms because of your financial freedom.
And while we are on this subject of working with who you want… Never trust a broker (life insurance, agent, lender). The reason why is the same reason I try to partner with people who are financially free and don’t need the money. They are not about “putting food on the table.” And for some reason, they just are more fun to work with.
The “Cross-Over Point” is the point at which your investments begin to earn more money than the cost of your living expenses. At this stage, one has the freedom to leave their full-time job for other meaningful ventures. Now that you have had 2 seconds to digest that concept, I would like to introduce to you the 2.0 version which includes two new factors: 1) Decreasing motivation (a negative exponential equation contingent to an increasing investment return) and 2) Constantly increasing expectations or also know as the “the boss be getting on my nerves” (a linear climb).
The reason you are working as an employee is because the company is making more money from your work than paying you. Stop working your ass off building someone else’s dream or worse for someone else’s bonus. That said… We are looking to hire 😉
This graph of the “Cross-Over Point 2.0” that describes your work-life struggle:
Tell me the fundamental difference on what the rich people do compared with the poor and middle class?!?
The short story is Wall Street greed. Wall Street has created this really profitable game for itself.
Here’s how it goes.
They employ the best minds in marketing… not your dime a dozen millennial social media manager.
This marketing spans multiple generations and has become infused with conventional knowledge.
Evidence of this are sayings like “diversification”, “how the market typically goes up”, and “save-save-save and you should have enough”.
You work hard to make money. You entrust your money in Wall Street through your wealth manager with hopes that your wealth will grow. But…
There is a hidden 4-5% of fees.
And don’t believe the so-called expense ratio listed on the front page of the prospectus or Yahoo-Finance. Let’s talk about that…
Just google “mutual fund + No 12B-1” – basically paying for them to advertise to more investors.
If we can agree for a second that the “market typically goes up” (deadman’s last words) this fails to take into account, the aforementioned fees of 4-5% which on an optimistic annual return of 10% a year… that’s 50% of your hard earned gain.
You take all the risk and they take their cut. Sort of sounds like real estate brokers who always get paid regardless you make money or not.
Do you not see something wrong with this? How can you not call BS?
Truth is, this business structure is very profitable and scaleable.
Everyone upholds this Wall-Street dogma and relights on the minion sales people who get feed on sales commissions and hidden fees.
I have interviews with many of these financial planners who have once sold these products and agree that it’s a pretty messed up system… usually the financial planners are younger people (who need to pay the bills) or greedy senior managers who are either ignorant to what is going on or don’t care because they have kids they need to put through college or a mortgage to pay. The vicious cycle continues.
Wall Street is over all this and making money on every transaction like how our Government is making money on everything that passes though the “world bank”.
Wall Street is also make big bets with your money so they can make even more money for themselves – almost like it’s not their own money.
When they win, they win big but you don’t get to see the money.
When they lose, they are too big to fail so they get bailed out by you—the tax payer.
What’s that you have a guy? So called financial advisor? Probably a “nice guy” but misguided and is paid off commission and likely to be living paycheck to paycheck too (in the same rat race as you).
The wealthy focus on buying streams of income that produce today which is called cashflow.
The poor and middle class go buy things and hope and pray it goes up in value.
One of the reasons rental real estate is such a popular choice is because it provides cashflow. It’s very Simple, the rents cover the mortgage, expenses including professional 3rd party property management.
The 2008 collapse simply kicked the proverbial “can” down the road…
How else will we pay for artificially low interest rates (quantitative easing) and bailouts of these big banks.
A correction is coming and the sophisticated investors out there investing in real hard assets are going to stay afloat and even excel.
Note: If you are hoarding cash you are playing the game not to win. Robert Kiyosaki’s says “savers are losers.”
Why do the masses keep playing along? If we keep investing and holding on to the debt/money habits that were “inception-ed” into our culture we know what is going to happen, its simple math
Doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result is the definition of insanity, right?
How has it gone on for so long after? We are smart and educated professionals!
What kind of financial education did you get growing up?
Look what these Kindergarteners said when asked “how to make money?”
It’s funny… but also sad that the messaging is likely coming from the parents who don’t have a clue.
Chances are if you were lucky, you were taught about basic personal finance and not going into debt – not spending what you don’t have.
Often times the get out of debt gurus like Suzi Orman or Dave Ramsey clash with the ideals of the wealthy.
Sophisticated investors do not pay attention to “debt” or “interest rates.” Instead they focus on the “impact to their growing net worth” and “cashflow.”
When we get out of school, what replaces the classroom? How do we make up for what we haven’t learned? Where do we turn to for answers when we need to learn about real life?
The answer…CONVENTIONAL WISDOM! And the 18 year-old heck some 40 year-old “boy-in-man’s-body” goes out and gets a job, buys a big house/mortgage that does not produce cashflow, and gets stuck.
Conventional wisdom is often NOT right. Conventional wisdom once thought that the world was flat.
Conventional wisdom, believe it or not, might not even be unbiased. In the case of money, it is perpetuated by big money, big banks—Wall Street.
Let’s identify the conventional financial wisdom? Let experts invest your money in a diverse portfolio of stocks, bonds, and mutual funds.
Why is that conventional wisdom? Well, my parents got good educations, got good careers, pitched pennies, driving base level Japanese cars, and were able get by to retire their last fraction of their lives.
Not bad, they did make it. And it seems logical to repeat the proven process for my own life.
How many people do you know have gotten wealthy BECAUSE they invested in stocks, bonds, and mutual funds?
The wealthiest families in the world, like the Waltons and Rothschilds invest in mutual funds? Of course not!
People who come to SimplePassiveCashflow.com are questioners… they think for themselves and opt out of the mouse trapthat we are conditioned. We are not mindless drones that grow up on kiddie playground equipment at McDonalds and eat there our entire adult lives.
Application of These Concepts
Look I’m not saying that I don’t like my job, but I cannot see myself being there forever such as 20-30 years.
Age discrimination does exist and even though you are now a high performing yuppie, some folks won’t want to hire you after the age of 50. Life is too short. I do know a lot of people hate their job not to mention their commute.
I was in a job where the company was very conservative and “that bus” came around and ran people over continuously. It sucked. But little did my boss and my bosses know was that I quietly made more money (salary plus passive income) than both of them at the age of 28. The epiphany occurred one day, why the heck would I want to work 50% harder (deal with 100% more BS working for jerks) and get paid just 8% more (12% if I negotiated my strengths or sucked up to my boss). As a result, I transitioned jobs, took a small pay cut, and started drinking Simple Passive Cashflow Lattes every morning.
I’m not advocating getting a bunch of rentals, quit your job, and then spend every minute drinking Margaritas/Pina Coladas on the beach. Now when you have the freedom (after spending a few unfulfilling days with Margaritas/Pina Coladas), I hope you devote your time doing good the greater good.
When I don’t have to work, I plan to teach young people about real estate and personal finance. I am thinking of going around to high schools, but no one in their right mind would hire a grown man to teach young people especially for free (I mean take a moment – that’s creepy – like Jared the Subway guy creepy – for those of you what don’t know who Jared the Subway guy was, he was this 3000 pound guy who ate Subway a lot and lost like 2000 pounds, however he still looked like he weighed 1000 pounds but everyone liked him as a celebrity and he used this celebrity status to lure young boy and girls and yeah I’ll leave it at that…another Pied Piper story of luring little boys and girls into a cave). But anyway to get around this barrier I need to write a book – not only any book – but a New York Times bestseller (but I guess I will settle for that crappy e-kindle version). So schools will be like (hey this guy has a book) and then bang… life mission to help others accomplished. To write a book is a daunting task, so I figure with each blog post I am slowly getting better at writing and chipping away my target page count.
The more subscribers (it’s free people!) to this blog helps me prove my point to publishers that people actually read this stuff.
This is your “Second Chance”
Rules for investing:
1) After over 1000 strategy calls with investors and coaching clients over the past couple years here is what I tell W2 employees… For those who are able to save more than $30k a year or have substantial liquidity (over 200k), being a landlord and especially flipping is a lot of work. If you like it cool/good for you… but just remember why we got into this… To be free from a JOB. A lot of us (80%) who stumble upon simplepassivecashflow.com and start drinking Kool-Aide will likely be financially free in 4-7 years pending taking action. So I always urge people to start with the end in mind and take a more passive approach.
Do the math here… with 300 dollars per property (2 months of work to buy a turnkey rental) you are going to need 20-40 of these to replace your income. I have 10 of these and have systems in place but have 1-2 evictions a year and 3-4 big things that happen. Image if I had 30, just 3 x those numbers.
Directly investing in a turnkey rental or small MFH is a good way start learning and build up the war-chest to go into my scalable investments such as private placement syndications. Whatever you do, try to be as close to the investment as possible. Do not be a retail investor. Put a little effort in and you can do a lot better. This is the fundamental problem I have with Wall Street who takes too much fees off the hard-working efforts of the middle class.
2) My three rules of investing:
a. evaluate income and expenses for positive cashflow
b. leverage with favorable debt terms
c. hard asset
*gold is a hard asset but does not produce (a) cashflow or (b) leveragable… Of course you could leverage it via Mining Stocks but then you would not be (3) hard asset. Don’t get me started on Crypto but it does not produce income and not leveraged.
3) Don’t work with random (often found in the single family home world) shysters and progress onward and upward – part of the reason I moved from SFH to MFH was that the SFH world was just filled with too many people who were “get rich quick no add value people.” I feel the is a higher rate of people who are needing to “put food on the table” from vendors, brokers, and peers.
Most people in this space are able to make profits off unsophisticated investors. This is another reason why I don’t really like going to local real estate meet-ups or free online forums because of the caliber of people there is pretty poor because the barrier to entry is often times nothing and a 15 minute car ride. I spent thousands of dollars to travel across the country to get access to high quality people who came from the same high net worth professional pedigree and were also taking action.
When starting out you have to start somewhere, but take everything with a grain of salt. Try targeted meetups like my local on in Hawaii for Passive investors.
I started a free investor group ReiAloha for people in Hawaii: https://www.meetup.com/REI808-Passive-Real-Estate-Investing-for-the-Working-Class/ https://www.facebook.com/groups/SPCHUI808/
Case and point: wholesellers are famous for this. They want a proof of funds and letter of intent to purchase with no access any financials? Who would ever offer on-a property without seeing the numbers first? The reason they do this is because they have a seller who does not even trust the wholeseller and needs to qualify the buyer first. A lot of these jokers will sell a property higher than the past listing price when the expired listing just closed a few weeks ago. Duh. If these Bozos spent as much time building their buyers lists as they did actually looking of good deals… they would likely make a lot of money.
4) Maximize leverage as long as you have a safe cashflow buffer. Cashflow is the oxygen and it keeps you alive even in times of a correction.
5) Sophisticated investors don’t care about debt or interest rate they look at cashflow and increase to net worth. They monitor the return on equity and make transaction accordingly when it out-weights taxes and friction costs (commissions/headaches). Check out SimplePassiveCashflow.com/roe. Smart investors never buy and hold an asset forever.
6) Consider exit strategy. Duplex, triplexes, and quads make sense on paper in terms of cashflow in comparison with SFHs but it comes back to haunt you during the sale because you can only sell to a cheapskate investor.
7) Robert Kiyosaki has a saying, “there are three sides to a coin”.
People argue that its a good time to buy or bad time to buy. For example “mfh” is overheated or commercial is getting killed by Amazon and e-commerce. I think these are mental justifications by tire kickers not to do anything.
Sophisticated investors live on the edge of the “coin”. They buy deals out our reach of amateurs due to the lack for network/knowledge. These opportunities are undervalued, with undermarket rents, with value add opportunity.
They are patient and don’t stray from standards that make them get crushed in a market correction. (Cashflow from other investments make this possible) They invest following the macro and micro trends and don’t gamble on gimmicks such as guessing where Amazon’s next HQ is going or where the hurricanes just crushed a market.
The trouble is as an outsider is figuring out which of these deals transcends the two side of coin and is on the edge. And starting out its going to be slim pickens due to lack of network but you have to push through this rough part.
8) Always add value and make things better than you found it. Too many people who are new come in and ask too many questions and are drawing a negative social currency balance. Don’t be an Ask-hole! Give without expecting anything back and you will find those who are the good one you want to work with.
9) Use a mentor. You have blind spots. This goes in interpersonal relationships and investing/business. Use this mentor to figure out your competitive advantage and spend you limit time and money resources developing that. In terms of investing only do things where you have the chips stacked in your favor.
10) Only work with people you know, like, and trust. And one degree of separation. Use your network to verify past performance and integrity of people. Also when you financially free you will likely keep those you climbed the ladder with in close company so this leads into Rule #11…
11) Begin with the end in mind. Most people will be financially free in 4-7 years pending taking action. Begin with the end in mind and design your ideal life. (And if better not be playing golf) See rule #8. You are fortunate to be financially free and it is a privilege so please do something with it and make it big.
Having passive cashflow is the Simple part… the hard part is figuring out what meaningful thing to after. Money and time are interchangeable resources. When you start out Money is worth more than Time. But in time, Time will transition to being the rare resource.
So this is the point where I wrap things up and bring this full circle so you get off your computer, raise your hands in the air, and mimic Mel Gibson in the 1995 movie ‘Braveheart’ by screaming “Lets get rich” )
I’m going to try and leave you proudly lazy people with an action plan in each article so you just don’t go about your day as normal but take gradual steps every day. As Arnold Schwarzenegger says “Just do it!” well he does not really say that he says things like “Don’t Be Economic Girlie Men” so please take action. It drives me crazy how everyone reads so much and doesn’t do diddly squat. I host a local Meet-Up and someone will be like (that is a fascinating spreadsheet you are sharing…would you please give it to me”. And I say, “Sure, why don’t you send me an email to remind me”. You know no own ever freaking emails me!
“I watched another one of those sales webinar (the ones where they talk about motivation and 1% substance) but after the seminar someone wants you to sign up for a package that included a personal real estate profile worth $195 there cost $0, contracts and forms worth $495 there cost $0, 7 insider secrets $1995 and a cd of where to hunt for undervalued property in my area. And if you click “I am in”, we will offer it with a 30 day guarantee – without telling you the cost. The advertising would go on for a period of time spelling out the benefits, etc. I finally just disconnected. ” –Hui Deal Pipeline Club Member
Please do not sign up for any training if you don’t have the money to get started and as a general rule, if you net-worth is currently below $250,000. You need every dollar to acquire investments not pay for education that is out there for free. Get as far as you can on your own and try to find a mentor by adding value to them. (And be on the lookout for MLM schemes where members get heavy referral checks for signing up more people – when your product sucks you have to resort to these below the belt tactics)
*Update: 1/30/2017 I’m sorry for those who have been listening to the podcast since early 2016. Its been a bit of a Korean-drama going from turnkey rentals to MFH and other syndications but thanks for coming on the journey with me.
Also, sign up for my Hui Deal Pipeline Club to get sent the deals I come across. Or if you just want access to the Google Drive freebies:
Start Here
The typical SimplePassiveCashflow tribe member asks a lot of questions.. Why do I have to work 40 years at my JOB? Why do the wealthy always get ahead? Why do I stay up late at night reading Quora?
I know I was beating the drum of the Turnkey rental a few years ago but I am admittedly a work in progress and this is my journey.
Sign up for the mailing list and join the free web course “Journey to Simple Passive Cashflow.”
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Preview of what is to come in my jump start to cashflow guide that encompasses all the lessons in the past few years…
Week #1 – Introduction to the “Journey to Simple Passive Cashflow”
Week #2 – Seeing the Matrix – You will know why the middle class is shrinking and what you can do to continue your same standard of living
Week #3 – About Me – Learn about my background and why I have the formula for high paid working professionals to escape the rat race
Week #4 – Real Estate Investing from a 30,000 foot view part 1 – You will understand real estate investing and all the options. We will cut through the noise and identify what are the best options for the high paid professional
Week #5 – Real Estate Investing from a 30,000 foot view Part 2 – Continuation with the addition of downloadable tools
Week #6 – A free special gift
Week #7 – Fundamentals – You will get to know the basics of what every investor needs to know without reading a gazillion books or going through hours of boring podcasts
Week #8 – In-Field Experience – A guide to effectively network and build your investor circle
Week #9 – 2018 Trends – The Fundamentals don’t change but the market climate changes so here is the latest market report and things to be on the lookout for
Week #10 – Buying a Rental Property Part 1: Acquisition – Start shopping for deals and refine your criteria to be able to spot out your next addition to your growing portfolio
Week #11 – Buying a Rental Property Part 2: Lending – You can’t buy anything and use leverage effectively if you don’t know the basics of using the bank to your advantage.
Week #12 – Buying a Rental Property Part 3: Operation – Congratulations you are a rental property owner but that’s only half the battle. Now we focus on managing the manager so we can optimize our returns.
Week #13 – Buying a Rental Property Part 4: Mentorship/Networking – You net worth is your network. Don’t be that guy who repels help and good ideas and the last person to hear of the latest trends or work with bad vendors.
Week #14 – Half-Way Point! – Build your portfolio with the end in mind and with a holistic approach
Week #15 – Syndications + Apartments Part 1 – Understand why most sophisticated investors scale up to larger investments
Week #16 – Syndications + Apartments Part 2 – Find out how you can get access to deals once only accessible to the wealthy within the country club
Week #17 – Investor Mindset – Once you get started you realize that the possibilities are endless (I know it sounds cheesy but some people sign the front of the checks and some people sign the back)
Week #18 – Productivity – Following up mindset the limiting factor might be the fact that you suck at getting things done. Here are some of the best tips to increasing your output and having more time to do what you want to do.
Week #19 – Taxes – You will learn what you will need to know to prevent legal chrn from a lawyer who does not know what they are doing
Week #20 – HELOCS/Refinancing – A great way to find lazy money to put to cashflowing rental real estate
Week #21 – 1031 Exchanges – Don’t be fooled but this talked about tax strategy. It is often not what cutting edge investors use.
Week #22 – QRPs – Got funds locked up in retirement funds? Lets free that lazy equity!
Week #23 – Life Insurance Banking – Its called life insurance but its use by the wealthy to bank from yourself and avoid taxes.
Week #24 – Other Financial Hacks – Other secrets I pick up by hanging out with wealthy people
Week #25 – Covering your assets – You will learn some ways to build legal protections around your financial empire
Week #26 – Conclusion – Pulling together the basic and advanced topics for you
This is the stuff you don’t hear talked about from co-workers!
Most so-called financial planners don’t even have a clue – although they are probably a nice guy.
These are the secrets of the uber-wealthy and specific mentorship groups that I have spent over $40,000 to learn over the past few years.
All too often I see hard-working people with good jobs struggling to get by.
These are the same people who are forced to take stressful promotions at work, commuting in the car for a couple hours a day (hopefully listening to the SimplePassiveCashflow.com podcast), going home to the home they think they own but in reality, they are just a slave to the mortgage company.
These “good citizens” are victims of an engineered system to keep then investing in 401Ks, mutual funds, and stocks.
This financial system is setup where the insiders are stealing the majority of your returns (and you take all the risk – to learn more about this go to SimplePassiveCashflow.com/FP).
After over 2,000 calls (Now available to Hui Deal Pipeline Club members) between 2016-2018, I have found that most people Major in the minor things…
For example if you are trying to clear space in you iPhone. #FirstWorldProblem
You are wasting your time with this…
When you should be spending time on this…
And don’t get me started with mentorship. Most people are worried about how much the shovel costs when they are trying to dig a hole.
I am trying to lead folks out of financial entrapent! Lets get out of the rat race together!
Welcome to the website and join the club!
****UPDATED 7/2018 w/ Quick Start List!!!****
Welcome if you are new! And welcome back… here is what I have been working on…
1 ) Just closed my second syndication in my own name. If you want access to these opportunities they are only available to folks with a pre-existing relationship. So sign up for my Hui Deal Pipeline Club and setup a time to chat.
Hui Deal Pipe Club acquisition stats (Estate-2016)- Acquired over $90M dollars of total real estate and $8 million dollars of funds raised.
2) Working with my coaching clients and Starting group coaching. Honored to be part of this paid Mastermind. Email if interested.
3) Moved to Hawaii! Waiting for the right deal to come along in this sellers’ market and ponder life.
4) I stopped looking for deals… I only hunt the hunters to partner with if the deal makes sense. Not to sound high and mighty but after doing this podcast thing for a few years I have reached “critical mass” for social capital and deals are now coming my way. There are about twenty deals I get from brokers in my email everyday and a few syndication deals that are pitched to me every month.
5) I’m just trying to find happiness. Read along on my personal newsletter by signing up here.
Goal: Turn “C” and “B” class properties, 60-300 units (stabilized with value-add opportunity) with at least 75% LTV/25 year amortization. We plan to hold 3-6 years and sell when we have doubled our investors’ money. Utilize Non-Recourse debt for extra security.
Buying Criteria:
Seeking MFH at least 60 – 250 units.
1. Value-add component: typically 85-90% occupancy for non-recourse loan & discount based on condition or motivated seller
2. Price: $1,500,000 – $9,000,000, per unit cost under $55K.
3. Location: secondary and tertiary markets across
4. Class: D/C/B Property in a B/A neighborhood
Current holdings as of co-owner of MFPE Investments LLC (1400+ units in OK, LA, IA, TX, and WA)
Networking with other Buy-Hold investors I discovered 2 things:
1) Passive investors are hard to spot out among the typically ‘active’ RE crowd that are majority at most local REIA meetings. Trading best practices was very difficult and I got lost in the fix and flipper group think mentally too.
Always consider the source of your advise.. I think we can all agree that going to your mom/dad for financial advice may or may not be the best place to go.. Sure they may be retired but consider the path the took to get there with different circumstances.. In 2015, I started to realize that going to my local Real Estate investing group was probably not the best place for me to go.. I started to pay a lot more to get into more qualified groups and conferences and I found that mostly everyone were real investors and not just Wantrepreneurs.. I got even more focused and as an engineer still working the day job I sought out groups with other investors who were primarily working professionals (doctors, lawyers, accountants, engineers).. A lot of these people were a little older than me which helped me find my highest and best use as an investor but gave me a high-level view of how to put together a holistic life plan.. An example of this happened the other day when I asked my guy at the Mercedes dealership what other people do with their leases do at the expiration of their contract.. Notice I would not ask that at the Honda dealership because people there don’t lease their cars.. By the way I don’t know why you would want to buy a card…. I did the math.. The takeaway is find people who are similar to your pedigree in terms of time/money/knowledge/network and use those as role models.. Grant Cardone has a saying “who’s got my money” which I think is misinterpreted as a war cry to get out there and make money.. I take it as a subtle hint to find those who have what you want and they “type” of money (active or passive).
2) Passive investing is often boring since this is not a get rich quick method of building wealth and uneventful (if things are going well there aren’t too many cool stories).
This podcast and blog are meant to distill content just to the golden nuggets for the passive Real Estate Investor. I plan to go beyond the newbie tips that clutter the internet and cocktail parties because lets’ face it, as a passive investor your time should be spent on things that you love to do and those who are important to you (not trolling real estate internet forums or making makeshift plumbing repairs on your property).
As I get more experienced, I recognize that there are a lot quicker ways to make a lot of money in Real Estate such as apartment investing, flipping high-end properties, or development but for the time being I have a full-time job that is alright and until that changes this is the path that I have zeroed in on. So if you are like me, join me on this train and if you don’t like your job and want to quit you can get on board too we will wake you up when it’s your time to escape the rat-race.
Real Estate has empowered me financially I wanted to give back to the investor community.
My Motivation For Creating this Site:
1) Begin with the end in mind and decide now what you want your obituary to read. We are only here on this earth for a finite period. I like this picture
because this is what will probably be on the welcome table at my funeral. I hope you can make it! Rich Cohen wrote that there are four rungs of being remembered after death: “newly dead; dead but remembered; dead and all those who knew you dead; dead and all those who knew those who knew you dead.” In terms of YOU…All that matters is what happens when you’re alive. Your legacy will offer you no pleasure after you’ve passed so live how you dream but know that there are some unconventional paths that you have to take (like buying cashflowing rentals not in your home state). And for myself…fame will do you no favors for me once I die but at least people can use SimplePassiveCashflow.com to get out of the rat race. And if that does not get your going listen to the wisdom of Frank Ostaseski.
2) Create a repository of information where my unborn children or others can reference with some context into what I was thinking. Similar to Seattle Seahawk, Marshawn Lynch’s “Beast-Mode”, I have tried to live my life in “Legacy-Mode”. And I really want to have a real book!
Why a Podcast?
I jumped on the podcast ban-wagon in 2007 while I was working on the road when I did not have a friend near me. It got me into Crossfit in 2008, Paleo in 2009, Real estate investing in 2010, intermittent fasting in 2013, internet marketing in 2015, and led to meeting and creating friendships with a lot of you because we are aligned on the same wavelength. Yes… The phrase “we met on the internet” is totally acceptable! Obviously, a few of these interests have come and gone but in the macro sense, podcasts have instilled a lifelong interest and ability to learn.
Vinney Chopra calls it Automobile University.
When you ask a kindergartner how do you make money? Why don’t they say “invest in cashflowing real estate?” Because their parents don’t have a clue!
3) While I am alive I want to teach/empower others to fish for themselves. In real estate, we use leverage and by teaching others, I am leveraging other people to achieve their financial goals in hopes that they will pay it forward. I poke fun at MLMs a lot but I would like to create a pyramid scheme of philanthropy.
What is the change that you want to make in the world even if its a 1% move in the needle? Financial education – people have such struggle so much to make ends meet.
I was baptized on Easter 2016 and searched for a way to give back. I want to help others but I struggle with giving money away because I know I can grow my money much faster and I am much more frugal than any philanthropic organization. Bill Gates gave back only after he amassed a fortune. Tithing as you go along has a smaller cumulative impact. My end game is to give away my wealth to rightful causes via a Charitable Remainder Trust.
4) I hope my blog/podcast will help families realize the powerful wealth-building effects of real estate so they can spend their time on more important, instead of working long hours and worrying about their financial troubles. There are a lot of successful families with good jobs (teachers/engineers/programmers/finance) yet they struggle to make ends meet financially. It is their kiddos who ultimately get the short end of the stick. (Cool graphs on this subject) Being a Latch-Key Child growing up, both my parents had to work and I was left home alone after school to fiddle with my thumbs.
With Real Estate you are able to grow your wealth exponentially faster than the conventional 401K’s and stock investing, therefore you are able to escape the dogma of working 50+ hour weeks at a job that is unfulfilling. And if you are one of the lucky ones who happen to do what you enjoy… well good for you 😛
Money is not everything but it is important because it gives you the freedom to live life on your terms. And we are being misled by the Wall Street institutions and prevailing dogma. Don’t listen to your financial advisor who gets paid based on commissions.
As a great time in history to be alive with general peace and technological convinced, I see a silent war being waged upon the shrinking Middle Class. This is the Civil Rights movement of my time. In a way, people are having a Stockholm Syndrome with Wall Street profiteers being the captors. Let’s work together to redirect money from the Wall-Street casinos and corrupt financial institutions…To help the endangered ‘Middle Class’ savers find safer, more profitable investments in Main Street opportunities benefiting local communities.
Why this podcast/website/syndicating deals is the perfect storm:
1) I don’t have kids. After learning about hundreds of listens situations via free calls I hear that this sorta complicates things… 😛
2) I am an ISTJ (introversion, sensing, thinking, judgment abbreviation used in the publications of the Myers–Briggs Type Indicator). I don’t really know what the last three manifest in my life but I am a recovering introvert – a side hobby is this group I started to help others get out of their shell. I believe an introvert has nothing to do if you like people or if you are loud and annoying. Your affinity is determined where you derive your energy. Going to the day job and working with you know “others” was really tiring for me. The weirdest thing is that when I talk to others over the phone or in-person I get so excited and sometimes a little too passionate. That’s how I knew I was on to something. I’ll say it many times but what really fires me up is redirecting money from the Wall-Street casinos and corrupt financial institutions…To help the endangered ‘Middle Class’ savers find safer, more profitable investments in Main Street opportunities benefiting local communities. And it would be awesome to help out people in Hawaii where I now live where so many struggles with finances. I’m not looking to change the world just a portion of it.
This site is just my method to make passive income via real estate. It’s a N=1 kind of thing for you statisticians out there. This is my path and does not mean it’s for you or your situation. This website is not the bible for real estate and not even the model for buy and hold investing, but at the very least use this site as another data point and get some of my lessons learned.
Traditional options from a financial planner (just another commission based sales person) or options from your Vanguard/Fidelity type broker offer do not fit any of these criteria.
“Hoping and praying” does not work and those who blindly follow this strategy subconsciously know it and live like Scrooges, pinching every penny they have.
The following is the financial secret that has mislead the majority of hard working Americans…
The system is rigged against you. Dare I say, “engineered” to extract your hard earned wealth from you without even knowing it.
Did you ever see the movie “Office-Space” where the disgruntled trio made a plan to steal a small point zero zero one fraction of every transaction from the big bad company?
We that’s what Wall Street, Mutual Funds, 401Ks, and special interest groups are doing to you. But instead of taking .001 fraction they are gutting you alive often taking over 20% without you even knowing.
This is the reason Hui Deal Pipeline Club members are able to retire in 5 years, instead of 40. Or have one spouse stay at home or work part-time in something they actually want to.
Warning: If you are broke or financially irresponsible this site is not for you. You need to learn from Dave Ramsey, Suze Orman, or the hundreds of personal finance blogs out there that preach frugal lifestyles and delaying gratification. The content contained herein is for the hardworking middle-class who have been misled by the conventional dogma of study hard, get a job, work until you are old, and only then you can retire and live the remainder of what life you have.
As you can tell I’m going to tell it straight. Yes, I raise money for deals but I am going to do it my way and being authentic. And as you can tell when I interview someone for my podcast you are not going to hear the same old boring (limp) interviews of “make your bed in the morning to set the day” then “Blah blah mindfulness thing” and fluff.
My articles will also not suck like some articles just made for search engine optimization (SEO) on their website.
This site is not for those looking for the quick handout or magic pill. There are dozens of other gurus that plague your local Reia that show you how to buy real estate with little to no money. There are a lot of tricks out there and like the cereal cartoon bunny says, “Trix are for kids.”
If you are not financially mature, when you find wealth with real estate, you will not be a good steward of that wealth and leave a meaning legacy. Think I’m kidding… Here is the real version of the above video:
The Real Estate Universe
The Real Estate universe as you know is pretty big… you got flippers, wholesalers, rehabbers, bird-dogs, tire kickers, buy hold, all sorts of strategies that take up various places on the “Passive-Active Spectrum.
I have a pretty busy W-2 job being an Engineer staring at my Microsoft Outlook Inbox most of the day. I don’t flip, wholesale, or do any other active real estate activities. (What’s the deal with flippers and wholesaler calling themselves “Investor”. In my opinion, these are jobs and should be called real estate “traders.” We don’t call stock “day-traders” – “day-investors” do we?) (BiggerPockets seems to be mostly active people rant)
ERRR, anyway I guess I’m a tab jealous of active real estate guys since some of them are pretty awesome and very experienced at their craft, however, I don’t have the patience or time to do what they do.
Hi, my name is Lane, and I am a lazy, passive investor because it fits my personality, current lifestyle, and in the future, I don’t want to replace my current job with another one licking the stamps on my wholesale letters or swindling buyers who don’t know any better.
Ok OK, I know I’m being a little harsh but just saying.
On another level, my big beef with the Wholesaling/bird-dogging model is how it is reliant on the three D’s: Divorce, Despair, or Death. I personally take exception to the ethical validity of this type of business. I see it as taking advantage of those in a bad situation. And I see it as a scorch the earth mentality for profit. The active camp will say that your are solving “their problem” and “providing a means out of their situation”… I call that justification BS. Call it like it is and take the righteousness junk out it. Now I don’t think that these people are bad its just not something I would feel right doing.
On the other hand, buy and hold rentals are about improving properties and providing fair housing – the key is being a responsible investor and always remembering that you need to provide good living conditions for your tenant. If you can improve neighborhoods in the process, then great!
Who This Site Is For
As I mentioned I am fortunate to have a full-time job, and I don’t have the time to find those amazing deals that you hear about that allow you to source… 100% ROI, no money down, this weekend only for a limited time!
I want to introduce this concept of the “Time-Money-Experience Triangle”. (Triangle, not to be mistaken by the triangle that ‘Link’ from the ‘Legend of Zelda’ is always searching for or the “Scope-Schedule-Budget Triangle” that I manage at my day job that I search every day for on my computer screen… man it seems like the Legend of Zelda guy has a lot more going for him, he’s always on some adventure. But back to the “Time-Money-Experience Triangle”, you have to recognize what skills you have, your resources, and what you lack. If you have another job, there is no way you are going to do it all by yourself. Leverage your time and money. Don’t be that so-called “investor” who works in your business not on it, in other words, the guy who spends his weekend painting and fixing toilets when he should be finding deals and working with banks for lending. If you are that guy, “when are you going to be an ‘investor’ and stop being a landlord”.
Yes, I’m that 4-hour work week, outsource the most you can person. At the same time, I am also that guy who believes in achieving my best and highest use and spends time on what is most important outside of real estate.
You can read more about me in my “about me” section.
This site is for three types of people:
1) Folks who have pretty well-paid jobs. Let’s face it, the reason you came here instead of googling W-2 work ideas on you free time is saying something. You are not the guy googling “How can I increase my leadership qualities to manage diverse employees with different backgrounds” or “How to talk my employee to giving me a raise” or “How can I better network at my year end Christmas work party”.
2) Another group that should read on and subscribe to free articles are straight up rich people who are tired of getting those paltry return on bond and mutual funds.
3) If you’re a government conspirator who believes the mutual fund and stock market is a big Ponzi scheme, you can join too, just be on your best behavior.
The Why
Whatever category you fall under come on and join the party! We all share a vision as being financially free as Uncle Tony (Tony Robbins) defines financial freedom as having the “freedom to do what you want where you want”. What is fundamental to achieving that goal is that passive cashflow is the end game.
You should “start any journey with the end in mind”. <insert corny metaphor of plane knowing where the destination is but not knowing what the exact path is, complete with a diagram of not to scale airplane and a dotted line illustrating a wavy flight path>
I would like to introduce a term called FYM which stands for “F- You Money”. Have you ever seen that commercial with the creepy orange number following the man or woman around supposedly representing the amount of money that person needs to acquire to retire? It’s sort of like that but under the SimplePassiveCashflow definition of FYM, the “number” is more of a “cashflow number” that sustains your lifestyle and the “F- You” part comes in when that day where you get pissed off at work and be like “F- You, I don’t need to be here”. You know at work there is one last samurai-ish 65-year-old co-worker who has 50 years of service (illegally working when he was like 15 years old) with the grumpy attitude who says that he could retire at any time and does not help anyone. That guy obviously wasted his life away with traditional wealth-building methods but he is at a point in his life where do does not care, and you can be like that guy (except without all the wrinkles and the fact that people might actually like you).
Imagine coming in to work because you want to, because you choose to, and actually want to hang out with your co-workers. For some, you might just merely tolerate the day job for the stated W-2 income to qualify for bank loans and the fact that you get free coffee and you get to use the toilet for free because every flush is approximately 10 cents worth (trust me I did the math I’m an Industrial Engineer, I took into account the water and lifecycle cost analysis of the crapper and your time to clean the thing). In all seriousness, you might like your job, and that’s great for you, the important thing is to do what you want, on your terms because of your financial freedom.
And while we are on this subject of working with who you want… Never trust a broker (life insurance, agent, lender). The reason why is the same reason I try to partner with people who are financially free and don’t need the money. They are not about “putting food on the table.” And for some reason, they just are more fun to work with.
The “Cross-Over Point” is the point at which your investments begin to earn more money than the cost of your living expenses. At this stage, one has the freedom to leave their full-time job for other meaningful ventures. Now that you have had 2 seconds to digest that concept, I would like to introduce to you the 2.0 version which includes two new factors: 1) Decreasing motivation (a negative exponential equation contingent to an increasing investment return) and 2) Constantly increasing expectations or also know as the “the boss be getting on my nerves” (a linear climb).
This graph of the “Cross-Over Point 2.0” that describes your work-life struggle:
Tell me the fundamental difference on what the rich people do compared with the poor and middle class?!?
The short story is Wall Street greed. Wall Street has created this really profitable game for itself.
Here’s how it goes.
They employ the best minds in marketing… not your dime a dozen millennial social media manager.
This marketing spans multiple generations and has become infused with conventional knowledge.
Evidence of this are sayings like “diversification”, “how the market typically goes up”, and “save-save-save and you should have enough”.
You work hard to make money. You entrust your money in Wall Street through your wealth manager with hopes that your wealth will grow. But…
There is a hidden 4-5% of fees.
And don’t believe the so-called expense ratio listed on the front page of the prospectus or Yahoo-Finance. Let’s talk about that…
Just google “mutual fund + No 12B-1” – basically paying for them to advertise to more investors.
If we can agree for a second that the “market typically goes up” (deadman’s last words) this fails to take into account, the aforementioned fees of 4-5% which on an optimistic annual return of 10% a year… that’s 50% of your hard earned gain.
You take all the risk and they take their cut. Sort of sounds like real estate brokers who always get paid regardless you make money or not.
Do you not see something wrong with this? How can you not call BS?
Truth is, this business structure is very profitable and scaleable.
Everyone upholds this Wall-Street dogma and relights on the minion sales people who get feed on sales commissions and hidden fees.
I have interviews with many of these financial planners who have once sold these products and agree that it’s a pretty messed up system… usually the financial planners are younger people (who need to pay the bills) or greedy senior managers who are either ignorant to what is going on or don’t care because they have kids they need to put through college or a mortgage to pay. The vicious cycle continues.
Wall Street is over all this and making money on every transaction like how our Government is making money on everything that passes though the “world bank”.
Wall Street is also make big bets with your money so they can make even more money for themselves – almost like it’s not their own money.
When they win, they win big but you don’t get to see the money.
When they lose, they are too big to fail so they get bailed out by you—the tax payer.
What’s that you have a guy? So called financial advisor? Probably a “nice guy” but misguided and is paid off commission and likely to be living paycheck to paycheck too (in the same rat race as you).
The wealthy focus on buying streams of income that produce today which is called cashflow.
The poor and middle class go buy things and hope and pray it goes up in value.
One of the reasons rental real estate is such a popular choice is because it provides cashflow. It’s very Simple, the rents cover the mortgage, expenses including professional 3rd party property management.
The 2008 collapse simply kicked the proverbial “can” down the road…
How else will we pay for artificially low interest rates (quantitative easing) and bailouts of these big banks.
A correction is coming and the sophisticated investors out there investing in real hard assets are going to stay afloat and even excel.
Note: If you are hoarding cash you are playing the game not to win. Robert Kiyosaki’s says “savers are losers.”
Why do the masses keep playing along? If we keep investing and holding on to the debt/money habits that were “inception-ed” into our culture we know what is going to happen, its simple math
Doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result is the definition of insanity, right?
How has it gone on for so long after? We are smart and educated professionals!
What kind of financial education did you get growing up?
Look what these Kindergarteners said when asked “how to make money?”
It’s funny… but also sad that the messaging is likely coming from the parents who don’t have a clue.
Chances are if you were lucky, you were taught about basic personal finance and not going into debt – not spending what you don’t have.
Often times the get out of debt gurus like Suzi Orman or Dave Ramsey clash with the ideals of the wealthy.
Sophisticated investors do not pay attention to “debt” or “interest rates.” Instead they focus on the “impact to their growing net worth” and “cashflow.”
When we get out of school, what replaces the classroom? How do we make up for what we haven’t learned? Where do we turn to for answers when we need to learn about real life?
The answer…CONVENTIONAL WISDOM! And the 18 year-old heck some 40 year-old “boy-in-man’s-body” goes out and gets a job, buys a big house/mortgage that does not produce cashflow, and gets stuck.
Conventional wisdom is often NOT right. Conventional wisdom once thought that the world was flat.
Conventional wisdom, believe it or not, might not even be unbiased. In the case of money, it is perpetuated by big money, big banks—Wall Street.
Let’s identify the conventional financial wisdom? Let experts invest your money in a diverse portfolio of stocks, bonds, and mutual funds.
Why is that conventional wisdom? Well, my parents got good educations, got good careers, pitched pennies, driving base level Japanese cars, and were able get by to retire their last fraction of their lives.
Not bad, they did make it. And it seems logical to repeat the proven process for my own life.
How many people do you know have gotten wealthy BECAUSE they invested in stocks, bonds, and mutual funds?
The wealthiest families in the world, like the Waltons and Rothschilds invest in mutual funds? Of course not!
For extra credit Google “what do wealth family offices do?
People who come to SimplePassiveCashflow.com are questioners… they think for themselves and opt out of the mouse trap that we are conditioned. We are not mindless drones that grow up on kiddie playground equipment at McDonalds and eat there our entire adult lives.
Application of These Concepts
Look I’m not saying that I don’t like my job, but I cannot see myself being there forever such as 20-30 years.
Age discrimination does exist and even though you are now a high performing yuppie, some folks won’t want to hire you after the age of 50. Life is too short. I do know a lot of people hate their job not to mention their commute.
I was in a job where the company was very conservative and “that bus” came around and ran people over continuously. It sucked. But little did my boss and my bosses know was that I quietly made more money (salary plus passive income) than both of them at the age of 28. The epiphany occurred one day, why the heck would I want to work 50% harder (deal with 100% more BS working for jerks) and get paid just 8% more (12% if I negotiated my strengths or sucked up to my boss). As a result, I transitioned jobs, took a small pay cut, and started drinking Simple Passive Cashflow Lattes every morning.
I’m not advocating getting a bunch of rentals, quit your job, and then spend every minute drinking Margaritas/Pina Coladas on the beach. Now when you have the freedom (after spending a few unfulfilling days with Margaritas/Pina Coladas), I hope you devote your time doing good the greater good.
When I don’t have to work, I plan to teach young people about real estate and personal finance. I am thinking of going around to high schools, but no one in their right mind would hire a grown man to teach young people especially for free (I mean take a moment – that’s creepy – like Jared the Subway guy creepy – for those of you what don’t know who Jared the Subway guy was, he was this 3000 pound guy who ate Subway a lot and lost like 2000 pounds, however he still looked like he weighed 1000 pounds but everyone liked him as a celebrity and he used this celebrity status to lure young boy and girls and yeah I’ll leave it at that…another Pied Piper story of luring little boys and girls into a cave). But anyway to get around this barrier I need to write a book – not only any book – but a New York Times bestseller (but I guess I will settle for that crappy e-kindle version). So schools will be like (hey this guy has a book) and then bang… life mission to help others accomplished. To write a book is a daunting task, so I figure with each blog post I am slowly getting better at writing and chipping away my target page count.
The more subscribers (it’s free people!) to this blog helps me prove my point to publishers that people actually read this stuff.
So this is the point where I wrap things up and bring this full circle so you get off your computer, raise your hands in the air, and mimic Mel Gibson in the 1995 movie ‘Braveheart’ by screaming “Lets get rich” )
Here is more about me!
I’m going to try and leave you proudly lazy people with an action plan in each article so you just don’t go about your day as normal but take gradual steps every day. As Arnold Schwarzenegger says “Just do it!” well he does not really say that he says things like “Don’t Be Economic Girlie Men” so please take action. It drives me crazy how everyone reads so much and doesn’t do diddly squat. I host a local Meet-Up and someone will be like (that is a fascinating spreadsheet you are sharing…would you please give it to me”. And I say, “Sure, why don’t you send me an email to remind me”. You know no own ever freaking emails me!
So your homework is to sign-up for the email podcast/website updates.
*Update: 1/30/2017 I’m sorry for those who have been listening to the podcast since early 2016. Its been a bit of a Korean-drama going from turnkey rentals to MFH and other syndications but thanks for coming on the journey with me.
Also, sign up for my Hui Deal Pipeline Club to get sent the deals I come across. Or if you just want access to the Google Drive freebies:
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