INVESTTHIS Scott Bower

No more spreadsheets, and no more financial advisors. Sound good? I’m talking today with the owner of Passiv, who caters to busy high-earning professionals who are DIY Investors. Creating your retirement nest egg shouldn't be so hard, and traditional financial portfolio management can eat up your time and money, but no more! 
Today’s guest is Nick McCullum, who is the owner of Passiv, which is a portfolio management tool that makes it easier for DIY investors to maintain a balanced portfolio and build a passive investment strategy at their online broker. It eliminates the need to use spreadsheets, saves investors from logging into their broker to place trades, and helps DIY investors stick to their portfolio’s target allocation. It’s the ultimate wealth manager!

During today’s episode, Nick and I talk about how Passiv can help investors, how the platform works with brokerage houses, understanding target asset allocation, and managing self-directed accounts. If you are looking to get a higher return on your investments, which will allow you a larger retirement nest-egg, then this podcast is for you.

Key Insights:
Making DIY investing more accessible for investors who manage their own portfoliosHow Passiv does all the work for youInvesting perfectly in your target portfolioWhy they don’t use AI to manage your portfolioWho benefits from PassivDesigned for everyday investors who are planning for retirementWhat differentiates Pasiv from other one-click trading platformsUnderstanding your target asset allocation 

Passive replaces the dreaded spreadsheet as well as your financial advisor

How passive works with brokerage housesWhat makes passive unique is their trade capabilities Alternative investments trackingFirst-time user tipsHow COVID has affected the online trading space

When the markets are volatile, people trade more. 

How Passive’s technology determines the right investing moves for customersWalking through how investments may get off track 

What Nick is Reading:
Elon Musk: A Biography of Billionaire Entrepreneur Elon Musk (Robert Hanson)

Get in Touch with Nick:
Passiv

Competition is fierce out here in the real estate game! Here in Phoenix, there is zero inventory on the MLS, and the distressed market is slim, and that scenario is playing out all across the county. This battle is pushing every real estate investor to look for a way to outsmart their competition to the next good deal. Unfortunately, most real estate investors use the same lists, driving the competition to be even fiercer. So, how do you differentiate yourself? How do you find and close those deals first? It's all about using good data and smart marketing!
Josh Miller, founder and CEO of Go For Close left his secure engineering position to pursue full-time real estate investing. After achieving his goal of creating $40K in passive income a month, he retired, as he wasn't passionate about real estate, but he did know he wanted to help people.  
Josh realized that what investors needed most was an efficient way to create strong leads, using smart marketing to close the deal. Josh had a problem: he didn't want to handle the marketing side of it, nor the sales; he just wanted to run the business. So, he hired experts in their respective fields to help investors. Go For Close empowers real estate investors to focus on sales and closing deals by providing a specialized team and marketing platform at an affordable rate. They assist clients in finding qualified leads and staying competitive regardless of the market landscape. They do the marketing so that clients can focus on closing deals.
Today, Josh shares some phenomenal tips on finding strong data, what data to stay away from, and the key factors to good marketing once you get those leads. As Josh says, "We are in such a competitive market, you have to have multi-channel marketing to scale."
Key Insights:

How Josh was able to retire young while making $40K in passive income a monthUnderstanding early on that he had to hire for the skills he didn't possessThe real estate investor competitive landscape todayThe next wave of marketing: predictive analytical dataUtilizing different data sources to create a comprehensive listUnderstanding what data is out there and what to stay away fromIt's tough for individual investors to be expert marketers; know when to hire/delegate that portion of your businessWhat the typical investor is getting data today, and why they have to change their game

Data is gold, but if you have hundreds of investors using the same data, it's fool's gold.

How to find good dataThose phone numbers aren't good leads, you say? Are you sure? Why you should never rely on one list providerYour initial marketing message is key to your success. If you're not getting a 60% response rate, you're doing something wrong.

If you have bad data, you have bad leads, and all the best marketing in the world won't help.

Why having an omnipresence is key to outsmarting your competition How to recognize where your weaknesses are and hire experts to fill those jobs

There are no secrets to this game; it's about who can be the most innovative.

What's Josh Reading:
Who Not How: The Formula to Achieve Bigger Goals Through Accelerating Teamwork (Dan Sullivan)

Contact Josh:
Go For Close
josh@goforclose.com (get a free consultation, just say Scott sent you!)

We all want to generate a ton of motivated seller leads, but using radio? Yes, radio may feel a bit antiquated, but according to Chris Arnold, most real estate owners are over 50 years old and still listen to the radio. According to Nielsen, even beyond Chris’ expertise, radio listening is on the rise, and people are tuning in with greater frequency to news/talk formats. Those with greater spending optimism are more likely to be heavy AM/FM radio listeners.
Radio advertising provides high-quality leads, as the people who take action and call you are serious about doing a deal. And since most investors are using the other strategies where they are less qualified or serious about doing a deal, it could be more efficient for you and your team.
Chris is the owner of Wholesaling Inc and the creator of the REI Radio program. He works with clients to get 100 ads per month, per station, for about $1,000 to $2,000 per month. Chris shares tips on leveraging radio to find real estate deals and why radio is the best marketing, yet most overlooked, solution for real estate investors. 

Key Insights:
Chris’ real estate journey Why virtual real estate was the way to go, even before COVIDThe 3 Freedoms we all want: Freedom of resources, freedom of time, freedom of thought, freedom of location The solution provider approach to real estate investingThe two categories of lead generationWhy radio is the perfect channel for real estate investorsReaching the prime audience of people aged 50+ The cost of using radio is one of the most affordable marketingThe mistake most people make when advertising on radio How to analyze a radio advertising buy 

If you buy marketing right, you will net a high ROI

Negotiating radio advertising ratesHow you obtain immediate leads advertising on the radioThe two main things you get with radio marketing that you don’t get anywhere else

Radio is a respective form of marketing that provides you instant credibility and celebrity status

Radio marketing is excellent for new real estate investorsGenerating motivated seller leads without the headaches How radio instills recognition and trust for you and your businessRadio is a great way to generate off-market leadsWhat type of real estate investors should use radio advertisingThe process to follow for successful radio marketingThe best way to handle radio live leadsThe ROI of radio marketing compared to other channelsThe most competitive radio markets and how to differentiate yourselfTransitioning from success to significanceWhat marketers like about radio

Whenever you find yourself on the side of the majority, it’s time to pause and reflect.

What Chris is Reading:
The Motive (Patrick M. Lencioni)

Get in Touch with Chris:
Wholesaling, Inc. / REI Radio

If you're not mindful of your money, your money will mind you. The best way to be mindful is to be confident in your financial literacy, and that takes education! 
In today's COVID world, research says that over 50% of American's don't have enough savings to make it through the pandemic. Society, marketing, advertising, and Amazon have all played a part in the vicious circle of borrowing ourselves into oblivion as we continue to purchase things that we probably don't need.

As my guest, Jonathan DeYoe, says, "once you're financially educated, you no longer stress about your money." Jonathan is focused on helping people become financially literate and writes about Financial Literacy and Behavioral Wealth Management for news outlets like BusinessInsider.com and MindBodyGreen.com. He is also the author of the Amazon Bestseller Mindful Money: Simple Practices for Realizing Your Financial Goals and Increasing Your Happiness Dividend. He also takes his expertise on the road and speaks locally and nationally on the intersection of money and mindfulness.

In today's show, Jonathan and I discuss basic finance, create a financial plan, and how mindset plays a significant role in your financial freedom. As I always say, "You have to get your mindset right, to get your money right." We also discuss fiduciary advisors vs. financial advisors and the path of financial security > financial freedom > wealth.


How Jonathan started with nothing, tried everything, and found his nicheUnderstanding basic finance and creating a planHow wealth is created in the real world

Financing today is a vicious circle as the capacity for us to borrow ourselves into oblivion plays into our desire to spend.

The dangerous backend marketing of social media doesn't help our penchant for spending. Financial literacy today Mindful moneyHow Jonathan started building financial coursesFiduciary advisors vs. financial advisors

Financial advisors are trained to pitch products; fiduciary advisors are required by law to do what is best for their clients.

Get educated and prepare yourself for disasterHow the economy will always bounce back The path of financial security > financial freedom > wealthThe simple practice of reaching your financial goals and increasing your happiness dividend How to set financial goalsHow to change your mindset for financial literacy success. Are you increasing your debt, or are you increasing your net worth?What to do with your excess cash for optimum return

Focus on the things that make a difference, and ignore the things that don’t. 


What Jonathan is Reading:
The Buddhist Psychology of Awakening (Steven D. Goodman)

Contact Jonathan:
Mindful Money

Get out your notepad because we will dive deep into note investing, from the hard numbers to real-world scenarios of the many ways to make money investing in notes. From how to handle a default due to foreclosure and still make money, to a property that doubles in value and your return, as the lender, will be. Nick goes into great detail as he starts with the note's market and goes through all the scenarios and the financials for each one. Basically, this podcast tells you everything you need to know to either up your note investing game or just get started. 
Real estate is a cyclical business, property values go up and down, but it doesn't matter what the market is doing when you invest in notes. The other benefit of note investing is there are multiple ways to make money, and you can help people who can't get a traditional loan become homeowners. And, let's not even get started about the #1 benefit of not having to deal with tenant issues. 

You are going to learn from the best, as my guest Nick Legamaro, also known as "The Note Guy," has been note investing for almost 20 years. He focuses on providing his clients with high-yield, low-risk, turn-key real estate investment notes, secured with carefully selected residential properties throughout the United States. He is here to help you become a successful note investor.

What's changed since COVID: The foreclosures will be hitting Forbearance (pushed payment back in time) in January 2021 (may change with new administration) 

Banks always get paid because they are in the business of control, not owning 

You can be the bank and what that means. Why Scott likes investing in notesThe leverage you have when you are the bank Today's environment: End of 2020, the market has gone bananas. As each year goes by, fewer and fewer people fit the pretty buyer box for traditional lenders.Seller financingVery few investments allow for predictable returns and cash flow, except for mortgages. Holding notes vs. holding a propertyAmortization on a noteGoing through a real-world notes deal.Two types of financing: traditional and seller carry-back note seller financingUnderstanding the $26B seller note market The properties you can't get traditional mortgages onSeller finance usage from 2009 to the present Creating notes buying property, fixing it, finding the buyer, and creating seller financing as the lender on the property. Understanding how a note deal works when the property doubles in valueWhy it doesn't matter if a buyer defaults on a loanHow to keep your asset and resell it if the borrower defaults due to foreclosure 

At the end of the day, you can't predict the future, but you can mitigate your risk

Understanding the most significant challenges and risk for note buyers (fraud)Doing your due diligence on finding and securing a clean note $26B seller financing notes are made through mom and pop investors Why you don't have to do traditional underwriting for 3 mortgage notesWhat does a mortgage servicer do for you, and why it's importantAnswering FAQs on note investing How to leverage LTV (loan to value) so you and the borrower can succeedUnderstanding Investment to value (loan to cost)Why borrowers will pay a 10% interest rate to a private lenderWhy big banks are going to make it tougher to get a traditional loan

Using a mortgage servicer as a third-party verification which validates your word

Notes are tradeable and liquid and how to sell for cash at a maximum valueUnderstanding the foreclosure process, which is different for different statesThe benefits of note investing and the multiple ways you can make moneyUsing your retirement money to invest in notes and have more when you retireScott talks about one of his note dealsHow Nick helps people create note deals 

Get in Touch with Nick To Learn More About Note Investing
USA Note Pro
nick@usanotepro.com

The number one concern for all real estate investors is asset protection. We don't work this hard to lose all of our hard-earned money because of a frivolous lawsuit. Yet, obtaining legal advice on asset protection can sometimes seem too expensive. That's exactly what my guest, Scott Smith, thought and built Royal Legal Solutions to help real estate investors protect their assets. 
Scott is an attorney and a real estate investor himself and has learned that keeping your wealth is just as important as making it. All of his clients are real estate investors, and everything he and his team do is focused on protecting their hard-earned assets. Currently, the firm is protecting $1.2 billion in assets across all 50 states and looking to help as many investors as possible. 

We will talk about how you should never put your assets in your personal name during today's show but use a Series LLC and Child LLC's for ultimate protection. We discuss real-world real estate investing challenges and how to apply legal solutions to avoid litigation. We also discuss land trust, saving time and money on taxes, and how most real estate investors are under covered. 

Key Insights

Attorney and real estate investor using the same strategies that the uber-rich do.Making more on his side hustle in real estate than litigationThe spark that started Royal Legal SolutionsThe number one issue Scott solves: What happens if I lose everythingWhen you should start protecting your assets, especially if you are new in the real estate investing game. The cost of getting legal strategies in placeYou don't have to put everything in place simultaneously; you can continue to add on strategies.Real-World Scenario Legal Advice: Protecting several different asset classes of real estate (SFR, multifamily, etc.) held in different LLCsHow to use anonymityHow to defeat those lawsuits before they get to litigation

The game of litigation: how much money do you spend on the front end, and compare it to how much money you can make on the lawsuit 

Real-World Scenario Legal Advice: Understanding a Series LLC and Child SeriesIsolating assetsThe benefits of using a Series LLCReal-World Scenario Legal Advice: Buying a property subject too, and wrap that note and sell it againIsolating your assetsHow to hold property inside a trustUsing a blind trust for your asset

A land trust is a critical component for getting the anonymity to stop the lawsuits before they start

Transferring personal assets into a Series LLCHow to use Series LLC and a blind trust so that you can mask owner public recordsHow to disguise the transfer when transferring your assets from your name to land trust within the LLC structure

When you own assets in your personal name is a target on your back

Why having assets in your name is the biggest risk you're taking98% of lawsuits fail because it's an extortion schemeWhat single-family rental investors and note investors need legallyHow Royal Legal Solutions facilitates financial freedom for investorsHow are real estate investors are under covered legallyThe tax savings using a Series LLC How to migrate a current LLC into a Series LLCReal-World Scenario: How a Series LLC off of a flip saved investor from being sued 

What Scott is Reading:
The Surrender Experiment (Michael Singer)

Get in Contact with Scott
Royal Legal Solutions

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