Wealth Formula

Wealth Formula

By Buck JoffreyBusinessInvesting
Download on the App Store

Wealth Formula episodes

  • 159: Ask Buck
    You might remember me talking about a part of the brain called the prefrontal cortex (remember I spent some time in the brain surgery business). The prefrontal cortex is the CEO of the brain. It’s the part that’s really good about making good decisions.
    For example, if you see a teenager doing something very dangerous and potentially lethal, it may be due to a poorly developed prefrontal cortex. And, if you think to yourself, “I would have done the same thing when I was 16. What was I thinking?”, the answer is likely that your prefrontal cortex has since become more mature.
    In fact, the prefrontal cortex seems to continue maturing until your late 30s and early 40s. The scientist in me wonders why that might be and I have come up with an evolutionary theory. You see, when you are younger, you need to be fit and take some chances to survive. A young caveman would need to hunt and not be afraid to chase down a wild boar that could, in fact, be a danger to him. Wisdom, on the other hand, may lead him to back down for fear of injury and to starve to death instead.
    But, physical prowess begins to decline for humans beginning at around age 30. Just look at NFL running backs—seems to be the magic number. In evolutionary terms, by the time you are in your mid-30s, you are pretty much useless. You’ve reproduced and you are not as fast as the twenty year olds. The rest of the tribe is not going to find much value in you. You are simply a waste of resources. That is, unless you have something else you can offer the tribe that younger people can not offer like say…wisdom.
    Recall that living well into your seventh century and beyond is a relatively modern phenomenon. Even in the United States, someone born in the 1880s might expect to live to 40. That was old back then.
    So, perhaps the maturing of the prefrontal cortex in the third and forth decades of life coincides with the slowing of the rest of the body and provides a reason for the young hunters in the pack to keep you around instead of pushing you down a river in a canoe with your arms wrapped behind your back.
    Anyway, it’s just my theory. But I must say that my prefrontal cortex really took off since I hit my late 30s and I feel like I am becoming smarter every day—even if my body seems to be headed the other way. It’s strange to think of myself a decade ago. I was a completely different person and definitely not as smart as I am now.
    How I would have loved to ask “Buck Today” a few questions back then—even though I was probably too stubborn and dumb to listen anyway. It would have been nice to have me around.
    Speaking of “Ask Buck”, that’s the show for this week on Wealth Formula Podcast. Hopefully you get something out of it—at least enough to keep me in the tribe instead of sending me down that river.
    51 min
  • 158: Tax Perspectives with Diane Gardner
    In recent weeks, I have had a series of webinars for Investor Club called the Tax Day Postmortem Series. Investor Club is the Wealth Formula accredited investor email list. The webinars so far have been for strategies limited to accredited investors such as oil and gas and conservation easements. However, we will have some coming up that will be available for everyone to watch.
    That said, there is no question that there are more strategies for tax mitigation for people with more money. I guess that makes sense since they are the ones paying more taxes. In addition, the reality is that there are always more financial opportunities for the affluent than there are for the middle class and poor. Whether or not you think its fair is irrelevant. It’s just the way it is.
    The good news is that most people, accredited or not, have opportunities to legally lower their taxes that they just don’t know about. The key is to make learning about different strategies in tax mitigation as important as learning new strategies in investing and/or making more money. They all go hand in hand.
    Of course most of what I learned about tax mitigation strategies comes from my CPA, Tom Wheelwright, who is a genius in the space. But that doesn’t mean I don’t keep trying to learn from others. In fact, I have learned a few things along the way that some of the most sophisticated accountants don’t even know about. 
    The key to becoming an expert in anything is to learn everything you can from as many sources as possible then think for yourself. Cast a wide net on who you listen to and pay attention to everyone. When it comes to tax mitigation strategies, I have done this for years and it has really paid off. The truth of the matter is that most people I talk to, outside of Tom Wheelwright, are not telling me things that I don’t already know but sometimes I catch a pearl or two. Or, I just hear the same thing from a different perspective that makes you understand it better. That’s what happened to be me with Wealth Formula Banking.
    For that reason, over the next couple of months, I will have a few different voices on similar topics come on the podcast. This week on Wealth Formula Podcast I have Diane Gardner on the show. She’s not a CPA but rather a tax coach. I didn’t know who she was nor did I know exactly what a tax coach was but I was open to the idea of letting her try to teach me something. Why not?
    So, in the spirit of casting a wide net of knowledge sources, I encourage you to listen to the show and try to identify at least one thing that you didn’t know before the episode. Let me know how it goes.
    34 min
  • 158: Tax Perspectives with Diane Gardner
    In recent weeks, I have had a series of webinars for Investor Club called the Tax Day Postmortem Series. Investor Club is the Wealth Formula accredited investor email list. The webinars so far have been for strategies limited to accredited investors such as oil and gas and conservation easements. However, we will have some coming up that will be available for everyone to watch.
    That said, there is no question that there are more strategies for tax mitigation for people with more money. I guess that makes sense since they are the ones paying more taxes. In addition, the reality is that there are always more financial opportunities for the affluent than there are for the middle class and poor. Whether or not you think its fair is irrelevant. It’s just the way it is.
    The good news is that most people, accredited or not, have opportunities to legally lower their taxes that they just don’t know about. The key is to make learning about different strategies in tax mitigation as important as learning new strategies in investing and/or making more money. They all go hand in hand.
    Of course most of what I learned about tax mitigation strategies comes from my CPA, Tom Wheelwright, who is a genius in the space. But that doesn’t mean I don’t keep trying to learn from others. In fact, I have learned a few things along the way that some of the most sophisticated accountants don’t even know about.
    The key to becoming an expert in anything is to learn everything you can from as many sources as possible then think for yourself. Cast a wide net on who you listen to and pay attention to everyone. When it comes to tax mitigation strategies, I have done this for years and it has really paid off. The truth of the matter is that most people I talk to, outside of Tom Wheelwright, are not telling me things that I don’t already know but sometimes I catch a pearl or two. Or, I just hear the same thing from a different perspective that makes you understand it better. That’s what happened to be me with Wealth Formula Banking.
    For that reason, over the next couple of months, I will have a few different voices on similar topics come on the podcast. This week on Wealth Formula Podcast I have Diane Gardner on the show. She’s not a CPA but rather a tax coach. I didn’t know who she was nor did I know exactly what a tax coach was but I was open to the idea of letting her try to teach me something. Why not?
    So, in the spirit of casting a wide net of knowledge sources, I encourage you to listen to the show and try to identify at least one thing that you didn’t know before the episode. Let me know how it goes.
    34 min
  • 157: Harvest Returns
    Back in 2014, two of my medical businesses were KILLING it. I was making money hand over fist. Unfortunately, however, I made a mistake that many entrepreneurs make. Instead of taking money off the table and putting most of it into stable assets, I decided to dump the majority of it back into the business to grow even bigger.
    In fact, I went on a national campaign opening offices across the country all on my own dime. I figured if I could crush it in Chicago then it would be a cinch for me to do the same in middle-markets across the country. I was fueled by people around me telling me that it was the right thing to do which emboldened me even more.
    Unfortunately, I was wrong. As good as I am as an entrepreneur seeing opportunities at a high level, I didn’t know what I didn’t know about being a multi-state operator. I didn’t have a sense for the staff I would need, the time it would take to turn profitable, or the marketing capital I would need to put on the line for a successful campaign. I learned a lot from that failed national campaign and lost a lot of money.
    In hindsight, the smart thing for me to do back then was to milk these high performance businesses for all the profit and buy as much real estate as I could. Had I done that, I would have been millions of dollars ahead of where I am today.
    You see, there were lots of opportunities in real estate in 2014 that were ripe for the taking. Luckily my friend Rick, who is a mortgage broker in Chicago, sent me a couple of apartment buildings that he thought I should buy and, fortunately, I took his advice.
    While I lost millions of dollars in that failed national expansion of 2014-2015, those buildings I bought ended up being a gold mine. In 2018, I sold them for 500% and 600% returns. It was a good chunk of money. It was still not even close to the losses I incurred on the failed business venture, but it showed me the power of staying disciplined and not getting greedy like I did.
    At the time, buying those buildings didn’t seem particularly exciting. I knew that real estate is where I wanted to invest, but it was a lot more fun making money rather than investing it. Now I understand the power of investing and I also understand the power of boring.
    What do I mean, boring? I mean that when you find something that works or an operator that you like, you don’t have to keep playing the field. There is nothing sexy about multifamily real estate or self storage facilities, but they make for great investments. If you are a passive investor that has found a group or two that you like, you don’t have to go find another group to “diversify”. I can tell you from experience as an investor, boring works.
    On the other hand, there is no reason not to take a little money to play with on high risk high reward endeavors. If you want to grow your business, do it. But don’t put every penny you have into it and create a single point failure scenario for yourself.
    As you might know, my hobby these days is cryptocurrency. Of course that’s where I use money that I would otherwise blow on a Maserati or vintage sports car. Maybe I’ll get lucky and 100X on my portfolio…you never know. However, most of my money is still going into real estate with the same old operators.
    Speaking of topics that might not seem sexy, this week’s podcast is an interview I did with the founder of Harvest Returns. Investing in agriculture may not sound exciting, but people do need to eat and, as far as I can tell, that’s not going to change anytime soon. That alone should get you to listen to this week’s Wealth Formula Podcast.
    35 min
  • 157: Harvest Returns
    Back in 2014, two of my medical businesses were KILLING it. I was making money hand over fist. Unfortunately, however, I made a mistake that many entrepreneurs make. Instead of taking money off the table and putting most of it into stable assets, I decided to dump the majority of it back into the business to grow even bigger.
    In fact, I went on a national campaign opening offices across the country all on my own dime. I figured if I could crush it in Chicago then it would be a cinch for me to do the same in middle-markets across the country. I was fueled by people around me telling me that it was the right thing to do which emboldened me even more.
    Unfortunately, I was wrong. As good as I am as an entrepreneur seeing opportunities at a high level, I didn’t know what I didn’t know about being a multi-state operator. I didn’t have a sense for the staff I would need, the time it would take to turn profitable, or the marketing capital I would need to put on the line for a successful campaign. I learned a lot from that failed national campaign and lost a lot of money.
    In hindsight, the smart thing for me to do back then was to milk these high performance businesses for all the profit and buy as much real estate as I could. Had I done that, I would have been millions of dollars ahead of where I am today.
    You see, there were lots of opportunities in real estate in 2014 that were ripe for the taking. Luckily my friend Rick, who is a mortgage broker in Chicago, sent me a couple of apartment buildings that he thought I should buy and, fortunately, I took his advice.
    While I lost millions of dollars in that failed national expansion of 2014-2015, those buildings I bought ended up being a gold mine. In 2018, I sold them for 500% and 600% returns. It was a good chunk of money. It was still not even close to the losses I incurred on the failed business venture, but it showed me the power of staying disciplined and not getting greedy like I did.
    At the time, buying those buildings didn’t seem particularly exciting. I knew that real estate is where I wanted to invest, but it was a lot more fun making money rather than investing it. Now I understand the power of investing and I also understand the power of boring.
    What do I mean, boring? I mean that when you find something that works or an operator that you like, you don’t have to keep playing the field. There is nothing sexy about multifamily real estate or self storage facilities, but they make for great investments. If you are a passive investor that has found a group or two that you like, you don’t have to go find another group to “diversify”. I can tell you from experience as an investor, boring works.
    On the other hand, there is no reason not to take a little money to play with on high risk high reward endeavors. If you want to grow your business, do it. But don’t put every penny you have into it and create a single point failure scenario for yourself.
    As you might know, my hobby these days is cryptocurrency. Of course that’s where I use money that I would otherwise blow on a Maserati or vintage sports car. Maybe I’ll get lucky and 100X on my portfolio…you never know. However, most of my money is still going into real estate with the same old operators.
    Speaking of topics that might not seem sexy, this week’s podcast is an interview I did with the founder of Harvest Returns. Investing in agriculture may not sound exciting, but people do need to eat and, as far as I can tell, that’s not going to change anytime soon. That alone should get you to listen to this week’s Wealth Formula Podcast.
    35 min
  • 156: Centimillionaire Secrets with Richard Wilson
    Lately, I’ve been getting a lot of questions from investors on how to choose investments—particularly private placements that are readily available to accredited investors.
    First, let me be clear that there is no magic solution to getting all of your investment picks right. In fact, if you invest long enough, something will go wrong. Next, nothing I say should be construed as investment advice. All I can do is to share my experience.
    Experience is the way I have learned the most. I started looking into private placements about 7-8 years ago. My primary focus was something I felt like I knew a little bit about—real estate. But from there I had no roadmap to follow.
    Where do you start when you are new at this stuff? Well, unfortunately I started with google and ended up finding a guy who is a bit of a charlatan in the space. I spoke to him and he suggested that maybe I join his team given my real estate experience. That sounded like a great idea.
    Every week there was a team call and this guy would lead it. You see, I was not the only one he thought was special and worth bringing on to his exclusive team. There were a lot of us special people. We came from different backgrounds but we all had one thing in common—we all had a circle of friends/community that had money. In my case, I was tagged as a guy who could bring money in for doctors.
    Ok. So, that in and of itself is not a bad thing. In fact, if you can bring people to great opportunities and get some additional benefit for yourself, that’s great. You are solving a problem and helping others in the process. Now…here was the unfavorable part of this fund.
    On these team meetings it was very clear that this self proclaimed “hedge fund manager” had very little interest in making investors money at all. Every conversation was about the fees we could charge (which he kept for himself) and the need for us partners to bring in more money. He urged me countless times to put together a group of doctors for him to speak with and even to get my father involved.
    Luckily, I didn’t. It was pretty clear to me that this guy was a shyster and that I should distance myself from him as soon as possible. In the end, the money I invested was lost. For the last 6-7 years I have been receiving a K1 with no income. Meanwhile, I know the guy made a ton of money up front and doesn’t really care about losing investor money in the least.
    So, what mistake did I make here? Well, I looked him up on google and he was a guy who made the podcast rounds and even spoke at events. He was a great salesman. I mistook that for someone who was a good fiduciary for my money. You think that is an uncommon mistake? Think again.
    While a number of these individuals that are prominent on social media and on the podcasting circle are not crooked, they have not really proven anything to you other than that they are good at getting your attention.
    So, if not google then where do you start? Well, in this age of the internet and social media, I actually rely on something a lot more mundane—positive feedback from previous investors who I know like and trust.
    The real estate operator that I work with the most did not find me nor did I find them on the internet. I found them through people in our investor club that told me about their experience and the kinds of returns they were seeing. That’s what got me initially interested.
    Next, I did some good old fashioned reconnaissance. I talked to several different people on their team, tracked the ongoing sentiment of known investors of theirs, and made a trip out to walk properties with them and meet them in person. Finally, I got a stellar reference from someone within the same field with tremendous integrity. With that kind of social due diligence, I felt very comfortable moving forward and looking at the numbers and track record closely. Notice how the numbers came at the end and not the beginning.
    Anyone can make an investment look good on paper. In fact, I can honestly say that
    45 min
  • 156: Centimillionaire Secrets with Richard Wilson
    Lately, I’ve been getting a lot of questions from investors on how to choose investments—particularly private placements that are readily available to accredited investors.
    First, let me be clear that there is no magic solution to getting all of your investment picks right. In fact, if you invest long enough, something will go wrong. Next, nothing I say should be construed as investment advice. All I can do is to share my experience.
    Experience is the way I have learned the most. I started looking into private placements about 7-8 years ago. My primary focus was something I felt like I knew a little bit about—real estate. But from there I had no roadmap to follow.
    Where do you start when you are new at this stuff? Well, unfortunately I started with google and ended up finding a guy who is a bit of a charlatan in the space. I spoke to him and he suggested that maybe I join his team given my real estate experience. That sounded like a great idea.
    Every week there was a team call and this guy would lead it. You see, I was not the only one he thought was special and worth bringing on to his exclusive team. There were a lot of us special people. We came from different backgrounds but we all had one thing in common—we all had a circle of friends/community that had money. In my case, I was tagged as a guy who could bring money in for doctors.
    Ok. So, that in and of itself is not a bad thing. In fact, if you can bring people to great opportunities and get some additional benefit for yourself, that’s great. You are solving a problem and helping others in the process. Now…here was the unfavorable part of this fund.
    On these team meetings it was very clear that this self proclaimed “hedge fund manager” had very little interest in making investors money at all. Every conversation was about the fees we could charge (which he kept for himself) and the need for us partners to bring in more money. He urged me countless times to put together a group of doctors for him to speak with and even to get my father involved.
    Luckily, I didn’t. It was pretty clear to me that this guy was a shyster and that I should distance myself from him as soon as possible. In the end, the money I invested was lost. For the last 6-7 years I have been receiving a K1 with no income. Meanwhile, I know the guy made a ton of money up front and doesn’t really care about losing investor money in the least.
    So, what mistake did I make here? Well, I looked him up on google and he was a guy who made the podcast rounds and even spoke at events. He was a great salesman. I mistook that for someone who was a good fiduciary for my money. You think that is an uncommon mistake? Think again.
    While a number of these individuals that are prominent on social media and on the podcasting circle are not crooked, they have not really proven anything to you other than that they are good at getting your attention.
    So, if not google then where do you start? Well, in this age of the internet and social media, I actually rely on something a lot more mundane—positive feedback from previous investors who I know like and trust.
    The real estate operator that I work with the most did not find me nor did I find them on the internet. I found them through people in our investor club that told me about their experience and the kinds of returns they were seeing. That’s what got me initially interested.
    Next, I did some good old fashioned reconnaissance. I talked to several different people on their team, tracked the ongoing sentiment of known investors of theirs, and made a trip out to walk properties with them and meet them in person. Finally, I got a stellar reference from someone within the same field with tremendous integrity. With that kind of social due diligence, I felt very comfortable moving forward and looking at the numbers and track record closely. Notice how the numbers came at the end and not the beginning.
    Anyone can make an investment look good on paper. In fact, I can honestly say that th
    45 min
  • 155: TribeVesting
    When I first described by “work” to my CPA, Tom Wheelwright, he said, “So you are an entrepreneur who just happens to be a surgeon”. I hadn’t thought about it that way, but I guess that’s what I am.
    Now listen, I don’t take the label “entrepreneur" necessarily as a complement. It’s more of an affliction than anything else. If you are an entrepreneur, you know what I am talking about. We can be a real pain in the ass for our significant others with all of our bright ideas and, often, our miserable failures. I often wish I had a personality that allowed me to simply be content doing the same thing for twenty years as a high paid employee and just enjoy my life. But…it’s just not in my DNA.
    What is an an entrepreneur anyway? Of course we tend to think of entrepreneurs as people who start businesses, and by definition, that’s true. But more than that, however, entrepreneurship is the love (maybe even the addiction) to solving inefficiencies or problems. If you can find a problem that is not being adequately addressed, you have a business opportunity. And for us entrepreneurs, discovering that opportunity is a rush.
    That said, everyone has a million dollar idea but only entrepreneurs are the ones foolish enough to act on it. To be clear, my entrepreneurial life has little to do with what I talk about on Wealth Formula Podcast. Wealth Formula is about investing the money you earn. You may earn your money by working a high paid job like a doctor or lawyer. I make mine by owning businesses. My businesses buy my real estate (I heard Robert Kiyosaki say that once).
    Wealth Formula has, however, turned into a business and the problem it addresses is the lack of financial education people have along with the minimal exposure to investments outside of the Wall Street paradigm. Admittedly I did not start my podcast with any idea that it would turn into a business, but because I was addressing a problem many people have, it became one.
    When it comes to investing our money, there are also a lot of inefficiencies in the system and problems that need to be solved. For example, how do you invest in 10 real estate opportunities through private placements when you have $100K per year to invest and each deal has a $50K minimum.
    That’s the problem that TribeVest takes on head first and I think the concept is simple but brilliant. If you are an active investor and are trying to figure out how to get exposure to more investments with finite resources, you are going to want to listen to this week’s episode of Wealth Formula Podcast.
    42 min
  • 155: TribeVesting
    When I first described by “work” to my CPA, Tom Wheelwright, he said, “So you are an entrepreneur who just happens to be a surgeon”. I hadn’t thought about it that way, but I guess that’s what I am.
    Now listen, I don’t take the label “entrepreneur" necessarily as a complement. It’s more of an affliction than anything else. If you are an entrepreneur, you know what I am talking about. We can be a real pain in the ass for our significant others with all of our bright ideas and, often, our miserable failures. I often wish I had a personality that allowed me to simply be content doing the same thing for twenty years as a high paid employee and just enjoy my life. But…it’s just not in my DNA.
    What is an an entrepreneur anyway? Of course we tend to think of entrepreneurs as people who start businesses, and by definition, that’s true. But more than that, however, entrepreneurship is the love (maybe even the addiction) to solving inefficiencies or problems. If you can find a problem that is not being adequately addressed, you have a business opportunity. And for us entrepreneurs, discovering that opportunity is a rush.
    That said, everyone has a million dollar idea but only entrepreneurs are the ones foolish enough to act on it. To be clear, my entrepreneurial life has little to do with what I talk about on Wealth Formula Podcast. Wealth Formula is about investing the money you earn. You may earn your money by working a high paid job like a doctor or lawyer. I make mine by owning businesses. My businesses buy my real estate (I heard Robert Kiyosaki say that once).
    Wealth Formula has, however, turned into a business and the problem it addresses is the lack of financial education people have along with the minimal exposure to investments outside of the Wall Street paradigm. Admittedly I did not start my podcast with any idea that it would turn into a business, but because I was addressing a problem many people have, it became one.
    When it comes to investing our money, there are also a lot of inefficiencies in the system and problems that need to be solved. For example, how do you invest in 10 real estate opportunities through private placements when you have $100K per year to invest and each deal has a $50K minimum.
    That’s the problem that TribeVest takes on head first and I think the concept is simple but brilliant. If you are an active investor and are trying to figure out how to get exposure to more investments with finite resources, you are going to want to listen to this week’s episode of Wealth Formula Podcast.
    42 min

About Wealth Formula

From the publisher's feed

The Wealth Formula - by Buck Joffrey