5 Talents Podcast

Rich Fettke is the co-founder of Real Wealth and author of The Wise Investor, and his team has helped investors buy over 6,000 properties, about $1.2 billion in assets. On this episode, host Abel Pacheco and Rich dig into the discipline that separates the best investors: focus and a written plan almost nobody keeps.

In this episode:

• What the best investors share: "The most successful investors that we've seen are the most focused investors," clear on where they want to be in 1, 3, 5, 10, and 20 years.
• Reverse engineer it down to "what needs to happen this quarter, what needs to happen this month, what needs to happen this week."
• The catch: "80% of the people don't really take the time" to lay out the plan and then invest a day every week reviewing it.
• Abel runs the same multi generational plan with his wife, working backward into Q2, Q3, and Q4.
• When you stumble, Rich reframes it: there are only "winners and learners."

Abel Pacheco is a San Antonio real estate operator who went from 8 single family houses to a share of roughly 1,500 apartment doors, and now works as a fractional Chief AI Officer helping small and mid sized businesses put the back office on autopilot.

Go deeper and connect:

• Abel Pacheco
• 5 Talents, fractional Chief AI Officer
• The Open Door, the book
• 5 Talents commercial real estate

Matt Fore spent 15 plus years in tech sales until a VP clawed back his life changing commission the week of Christmas. On this episode, host Abel Pacheco and Matt trace how that moment sent him from W2 sales to a co general partner position on 4,000 doors and more than a billion dollars in assets, all built on partnerships and relentless outreach.

In this episode:

• The trigger: the commission cut to "two cents on the dollar" and the line "Well, isn't that enough?" that convinced him to build another income stream.
• Why it is all partnerships: "aligning other individuals within your community and network to do the skills that you're not necessarily good at."
• The metric he actually tracks, return on intentionality, not just ROI.
• The engine: "clarity of knowing where I wanted to go, and then the consistent action every day," one blocked hour of outreach at a time, borrowed from Ironman training.
• Abel's translation: it is still income minus expenses, and if you can juice the net operating income you get a better equity multiple.

Abel Pacheco is a San Antonio real estate operator who went from 8 single family houses to a share of roughly 1,500 apartment doors, and now works as a fractional Chief AI Officer helping small and mid sized businesses put the back office on autopilot.

Go deeper and connect:

• Abel Pacheco
• 5 Talents, fractional Chief AI Officer
• The Open Door, the book
• 5 Talents commercial real estate

Bill Exeter has spent over 40 years on the tax side of real estate. On this episode, host Abel Pacheco and Bill break down the 1031 exchange and the simple idea behind it: defer the tax and keep the money working.

In this episode:

• The 40 year comparison: "The family that does the tax deferral is by far gonna have a much, much larger net worth than the family that just paid taxes as they went."
• The wrinkle most people miss. High earners may be sitting on suspended passive activity losses that could offset the gain, so they may not need a 1031 at all, and "only your accountant is really gonna know that."
• Why taxes are the largest recurring expense most investors never treat as one.
• Abel's rule when the detail runs deep: "Let me just partner with the expert." You do not have to master every domain yourself.
• How deferral keeps more of the net working and compounding deal after deal.

Abel Pacheco is a San Antonio real estate operator who went from 8 single family houses to a share of roughly 1,500 apartment doors, and now works as a fractional Chief AI Officer helping small and mid sized businesses put the back office on autopilot.

Go deeper and connect:

• Abel Pacheco
• 5 Talents, fractional Chief AI Officer
• The Open Door, the book
• 5 Talents commercial real estate

Brett Swarts is a deferred sales trust specialist, one of a handful in the country. On this episode, host Abel Pacheco and Brett explain how big exits get lost to the rigidity of the 1031 and to decisions made in fear, and how a deferred sales trust opens a wider door.

In this episode:

• Where the 1031 stops and the deferred sales trust starts: the 1031 "only works for long term capital gains taxes and only works for investment real estate," while the trust "works for short term or long term, crypto or businesses, primary homes or investment real estate."
• Why fear is expensive: "when we act out in fear, we tend to get out at the wrong time." The cure is "certainty of execution."
• Abel's own rule: "the highest expense that they're ever gonna have is not their house or their car, it's taxes."
• Brett's four word discipline: "hire the who, don't be the how."
• How one client test drove a $10 million relationship with a $250,000 deal so the big decision was not a leap of faith.

Abel Pacheco is a San Antonio real estate operator who went from 8 single family houses to a share of roughly 1,500 apartment doors, and now works as a fractional Chief AI Officer helping small and mid sized businesses put the back office on autopilot.

Go deeper and connect:

• Abel Pacheco
• 5 Talents, fractional Chief AI Officer
• The Open Door, the book
• 5 Talents commercial real estate

Jerome Maldonado has built from about $100 million to just shy of $200 million in real estate development. On this episode, host Abel Pacheco and Jerome dig into the one decision Jerome says he made too late, and why partnerships are the fastest way to grow.

In this episode:

• The regret that drives the whole conversation: "I wish I would've went bigger quicker... It's through good partnerships and taking the time to be around the right people."
• Why he ran solo for years. Early bad partnerships made him fear them, until 2018 when he admitted "you can't grow anymore without help."
• The arithmetic. Pair your ability to pull a building out of the ground with someone else's capital and your volume roughly doubles.
• Abel's version of the same lesson: your net worth is the room you keep, and "the next person that has the capital you need might be sitting right next to you."
• Why growth is really a top line function of two scarce inputs: deals and capital.

Abel Pacheco is a San Antonio real estate operator who went from 8 single family houses to a share of roughly 1,500 apartment doors, and now works as a fractional Chief AI Officer helping small and mid sized businesses put the back office on autopilot.

Go deeper and connect:

• Abel Pacheco
• 5 Talents, fractional Chief AI Officer
• The Open Door, the book
• 5 Talents commercial real estate

Tony Watson is an enrolled agent who has personally handled around 1,200 tax filings a year for 18 seasons. On this episode, host Abel Pacheco and Tony make the case that wealth is a planning problem, not a filing problem.

In this episode:

• What separates the wealthy: "The one percenter are planners." Tony talks to those clients more than 10 times a year, while the once a year filer he speaks to only at tax time.
• The reframe: the job is not to save tax, it is to "retain wealth down to an obligated amount, and not a penny more."
• Abel's confession: for 8 years he bought houses in his own name and thought he was the pro, until the experts told him "You're doing it all wrong."
• The play that changed everything: his wife qualified as the real estate professional, they put 100K into a deal, took about 60K in losses, sheltered his 300K W2 income, and got a $30,000 refund.
• The line that anchors it: "Failing to plan is ultimately planning to fail."

Abel Pacheco is a San Antonio real estate operator who went from 8 single family houses to a share of roughly 1,500 apartment doors, and now works as a fractional Chief AI Officer helping small and mid sized businesses put the back office on autopilot.

Go deeper and connect:

• Abel Pacheco
• 5 Talents, fractional Chief AI Officer
• The Open Door, the book
• 5 Talents commercial real estate

Dan Sheeks helps young people reach financial independence early through real estate. On this episode, host Abel Pacheco and Dan talk about the other side of building a portfolio: why he grew to about 20 doors and is now simplifying on purpose to buy back his time.

In this episode:

• The wall every operator hits: "when you get to 10 plus properties, those little things that pop up out of nowhere start to add up and you have to deal with them right away."
• His fix, simplifying from about 20 doors down to 5 by 1031 exchanging into triple net leases where the tenant handles most of the work.
• The math Abel names out loud: on a triple net lease it is almost pure income, "expenses, it's like gone."
• Why cutting overhead is really buying back time and attention: "you don't get that time back."
• The hidden chore of scaling: EINs, LLCs, tax returns, and books for every property.

Abel Pacheco is a San Antonio real estate operator who went from 8 single family houses to a share of roughly 1,500 apartment doors, and now works as a fractional Chief AI Officer helping small and mid sized businesses put the back office on autopilot.

Go deeper and connect:

• Abel Pacheco
• 5 Talents, fractional Chief AI Officer
• The Open Door, the book
• 5 Talents commercial real estate

David Kitchen, known as Coach Kitch, went from Division I strength coach, the youngest head strength coach in the country at 24, to a leadership consultant for entrepreneurs. On this episode, host Abel Pacheco and Coach Kitch talk about designing your day and leading yourself first.

In this episode:

• The 70-25-5 rule for a day: spend 70% on what you are already great at and high yield, 25% on new initiatives, and get the last 5%, the things you dislike and are bad at, off your desk.
• The trap that keeps operators stuck: "as entrepreneurs, we hire dogs and then we bark for 'em."
• The line for your worst day: "emotions are information, not instructions."
• Why you cannot manage what you do not measure, and the daily behaviors that quietly decide the outcome.
• Abel's version for deal flow: put an offer on 20% of every deal you underwrite, no matter what.

Abel Pacheco is a San Antonio real estate operator who went from 8 single family houses to a share of roughly 1,500 apartment doors, and now works as a fractional Chief AI Officer helping small and mid sized businesses put the back office on autopilot.

Go deeper and connect:

• Abel Pacheco
• 5 Talents, fractional Chief AI Officer
• The Open Door, the book
• 5 Talents commercial real estate

Joseph Bramante built TriArc Real Estate Partners from a single apartment he bought at 25 while living in Papua New Guinea into over $375 million in transactions and roughly 2,000 doors traded. On this episode, host Abel Pacheco and Joseph get into why he moved from acquisitions into ground up development, and what the blank page really costs.

In this episode:

• Why development is a different animal: acquisitions are "rinse and repeat," but "with development, no such thing, 'cause every deal is completely different."
• The blank model problem. On an acquisition you inherit historical financials, but on a development "everything from the GPR down to the taxes, you've got to calculate and estimate."
• The enemy is the clock: "time kills deals is true for anything but especially for development." His proof: a project fought since 2017, 2 years lost to zoning and 6 months to a wetlands letter on land that was all prairie.
• Reading the spread early, when the gap between existing deals and development deals compressed.
• The origin: "It's good to be ignorant, I would say, and young," bought from a US Embassy window in a country that was not his.

Abel Pacheco is a San Antonio real estate operator who went from 8 single family houses to a share of roughly 1,500 apartment doors, and now works as a fractional Chief AI Officer helping small and mid sized businesses put the back office on autopilot.

Go deeper and connect:

• Abel Pacheco
• 5 Talents, fractional Chief AI Officer
• The Open Door, the book
• 5 Talents commercial real estate

Garrett Griffin is a wealth strategies attorney, a JD with an LLM in tax, and one of roughly 18 deferred sales trust trustees in the country. On this episode, host Abel Pacheco and Garrett make the case that tax is not a fixed bill, it is engineered.

In this episode:

• The core move on a highly appreciated asset: instead of paying the gain, sell to an independent trust for a promissory note under Section 453, so "when I initially have that sale, it's not a tax recognized event."
• The punchline: defer the tax for 10 years or more and "I just got a tax free loan from the government, tax free and interest free."
• The honest caution: the trust "is not an elimination technique. It does not make it disappear."
• Garrett's frame for wealth: creation, protection, preservation, with tax engineering running through all three.
• Abel's discipline: "I hire experts around me to help me make the right plays," because you don't know what you don't know.

Abel Pacheco is a San Antonio real estate operator who went from 8 single family houses to a share of roughly 1,500 apartment doors, and now works as a fractional Chief AI Officer helping small and mid sized businesses put the back office on autopilot.

Go deeper and connect:

• Abel Pacheco
• 5 Talents, fractional Chief AI Officer
• The Open Door, the book
• 5 Talents commercial real estate