Wealth Formula by Buck Joffrey

We talk about a lot of concepts on Wealth Formula Podcast related to personal finance and sometimes it can be overwhelming: especially for the newbies in our community. So let me summarize the basics.  First, make sure you are protecting your family against the economic fall out of unexpected death. Estate planning, including life insurance, is critical. I am a firm advocate of cash value life insurance such as Wealth Formula Banking to also allow your defensive moves like insurance to help you amplify your wealth. Next you need asset protection. You don’t want to be a lawsuit or creditor away from bankruptcy. Cover your assets as they say. Get in touch with someone like my attorney, Doug Lodmell, sooner rather than later. Finally, the Wealth Formula ethos is to invest in real assets that not only make you money but also mitigate your tax burden. In my humble opinion, the ideal investment for this purpose is to invest in apartment buildings. I have searched high and low for investments that offer comparable yield with the same risk/benefit profile as investing in value-add working class apartment buildings in fast growing markets. I can’t find anything that comes even close. Even real estate development doesn’t really make sense to me right now. The yields are no better than what I’m getting on value-add apartment buildings with a fraction of the risk. We have also seen the resilience of apartment building investments in the hands of competent operators. Pandemics, deep recessions, and eviction moratoriums aside, we have fared quite well and investors are seeing that first hand. And now, we are out of immediate danger and the economy is growing at an incredible rate. Fiscal and monetary policy combined with pent-up demand for goods and services is creating an economic boom that, in my opinion, will be the second coming of the roaring 20s.  I believe we are just at the beginning of one of the best times to make money in decades. I also believe that people who invest as much money now into real estate will be very happy in a few years if those properties are improved and managed competently. Sitting on the sidelines is a guaranteed way to lose money. Why? Well, along with that real economic growth, we are also going to see some significant inflation. Your money in the bank is, therefore, guaranteed to lose value. If you are in our accredited investor club, you are going to start seeing our rate of acquisition pick up quite a bit for all of the reasons cited above. It’s GO TIME! To help you understand why that is, I interviewed Dave Steele, co-founder and principal of Western Wealth Capital. Dave has been in real estate for three decades and has been extraordinarily prescient in his forecasts. If you want to know why I think it’s “go time”, make sure to listen to this week’s episode of Wealth Formula Podcast! David is an entrepreneurial executive who has offered leading-edge investment opportunities to thousands of individual investors in both Canada and the United States. From 1997 to 2001, David was CEO of International Properties Group Ltd. (IPG), a TSX-listed real estate company that purchased apartment buildings and converted them to condominiums. While at IPG, David developed and operated a wealth management division, which helped thousands of individual investors acquire more than 85 projects and 7,000 properties throughout North America. Those investment properties continue to generate passive investment income today. David has been actively involved in the growth of the Entrepreneurs Organization (EO), a non-profit organization that now has over 7,500 members worldwide. From 1993 to 1994, David served as EO’s International President. David has a Bachelor of Commerce degree with a major in finance from the University of Calgary.

In recent years, I have made some pretty darn good bets that have made me a lot of money. Now I know you are thinking that I am referring to my investments. And you are correct. But I am not referring to financial investments.  The investments that have made me the most money over the past few years are investments into relationships. One superpower that I have been blessed with is the ability to read people—what might be best characterized as “Spidey Sense”. I am, of course, referring to Peter Parker and his web-slinging alter-ego’s ability to sense imminent danger. By the way, I must give Wealth Formula Network member, Ian Kurth, credit for giving my superpower this name. As ridiculous as it may sound, I credit it for staying out of a lot bad deals and away from the many charlatans out there in the investment world. Don’t get me wrong, early in my investment career I got burned too. In retrospect though, the signs were always there. If I had harnessed my senses better, I could have probably avoided those mistakes. To be clear, there is always risk in investing. There’s always a chance you are going to lose money. I’m ok with that. As long as you win a lot more than you lose, you are going to do just fine. Believe me. The way you mitigate the losses, however, is to align yourself with competent individuals with high integrity. Know, like and trust are requirements for me when it comes to partnering or investing with anyone. However, they also have to be damn good at what they do. That’s why the saying “your net worth is equal to your network” is so true.  Having relationships with people who you trust and who are incredibly smart and good at what they do is absolute gold. For me that includes guys like Dave Steele, Tim McLeary and Dante Andrade. It also includes one of my favorite entrepreneurs and one of the smartest guys I know, Jorge Newberry. I can honestly say that whenever I have a problem, Jorge is one of the first guys I call. He knows his stuff and he’s always got great wisdom to share. This week on Wealth Formula Podcast, Jorge updates us on the area that he knows best—the single family residential market. And…well, he sees some trouble on this horizon. Make sure to listen to why! Jorge P. Newbery Is On A Mission To Help Americans Crushed By Unaffordable Debts. He is CEO and Chairman of AHP Servicing LLC and American Homeowner Preservation LLC, which crowdfund the purchase of nonperforming mortgages from banks at big discounts, then share the discounts with struggling homeowners. He is also Founder and CEO of Debt Cleanse Group Legal Services, a nationwide legal plan to help consumers and small businesses get out of debt. He is also a non-attorney Partner in Activist Legal LLP, a law firm in Washington, D.C.; Founder and CEO of preREO, an online marketplace for lenders offering defaulted first mortgages secured by vacant- and tenant-occupied properties to local investors; and a Board Member of the Group Legal Services Association, which is committed to advancing access to quality legal services through legal service plans and industry collaboration. A 2004 natural disaster triggered the financial collapse of Newbery’s former business, leaving him with $26 million in debts he could not pay. Newbery rebuilt himself through AHP, sharing what he learned from his challenges to help families at risk of foreclosure stay in their homes. In 2018, he founded Debt Cleanse Group Legal Services to assist consumers and small business owners resolve all types of unaffordable debts. He authored Burn Zones: Playing Life’s Bad Hands; Debt Cleanse: How To Settle Your Unaffordable Debts For Pennies On The Dollar (And Not Pay Some At All); and Stories of the Indebted. Shownotes: Jorge talks about how Covid affected the housing market Is there a difference in terms of what happens with the housing markets at the high end versus the middle and lower end? Jorge talks about how an upcoming crisis happening in the mortgage space will affect rentals and apartment buildings What is AHP Servicing?

I remember when I got out of surgical training and started my new life as an adult (at 33 years old), I was terrified by anything related to audits or legal issues. Any time I got a letter from the IRS about anything, I broke out into cold sweats. Every time I got a letter from an attorney I would do the same—-even though most of those letters were actually advertisements. Now, 47 years old and owner of multiple businesses and complicated financials, I don’t have visceral reactions to any of this stuff anymore. Why? Well, when it comes to taxes, I would venture to say that any business owner making a lot of money will likely get audited eventually. After all, what is an audit? An audit is an inspection. If you aren’t doing anything wrong, then what are you worried about? I’ve been through three tax audits now.  In all cases, I did nothing wrong. I broke no laws. The audits mostly focussed on documentation. In some cases, the documentation was not done as well as it could have and that’s what the auditor wanted to focus on. In my experience, the tax audit process is just a negotiation. If you get audited, they are going to find SOMETHING no matter how ridiculous it may seem. Then you come to some kind of settlement. The legal system in general works on these principles. That’s why I don’t really fear frivolous lawsuits anymore. Very rarely do things go to court. The dirty little secret is that whoever has the most money usually wins disputes simply by draining the opposition of financial resources that cover legal fees. Once you realize that complexity of the real world, it’s much easier to sleep at night with audits and legal issues. One more point. If you have good asset protection, that’s another reason not to worry about frivolous lawsuits or even legitimate personal liability. Talk to my attorney friend Doug Lodmell about that one. But getting back to taxes, I want to emphasize that most of the tax code is gray and you need to have a quality tax professional on your side rather than a robot who just keeps telling you why “you can’t do that”. As you know, my CPA is Tom Wheelwright and I highly recommend you consider someone on Tom’s Wealthability team. However, it’s really good to get different perspectives as well. That’s why this week’s interview with tax attorney, Stephen Moskowitz was really eye opening for me. If you make a lot of money and worry about taxes and audits, you are not going to want to miss this episode of Wealth Formula Podcast! Steve Moskowitz knows that clients’ lives – and livelihoods – can be upended or even destroyed when tax trouble arises. As a tax attorney for more than 30 years, Steve has made it is his personal mission to help business owners and individual clients successfully resolve tax issues and go on with their lives. With extensive knowledge of tax law, a desire for swift and vigorous defense, and decades of experience with tax authorities and in the courts, he has unusually perceptive judgment in assessing the best way forward, and the right resources to achieve resolution. Steve started Moskowitz LLP because he saw that while big corporations were consistently navigating the tax code to their advantage, smaller businesses and individuals were not. With prior experience as a CPA at a national accounting firm, and with extensive experience in the corporate world, Steve knew he could help smaller businesses and individuals by applying what he knew, and wanted to make the critical difference in businesses and individual lives that protected them from the powerful government and enabled them to keep and enjoy the fruits of a lifetime of work that otherwise could be taken away from clients by the government in just one action. Today – together with a full team of tax attorneys, CPAs, enrolled agents and other professional staff – Moskowitz LLP helps business and individual clients across the country and overseas to resolve a wide variety of tax matters. The Moskowitz LLP team also creates strategies to utilize the tax code and relevant treaties to clients’ benefit, and provides ongoing tax support and tax return preparation. Steve understands that clients need high quality representation but do not have unlimited budgets, and that cost predictability is important. Unlike most firms, Moskowitz LLP clients pay a flat fee and are not subject to hourly rates. Shownotes Cost Segregation Analysis Should you be scared of audits? What is the difference between being represented by a CPA and being represented by a tax attorney? What is the discriminate income function?

One of the secrets to my own success as an investor has been to involve myself into a variety of tribes. What I mean by that is that I am around other intelligent, successful people who have a wealth of experience collectively as investors. For me, that has resulted in introductions to people with whom I have partnered over the years and who have made me money. It is important not to underestimate the power of collective intelligence. In saying that, I must make the distinction between collective intelligence and heard mentality. Herd mentality bias refers to the tendency of investors to follow what others are doing rather than by their own analysis. I differentiate that with collective intelligence where a group of individuals independently analyzes opportunities and vets them together. In other words, it involves having intelligent conversations with one another and coming to collective conclusions that might be more accurate than any individual one. A good example of this kind of tribe is our own Wealth Formula Network. This is our private community where we interact over Facebook and also do biweekly Zoom video calls. I think about personal finance a lot in case you haven’t noticed. But I am not arrogant enough to think I know everything and I am also very open to changing my mind if people can convince me with good data. In that regard, Wealth Formula Network has been at least as valuable for me as anyone else in our group. On a more practical level, investment groups can sometimes allow you to participate in private offerings to which you might not otherwise have access. That’s been a huge advantage for me I must say. Finally, investment “tribes” can actually make it possible for you to invest in more opportunities with limited resources. For example, you might be interested in opportunities for which minimum investments are $100K.  If you want to invest in 7-8 opportunities in a year that’s quite a bit of money. However, using the tribe model, my guest on Wealth Formula Podcast this week has figured out an ingenious way for you to participate with less money yet maintain the broad investment exposure you want. If you want to invest in more opportunities than you have money, you won’t want to miss today’s show with Tribevest founder, Travis Smith! P.S. If you decide to sign up for Travis’ service with your tribe, go to TribeVest.com/wf and he will give you $50 to start. Use the code “BUCK50” Tribevest CEO, Travis Smith, dreamed out loud about building generational wealth and forever altering our family’s financial trajectory. However, he’d never been introduced to ways of private investing, and wealth-building seemed out of reach. Travis and his brothers realized that they could overcome our lack of experience and know-how if we worked together. But they had to confront the more obvious and immediate barrier — we lacked the capital required to break into wealth-building, freedom investments. By forming and funding an Investor Tribe, they unlocked a new future and the secrets of the wealthy. Shownotes: The primary use of Tribevest What is the advantage of using Tribevest? The growth of Tribevest in the past 2 years How do you start your own Tribe? TribeVest.com/wf and use the code “BUCK50”

Lots more questions to answer on this week’s “Ask Buck”! This episode includes questions on life settlements, Wealth Formula Banking, passive income, asset protection, and more. Listen HERE!

This week’s episode features a discussion with Ian Kurth—radiologist and highly sophisticated investor. Ian is a member of Wealth Formula Network and one of its major assets.    He is doing exactly what, in my opinion, every high-paid professional ought to be doing. He has really transformed himself into a sophisticated investor and thought leader on personal finance for our demographic.   The current discussion is inspired by a 90-minute Wealth Formula Network call around how to think about bitcoin and cryptocurrencies.   It’s important to note that just a couple of years ago, Ian was a bitcoin skeptic. So you are going to want to understand how he has transformed into a very pro-bitcoin investor despite his conservative nature! Listen HERE!     P.S. Ian has also compiled a list of resources that he has found helpful in his journey to becoming crypto-competent. He has kindly permitted me to share them below:   Podcasts https://www.theinvestorspodcast.com/bitcoin-fundamentals/page/2/ – Recommend starting with – (#1, #3, & #5 first – links below) #1 – https://www.theinvestorspodcast.com/bitcoin-fundamentals/bitcoin-common-misconceptions-w-robert-breedlove/  #3 – https://www.theinvestorspodcast.com/bitcoin-fundamentals/bitcoin-a-deflationary-world-w-jeff-booth/  #5 – https://www.theinvestorspodcast.com/bitcoin-fundamentals/bitcoin-michael-saylor-a-masterclass-in-economic-calculation/  This is an outstanding 9 podcast series. Muscle through the sometimes amateur audio production quality. Michael Saylor is a visionary, who has overqualified background experience. – The “What is Money?” Show The Ultimate Bitcoin 101 with Vijay Boyapati What Bitcoin Did Tim Ferris Show – Balaji Srinivasan  Many, many more podcasts are available depending on which direction down the rabbit hole you choose. YouTube BTC vs. Gold debate “The Best Bitcoin Debate Ever Recorded (Anthony Pompliano vs. Mike Green)” Michael Saylor – CNBC Ross Stevens (NYDIG) Articles The Bullish Case for Bitcoin The Case Against Bitcoin Why Bitcoin, The Series Norwegian Billionaire Investor Letter on Bitcoin Investment Illuminating the Path Forward – NYDIG Books The Bitcoin Standard: The Decentralized Alternative to Central Banking Inventing Bitcoin: The Technology Behind the First Truly Scarce and Decentralized Money Explained – Here is a referral code to download this book free: https://www.swanbitcoin.com/Kurthian?gc=yanbook1020&utm_campaign=yanbook1020  Bitcoin: Hard Money You Can’t F*ck With: Why bitcoin will be the next global reserve currency Websites Case Bitcoin. Lots of solid info/compilations of  news/articles/pricing https://www.lopp.net/bitcoin-information.html http://billybitco.in/ https://www.keepitsimplebitcoin.com/bitcoin-security-guide/  Graphs https://wtfhappenedin1971.com/  https://www.lookintobitcoin.com/charts/stock-to-flow-model/  https://dcabtc.com/  Corporate custodianship and legal issues Microstrategy Corporate adoption conference Twitter  Raoul Pal Preston Pysh Lyn Alden Plan B Willy Woo Robert Breedlove Greg Foss Buying Crypto If you decide to buy on a crypto exchange, I recommend coinbase PRO b/c it has the cheapest transaction fees. (https://www.coinbase.com/join/kurth_6) If you want to do daily buys at a cheaper trx fee, and then auto send to a cold storage device, I use Swan Bitcoin. I like to dollar cost average on a daily basis. https://www.swanbitcoin.com/Kurthian  If you’d like to earn % interest on your bitcoin, you can explore BlockFI. You get some money for signing up. For other digital assets that are not on Coinbase Pro, I use Crypto.com. Use code 2grceqsvjv for $25. Voyager is decent for more exotic coins. https://www.bitwiseinvestments.com/ is a good private equity index type option that I have used since 2017. From a brokerage account, GBTC and ETHE are reasonable bitcoin proxy investments, particularly in qualified retirement accounts. Dr Ian Kurth is the poster child of successful high paid professionals taking ownership of their personal financial situation. He is a neuroradiologist and he is also a member of our private community Wealth Formula Network. He’s an active participant there and in Investor Club and Physicians Wealth Formula. LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ian-kurth-19836569/

It’s time for another round of “Ask Buck”. This week’s episode includes questions on Wealth Formula Banking, cryptocurrency, taxes and multifamily real estate investments. Listen HERE!

If you have been ignoring distributed ledger technology, you will regret it if you don’t start paying attention. I understand why people get suspicious of the space. The cryptocurrency ecosystem is full of scammers and hype. Talk of “lambos” and “mooning” can hardly be taken seriously by sophisticated investors. But amidst the din, lies technology that will fundamentally transform the world. I see the current crypto market as very similar to what happened in the 90s with the dawn of the internet and related technology companies. Yes…most of the dotcoms went out of business. There was ridiculous hype and valuations of companies that had no revenue-generating product and certainly didn’t even come close to making money. And when the dotcom crash came, the skeptics all said, “I told you so”. Indeed, they were right about the hysteria. But if they ignored the technology completely, they also missed out on early investments into companies that would eventually become the largest companies in the world. Recovering from the ashes of the dotcom debacle were companies like Amazon, Google, and Apple to name a few. The dotcom period of the 90s was, therefore, hardly a failure. Cryptocurrency skeptics look at the current technology craze the same way. However, just like in the dotcom era, there will be some big winners that come out of the frenzy and will become household names. Don’t you want a chance to be part of that?… to go back in time and invest in companies like Amazon and Google in their infancy? If so, you have to change your perspective on what’s happening now. Try to weed through the useless stuff like dogecoin and start looking at these projects like you would look at any other project in which you might invest. Learn, at a high level, what this whole distributed world is all about and why it’s such a big deal. Then learn about individual projects. Look at them like you would any other investment. Who are the developers? What is their mission? What do they aim to do and what have they already done? Cryptocurrency is not going away. Bitcoin is here to stay and will become a globally recognized commodity like gold someday.  And while most other projects will die, others will become the fabric of a new decentralized world. As an investor, opportunities like these to be part of the new evolving economy don’t happen very often and may never happen again in our lifetime. I recognize that and, while I have no idea who the winners and losers will be, I can tell you that Hedera (Hashgraph) is my personal pick for a company that will become a household name over the next few years. And, full disclaimer, its native token HBAR, is by far and away my biggest cryptocurrency bag. In this episode of Wealth Formula Podcast, you will learn why I’m so bullish on Hedera as I welcome back co-founder and CEO Mance Harmon to the show. Don’t miss it! Mance Harmon is an experienced technology executive and entrepreneur with more than 20 years of strategic leadership experience in multi-national corporations, government agencies, and high-tech startups, and is Co-founder and CEO of Hedera. His prior experience includes serving as the Head of Architecture and Labs at Ping Identity, Founder and CEO of two tech startups, the senior executive for product security at a $1.7B revenue organization, Program Manager for a very-large scale software program for the Missile Defense Agency, the Course Director for Cybersecurity at the US Air Force Academy, and research scientist in Machine Learning at Wright Laboratory. Mance received a MS in Computer Science from the University of Massachusetts and a BS in Computer Science from Mississippi State University.

It’s time for our next series of “Ask Buck” episodes. These shows have become extremely popular over the years and, if you are new to the Wealth Formula community, are particularly useful to “catch up” on recurring themes in our world. Tune in now for the first “Ask Buck” episode of Q2!

I’m always fascinated by stories of entrepreneurs showing early signs of interest in the world of business as children. Warren Buffett was apparently inspired by a book he checked out from the Omaha library at the age of seven called: One Thousand Ways to Make $1000. He went on to pursue several childhood business ventures such as selling gum and Coca-Cola bottles and, of course, the rest is history. Stories like these attached to big-name entrepreneurs are fun to think about. And I certainly see some of my children’s friends with unusual enthusiasm for making money at a young age. I can’t wait to see what they do in the years ahead. However, my experience as an entrepreneur amongst entrepreneurs is that most of the time, the narrative doesn’t quite go that way for entrepreneurs. What I have noticed is that most entrepreneurs stumbled their way into the world of business and surprised everyone around them, including themselves. I identify as an entrepreneur who happens to be a doctor. If someone looked at my childhood trajectory, I don’t think they would guess that I would end up doing what I did. For one, I was a good student who fit well into the professional tract. The only question that someone might have had about me during high school or college is whether I would end up in law school, business school, or medical school like I actually did. The idea of entrepreneurship never crossed my mind. I was trying to figure out what kind of job that I wanted. It wasn’t until accidentally stumbling upon Robert Kiyosaki’s Cash Flow Quadrant that the idea of entrepreneurship ever crossed my mind. And boy did it…like a bolt of lightning. And while I don’t agree with everything Robert says, I do owe him a debt of gratitude that, apart from my parents who brought me into this world, I owe no one. Now once you are in the entrepreneurial mindset, you can see opportunities everywhere. Not surprisingly, therefore, most entrepreneurs do what I did. They learn a business from somewhere that they are working and have that moment of clarity when they think to themselves: “I don’t have to work for this guy. I’m doing all the work. I can make more money on my own” This, I guarantee you, is the number one on-ramp to entrepreneurship.  Now, the interesting thing is that the type of business an individual typically pursues is often dumb luck. Let me give you a couple of examples to illustrate my point. One of my buddies has a tile company that supplies a bunch of major retailers like home depot. He does pretty well for himself. He makes a half million dollars a year and lives comfortably in a great place to live. This is a big deal considering the fact that he came from nothing. His story? Well, you guessed it. He worked for a tile guy who gave him all the responsibility while he played golf. My friend learned the business and started his own shop. Now another guy I know had a similar story. Except in his case, his job involved energy arbitrage. The company he worked for bought energy from countries where costs were less and sold it to countries where it was more expensive. Of course, that brokering came with a nice little commission on the trade—meaning millions of dollars per transaction. Well, one day this guy looked at his coworker and said, “You know, we could do this by ourselves.”. And that’s how he ended an entrepreneur. However, lucky for him, his job gave him the inside knowledge to execute a business that was quite a bit more lucrative than tiles or medicine. He didn’t work harder than the rest of us and I don’t think he was any smarter. He was just in the right place at the right time with the right mindset.  When I think about these guys and myself, I can’t help but think how random fortunes can be. I also think to myself whether there is a way to systematize this seemingly arbitrary reality of fate so that we can better guide our children. Based on what I’ve seen, the advice I have for any young person looking to find their way or their jackpot is to get as much exposure to life as possible. College teaches you some things, but it might be best as a resource for the people you meet. College graduates should look at their first few jobs after school as paid education. Furthermore, they should be quick to find other employment once they learn the skills available at that position. Not everyone aspires to be filthy rich, but anyone who has an interest in entrepreneurship should make sure that the business that they are going to rip off and make their own be lucrative. After all, working hard has very little correlation with being rich. I have three little girls-the oldest is only 12. Given my own interest in entrepreneurship and investing, people often ask me what I’m doing to provide them a financial education. Sure, we talk about money once in a while. I explain taxes to them by taking away half their ice cream..that kind of thing. But I think the best thing I can do for them right now is to simply encourage them to learn as much about different things as possible.  After all, whether it’s solving a problem and turning into a business as most entrepreneurs do or finding the best investments, it all comes down to having exposure to as many possibilities as possible. Speaking of children, this week’s episode of Wealth Formula Podcast will be a little bit different. In the spirit of trying to figure out how to educate our own children, I interview an 18 year old self-proclaimed entrepreneur and investor. If you have you have kids, make sure to tune in. It may give you some ideas of how to approach your own duty as a parent to guide your children’s financial literacy. Jack Rosenthal is a 18 year-old entrepreneur and investor. He is the founder of one of the largest teen-only investment organizations in the world with close to 100 members and over $115,000 in assets. He has been featured in several news and television programs. Shownotes: How Jack became an entrepreneur and investor How do parents get their kids interested in financial education? What kinds of online education does Jack use to educate himself? Jack’s personal investing philosophy. Books: Teen Investing and Teen Entrepreneurship