Wealth Formula Podcast

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.

It's funny how long lasting paradigms perpetuate without question for centuries without being questioned. It used to be in most places, specific religions were mandated by the government to its people and heretics were persecuted. Of course that still exists in many parts of the world but the point is that a large part of the world does not see that as simply status quo anymore. If you live in the United States, for example, you would likely feel very uncomfortable with the idea that the government chose your place of worship, what you ate or drank, and what you wore. Why is that? The answer to that, again, is that we tend to let outdated paradigms perpetuate without questioning them. They become part of conventional collective reality that few even think about questioning. Then, one day there is an awakening. The separation of church and state was one of those awakenings that has occurred gradually over time. Similarly, while this may sound like a bit of a leap, I believe that bitcoin represents the first modern step in separating money from state. I have been watching and studying this space closely and I have come to the conclusion that bitcoin is real and it's not going anywhere. And when you look around and see the infrastructure that is being built around bitcoin at the institutional level, that belief is no longer outlandish. A lot of smart money believes it's here for the long term as well. I'm talking about university endowments and even some pension plans. Bitcoin is not a fad. It's a movement that is unstoppable. It doesn't matter what the price of bitcoin is today. Its value is in what it's going to do to the world tomorrow and, in that sense, is grossly undervalued. In my opinion, you will regret it if you don't take time to understand bitcoin and its implications now. For that reason, I have invited a former Wall Street guy turned bitcoin purist for an interview on Wealth Formula Podcast today. His name is Tone Vays and you are going to want to listen to this week's show so you can start the process of learning what will, in our lifetimes, become a new reality in our economy.

Sometimes in this "alternative investment" podcast world in which we live, I hear about great "investments" that are yielding 20 percent or more. On the surface, they sound great. In fact, the yield part might actually be real. However, because we are so ingrained in the "investment" world, we often fail to see an obvious distinction that may not be so obviously disclosed. You see, there is a difference between investing and buying (or starting) a business. A business is inherently riskier than investing in something like real estate. Why? Well, businesses tend to have a finite life to them and often get phased out over time or just flat out fail. I've got a couple of those failures under my belt. And it's not just the little guys like me. For example, getting phased out by technology like the internet is happening left and right—blockbusters anyone? How about Sears. For some reason that catalog just stopped coming a few years after Amazon started. In the meantime, take a drive around Chicago or Boston and look at how many multifamily apartment buildings you see that are over one hundred years old. They are a dime a dozen! Needing a place to live seems like a problem we can't solve with technology yet. So, when someone comes on a podcast and makes a comparison between owning a business and investing without disclosing that they aren't exactly the same, they aren't being completely honest. Businesses are inherently riskier to own than assets like multifamily real estate. Now don't get me wrong—I made all of my initial money by starting businesses NOT by buying real estate. Like Robert Kiyosaki says, "My businesses buy my real estate". The idea is to take explosive earnings and lock them in to slow burning stable assets that create long term wealth. The entrepreneur's trap is to take that money and dump all of it back into his business. I've been guilty of that and gotten burned before and I see other business owners do it all the time. Knowing what I know now, it pains me to see them do it. On the other hand, if you have never owned a business, you might consider giving it a shot. Starting businesses from scratch is a little harder then buying established businesses for the non-business inclined. However, be aware that buying a business can be risky too. That's why instead of getting 8-10 percent like you might with leveraged real estate, you should be looking at getting 30-40 percent cash on cash returns. Beyond the higher returns, you also have a number of tax advantages when you own a business. Now, if you are one of those people tempted by the idea of getting into business ownership but don't really want to bet the farm on it, this week's Wealth Formula Podcast will be of great interest to you. My guest is from a business called Empire Flippers which brokers on-line businesses. Remember, brick and mortar is expensive but on-line businesses can have minimal to zero overhead with substantial upside. That should pique your interest!

I was just interviewed on a podcast earlier today and we got on the topic of gold. You know that I'm not a huge advocate for precious metals right now. Anyway, the argument became a little familiar. Ie. The global economy is going to melt down, there will be a zombie apocalypse and the only thing that zombies accept is gold and silver. A few years ago I would have gotten sucked into all of this and drank the cool-aid. But the reality is that I don't really see zombies headed our way anytime soon. That's why I'm not terribly interested in gold. Admittedly I do own a monster box of silver coins but I'm not even sure where they are. The zombies will likely find them before me. Anyway, the entire conversation got me thinking about what money is in the first place and where gold fits into that paradigm. It also got me thinking about cryptocurrency and why it seems like gold bugs should be all over bitcoin but they aren't. That curiosity led me to a site called GoldSilver.com. The site might suggest their primary interest, but I have found their founder, Mike Maloney, to be quite thoughtful in discussions regarding the history of money, gold, and cryptocurrency. So, I reached out to speak to someone and found Jeff Clark, one of their senior analysts. In this episode of Wealth Formula Podcast, we take another peek back into precious metals with a detour into the history of money and cryptocurrency.

You may know that by the end of last tax year, I sold most of the real estate that I held by myself—as owner and operator? Why? Well, first of all, I realized that to do real estate right, it really is not ever TRULY passive unless you have a full time operator doing all the work. The other thing that I realized is that for a busy person, finding the right operator with whom to invest passively is often MORE profitable than managing your own property. A good example of that is Western Wealth Capital—a group that many of you who are part of Investor Club know well. Cofounder and CEO Janet LePage was on Wealth Formula Podcast a few weeks ago and explained the operation that has produced investors annualized returns exceeding 30 percent on average. Let me tell you from being an owner operator of apartment buildings—it ain't easy doing that by yourself. That's why I have really focussed on a team approach to my investing and I know a number of you have made that decision as well. After all, you may think that you love real estate when, in reality, you love all the benefits of owning real estate like excellent returns and unbeatable tax benefits. Participating in limited partnerships can give you all the same benefits without the headaches. Now, last year I sold a few buildings and ended up with seven figures of capital gains with which to deal. I had to figure out if there was a way around paying the tax man. In my case, for better or worse, a failing business in Chicago provided some significant losses so I didn't get hammered as badly as I thought I would. But, as a general rule, I would not recommend that as a way to minimize your tax burden. I would have rather paid the tax! So, if I didn't have business losses to offset capital gains, what would my options have been? Before I tell you that, let me be clear that I am not a CPA so this is not official tax advice. However, I do happen to have a brilliant CPA so most of you know where I get this stuff. Anyway, one of my options would have been to invest as much of those capital gains into syndications using bonus depreciation as possible. That would have theoretically knocked out well over half the gains right there and actually allowed me to create equity in the process (let's get Tom Wheelwright on the show to explain that one). That's the only option I honestly knew about last year and probably the one I would still use at this point in my investing life. In recent months, however, I started hearing about another option that I found intriguing called a Delaware Statutory Trust. I had no idea that this was an option for me last year and I'm still not sure I would have used it, but the idea is pretty compelling. You see, there are options to doing 1031 exchanges with property that you don't have to manage yourself—and I'm not just talking about a triple net Walgreens which we usually think of in this scenario. This option that I just became aware of is called a Delaware Statutory Trust. It's similar to a syndication and limited to accredited investors. However, it is also a very intriguing option for those of you looking to get out of the real estate operating mode who want to avoid taxes and depreciation recapture. I love it when I learn about new things and I can share them with you on this show. That's exactly what I will be doing on this week's Wealth Formula Podcast with my guest Leslie Pappas of Archer.

Remember when you were a kid and you would go to the doctor? Your parents revered your doctor. The held him in high esteem. They trusted him. They would never say things like, "He's just doing that test so he can make some extra money" or "He's getting kickbacks from the drug company". These are the types of things I regularly hear when I'm in the Sauna at the local YMCA. Doctors and science are becoming decreasingly popular these days and it's from both political extremes. There are those on the right who deny climate change. You might be one of them. But…mainstream science disagrees with you. Similarly, you might be an anti-vaccination person most frequently observed on the left in places like Marin County. But…again, mainstream science disagrees with you. In fact, it's not just disagreement. These days, it seems like doctors and scientists often are the object of disdain from all over the place. A few months back, I was at a mastermind event for entrepreneurs and the mastermind leader in the room asked how many "functional doctors" we had in the room. I honestly did not know what he meant so I said, "Well, I'm a real doctor. Does that count?" You see there were literally twenty people in that room practicing some kind of alternative medicine without any degree at all. So, I just asked if being an MD actually counted as a "functional doctor". I got hissed at from a lot of people and told I was killing people instead of helping them by one person. I finally got off the hook when I announced that I hadn't practiced medicine in a couple of years and, as far as I could remember, never killed anyone. Anyway, it's not a good time to be "real doctor" these days. We are losing respect and we are losing reimbursement. For those of you who are sticking it out—fight for yourselves my friends. Now I should say that, while I am a "real doctor" or allopathic physician as we like to call ourselves, I don't disregard alternative therapies at all. In my view, if it doesn't hurt then give it a try. We don't always know why things work until later. Aspirin has been used for well over 100 years and comes from tree bark. I guess at some point someone was in pain and chewed on some bark and felt better. Who knows? Anyway, now we know why aspirin works. The same thing goes for acupuncture. Acupuncture has proven to be beneficial for a variety of ailments for centuries and has only recently been supported through scientific validation. For example, for years, people have claimed acupuncture helps with sinus problems. I wouldn't have believed it frankly but the studies came out and it actually does provide benefit to people with sinus problems. That said would I tell you not to try acupuncture if you wanted to give it a shot before the studies came out? Absolutely not! If it's not going to hurt you, and you think it might actually help, then give it a go. Anyway, one of the areas where there are plenty of non-validated treatments that many people swear by is in the area of chronic pain. This week on Wealth Formula Podcast, I will talk to someone who believes he has a novel means of treating chronic pain with greater than 80 percent efficacy. And…if you want to, you can even invest in this project. Full disclaimer: I have nothing to do financially or otherwise with this company. It is one more example of ways for you to invest outside of Wall Street.

To all those who made it out to Scottsdale last weekend, it was great to see you! Of course I'm biased, but I have NEVER seen such a high quality group of people at an investors event before ours. You guys are by far the most interesting podcast listeners in the entire podcast ecosystem—guaranteed. Of course the speakers were fantastic as well. Ken McElroy, Tom Wheelwright and David Steele from Western Wealth Capital dazzled us with their wealth of knowledge on real estate and related tax benefits. Damion Lupo taught us about using QRPs and also managed to sell a $1300 gold coin for $400 (nice going Eric!). And of course Christian and Rod reminded us how Wealth Formula Banking can enhance your profits even more with leverage. All of these speakers taught us a ton then we got to walk a property that Wealth Formula Investor Club members own that is already way-outperforming pro-forma in less than one year! Of course, that was a nice way to end the formal education but perhaps the best part of the whole event was getting to know each other. For those of you who attended the event, I know that you agree with that sentiment. If you enjoyed being part of the tribe in person, I just want to take this opportunity to remind you that you don't have to wait for the next get together to keep the party going. Consider joining Wealth Formula Network. There is a robust course with the likes of Tom Wheelwright, Ken McElroy, Kevin Day, and Dean Graziosi which helps you to get caught up with the foundations that every investor should have. In addition to this, however, you have access to me and to one another in a private facebook group and biweekly video conferenced mastermind calls. The people who are in it love it. That said, I'm not one to push things on you. If you are the type who loves talking about money and are looking for a fantastic group to do it with, go to WealthFormulaRoadmap.com and sign up. Now, going back to the meetup… there was one noticeable absence from the event. If you are in Wealth Formula Network, you already know who I'm talking about because we call him the mascot. He is also known as Goose! And there is no one better to debut for a new type of show that we will do periodically on Wealth Formula Podcast called The Real Investors of Wealth Formula. For investors like you, this might be a much better option than The Real Housewives… series. You see, what I realized at our event is that you guys got as much, if not more, talking to one another and hearing about your unique experiences, than you might have gotten from listening to the star-studded faculty. Anyway, let's give this series a try. And…do me a favor. Tell me what you think. I'm not planning to do this for every show by any means, but I think it's nice to have something every 6 weeks or so that includes you, the Wealth Formula Nation, into the show. So, when we come back, our first episode of the Real Investors of Wealth Formula starring Jerry "Goose" Gosnell! P.S. Check out Jerry's vacation rental: Goslings' Nest' in the beautiful Lake Placid region of NY- https://www.facebook.com/TheGoslingsNest/

Welcome back to the show everyone. I hope you enjoyed the show. If I were a dentist, I would definitely check this out. Think of it this way. The concierge aspect of the model is valuable in and of itself. If you don't care for cryptocurrency, immediately convert your crypto to dollars. If you want, keep some in crypto and see it potentially 100X in the next few years. Anyway, I like the idea and it may be worth checking out. Let's talk about some things happening in the crypto space right now. Nasdaq launched real-time information on two new indices linked to the crypto asset market —Bitcoin liquid index (BLX) and Ethereum Liquid Index (ELX) were both incorporated into the Nasdaq platform on February 25th. This is sort of like the Nasdaq composite with the end goal to bolster mainstream adoption by fusing crypto assets into traditional entities like the stock market. Bitcoin surpassed PayPal in yearly transaction volumes in 2018 with $1.3 trillion dollars more then doubling PayPal with just over $500 billion The CBOE/Van Eck ETF ETF wil have a decision on it made by April 5th—this was extended of course because of the government shutdown. Of course, BAAKT, the platform owned by the new york stock exchange owners—Intercontinental exchange—is still delayed with launch expected "later this year"—partnership with starbucks-not wanting to do it during a bear market. That it for me this week. This is Buck Joffrey signing off.

As you know, I have been on a kick to challenge myself to learn more about things that I don't know about and to challenge my personal investing dogmas. Recently, you saw me come out of the proverbial gold closet and proclaim that I don't see the point of owning physical gold. You can hedge the economy with appreciating real estate with leveraged debt and cash flow to boot. Who needs gold? Again. Please write me and prove me wrong but that's where I'm at right now when it comes to this beautiful but useless precious metal. On the other hand, there are areas that I went into thinking that I would be more excited about than I ended up being. To be honest, mobile home parks were one of those. I started looking at mobile home parks and mobile home funds recently expecting yield to be significantly better than apartments. No one buys low income housing for appreciation so I figured the cash flow must be super high and the tax advantages must be off the charts. But honestly, that's not what I found and so I'm back to being a true blue apartment investor. Recently, I got asked if I would like to have Jefferson Lilly on my show. I looked at his bio and was pretty impressed. He's a Wharton business school guy who lives in San Francisco. He's obviously smart. Furthermore, his bio said that mobile home parks were BETTER than apartments as an investment. So, I figured if anyone could convince me to leave my happy place outside of apartments it was him. So, on this week's Wealth Formula Podcast, you will hear that conversation and will give you a chance to make a decision for yourself. Don't miss this the show.

If I hadn't listened to Peter Schiff, I would have made gobs and gobs of money in the past few years. Now, don't get me wrong. I like listening to Peter Schiff's podcast. He is a very smart guy. In fact, he predicted the financial meltdown of 2008. It would be even more impressive if he had not predicted the financial meltdown of every other year that there was not a financial meltdown, but he did get 2008 right. Peter has a keen sense of the economy and a very strong perspective that you have to respect. I think the problem, in general, is that if you only listen to Peter, you might be only seeing his very narrow perspective on things. Let's take bitcoin for example. I started hearing about bitcoin back in 2015 or so when bitcoin was trading for under $300. The problem is that back then I used to listen to Peter Schiff's podcast religiously and every time he brought it up he was so damn negative about it. He made bitcoin sound like a big joke. Now, you may not be a bitcoin person, but if you dig down into the concept and the economics it represents, bitcoin should have been something that Peter actually supported. It is pretty much gold—but better in theory. Anyway, he was so darn negative about it that I never bothered to take it seriously. I didn't dig any further or try to listen to other intelligent voices with a different perspective. As a result, I lost out. Even at bitcoin's low this year, I would have still been up 1000 percent had I not listened to Peter back then. Now I don't actually blame Peter for not buying bitcoin in 2015. I blame myself. I blame myself for not listening to people with other perspectives then me. There were plenty of smart people like Eric Voorhees out there that made the case for bitcoin as clear as it is for me today. But I was too busy listening to the same podcasts who basically regurgitated what everyone else in the niche had to say. No one in the real estate/real asset niche knew a damn thing about bitcoin but everyone acted like it was a joke. My story of bitcoin opportunity lost has a larger message that must be taken to heart. Stop listening to the same source of information to make all of your financial decisions. You may think you are listening to a whole bunch of different podcasts but if the same guests keep popping up all the time then maybe you are just listening to the same ideas recirculating through a closed podcast circulation—sort of like an echo chamber. I don't want to be part of that. That's why I'm trying to get people on the show to explain to me why I'm wrong for believing what I believe. One of those beliefs that I have held for many years is the idea that I don't like commercial real estate. I don't like mini-malls, office space, or restaurants? I'm a multifamily guy for the most part. I want to invest in things people have to have…not what they want to have. So, today I invited a commercial real estate guy on the show who does exactly what I have said that I don't like to make his case for commercial real estate in 2019. Make sure to listen to this show—especially if you have the same bias as me.