He’s gone and done it now. Joe Biden is officially targeting your IRA and 401(k). If you value your retirement savings, you need to listen right now. I’m Bryan Ellis. This is Episode #327 of Self-Directed Investor Talk.----Hello, Self-Directed Investor Nation, all across the fruited plane! Welcome to the SHOW OF RECORD for savvy self-directed investors just like you.Joe Biden, Democrat candidate for President of the United States, has tried to slip in a doozy of a tax policy change that, frankly, will hit me and you right in the pocketbook… and he’s trying to make sure that nobody knows about it by not bringing any attention to it.But this has not escaped the watchful eye of the team here at Self-Directed Investor Talk.On today’s page, which being that this is episode #327, that page is, of course, SDITalk.com/327… On that page, I’ll link to the sources from which this data comes so you can judge it for yourself.But here’s the bottom line: If you elect Joe Biden as president, your IRA and 401(k) tax benefits are going to be slashed. Period.The specifics of the policy are not yet well described by the Biden campaign, because I suspect they’re trying to avoid the absolute CRAPSTORM that will result whenever the public gets wind of this. But it’s such a clear and obvious negative that, well… I’ll just read a quote to you from RollCall.com that has some good coverage of this issue. The quote is:The former vice president’s "drastic" proposal, in the words of one industry lobbyist, would upend existing tax preferences for retirement saving in 401(k)-style plans. The Investment Company Institute, which represents mutual funds, exchange-traded funds and other investment vehicles in the U.S. and abroad, has already promised opposition.So, my friends, it looks something like this:Under the current system - which has worked beautifully for decades - when you contribute money to a traditional IRA or 401(k), you get to deduct that contribution against your taxable income.And old creepy Joe… it will work the same way under his system. But with one “little” caveat.Joe will still let you take a deduction for your contribution. But he’s going to limit the amount of that deduction to some as yet underdetermined top rate… probably 26% according to current expectations.So that means that, for those of you higher income earners - of which there are many in the SDI Talk audience - and whose marginal tax rate is not a mere 26% but is 32% or 37% or even higher…Well… you’re just out of luck. Sure, you can still make the contributions… only your tax benefits will be puny under Joe Biden versus how every other President - Democrat and Republican - has handled things in the past.But that’s not the worst of it, my friends. What happens whenever Washington begins to limit a tax benefit? The answer is always the same: They limit it EVEN MORE in the future.So mark my word: If you elect Joe Biden and let him begin to slash your tax benefits on your IRA or 401(k) now… it’s just a matter of time… a matter of VERY LITTLE TIME… before somebody decides that even Joe didn’t slash your tax benefits enough…...and soon enough, the tax advantage to your IRA and 401(k) is gone.But you have a choice. You can make sure that doesn’t happen. If you’re made the connection that voting for anybody but Joe Biden could be a wise decision, you’ve reached a wise deduction indeed.Oh… and a quick note… the latest edition of Self-Directed Investor Magazine is now out, and it’s a SPECTACULAR edition, if I do say so myself. If you’d like a complimentary copy, just send a text message to my office to request it and we’ll take care of you. The phone number is 678-888-4000…. Again 678-888-4000.My friends… Invest wisely today and live well forever! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

It seems pretty clear that ONE of the two Presidential candidates absolutely opposes everything you and I stand for as self-directed investors. I'm Bryan Ellis. Right now in Episode #326 of Self-Directed Investor Talk, I give you the proof...---Hello, Self-Directed Investors, all across the fruited plane. Welcome to the show of record for savvy self-directed investors like you, where in each episode, I help you to find, understand and profit from exceptional alternative investment opportunities.It is the season for Presidential Politics... and you know, of course, that means I'll poke my head out of the shadows and begin to share with you the harsh realities of politics as it relates to my plight and yours as self-directed investors.You and I, we think alike. We're looking for opportunity. We're looking for a way to apply that most valuable asset of them all… our minds… to fortify our financial positions for the benefit of ourselves, our families, future generations and to help the causes that matter most to us.Yesterday, Motley Fool published a list of 12 tax law changes that one of the Presidential candidates is pushing in his bid to serve in the highest office in the land for the next four years. I’ll link to it on today’s page, at SDITalk.com/326 so you can check it out yourself.Now I won’t even sully the conversation by saying WHICH candidate – obviously there’s only Trump and Biden – but I won’t shift this to being about those men. Let’s just look at the policies and how they’ll impact you and me as builders of wealth.Policy Shift #1: An increase in the corporate tax rate from 21% to 28%. That’s an obvious negative… rising corporate tax rates are ALWAYS – I repeat ALWAYS – passed on to consumers. I could say more, but I suspect it’s unnecessary, so let’s look at...Policy Shift #2: A minimum tax on corporate income. Basically the idea here is this: If a company complies with the tax law in such a way that even the U.S. Treasury is unable to fault their tax planning, and as a result that company does not have to pay income taxes, this policy would mean that that company must pay taxes ANYWAY. Basically, this is a tax on good planning.They’re targeting this one at Amazon and some others that have been astoundingly good at using the tax law to their benefit. But hey, remember: This means that all of those Amazon packages WILL be more expensive in the future… no doubt about it. More expenses for the providers means more cost to the consumers.But surely… SURELY… the remainder of these new policies won’t so directly target – and thus discourage – productive members of society… right?Wrong-o. Whether it’s policy #5 that increases marginal income tax rates for higher earners, or policy #6 that raising the payroll tax on high earners or raising capital gains taxes on… you guessed it… high earners…Well, it almost sounds like the particular Presidential candidate who is pushing for all of these changes really doesn’t like high earners or successful companies very much, does he?And don’t forget… if building a FINANCIAL LEGACY is important to you, then the STEPPED UP basis changes – that’s policy #8 – will matter to you. This is a way of making sure that a horrible tax burden is transferred to your beneficiaries when they receive your assets in the future. Right now, that does not happen… but it would under this proposed tax policy.All that isn’t even to mention the slashing of tax deductions for both personal incomes – that’s policy # 9 – or phasing out small business deductions if you happen to be a successful small business owner, which is policy #10.If you hear a common theme here, it’s because there is one. The candidate who wants these policies to be law – none other than the basement baron himself, Joe Biden – wants, quite fervently, to punish your success.In other words, if it’s your objective to minimize your taxes, creepy Joe wants to MAXIMIZE them.If it’s your objective to build a small business, creepy Joe wants to make sure your tax bill stands in the WAY of your doing so.If you want to build a basis of financial assets for the benefit of future generations, creepy Joe wants to make sure that when those future generations receive your assets, that they’re forced to sell off those assets to pay their tax bill.My friends, a vote for Joe Biden is a vote against yourself. It’s that simple. Don’t vote against yourself.My friends… invest wisely today and live well forever. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

CoronaVirus has created more abject terror than anything I’ve ever seen. If we’re to believe Warren Buffett, then wise investors are to be “greedy when others are fearful”. So how, exactly, can you be wisely greedy right now? I’m Bryan Ellis. I’ll tell you RIGHT NOW in Episode #325 of Self-Directed Investor Talk.---The world changed radically a few weeks ago. Free countries went on total lockdown. The hottest commodites in the world became hand sanitizer, toilet paper and medical masks. And the stock market went on a volatility spree never seen before or since.And yet, the whole time, savvy investors kept hearing the famous words of Warren Buffet echoing in their minds: "Be fearful when everyone else is greedy, and greedy when everyone else is fearful."The question, my friends, is how to be very wisely greedy during a time when the prevailing emotion all around us is, without any doubt, not mere fear... but abject terror.The one clear answer - well supported by history and the leadership of current experts - is to invest in well-vetted, well-operated RV Parks.Now, in case you're not a user or owner of RV's yourself, I understand. I'm not either. Just in case you don’t know, RV stands for “Recreational Vehicle”… the big rolling hotel rooms like Winebagos.But whether that’s “your thing” doesn't matter. Kind of like you don’t need to live in an apartment in order to justify investing in a great apartment complex.So I’m going to make a very quick, but rather overwhelming, case to you right now that RIGHT NOW, in the height of this epidemic of terror and infection, that RIGHT NOW is the right time to jump into RV parks.And as always, I don't expect you to take my word for it. In fact, I insist that you don't take my word for it... that's because history makes this case for me in such a compelling, unquestionable way.Before CoronaVirus, the pinnacle example of economic downturn during most of our lifetimes was the Great Recession of 2007 & 2008... if any economic event was going to doom an industry where "recreation" is the literally first word in the name, the Great Recession would have been that phenomemon. But what actually happened?Well... not much. As the economy of the United States slowed and weakened with each passing week, the data shows us that average length of stays at RV parks got LONGER. Not shorter… LONGER.And I take this from a deeply authoritative source. It’s a report called “Effects of COVID-19 on the Campground Industry”. It’s written by American Property Analysts – the absolute leading valuation experts in America for the RV Park and campground industry. This report was written last week, at the request of and for the benefit of the banking industry. As the economic carnage began to mount from the CoronaVirus scare, banks who finance RV parks wanted to know where their exposure stood in connection with COVID-19, and of course, they hired the most knowledgeable experts in that field at American Property Analysts, Inc.And according to that report, when looking at the Great Recession, it’s all summed up in this quote: "What campers did not do was discontinue using their RV's." That report goes on to say that "In most locales, demand exceeded available supply" and that "attendance held fairly steady".Now remember... the setting here is the aftermath of the Great Recession, when our country suffered the worst economic contraction since the Great Depression. It was a time when, according to the respected California-based newspaper called the Orange County Register, nearly 9 MILLION jobs were lost... 4 million homes were foreclosed EACH YEAR... and 2.5 million businesses were shuttered.It was the worst of times for the American economy.But what happened in the RV park industry? Well, I remind you: "attendance held fairly steady" and "in most locales, demand exceeded available supply."But it's better than that still: To further quote the American Property Analysts report, "Waiting lists for seasonal sites popped up nearly everywhere, and many of those lists remain in place today at the more desirable properties. Some folks even paid non-refundable fees just to be on certain lists, and some of those campers are just now nearing the front of their lines."If you understood me to say that the backlog of demand created during the LAST recession still exists to this day, you understand me correctly. I can't imagine how much demand and backlog the economic fallout of the CoronaVirus pandemic will create for the RV park industry... but history suggests it will be HUGE.Am I suggesting to you that every RV park in America did a booming business during the Great Recession? No. Not at all. There will always be the superstars and the laggards, and doubtlessly that's true here as well.But what I am telling you... scratch that... what the historical data cited by the American Property Analysts report is telling you is that, overall, RV parks as an industry hardly - if at all - noticed that a recession happened at all.And my friends, history is repeating itself right now. And if you think about it, it makes complete sense for at least 3 strong reasons:Reason #1: One of the immediate results of the national shutdown from CoronaVirus was the closing of National Parks. Now that's an awful thing because I, for one, realy love and frequently visit the parks in my area. But as owners of RV Parks, we aren't sad to see it. Why? National parks are one of our biggest sources of competition. Right now, that competition is completely GONE... Kaput... poof. It'll return someday, but for now, it's GONE.Reason #2: The totally justified concern over the risk of infections connected with hotels, cruise ships and other recreational destinations likely will drive growth in the RV industry, as one's RV is a completely private space, not subject to the risk of exposure from third parties.and Reason #3:  I'm happy to report to you that our EXPERIENCE is matching the THEORY I've shared with you, because presently, we've seen exactly ZERO cancellations at any of the RV parks that we already own... and there has DEFINITELY been an uptick in interest since CoronaVirus was declared a pandemic and the nation was put on lockdown.My friends, I return again to Buffett's famous advice: Be fearful when others are greedy, and greedy when others are fearful. Now here’s what you might not know about RV parks: Even average ones can be incredibly profitable. Imagine if you had all of the benefits of owning a great apartment complex, but your cash flow was more like a mobile home park. Well, it’s like that, only better. Well-vetted, well-operated RV parks don't merely compare favorably to other real estate asset classes, RV Parks dramatically outshine them and the data makes that overwhelmingly clear.So where does that leave you? If you're savvy enough to take seriously the advice of Warren Buffet, the man widely considered to be the greatest investor of our lifetimes, then the only reasonable conclusion you can draw is this: These are times of great fear... and that's your signal to be wisely greedy. And there's no better asset class - as proven by history - for that wise greed he recommends than RV Parks.The time is now.Thank you for listening in today. Every now and again, we encounter exceptional RV park investment opportunities. Best for well-qualified investors, these opportunities always fill rather quickly as only a small number of openings for outside investor partners are made available. If you'd like to be considered for participation in the next such project, please send an email now to feedback@sditalk.com, that’s feedback@sditalk.com., `to set an appointment to speak with me or a member of the team. Happy investing! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

There’s an asset class that affluent investors REALLY love… extraordinary cash flow is the norm and the tax benefits are the best around. But there’s a HUGE LANDMINE just waiting for affluent investors who try this in their self-directed retirement account. I’m Bryan Ellis. Today, you affluent investors learn how to sidestep certain disaster in Episode #324 of Self-Directed Investor Talk.-------Hello, Self-Directed Investors, all across the fruited plane. Welcome to the show of record for savvy self-directed investors like you, where in each episode, I help you to find, understand and profit from exceptional alternative investment opportunities.For you folks with a bit higher net worth, you need to pay close attention today.So for those of you who may not yet quite be in the high net worth world, something you should know about your wealthier brethren is that one of the most popular asset classes among them is one I’ve mentioned here before, but only very briefly… and that is oil well drilling.It makes perfect sense because the cash flow beats the heck out of basically everything else, and the tax benefits makes real estate and other supposedly tax efficient investments look like child’s play. Yes, the risk is theoretically higher, and that’s why this is the domain primarily of accredited investors.But to set up this dilemma, and the brilliant solution for it, let’s consider a scenario, with real numbers.  So here’s the deal.This investor… we’ll call her Tara… has decided to invest in an oil drilling deal. It looks like a pretty good one, I’m actually quite familiar with it… she’s got to invest $150,000 to buy into the deal, and based on the preliminary geological research, the expectation is that she’s going to bring in something on the order of $12 to $13,000 per month or so, based on current oil prices.Now if you’re doing the math, you know that $12,000 per month equals $144,000 per year, which is shockingly close to being a 100% cash-on-cash return. Well, that’s one of the reason high net worth investors love this stuff… the cash-on-cash numbers are just breathtaking, enough so that the additional risk is quite regularly totally worth taking.So that’s great, right? Tara makes this investment, and assuming it works like expected, then she yields a MASSIVE cash-on-cash return for 5-7 years until the oil well runs out… and then she’ll likely do it again, if she’s like most high net worth investors I’ve worked with.And to make it better, she’s doing this in her Roth IRA… so all of that juicy ROI is totally tax free! Right? Right? Isn’t it tax-free?Well… no.Here, my friends, we consider an important distinction between the two types of income: Earned and Unearned. Earned income is just what it sounds like… money you earn from a W2 job or a 1099 contracting position or something like that. You work, you get paid. That’s earned income.Unearned income, on the other hand, is profit from investments… it’s a more passive type of thing So if you buy stocks and they rise in value or pay dividends, that’s unearned income. If you buy real estate and it appreciates and/or generates cash flow for you, that’s unearned income.  If you make a loan and are repaid for that loan, that’s unearned income.So here’s the thing: it’s widely believed that IRA’s and 401(k)’s – particularly the Roth variety – are just not taxable. Unfortunately, that’s not true. It’s almost ENTIRELY true that any UNEARNED income – the kind from stocks and real estate and loans, for example – pretty much all of that will be tax-favored inside of a retirement account and that’s great!But this is where we return to Tara’s oil & gas deal. Yes, she’s going to make a lot of income from that deal. But there’s a catch. Federal tax law makes it abundantly clear that under most circumstances, the income generated from drilling an oil well and selling that oil is NOT UNEARNED income, but is EARNED income.That means two things: First, that the money is taxable. And second, that the tax rate that’s relevant in that case is NOT personal income tax rates, but is the income tax rates for TRUSTS, since both IRA’s and 401k’s are, under the law, types of trusts.And that, my friends, is BAD news. You see, income tax rates for trusts are, for all intents and purposes, 37%. That’s astronomical. If Tara brings in $12,000 per month on average as expected, that equates to $144,000 per year. 37% of that is over $53,000… so her IRA would have to stroke a check for over $53,000 to pay income taxes. That would leave her with a net of nearly $91,000 per year which is still just off-the-chain exceptional… but still… that’s a BIG tax bite.What to do, what to do? Most of the time, investors do oil & gas deals OUTSIDE of a retirement account because the VERY BEST tax benefits in oil & gas don’t really apply to IRA’s and 401k’s. But in Tara’s case, that’s where she happens to have the available capital, and quite justifiably, she doesn’t want to miss this opportunity.So here’s what I recommended to her: Since we can’t eliminate those taxes, why don’t we just slash them dramatically? You may remember that one of the thing that President Trump’s signature tax bill did was to slash corporate tax rates to 21% as the maximum. So I suggested that Tara form a c-corporation inside her IRA, and capitalize it with $150,000 from the IRA. She could then buy the oil & gas interest with that money, inside the corporation. That money – we’ll just say $144,000 per year – will still be taxed, but not at 37%. It’ll only be taxed at 21%. Bottom line… she’ll pay about $23,000 PER YEAR less in tax this way!Over the course of 5 years, that’s a very real saving of over $100,000… just by using the subtle brilliance you learned right here on Self-Directed Investor Talk!Now before I sign off for the day, I’ll go ahead and answer the question I know is coming: Maybe. The answer is maybe. The question, of course, is something like: “Bryan, I just heard you talk about the crazy results people are getting from oil and gas deals… can you hook me up with some of those opportunities?” Well, the answer is MAYBE.There are some qualification requirements. So the best path to take is this: If you’re interested in learning more, just text me now at 678-888-4000 and I’ll be happy to have a team member talk this through with you. Again, just send a text to me at 678-888-4000 and we’ll chat about it right away.My friends… invest wisely today and live well forever! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Coronavirus, real estate investors and the stock market… or, how real estate investors are making absolute jackasses of themselves during a very bad time. I’m Bryan Ellis. This is Episode #323 of Self-Directed Investor Talk.-----------Hello, self-directed investors, all across the fruited plane. Welcome to the show of record for savvy self-directed investors like you where in each episode, I help you to find, understand and profit from exceptional alternative investment opportunities.Today, my friends, I share with you my expectations about the REALITY of the coronavirus and how I see it affecting our economy and more importantly my and your investments. But first, a quick word about a clear way to identify some people who, at their very core, are clearly complete jackasses.Now, note that this isn’t a test for ALL jackasses, just some of them. But here we go:You probably know that, due to Coronoavirus fears, the stock market has taken a MASSIVE dive in the last two weeks. The Dow Jones Industrial Average has fallen by over 15%... it’s been just absolutely brutal. I’ll tell you when that ends in just a minute, but that’s a different story.So back to identifying jackasses:  If you see a real estate investor post something on Faceobok or elsewhere that basically says: “Hey, all you stock market investors, you’re really taking it on the chin now, aren’t you? I’ll bet you wish you had gotten into real estate instead of stocks now!”When you see something like that, what you’re seeing is a jackass. Someone who is childish, pathetic and heartless. Such a person, regardless of whether they’re successful in real estate, deserves to be ostracized and ridiculed for their short-sighted and juvenile attitude.So to all the jackass people out there, remember: You’ll get yours. I don’t wish it on anybody, but nobody bats 1.000. Where financial market losses are concerned, your attitude should always be: There but for the grace of God go I.”Now, as for the Coronavirus, the stock market and the economy?Totally overblown. I see stocks beginning to recover today, frankly. Is it a serious thing? Yes… but almost entirely for psychological reasons… because the media has scared people so badly that there’s a lot of irrationality out there.Remember this: We all keep hearing that 2% of the people who get this disease die from it, compared to the flu, which kills only 0.1% of the people who get it.That would be disturbing, for sure. BUT there are 3 facts you should know.Fact #1: The actual mortality rate in China, according to a report from China published in the New England Journal of medicine 3 days ago, is much lower, at only 1.4%. That’s a significant difference.Fact #2: The mortality rate is almost certainly much lower than that because most of the cases of it are so mild that they are never caught or reported. That’s not my opinion… but the opinion of Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the U.S. National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases… the one guy who everybody agrees is THE authority on these matters here in the U.S.And finally, Fact #3: Whatever the mortality rate, that’s the mortality rate in CHINA… not in America. CHINA! That’s a country that literally is happy to execute their citizens as a matter of convenience… an evil regime that exists to protect the Xi Xinping and the Communist Party as it’s highest priority… a place where the health of the citizenry is the last thing they care about.So how you SHOULD think about this is as follow: Even in China, the death rate of coronavirus is, at worst, 1.4%. We don’t really know how many people are killed by the flu in China. I’ll bet it’s quite comparable.Does that mean Coronavirus isn’t serious? Nope. Be careful, of course. But what it does mean is that while it is highly contagious, it’s more likely to be a pain in the rear rather than an issue of fatality.As for the effect of Coronavirus on stocks?I think we saw the bottom on Friday. I wouldn’t bet the farm on it… but I’d be willing to bet a barn door or two.By the way… if you’re looking for an astoundingly powerful tax break that happens to be coupled with an investment offering a potentially exceptionally high yield… well, drop a note to me at bryan@sditalk.com and I’ll fill you in. This is crazy good stuff, folks.Well my friends, that’s all for now… invest wisely today, and live well forever! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

If for every dollar you put into improving one of your real estate assets, you could get that dollar back within 12 months… and then enjoy decades of free and clear cash flow… wouldn’t you do that?  Right now, I’ll show you not 1, but 2 ways to do that in my current favorite asset class. I’m Bryan Ellis. This is episode #322 of Self-Directed Investor Talk.----Hello, Self-Directed Investors, all across the fruited plane.  Welcome to Episode #322 of Self-Directed Investor Talk, the SHOW OF RECORD for savvy self-directed investors like you.  Guess what’s going to happen today? Today, I’m going to help you find, understand and PROFIT from exceptional alternative investment opportunities!In yesterday’s exciting episode, I introduced you to the asset class that I think is stealing the crown from multi-family housing as the GO-TO real estate asset class.  If you missed that episode… you missed a great one! Drop me a text message to 833-212-2112 and ask for the RV Parks episode I’ll send you a copy so you can get caught up…...and you’ll certainly want to do that because today, I’m going to tell you two ways that, using that asset class - which is, of course, the high-cash-flowing world of RV parks - I’ll tell you not one but TWO ways that my partners and I - and maybe you, too, possibly - are planning to spend a bit of money on some of our RV park properties and generate a MASSIVE and rather immediate return of our capital… to be followed immediately by many years - possibly even DECADES - of free and clear cash flow.But understand this:  I’m not just bragging on our deals - though I’ve got to admit, maybe there’s a LITTLE BIT of that hehehe - but more importantly, I’m trying to show you what’s POSSIBLE… because deals like this are in much greater supply than financially similar deals in other asset classes like self-storage facilities and mobile home parks.And I’m also telling you because, who knows, maybe you can actually participate in these deals with us.  More on that in a bit.So what are these two crazy-powerful value adds we’re going to perform?So you may recall from yesterday, we’re acquiring 2 separate RV parks.  Specifically on the one in Wisconsin… we’re going to be able to add, at a cost of about $50,000 per cabin, about one dozen nice little cabins which will be available for rental in our parks.Now here’s the really CRAZY thing… based on the rates our clients are ALREADY PAYING for space in that park, it’s actually quite plausible to think that we’ll collect more than $50,000 of income per unit after just two, or maybe 3, seasons.  RV parks, you see, are seasonal, generally with 2 4-month high seasons per year. And after only 2 or 3 of those season, those cabins will basically be totally free and clear cash flow, with only minimal incremental expense for maintenance!That, my friends, is ASTOUNDINGLY WONDERFUL… super-high-ROI stuff.  I’m so excited about this deal!And that’s not allFor the property in Michigan, we’re going to add a particular water feature there which is an absolute super-powered electromagnet for attracting families with children.  This is just an amenity we’re adding to the water amenities already onsite. It won’t be cheap to do this… with the cost coming in around $150,000 or so, but get this:The evidence is absolutely overwhelming that this type of amenity brings more families with children to an RV park… and these are families who wouldn’t have otherwise come.  In other words… new customers!And what’s astounding is that there’s data - anecdotal, admittedly, but still relevant - that suggests that the presence of this type of water feature can, all by itself, increase the net income of certain well-run parks by 20-30% after 3 years.  With rates like that, it takes no time at all to recoup the $150,000 and investment and then be SOLIDLY in the money.And what’s EVEN BETTER is that I haven’t even begun to scratch the surface of what’s possible with RV parks.  If you find multi-family real estate attractive because of the potential to add value and create new income streams, then you’ll find RV parks to be like an absolute candyland of potential, much of which can be realized near term and at shockingly low costs.I couldn’t possibly be more excited about the future with these assets.  We’ve already begun the hunt for even more of them.If you’d like to learn more about investing in RV parks… and maybe even participate in some of the deals that my partners and I are doing, drop a text to me at 833-212-2112 and let me know.  We haven’t yet decided if we’re going to take on outside investors, and if we do, we’ll open up an application process, the first step of which is to be on my investor alerts list… and the way you make that happen is to text me at 833-212-2112 and let me know you’d like to be included.Oh… and  failed to mention… you can actually use your IRA or 401(k) to do this type of investing!  Want to know how? Well how about I give you those details in the very next episode of Self-Directed Investor Talk?!My friends… invest wisely today and live well forever! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

For the last few years, the asset class that’s been all the rage is multi-family housing.  But I’m here to tell you, my friends, there’s a new king of the hill. You’ll find out what it is RIGHT NOW in I’m Bryan Ellis.  This is Episode #321 of Self-Directed Investor Talk.----Hello, Self-Directed Investors, all across the fruited plane.  Welcome to Episode #321 of Self-Directed Investor Talk, the SHOW OF RECORD for savvy self-directed investors like you.  Guess what’s going to happen today? Well, I’m going to help you to find, understand and profit from exceptional alternative investing strategies and opportunities… so buckle up!So, the telephone rings, and I recognize this guy’s name.  He’s a friend, a fellow investor, and someone whose judgment I trust quite strongly.  He’s the kind of guy that when he says “I’ve got a deal”, if you’re smart, what you say in response is “where do I send the money”.So I picked up the phone, earnestly hoping that one of his life-changing opportunities awaited But that’s not what he said, this time.  Instead, what he says, is this: I’ve got TWO deals… and instantly, I know this is going to be my lucky day.I’m going to tell you about those two deals and why you should keep your ears open for similar opportunities for yourself.  In fact, it may even sound to you, as I describe these deals to you, that I’m trying to sell YOU on investing in these deals with us.Nope.  We’re closing on both of them with our own money, because both of these are just too sweet to turn down.  But I can tell you, with some confidence, that you’re going to wish you were in on this when you hear about it.  Who knows, we may raise capital for these deals so we can get some of our money back out to find even more of them… but we may just keep them… they’re that good.  If you’re already on my investor waiting list, I’ll let you know if we decide to make this available. And if you’re not already on my waiting list, and if you are liquid for atleast $100,000 - then you probably want to get on that list right away.  Just text me at 833-212-2112 and ask to get on the waiting list and I’ll take care of you.So what is this spectacular asset class?Oh now… surely you can venture a guess?  Think with me… the biggest demographic phenomemon of the last 60 years… the BABY BOOM generation… they’re retiring at the rate of about 10,000 people per day.  A whole lot of them have MONEY, and lots of it. And all of their kids and grandchildren have spread out all over the country. What are these people doing? They’re buying RV’s - in MASSIVE volumes - and taking their home with them all over the country.So what opportunity does this create for me and you… and what is the ACTUAL opportunity that my friend reached out to me about?RV parks, baby!  Imagine the benefits of owning a hotel… where you get a very, very high rental price for a very, very small portion of real estate… but you do NOT have to think about things like laundry or furniture or linens or any of the things that makes a hotel so very expensive to establish, operate and own.Instead, what you’re renting out is, essentially, a piece of concrete.  A small piece of concrete, where your customers bring THEIR OWN bed and THEIR OWN furniture and THEIR OWN linens.  All you do is provide them with a hookup for electricity and water and, if you’re smart, some great amenities, and what do you have?  You have a situation where you’re collecting hotel-like nightly rental rates in exchange for a service that is FAR LESS EXPENSIVE and SO MUCH EASIER to provide than with a hotel.But there’s another HUGE benefit to RV parks… lots of them, actually.  And this one explains why, we are expecting, conservatively, an internal rate of return of 15-20%+.  That benefit is REPEAT BUSINESS! You see, we know, as a sociological fact, that people who use RV parks are, by and large, very habitual in their behavior.  Once they find an RV park that they like, chances are they’ll come back every year or two over and over and over again…...and that means not only are the profits in this business VERY HIGH, but they can also be incredibly CONSISTENT.Both of the deals that we’re buying and closing on in the next two weeks are actually ALREADY very profitable… and the REALLY beautiful thing is this:  A little money spent wisely goes a REALLY LONG WAY with RV parks. There are two examples I want to share with you, both of which will ABSOLUTELY blow your mind… you’ll see why we are SO UTTERLY THRILLED with this asset class.But before I share those two examples with you, think about this name:  Sam Zell. Sam Zell is a LEGENDARY real estate investor, Bloomberg pegs his net worth at $4.4 BILLION.  Zell started and currently owns a very large percentage of several publicly-traded REITs - kind of like a mutual fund for real estate investments - and each of those REITs are focused on different real estate segments like commercial real estate, multi-family and… surprise, surprise… RV parks and mobile home parks.  And guess which one is outperforming the others? According to a recent story in BisNow.com, the answer is no surprise at all:  Zell’s RV parks are CRUSHING the results from commercial real estate, multifamily and every other real estate sector.As for those two examples of how an investor can easily spend a TINY amount of money in an RV park and get that money back entirely very, very, very quickly… you’re just going to be bowled over, my friends.Unfortunately, we’re short of time today, so I’ll tell you those two things tomorrow, so be sure that you have SUBSCRIBED to Self-Directed Investor Talk in Apple Podcasts or whatever podcast system you use.If you’d like for me to send you a notice when I release that episode so you are sure you don’t miss it, just drop a quick text to me at 833-212-2112 and let me know.I’ll look forward to pulling back the curtain for you a little more tomorrow, my friends… and I’ll even give you my advice on how YOU can get involved in this incredibly, incredibly attractive asset class yourself… maybe even using the money in your IRA or 401(k), so don’t miss it!My friends… invest wisely today and live well forever! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Secrets of Highly Tax-Advantaged Investing -- Episode #320 -- https://SDITalk.com/320For more information: text the word FLOWTEX to 833-212-2112 Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Want to flip real estate in your IRA or 401(k)? Think you won’t owe taxes on your profits? You’ve made a very common error… but so did I in a solution I devised to that problem. Maybe my error will keep you from making any of your own, and I’ll tell you about it right now. I’m Bryan Ellis. This is Episode #319 of Self-Directed Investor Talk.----Hello, Self-Directed Investors, all across the fruited plane. Welcome to Episode #319 of Self-Directed Investor Talk, the SHOW OF RECORD for savvy self-directed investors like you, where each day, I help you to find, understand and profit from exceptional alternative investing strategies and opportunities!I have a great show headed your way right now. If you’d like to get the transcript or links to the resources I share with you today, just send text the word ep319 with no spaces to 833-212-2112. Again, to get a link to the transcript and resource links for this episode, #319, just text the word ep319 with no spaces to 833-212-2112 and we’ll get it right out to you.Well, I’ll admit it, folks… the brilliant idea I had yesterday isn’t going to pan out. Still, there’s a very helpful lesson in it that you’ll want to know, particularly if you like the idea of flipping real estate in your IRA or 401(k), and I’ll tell you all about it right after this…So here’s the idea: In the last couple of episodes I’ve shared with you 5 reasons that I’ve reconsidered my formerly 100% negative stance against oil and gas investing. It’s not that I never believed it could work, just that I had a misunderstanding of how risk can be mitigated, so the risk was all I saw. I’m definitely infinitely more open to that asset class now, and one of the big advantages created by many oil & gas investments – which is HUGE tax deductibility – sparked an idea in my mind:The idea was this: There are a lot of people who like to flip real estate in their IRA or 401(k). Unfortunately, most of those people seem to not be aware of the fact that most such transactions are technically “earned” income rather than “unearned” income, and as such, the IRA or 401(k) will have to pay income taxes on any profits realized from flips.So here was my thought: If a person does a flip deal that generates a lot of profit, why not just – assuming you have the available capital to do so – just mitigate those taxes by doing a separate oil & gas investment? That would generate a tax deduction which would otherwise be totally irrelevant for a retirement account since oil & gas probably IS unearned income, and therefore shielded from taxes by the IRA or 401(k), so you could take the tax deduction generated by the oil & gas deal and apply it to the income generated on your flip deal and VOILA, problem solved.Right?Well… Yes… until recently, that is. During the end of yesterday’s show when I described this idea, I kept hearing a voice in my mind saying… check it out, check it out! It was as if this idea absolutely SHOULD work, but for some reason, it won’t… I just couldn’t remember why.Well, I did what I always do when I have a question of this nature… I reached out to the Great One, attorney Tim Berry, for clarification. And he filled in the blanks for me. Apparently, before the recent Trump tax cut, it WAS possible for deductions generated by one investment to offset the profits generated by another investment in an IRA or 401(k). But apparently, that went away with the new tax law. That’s unfortunate. That tax bill has been so very good on such a broad basis and so clearly very good for our economy… but the fact is that there are still some somewhat crappy parts to it, and this is one of them.So… this idea won’t pan out. Not all of them do. That’s ok. Let’s keep thinking creatively together, shall we?My friends, invest wisely today and live well forever. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

News flash: I was wrong. There’s one asset class that I’ve never embraced and certainly never invested in because it is, I convinced myself, incredibly risky. Well, I was wrong. I’ll tell you HOW I was wrong… and the upside potential of this asset class RIGHT NOW in Episode #317 of Self-Directed Investor Talk.---Hello, Self-Directed Investors, all across the fruited plane. Welcome to Episode #317 of Self-Directed Investor Talk, the SHOW OF RECORD for savvy self-directed investors like you, and today we have an excellent show for you.Our telephone number here for you folks that have questions is easy to remember: 833-212-2112. And that’s also our TEXT number, too… because if you’d like a link to the recording of this show or to the transcript – maybe to review for yourself or forward to a friend of yours, it’s very easy to get that and costs nothing other than normal message and data rates. Just text today’s episode number – 317 – to 833-212-2112 and we’ll send those links out to you right away.The asset class we consider today isn’t a new one, but it’s still a sexy one. Two of the most famous TV shows of the 1980’s – Dallas and Dynasty – were based on the immense wealth created by this asset class, and the frankly, the money involved in this arena has done nothing but get bigger and bigger and bigger.That asset class is, of course, the oil & gas industry.Now look… I’ve never invested a single penny in this asset class. I have no experience with it. None. My interest in it is solely because a friend of mine for whom I have great respect, and whose acumen as an investor is absolutely first-rate, and has been so consistently for many years now… well, he reached out to me as he does from time to time for help with raising some capital for a project of his. Given his success, I always take such calls quite seriously, but this time, his latest project stopped me cold: He wants to do a big oil & gas investment, and he wants me to help him raise money for that investment.Normally, I’d turn down the request just because I think oil & gas is so risky. But I had to give him a fair hearing because of his track record. And I’ve got to say… I think I may have been operating under some faulty assumptions for a long time.I’m still doing my research, but here’s what I’ve found out so far:First, risk doesn’t exist in a vacuum in the oil business. I mean that, by and large, it’s relatively simple to know in advance, through the use of modern science, whether a particular high-risk, high-reward new oil well might be a total dud. In other words, if you’re careful, it’s not extremely likely you’ll ever be taken by surprise if you invest in a new well that ends up being unproductive. You’ll know going in about your odds of success, and you can likely mitigate that risk in several different ways, which leads toThe Second point, which is this: Risk mitigation is the key in oil & gas. It appears that the “smart money” in that business mitigates their up-front risk by a combination of careful and aggressive investment in the geological research necessary to make well-informed predictions, and by always spreading risk around by way of investing in not just one and only one oil well, but in MANY oil wells, so that the failure of any one can be overtaken, probably in substantial volume, by the other more successful wells.Now those first two bits of learning are helpful and useful but not overwhelmingly surprising. But these last two points, I never would have guessed. And I’ll tell you what they are in about 45 seconds from now, when we return from this quick word from our sponsor.Hey folks, Bryan Ellis here.  An industry that’s really caught my attention lately is oil & gas.  It’s not for everybody… but if you’re looking for the ability to take an income tax deduction for practically EVERY PENNY you invest into your deals…PLUS a method of investing so reliable that banks lend against this kind of income, you should reach out to my friend Aldo over at FlowTex Energy.  I don’t know if they’re funding any investments right now or not… but what I do know is Aldo can help you see whether oil and gas is a good fit for you… and why it’s probably a much better fit than you think.  Learn more now.  Just text the word ALDO – that’s ALDO – to 833-212-2112 right now.  Again, text the world ALDO to 833-212-2112 right now.So, continuing on with the 5 things I’ve learned about investing in oil & gas that may be changing my mind about that asset class…The Third thing I’ve learned is this: There’s more than one way to play the oil & gas game. You see, the thing we probably all think of – acquiring land, drilling for oil, hoping for big gushers and selling oil by the thousands of barrels each day – well, that’s certainly one way to play it and it’s a very HIGH DOLLAR kind of way. But it’s not the only way. For example: It’s actually quite common for niche-type companies to do very, very well in the oil and gas business simply by buying wells that are ALREADY PRODUCING and simply to monetize those wells. It turns out that the state of the art in science where oil and gas detection are concerned is sufficiently advanced that many banks will actually lend against the production capabilities of oil wells, so predictable and reliable is the ability of scientists to forecast the productivity level of any particular oil well.But why would an oil company sell an oil well that they already own, that is producing reliably, and that has a predictable value in the future? Well, it has to do with the fourth issue I learned about, and that one – along with issue #5, which is the most important one of them all, the one that actually makes it HARD TO LOSE as an oil & gas investor, we’ll have to reserve for tomorrow, since we’re out of time for today.I really hope this has gotten you thinking about the potential of oil & gas investing. I’ll be straight with you: I’m not yet 100% sold. But every day, the pendulum swing is getting closer and closer to a big, fat YES.So join me tomorrow to hear about the final two HUGE things I’ve learned… more substantial even than the first 3. If you’d like to hear this episode again or read the transcript – or even forward it to a friend of yours you know is interested in oil & gas investing – then just text today’s episode # - which is 317, 317 – to me at 833-212-2112 and we’ll get those links to you right away.In the mean time, my friends: Invest wisely today and live well forever! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Is the big-time AirBnb boom opportunity winding to a close? There are three totally anecdotal, but eerily accurate, indicators I’m seeing, each of which gives an unambiguous answer to that question. I’m Bryan Ellis. I’ll tell you what those 3 indicators are RIGHT NOW in Episode #316 of Self-Directed Investor Talk.---Hello, Self-Directed Investors, all across the fruited plane. Welcome to Episode #316 of Self-Directed Investor Talk, the SHOW OF RECORD for savvy self-directed investors like you, and today we have an excellent show for you.To ask question, just call 833-212-2112. Or if you’d like to receive a link to this show you can listen again at your leisure or possibly share it with a friend, just text today’s episode number – 316 – to 833-212-2112 and I’ll get that link to you right away. Again, that’s text today’s episode number – 316 – to 833-212-2112 right now.Today we jump into a topic that I bring up with some concern. I want the answer to this question to be different than I fear it might be. The question we’re considering is this: Is the big-time boom opportunity in AirBnb drawing to a close? I’ll give you my answer, along with the 3 pieces of evidence I’ll cite to support that opinion. But first, a quick word from a sponsor I know you’ll enjoy hearing from:Hey folks, Bryan Ellis here.  An industry that’s really caught my attention lately is oil & gas.  It’s not for everybody… but if you’re looking for the ability to take an income tax deduction for practically EVERY PENNY you invest into your deals…PLUS a method of investing so reliable that banks lend against this kind of income, you should reach out to my friend Aldo over at FlowTex Energy.  I don’t know if they’re funding any investments right now or not… but what I do know is Aldo can help you see whether oil and gas is a good fit for you… and why it’s probably a much better fit than you think.  Learn more now.  Just text the word ALDO – that’s ALDO – to 833-212-2112 right now.  Again, text the world ALDO to 833-212-2112 right now.Ok, AirBnb… Very cool concept, I’ve really respected the creative thinking of this company since the beginning. The idea is simple: You have a property. You let AirBnb list your property for short-term – as little as a single night – rentals, and the two of you share revenue from that rental. And it turns out that that concept has been so popular that many people who otherwise would have tried to monetize their real estate by doing conventional year-long or month-to-month rentals have instead been making money, and frequently MUCH more money, by doing short-term rentals through AirBnb than by using the more conventional approach to generating rental income.But all gravy trains slow down, and this one will too at some point.Are we there yet?I don’t think so. But I think we’re getting pretty close… close enough that making money on AirBnb is no longer easy as “shooting fish in a barrel”, so to speak. I’ll share 3 pieces of evidence that leads me to this thinking, but I’ll go ahead and readily admit:Each of these 3 reasons are anecdotal, not statistical. You probably know that my formal education is in engineering and computer science, so I don’t typically have a lot of use for anecdote. But I have noticed that anecdotal evidence is frequently a leading indicator for the more empirical form of evidence I prefer, so I can’t ignore it and neither should you.So without further adieu, here are my 3 anecdotal indicators that suggest the AirBnb gravy train is slowing down:Reason #1: Anytime there’s a cable TV show about an investing strategy, you’ve got to wonder if that strategy might be spent… or at least that there’s more competition than makes sense. And guess what? There’s now a TV show on the cable TV station CNBC called CashPad… and that show is about NOTHING BUT people turning their houses into AirBnb properties for profit.Does this mean disaster is imminent? No, but it does mean it’s becoming so well know that it’s looking like a “good idea” to John Q. Public… and that’s historically not a good sign for anything.Reason #2 the AirBnb gravy train might be slowing: The government. Look, the government is really only good at a few things, and the thing they do best is to destroy great business opportunities. That’s what is happening now in a number of jurisdictions where local governments are trying to flex their muscles and put rather onerous restrictions on AirBnb property owners. Some of these restrictions are reasonable, because AirBnb hosts and their guests aren’t always particularly respectful of the neighborhoods where they stay. But it’s bigger than that. Local governments see an opportunity here to generate more revenue, and frankly, I suspect this will, in many places, increase the effective cost of renting AirBnb properties enough to make serious, frequent travelers – the backbone of the hospitality industry – return exclusively to the big hotel chains.And finally, reason #3: This is most anecdotal of all and I’ll admit it’s a little condescending, though I don’t mean that to be the case. Here’s the deal: Have you noticed that some of the people doing well with AirBnb’s don’t seem to be the sharpest knives in the drawer, if you know what I mean? Don’t get me wrong: I know that there’s not an actual connection between high intelligence and the ability to be successful as an investor. But it appears to me that the money has been so easy in that game that up until now, it’s been pretty easy for everybody – whether they’re more of the “wheat” or the “chaff” variety – to make a lot of money from it. And when something is too good to be true, there’s inevitably a market adjustment.Now as I said, all of these reasons are “soft” reasons without data to back any of them up. They’re all observations, and they’re such soft observations that I’m certainly not suggesting anyone change their plans on the basis of what I’ve shared with you. But maybe, just maybe, it might be a good idea for you to keep an eye on this stuff.After all, job #1 of the self-directed investor is to RESPECT YOUR OWN CAPITAL.My friends, invest wisely today and live well forever! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Have rental properties and want to set up a company and an associated self-directed 401(k)? Good idea… but the IRS might stand in your way. I’m Bryan Ellis. I’ll tell you all about it RIGHT NOW in Episode #315 of Self-Directed Investor Talk---Hello, Self-Directed Investors, all across the fruited plane. Welcome to another action-packed, edge-of-your-seat thrill ride into the fantastic world of tax-free alternative asset investing. This is Self-Directed Investor Talk, the SHOW OF RECORD for savvy self-directed investors like you, and today we have an excellent show for youThis is Episode #315, so to get the transcript and other resources for today’s show, visit SDITalk.com/315, that’s SDITalk.com/315 for all of those resources, provided to you with our compliments.So…I regularly hear from rental property investors who want to use a self-directed 401(k). The idea is that they want to form a company connected to their rental properties since one must have a business in order to establish a self-directed 401(k). On the face of it, this isn’t a bad idea.My regular listeners will, of course, know that I am a huge proponent of self-directed 401(k)’s as being the absolute crème-de-la-crème of self-directed retirement accounts versus any type of IRA in Every Single Way……Except one.“Well Bryan, what is that one exception?” I can practically hear you asking right now? It is this:Far fewer people actually QUALIFY to set up a self-directed 401(k) in the first place. The qualifications aren’t complicated – really, all you have to have is a business that you own which has no full time employees other than you and maybe also your spouse, and your business has to have earned income. That’s really about the size of it.But therein, there’s a pretty big GOTCHYA for rental property owners who want a self-directed 401(k). What is it? Well, it’s that caveat of having EARNED INCOME.Earned income, as you may know, is the type of income that results whenever an employer gives you a paycheck or, if we’re talking about a business rather than a person, it’s the type of income that results whenever a business is paid for the purchase of a product or a service. It’s income that’s earned on the basis of active effort.You’ll note that that definition doesn’t directly apply to rental income. Rental income is, under the tax code, what’s known as UNEARNED income. Not unearned in the sense that you’re unworthy of receiving the income, but unearned in the sense that rent is payment for the use of an asset rather than for the purchase of a product or service. From a tax perspective, there’s no active effort involved in receiving rental income.So that’s a problem. If the only income you are receiving comes from rental income, then all you’re receiving is UNEARNED income rather than EARNED income. And it really doesn’t matter whether those rents are being paid to you personally or to a company you form to own the properties. Either way, the nature of the income itself is still UNEARNED.And if that’s the only kind of income you’re receiving, that’s not sufficient basis to establish a self-directed 401(k), I am sorry to say.But NEVER FEAR, my friends. As always, I have a solution, which Self-Directed Investor Society clients have been using quite productively for years now, and it is this:While RENTAL INCOME won’t qualify you to set up a self-directed 401(k), what COULD qualify you to do so is to establish a PROPERTY MANAGEMENT company which serves your rental properties. In other words, let’s imagine you have one or ten or a thousand rental properties… you could very realistically and legitimately establish a company that provides property management services to your rental properties, for which it receives payment, usually in the form of a percentage of rents collected.And in your quest to set up a self-directed 401(k), that will go along way. Because while RENTAL income is UNEARNED and doesn’t qualify you to establish a self-directed 401(k), PROPERTY MANAGEMENT income is distinctly of the EARNED variety… and thus is a legitimate qualifier for the “earned income” requirement to set up a self-directed 401(k).Capiche? The idea is simply to segment a small portion of your income and do something to convert it, in a legal and legitimate sense, to the form of income that will allow you to qualify to establish a self-directed 401(k).But even this solution has a rather serious drawback. Two of them, actually. Did your investing guru – who isn’t an expert in self-directed retirement accounts – mention these drawbacks to you? I didn’t think so. But I, your exceptionally well-informed, highly opinionated, always lovable and deadly accurate host won’t hold back the goods from you.But you’re going to have to listen in tomorrow to get THE GOODS because I’m out of time for today.And that reminds me… if you haven’t SUBSCRIBED to Self-Directed Investor Talk, please do that now so you get a notice when we publish new episodes! As I suspect you can tell, this isn’t information you can afford to miss, and it’s not information you’ll get anywhere else.And second… if you like this show… and hey… YOU KNOW YOU DO! Hehehehe. Seriously, if you like this show, please consider giving us a nice 5-star rating and review in Apple Podcasts… that really, really helps to get the word out and brings in more listeners, which motivates me to make this show better and better with each passing day.That’s all I’ve got for you today my friends, except for this one parting thought:Invest wisely today, and live well forever! 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Which is better for you: A self-directed IRA or a self-directed 401(k)? Today, you learn the first big distinction to help you answer that question in the best possible way for you. I am Bryan Ellis. This is episode #314 of Self-Directed Investor Talk.----Hello, self-directed investors, all across the fruited plane! Welcome to Episode #314 of Self-Directed Investor Talk, the SHOW OF RECORD for savvy self-directed investors like YOU where each day, I help you to find, understand and PROFIT from exceptional alternative investment opportunities and strategies.I, of course, am your sometimes opinionated, always accurate and consistently lovable host, Bryan Ellis. This episode – for which you can find all of the links and resources at SDITalk.com/314 – is the second installment of our “Choosing the Right Tool” series, where we’re looking at whether an IRA or a 401(k) is the right answer for you as a self-directed investor.Now in the last episode I did share with you some circumstances under which you need not have EITHER type of self-directed account. I won’t rehash those other than to say that you MUST have one or both of earned income from a job/employer and/or you’ve got to have money in an existing IRA or 401(k) to transfer into the account. In other words, you’ve got to have an allowable way to get money into the account. The details are in installment #1 of this series, to which I’ve linked on today’s show page at SDITalk.com/314.If you’ve been a long time listener of SDI Talk, first of all – THANK YOU for being a long time listener! – but if that describes you, you probably already know that I have a very, very, very strong preference for using a 401(k) over an IRA whenever possible.To be clear, both tools have their place. But to my way of thinking, and for some reasons I’ll share with you now, if you’re investing in non-Wall Street assets, you should have a bias towards using a 401(k) rather than an IRA if that’s an option for you.Now way back in the beginning of this show, Episode #3 – literally five years ago – I did a whole show that showcases rather clearly 7 big reasons that a properly structured 401(k) is vastly superior to a self-directed IRA. You’d do well to check that out, and I’ve linked to it from today’s show page at SDITalk.com/314.But a quick recap of just SOME of the reasons – there are far more than just 7 – that you should use a 401(k) if you can are as follows:1.     You can contribute FAR MORE MONEY to a 401(k) than to an IRA2.     You and your spouse can contribute money to the same plan, thus POOLING your capital and making it easier to do bigger deals.3.     401ks’ offer SUBSTANTIALLY better protection against creditors and lawsuits than IRA’s4.     Checkbook-like control of your investment capital is built into properly structured 401(k)’s. For IRA’s, on the other hand, that level of control is expensive, tedious and risky to establish.5.     If you’re using an IRA and you break the IRS rules about handling your account, you’re out of luck. It’s going to be very painful and there’s nothing you can do to fix it. Not so with 401k’s, that provide a clear path to correcting errors.6.     You can’t BORROW money from your own IRA, but you can from your own 401k!7.     A 401k includes BOTH Traditional and Roth subaccounts… you get both types in one 401k plan, which creates astounding flexibility not available in an IRA.Again, there are MANY more reasons that I firmly endorse the use of a 401(k) over an IRA for any self-directed investor who qualifies for both. Issue #5 – the one about committing prohibited transactions – if that was the only difference, that would be more than enough. But the reasons are far more extensive than that.But that caveat I mentioned: That you should use a 401(k) over an IRA if you qualify for both… it’s the question of qualification that’s our first determining factor, and that leads to the one, and I believe only, way in which IRA’s are superior to 401k’s.That way is that nearly anybody who has a job or an existing retirement account can qualify to set up a self-directed IRA. There’s just not a lot required beyond having a source of earned income.Not so with 401(k)’s. The requirements aren’t huge, but they’re notable. Here they are:First, you have to be owner or partial owner of a business.Second, that business have to make real income. It doesn’t have to be a lot of income, and it doesn’t even have to be profitable, but it does have to earn income.Third, if your business has any full-time employees other than you, your partners and your spouses, then you’ll need to use a normal self-directed 401(k). But if the only full-time employees of your business are the owners and their spouses, then you can use the solo 401(k), which is the same thing but intended for smaller businesses.So that’s it. You’ve got to own a business that makes money, even if it isn’t profitable. That’s basically what it takes to qualify to set up a self-directed 401(k) plan.Again, my strongest advice to you is this: If you qualify to use a self-directed 401(k) plan, you almost certainly should do that rather than using a self-directed IRA plan. Again, check out Episode #3 of this show – which is linked on today’s show page at SDITalk.com/314 – for more information that compares 401k’s to IRA’s.Here’s the good news and the bad news about 401k’s:  They can be relatively simple and inexpensive to set up, but they are NOT all the same… and sometimes, the differences are REALLY severe. I’ll do an episode sometime in the future to help you see how stark those differences can be. But in the mean time, if you’d like to set up a self-directed 401k and want a referral to someone who can do that for you and do it exactly right the first time, just drop an email to me at feedback@sditalk.com and I’ll be happy to get you connected.Now, having clarified the general superiority of 401k’s over IRA’s, that still leaves us with a big question: If you only qualify for an IRA and not a 401k, which TYPE of IRA should you use? Because it turns out there are a LOT of variation with HUGE differences! We’ll dig into that question in the NEXT episode of our Making The Right Choice series here on SDI Talk, so stay tuned!My friends… invest wisely today, and live well forever! 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Mark Cuban said WHAT? Political correctness rears its ugly, stupid head again. Today, we take a brief break from our “Choosing the Right Tool” series to address some utterly foolish comments made by a normally reasonable and thoughtful person. I’m Bryan Ellis. This is episode #313 of Self-Directed Investor Talk.---Hello, Self-Directed Investors, all across the fruited plane! Welcome to Episode #313 of Self-Directed Investor Talk, the SHOW OF RECORD for savvy self-directed investors like you, where each day, I help you to find, understand and profit from exceptional investments and strategies.Today’s show notes, transcript and resources are available to you, at no cost and with my complements, over at SDITalk.com/313.Yesterday we began to focus on the question of determining which type of self-directed account is better for you: the self-directed IRA or solo 401(k). We’re going to return to that tomorrow and likely for a couple of additional episodes as well, but something came up today in my news feed that I thought I’d address with you.Mark Cuban – the businessman who famously became a billionaire when he sold Broadcast.com to Yahoo in 1999 – is someone to whom I pay attention and whose words are generally surprisingly grounded given that he is, after all, a billionaire. I respect that.Furthermore, I know a lot of you respect him and his work, too. And you and I as self-directed investors are obligated to pay attention to smart people since we make our own investment decisions. Unfortunately, it looks like Mark Cuban’s thinking may now be muddled and more politically-oriented than business-oriented.Case in point: A new article on Yahoo Finance called “Mark Cuban describes the best way to reduce wealth inequality”. I’ve linked to it today from SDITalk.com/313, be sure to check it out.Now right away, whenever you see the words “wealth inequality”, you know someone is speaking to a political audience and not an investor- or business-oriented audience, because wealth inequality is a totally contrived problem.On the surface, the words “wealth inequality” seem to mean that some people have more wealth than some other people. Yep, that’s true. And thank God for it. Those who do better than I do provide great inspiration, motivation and examples for me to up my game. Hopefully I provide a good example for those not at my level. That’s what “wealth inequality” really is: The scorecard of capitalism and the financial representation of dogged determination.That’s capitalism at the core, and capitalism is a good thing. My model of wealth building and your model of wealth building – self-directed investing – depend on capitalism. Always remember that.Now “wealth inequality” might represent an actual real problem, rather than a totally contrived one, but only if our economy was a zero-sum game. If, in other words, it was the case that every dollar I make means that you can’t make that dollar… well, in that case, the scarce supply of wealth might change the game. But that’s not reality. When another oil well is found, new wealth is discovered. When a new software program is developed that has commercial appeal, new wealth is created. Wealth in a capitalist economy like ours is not a zero-sum issue, but is simply a representation of the value of resources and ideas. There are zero circumstances under which it can be said that the fabulous wealth of Bill Gates or Warren Buffett or Jeff Bezos or Mark Cuban has hurt my ability or your ability to become wealthy in any way. In fact, it’s likely that every one of them have IMPROVED your odds in some way.That’s why Cuban’s promotion of this issue is disappointing to me, and also quite illogical. In the Yahoo Finance interview, he’s suggesting, for example, that to really change the wealth inequality situation, that people on the lower end need to begin accumulating assets. I totally agree with this, by the way. But then he goes on to suggest that one of the provisions of the new Federal Tax law – the provision whereby a cap is placed on the amount of federal income tax deductions one can take for the STATE and LOCAL taxes they’ve already paid – Cuban suggests that this provision makes it harder for lower-income people to actually buy houses or other assets in order to get themselves above the lower-end of the financial spectrum.That sounds good to people of a certain political persuasion, but here’s the problem: It’s wrong. Low-income people are, almost by definition, unaffected by the tax code provision he cites. As in, an effect of zero, zilch, nada. It just doesn’t make any sense what Cuban is saying here.Of course, some of the other things in the interview he says DO make rational sense, so I’m not saying that this guy is a fool or is absolutely misleading. What I am saying to you is this:Mark Cuban is now definitely endorsing some ideas that only make sense in a political world, not in the real world. Not all of them, but definitely some of his ideas can be described that way. So if you’re like me, you’re a self-directed investor and you’ve taken Mark Cuban’s advice to be the kind of advice which is inherently always worth considering seriously, well… maybe it’s time we rethink the degree to which we take his opinions seriously.Because at the end of the day, folks, this is true: When it comes time to pay for your retirement, you’re not a Republican and you’re not a Democrat. You’ve got expenses to cover and bills to pay… and nothing said by a politician or aspiring politician will help you with that.My friends, invest wisely today and live well forever. 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What’s better for you: A self-directed IRA or a solo 401(k)? This is a critical and distinctly untrivial decision… particularly if you’re investing in real estate, syndications or any type of complex transactions. I’m Bryan Ellis. I’ll tell you how to make the right choice for you right now in episode #312.----Hello, self-directed investors, all across the fruited plane! Welcome to Self-Directed Investor Talk, the SHOW OF RECORD for savvy self-directed investors like YOU where each day, I help you to find, understand and PROFIT from exceptional alternative investment opportunities and strategies.I, of course, am your kind, lovable host, Bryan Ellis. Today we venture into the start of a new series that I call the “Choosing The Right Tool” Series wherein you’ll see rather clearly how to choose which type of account is right for you, because the answer is truly not the same for everyone.This, my friends, is episode #312. To hear the episode again or to read the transcript or enjoy the resources I mention on today’s show, feel free to visit SDITalk.com/312 and you’ll find it all there, available for you to freely enjoy with my complements.Before we jump in today, I have a quick announcement that’s very exciting! Next month, July of 2019, will see the publication of Issue #1 of a brand new magazine that’s being published by yours truly. It’s called Self-Directed Investor Magazine and if you enjoy this show – and come on… come on… you know you do! – hehehe if you enjoy the Self-Directed Investor Talk podcast, you’re going to LOVE Self-Directed Investor Magazine.Furthermore, it will be under the editorial control of my wife, Carole Ellis, so it will be GREAT. She didn’t get that job because we’re married. She’s got that job because she is the best there is for this task. She has VAST editorial experience, having been editor-in-chief for the well-respected journal called Research (published by the University of Georgia). She was also the editor in chief of Think Realty Magazine, a niche publication for individual real estate investors.   And she also had full control of my own real estate newsletter, the Bryan Ellis Investing Letter, and it’s subscribership of over 600,000 investors worldwide. Point is: Carole is a highly-regarded professional in the sphere of magazine editorial work and there’s literally no one I’d hire instead of her. I’m genuinely honored she’s decided to do this, and I know you’re going to enjoy the fruit of her effort too.And oh… by the way… would you like a free subscription to Self-Directed Investor Magazine? I mean… totally free? Well, I’ll tell you how to do that momentarily. But first:So which is right for you: A self-directed IRA or solo 401(k)? That’s a great and very important question, as you’ll begin to truly understand forthwith.First, let’s define exactly what I mean. When I say “self-directed IRA” or “solo 401(k)” or even the more generic “self-directed retirement account”, I’m referring generically – unless I say otherwise – to a retirement account that has nearly no limits on the types of investments you can make. This is in contrast to the term I coined for the other type of IRA which is the “captive” retirement account. Captive accounts are the ones provided by your bank or your company’s 401(k) plan or your stock brokerage company.  It’s not necessarily easy to know, just based on the name of the account, whether you’re using a “captive” account or a “self-directed” account because a lot of the companies that provide captive accounts still called them “self-directed” or something similar to that. So if you need to know which type you’re currently using, here’s a simple and very decisive test: Call up your retirement account provider and ask them this question: Can I use the money in my retirement account to purchase a herd of dairy cattle? If the answer is “yes”, you’ve got a self-directed account. If the answer is “no”, then you have a captive account. Easy-peasy.With that foundational question out of the way, we’ll return to the question of whether a “self-directed IRA” or a “solo 401(k)” is the better tool for you. Now, you might notice the bias from which I’m working, that being that you should definitely be using one or the other of those types of self-directed accounts.I’d like to disabuse you of such thinking right now. In fact, not everyone needs a self-directed account. They really don’t. And if they don’t actually need these accounts, they shouldn’t use them.Who might NOT need a self-directed IRA or solo 401(k)?Well, if you are deeply and exclusively committed to investing only in the assets that are available to you from your current IRA or 401(k) provider, then there’s no real need for you to have a self-directed IRA or solo 401(k) at all. You’re not going to get better investment results by investing in publicly-traded stocks or mutual funds simply by performing those investments inside of a self-directed retirement account.Also, you really need not have a self-directed account unless you have a way to get some money into that account. In general, there are two ways to get money into a retirement account.  The first one is that you set aside some money from the income you earn from your job or business. So in tax parlance, this means you must have what is called “earned income” in order to qualify to make contributions to any kind of retirement account.The other way to get money into a retirement account is by way of TRANSFER. So let’s just imagine you have a 401(k) from a previous job or maybe an IRA that you began building years ago. If you wanted to have a self-directed retirement account, it’s quite likely you could simply transfer the money in your existing accounts – which are probably with “captive” account institutions like your bank or stock brokerage – over to a “self-directed” account so you have the ability to invest that money any way you want.So what we have so far is: If you don’t plan to invest outside the realm of publicly-traded securities, then you don’t need a self-directed account at all. And if you want to have a self-directed account, you must have one or both of some sort of earned income and/or an existing account in order to fund your new self-directed account.Now, unfortunately we’re out of time for today, so when we resume tomorrow, having this well-established foundation, we’ll dig deep into the question of which type of self-directed account – IRA or 401(k) – is the superior choice for YOU and YOUR needs.Hey my friends if you have any questions you’d like for me to address, be sure to send them to feedback@SDITalk.com and also – about getting a free subscription to the magazine – join me for tomorrow’s episode #313 and I’ll tell you how to do that then.In the mean time: Invest wisely today and live well forever! 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This may be the most astoundingly brilliant and simple way to bring in a 6-digit bump to your retirement account balance practically overnight and without risk. I’m Bryan Ellis. Get ready to be blown away right now in Episode #311 of Self-Directed Investor Talk.---Hello, Self-Directed Investors all across the fruited plane! Welcome to Self-Directed Investor Talk, the SHOW OF RECORD for savvy self-directed investors like you.I, of course, am your host, Bryan Ellis. Today is Episode #311… so when you get the itch to hear this show again or to review any of the resources I refer to in today’s episode, remember that that’s available to you at no cost by visiting SDITalk.com/311.So let’s do this.Ok, I’ve got to clearly disclose something to you… I’m still doing my research into what I’m about to share with you. I’ll have some excellent additional clarity on this within 2 weeks, and if you’d like to find out what I determine as a final matter, I’ll tell you how to get that info in just a minute.So the premise today is this: I’m going to tell you how to bring in a 6-digit bump to your retirement account balance in no time flat with no risk. Sounds too good to be true, doesn’t it? Maybe it is… I’ll know within 2 weeks… but I have great reason to think this is going to work out.So let’s set the stage here.One of the most interesting investment strategies I’ve ever heard of is called “viatical settlements”. The basic idea is this: An investor identifies a person who has a life insurance policy and who, for whatever reason, would rather have money right now rather than waiting for their beneficiaries to receive the money later.So maybe this person has a life insurance policy that will pay out $1,000,000. If you’re investing in viatical settlements, then the amount you’ll offer for that policy is based entirely on how soon you’ll receive the payout. So if the person is already in a hospice care facility and will likely pass on within a few weeks, then maybe you’ll have to pay $950,000 for the policy, because you won’t have to wait long for the payout.But if the person is 60 years old and in great health, then you might only pay $100,000 because it could still be 30 years before you receive a payout on that policy.So that’s what a viatical settlement is, and it’s always interested me as an asset class.But then recently I was having lunch with a dear friend of mine, whose name is also Bryon. Bryon has been a very good friend to me… he’s eclectic, he’s brilliant, and he’s definitely among the most generous people I’ve ever encountered. He’s also been rather successful financially, and also comes from a family who experienced great financial success, and he has the wonderful frame of reference that goes with such an upbringing.Bryon once told me something about his father that totally blew my mind and struck me as utterly brilliant: His father was seriously involved in viatical settlements… but as a seller, not a buyer!In other words, what he’d do is to establish a life insurance policy, and then promptly sell that policy to a viatical settlements investor. So maybe he would set up a $1,000,000 policy and then sell that policy to an investor for $100,000 to $200,000.Just think of where that put him… With no more effort than establishing a life insurance policy, he suddenly has $100,000 to $200,000 cash in his pocket that he can use for whatever he wants! This is astounding!!!And what if you need to establish or quickly grow the size of your retirement savings?Well, my friends… here’s where my research is still ongoing, so don’t take what I’m about to tell you as absolute gospel. Rather, I’m telling you about the research I’m doing. But here’s how the theory goes:If you happen to be wise enough to be using a self-directed 401(k) for your retirement investing, this could work for you. It won’t work for self-directed IRA’s because they can’t own life insurance.But if you use a self-directed 401(k), it is actually allowable under certain circumstances for your 401(k) to buy a life insurance policy on YOUR life… and then instead of YOU selling off your life insurance policy to a viatical settlement investor, your 401(k) would do it instead. And voila! Your 401(k) suddenly has a big chunk of income and has done so in a risk-free manner.Just think of that, folks… that could be HUGE… really huge.Now my friends, let me remind you: I’m still doing the research to confirm whether the fact is as good as the theory on this, including whatever tax ramifications may exist. I’ll know soon and will be happy to update you soon as I know. If you’d like for me to be sure to let you know when I get conclusive information on this, then do this:Drop an email to me at feedback@sditalk.com and just let me know you’d like for me to update you when I get the info and I’ll be happy to do it. Again, just drop an email to me at feedback@sditalk.com and I’ll update you within a couple weeks when I have final information.My friends, I hope you’ve enjoyed this excursion into some rather creative investment thinking and remember this: Invest wisely today, and live well forever. 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What are the big assumptions you’re making in your investment decisions? Can you list them? Is there any chance they’re WRONG? I’m Bryan Ellis. We’ll look at this serious but nearly never-discussed issue right now in Episode #310 of Self-Directed Investor Talk.----Hello, Self-Directed Investors, all across the fruited plane! Welcome to the SHOW OF RECORD for savvy self-directed investors like you.This is episode #310 of Self-Directed Investor Talk, and should you be so inclined, you’re welcomed to visit today’s show page to get a transcript and links and resources that are relevant to today’s discussion. The address for the episode #310 show page is https://SDITalk.com/310So the big question today: What are the big assumptions you’re using as a basis for your investment decisions? More importantly, is there a chance any of them are wrong?That’s a big, important question. Here’s some context for why I ask it:I’m something of a science geek. I routinely and very happily spend a relatively large amount of time learning what’s going on in the world of scientific research. One of the geekiest things that I do – and that I really love to do – is to watch formal debates that feature scientists and philosophers duking it out intellectually to see where everyone’s ideas fit in the grand scheme of things.And do you know what kind of evidence I’m seeing a LOT in the last 3 years… I mean, a LOT of it? And as I answer that question, remember that the topic of today’s show is a look at the big assumptions you’re making in your portfolio, and whether they could possibly be WRONG.So here’s what I’m seeing a lot of: I’m seeing a LOT of scientists who are absolutely the very top people in their respective fields offering very, very serious scientific resistance to the famous theory of evolution posited by Charles Darwin in the mid 1800’s. I mean, legitimate, top-tier people like the famed synthetic organic chemist Dr. James Tour at Rice University. There’s also Dr. Marcos Eberlin, the internationally renowned mass spectrometry expert at the University of Campinas in Brazil. And Michael Behe, the respected biochemist at Lehigh University. Now some people try to disregard the opinions of those guys because all of them have religious beliefs which would predispose them to resist the theory of evolution. But then you’d have to explain away highly-regarded atheistic and/or agnostic scientists and professors who also openly criticize and question Darwinian evolution like famed philosopher and mathematician Dr. David Berlinski, biologist Dr. Denis Noble at the University of Oxford, and professor Thomas Nagle at NYU. And frankly, this is only scratching the surface of dissent among serious academics and scientists of today. If you knew the extent of it all, you’d be utterly blown away.Now look, this isn’t a discussion about Darwinian evolution. Unless I have the pleasure of meeting you in person and you’d like to discuss this, then right now I don’t care what you think about that question and you need not care what I think, either.But the question is this: Can you think of any assumption that has been pounded into all of as being any more fundamental than the theory of evolution? I can’t either… and yet, whatever your position on the matter, any objective look at that theory suggests there’s a real chance that, after all of this time, the entire theory is just a crumbling house of cards. We don’t know that yet, of course, but it surely looks that way.So let’s shift that line of thinking over to our investments. Ask yourself: What are the core, operating assumptions you’re making each and every time you make an investment decision? The assumptions that are so deep that you don’t even think about them consciously?I’m thinking about this for myself, and some of them are:·       Paying less tax is better than paying more tax·       Making more profit is better than making less profit·       Only take calculated risks·       Physical assets are more secure than paper assets·       Etc…Now having thought about this for a bit of time, I’m coming up with a lot of fundamental assumptions that I’m making, far more than the few I’ve mentioned here. And here’s how this becomes interesting:If considering each and every one of my fundamental assumptions, I then ask myself these questions:·       Is this absolutely true?·       Is this absolutely false?·       Is this relatively true or relatively false, depending on the circumstances?·       Is there a better assumption that I could adopt?This has been enlightening for me, my friends, for this reason: I’ve again shown myself that having extremely dogmatic rules about anything can be a very dangerous thing UNLESS you take the time to clarify not just the rule or the assumption, but also clarify what I call the two C’s: context and caveats.For example: Physical assets are, I think, more secure as an investment than paper assets. But a relevant context might be that that’s true only in an environment where it’s legal and practical to sell that asset when I need to do so, since physical items are usually not highly liquid. And a caveat to that rule might be that if owning the physical asset entails more direct, physical involvement in the asset than I am willing or able to provide, then in that case, it might make sense for me to do something like own shares in a real estate investment trust rather than owning real estate directly myself.These are simple examples, but I’ve learned a lot about myself and my assumptions I preparing for this episode… and where those assumptions may not be serving me well. Let’s you and I do our best to see to it that the only things that are crumbling are faltering scientific theories rather than our life’s savings.My friends, invest wisely today, and live well forever. 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For the longest time, the big boys of Silicon Valley – Facebook, Amazon and Google – were all the reason you needed to be invested in stocks. Now, they’re the best reason to get out. I’m Bryan Ellis. I’ll tell you why right now in Episode #309 of Self-Directed Investor Talk.---Hello, Self-Directed Investors, all across the fruited plane! Welcome to today’s special edition of the SHOW OF RECORD for savvy self-directed investors like you.This is episode #309. That means you can find today’s transcript and show notes over at SDITalk.com/309.The stock market, as you likely know very well, has been booming with astounding consistency since the day that President Trump won the Presidency in 2016. Yes, there’s certainly been plenty of volatility, but even this year, 2019, when the markets have been a bit rougher than in some other years, still, the Dow Jones Industrial Average is STILL up by about 10% since the start of the year, and we’re not even halfway through. So the bull market rages on in a HUGE way.But there is a headwind resisting the markets which will only get stronger… and frankly, this one may just be the thing to motivate SOME OF YOU – and you know who you are – to begin diversifying some of your assets AWAY from Wall Street and into alternatives like real estate or private companies or… nearly anything but Wall Street assets.Now if you guessed that the headwinds have something to do with the ongoing trade wars with China, which now seems to be engulfing Mexico as well, you’d not be unreasonable to make that guess, but you’d be mistaken, my friends.Rather, the big issue is the intense regulatory scrutiny of the big tech companies that is coming from both the department of justice and from Congress. Just when the word “bipartisan” seems an impossibility, it appears there’s support from both sides of the aisle to limit the power of Big Tech, albeit for entirely different reasons.The companies most at risk in here are Facebook, Amazon and Google. I suspect there might be some saber rattling towards Twitter as well, but the truth is that Twitter is not relevant in the grand scheme of things. But Facebook, Amazon and Google? They’re going to feel some real heat, and with good reason.And while I certainly have an opinion on whether regulator scrutiny is called for, that’s not relevant to the bigger point today, which is this:Anti-trust actions – which appears to be the path that Google will face, and maybe Amazon and Facebook too – can be utterly devastating and require decades for recovery. You have to look no further than Microsoft. Under the command of Bill Gates back in the 90’s, Microsoft became the most valuable company in the world and was the envy of the world. Gates was practically a cult figure, and Microsoft was so profitable it could do almost literally anything it wanted……until the FTC took an interest in a serious way. When Microsoft’s anti-trust trial was done, restrictions so severe were placed on the software giant that its stock would flounder for year after year… and it would take until 2016 for Microsoft’s share prices to again reach the previous high point it had achieved way back in 1999, nearly 17 years earlier.17 years is a LONG TIME for a stock to be flat, but that’s exactly what happened. Now at that time, Microsoft was the clear market leader. No doubt about it. And guess what happened to the market as a whole when it’s leader went flat for years on end?You guessed it: The broader market did the same thing. At basically the same time as all of the air went out of the tires of Microsoft’s stock in 1999 and 2000, the broader market just treaded water for several years.As the market leader went, so went the market.And now, it’s like déjà vu all over again… only the names have changed. This time, the crosshairs are focused on Facebook, Amazon and Google. If your last name is Zuckerberg, Bezos or Pinchai, you should be sweating right now.And if your portfolio depends on those companies, you should be sweating too. But not just on those companies. The Microsoft lesson from the 90’s and early 2000’s is clear: When the Department of Justice gets involved, that can change the market as a whole. And not only is that happening right now, but Congress is apparently launching its own investigation of Facebook, Amazon, Google and… APPLE. That’s right, folks… Apple is under the microscope, too.Why do I share this with you?Well, I don’t want you to lose your money, folks. And history tells us this could be a risky time for the market.What should you do? That’s up to you, but strategically I think it would make some sense to put yourself in a position to be able to very easily diversify OUT of stocks and into some other asset class whenever you decide to do that.You could, after all, simply transfer your IRA or 401(k) into a self-directed IRA or 401(k) without even cashing in your stocks… just leave your money invested as is… but go ahead and get your money into a self-directed account so that when the time is right for YOU to cut bait and move on to greener pastures, you’ll be ready to do that at a moment’s notice.And, of course, if you need any help with that, reach out and I’ll be glad to help. You can reach me at feedback@sditalk.com. I’ll be happy to give you some good, unbiased advice since I’m not an IRA or 401(k) company… I just want you to be set up for success.My friends, invest wisely today and live well forever! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

When does the stock market give you great clues to investing in REAL ESTATE? When a stock chart looks as beautiful as this newly-public real estate company’s chart looks. I’m Bryan Ellis. I’ll identify the company and extract some valuable investment intel for YOU, right now in episode #308.----Hello, Self-Directed Investor Nation all across the fruited plane! Welcome to today’s special edition of the SHOW OF RECORD for savvy self-directed investors like you.This is episode #308. If you want to circle back for the transcript or to listen to the show again, go to SDITalk.com/308, SDITalk.com/308.Let’s jump right in, shall we?Back in January of 2018, an Atlanta-based company began went public on the New York Stock Exchange. There wasn’t a huge pop on the IPO day. In fact, the share price started at $16 never got higher than about $18 bucks and change for nearly 3 full months. Then that company’s stock went on a tear that continues to this day. Now trading in the low $30’s range – nearly twice it’s IPO level of just 18 months ago – this stock is turning some heads.Now if you’re asking, “why, oh why, Bryan, do you fill my ears with tales from Wall Street when you know I am focused on real estate or other alternative assets?”… Well, dear listeners, I shall endeavor to answer you plainly now.So what is the company to which I refer? This isn’t just any company, it is a real estate investment trust, also known as an REIT or REIT for short.For those of you not familiar, a REIT is a special type of entity that can trade on public markets and which is designed for businesses whose income is almost entirely generated from the ownership and monetization of REAL ESTATE. Ah yes, so now the relevance to you and me begins to peek through, does it not?But there are many publicly-traded REITs. Why is this one different or unusual?Well, my friends, it’s because of the KIND of real estate upon which they focus. This company is called AmeriCold Realty Trust, and as you might guess from the name, their specialty is COLD STORAGE warehousing… the kind of commercial space required primary by food delivery companies.I learned about this on an unusual source. Every now and again – and with decreasing frequency, frankly – the people over at CNBC push past their political agenda and cover actual financial news. This is one of those days, as there’s an interesting article on their website about the very topic of our discussion. It’s linked on today’s show page at SDITalk.com/308.So the rationale being given for a glowing analysis of this sector is simple: There’s not a lot of cold storage warehousing available, and the demand for it is skyrocketing because of food delivery companies like Peapod, Blue Apron and of course Amazon Fresh.Well, to me that sounds like enough of a reason to look into cold storage as a way to invest one’s portfolio. And should you deem the business of frigid commercial space to be worthy of your investment capital – and in particular your retirement savings – what are you to do?One alternative – likely the simplest – is to direct your stock broker to buy shares of AmeriCold. I’m not recommending for or against that. What we know is that so far the stock has done very well, and that’s positive.But investing via publicly-traded assets, while very simple, represents a different risk: The risk of the lack of choice and control.So a second alternative is to find a syndication or partnership that focuses on cold storage into which you can invest.  This will allow you to use the resources and expertise of the investment partner to run the investment so you can passively provide the capital.Your final alternative sacrifices the simplicity of investing in either publicly-traded stocks or privately-held syndications, but what you get in return is absolute control and absolute choice. That is, of course, to invest directly into the acquisition or construction of a cold storage facility of your own. This is a big commitment, of course… but is a very legitimate option which should not be ignored.What’s best for you? That’s a decision only you can make, with appropriate input from your advisors, of course. But here’s the bigger point relevant to you no matter whether you care anything about Cold Storage or not:If you happen to be investing your RETIREMENT funds, chances are very good that only ONE of those three options is available to you. Unless you have already transferred some of your retirement savings into a self-directed IRA or 401(k), your retirement portfolio will be handcuffed to Wall Street, wholly denying you the opportunity to work with an expert partner through a syndication and denying you the alternative to acquire or construct a cold storage warehouse of your own. You must ALWAYS be ready to make investments – whether in cold storage facilities or anything else –  by having your capital in an accessible situation, because all too often, opportunity requires quick movement. So to the extent that your portfolio is held within retirement accounts such as IRA’s or 401(k)’s, don’t delay in moving your money into a self-directed retirement account. Do it today. The days or weeks required to make that transition may just mean you’re too late.And by the way, yes, it is a big and important choice to use the right kind of account and to use the right self-directed IRA or 401(k) provider. If you need some unbiased help getting to those answers, drop me a note to bryan@sditalk.com. I’ll be happy to help you.My friends, invest wisely today and live well forever! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

What is the mysterious QRP? And how is it different from the self-directed 401(k)? I’m Bryan Ellis. I’ll give you the answer right now in Episode #307 of America’s largest, fastest growing podcast for self-directed investors----Hello, self-directed investor nation, all across the fruited plane! Welcome to the show of record for savvy self-directed investors like you, where in each episode, I help you to find, understand and profit from exceptional alternative investment opportunities and strategies.Earlier this week I was having a conversation with a colleague who heads a really cool group of dentists and doctors who mastermind together to build great investment portfolios. He told me that several of his members reached out to him because they’d heard about something called a QRP that was clearly superior to a self-directed IRA, and maybe even better than a self-directed 401(k) as well.Whatever it was, it generated a lot of excitement. The propaganda that my colleague’s clients heard suggested rather heavily, but maybe only indirectly, that this mysterious new financial tool was a different sort of animal… distinct from self-directed IRA’s, distinct from self-directed 401(k)’s… a different animal entirely.My colleague asked me about it, and wanted to know what I thought about it. It immediately struck a strange tone with me, because the acronym QRP is not well known in the world at large, but is extremely well known in the retirement industry. It stands for Qualified Retirement Plan.In a generic sense, a qualified retirement plan isn’t actually an account type… it’s a broad category of account types that includes other categories like “defined benefit” plans and “defined contribution” plans. So QRP is a known quantity to people in the retirement industry.But the way it was described to my colleague… and indeed, the marketing propaganda that support this particular offer, try very hard to maintain an air of mystery about the QRP and to suggest that it is something totally unique and distinct. It claims some wonderful features, such as:·      Very high contribution limits·      Very favorable tax treatment of debt-financed investments, which is a big problem area for IRA’s·      Near instant access to a $50,000 loan from the account at any time·      Checkbook control of the funds in the account·      No income limits·      And a few other thingsReally attractive features, to be sure. But those features make it sound strikingly like something you and I know very well… the solo 401(k). But was it actually something different? Why was this promoter calling it a QRP? Had he stumbled onto a wonderful tool about which I was not aware?Well, no. It was exactly as I thought.The “dirty little secret” of the promoter who pushes QRP’s is simply using the term QRP to refer to self-directed 401(k) plans. That’s kind of misleading because 401(k)’s are only one of a large number of types of qualified retirement plans, but hey… whatever, you know?So to you, my dear friends in SDI nation… allow me to tell you with the utmost clarity: As has already begun to happen, you’re going to see more and more people marketing solo 401(k)’s, because it turns out that you don’t really have to have any particular licensing to do so. And some of them are going to be creative in their marketing and will call their product by a different name like QRP.I guess I don’t blame them. It’s different than the typical name “solo” or “self-directed” 401k… and being an unusual acronym, QRP sounds mysterious.But don’t let yourself be distracted. I can tell you now with astoundingly high confidence that anytime you hear about a self-directed account that offers that collection of features, it’s nearly certain that what you’re dealing with is a solo 401(k), no matter what else it’s being called.My friends… invest wisely today and live well forever. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

REGISTER FOR THE FREE WEBINAR HEREWhen is the profit in your self-directed IRA or 401(k) NOT shielded from taxes? It may happen       far more frequently than you think. I’m Bryan Ellis. This is episode #306 of America’s largest, fastest-growing podcast for self-directed investors.----Hello, Self-Directed Investors all across the fruited plane! Welcome to Self-Directed Investor Talk, the show of record for savvy, self-directed investors like you, where in each episode, I help you to find, understand and profit from exceptional alternative investment opportunities and strategies.Lately there’s been a lot of news about Apple computer, as it’s stock has gone high enough to make the company worth more than a Trillion dollars, the first company to have achieved that lofty level. And there’s constantly news about AMAZON, as that stock has continued to zoom upwards in a meteoric fashion. But did you know that REAL ESTATE beats STOCKS… pretty easily… as a retirement investment… and I can prove that to you conclusively? In fact, I invite you to allow me to present the hard evidence to you that the core retirement investment strategy that Wall Street has taught all of us is fundamentally unwise and unsafe. And I’ll show you how to use real estate to get MUCH BETTER RESULTS. I’ll do that by way of a special FREE webinar for which there are still a few openings available. It’s called Real Estate Beats Stocks… EASILY, and you can register for it at no charge by visiting today’s show page… SDITalk.com/306… SDITalk.com/306 and click the link that says “Register For The Free Webinar Here”. But don’t delay… it’s coming up very soon and seats are filling up fast, so to get FREE access, go to SDITalk.com/306 now.Hey… did you know that not all of the income you make in your self-directed IRA or 401(k) is inherently protected from taxes? That’s right. The distinction lies in the fact that, from the IRS’ point of view, there are two TYPES of income: EARNED income and UNEARNED income. We’ll call them ACTIVE and PASSIVE income, as I think those are more descriptive.Oh yes… one more thing before we look at the distinctions…I’d like to offer a sincere THANK YOU to an iTunes listeners who uses the handle Jaywk007. He gave this show a 5-star rating and a really nice review that says “I just started listening to Bryan’s podcast and so far I think it’s awesome… I wish I had found it a long time ago!” Thank you, Jay… I really appreciate that!And for your entertainment, folks… in tomorrow’s exciting episode, I’ll read to you a recent 0-star review I received. This show has 471 ratings on iTunes right now, which is HUGE… and of those, 450 of them are 5-star. But hey… some people can’t take the heat, and I’ll share one of them with you tomorrow to give you a nice chuckle.Ok… active income and passive income. That’s a massive, crucial distinction, and here’s the reason why:When your retirement account generates what’s called PASSIVE income… things like profits from the sale of stock or income from rental properties or interest from a CD… that kind of income is exactly what your retirement accounts was designed for, and consequently, that kind of income – passive income – is where the tax benefits come into play which you BELIEVE to be fundamentally associated with your IRA or 401(k).But as it turns out, there’s nothing fundamental about those tax benefits. Because if another type of income – called ACTIVE income – is generated in your IRA or 401(k), then look out, because you’ve got a rude awakening headed your way, that rude awakening being, of course, that IRA’s and 401(k)’s do nothing to help your tax situation when the money in question is EARNED or ACTIVE income.What is active income? According to a definition offered by our pals over at the IRS, It can be one of two different things, and both are pretty simple. First is active income happens whenever you work for someone and they pay you. Easy-peasy. Second is when you own a business or a farm which pays you.So how does this relate to your IRA or 401(k)?One very common example of unexpected EARNED income in an IRA or 401(k) is through flipping real estate. Whether you think of real estate flipping as a business or not… it is. And as such, the IRS tends to see the income generated from real estate flipping as ACTIVE or EARNED income if you do more than 2 or 3 of them per year in a retirement account.That’s not specific to real estate. If you’re actively buying and reselling just about any type of asset… apparently with the exclusion of publicly traded stocks… that will be considered a business that you’re operating through your retirement account, and will, as such, be taxable.There’s at least one other way to generate income in an IRA that has to do with taking on debt in an IRA, but we’ll look at that another day.Now a quick note of distinction: You hear me regularly address the issue of “prohibited transactions”… a class of compliance errors that, when committed within your self-directed IRA, renders the thing totally destroyed and, quite probably, slashed in value by 40-60% or more. Those are things like allowing your IRA to buy assets from you personally, etc.But I want to make it clear to you that performing activities in your IRA that generate ACTIVE income is NOT the same as a prohibited transaction. ACTIVE, or EARNED, income is TAXABLE in your IRA or 401(k)… but it’s not a compliance problem… it’s NOT prohibited.In fact, it can sometimes be a useful thing to take the hit on those taxes just so you can blow up the size of your retirement account more quickly. But we’ll look at that another day, too.Folks, thanks for listening. If you’re learning something, please stop by iTunes and give us a nice rating and review. And if you have a suggestion for a topic you’d like me to address, drop a note to me at feedback@sditalk.com.My friends, invest wisely today and live well forever! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

You’ve found a great multi-family deal, but it’s going to take some cash. You have some cash in your 401(k). How do you put them together for a glorious result? I’ll tell you right now. I’m Bryan Ellis. This is episode #305 of America’s Largest, Fastest-growing podcast for self-directed investors…-----Hello, Self-Directed Investors coast to coast and all across the fruited plane! Welcome to Self-Directed Investor Talk, the show of record for savvy self-directed investors like YOU, where each weekday, I help you to FIND, UNDERSTAND and PROFIT from exceptional alternative investment opportunities and strategies.Happy Q&A day, my friends! I always enjoy Q&A day here on SDI Talk – which happens every 5th episode. If you’d like to submit a question for Q&A day, the best way to do that is to email me directly at feedback@SDITalk.com with your question… I look forward to hearing from you!Today’s question comes from Riley Lange from Colorado Spring, Colorado. He asks: “What’s the process for rolling your corporate 401(k) over into a multifamily property as a passive investor?” Riley, that’s a great question, and in answering it, I’ve got to encourage you to visit today’s show page at SDITalk.com/305 to refer to the additional resources I’ll reference.So Riley, if you’re using an existing 401(k) to fund this investment, the process you’re going to want to take will look something like this:First, select the right type of self-directed account. Even if you already have a self-directed IRA or other account, take the time to reconfirm this, because in many cases – and the type of investment you’re proposing is DEFINITELY one of them – the distinction among the different types of accounts can have HUGE… I mean truly HUGE ramifications on the complexity and profitability of the investment. Yes… the ACCOUNT TYPE you select – like Traditional IRA vs Roth IRA vs SEP IRA vs Solo 401(k), etc. – can mean you actually make substantially MORE or LESS money, so take this seriously. Fortunately for you, SDI Society offers a very powerful and very concise training on this topic, which, while it is not a free training, I have taken the liberty of providing a way for you SDI Talk listeners to access it for free for a VERY limited time if you go over to SDITalk.com/bestaccount. So after you pick the right account type, the second step is to pick a great custodian or account provider. This too is a big topic. Speak with friends and colleagues about who they use. Get some first-hand referrals if possible. That’s always the best way. If you need a great starting point, over on today’s show page at SDITalk.com/305, I’ve provided the official SDI Society list of self-directed IRA custodians and other account providers… that’s a GREAT place to start.Third, transfer your money directly from your existing 401(k) to your new account. The IRA company or account provider can guide you on how to do this.Fourth, assuming you have done proper due diligence on this investment – which is a huge, massive topic unto itself – then you’re ready to direct your custodian to make the investment. Now most of the time, larger multifamily projects will actually not technically be a real estate purchase. Instead, larger properties are usually held within a partnership or other business entity, and you – or your self-directed account, in this case – will instead be purchasing a portion of the partnership which owns the real estate. The broader point here is to make sure that you fully understand how the transaction is structured before you jump in, because there’s a wide array of options here and some are more advantageous to you than others.So however the transaction is structured, you’ll see to it that the necessary money is transferred from your account to either the investment operator or – more ideally – to a third-party escrow service, and that you receive the proper documents to serve as your account’s indicia of ownership.At that point, your self-directed retirement account actually owns the investment. Any income that’s generated will be paid to and necessarily owned by your retirement account. And when the time comes for you to sell that investment, all of the proceeds of sale will go back into your retirement account… and that’s REALLY when you get to experience the utter beauty of tax-free investing.But I do have a word of warning for you: Remember that with pass-through entities, like partnerships and most LLC’s – which is the likely way that your investment will be structured by the investment provider – with entities like that where the tax liability passes directly through to the owners rather than being paid at the entity level, that means that to the extent that the entity generates EARNED income or uses debt financing, your self-directed IRA or solo 401(k) may be liable for payment of current-year income taxes! Yes, I know that those are tax-free entities… but that doesn’t mean that every type of transaction is tax-free. For example, if the investment fund uses leverage – also known as debt – to finance a portion of the transaction, then there’s very likely to be a current-year tax liability for self-directed IRA’s. Similarly, if any of the income generated is “active” income rather than “passive” income – more technically, if any of it is considered to be “unrelated business taxable income” – then your account will owe a current-year tax liability on any income generated from that as well.Again, Riley, and all of SDI Nation, the one thing that could affect that issue the most is the TYPE of account you select on the front end. It’s really that critical. Be sure to check out SDITalk.com/bestaccount for more about that so you don’t find yourself with a tax bill you weren’t expecting.And that, my friends, is how one rolls over their corporate 401(k) to invest into a multi-family property.If you have any further questions or comments, be sure to drop me a line to feedback@SDITalk.com – I’ll be happy to help you out.In parting, my friends, I have a favor to ask of you: If you’re learning from SDITalk, I ask you to become a subscriber to the show now. Just stop by SDITalk.com to enter your name & email… and that’s all it takes!My friends… invest wisely today and live well forever! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

High income earners, rejoice! The IRS announces that I was right... I'll tell you more right now in episode #303 of America's largest, fastest-growing show for self-directed investors...-----Hello, Self-Directed Investor Nation! This is Self-Directed Investor Talk, the SHOW OF RECORD for savvy, self-directed investors like you, where each day, I help you to find, understand and profit from exceptional investment opportunities and strategies.Today, we focus on the STRATEGY side of the equation, but first...I'd like to extend a huge thank-you again to you folks for continuing to totally BLOW UP our download numbers for this show in the last couple of days since we've gone back on the air... you people are amazing and I'm so grateful! In particular, I'd like to thank all of you who were so kind as to leave me some wonderful 5-star reviews over on iTunes even since we took our hiatus from broadcasting last year. One such kind 5-star review on iTunes came from NateKG who said "I am a full-time day trader getting into the markets after a long career of driving trucks. After searching for some advice on self-directed 401k's, I came across SDI. "WOW", I thought after the first two episodes. This guy's got some valuable information. Everything I was looking for! I highly recommend you listen to Bryan's show all the way from the start. You will be glad (and wealthier) you did!"Thank you, NateKG... I appreciate that so very much! And if you, my dear listener, feel so inclined, I'd be ever so grateful if you'd consider following in the wise ways of NateKG and stopping by iTunes to give us a rating and review... I'd really really appreciate it!Ok, onward...So, my friends... chances are good you're familiar with this thing known as the Roth IRA. It's the newer version of the IRA that allows you to make deposits on an after-tax basis, but all withdrawals of profit you make during retirement are totally TAX-FREE! It's really amazing, to be frank... it really does totally eliminate taxes on your profits.BUT... there's a downside to it, and that is that there are income limits for making a contribution. Once your income goes above a certain level... not terribly high, starting around $120,000, then your ability to contribute to a Roth is limited and is soon wholly eliminated based on your income.Well... that's a problem, because the tax advantages of the Roth IRA are just astounding. So somewhere along the way, somebody hatched an idea called the "Backdoor Roth IRA" which would give high-income earners an indirect, back-door kind of way to put money in a Roth IRA. The idea is actually pretty simple:Instead of contributing to a Roth IRA, what you could do instead was to contribute to a Traditional IRA – which does NOT prevent high income earners from making contributions, as long as they don't take a tax deduction for it... and then just convert that Traditional IRA to a Roth IRA!The net effect is that you end up with exactly the same thing: A Roth IRA with the amount of money that you would have otherwise contributed... all the same tax benefits and all the same everything applies thereafter, just as if you'd contributed the money directly to a Roth IRA in the first place.Pretty cool, right? Yeah, definitely... now this strategy isn't new. In fact, I told you about it on this very show in January of 2017. You can find that episode linked on today's show page, which is SDITalk.com/303. But the sticking point, which I mentioned in that episode, is that a lot of people have been concerned that the IRS would see this as some sort of a skirting of the rules, and take action against anybody using this strategy.But there's a problem. That problem is called the "Step Transaction Doctrine", which is a fancy way of saying that if you use a combination of rules as a series of steps to circumvent some other rule, then you're breaking the original rule. The point here being, of course, that a lot of folks out there in the tax and legal community were pulling out their hair over fears that the IRS would drop the hammer and say that using the Backdoor Roth IRA was a violation of the Step Transaction Doctrine and would cause tax problems for anyone who used it.I never believed that. Here's what I told you about that back in January of last year about that very thing:My gut sense here as a non-lawyer who is wholly unqualified to give legal advice is that it's wildly improbable that the IRS would pursue that path.So I'm on record telling you that that particular hubub was probably more of a hysteria than a legitimate issue, and well folks, time has proven me right, yet again, as the feds have issued a clarification in the form of a footnote in a congressional conference committee report says, “Although an individual with AGI exceeding certain limits is not permitted to contribute directly to a Roth IRA, the individual can make a contribution to a traditional IRA and convert the traditional IRA to a Roth IRA.”Well, folks... it doesn't get a lot more clear than that. Very black and white. But then they went a step further, when Donald Kieffer Jr., a tax law specialist with the IRS’s Tax-Exempt and Government Entities Division made this comment on July 10th Tax Talk Today webcast. He said: “I think the IRS’s only caution would be whenever we see words like ‘back door’ or ‘workaround’ or other step transactions that are putatively enabling a way to get around limits - especially statutory contribution limits - you generally find the IRS is not happy and prepared to challenge those,” Kieffer said. “But in this one that we’re talking about, it’s allowed under the law.”That's pretty blatant, I think you'll agree... and it's great news. So all you high income earners... rejoice! It looks like you can use the backdoor Roth IRA to your heart's content.Ok folks, that's all I've got for you today. Remember to check out our sponsor, the SDI Academy, if you'd like to learn the ACTUAL TRUTH of what your self-directed IRA and 401(k) are really all about... and how to use them without causing yourself real heartache. You can learn more over at SDITalk.com/academy.My friends... I'll be back with you tomorrow, same bat-time, same bat-channel... and in the mean time, invest wisely today and live well forever! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The last decade’s hottest investment strategy among individual real estate investors is dying a very rapid death. Find out what it is… and why it’s dying right now. I’m Bryan Ellis.  You’re listening to Episode #302 of the largest, fastest-growing self-directed investor podcast in America…-----Hello, Self-Directed Investor Nation! Welcome to Self-Directed Investor Talk, the SHOW OF RECORD for savvy self-directed investors like YOU! Before we get into the thick of things today, I’ve got to ask you: do you THINK you really know the fundamentals of self-directed IRA’s? Do you really? Well if you DON’T know those fundamentals, you’re in luck. And if you think you DO know them… you may be having even BETTER luck. That’s because for a very brief time, you can receive FREE access to a very highly regarded $297 training program called the SDI Wealth Guide to Self-Directed IRA Fundamentals, available now at SDITalk.com/fundamentals. That video-based training is available to you right now… and in it, you’ll receive the unexpected… but TOTALLY accurate… answers to questions like: What is a self-directed IRA? What kind of self-directed IRA’s are available? What’s the best type for YOU? And are there any self-directed investing alternatives that are SUPERIOR to the IRA? So check it out now, because your status as a listener to SDI Talk gets you something very special: FREE access to this training – normally priced at $297 – just by visiting SDITalk.com/fundamentals.Ok, my friends, this is episode #302, so all of the links and resources I mention in today’s show can be found, very conveniently, by visiting SDITalk.com/302. But I’d like to take about 20 seconds to express to you something kind of personal but very important, and that is that…I have a sincere thank you for you people. As you know, I’ve been on hiatus from doing this show for some time. To be honest, I’ve been struggling with some pretty severe personal challenges, and my mind wasn’t where it needed to be to give you folks what you deserve in this show. But yesterday, the time had come to begin this show anew, and that’s why I want to thank you:  Yesterday, this show got HUGE download numbers, even though it was the first episode I’ve published in 6 months, and even though I did nothing to promote it. Still, you people downloaded this show en masse… and I’m so very sincerely, sincerely grateful to you. Thank you from the bottom of my heart.Ok, let’s do this.In the last decade, there’s been a dramatic rise in something known as “turnkey rental property investments”. This is a type of rental property investing made for people who want the money, but not the time commitments, of rental ownership.The way it works is simple: If you buy a turnkey rental property, you’re buying more than just a rental property.  You’re buying the property itself, sure… but that property has already been renovated to rent-readiness. But there’s also been a tenant identified, qualified and moved into the property. And to top it all off, there’s a property manager already in place who is handling the entire tenant relationship so that you, as the investor, can just collect the checks rather than be a landlord… and it also gives you the ability to invest your capital into markets where it really makes sense to do so, rather than being limited only to investing in your own back yard.So, a pretty cool concept… right? Sure is. With turnkey rental properties, you’re not buying a house, you’re buying an asset that’s presently producing cash flow.As a side note, this is one of those places where I think the very famous book Rich Dad, Poor Dad by Robert Kiyosaki really painted too rosy of a picture. The message of that book is great: Invest in assets that produce cash flow. The secondary message is that real estate property is the best way to generate such cash flow. But the story seems to suggest that merely by owning these rental properties, you’re going to experience the theoretically possible cash flow.It’s just not that way. I was having a conversation last night with one of my subscribers named David who has a vast array of experience as a landlord in multiple markets, and we were looking critically at how one might successfully manage a portfolio of properties from a distance. The conclusion is that it’s not easy to do, and merely owning properties – even good ones – is a long way from guaranteeing your success.And that’s where the whole turnkey thing comes into focus. When you buy a turnkey property, assuming you’re buying a good property with a good property manager, then what you’re doing is acquiring a real cash-flowing assets… the kind that Kiyosaki praised so heavily in Rich Dad, Poor Dad.And it’s that level of convenience and automated realization of profits that’s made the business of turnkey rental properties boom so heavily in recent years.But there’s a dirty little secret in that business that the turnkey providers are really hoping you don’t find out: There’s a serious inventory shortage. That’s right… the turnkey people are having a really hard time keeping up with the demand for these properties because… after all… a key consideration is the ability to generate CASH FLOW from these properties. But as the PRICE of real estate has grown at a much faster pace than the attractiveness of turnkey deals is turning downward.You need not trust me. Check out today’s page over at SDITalk.com/302 and you’ll see two very interesting links: One with the National Rent Index from Apartment list, showing national rents increasing at only 1.4% per year… And then you’ll see the National real estate composite index from Case Schiller, which shows a national appreciation rate for actual REAL ESTATE VALUES of more than 3 times that… about 4.7% from July of last year to now.So as real estate values increase at a dramatically faster rate than rental rates, what we have is a situation where it’s much harder for the turnkey rental property companies to mass-produce turnkey rental properties that offer an acceptable yield.Now before you conclude that I’m suggesting that this isn’t a good time to buy rental properties, I’ll recommend you hang with me for a minute, because that’s not what I’m saying at all.What I AM saying is that things are becoming much harder for the turnkey property companies, and so many of them are diversifying AWAY from turnkey properties – which is something that some of them know a lot about – and they’re jumping into offering other types of investments. Usually real estate-related, but certainly not similar to turnkey rental properties. Frequently it’s investments in international real estate in tropical locations… or maybe it’s opportunities to syndicate your money into the building of new entire neighborhoods or developments which will then be sold to other investors or home owners… or maybe it’s something wholly unrelated to real estate.This stuff gives me pause. It’s not that there’s anything fundamentally wrong with any of that… it’s just that this almost inherently means that the turnkey company you’re working with is stepping out of their area of expertise and into a realm where they’re new to the game. And so that is something important and worthy of consideration where the safety of your money is concerned.But far be it from me to say that it’s no longer a wise thing to buy rental properties today. It’s pretty much always a smart thing to buy strong cash flow. But there are a couple of distinctions now:The first is that you’re going to find lower and lower inventories being offered by these turnkey providers. This is evidenced by your needing to be placed on a “waiting list” for properties… and by that wait being multiple months in duration. As such, you’ll find that when properties ARE available for investment, you’ll need to jump on them rather quickly.Incidentally, we do have a few really great turnkey deals available right now, which you can see by visiting SDITalk.com/turnkey, SDITalk.com/turnkey.And the other distinction is this: There’s a huge difference between YOU finding rental property investments that make sense, and a turnkey rental property company finding a situation that makes sense. For you, you’ve only got to find deals one by one, or even if you’re deploying a lot of capital, still you only need a relatively small number of deals. But these turnkey people… a lot of them move 50-100+ properties per month… they’ve got to find entire swaths of geographic areas where they can get a large volume of deals on a recurring basis. The advantage is inherently with you, because you’re small, you’re nimble, and when an INDIVIDUAL great opportunity arises, it will make sense for you to pursue it, but not them.So again, far be it from me to suggest that now is no longer a good time to acquire real estate cash flow. A good time for that is, approximately, ALWAYS.Ok folks, that’s it for today. Hey… do me a favor, will ya? When you have a question about self-directed IRA’s, 401k’s, custodians or investment strategies, shoot them over to me at questions@SDITalk.com... I’ll do my best to answer them here on the show for you.My friends… invest wisely today, and live well forever! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The housing market is showing signs of multiple personality disorder... the two things that could bring real estate to it’s knees near-term… and Facebook lays an egg and gets scrambled on Wall Street. I’m Bryan Ellis… this is Episode #301 of Self-Directed Investor Talk.----Hello, Self-Directed Investor Nation… a lot to get to today, after a bit of a hiatus. Today’s show page is SDITalk.com/301, so let’s jump right in, after a quick word from our sponsor, the Self-Directed Investor Academy.Have you ever noticed that there’s just not much in the way of really great training material out there where self-directed IRA’s and solo 401(k)’s are concerned? Oh sure… all of the IRA companies provide “education”… but their end is clearly so you’ll give them your business. And there are a few books written by attorneys using the native language of attorneys which is a strange dialect of Latin known as “YesButProbablyNo”… but if you’re an intelligent person who just wants the hard truth about how to use self-directed retirement accounts while squeezing every penny of value out of them you can… even when that may not be in the best interest of your IRA company… well, SDI Academy is for you. SDI Academy is a private membership group that produces video-based Wealth Guides about the exact topics that self-directed IRA and 401(k) owners need to understand… totally free of the murky babble you see on the internet. I think you’ll particularly enjoy their trainings on how to pick the right self-directed retirement account for you and how to pick the best self-directed IRA company for you… because the results you’ll end up with are probably VERY DIFFERENT than what you’d expect… and so, you’ll really get TREMENDOUS VALUE. For a limited time, listeners to SDI Talk can get a FREE 3-day membership to the already-inexpensive but inordinately valuable SDI Academy by visiting SDITalk.com/academy. That’s SDITalk.com/academy.Ok people… we all know that the overwhelming top asset class choice among self-directed retirement account owners is real estate, so what I’ve got to share with you will be quite directly relevant for a very large swath of you… say, 100% of you! Hehehehe.This past week, some new economic numbers came out that suggest the housing market is slowing down… the evidence cited by sources like the very entertaining but not always accurate CNBC informs us the reason for this is a slowdown in boiling-hot markets like L.A. and Denver.  For some reason I’m not entirely sure of, I’ve linked to the cutesy video CNBC made about this over at SDITalk.com/301.https://www.cnbc.com/video/2018/07/26/housing-market-slows-down-real-estate-housing.htmlBut this very morning, July 30, 2018, the National Association of Realtors reported that pending home sales rose more than expected after a relatively soft selling season so far this year. Conflicting news, it would seem.Not really. There’s more to it below the surface. And I, your humble host, will pull back the curtains for you now.What we have right now, folks, is a situation where real in many of those hot markets, real estate prices are still increasing, but two other statistics have changed: The rate of increase is less than it has been in years – like in Dallas, Texas – and the number of home actually being sold is falling off too, like in Southern California, where CoreLogic tells us that there were SUBSTANTIALLY fewer home sales of all types have sold this year versus last… as in, a whopping 11.8% fewer home sales this year versus last.So it’s strange… you’ve got rising prices, but decreased activity.Now I could totally go into geek mode on you with this stuff, but I’ll tell you what I think is happening from a very practical perspective:What we have is a real estate market that has boomed and boomed and boomed such that it looks like the mortgage meltdown of 2008 never happened at all. That’s only 10 years ago now… and practically NOBODY is sitting on a real estate loss anymore, if they just held on.Do you know what you’re NOT hearing much about these days, that was a super popular topic back then? Foreclosure filing statistics. I’ll tell you why: There’s almost no bad news there. Foreclosures have tanked practically nationwide. That’s a very good thing.So what’s going on here with this strange mix of positive and negative data? Everyone has a theory, including me, but let’s look at what we actually KNOW to be true:The U.S. economy is BOOMING. By any and every reasonable standard, the U.S. economy is in better condition now than at any time in the last 10 years… and maybe longer. It’s eerily… well, quite positively, actually, reminiscent of the 1980’s from about 83 onward… the economy was just clicking on all cylinders… and the same is happening now. Unemployment is lower than it’s been since 2000… GDP is booming… wage growth was higher last month than it’s been all year so far… the fact is, it’s just hard to find any objectively negative indicators about the economy right now.So what’s going to happen next with housing prices? You people who’ve listened to me for a long time know that I don’t claim to be a prognosticator, and that has not changed. But just from a simple logical point of view, here’s what I expect:I expect that there will be continued slowing in the rate of appreciation in the super-hot markets, but I don’t believe we’re facing any sort of impending real estate collapse. The fundamentals of the economy are simply too strong for that right now, and there are a number of leading indicators suggesting that it will boom still more.That said, there are two big potential headwinds to keep an eye on for those of you who may be in the market to unload some of your property to finance retirement or other expenses.The first headwind is rising interest rates. Interest rates are already on the rise and will likely continue to do so, as is to be expected in a rapidly expanding economy. The thing to watch is whether the Fed goes nuts with this. In recent decades, the Fed has been as much a political entity as an economic one… and that’s NEVER good for the economy. Right now, that tendency appears to be still reasonably in check.The second potential headwind is the midterm Congressional elections of 2018. Set aside your political biases and beliefs for just a moment, and let’s make some rational predictions here.What we know, without a doubt, is that the stock market tends to be a leading indicator of the broader economy. We also know that when President Trump was elected in 2016, from the very next day onward for a very long time, the market boomed upwards with a ferocity and consistency that was absolutely breathtaking, which means that the market believed… even though nobody seemed to want to admit it… that they WANTED Trump policies for the good of the economy.So fast forward to the election to happen in November of this year. Should the Democrats retake the House of Representatives, you can be certain that Congress will instantly slam the door shut on Trump’s economic objectives. There will be a number of things he can continue to do independently, but to effect real change, he needs Congress. So if the Democrats retake Congress, the Trump boom in the economy will likely stagnate… and I bet the stock market will start to bleed consistently.What I expect, overall, is more of a plateau in real estate values rather than a hard decline.  In a weaker economy, sure… you might predict a bit of a collapse. But a weak economy is not what we have right now. It’s strong, and arguably getting much stronger.What’s the prescription? Same as always: With your real estate investments, focus on cash flow. Cash flow, cash flow, cash flow. Strong cash flow makes it wholly unnecessary for you to focus much on flighty valuations in real estate or stocks or anything else. Enough cash flow from your investments, and simply nothing else matters. Cash flow is king.And I can’t wrap up today without mentioning the absolute slaughter of Facebook stock last week… a meltdown that slashed $100 BILLION of value from Facebook. That’s never happened before in the history of the stock market that a company has taking such a quick market cap slashing of that degree.I bring this up for two reasons:First, for any of you who remain focused on investing your money in Wall Street, you should take the time to learn about stock options as a way to hedge your risk. You buy insurance for your real estate… I think it’s a bit foolish not to do the same for your investments if it’s simple and economical to do that… and that’s what stock options can do for you.Second… the Facebook debacle reminds me of one of the reasons it’s so wonderful to invest in non-Wall Street assets… and that is that with a bit of effort, you can actually buy assets at a discount versus their current value… and thereby build in a strong cushion against loss. You can’t do that with Facebook. As I look right now, Facebook is trading at about $170 per share. That being true, there’s no way you’re going to be able to buy those shares at a huge discount versus their current price. But in real estate, for example, it happens ALL THE TIME that you can buy real estate far below it’s market value. That’s a huge difference… a huge reason to seriously look at pushing more and more of your assets AWAY from Wall Street and into assets you actually control and understand yourself.That is all for today, my friends… I’ll be back with you tomorrow and will tell you something I’m observing in that industry known as “turnkey rental properties”… this is a big deal… and NOBODY is talking about it… except for me, tomorrow, on this very showI am, of course, Bryan Ellis. This is Self-Directed Investor Talk, the biggest, fastest-growing self-directed investor podcast in America.------Self-Directed Investor Talk is a production of the Self-Directed Investor Society. This content is not intended to be advisory in nature and is not offered with the intention of providing legal, tax or other licensed professional guidance to any listener… be sure to see your own licensed advisors for that type of advice. This broadcast is copyright 2018 and is used under license from the Self-Directed Investor Society. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

https://SDITalk.com/300 -- Yes, it’s true: Rental property investing in your IRA or 401k can make you very, very wealthy. It’s also true that it’s stressful and time consuming to be a landlord, and financially risky to do so within the confines of the IRS’ strict rules for retirement accounts. Fortunately for you, I have the answer. I’m Bryan Ellis. This is episode #300 of Self-Directed Investor Talk. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

https://SDITalk.com/299 -- One of the most common questions I receive over at SelfDirected.org when somebody wants to buy an asset in their IRA is this: “Bryan, can I buy [insert asset name here] in my name and then transfer it to my retirement account?” I get this question a WHOLE LOT about bitcoin and about real estate. There’s a very definite, unambiguous answer to this, and I’ll share it with you right now. I’m Bryan Ellis. This is Episode #299. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

https://SDITalk.com/298 -- What, exactly, is a self-directed investor? Well my friends, it’s as much philosophy as technique; as much about wisdom of means as it is success of the ends. It’s all about trusting YOURSELF more than you trust Wall Street, Big Banks or anyone else who has their eye on your investment capital. Find out right now if you REALLY are a self-directed investor… and what that means for you. I’m Bryan Ellis. This is Episode #298. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

https://SDITalk.com/297 -- There are a few big things and a million little things that could make one self-directed IRA custodian better or worse than another. But there’s one thing that makes an IRA company bad for anybody, and I will tell you what it is right now. I’m Bryan Ellis. This is episode #297. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

https://SDITalk.com/296 -- What is the real purpose of your IRA custodian? It’s probably not what you think, but I’ll tell you the real answer. I’m Bryan Ellis. This is episode #296 of Self-Directed Investor Talk.-----https://SelfDirected.orghttps://SelfDirected.org/ira Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

https://SDITalk.com/295 -- I don’t normally dive into these waters, but here we go: What is Bitcoin actually worth? I have some data-backed thinking on this you may not like, but hey… the truth is the truth. I’m Bryan Ellis. This is Episode #295 of Self-Directed Investor Talk.Self-Directed IRA Guide: https://SelfDirected.org/ira Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

https://SDITalk.com/294 -- Hello, Self-Directed Investor Nation! Welcome to the broadcast of record for savvy self-directed investors like you, where in each episode, I help you to find, understand and profit from exceptional alternative investment opportunities.My friends, this episode – episode #294 – is almost a part 2 follow-up to yesterday’s brilliant episode in which I shared with you exactly why it can actually REALLY MAKE SENSE to perform taxable transactions in your IRA, even though the tax rate your IRA will face – something on the order of 40% or so – is painfully high.Now If you didn’t get to enjoy that episode, you really should do so right now, because this episode builds nicely on that one. You can get the link for that show on today’s resource page, SDITalk.com/294.So even in the high-tax scenario I described in episode #293, that strategy still makes absolute sense. And today, I’ll make that strategy even better by slashing that tax rate in half by using a bit of tax-planning savvy.As I do that, you’re welcomed to join the conversation by toll-free telephone at (833) SDI-TALK, by email at feedback@SDITalk.com or by visiting the resource page for this episode, episode #294, which is, of course, SDITalk.com/294.Ok folks, I’ve got to warn you… or some of you, at least: If you’re one of those folks who hates Donald Trump just because he’s Donald Trump, and you give no regard to the positive economic benefits his policies bring to your financial situation, then you’re going to hate today’s show.But if you have the ability to be smart with the hand you’re dealt, you’re going to see how to use the recent corporate tax cut to HUGE benefit in your self-directed IRA or 401(k).So here’s the deal: When you make investments in your IRA that are considered by the IRS to be “active businesses” – like real estate flipping – then your IRA will be subject to income tax. Since your IRA is technically a trust, your IRA is taxed at trust rates… and those rates are high. For all intents and purposes, you can think 40%, and that’s before your state tacks on more.So a clever self-directed IRA or 401k user might think… “Ok, let’s do the deal inside of the IRA using a more tax-efficient business structure.” You know, something like… let’s set up a corporation inside the IRA and use the corporation’s tax rates instead of the really high trust tax rates.Sounds like a good idea, right?Only problem with that is that, until the Trump tax cuts, the corporate income tax rate maxed out around 39%... basically identical to the trust tax rates. So there’d be no real tax advantage for doing your flips through a corporation in your IRA.But this is where the new tax law can give a huge boost to your IRA. Now, corporate tax rates no longer top out at 39%, but at 21%... basically HALF of what it was before. That’s amazing… HALF!So you might recall yesterday’s example where your IRA made $60,000 in one year by doing real estate flips, but the IRA actually lost 40% of that – $24,000 – to taxes.Well, simply by forming a corporation in your IRA and performing the flips within the corporation instead of directly in the IRA, the max federal corporate tax rate drops to 21%, which means your IRA’s tax hit plummets to a bit over $12,000 rather than $24,000.Yep, you heard that right… the tax cut bill that the press claimed was only for “corporate fat cats” can actually have a very substantively positive effect on your retirement savings via your self-directed IRA or 401(k)!Think about that difference… a difference of about $12,000. Not a huge amount, but it equates to about 2 year’s worth of maxed-out annual IRA contributions for most people. And what’s more, it’s plausible to experience that kind of result each and every year, not just one time.The difference can be HUGE.That’s all I’ve got for you today, but…Can I take 30 seconds and ask a favor of you? Would you be so kind as to stop by over at iTunes and give us a 5-star rating if you haven’t already? It’s actually really important because some bozo named Bill0804 gave us a bad rating just because I’m not afraid to talk about politics and how it affects your money – just like I did today – and he happens to have a different political opinion. Now let’s be clear, of the 455 ratings we already have on iTunes, 95.6% of them – 435 – are perfect 5-stars, so we’re still doing exceptionally well. But if you enjoy this show, it would be really helpful for me if you’d stop by over at iTunes and give us a great rating. Thanks so much, and one more thing to remember:Invest wisely today, and live well forever! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

https://SDITalk.com/293 -- With almost no exceptions, profits made on transactions in your self-directed IRA are not taxable, no matter how fabulously profitable they might be. But today, I show you why the taxable kinds of transactions in your self-directed IRA may actually be the most profitable of all. My name is Bryan Ellis. This is episode #293 of Self-Directed Investor Talk. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Bitcoin is still all the rage, and recently, a new thing called Bitcoin “futures” became available through reputable exchanges here in the United States.  What are bitcoin futures and why might they be a FAR BETTER way to invest in Bitcoin through your IRA versus direct ownership?  I’m Bryan Ellis.  I’ll give you the answer right now in Episode #292 of Self-Directed Investor Talk. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

  IMPORTANT: Prohibited Transactions in CONVENTIONAL IRA's | SDITalk #291 http://SDITalk.com/291 You usually think of prohibited transactions as being a risk that’s almost entirely unique to self-directed IRA’s and 401(k)’s… you usually think conventional IRA’s are largely impervious to this horrible risk that can slash half or more of the value of your account in a single instant.  You’d be wrong.  Today you learn about a policy being implemented by financial behemoths Merrill Lynch, Wells Fargo and others that, I’m confident, will result in awful prohibited transaction penalties within CONVENTIONAL IRA’s… all because of what can only be described as aggressive GREED in the financial industry.  I’m Bryan Ellis.  This is episode #291 of Self-Directed Investor Talk.   https://SelfDirected.org/investor-talk https://SelfDirected.org/ira http://www.Facebook.com/sditalk http://www.Twitter.com/sditalk   Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Today I'm at the IMN Single Family Rental Investment Forum in Scottsdale, AZ.  It's an interesting group... it's something like Wall Street meets Real Estate... but a tier or two below the biggest capital players.  It's very interesting too... one thing I've noticed for sure is that panelists seem terrified of having an opinion about the Trump effect on the economy for investors. So, as your humble host, I'll answer for them.  Enjoy! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

 A Big Lesson from a Dinner with Gates & Buffetthttp://SDITalk.com/289Happy December, Self-Directed Investor Nation! Today we touch on the DANGER of creativity… the need for a clear investment plan… a famous dinner with Bill Gates and Warren Buffett… and even some blasting of, or maybe praise for Bitcoin… all culminating in the single most important factor for your success and I, Bryan Ellis, your humble host for today’s ascent into investment excellence, will share it all with you right now in Episode #289 of Self-Directed Investor Talk! https://SelfDirected.org/irahttp://www.Facebook.com/sditalkhttp://www.Twitter.com/sditalk  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

7 Big "No-No's" When Picking A Self-Directed IRA Custodian (Part 2) http://SDITalk.com/288 Let’s talk about choosing a self-directed IRA custodian, shall we?  I’m Bryan Ellis.  This is episode #288 of Self-Directed Investor Talk. https://SelfDirected.org/investor-talk https://SelfDirected.org/ira http://www.Facebook.com/sditalk http://www.Twitter.com/sditalk   Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

  7 Big "No-No's" When Picking A Self-Directed IRA Custodian (Part 1) http://SDITalk.com/287 Let’s talk about choosing a self-directed IRA custodian, shall we?  I’m Bryan Ellis.  This is episode #287 of Self-Directed Investor Talk. https://SelfDirected.org/investor-talk https://SelfDirected.org/ira http://www.Facebook.com/sditalk http://www.Twitter.com/sditalk   Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

  PREDICTION:  70% Chance Of Stock Market Tumble http://SDITalk.com/286 An incredibly well-respected financial company is predicting a 70% probability that the stock market will experience a bit of a meltdown.  How will you prepare the conventional side of your portfolio? I’m Bryan Ellis.  This is Episode #286 of Self-Directed Investor Talk. https://SelfDirected.org/investor-talk https://SelfDirected.org/ira http://www.Facebook.com/sditalk http://www.Twitter.com/sditalk   Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Sexual Harassment Accusations Hit The Real Estate Industry... http://SDITalk.com/285 It’s not just Hollywood, Politics and Journalism where accusations of sexual assault are flying.  The Real estate business is in the crosshairs now too… Landlords beware!  Get ready for the most NOT politically correct but TOTALLY RATIONAL thinking on that whole sticky topic you’ve ever.  I’m Bryan Ellis.  This is Episode #285 of Self-Directed Investor Talk. https://SelfDirected.org/investor-talk https://SelfDirected.org/ira http://www.Facebook.com/sditalk http://www.Twitter.com/sditalk   Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Bitcoin Prices Are STUPID.  BUT... http://SDITalk.com/284 You know what two things don’t mix?  RATIONALITY and BITCOIN PRICES.  Yep, I said it… Bitcoin prices are JUST STUPID.  But that doesn’t mean what you think it does.  Listen on for a point of view sure to surprise and amaze you.  I’m Bryan Ellis.  This is Episode #284 of Self-Directed Investor Talk. https://SelfDirected.org/investor-talk https://SelfDirected.org/ira http://www.Facebook.com/sditalk http://www.Twitter.com/sditalk   Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

On Buying S-Corporations In Your IRA https://SelfDirected.org/283 Will your self-directed IRA be guilty of a dreaded PROHIBITED TRANSACTION if it buys shares of an S-corporation?  Conventional wisdom – including many self-directed IRA custodians – say YES.  But the law doesn’t say that AT ALL.  What it ACTUALLY says may surprise you.  I’m Bryan Ellis.  This is Episode #283 of Self-Directed Investor Talk. https://SelfDirected.org/investor-talk https://SelfDirected.org/ira http://www.Facebook.com/sditalk http://www.Twitter.com/sditalk   Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Diversification:  Only for the Ignorant? https://SelfDirected.org/282 Should your self-directed retirement account be “well-diversified” as is the popular advice today?  My opinion is 180 degrees opposite conventional wisdom… and the greatest investor in history agrees with me.  My name is Bryan Ellis.  This is episode #282 of Self-Directed Investor Talk. https://SelfDirected.org/investor-talk https://SelfDirected.org/ira http://www.Facebook.com/sditalk http://www.Twitter.com/sditalk   Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Bitcoin In Your IRA:  Should You Invest? https://SelfDirected.org/281 Today, we conclude our brilliant 3-part series on Bitcoin and your IRA with the simple question:  SHOULD you invest in Bitcoin inside of your self-directed IRA or solo 401(k)?  That’s a big question, and I’ve got some important things for you to consider.  I’m Bryan Ellis.  This is Episode #281 of Self-Directed Investor Talk. https://SelfDirected.org/investor-talk https://SelfDirected.org/bitcoin-ira https://SelfDirected.org/ira http://www.Facebook.com/sditalk http://www.Twitter.com/sditalk   Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

https://SelfDirected.org/280 Bitcoin IRA’s huh?  So you’ve decided to take the plunge and invest your hard-earned retirement savings into the new kid on the financial block, Bitcoin.  Well, it’s a little different than other kinds of investments, and today, I’ll show you how to make it happen.  I’m Bryan Ellis.  This is episode #280 of Self-Directed Investor Talk. https://SelfDirected.org/investor-talk https://SelfDirected.org/bitcoin-ira https://SelfDirected.org/ira https://SelfDirected.org/solo-401k http://www.Facebook.com/sditalk http://www.Twitter.com/sditalk   Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Bitcoin IRA:  Is It A Real Thing? https://SelfDirected.org/279 What financial asset is booming in popularity, making people wealthy very quickly… and facing a difficult political terrain?  Why, it’s none other than Bitcoin, of course!  Today I’ll tell you all about bitcoin and how it fits into your self-directed IRA or solo 401(k).  I’m Bryan Ellis.  This is episode #279 of Self-Directed Investor Talk. https://SelfDirected.org/bitcoin-ira https://SelfDirected.org/ira http://www.Facebook.com/sditalk http://www.Twitter.com/sditalk https://SelfDirected.org/bitcoin   Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The Hourglass Technique https://SelfDirected.org/278 Hugh Hefner sold the Playboy Mansion for a whopping $100 MILLION dollars last year… and in so doing, he gave unwittingly provides a roadmap for how to get the tax benefits of a Traditional IRA and a Roth IRA at the SAME TIME.  My friends, I proudly present the Hourglass Technique.  I’m Bryan Ellis.  This is Episode #278. https://SelfDirected.org/investor-talk http://www.Facebook.com/sditalk http://www.Twitter.com/sditalk   Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

If They Tell You The Investment is IRS-Approved, They're Lying! https://SelfDirected.org/277 You know that latest investment you were sold on the basis that it is “IRS-approved”?  Or maybe that vendor who offered you a so-called “IRS-approved” checkbook IRA?  Well, my friends… they’re lying to you, and I’ve got the evidence for you right now.  I’m Bryan Ellis.  This is episode #277 of Self-Directed Investor Talk. https://SelfDirected.org/ira https://SelfDirected.org/investor-talk http://www.Facebook.com/sditalk http://www.Twitter.com/sditalk   Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Lawsuit Risk and Your IRA:  The Risk Is Greater Than You Realize https://SelfDirected.org/276 Have you ever thought about the risk of lawsuits involving real estate in your IRA?  Or maybe strategies to reduce your IRA taxes during retirement… or even estate planning issues for your IRA?  These things are rarely considered until it’s too late, and they are the topic of Step 5 of 5 Simple Steps to Getting Started Right with Real Estate IRA’s.  I’m Bryan Ellis.  This is episode #276 of Self-Directed Investor Talk. 5 Steps To Getting Started Right With Real Estate IRA's: Step 1 Step 2 Step 3 Step 4 Step 5 https://SelfDirected.org/ira https://SelfDirected.org/investor-talk http://www.Facebook.com/sditalk http://www.Twitter.com/sditalk   Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

4 Ways To Get Capital Into Your IRA/401k For Real Estate Deals https://SelfDirected.org/275 How, exactly, do you get the capital into your real estate IRA or 401k to fund that next great deal?  That’s the topic of part 4 of 5 Steps to Getting Started Right with Real Estate IRA’s, and it’s what I’ll tell you right now.  I’m Bryan Ellis.  This is episode #275. 5 Steps To Getting Started Right With Real Estate IRA's: Step 1 Step 2 Step 3 Step 4 Step 5 - Next Episode! https://SelfDirected.org/ira https://SelfDirected.org/investor-talk http://www.Facebook.com/sditalk http://www.Twitter.com/sditalk   Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Real Estate IRA's: Getting Started Right -- Simple Step 3 of 5 https://SelfDirected.org/274 You can’t do a great real estate deal in your self-directed IRA or 401k without first setting up that IRA or 401k.  But who is the right provider?  And if you’re not using the best provider right now, should you switch?  I’m Bryan Ellis.  I’ll give you the answer right now in Part 3 of 5 Simple Steps to Getting Started right with a real estate IRA.  This is Episode #274. https://SelfDirected.org http://www.Facebook.com/sditalk http://www.Twitter.com/sditalk https://SelfDirected.org/ira https://SelfDirected.org/bryan-ellis Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Real Estate IRA's: Getting Started Right -- Simple Step 2 of 5 | Episode #273   https://SelfDirected.org/273   So you’ve found a great real estate deal… congratulations!  Yesterday, we looked at whether you should do that deal INSIDE or OUTSIDE of your self-directed retirement account.  Today, in Part 2 of 5 Simple Steps to Getting Started Right with Real Estate IRA’s, we look at the key question of whether you’ll get the biggest benefit from using a self-directed IRA or solo 401(k)… even if you don’t currently have both types of accounts.  I’m Bryan Ellis.  This is episode #273. https://SelfDirected.org/ira https://SelfDirected.org/solo-401k http://www.Facebook.com/sditalk http://www.Twitter.com/sditalk   Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Real Estate IRA's:  Getting Started Right https://SelfDirected.org/272 They say when you have a hammer, every problem looks like a nail.  And when you know about real estate IRA’s, every real estate deal can easily look like an IRA deal.  But should it?  Today we look at step 1 of 5 simple steps to getting started right with a real estate IRA.  I’m Bryan Ellis.  This is episode #272. https://SelfDirected.org https://SelfDirected.org/ira https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbesfinancecouncil/2017/08/07/self-directed-iras-are-risky-but-for-whom http://www.Facebook.com/sditalk   Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

https://SelfDirected.org/271 Are you relying on a pension to provide for you during retirement?  If so, my friends, there’s very bad news out today from a very reputable source that you need to hear.  And I’ve got some great news that will really take the pressure off… but only if you act quickly enough.  I’m Bryan Ellis.  This is episode #271 of Self-Directed Investor Talk. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

https://SelfDirected.org/270 Conventional financial media is fat with tales of woe and complication for users of self-directed IRA’s… but the prevailing truth is a very different matter.  Today, you learn question #3 of 3 simply questions to ask yourself so you’ll never run into the trumped-up problems THEY want you to believe to be the rule rather than the exception.  I’m Bryan Ellis.  This is episode #270. https://SelfDirected.org https://www.facebook.com/sditalk https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbesfinancecouncil/2017/08/07/self-directed-iras-are-risky-but-for-whom/ https://www.linkedin.com/in/self-directed-ira   Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

https://SelfDirected.org/269 Self-Directed IRA rules are complex, complicated and intimidating… until they’re not.  In the last action-packed episode of SDI Talk, you learned question #1 to ask yourself which will magically help you to avoid prohibited transactions entirely.  That one was all about the deep legal concept of DOUBLE DIPPING.  Disgusting, right?  Well today, we move on to question #2 which is… well, I’m Bryan Ellis.  I’ll tell you question #2 of 3 simple questions to ask yourself to eliminate prohibited transaction.  This is Episode #269. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

https://SelfDirected.org/268 Conventional financial “experts” (ahem) say, almost with a unified voice, that self-directed IRA’s are so dangerous that you shouldn’t use them.  I, your humble host, say something entirely different:  Don’t let their ignorance get in the way of building great wealth in your IRA through ALTERNATIVE investments!  Today you learn question #1 of 3 simple questions to ask yourself which will virtually guarantee you’ll never face the ire of the IRS due to your IRA.  I’m Bryan Ellis.  This is Episode #268. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Classic American cars… Corrupt Labor Unions… pension raids… and even the implosion of an iconic American company!  Get ready to learn why IRA’s were created originally, and how that knowledge can help you avoid the IRA cataclysm known as the prohibited transaction. Episode #6 of Self-Directed Investor Talk: https://SelfDirected.org/6 In 1963, Studebaker - the once-thriving auto manufacturer - produced it's last car before going out of business Before they went out of business, Studebaker was forced by the United Auto Worker's Union to promise unrealistic pension benefits in lieu of higher pay, which Studebaker couldn't afford When Studebaker went out of business, they raided the corporate pension fund, leaving their former employees without the pensions they'd been promised. Studebaker was just one of many companies - nearly all of them highly unionized - that went out of business and raided their corporate pensions in order to pay their debts.  But it was Studebaker that got the attention of Congress... In 1974, Congress passed a collection of laws called the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) which, among other things, created the IRA The purpose of the IRA was simple:  To empower Americans to save for retirement in a tax-advantaged way without connecting those savings to employers, or to the risk of employer failure The law didn't create "conventional" IRA's and "self-directed IRA's"... only the IRA.  The distinction between conventional and self-directed is entirely a function of the policies of each individual IRA custodian Full story at https://SelfDirected.org/6 Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

https://selfdirected.org/podcasts/investor-talk/fannie-mae-unjustly-targets-seller-financing-including-rent-installment-contracts-episode-266   The Big Idea Fannie Mae, like most of the rest of the federal government, oversteps its boundaries and begins a campaign to target the elimination of totally legitimate seller-financing strategies like rent-to-own and installment contract sales. Points To Ponder Happy Memorial Day.  To the families who have lost a loved one in service of the defense of the United States, I (Bryan Ellis) and my family thank you sincerely.  Please be sure to listen to the tribute in today's episode. Fannie Mae has accused a company called Vision Property Management of impropriety in seller financing transactions on homes purchased from Fannie Mae.  (We have no knowledge of the business practices or innocence/guilt of Vision Property Management) Fannie's response:  Prohibition of Vision from purchasing any properties, and targeting of so called "abusive seller finance strategies" from any other companies This is just an attempt to categorize seller financing - which is a competitor to bank financing and therefore to Fannie Mae's profitability - as an "abusive" practice so it will be blackballed through political correctness, even though there's nothing illegal about these strategies This is all a result of the actions of prodding from corrupt Democrat Congressman Elijah Cummings Bottom Line:  It matters for whom you vote, because the effect of your vote will always trickle down to you... sometimes catastrophically Resources Episode #266 of Self Directed Investor Talk is here New York Times story about Vision Property Management Corrupt Democrat Congressman Elijah Cummings faces possible prison time for collusion in IRS matter and has proven he's susceptible to entirely false influence Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

https://selfdirected.org/podcasts/investor-talk/traditional-ira401k-chopping-block-congress-episode-265/   The Big Idea Some people in Congress are very foolishly considering cutting your right to deduct contributions to your IRA or 401(k).  Here's why, and what we'll do about it... Points To Ponder Some in Congress appear to be considering cutting the tax deduction for contributions to traditional IRA's or 401(k)'s President Trump wants to cut corporate and personal income taxes dramatically Some simpletons in Congress want to reinstate taxes on contributions to IRA's/401k's to "pay" for this tax cut This opinion reflects profound ignorance on the part of Congress, and those who demand "revenue neutral" tax reform Bryan doesn't think this will happen, but the fact it's being seriously discussed is of great concern Stay tuned to Self Directed Investor Talk for more instructions as this situation develops Resources Episode #265 of Self Directed Investor Talk is here Self Directed IRA's - https://SelfDirected.org/ira Solo 401(k)'s - https://SelfDirected.org/solo-401k 1031 Exchanges - https://SelfDirected.org/1031-exchange Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

https://SelfDirected.org/podcasts/investor-talk/one-simple-way-avoid-prohibited-transactions-episode-264 The Big Idea There's one simple operating principle that is more powerful than any other for avoiding prohibited transactions in your self-directed IRA, and that's simplicity... Points To Ponder You're welcomed to join us for a casual dinner in the Bay Area of San Francisco on June 12 or 13, 2017.  Email us at feedback at SelfDirected dot org if you're interested The biggest factor to avoid prohibited transactions:  Simplicity Prohibited Transaction:  any transaction involving your IRA that benefits you rather than just the IRA Assets that are standardized are safest regarding prohibited transactions. Examples:  Stocks, CD's, mutual funds The more complex, the greater the prohibited transaction risk. Progression:  Real estate, rental properties, real estate flipping (lease complex and risky to most complex and risky) Excellent alternative:  Private Lending Resources Episode #264 (this episode) of Self-Directed Investor Talk is available here Send email to feedback at SelfDirected dot org if you'd like to join us for a casual meet-and-greet in San Francisco on the evening of June 12 or June 13 Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

https://SelfDirected.org/263 The Big IdeaThe Trump Administration has proposed a series of tax cut objectives which will, as a whole, have tremendously stimulative effect on the economy. But there's one problem: Part of the proposal could hurt your self-directed IRA...Points To PonderThe Trump Administration has provided a list of policy goals which will dramatically reduce personal and corporate tax ratesThe effects of such tax cuts will be very stimulative to the economy, as has been shown repeatedly and undeniably in the pastPart of the proposal is to reduce corporate income tax rates from 35% to 15%Much to the delight of most observers, Trump wants to extend that rate to pass-through entities like LLC's and S-Corporations, which will result in an effective tax cut there as wellHowever, if your own an LLC in your IRA, it could mean that your LLC is obligated to pay 15% tax on its profits, which would defeat the purpose of owning the LLC in an IRAThis is not a certainty and may be worked out as these policy goals are translated into lawYou must stay informed about this issue in case it becomes necessary to reach out to your representatives. Do that by subscribing to this show now.ResourcesTrump's Tax ProposaThis is Episode #263 of Self Directed Investor Talk Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

https://SelfDirected.org/262   The Big Idea Several kinds of retirement plans have sprung up for business owners over the years:  The Keogh, the standard IRA, the SIMPLE IRA, the SEP IRA, the Solo 401(k) and more... which is best - which should be relegated to the dustbin of history? Points To Ponder What's the bottom line on the value of each type of retirement account to the unique needs of Small Business Owners? Two broad categories:  IRA & 401(k) Traditional IRA vs Roth IRA vs SEP IRA Solo 401(k) vs all IRA's 5 Reasons Solo 401(k) is superior choice Does it ever make sense to have more than one type of retirement account? Ideal structure for small business owners to have maximum flexibility with minimum cost Resources Episode #262 of Self Directed Investor Talk available here Prohibited Transactions Assets That You Can and Can NOT Buy in An IRA Solo 401(k) vs SEP IRA Self-Directed IRA Custodians Use Non-Custodial 401(k)'s Rather Than Custodial 401(k)'s Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Episode #261: https://SelfDirected.org/261 The Big Idea What is a real estate IRA?  Does it actually possess the unthinkable ability to invest your IRA into real estate?  Who offers the very best real estate IRA in the market today?  That's what's in Episode #261 of Self Directed Investor Talk Points To Ponder Come to meet Bryan at the ThinkRealty National Conference and Expo in Dallas, Texas on April 29. A few free tickets available if you email Bryan at feedback@selfdirected.org. A “real estate IRA” is theoretically an IRA that’s better suited for purchasing real estate than other IRA’s Under the law, there’s no such thing as a real estate IRA (or a “self-directed IRA”)! That name is used to get your attention, because big dollars are stake for custodians, some of which willfully mislead with statements like these: "Technically speaking, a Self-Directed IRA is not any different than any other IRA (or 401k)" -- https://www.trustetc.com/self-directed-ira/faqs "A real estate IRA is technically no different than any other IRA (or 401k)." -- https://www.trustetc.com/real-estate-ira/what-is-it Those statements are patently false and, Bryan suspects, willfully deceptive. (Listen to podcast or see transcript for further substantiation.) Bryan’s 5 recommendations if you want to buy real estate in an IRA: Consider buying real estate OUTSIDE your IRA rather than INSIDE it No need to use a so-called “real estate IRA”… any self directed IRA will do It is possible for your IRA to get a loan to buy real estate Use a solo 401k (aka self-directed 401k) rather than a self-directed IRA if possible (here's why) Consider taking title to real estate in an LLC rather than directly in your IRA A few good custodians for real estate transactions: Advanta IRA, uDirect IRA, Quest IRA The Very Best option for buying real estate with your retirement funds is available here  Please read transcript or listen to full episode for further substantiation. Resources Episode #261 of Self Directed Investor Talk available here Ultimate IRA/401k for Real Estate Investors Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Emotional Decisions In Real Estate Purchasing Millennials make decisions about real estate purchases on a basis that seems incredibly foreign to me.  Yet my criteria - and your criteria - really don't matter, because it is the millennials who will be our buyers and renters.  Here's a peak into their [strange] thought processes... Full Podcast:  https://SelfDirected.org/podcast/investor-talk/episode-260   More resources: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/self-directed-iras-and-s-corporations-what-youve_us_58d28bc4e4b062043ad4aea6 https://SelfDirected.org/ira https://www.thestreet.com/story/13625516/1/avoid-these-5-traps-when-buying-real-estate-in-self-directed-iras.html https://www.Facebook.com/sditalk   Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

5 Reasons NOT To Buy Real Estate In Your IRA (Part 5)   Here at SelfDirected.org, we love self-directed IRA's.  And we love real estate as an investment asset class.  So it seems like the combination of the two would be a match made in heaven... right? Well, maybe... and maybe not.  It could actually be a really bad idea. Enjoy this in-depth look at the 5 reasons not to buy real estate in your IRA, based on one of Bryan's award-winning articles published on TheStreet.com.   Full Episode: https://SelfDirected.org/podcasts/investor-talk/episode-259 More Resources: https://www.Facebook.com/sditalk http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/58d28bc4e4b062043ad4aea6 http://www.IRAIdeas.com     Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

5 Reasons NOT To Buy Real Estate In Your IRA (Part 4)   Here at SelfDirected.org, we love self-directed IRA's.  And we love real estate as an investment asset class.  So it seems like the combination of the two would be a match made in heaven... right? Well, maybe... and maybe not.  It could actually be a really bad idea. Enjoy this in-depth look at the 5 reasons not to buy real estate in your IRA, based on one of Bryan's award-winning articles published on TheStreet.com.   Full Episode: https://SelfDirected.org/podcasts/investor-talk/episode-259 More Resources: https://www.Facebook.com/sditalk http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/58d28bc4e4b062043ad4aea6 http://www.IRAIdeas.com     Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

5 Reasons NOT To Buy Real Estate In Your IRA (Part 3)   Here at SelfDirected.org, we love self-directed IRA's.  And we love real estate as an investment asset class.  So it seems like the combination of the two would be a match made in heaven... right? Well, maybe... and maybe not.  It could actually be a really bad idea. Enjoy this in-depth look at the 5 reasons not to buy real estate in your IRA, based on one of Bryan's award-winning articles published on TheStreet.com.   Full Episode: https://SelfDirected.org/podcasts/investor-talk/episode-259 More Resources: https://www.Instagram.com/sditalk http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/58d28bc4e4b062043ad4aea6 https://selfdirectedira.tumblr.com/     Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

5 Reasons NOT To Buy Real Estate In Your IRA (Part 2)   Here at SelfDirected.org, we love self-directed IRA's.  And we love real estate as an investment asset class.  So it seems like the combination of the two would be a match made in heaven... right? Well, maybe... and maybe not.  It could actually be a really bad idea. Enjoy this in-depth look at the 5 reasons not to buy real estate in your IRA, based on one of Bryan's award-winning articles published on TheStreet.com.   Full Episode: https://SelfDirected.org/podcasts/investor-talk/episode-259 More Resources: https://www.Facebook.com/sditalk http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/58d28bc4e4b062043ad4aea6 http://www.IRAIdeas.com       Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

5 Reasons NOT To Buy Real Estate In Your IRA (Parts 1)   Here at SelfDirected.org, we love self-directed IRA's.  And we love real estate as an investment asset class.  So it seems like the combination of the two would be a match made in heaven... right? Well, maybe... and maybe not.  It could actually be a really bad idea. Enjoy this in-depth look at the 5 reasons not to buy real estate in your IRA, based on one of Bryan's award-winning articles published on TheStreet.com.   Full Episode: https://SelfDirected.org/podcasts/investor-talk/episode-259 More Resources: https://www.Facebook.com/sditalk http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/58d28bc4e4b062043ad4aea6 http://www.IRAIdeas.com       Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Episode #258: Traditional vs Roth IRA https://SelfDirected.org/podcast/investor-talk/episode-258 Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Can You Buy Asset "X" In Your IRA? (Part 2) Ask yourself these 7 questions to determine whether a particular asset class is compatible with your IRA: Full Podcast Episode:  https://SelfDirected.org/podcasts/investor-talk/episode-257   Other Resources: https://SelfDirected.org/ira https://www.Facebook.com/sditalk https://www.Instagram.com/sditalk   Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Can You Buy Asset "X" In Your IRA? (Part 1) Ask yourself these 7 questions to determine whether a particular asset class is compatible with your IRA.   Full Podcast & Resource:  https://SelfDirected.org/podcasts/investor-talk/episode-257   Other Resources: https://SelfDirected.org/ira/law https://issuu.com/selfdirected http://www.Twitter.com/sditalk   Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Can You Borrow From Your IRA?  NO, But...   Full Podcast and Resources:  https://SelfDirected.org/podcasts/investor-talk/episode-257   Other Resources: https://SelfDirected.org/ira/custodians http://www.imfaceplate.com/SelfDirected https://www.instagram.com/sditalk/   Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Is The State of California Targeting Rental Property Owners Again? Full Episode & Resources Here:  https://SelfDirected.org/podcasts/investor-talk/episode-257   More Resources: https://SelfDirected.org/ira https://www.Facebook.com/sditalk https://vimeo.com/selfdirected/about   Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Janet Yellen Plays Politics With Your Portfolio The Federal Reserve took action on interest rates this week, and many people are questioning why they did it... and Fed Chair Janet Yetllen can't answer the question of why she did it.  It means one thing:  She's playing politics with YOUR portfolio...   Full Episode Here: https://SelfDirected.org/257   More Resources: https://SelfDirected.org/ira https://SelfDirected.org/ira/custodians https://www.Facebook.com/sditalk https://SelfDirected.org/podcasts/investor-talk/ http://www.Twitter.com/sditalk   Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Traditional IRA or Roth IRA - Which Is Fundamentally Better? (Part 1 of 3) All else being equal, which is better:  The Traditional IRA or the Roth IRA?  Well, all things are NOT equal, but there are some very important differences that go beyond even the taxation issues that distinguish these account types.  Learn the deeper differences right now: Full episode & All Resources: https://SelfDirected.org/256 Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Traditional IRA or Roth IRA - Which Is Fundamentally Better? (Part 1 of 3) All else being equal, which is better:  The Traditional IRA or the Roth IRA?  Well, all things are NOT equal, but there are some very important differences that go beyond even the taxation issues that distinguish these account types.  Learn the deeper differences right now: Full episode & All Resources: https://SelfDirected.org/256 Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Traditional IRA or Roth IRA - Which Is Fundamentally Better? (Part 1 of 3) All else being equal, which is better:  The Traditional IRA or the Roth IRA?  Well, all things are NOT equal, but there are some very important differences that go beyond even the taxation issues that distinguish these account types.  Learn the deeper differences right now: Full episode & All Resources: https://SelfDirected.org/256 Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

A Trendy Housing Market Indicator You Should IGNORE? There's a very trendy housing market indicator frequently cited by the press, yet it's only accurate on its own an incredibly small portion of the time.  Don't get faked out!  Learn more now: Full Podcast And Resources Here: https://SelfDirected.org/256 Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

AirBnb or VRBO in your Self-Directed IRA?  Warning! It was inevitable!  AirBnB & VRBO have become so popular that people are combining real estate owned in their self-directed IRA's with the AirBnb/VRBO way of property rentals, but... there's a HUGE "gotchya".  Listen in now to hear more about the "catch" that could bite you: Full Episode and Resources here: https://SelfDirected.org/256 Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

"I've Found A Great Real Estate Deal... But My IRA Only Has Enough For The Down Payments.  Can My IRA Borrow The Rest?"   I don't know about you, but to me, the notion of introducing debt into an IRA or 401(k) seems... scary.  Nevertheless, it is possible and in some cases, can even make a lot of sense.  But it opens up another entire can of worms, so learn the ins and outs here: Here's the full podcast (and all resources): https://SelfDirected.org/255 Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

What Kind Of Assets Can You Buy In Your IRA? (Part 2) Yes, your Self-Directed IRA is very flexible... but exactly what kinds of assets can you ACTUALLY buy using your retirement money... or are there any limits at all?  Hint:  There are limits, but not many - but ignoring them can hurt very, very badly: Here's the podcast (and all resources): https://SelfDirected.org/255 Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

What Kind Of Assets Can You Buy In Your IRA? (Part 1) Yes, your Self-Directed IRA is very flexible... but exactly what kinds of assets can you ACTUALLY buy using your retirement money... or are there any limits at all?  Hint:  There are limits, but not many - but ignoring them can hurt very, very badly... Full Podcast and Resources Here: https://SelfDirected.org/255 Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

If You're Evaluating a Real Estate Market, Here Are 3 Important Questions To Ask About JOBS In The Area...   Not all jobs are created equally, and some types of jobs have a much higher predictive value than others.  Take a moment now to learn 3 important questions you should ask... Full Podcast and Resources here: https://SelfDirected.org/255 Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Is The Dallas Real Estate Market Headed For A Crash? One SDI listener is extremely interested in investing in turnkey rental property in Dallas, Texas... but he can't shake the memory of the real estate crash in Dallas in the '80's.  Is today's market like that one in any important ways?   The Podcast (And Resources) Are Here: https://SelfDirected.org/255 Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Prohibited Transactions are Always Taxable.  But Taxable Transactions Aren't Always Prohibited... Many Self-Directed IRA owners don't realize that it's possible to engage in transactions in an IRA that establish a present-day tax liability.  Those who do know that frequently confuse taxable transactions in an IRA with the more sinister risk, the prohibited transaction.  Prohibited transactions are always taxable.  But taxable transactions aren't always prohibited.  Here's the difference: This episode (and all supporting materials): https://SelfDirected.org/254 Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Is There A Custodian Involved In Your Solo 401(k)?  DANGER, Will Robinson! (Part 1 of 2) One thing that is undeniably true about Self-Directed (Solo) 401k's versus Self-Directed IRA's is that 401k's are far more resilient against prohibited transactions than their IRA counterparts.  But as it turns out, that's only true if your Solo 401k was established in the correct way.  If not, then your Solo 401k is no safer against PT's than any run-of-the-mill IRA.  Learn why right now: This Episode - and all supporting content - available at: https://SelfDirected.org/254 Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

There's a huge population of reliable renters likely to be flush with cash from a recent home sale who want to stay in your rental property - if you meet their requirements - for life!  If you want to know where and what these folks will be renting over the next decade or more, listen in right now: This episode - and all supporting content - located at: https://SelfDirected.org/254 Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Should You Use an IRA Company to Set Up Your Solo 401(k)? https://SelfDirected.org/254d There's a hidden distinction among solo 401(k) plans from one provider to the next that's big, bad and disconcerting if you discover it the wrong way.  I'm Bryan Ellis.  I'll tell you what it is right now in Episode #254 (part D) of Self Directed Investor Talk. https://SelfDirected.org/ira https://SelfDirected.org/investor-talk http://www.Facebook.com/sditalk http://www.Twitter.com/sditalk   Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

3 New Pieces of data about the Trump Economy are eye-openers… absolutely shocking… and frankly, are each great indicators about what CAN happen in YOUR Self-Directed IRA, Solo 401k or any other investment portfolio if you’re smart enough to play the hand you’re dealt.  Learn about those 3 earth-shaking pieces of data, and how they play in your favor RIGHT NOW: Full Notes and Resources available at: https://SelfDirected.org/254 Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The Big Idea Prohibited transactions are a terrible, terrible thing for your IRA, and they are ALWAYS taxable, with penalties and interest, too.  Yes, all prohibited transactions are taxable.  But not all taxable transactions in your IRA are prohibited... Points To Ponder Prohibited transactions are prohibited because they benefit someone other than the IRA Not all transactions that are taxable to your IRA are prohibited Zamir from Boston proposes a transaction that could be both... or neither... we take a look Resources Full Episode Transcript: Episode #253 of Self Directed Investor Talk Deep dive in prohibited transactions... and FREE EBOOK! The best self-directed IRA lawyer on the planet:  Tim Berry Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The Big Idea There's nothing sexy about Birmingham, Alabama... unless very high cash flow from very inexpensive properties is sexy.  In that case... Birmingham is smoking hot! Points To Ponder Turnkey rental properties are homes you buy as rental properties, but there's already a tenant and property manager in place to make the whole investment "hands-off" for you Birmingham, Alabama is a strong alternative to consider.  Cash flow ROI is very strong. Example:  1,000 SF home, built in 1920's but fully renovated, 3 bedrooms, 1 bath, kitchen, livingroom, etc.  Fully renovated:  $55,000 Net ROI easily in 8-13% range To learn more about this market, call the SDI 2-minute free recorded info line at (773) TURNKEY. Resources Episode #252 of Self Directed Investor Talk available here Free Webinar that shows how many SDI Talk listeners are receiving very large credit lines at 0% interest for their real estate deals or businesses.  Check it out here.   Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The Big Idea The Fiduciary Rule claims to benefit the "best interests" of retirement account investors, but will only serve to keep middle-income Americans away from alternative assets and from high-quality financial advice.  Trump has delayed implementation of this new rule and may end it entirely... Bravo! Points To Ponder In April 2016, the Department of Labor proposed new rules to expand the definition of "fiduciary" to anyone connected with providing guidance to retirement account investors The "suitability" standard had been in place - effectively - for many years, which required that advisors only make investment recommendations that are suitable to investors "Fiduciary" status raises the bar for advice from "suitability" to "best interests"... with stated motivation of eliminating "conflicts of interest" No evidence that "suitability" was an insufficient standard New "best interests" stndard will absolutely limit access to alternative investments and financial advice to all but the upper tier of retirement account holders Fundamental Effect of Fiduciary rule would be to limit the availability of financial advice Trump has delayed implementation of the Fiduciary Rule for 180 days so he can determine what to do with it.  Seems likely he'll eliminate it entirely as it limits investor choice. Resources Episode #251 of Self Directed Investor Talk available here Free Webinar that shows how many SDI Talk listeners are receiving very large credit lines at 0% interest for their real estate deals or businesses.  Check it out here. Next Episode The next episode of Self Directed Investor Talk addresses one particular market for turnkey rental properties that we at SDI are proponents of... along with a case study of a particular investment opportunity to give you a good "taste" for the potential! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The Big Idea An old IRS Revenue Ruling makes Solo 401k's set up by banks, brokerages and self directed IRA custodians just as risky as IRA's in the event of a prohibited transaction... and it does not need to be that way.  Pay close attention for the problem and the solution. Points To Ponder 401(k) plans (including Solo 401k's) can be set up as "Custodial" or "Trust" plans "Custodial" plans are usually those set up by financial companies, including Self Directed IRA custodians "Trust" plans are usually those where the employer/business owner directly manages the 401k IRS Revenue Ruling 71-153, in effect, says that Custodial-type 401k plans are not able to be "fixed" if a prohibited transaction occurs, but that Trust-type plans can be corrected This means that Custodial 401k plans are just as susceptible to the horrible risk of prohibited transactions as IRA's... and the risk there is catastrophically significant If you have a Solo 401k plan, your action items are: Determine whether your plan is Custodial or Trust If your plan is a Custodial plan, consider amending it so that it's a Trust-type of 401k plan Contact solo 401k attorney Tim Berry here to determine if your plan is a Custodial plan, and to have it amended if necessary Revenue Ruling 71-153 is a very old ruling, so an alternative legal opinion is plausible.  However, subsequent regulations have been issued which echo the verbiage in this ruling, so there's substantive reason to believe it remains relevant. Resources Episode #250 of Self Directed Investor Talk (this show) Free Webinar that shows how many SDI Talk listeners are receiving very large credit lines at 0% interest for their real estate deals or businesses.  Check it out here. Solo 401k / Self Directed IRA attorney Tim Berry   Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The Big Idea Turnkey rental property investing is inherently simple, eliminating 95% of the effort and time involved in rental property investing.  But for those seeking a 100% hands-off experience - along with the benefit of a higher level of professional management - a brand new approach to turnkey investing could be even better than it was before. Points to Ponder Turnkey rental property investing eliminates 95% of the effort involved in rental property ownership, but for some, that's not enough "Buffer Fund" is an investment fund that invests in rental properties and is an alternative to direct 100% ownership of individual properties Not the same as a REIT (Real Estate Investment Trust) "Negatives" of investing in Buffer Fund rather than directly into real estate: Loss of control Potentially decreased liquidity Loss of use of 1031 tax defferred exchange "Positives" of investing in a buffer fund rather than directly into real estate: All involvement and time requirements are eliminated Your legal & financial risks are each greatly diminished Superior diversification Economy of Scale What do you think?  We really want to know your opinion... please use the comments area below to sound off! Resources Full transcript of Episode #249 (this episode) of Self Directed Investor Talk is available here Free Webinar that shows how many SDI Talk listeners are receiving very large credit lines at 0% interest for their real estate deals or businesses.  Check it out here. Next Episode In the next episode of SDITalk, we look into Solo 401(k)'s and discover a significant difference in risk for that account type based on a common and simple misconfiguration   Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The Big Idea Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin has said he plans to privatize Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.  But will he really?  If he does, there's a great opportunity lurking... Points To Ponder Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin said very unambiguously that privatization of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac are high priorities and can be accomplished quickly That was welcomed news to current shareholders, who have been the victim of the Fannie/Freddie bailout in 2008 If privatization of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac happen, the market for 30-year fixed rate mortgages will likely disappear The reduction of funding will likely cause a temporary diversion of the price of real estate and it's value, thus creating a strong buying opportunity for cash buyers Seller-financing-oriented investors stand to fare very well... but Dodd Frank must first be repealed, which is also a Trump objective Resources & Transcript Full Transcript of Episode #248 (this episode) is available here Free Webinar that shows how many SDI Talk listeners are receiving very large credit lines at 0% interest for their real estate deals or businesses.  Check it out here. Next Episode The next Episode of Self Directed Investor Talk is here... enjoy! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The Big Idea Not all solo 401(k)'s are the same... and the differences can be very profound. Points To Ponder A 401(k) is an employee-sponsored salary deferral and profit sharing plan.  It can be both, one or neither of "Solo" or "Self-Directed" Solo 401(k)'s offered by stock brokerages tend to exclude all assets other than stocks, bonds and mutual funds. The law doesn't require a 3rd party custodian/trustee for your 401k, but some providers do Your plan will be more flexible as a trustee-directed plan than as an individual-directed plan... as long as you're the trustee! The expertise and availability of the provider of the solo 401(k) plan is the most important distinction Bryan's Recommendation:  Talk with Tim Berry for a Solo 401(k) that meets all requirements Resources Episode #247 of Self-Directed Investor Talk Free Webinar that shows how many SDI Talk listeners are receiving very large credit lines at 0% interest for their real estate deals or businesses.  Check it out here. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The Big Idea There are two fundamental philosophies when it comes to interpreting law as a judge, and one of them is absolutely better for anyone who makes their own investment decisions.  How does Neil Gorsuch, President Trump's nominee for the US Supreme Court, stack up? Points To Ponder President Trump just nominated Judge Neil Gorsuch to serve as the next US Supreme Court It matters greatly because judges who ascribe to a particular judicial philosophy are very bad for investors and businesses The two philosophies are Originalist and Acitivist Originalism says:  The plain words of the law are the guide and absolute limits of my ruling in any case.  It’s the job of CONGRESS to create or change laws, not the job of judges to do so Activism says:  The law is a guide I’ll consider.  But if necessary, I’ll subordinate the law to other factors, including my own political beliefs, the legal system in other jurisdictions, social preferences, etc so that I can arrive at a decision that I believe to be suitable. This all boils down to whether a particular judge makes decisions that create reliable precedent so that we can make decision about investing our money Origianlists tend to make more consistent decisions based on the law itself - regardless of whether the law is "conservative" or "liberal" Neil Gorsuch is definitely an originalist and is an excellent pick for the US Supreme Court Resources Episode #246 of Self Directed Investor Talk (this show) Free Webinar that shows how many SDI Talk listeners are receiving very large credit lines at 0% interest for their real estate deals or businesses.  Check it out here.   Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The Big Idea Self-employed investors have retirement account options that are FAR superior to conventionally employed people in the form of the SEP IRA and the Solo 401k.  One of them is clearly better than the other... Points To Ponder IRA's are great, but you can't contribute more than $6,500 per year to them Self-employed investors may qualify for the SEP IRA or the Solo 401k, both of which have a much larger limit - up to $60,000 per year Solo 401k is practically always a far superior alternative to the SEP IRA because: It's much easier to actually contribute to the solo 401k than to the SEP IRA You can't have a SEP IRA that's taxed as a Roth account The SEP IRA has all of the severe vulnerabilities to prohibited transactions that are present with all IRA's.  Solo 401k's are much safer and friendlier to the investor. If your advisor recommends a SEP IRA over a solo 401k, they're likely either ignorant or are being compensated to motivate you to open an IRA. Resources Episode #245 (this show) of Self Directed Investor Talk Free Webinar that shows how many SDI Talk listeners are receiving very large credit lines at 0% interest for their real estate deals or businesses.  Check it out here. Warren Buffet admits that Diversification is for the Ignorant   Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Want to know how to TRIPLE the returns Wall Street offers for that part of your portfolio that absolutely, positively must stay safe?  I’m Bryan Ellis.  I’ll tell you how to do that EASILY right now in Episode #244 of Self Directed Investor Talk. ----- Hello, Self-Directed Investor Nation!  Welcome to the podcast of record for savvy self-directed investors like you, where each and every day, you learn how to DECLARE INDEPENDENCE from Wall Street as we teach you how to find, understand and PROFIT from exceptional ALTERNATIVE asset investment opportunities! It’s Monday again and I don’t know about you… I love every moment of the weekend, but I definitely look forward to Monday morning, too… it’s good to be back at it with you today! Ok, let’s jump right in.  I’m going to tell you how to TRIPLE what Wall Street offers for money you need to keep safe.  What’s more, you’re going to understand it perfectly and quite easily, before the end of this show. So here’s the deal:  Sooner or later, everybody gets to a point or a life circumstance where you need to make sure that money you have now, you’ll definitely have later.  Yes, of course, we all expect to never lose on an investment, but I think you understand what I’m saying.  The way you invest when you’re well into retirement years, for example, could look very, very different from the way you invest in your 20’s and 30’s. So how do you make THAT money – the “safe” money – continue to grow while minimizing risk? And what would be even BETTER is to enjoy rates of return that are MULTIPLES of what Wall Street offers. Turns out, we can do that.  So first, what does Wall Street recommend for low-risk investing? The primary choices are: Standard bank savings accounts & CD’s Money market accounts Treasuries Historically, all of those are quite safe, and that’s a great thing.  But there are two additional things we need to consider about them:  Their RATES of RETURN and whether there are BETTER OPTIONS. First:  Rates of Return.  I just looked at Wells Fargo’s CD rates, and right now, they range from an interest rate of ZERO up to a WHOPPING 0.55%.  That’s not 55%, that’s 55 one hundreds of ONE percent.  Savings account rates are even lower. Then there’s Money Market Accounts, which are basically just a checking account where your money is invested into a collection of high-quality bonds, like government treasuries, municipal bonds, etc.  I stopped by BankRate.com to see what was available, and money market accounts reach into rare air… one of them reached as high as 1.15%  Big time! And then there are bonds issued by Uncle Sam, aka Treasuries.  While most options are at or below 1%, BankRate tells us the ten-year constant maturity option reaches all the way to a bit over 2%.  Yowzha! So now we know the rates of return.  Thus the question becomes:  Is there a better alternative? Well, yes. For context, understand this:  Every one of those 3 “safe” investments that the conventional financial world loves – CD’s, money market funds and treasuries – every single one of them is a “debt” investment.  In other words, they’re just loans that you’re making to somebody.  In the case of CD’s, you’re making an unsecured loan to a bank.  In the case of money market funds, you’re making unsecured loans to the underlying bond issuers.  And in the case of government treasuries, you’re making unsecured loans to the US federal government. So let’s do better, shall we? We’ll imagine you’ve got $100,000 to invest that you know you’re going to need in 5 years.  My humble, but entirely correct, opinion of what to do here is this:  Invest your money in DEBT… yes.  That makes sense because a smartly-structured debt investment can have one thing that makes your money very secure:  COLLATERAL.  Collateral is what you have to fall back on if the loan you make doesn’t get paid, so this is CENTRAL to keeping your money safe. But what’s conveniently missing from CD’s, from Money Market funds and from Treasuries?  You guessed it… COLLATERAL.  Yes, your bank promises they’ll repay your CD.  Some local government is putting their name behind their muni bonds in your money market account.  And yes, Uncle Sam signs on the dotted line for treasuries.  But my friends… none of that is REAL.  It’s all fluff… hot air… nothing more. So the way to do better is this:  Take that $100,000 and LOAN it to someone, just like we’ve already said.  But have them pledge COLLATERAL to make your loan safe.  What if you could get someone to pledge a $200,000 property as collateral for your $100,000 loan?  Well, the answer is:  Nothing is ever totally safe, but that’s pretty freaking safe.  If you made that loan even during the worst of times in the real estate crash of 2007/2008, you’d likely be JUST FINE. What’s more, you’ll easily make a MULTIPLE of what you’ll make in CD’s, money market funds and treasuries.  It’s REALLY easy to get 5 or 6% interest on loans like this – which is clearly, double, triple, sometimes quadruple what you’d get by going the route of “conventional wisdom”. And remember – if it turns out that your borrower doesn’t pay you… you’ve got collateral worth DOUBLE the money you put into the deal.  It’s a STRONG position for you to be in.  You’d be even wiser to take that $100K and split it up among 2-4 smaller deals as well, to further spread your already minimal risk. So how do you do it?  Easy answer… if that’s you, and you’ve got $100K or so and are looking for an extremely safe way to make 5-6% or so, reach out to me by email at feedback@sditalk.com or by phone at 512-SDI-TALK.  Again, if you’ve got $100K or more and are looking for an extremely safe way to make 5-6% or so, just reach out to me by email at feedback@sditalk.com or by phone at 512-SDI-TALK. My friends, thank you for listening to Self Directed Investor Talk and remember:  Invest wisely today, and live well forever! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

I’m not a huge fan of using leverage in a retirement account.  But this time, it makes some sense.  I’m Bryan Ellis.  I’ll tell you about this special case right now in Episode #243 of Self Directed Investor Talk. ----- Hello Self Directed Investor Nation!  Welcome back to the podcast of record for savvy self-directed investors like you… where all we ask of you is 7 minutes a day… and in return, we give you MASTERY as a self-directed investor. Hey folks, I hope you’ve taken the time to check out the BRAND NEW website for this show, SDITalk.com.  It’s designed specifically to give you much easier access to all of the information you love, and it is, STILL, 100% free!  Check it out now… SDITalk.com. Quick note, too… you’ve heard me say it before, and I’ll say it again:  If you need funding for your deals or your business, the best interest rate to pay is ZERO.  The best type of collateral to place is NONE.  And the best kind of credit to have is CASH credit.  So, if you’re interested in up to $250,000 of zero collateral, zero interest CASH CREDIT, stop by SDITalk.com/credit for a free webinar on that very topic.  SDITalk.com/credit.  You’ll be very glad you did! Ok, here’s the deal:  I’m just not a big fan of using leverage in a retirement account.  By leverage, of course I mean getting a loan, usually to buy real estate. It’s totally legal to do that in your IRA or 401k, you just have to make sure that the loan fits the right parameters.  Setting aside that issue, it’s really not a big issue anymore, as the number of IRA-compliant lenders is growing each year. Having said that, I’m still just leary of leverage.  I’m a fan of the Dave Ramsey school of thought where debt is a bad idea period.  I actually don’t believe that, but frankly, that’s a mindset that will never steer you wrong. But hey… sometimes, you do what you’ve got to do. And one of those circumstances comes up for people who invest their IRA in real estate. Actually, there are two situations. One of them is this one: You’ve done well, you’re in your retirement years, your account has about a million dollar’s worth of real estate in it, and that’s when you’re told you’ve got to pay out the dreaded RMD – required minimum distribution.  That’s the withdrawal the IRS forces you to take even if you don’t want it, just so that they can get some income taxes from you. And with an account of that size, it’s totally plausible that a person in their 70’s will have an RMD of $40,000 to $50,000 per year. Well what if you’re fully invested… maybe you own 3 or 4 properties and that’s all that’s in your account? Well, you MUST pay the RMD… penalties for failure are rather severe… so I see 3 options here: You pay the money with cash on hand outside your retirement account You sell one of those properties to raise the cash, taking on the valuation discount that’ll likely be necessary if you have to do a quick sale to pay the RMD, or… You get a small loan in your IRA against one of the properties, and pay the RMD with that! Now obviously this is contingent on whether your properties generate sufficient cash flow to cover the payments, but they certainly should. A similar strategy might be useful for that kind of circumstance where you just need a large chunk of cash from your IRA or 401k, and the only way to get it would be to sell a property.  In that case, it might be worth getting an equity loan against the property instead if you believe there’s still upside in that property. I’m thinking specifically about college expenses.  I’m 42 years old, and while I have one child in college and one who is a junior in high school, I also have one who is 3 years old and one who is 2 years old.  That means that right about the time I start to be able to withdraw money from my IRA, I could use that money to pay for college.  But I just can’t imagine actually SELLING real estate for that reason.  Rather, I can totally envision getting a low LTV loan against those properties so I can pay those large college lump sum expenses without actually giving up my properties. So I’m still not a big fan of using leverage in IRA’s or 401k’s, but when the alternative is to likely take a guaranteed loss due to the necessity of a quick sale, or holding on to a great asset at the expense of the risk posed by low-LTV leverage, I have to say:  I’d have to seriously consider taking on leverage. So what do you YOU think?  Sound off, my friends, on today’s show notes page at SDITalk.com/243. My friends, invest wisely today, and live well forever! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Hey all of you private lenders out there, this episode is for you… and unfortunately, it involves your preferred asset type, and our friends at the IRS.  I’m Bryan Ellis.  I’ll tell you all about it right now in Episode #242 of Self Directed Investor Talk. ----- Hello, Self Directed Investor Nation, welcome to the podcast of record for savvy self-directed investors like you!  This is the show where all you’ve got to is give us 7 minutes a day… and you get back MASTERY as a self-directed investor! Good show for you today, folks, prompted by a telephone consultation I did yesterday for two attorneys who have a major private lending business OUTSIDE of their self-directed IRA… and are also doing MILLIONS in private lending business INSIDE of their IRAs.  These guys have a lot at stake… I did some research, and I’ll tell you what I found. And as I do so, feel free to write to me with your questions and comments by email at feedback@sditalk.com, feedback@sditalk.com.  Or – and frankly, I’d really appreciate this – stop by our Facebook page and click the LIKE button.  You can get to it at SDITalk.com/facebook.  And while you’re there, ask any questions you have for me. And a quick note:  If you’d like to learn how to have a cash credit line of up to $250,000 that’s both unsecured and charges absolutely ZERO interest, stop by SDITalk.com/credit where you can sign up for a free webinar we’re offering this week that will show you exactly how to do that.  We’ve helped clients to raise MILLIONS of dollars in just the past 90 days alone, so if you’re looking for some capital, stop by SDITalk.com/credit right now. Ok folks, so here’s the deal:  Again, you people are providing the content of my show for me.  I had a consultation with a couple of your fellow listeners yesterday.  For their privacy, I won’t say their names, but all of the details I’ll share with you are accurate. The basic idea is this:  Both of these guys are lawyers up in Rhode Island, so they know more than enough to understand the need to be careful.  But their legal expertise is in real estate and title work, and not in retirement plan law. Their concern is this:  Both of them have very large IRA’s, from which they do a lot of private lending.  They also have a very substantial private lending business OUTSIDE of their IRAs. For those of you who may not be familiar, private lending is just lending your own money to some third party in such a way that you receive PLENTY of collateral and a relatively high interest rate.  Private loans can definitely be a great type of asset. So your fellow listeners up in Rhode Island are concerned about this situation because it would be an absolute DISASTER if the IRS took a look at their IRA’s and decided that what they are doing is conducting an active business within their IRA’s. That would be a disaster because then their IRA’s would be liable to pay something called “unrelated business income tax” – or UBIT for short – on its earnings each year, as the IRS isn’t keen on people operating active businesses in their retirement accounts. So is the concern of our lawyer friends justified about this? There’s good reason, actually.  The comparable issue that many of you folks in SDI Nation may be familiar with is the one where you do a lot of real estate flipping BOTH OUTSIDE and INSIDE of your self directed IRA.  In that case, there’s plenty of precedent that the IRS could, in fact, conclude that your active business is real estate flipping, and that the activity in your IRA is just an extension of your business and is thus subject to UBIT. Obviously, that’s a very bad thing. So if the IRS can take that position with house flipping, do our lawyer friends in Rhode Island… and do YOU, my dear listeners… face the same risk if you do private lending both IN and OUT of your self directed IRA? I’ve certainly got the answer for you, but before I give it to you:  People, I’m not a lawyer.  I’m not giving you legal advice.  If you need legal advice – and you do if you’re using a self directed IRA – then you should talk to a lawyer, period. And as it turns out, the very best one in the country for this type of thing is THE GREAT ONE, Mr. Tim Berry – and YES, his contact info is linked on today’s show notes page at SDITalk.com/242. And Tim is who I asked to help me clarify this issue. You see, I suspected that our private lending pals might have a better time of it than if they were flipping houses because, frankly, it’s pretty hard to argue that collecting INTEREST on a LOAN is anything but passive. And this is yet another case of being glad I asked for Tim’s advice, because he both confirmed and obliterated my assumption using case law. Bottom line, in general:  Yes, the lending activity inside of the IRA is an active business activity, and any fees earned from those activities – such as maybe document preparation – would likely be subject to UBIT.  But the LION’S SHARE of income comes from earning interest from a loan.  And THAT type of income – interest, specifically – is statutorily exempt from UBIT. And yes, for you legal beagles, both the revenue ruling where this happened and the original code citations are available for you on today’s show notes page at SDITalk.com/242. Folks, who else in the entire US of A is providing self-directed investors like you with ABSOLUTE GOLD like this?  NOBODY… that’s who!  Nevertheless, I’m SO GRATEFUL that you’re listening to ME right here on Self Directed Investor Talk. SDI Nation, you long-time listeners know that I’m very, very leary of the use of debt in any way.  But one REALLY brilliant use of debt in your IRA specifically hit me between the eyes this week, and I’d like to share it with you… …And that’s exactly what I’ll do in TOMORROW’s edition – Episode #243 –  of Self Directed Investor Talk, so be sure to SUBSCRIBE to this show by visiting SDITalk.com or if you’re on an Apple device, subscribe on iTunes.  Either way it’s free for your benefit! That’s all for today but a quick request… if you enjoyed this show, would you stop by iTunes right now and give us a nice 5-star rating, maybe even write a comment? That would REALLY help us out a lot.  Thanks! My friends, invest wisely today, and live well forever! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

How will Trump policies affect real estate investors specifically?  I’m Bryan Ellis.  I’ll give you the answer right now in Episode #241 of Self Directed Investor Talk. ----- Hello, Self Directed Investor Nation.  Welcome to the show of record for savvy self-directed investors like you, where for just 7 minutes of your time per day, we give you MASTERY as a self-directed investor. Welcome to another week, folks.  I’ll be honest with you, I’ve had a pretty awful last 24 hours and don’t even feel like doing this show right now.  Am I allowed to admit that to you?  Well of course I am.  It’s my show, I can say whatever I want.  I suspect that’s part of why you continue to listen, frankly. But I have some important things to say today and it might take just a minute or 2 longer than the 7 minute standard we have around here. Ok, let’s talk about Trump and how I expect his policy proposals to affect real estate as an investment. Look, I think overall, the outlook is extremely positive, but with one rather large question mark I’d like to explain to you, and I need for you to listen to every word of this brief show so you can hear that. First, the good news: If Trump is even only partially successful at cutting both personal and corporate income tax rates as he’s pledged to do, then I can tell you with utmost certainty what will happen:  The economy will BOOM, absolutely BOOM. Let me tell you something… I’ve already told you I’m feeling a little foul this morning so I’m not going to hold back on you, and while I hope I don’t offend any of you, the fact is I’m far less concerned with your sensibilities than your portfolio value. So here’s the deal:  In the history of the United States – over 240 years – EVERY SINGLE PRESIDENT has produced one particular economic result, so common, so baseline is this result.  That result is that each president has seen at least one year of GDP growth of 3% or more. All presidents – every single one of them – except, that is, Barrack Hussein Obama, who also holds the distinction of being the fourth-worst presidency on record for GDP growth, clocking in at an anemic 1.45%... and those stats are per Obama’s own Department of Commerce, the link to which you can find on today’s show notes page at SDITalk.com/241. Curiously, even JIMMY CARTER had a better average GDP. So why does this matter?  Here’s why:  The American economy is nothing more than a real-world demonstration of the prevailing psyche of the American public.  That’s it.  And for the last 8 years… and frankly, longer than that… because George W. Bush was certainly no great champion of economic growth… but PARTICULARLY for the past 8 years, Americans have operated under an explicit admission from our leaders that there’s a “NEW NORMAL” in effect, which includes things like lower job growth, decreased national security and reduced prominence of America on the world stage.  If you think Obama didn’t actually say that, check out the show notes page on SDITalk.com/241. Why does it matter?  Well that sort of talk is bother a damper on the psyche of Americans, and is totally ANTITHETICAL to the very fundamental nature of who Americans are.  We are optimists.  We are opportunists.  We are lovers of freedom.  We are seekers of wealth and greatness. And suddenly, we have a President who – love him or hate him – TOTALLY agrees with all of that… and has made the GREATNESS of America the central theme of his campaign and his Presidency.  So he’s looking to  do the things that ALWAYS spur economic growth, which are to reduce the punishment of taxation so there’s MORE MONEY in the pockets of people and companies; and he’s looking to substantially cut back the complexity of regulation and the costs those regulations create, which also directly contributes to MORE MONEY in the pockets of people and companies. And it doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out that MORE MONEY in the hands of people and companies means more spending which leads to more economic growth which leads to higher incomes.  These are all VERY GOOD THINGS… notwithstanding the concoctions of propeller-headed intellectuals.  I, for one, am sick of hearing from academics or ANYONE who has never owned or run a business where it comes to what’s necessary for our economy. And that’s why, frankly, there’s a broad and growing very POSITIVE CONSENSUS about Trump’s policies.  You’ve got well known and highly regarded people and organizations – nearly all of them diametrically opposed to Trump politically – coming out and making positive pronouncements about Trump’s proposals and their effects on the economy – including investment superstar Mohammed El-Erian and none other than the World Bank itself. You might not like his politics, but his economics – at least, his proposals – absolutely work towards a stronger economy.  And a strong economy, simply put, means more money for people to spend on buying homes, renovating homes, renting homes… and of course all of the other investment opportunities under the real estate umbrella. Folks, put your politics aside.  You know what I’m telling you is true.  These kinds of policies will be VERY GOOD for the US economy. BUT… there is a point of concern for me, which is that Trump’s people are proposing to eliminate the mortgage interest deduction in favor of increasing the standard deduction.  The idea is that you’ll still get the same tax break, but that tax break will no longer be tied to real estate in any way. Look, I get what they’re saying, but that’s a horrible idea.  There are MANY reasons for that, but the biggest one is this:  I believe that eliminating the mortgage interest deduction will actually directly hurt home values… the value of YOUR real estate investments.  One study from the Federal Reserve – linked for you at SDITalk.com/241 – predicts homeowners will lose an average of 11.5% of their property value as a function of eliminating the mortgage interest deduction. That’s a lot. Here’s the bright side of that:  I don’t think it will happen.  The mortgage interest deduction is one of the most popular deductions of all, and I suspect it won’t be particularly expedient for this particular item to be attacked. One more thing:  I suspect those of you who were Obama supporters are already frustrated with me and those of you who are Trump supporters are basically giving me high 5’s.  Well, you’re both responding the wrong way, here’s why: It’s easy for us to assume something like “hey – Trump is a real estate guy, and I’m a real estate investor… he’s not going to do anything that will hurt the real estate investing business.” That, my friends, is plausible but not rational.  Remember:  Trump is a real estate DEVELOPER, not a real estate INVESTOR.  You and I are, by and large, PASSIVE investors in real estate… we want to make acquisitions that will pay us over time and will require as little direct involvement as possible.  For Trump, real estate is a BUSINESS, not an investment… and so the vantage point is RADICALLY different and thus, there’s just not room to assume that what’s good for the individual investor is also good for Trump’s investment interests.  It’s an irrational stretch. Having said that, it’s definitely my belief that Trump’s proposed policies, taken as a whole, will be PROFOUNDLY positive for our economy generally, and for real estate specifically. The future is bright, my friends.  So invest wisely today, and live well forever! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The Trump era dawns today, amidst a storm of both honest disagreement and an overwhelming degree of infantile protest.  What will Trump mean for the retirement account of the self-directed investor?  I’m Bryan Ellis.  I’ll break it down for you right now in Special Episode #240 of Self Directed Investor Talk ----- Happy Inauguration Day, self-directed investor nation!  Welcome to the podcast of record for savvy self-directed investors like YOU, where if you give us just 7 minutes a day… we give you back MASTERY as a self-directed investor! Ahhh yes… pomp and circumstance.  I really enjoy it, honestly.  I’ve watched all of the inaugurations, and the day’s events leading up to them during my adult lifetime, and it’s really so fascinating to me.  You can frequently tell a WHOLE LOT about how the President will behave in office solely on the basis of how they behave during inauguration.  In fact, that was more true of Obama than for anyone else, but that’s old news, because there’s a new sheriff in town. His name is Donald Trump, and he’s a billionaire real estate developer… and he’s already changed the political landscape of America in a way that nobody every predicted… I mean, NOBODY AT ALL… except, for Donald Trump. That’s kind of an interesting thing, isn’t it?  I’ll bet it’s safe to say that when Trump announced his candidacy on June 14 of 2016, I think there was probably one and only one person in the entire country… the entire WORLD… who believed he’d be the next president, and that was Trump. He was right.  The entire rest of the world – including me, by the way – was wrong. But what will this mean for you and me as Self-Directed Investors?  I’ll tell you, right now, my friends. But first, two things: Number One:  More than any other day, I’d REALLY love to get your feedback about what I have to say.  Just go to today’s show notes page at SDITalk.com/240 to leave your comments. Number Two:  Remember – always and forever – if you need some funding for your business or real estate deal, and ZERO PERCENT sounds like the kind of interest rate you’d like to pay to borrow that capital, then stop by SDITalk.com/credit.  We have a great FREE WEBINAR there that will tell you exactly how that can be done.  And it’s the best kind of credit, too… totally unsecured, and not connected to your personal credit report.  Doesn’t get better than that, so visit SDITalk.com/credit. What will Trump mean for Self-Directed Investors? All in all, I think that Trump could prove to be OVERWHELMINGLY GOOD for those of us who take care of our own investment decisions.  I mean, stratospherically excellent.  And understand… while I did vote for Trump in the general election, I did not vote for him in the primary, so it can’t be said that I’m a Trump fanboy. So here’s what I’m expecting: The most immediate impact on you as a user of retirement accounts – self-directed or otherwise – is that TRADITIONAL accounts will become a bit less valuable and ROTH accounts will become a bit more valuable.  That’s under the assumption that Trump succeeds in reducing personal income tax rates, which is a great thing, but also means that the tax deduction you’d receive for contributions to a Traditional IRA or 401k would inherently result in less real dollar savings for you.  So that’s the first real, tangible effect. Second, if Trump succeeds – in part or in whole – in two of his stated objectives, the economy will simply explode to the upside and the stock market would have some serious upside pressure.  Those two objectives are: Number 1:  Reduction of CORPORATE income tax rates to 15%.  Now just understand… that is HUGE.  Or maybe it’s YUGE.  Currently, that rate is 35%... so Trump is proposing to slash corporate rates by well over half.  What does that mean?  The Tax Policy Center estimates that $473.3 BILLION dollars was collected in 2016 in corporate taxes.  A very crude calculation would suggest that this change alone would leave over $200 BILLION dollars in the coffers of corporations, and that nearly always means one or more 3 things:  (1) more dividends for owners; (2) more jobs; and/or (3) investment in infrastructure for future growth.  All three of those things are very, very good for an economy. But yes, this is a huge TAX CUT… and some of you think that’s a bad thing.  Sound off about it!  Leave your comments at in the comments area below! And the second big objective that could rock the economy in a big way is Trump’s proposed tax holiday on repatriating offshore profits.  This is a big deal, folks… and you folks out in Silicon Valley and up in Redmond, Washington are, I’m sure, particularly interested in this one.  You see, a lot of Fortune 500 companies – most notably Apple and Microsoft – have hundreds of billions of dollars stashed offshore.  The moment they bring that money back to the US, they’ve got to pay that horrendous 35% tax rate.  But Trump is proposing a bit of a tax holiday on repatriating that capital… a massive holiday, actually, down to 10% for a time.  According to one estimate, Apple alone would save over $48 billion in taxes and Microsoft would save about $24 billion in taxes.  Now folks, I don’t care who you are… even if you’re Warren Buffett… those are MASSIVE MASSIVE numbers, and have the potential to be GAME CHANGERS… again, with likely results being one or more of:  increased dividends, more hiring and/or more business growth infrastructure.  All very, very good for the economy, but not so good – at least when judged in vaccum – for US tax revenues. I’m not one to cry over reduced tax revenues.  Unlike the government, I don’t see my money as the government’s first, and then mine if and only if I can manage to keep it from them.  What do you think?  Let me know at SDITalk.com/240. I’ve got more to say about the expected Trump effect for investors like you and me, but we’re just about out of time today, so I’ll revisit this in our next episode, and in that episode, we’ll look more into the specific effect on real estate and other alternative assets, because I think we can make some reasonably well educated predictions on that. And look… I REALLY want to hear from you folks about this, and right away!  The inauguration happens in about 2 hours from now, so there’s no time to lose!  Jump on over to SDITalk.com/240 right now and let me know what you think! My friends… invest wisely today, and live well forever! Listen in to the NEXT EPISODE now - Click Here The PREVIOUS Episode was great, too... Listen Here! Hosted on Acast. 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Can you buy an OFFICE BUILDING in your self directed IRA or 401k?  I’ll bet you think the answer is YES, don’t you?  Actually, it’s only MAYBE.  I’m Bryan Ellis.  I’ll tell you why right now in Episode #239 of Self Directed Investor Talk… ---- Hello, SDI Nation!  Welcome to the podcast of record for savvy self-directed investors like you where all we ask is 7 minutes a day… and what you get in return is self-directed investing MASTERY! A great show is in store for you today and I’d like to remind you that you can ALWAYS get to the show notes for any show by putting the episode number after the domain name SDITalk.com.  For today, the show notes page is SDITalk.com/239… and you really should check it out.  You doubtlessly hear me referring to articles, studies and links from time to time in this show, and all you’ve got to do to get access to all of that EXTRA SDI-goodness is to visit the show notes page where you’ll find the show itself, a full transcript, and all of the resources I just mentioned.  Again, today’s show notes page is SDITalk.com/239. There’s one more link you should be aware of.  It’s SDITalk.com/credit.  I’ll make this short:  If you have any need for investment or even business funding, and you’d like to get up to $250,000 at a ZERO interest rate, then go to SDITalk.com/credit, sign up for the free webinar that’s offered there, and learn how to do it.  The guys behind that – Ari and Mike at Fund & Grow – are REAL pros, and they’ve provided over $4 MILLION in zero interest credit to your fellow members of SDI Nation in the past 12 months alone.  Check them out at SDITalk.com/credit. Ok, so can you buy an office building in your IRA? This question was prompted by an article I saw where a rather conventional financial advisor struggled to answer this question correctly, so I’ve decided to grace you with the actual CORRECT version of things. The simple answer?  YES.  Your IRA can own an office building.  There’s nothing in the law governing IRA’s – unless it’s changed dramatically in the last 24 hours – that prohibits your IRA from owning real estate, commercial buildings included.  Same for 401k’s – they are absolutely allowed to own real estate. But there’s a BIG BUT – that sounded a little vile, hmmph – there’s a big EXCEPTION to consider, which is: Many commercial properties are owned by a business entity of some sort – such as a corporation or LLC.  And it’s that entity which owns the real estate, and all of the accoutrements necessary to make that building a productive asset, like office equipment and such. So the real question to ask yourself is:  Am I buying real estate, or am I buying a business entity that owns real estate. Still, one would think that there’s no problem, because just as the tax code governing your IRA doesn’t prevent your IRA from owning real estate, it also doesn’t prohibit your IRA from owning business entities. So we’re good, right?  If the building is owned by an entity, just buy the entity, and it’s all good… right?  Your IRA can just buy the entity that owns the building and you’re all set… right? You’d certainly think so since neither real estate nor business entities are on the short list of totally prohibited asset types.  (Incidentally… do you know the things that ARE on the totally prohibited list of asset types?  You can find out on the show notes page at SDITalk.com/239.  Yes, that’s a shameless plug to get you to visit the website.) PROHIBITED ASSSETS go here in the fancy box https://www.irs.gov/retirement-plans/retirement-plans-faqs-regarding-iras-investments So can your IRA buy the entity that owns that building? Well… maybe.  Probably, even. But if the entity that owns the building happens to be an S corporation, then your IRA is kind of out of luck, even though the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 - better known as ERISA – the law which created the IRA, certainly doesn’t prohibit it. But it’s prohibited nevertheless.  Under the law that created S corporations on the federal level, there are some limits to who can own shares in S corporations.  I’ll link to the relevant materials for you on SDITalk.com/239 but bottom line:  IRA’s are excluded from that list. So, in this, as in everything where rules and regulations are concerned… reality is a bit more nuanced than any of us would like it to be. But there is a type of real estate I know you CAN own in your IRA… and that is TURNKEY RENTAL PROPERTY!  You can learn more about that by calling my 24-hour free recorded info line at 773-TURNKEY, 773-TURNKEY. And a quick note – for any of you out in the Bay Area of California, well into Silicon Valley and surrounding areas… be sure to listen to the RADIO version of Self Directed Investor Talk every day at 3:00 pacific on KDOW 1220, the Wall Street Business Network!  Those of you NOT in the Bay Area can listen in very easily too, through iHeartRadio… just stop by the show notes page at SDITalk.com/239 for a link to KDOW’s live feed on iHeartRadio. And YES… we’ll likely be in more markets very soon, like as in the first quarter of 2017, so very soon. My friends… thanks for joining me and remember:  Invest wisely today, and live well forever! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Here’s a GREAT case study that will show you just what’s possible with a little bit of creative thinking, some great real estate deals and a little bit of capital.  I’m Bryan Ellis.  This is Episode #238 of Self Directed Investor Talk… ---- Hello, Self Directed Investor Nation!  Welcome to the podcast of record for savvy, self-directed investors like you, where we show you how to DECLARE INDEPENDENCE from Wall Street and build wealth for generations! My friends, I had a really enjoyable consultation with one of your fellow listeners today, and while I’m not going to share his name to maintain his privacy, I think the other details of his circumstance will be very, very instructional to you, so we’re going to dig into that in today’s episode. But first… don’t forget:  Fund and Grow.  Fund and Grow.  Fund and Grow.  Those are the guys who are essentially – not exactly, but in effect – able to get you a CREDIT CARD at a zero percent interest rate, and a limit of up to $250,000.  That’s not exactly what they’re doing, but it’s pretty close. They’ve got a great FREE WEBINAR up at SDITalk.com/credit that you should check out… you’ll see what they do, and your mind will be blown… that is, if no-interest financing of up to $250,000 interests you.  Check them out at SDITalk.com/credit… Ok, today I had a call with one of your fellow members of SDI Nation.  His name’s not actually Rick, but I’ll call him Rick for simplicity.  All the other details I’ll share are correct. Rick is conventionally employed and has a 401k worth about $500,000.  He turns 59 ½ in March, and at that time, he can transfer as much of that money out of his 401k as he wants.  His money is currently in the stock market but he’s very ready to get off of that train. Oh… and one other important fact.  Rick and his wife own, outside of their retirement accounts, 5 turnkey rental properties spread across 2 different states.  He likes the concept of turnkey rental property investing, but he’s been stung a bit by the company he’s worked with, because 2 of the 5 properties have been – shall I say – an unfortunate experience for Rick. Nevertheless, he’s gotten enough of a taste of the good side of that asset class that he wants to do more.  That’s what we discussed today. Rick told me he wants to roll his 401k over into a self-directed IRA and buy more turnkey houses.  And there was the first place we were able to optimize his plan.  With a tiny bit of effort, Rick will be able to qualify to have a self-directed 401k rather than a self-directed IRA.  Why does that matter?  Two reasons:  First, the IRS is far more forgiving if you commit a booboo in a 401k versus an IRA.  And Second… and this is the big one for Rick… he’s thinking about leveraging his savings in order to buy MORE properties than he has cash to buy.  Bottom line on this is if he does so in an IRA, he’ll have to pay income taxes every year – regardless of withdrawals.  But if he does the same deal in every way, but with a self-directed 401k instead, then that tax liability simply disappears.  So right there, he’s going to save a big chunk of cash. Next, we have to figure out what to do to generate income for Rick… and income is what he’s after, specifically. I mentioned to him some of the work we do with turnkey rental properties down in Birmingham, Alabama, where it’s rather common for our clients to pay only $55,000 for a newly renovated property that yields a reliable – and government-guaranteed - $750 per month rental income.  In these properties, it’s a rather frequent occurrence for clients to NET 8 to 10% after ALL expenses… including a nice-sized rainy-day fund for those “just in case” kinds of situations. We envisioned a simple scenario in which Rick deployed his retirement funds into a collection of such properties. Bottom line:  Rick ends up with a net cash flow of, conservatively, $40,000 to $50,000 per year, immediately. And remember – he doesn’t have to do any of the dirty work.  He’s not a landlord, he’s not a property manager, he doesn’t have to be directly involved in any way. That’s what turnkey rental property investing is all about:  The benefits of real estate ownership without the hassles. But that assumes we’re doing all-cash transactions, and Rick was specifically interested in using leverage.  Look… leverage makes me nervous, but done conservatively, it can work out very nicely.  I advised Rick to not seek more than 50% loans for his properties, just to keep stress levels low.  How does that affect the financial picture? Well, instead of buying 9 houses, he now gets to buy 18.  And his income increases, too.  After paying his mortgage note, he’d likely be looking at a net income of around $60,000 per year or so.  But really… that’s only about $10 grand per year more, because his mortgage payment would take up a big chunk of it. Is it worth it?  Man that’s tough… I’d like to sell Rick 18 houses instead of 9 but I’ve got to tell you… I just don’t know if I’d be able to recommend the leverage angle in good conscience.  Now if we’re able to find him some really great financing rates, that’s a different thing… but at the prevailing rates today for investment properties… particularly for non-recourse loans… I’d have a hard time recommending that he does that. Actually… now that I think of it, there might be an incredibly cool play that combines the zero-interest financing that my friends over at FUND and GROW provide.  We’ll have to be creative and careful to avoid prohibited transactions, but that would change the game ENTIRELY. But short of working some absolute magic like that – and I’m nothing, if not a magician when it comes to self-directed retirement accounts – then Rick is going to get to enjoy a VERY strong income of around $50,000 a year NET… without taking on any debt, without being a landlord or property manager, and… best of all… WITHOUT facing another night of worrying about the stock market. And that, my friends, is why I LOVE turnkey rental property investing.  Want to know more?  I have a great new ebook called Building Legacy Wealth with Turnkey Income Properties, and if you’re interested in turnkey rental investing and you’d like a free copy of this ebook, just call my 24-hour free recorded message line at 773-TURNKEY.  Nobody will answer the phone… it’s just a 2 minute recording that gives you the basics on turnkey rental investing so you’ll know whether it’s the right thing for you to do… or to do again! My friends, invest wisely today, and live well forever!   Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Want to contribute to a Roth IRA, but your income is too high?  Never fear, my friends… a solution is here!  I’m Bryan Ellis.  I’ll give you that solution right now in Episode #237 of Self Directed Investor Talk. ---- Hello, SDI Nation!  Welcome to the broadcast of record for savvy self-directed investors like you, where each day we educate, entertain and INSPIRE you to DECLARE INDEPENDENCE from Wall Street… and in the place of simply DEFAULTING to stocks, bonds and mutual funds, you open your mind and portfolio to alternative assets that are SIMPLE, SAFE and STRONG! Glad to be with you again today, my friends.  To participate in the show, just drop me an email at feedback@sditalk.com or reach out on Twitter or Facebook where our handle is @SDITalk in both places.  And… BE SURE that in this NEW YEAR you’re on the SDI Private Update list, which you can join by texting the word SDITALK with no spaces or periods to 44222. Hey I’ve told you a few times about my friends Ari & Mike over at Fund & Grow… they’re the people who, in effect, make it possible for you to have a 0% interest rate credit card with credit limits totaling up to $250,000 or more.  Their info that you should check out is over at SDITalk.com/credit but here’s something really cool I just learned:  In the last 90 days, they’ve helped a few of your fellow listeners to acquire a bit over $2 million in zero-interest rate credit.  Yep.  Pretty cool.  If you need some capital for your investments or your business, check them out at SDITalk.com/credit now. You want to contribute to an IRA, and you want the best tax benefits possible, which arguably come from the Roth IRA.  Problem is, you make too much money.  That’s right… the US congress, in its constant state of trying to punish the successful, instituted an income limitation such that you can’t even contribute to a Roth IRA if you make somewhere around $118,000 per year if you’re single or about $186,000 per year if you’re married. But fear not, SDI Nation!  There is a solution! It’s called the Backdoor Roth IRA, and the basic idea is that: While there’s an income limit for CONTRIBUTING to a Roth IRA, there’s no income limit for CONVERTING to a Roth IRA.  So here’s how we take advantage of this loophole in a most advantageous of manners to give you, my high-income-earning listener, the ability to contribute to a Roth just like your lower-income brethren. STEP 1:  Open a TRADITIONAL IRA – yes, I said “traditional”, not Roth – and make your deposit into that account.  But here’s the thing:  You can’t take a tax deduction for that contribution.  You’ll be doing what’s called a non-deductible contribution.  And that’s important in… STEP 2:  This is where you convert that Traditional IRA into a Roth IRA.  Voila!  Now you’ve got a Roth IRA, just as if you’d put money there in the first place. Yes, that’s all there is to it, conceptually.  It’s a simple 2-step maneuver that effectively eliminates the income limits for Roth IRA contributions. Now I’ll go ahead and warn you:  There are some people out there who criticize this strategy, even suggesting that it’s illegal.  That’s a hard case to make since Congress actually REMOVED the income limits for Roth conversions back in 2010, so from the vantage point of this incredibly well-informed layman who is still, in the interest of full disclosure, NOT a lawyer, I think it’s darn near impossible to argue that this is illegal. But there are 2 red flags to keep your eye on: Red Flag #1:  If you have any money in a traditional IRA at the present time, you might have a bit of a hiccup using this back-door Roth IRA strategy due to something called the IRS Aggregation Rule.  I won’t weigh you down with the details right now, but if you’re interested, check them out on today’s show notes page at SDITalk.com/237. And Red Flag #2 is something called the Step Transaction Doctrine.  In a nutshell, this is a legal doctrine that says if it’s against the law for you to do a certain thing, then it’s still against the law for you to accomplish that thing even if you can get there by taking intermediate steps that are entirely within the law.  The fear is that the IRS may apply that doctrine to the backdoor Roth IRA strategy. How do you address that risk?  My gut sense, as a non-lawyer who is wholly unqualified to give legal advice, is that it’s wildly improbable that the IRS would pursue that path.  Attacking retirement accounts en masse is a real hot button issue for them… there was a situation that arose a few years ago where the IRS could have EASILY pursued tens of millions of IRA’s of all types – not just self-directed IRA’s – for a particular kind of prohibited transaction, and they simply passed on the chance to do it… I think because it would never fly politically.  But that’s just my opinion of course, incredibly insightful though it is. So my advice:  Yes, you should seriously consider the backdoor Roth IRA if you want to contribute to a Roth but your income is too high.  But before you do that, be sure to talk to an attorney who is an expert in the area of self directed IRA’s.  If you don’t have such an attorney, there’s one I recommend highly, and you can get his information on today’s show notes page at SDITalk.com/237. And a quick parting note, my friends… We have some EXTRAORDINARY turnkey rental property investment opportunities available RIGHT NOW, the opportunity has never been better.  If you’re looking for some great real estate investments, whether inside your retirement account or outside of it – including for 1031 exchanges – then just call my 24 hour free information line at 773-TURNKEY and listen to my 2 minute recording to see if turnkey investing is right for you. My friends… invest wisely today, and live well forever! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Want a quick tip for saving a TON of taxes if you own real estate in a traditional self-directed IRA?   I’ve got just the thing for you now.  I’m Bryan Ellis.  This is Episode #236. ---- Hello, SDI Nation!  Welcome to the podcast of record for savvy self-directed investors like YOU where you are educated, entertained and even INSPIRED to DECLARE INDEPENDENCE from Wall Street… Our goal here is to help you find, understand and PROFIT from the very best alternative assets that money can buy. I’ve got some more tax-saving goodness for you real estate investors who use your Traditional IRA to own real estate. But before we go there… have you checked out SDITalk.com/credit?  That’s where you’re going to learn how to get up to around $250,000 of ZERO-INTEREST capital for your investments or your business.  You know those credit cards that offer a zero percent introductory offer?  Well imagine you could do that… but you could extend the “introductory” period out indefinitely.  That’s what you’ll learn how to do at SDITalk.com/credit.  They’ve set up over $2 million of zero-interest funding for your fellow listeners just since October – you know, during the past 3 months – and more than $4.1 Million in the past year, so this is for real.  Check them out at SDITalk.com/credit. Now onward, my friends… So, let’s just imagine you’re one of the MANY folks who owns real estate in your IRA.  Actually… I’ve got the perfect context for a story to explain this to you. We’re currently doing some research to check out the background of a company who has a unique angle on the turnkey rental property business.  What these people do is work with investors who want to buy a RETIREMENT HOME for themselves in their IRA in a nice location.  So what this company does is basically puts all of that together for the investor, and then monetizes the property for the owner in the form of corporate rentals.  So what you have is high quality tenants who are paying a premium rental rate, and who are likely to take really good care of the property… and then when the time comes for your retirement, you’ve got a home that you can live in, paid for by your IRA! Well, there’s just one little hitch with that. You can’t live in that house until it’s not in your IRA any more.  For it not to be in your IRA any more, it has to be distributed to you, in other words, removed from your IRA. And as soon as that happens, guess what?  You guessed it:  Taxes.  You get to pay income tax rates on the ENTIRE value of the house.  So if it’s worth $200,000 and you’re in the 30% effective tax bracket, you’ll have to come up with $60,000 just to cover the income tax due to you. Ouch.  Hey… that’s the reality… the traditional IRA is just a tool for tax deferral, not a tool for tax elimination. HOWEVER… there is something that can be done quite easily to substantially reduce that tax burden, and I will, of course, share this bit of tax brilliance with you… originally taught to me by the great one, Tim Berry, America’s top self-directed IRA attorney. So we’ve already agreed this house is worth $200,000, right? What is half of that house worth?  $100,000? Well… no, it’s not.  What can you do with ½ ownership of a house?  Maybe you’re entitled to half of the income it generates.  You’re entitled to half of the income if it’s sold.  But do you actually own the house if you o nly own half the house?  No, you don’t.  You can’t independently decide to rent it or to renovate it or the sell it or anything else like that.  You’ve got to get the OK of the other owner, too. So it’s safe to say – and is an accepted truth in tax law that our friends at the IRS would agree with – the value of half (or any proportion) of an asset is LESS than the value of half of the whole thing… and that makes perfect sense. So here’s the play: Instead of distributing the house to yourself from your IRA, distribute HALF of the house to yourself from your IRA, and then the other half at some time in the future… maybe the next day, maybe the next tax year, that’s a question for your tax advisor. But the net effect is this:  You’re ultimately receiving 100% ownership of the property, but you’re doing it in such a way that the value of the property is reduced by some factor – probably around 25% - because you’re taking it out in PIECES, which are each inherently less valuable than the whole. So that means your $60,000 tax bill just dropped by 25%... or $15,000. There, you just save $15,000 by listening to Self Directed Investor Talk.  You’re welcome!  Actually, THANK YOU!  Thank you for listening to SDI Talk.  I really appreciate you. Remember – today’s show notes page is at SDITalk.com/236.  You might check it out… it’s a totally new format that I think you’re going to find incredibly helpful. And before I let you go… We’ve got some GREAT turnkey rental property investment opportunities in several cities throughout the country, and I know MANY of you are interested in that asset class, as well you should be.  BUT… There are 7 key questions you need to make sure that you answer before you buy your first (or your next) turnkey rental property, and after you answer them, you’ve basically assured yourself of an excellent transaction.  To learn more just call my free recorded message line at (773) TURNKEY.  It’s only 2 minutes long, and nobody will answer the phone, it’s just a recording, but I think you’ll really benefit from the information.  That’s (773) TURNKEY. My friends, thank you for listening in today!  Please, spread the word about SDI Talk and remember:  Invest wisely today and live well forever! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

It was big in 2016 – and will be even bigger in 2017.  What is “IT”? CROWDFUNDING, of course… and I’ve brought in a special expert to discuss this whole CROWDFUNDING PHENOMEMON with us… and his opinion is… shall I say… something DIFFERENT than the conventional wisdom.  I think you’ll love it.  I’m Bryan Ellis.  This is Episode #235. ---- Hello, SDI Nation!  Welcome to the broadcast of record for savvy self-directed investors like you where each day, we help you DECLARE INDEPENDENCE FROM WALL STREET. Today is show #235 so that means you can get the links, resources and transcripts from today’s show at SDITalk.com/235.  And if you’d like to participate in the discussion about this with us online, you can do that on Twitter or Facebook where you can find us at – of course – SDITalk. Today I’m sharing a special interview with you I did with Sal Buscemi of Dandrew Partners LLC, a New York-based commercial real estate advisory boutique firm that helps institutional investors place capital into distressed commercial real estate assets. He’s also a Goldman Sachs alum, having spent 5 years there as an investment banker, so he’s got the big-capital perspective of Wall Street, but the heart of a real estate man.  I’ve known Sal a long time, and while I don’t agree with everything he says.  I absolutely, positively respect his opinion.  I bet you will, too.  But first – Remember this, folks:  Here at the start of 2017 if you need $50,000 to $250,000 for an investment or your business, there’s one place to go to get that capital at ZERO INTEREST – yes, you heard that correctly – is to visit SDITalk.com/credit.  There you’ll find my friends Ari Page & Mike Banks from Fund & Grow.  Those guys work some special magic to make it possible to acquire long-term zero-percent funding for anybody with good credit… so if that’s you and you need a bit of capital to push 2017 in the direction you need, reach out to them now at SDITalk.com/credit.   Bryan Ellis:                       Sal, this whole thing called crowdfunding, there’s a lot of interest out there in this topic but from my vantage point, there’s a lot of confusion as well. It looks like from my humble but incredibly prescient viewpoint, this looks like amateur hour to me. How is crowdfunding playing out from your point of view? Sal Buscemi:                    I’ll tell you, I think it’s going to be one of the largest vehicles for wealth destruction in this country. I’ll tell you why, because you’re getting less sophisticated people coming in with the bare minimum investment of $500, $1000. They’re able to get involved in deals but are they really getting good deals and what’s really the driver behind this? Are there interests … In the industry we say, “How are my interests aligned with the operator?” Bryan Ellis:                       Right. Sal Buscemi:                    The operator is the person who’s pulling the money, who’s going to buy the investment. You always want to ask the hard questions and a lot of people are just not sophisticated enough going into this knowing the hard questions to ask. Bryan Ellis:                       Yeah, it looks like basically what’s happened is that crowdfunding’s made it to some degree possible for inexperienced investors to build pools of capital where before they would have at least had to go through maybe the Regulation D type offering at the very least. Now it’s much, much simpler for everybody so the bar’s lower and the dirt is thicker. Sal Buscemi:                    Yeah, there’s a lower bar to entry, right? The cheapest capital support is the biggest losers. Now you’re going to have people who don’t understand the asset class, they think they’re buying one thing, are they really buying it and really, what is the operator’s experience? My saying in the industry is, “Good operators turn bad deals into good ones and bad operators turn good deals into bad deals.” That’s just the way it goes and I think when the … Especially now where we are in the market right now Bryan, things are capped out. What I mean by that, prices are at the top and interest rates have changed and nobody was doing anything until we saw a change in the election. Now we see interest rates creeping a little bit, it has to do with China, they’re dumping some of the treasuries, I don’t think it’s going to last but that’s going to affect a lot of …                                          I don’t think somebody getting in it at a price today are going to be able to exit at the same price or more later on if that makes sense. It is no different than buying a house in Phoenix in 2007. It only was really worth at one point $200,000 but people are bidding as high as 350, 400,000 dollars. The only reason why they were able to do that is because there was so much cash readily available through subprime. The same thing is happening here and now you have one guy who decided to wake up one day, he’s tired of his corporate job, he’s a software engineer and he’s going to decide to buy an apartment complex two states away or two time zones away and I’m speaking from experience here. He has no one on the ground to manage it and he’s treating it like it’s a bond or a stock and it’s absolutely not. Bryan Ellis:                       Right. Sal let’s back up just a little bit, what is crowdfunding? Sal Buscemi:                    Crowdfunding in its simplest form is you’re able to crowdsource money from people using something that is passed during 2013 during the Obama administration called the JOBS Act, I think it’s title four if I recall correctly. It allows people to go out and raise smaller increments of money whereas before they would have to do something more meaningful using a Reg D. It would be more cost prohibitive, there would be a higher barrier to entry. Now, those barriers to entry have been removed as a direct result of the Jumpstart Our Businesses Act or I think that’s what the acronym is, the JOBS Act. That has made people able to go out there and crowdsource things as it relates to in simplest forms maybe new widgets, maybe new technology but it’s moving over to real estate and that’s really where the scary part is for me as someone who has grown up and been professionally trained as a classical distressed real estate investor his whole life. My friends, there's a whole lot more of that interview you'll get right here on tomorrow's show.  If you'd like to hear it right now, you're welcomed to do that by going over to SDITalk.com/235 where you'll find the transcript and entire interview if you'd like to get it right now. In the mean time, invest wisely today and live well forever... throughout ALL of this great new year of 2017! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this special Expert Series edition of Self Directed Investor Talk, Daren Blomquist, Vice President of the respected data firm RealtyTrac gives his insights on the suitability of today’s market for house flipping, along with his predictions for what 2017 holds for America’s real estate markets.  I’m Bryan Ellis, your host and I’d like to welcome you to a very special edition of Self Directed Investor Talk.  Please send your questions and comments to us by email at feedback at sditalk.com or on Facebook or Twitter at SDITalk.  With that… Bryan Ellis:                       Mr. Blomquist, how are you today, sir? Daren Blomquist:            I'm doing very well. How are you? Bryan Ellis:                       Very well. Thanks for joining us. Look, I've always or have long been a fan of Realtytrac and what is now ATTOM Data Solutions, and particularly your quarterly home flipping report, because that's one of the businesses that we're in. I had a look at the Q3 2016 report, and it's interesting because it looks like overall, the information's positive, 45,000 flips last quarter with a pretty substantial gross ROI. Some of the other data, such as slowing volume of flips compared to both last quarter and compared to a year ago. At least a significantly the declining percentage of flipped funded with cash. Those things raise my eyebrows as someone who looks at this market. What do you make of those things? Daren Blomquist:            Yeah, I think the decline in flips is ... Right now, I would consider that more of an aberration that's interrupting a long-term trend upward home flipping, and the market is very favorable to home flippers right now. Now it's becoming tougher because prices are getting so high and flippers are jumping into the market, it's becoming more competitive. Bryan Ellis:                       Right. Daren Blomquist:            Still, you have low inventory that's very favorable to flippers. They're providing inventory that the new home builders are not. Bryan Ellis:                       Right. Daren Blomquist:            Then you have rising home prices, which is a double-edged sword. It's tough, it makes it tougher for flippers to find discounts on the front end, but it makes it a lot easier for them to sell. It gives them a cushion to some on the back end. All that to say, I think actually we saw a decrease in overall sales in the third quarter, and I think it's partially a reaction to uncertainty around the election. Bryan Ellis:                       Sure. Daren Blomquist:            I think we'll see that aberration pick back up in terms of the number of home flips. Now I think we'll see it shift, which we're already starting to see to the flippers are shifting to different markets where they can actually find, still find discounts on properties on the front end, or there's more availability of discounts. A lot of times in the form of foreclosures. Bryan Ellis:                       Right. Daren Blomquist:            In terms of the cash piece of it, there's fewer. It's still 68% of flippers are using cash to buy, which compared to the last housing boom, we were seeing about 35% of flippers using cash to buy. Bryan Ellis:                       Wow. Daren Blomquist:            Much more of them were using lending. We are seeing that number at an eight-year low, which means there is more availability of funding for flippers rather than having to use their own money in terms of crowdfunding. In terms of other alternative financing sources. That actually is one of the reasons I think we'll see flipping continue is that's going to enable more flippers to jump in. That may not always be a good thing, but it is going to push the market higher I think in 2017. Bryan Ellis:                       In your analysis or if you guys track this, who buys those flipper properties? Owner occupants or other investors? Daren Blomquist:            I don't have the exact percentage on that, but the majority is owner occupants. When we look at that ... We look at who's buying basically as a proxy, who's buying the flip, not the flipper buying with cash, but if the person they're, or entity they're selling to, is buying with cash, and we do see a fairly substantial number selling to other cash buyers, which for us is a good proxy likely for investors. Bryan Ellis:                       Right. Daren Blomquist:            The majority is owner occupants, but I think you look at markets like Memphis and Cleveland, and places like that where we're seeing quite a bit of home flipping, and a lot of- Bryan Ellis:                       There's a lot of investor to investor stuff there. Daren Blomquist:            Those are going to other investors who then are taking those properties and turning them into rentals. They don't want to deal with the rehab portion of it. Bryan Ellis:                       Yeah. I have wondered if there are any homeowners left in Memphis at all. Daren Blomquist:            Yeah, it's the top market for flipping and it's also one of the top markets when we look at single family rentals for purchasing those. Bryan Ellis:                       Right. You recently had an article called "Blue State Buyers Swing to Red State Rentals," which I thought was interesting. It was a discussion of the whole turnkey rental property phenomenon that's going on, which really reflects exactly what's going on with the clients of the Self Directed Investor Society, namely that California investors, and in our case, particularly those in the Bay Area, are finding it really interesting to buy real estate in the Southeast. What's your take on that? Why is that happening? Daren Blomquist:            Yeah. I think that investors realize that real estate is one of the best places to still get a return in this low interest rate environment. The stock market is good, it has been good, but they want to diversify and they say real estate is a great way to do that. Bryan Ellis:                       Yeah. Daren Blomquist:            Investing in their backyard is really a non-starter when you're ... You just can't cash flow property. Bryan Ellis:                       Right. Daren Blomquist:            Flipping a ... These are the type of investors who probably don't want to get into flipping. They're professionals, they have a day job. They're going to those markets where you can't cash flow and there's still a lot of lower priced properties available that can be purchased and cash flow very well. I would just mention we're not just seeing it in the South. Southeast is a big center of it, but we actually broke it down for Orange ... I know you look a lot at the Bay Area, but we looked at Orange County, California, which is where we are, and where the top counties were, Orange County buyers are purchasing rental properties basically. Not surprisingly, the first few counties were right in the immediate vicinity, but in the Inland Empire where prices are cheaper. Then after that, you have of course Las Vegas, Phoenix are near the top. Then you have places like Memphis. Memphis was in the top 10. Bryan Ellis:                       Yeah. Daren Blomquist:            Shelby County there. Of places that Orange County buyers are purchasing rental properties, you had Wayne County, Michigan [inaudible 00:06:14], which is not really Southeast. That's Detroit. Was one, was in the top 10 for places that Orange County buyers are purchasing rental property. That was- Bryan Ellis:                       That's interesting. Daren Blomquist:            That was an eye opener and certainly we see ... Anecdotally, we hear a lot about that as well. Bryan Ellis:                       Yeah. Daren, in February or so this year, you had an article out that had some housing predictions, some forecast for 2016. I wanted to take a minute to hold your feet to the fire, so to speak. See how things actually worked out in practice. Let's look at the predictions here. Daren Blomquist:            Great. Bryan Ellis:                       I'm not sure if these are your predictions or the predictions of the other experts that were cited in the article, but the key ideas here were, number one, the prediction for growing rental rights and moderate home price growth, which should force more people, or motivate more people to look to buy in 2016. The second- Daren Blomquist:            We did. Yeah. I'll just stop you. Bryan Ellis:                       Yeah. Daren Blomquist:            We did see that pretty much play out. The home price growth was stronger than I expected. It's about five percent for the year. Bryan Ellis:                       Okay. Daren Blomquist:            It was actually a little bit stronger, but it is moderate and we were at double digit price growth. Now we've come down. Rental rates continue to be strong. Bryan Ellis:                       Right. That was a definite check mark. The second prediction was mortgage rates will rise, which should help boost the number of buyers out there. It looks like that one was a little less accurate I guess. Started to rise at the end of the year. Daren Blomquist:            Right, yeah. Get that right if you count to the last couple months of the year, but it really didn't rise ... A year ago ... It feels like Groundhog Day. A year ago, the fed was raising rates in December and predicting that they would raise rates throughout 2016 and it didn't happen. Now they're doing the same thing again. We'll see if that happens in 2017. I do. Really we're off the mark there, but I think more ... The fed has limited control really over mortgage rates. Bryan Ellis:                       Yeah. Daren Blomquist:            I think what we saw following the election is more going to be a driver of rising interest rates than the fed necessarily, but I do expect to see that going into 2017. Bryan Ellis:                       Yeah, I think we're all surprised that rates didn't go higher than they did. Then that third prediction was inventory's expected to remain a problem in 2016. That certainly looks to continue to be true. Daren Blomquist:            Yeah. It's a major theme, and I think most people view it as a challenge in this housing market, but it's really ... It's a good problem to have because it's keeping ... It's a safety net for this market, even if we are seeing some bubbles forming, overheated markets. Those markets typically do not have an oversupply of inventory, which means even if you see demand fall, there's a safety net of low inventory. Bryan Ellis:                       Yeah. Daren Blomquist:            To keep those markets chugging along. Bryan Ellis:                       Yeah, exactly. Now this leads me to the predictable final question. You did pretty well in predicting 2016. You definitely got two right and the one was flat. What does 2017 look like for you? What do you expect to happen? Daren Blomquist:            I'll go out on a limb and do, as I mentioned, we will see interest rates rise, and I think we're seeing that already at the end of this year. Bryan Ellis:                       Yeah. Daren Blomquist:            I think we'll see more substantive rising of rates in 2017 that will, and then that in turn is an important factor that will start to slow down some of these overheated markets in terms of home sales and home prices particularly. Again, we're at about five percent appreciation this year. I think we'll see it go down to two to three percent appreciation. This is a nationwide number of course. Bryan Ellis:                       Yeah, sure. Daren Blomquist:            There's a lot of variance from market to market, but I think in general, we'll see cooling appreciation. We will see I think a surge in home sales early in the year. We already saw it a little bit in November as people try to beat out the higher interest rates. That's going to be an overriding factor. Bryan Ellis:                       Sure. Daren Blomquist:            Another prediction that's a little more localized in nature is I think ... I'm very bullish on the Rust Belt. Bryan Ellis:                       Are you? Daren Blomquist:            They were a big part of the election, and in determining the election, and there's been a lot of talk by now president-elect Trump to invest in infrastructure, and there seems to be a lot of bipartisan support for that. The cities that need the most infrastructure improvement tend to be in the Ruse Belt. Bryan Ellis:                       Yeah. They're going to feel the love. Daren Blomquist:            Places like Flint, Michigan, that have aging water systems and what not. We see that investment happening, that's going to really help housing in those markets and improve the overall value of the housing market. Bryan Ellis:                       Awesome. Daren, thank you so much for your time. I am very grateful to you, and hopefully we'll get to have you back on and maybe dig a little bit deeper into the single family rental market, because I know that's an area of expertise for you and ATTOM Data Solutions. Thank you so much for being here. Daren Blomquist:            Yes. I'm glad to be here and happy to come back at some point in the future. Bryan Ellis:         Awesome. Thank you, sir. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Ruth Heffron did everything right – she built up an IRA big enough for her retirement, AND enough to leave her daughter nearly half a million dollars.  But the US Supreme Court has different ideas, and it’s bad for Ruth, her daughter, and YOU.  I’m Bryan Ellis.  This is Episode #234. ----- Hello, SDI Nation!  Welcome back to Self Directed Investor Talk… the show where I, your humble host, daily throw myself into the lion’s den in proclamation of the Gospel of Self Directed Investing… namely, that you MUST DECLARE INDEPENDENCE FROM WALL STREET and take control of your own capital! Before we do that… can I just remind you guys about Fund & Grow?  They’re the guys that are just EXTRAORDINARY when it comes to build cash credit for investors, businesspeople and others.  For anyone with decent credit, their specialty is establishing $50,000 to $250,000 or more of ZERO INTEREST credit for you to use on anything you want.  Totally unsecured, too… It’s really amazing.  A great alternative to hard money loans, for example.  Check them out if you need capital.  I endorse them very proudly.  You can reach them at SDITalk.com/credit.  Ok, let’s jump in.  To participate in the conversation, reach out to us on Facebook or Twitter, or by email at feedback at sditalk.com. Ruth Heffron must be spinning in her grave.  She opened an IRA and build it up such that, even after using it herself, there was still nearly half a million dollars in there when she passed away.  Mrs. Heffron did what may of us would do in that case… she designated her only child Heidi Heffron-Clark as her beneficiary. For a while, things were fine.  Heidi was able to withdraw a bit of that money over time, such that she drew it down to a value of about $300,000.  But then something unfortunate happened.  Heidi found herself facing some financial difficulty, and chose to declare bankruptcy. Now if you’re wondering why Heidi would declare bankruptcy since she had an IRA worth $300,000… well, you’re on the right track.  When one declares bankruptcy, their assets are basically up for grabs by creditors… and so that $300,000 IRA she inherited from dear old mom would seem to be on the chopping block. Alas… Heidi – or more likely, her bankruptcy attorney – knew that there’s some very special statutory protection for retirement accounts.  With only a few exceptions, IRA’s and other retirement accounts are basically outside of the reach of creditors, even in the case of bankruptcy.  It’s one of the things that makes that type of account truly special… something like a fortress for your financial assets. So, armed with this assurance, Heidi Heffron-Clark filed for bankruptcy.  But then something wholly unexpected happened:  Her creditors fought back.  They claimed that those protections against creditors available to retirement accounts are available ONLY to retirement accounts… and since Heidi had INHERITED her IRA, and had been using it to pay her life expenses, then that account was arguably NOT a retirement account, and thus no longer entitled to the protections provided by law. And, lo and behold, when those creditors made these arguments before the US bankruptcy court, the court agreed, and Heidi had lost her $300,000 IRA.  Then the appeals came… she won some, she lost some… you know the drill, until one day, Heidi and the case of her $300,000 IRA land before the U.S. Supreme Court. And when the judgment on that case was handed down, something unusual happened:  There was a unanimous decision AGAINST Heidi’s claim.  Indeed, the U.S. Supreme Court had decided that by virtue of having INHERITED the account, Heidi’s IRA was no longer actually a retirement account, but was, essentially, a normal financial account, available to satisfy the demands of creditors like any other asset. Let’s put aside for a moment whether we agree with that decision.  The fact that it was unanimous – which is a rarity at the Supreme Court – suggests that the law is settled, whether we like it or not. But that raises the question:  How can you make sure that your beneficiaries ACTUALLY receive the money you’re leaving for them, since this IRA protection is no longer available? And respectfully, my friends, don’t do yourself the disservice of thinking this isn’t relevant for your loved ones.  You might have adult children who are extremely well established financially, and who you can’t imagine would ever declare bankruptcy.  But the issue is broader than that.  I submit for your consideration two additional considerations: Scenario #1 happens when someone – anyone – is attacked by an unexpected lawsuit.  It could be a car accident that you didn’t intend to cause, but that is nevertheless your fault.  It could be some unforeseen business issue.  No matter… if your beneficiary is targeted by and the victim of a money judgement, then whatever you leave to them in an IRA will be at risk. And scenario #2 is the all-too-common instance of divorce.  You leave your IRA to your child, and after you’ve passed on, there’s an ugly divorce… and your IRA will be fair game in that proceeding, even though you left it to your CHILD or GRANDCHILD or whoever… and not to their spouse.  That’s just the way it usually works out. So this is a real issue for everyone… not just those of you who have future beneficiaries who are currently showing signs of financial distress. So, what do you do? Well, step 1 – mandatory for everybody – is talk to a competent attorney about this issue.  I, of course, recommend THE GREAT ONE, Tim Berry who you can reach at SDITalk.com/tim.  But no matter who you choose, you MUST work with an attorney who has very specific expertise in BOTH retirement plan law AND in asset protection law, because this issue represents a collision of those two complex areas. The solution for MOST people will be one or both of these strategies: #1:  Put a TRUST between your IRA and your future beneficiaries.  I know that Tim Berry is particularly fond of using something called a Charitable Remainder Trust for even greater tax benefits.  Maybe I’ll have him on the show soon to discuss that. And strategy #2 is to structure the assets INSIDE of your IRA in some sort of asset-protected manner.  This is actually a rather ninja-level strategy, but the basic idea is to structure the assets inside of your IRA such that they are very valuable to you, but practically worthless to anyone else.  There again, I think I’ll have Tim come on and talk with me someday soon about this. There is one bit of good news though.  Since this Supreme Court ruling came down, several STATES have begun implementing specific protections for inherited IRA’s.  That’s not as good as protection by federal law, but it’s certainly a formidable barrier between the IRA you’ve worked so hard to build and the creditors who would like to take it from you or your loved ones. That’s all I’ve got for you, except this:  Please, tell your friends about this show… Several ways to listen… on radio via the Wall Street Business Network, on iTunes or of course at SDITalk.com.  I’d appreciate it so much!  Any my friends, invest wisely today, and live well forever!   Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Is there ever a time when it is NOT wise to invest your IRA money into a great real estate deal?  You may be surprised to hear it, but the answer is, without a doubt, YES!  I’ll tell you when that’s true… and give you an extraordinary alternative.  I’m Bryan Ellis.  This is Episode #233 ---- Hello, Self Directed Investor Nation!  Welcome to another exciting edition of Self Directed Investor Radio, the show by savvy investors, for savvy investors where we help you to DECLARE INDEPENDENCE from Wall Street… and help you to build wealth for generations to come. This is is Episode #233 and you know what that means… you can find the transcript and show notes for today’s episode at SDIRadio.com/233.  And if you have questions or comments, you can post them right there at SDIRadio.com/233 or you can reach out on either Twitter or Facebook at SDITalk. My friends, a few months ago, a highly esteemed publication – none other than TheStreet.com, a major news source for the whole Wall Street crowd – asked me to begin writing for them, as there’s a very clear appetite on the part of many, many “conventional” investors to look at ways to invest their capital OUTSIDE of the monster known as Wall Street. The very first article I wrote for them – called “Avoid These 5 Traps When Buying Real Estate In Self-Directed IRA’s” – was promptly awarded an editor’s choice award, which is of course, gratifying, so thank you to the editorial team at TheStreet.com.  But that article and the 5 points within it point to a reality that is somewhat foreign to many investors like me and you who, completely reasonably, see the self-directed IRA and/or 401k as the best thing since sliced bread.  That reality is that:  Sometimes, it’s a good idea to AVOID buying real estate in your self-directed IRA. Here’s why: First, it’s actually possible you’ll pay MORE in taxes by doing so.  If you’re using a Roth IRA… no problem, your tax issue is solved.  But if you’re using a traditional account, remember that when you make withdrawals, those withdrawals are taxed at INCOME TAX rates, which are frequently MUCH HIGHER than the capital gains rates you’d likely pay if you did the same deal OUTSIDE of your IRA.  This is a complex issue, and merits some professional advice. The Second complication with buying real estate in your self-directed IRA is related to LEVERAGE… also known as getting a loan to buy property.  You absolutely CAN do that within a self-directed IRA.  But it’s complicated, and it does subject your IRA to present-day taxes based on a variety of factors we won’t dive into here.  Getting a loan to buy real estate OUTSIDE of an IRA is, by comparison, a rather simple, cut-and-dry sort of thing, so remember that if leverage is key to your strategy. The Third issue is that if you buy real estate in an IRA, you no longer get the benefit of other great real estate-specific tax advantages that render the IRA less meaningful, such as depreciation and the almighty 1031 exchange.  Those two benefits alone make it worth seriously considering doing a real estate deal OUTSIDE of an IRA rather than inside of it if you have that option. The fourth big issue for buying real estate in a self-directed IRA is connected with the notion of SWEAT EQUITY… the active investor’s best friend.  You know what I’m talking about… sweat equity is the increase in property value one receives by doing work on the property yourself rather than hiring out to expensive contractors.  But with a self-directed IRA, that issue is challenging because it’s very plausible and very reasonable for the IRS to view the work you’re doing on your IRA’s houses without being paid as a contribution to the plan beyond what’s allowed, and that can cause a big heap of trouble for you should Uncle Sam decide to have a closer look at your IRA. And the fifth big issue for buying real estate inside of a self directed IRA is this:  You’ve got the freedom to hang yourself.  What I mean is that you are, almost completely, unrestricted in your moment-to-moment activities with the assets of your self-directed IRA.  That’s a good thing… freedom is wonderful, but it can be dangerous, too.  Because if you run askew of the IRS’ rules for how your self-directed IRA can be managed – and those rules are both LEGION and sometimes indecipherable – then the IRS could pin your account with the dreaded “prohibited transaction” label which… in one way of looking at it… probably means that somewhere between half and all of the value of your IRA just went out the door to taxes, penalties and interest because the IRS is NOT PLAYING AROUND on this prohibited transactions thing. That all sounds rather ominous, doesn’t’ it?  Well… it is.  But only if you’re not well prepared for what you’re attempting to do. You see, it IS both legal and frequently wise to buy real estate in an IRA.  But there is a generalization that I’d like to recommend to you, which is: For any given real estate transaction, if you have the option whether to perform he deal EITHER inside OR outside the IRA, my recommendation is that you default to skipping the IRA and do the deal with non-retirement funds.  You’ve heard 5 reasons why so far, but here’s the really big one: Real estate is, as a legal, statutory matter, extremely tax-favored by the law… much more so than practically any other asset class… certainly more so than stocks.  What I mean is that, even without the benefit of a self-directed IRA, the tax laws are so kind to real estate investors who plan properly that you may actually end up doing BETTER for yourself financially by focusing on the two tax goldmines that exist for real estate investors, which are DEPRECIATION and the 1031 exchange. Depreciation is a tax strategy that allows many investors to take more in tax deductions than they’ve actually spent.  So it’s a great income tax shelter if you qualify for it. The 1031 exchange is another marvel of real estate tax law that, in a nutshell, allows you to buy a property, let it blow up in value and become very profitable, and then sell very profitably and pay no tax… as long as you immediately re-invest your proceeds of sale into some other real estate deal.  It’s a way to get the same type of tax deferral that traditional IRA’s offer… but without the threat of prohibited transactions or other risks that are inherent to self-directed IRAs. But I have one other parting bit of advice for you as well:  Don’t avoid a great real estate deal just because your IRA is the only place where you can fund the deal.  Absolutely not.  I’m NOT telling you that you should NEVER buy real estate in your IRA… only that you should be biased against doing so if you have other alternatives. And, of course, you need to speak with your own tax counsel about this.  The truth is I know MANY, MANY people who have very successfully navigated the requirements of owning real estate in their retirement accounts… and are very glad they did so. And, by the way… if you are looking for a GREAT real estate investment… I’ve got some thoughts for you on that, too!  Just text the word SENDBOOK to 44222 to get a free copy of our latest ebook called the SDI Guide To Real Estate Wealth for Busy Investors where you’ll learn how to build a high-quality portfolio of turnkey rental properties that build your cash flow – and your wealth – without your day-to-day involvement… just like it should be for busy investors like you!  Again, just go ahead and text SENDBOOK with no spaces, just one word, to 44222 right now. Folks, I hope you had a very merry Christmas or are enjoying a happy Hanukkah.  The coming year is going to be an exciting, exciting time for all of us, and for now, I leave you with this bit of advice… invest wisely today, and live well forever! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Donald Trump was elected president, and you’ve heard nothing about it from yours truly, the voice of the Self Directed Investor Revolution.  So what does Trumps ascendancy to the Presidency mean for you and me?  And what’s the one thing he’s saying right now that concern me FAR MORE than anything else the press is focused on?  I’ll tell you right now.  I’m Bryan Ellis.  This is Episode #231. ---- Hello, SDI Nation!  Welcome to the broadcast of record for savvy self-directed investors like you, where each day we help you DECLARE INDEPENDENCE FROM WALL STREET and build wealth for multiple generations – your generation, and your loved ones, too! My friends, there’s been a lot going on here at SDI Southern Command in Atlanta, Georgia.  Far from being silent, I’ve been speaking out more than ever before… but in a new, different way than any of you area accustomed to. You see, the overwhelming success of this very podcast brought to me the opportunity to get the word out to an even broader group of people on conventional radio, and since early December, I – along with my lovely and incredibly brilliant wife Carole – have been featured each day at 3pm Pacific on KDOW 1220 in San Francisco. So, for any of you in or near the Bay Area, please do join us each day at 3pm!  And of course for everyone else, you can get access to that hour-long show by looking up KDOW 1220 on either iHeartRadio or TuneIn radio. I’ll get to the primary content of today’s episode in just a moment, which is nothing less than my evaluation of Donald Trump’s stunning victory in early November, but as far as this show going onto traditional radio is concerned, I’ll go ahead and answer a 3 questions I know I’ll get. First, YES, it’s a tremendous honor to have received this opportunity and we’re having a great time doing the show.  It’s a bit different from this show, as it’s a full hour long and features daily news commentary along with expert interviews, as compared to this show which features only my monologue in episode.  So it’s different, while still maintaining the same viewpoint along with a healthy dose of monologues like you all seem to enjoy.  It was humbling… I was provided with a list of about one dozen major markets across the United States, and chose to start up right there in the Bay Area for a variety of strategic reasons, not the least of which is that so many of you already live in that area. Second, my broadcasting partner has, after a mere 3 weeks of our being on the air, made it very clear to me that he thinks we have the right stuff to go much broader, and to target additional major markets such as Dallas, Seattle, Boston, Atlanta and Miami… and there are others.  So the possibility that we’ll be on far more major markets in the near future is very high. And Third… this is the weird one… I don’t yet know how I feel about doing that show.  Honestly, it’s a LOT of work… I mean, a LOT of work.  I haven’t really hit my groove yet as far as being able to do it efficiently.  So while I’m very encouraged by the response I’m receiving so far – which includes a near-record number of downloads of this podcast last week, even though I’ve not produced a new episode in over a month – I’m not yet sure whether this “radio thing” is something we’re going to do long-term.  It’s a wait-and-see, trial basis kind of thing. But what’s not “trial basis” is my return to this show, and regularly producing great content for you, just as I have in the past.  Great content, such as what I have for you right now in the form of my assessment and predictions for Donald Trump’s presidency and it’s effect on you and me as investors.  That’s right, folks… this is a political topic, but the focus is all about your investments. So… President-Elect Donald Trump.  I’ve got to say… overall, I’m really, really impressed with the way he’s handled his transition. Yes, it’s true that he’s selected a swatch of very, very wealthy business people to run practically every department of the federal government.  And yes, I know that’s really not be done before.  But I’ve got to tell you:  I like it.  I like it a lot.  You might criticize them for a lack of government experience, but organizational leadership experience they have in spades.  Take, for example, Rex Tillerson, When Tillerson transitions from his post as CEO of Exxon to his new role as Secretary of State, he’ll actually be taking over an organization – the US State Department – that has only about HALF as many employees as Tillerson had an Exxon.  Furthermore, the guy is reputed to have a personal, first-name basis with dozens of major leaders across the world, because, let’s face it – Exxon is so big that other governments have long had to treat it with respect.  So Tillerson won’t be new to that type of role. I could go on, as there are really interesting things to say about all of Trump’s selections so far.  Now far be it from me to suggest that they’re all perfect choices.  They’re not.  But overall, I’m really impressed.  Trump is methodically building an organizational dream team. Will it work?  I bet it will.  I just bet it will. Of course, Trump has been making waves with his negotiation of the deal to keep all of those jobs from Carrier corporation here in the U.S.  In the grand scheme of things, that’s really only about 1,000 jobs… but we’ve never seen the current occupant of 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue do anything of the sort at all, so it was a special thing. My overall predication is that Trump is going to continue to face really aggressive opposition from the media, just as during the election.  He’s directly minimizing their relevance by using Twitter so much, and I suspect that will continue. I also suspect he’ll end up nominating Senator Ted Cruz to the U.S. Supreme Court, and that will set off a firestorm, which will likely ultimately be successful. And he seems really serious about actually cutting taxes and doing many of the things he said on the campaign trail.  I expected to hear him softening on a lot of his core positions by now, but not only has that not happened, but his selections for his cabinet suggest he’s as determined as ever. My one big concern is this:  Even though Trump is saying the right things in terms of getting the economy going – namely that we have to have lower taxes, better trade policy and a stronger dollar – the other thing he’s saying concerns me greatly, and that is that he wants to spend money… a LOT of money… in some sort of new stimulus for the purpose of infrastructure repair. Look, one can make the argument that that is necessary.  But it makes me nervous… government spending is such a dangerous, dangerous thing.  It makes me really, really nervous. But I’ve got to tell you… overall… I’m excited. I think there’s actual REAL POTENTIAL that the U.S. economy could be truly strong, truly great again… and that’s good for all of us. My friends… thank you for listening and remember: Invest wisely today, and live well forever! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The RISE Act Proposal is the biggest threat to self-directed IRA investors we’ve ever faced. Two episodes ago, I told you how Mitt Romney’s massive $100 million IRA prompted the creation of the RISE act, which I explained – in all of its terrifying detail – in the last episode.  Today, you see how this is ABSOLUTELY, POISTIVELY connected to the Trump vs Clinton choice we’ve all got to make on election day, November 8.  The next 7 minutes are overwhelmingly important to the future of EVERY SINGLE self-directed IRA investor.  I’m Bryan Ellis. This is Episode #231. ----- Hello SDI Nation, welcome to the podcast of record where we help you to declare independence from Wall Street and build a financial legacy for future generations.  Today I’ll show you how the future of the overwhelmingly NEGATIVE RISE act proposal is INTIMATELY connected to the Trump vs Clinton choice.  Remember – right now RISE is just a proposal, but not law.  Today you learn how to make sure it never, ever becomes law. Just a heads up… in today’s show, you’re going to hear me refer to the show notes page a few times.  That page is SDIRadio.com/231 and it’s got some really important, profoundly relevant things for you, including the links to Part 1 and Part 2 of this 3-part series.  So when you hear me refer to today’s show notes page, know that I’m referring to SDIRadio.com/231. But first – folks, you’ve doubtlessly heard of my friends over at Fund & Grow.  These guys are absolute magicians when it comes to helping their clients acquire zero-interest lines of credit… lines of credit that are essentially just signature loans, not even secured by real estate or anything else.  Think about that, folks… what if you could finance that real estate deal using a zero percent interest loan?  It’s a game changer, and that’s exactly what my friends Ari and Mike over at Fund & Grow do.  I say they’re magicians, but in truth, they just follow a great, great process that’s very reliable.  For people with decent credit or better, it’s totally achievable to reach $250,000 in zero-interest credit… and my friends, they’ve actually generated over $2.9 million worth of that type of credit for your fellow listeners just this year alone.  So my recommendation?  Check them out, and do it now… at SDIRadio.com/credit.  Again, that’s SDIRadio.com/credit.  You’ll be glad you did. So in episode #229 I showed you how Mitt Romney built a $100 Million IRA… and how the disclosure of that account may have, in part, cost him the presidency.  And in Episode #230 I showed you how the negative publicity that generated led to the proposal of the RISE Act by socialist Senator Ron Wyden, democrat from Oregon… an act that, frankly, if it passes into law, it will be a catastrophe of cataclysmic proportions for self-directed IRA owners. So what do we do about this?  We here at Self Directed Investor Radio, and our parent organization the Self Directed Investor Society, are here as YOUR ADVOCATE against government encroachment of your rights. Frankly, I’ll have a lot more to say after the coming week to guide you about how to respond to this threat, but in the coming week, you have a HUGE opportunity to DIRECTLY impact this particular issue… to cut it off at the knees before it ever takes root. How?  The way to do that is to WISELY cast your vote, both at the Presidential and at the Congressional levels. Here’s are 3 things we know for sure: First, If Republicans maintain control of both houses of Congress, the RISE act proposal will never see the light of day. As it currently stands, this proposal is little more than political theater to stoke the passions of Wyden’s bleeding-heart, entitlement-oriented constituency.  But if Democrats take both – or even EITHER house of congress – on Tuesday of this coming week, then this proposal stands a very, very real chance of introduction and passage The second thing we know is that If Hillary Clinton is elected President, you can bet your bottom dollar she’ll be totally on board to support this proposal. Hillary is no friend of your wallet.  She’s already proposed MASSIVE increases in income taxes and estate taxes, and mark my words:  Your IRA is a juicy target to her.  She famously made – and never, ever retracted – this statement: “Many of you are well off enough that the tax cuts may have helped you.  We’re saying that for America to get back on track, we’re probably going to cut that short and not give it to you.  We’re going to take things away from you on behalf of the common good.”  Think you aren’t wealthy enough to be in her crosshairs?  Think again:  You don’t need to be in the top 1%.  More like the top 20%... and it only takes a family income of $111,000 per year.  Not a high standard, folks. The last thing we know is that If Donald Trump is elected, we don’t have any overt indication of where he’d fall on this issue. To my way of thinking, this is Trump’s greatest weakness:  We don’t have profound clarity on his positions because he’s not a politician with a long paper trail.  But what we do have is an overt proclivity in his published position papers IN FAVOR OF capitalism, small business and tax reduction.  That, in and of itself, is a huge positive.  Trump makes me nervous… nervous in a lot of ways.  But he’s definitely SAYING the right things in terms of showing respect for you and your wealth. So folks, if you’re voting with an eye towards the safety and security of your self-directed IRA… not just now, but for years into the future, then here’s what I recommend you do on election day, Tuesday, November 8: I recommend you vote AGAINST the philosophy of Hillary Clinton and Ron Wyden that will profoundly damage your self directed IRA by SUPPORTING Donald Trump.  And I recommend you hold your nose and have a bias in favor of Republican candidates for the US House & Senate.  I say that NOT because I’m a Republican.  I am NOT.  I find the Republican party – and the Democrat party – to be utterly negative and nothing more than a voice for the “elites” of this country who think they know how to run our lives better than we do. But where your retirement savings are concerned – and that means the financial security of your family, and of future generations – there’s simply no plausible argument to suggest that Hillary Clinton or any of Senator Wyden’s fellow democrats have any interest in doing anything with your money other than taking more of it away.  The RISE Act is prima facie evidence of that.  That proposal actually To vote for anyone who thinks like Wyden or Hillary is to vote against yourself, and to vote against the security of your IRA and retirement savings. And that, my friends, is the cold, hard truth of how you should vote on Tuesday if your retirement account matters to you.  Hold your nose, and vote for Trump and the Republicans.  Set aside petty concerns and vote to protect your family’s financial security – and your financial legacy – by supporting Trump and the Republicans. My friends… invest wisely today… and live well forever. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In our last exciting exciting episode, you discovered how the specter of Mitt Romney’s 2012 disclosure of his $100 Million IRA still looms large over politics in 2016 with the announcement of the RISE Act Proposal, a legislative objective designed to totally cut off self-directed IRA’s at the knees.  Today, you learn exactly what the RISE Act is and why it’s the worst news for self-directed IRA investors… maybe ever.  And… oh yeah… you’ll learn about the CLEAR CONNECTION to the Trump vs Clinton presidential battle. Buckle your seatbelts, folks.  This one is going to be ugly.  This is episode #230. ------  Hello SDI Nation, welcome to the podcast of record where we help you to declare independence from Wall Street and build a financial legacy for future generations.  Today’s show notes page is at SDIRadio.com/230… write that down, because you’ll need it to reference some of the things I’ll tell you about today, that will simply leave you aghast. But first, folks, I owe it to you to make sure you know about my friends over at Fund & Grow.  These guys are absolute magicians when it comes to helping their clients acquire zero-interest lines of credit… lines of credit that are essentially just signature loans, not even secured by real estate or anything else.  Think about that, folks… what if you could finance that real estate deal using a zero percent interest loan?  It’s a game changer, and that’s exactly what my friends Ari and Mike over at Fund & Grow do.  I say they’re magicians, but in truth, they just follow a great, great process that’s very reliable.  For people with decent credit or better, it’s totally achievable to reach $250,000 in zero-interest credit… and my friends, they’ve actually generated over $2.9 million worth of that type of credit for your fellow listeners just this year alone.  So my recommendation?  Check them out, and do it now… at SDIRadio.com/credit.  Again, that’s SDIRadio.com/credit.  You’ll be glad you did. So, yesterday in Episode 229, I gave you my presumption about exactly how it is that Mitt Romney was able to build an IRA worth $100 million, totally legally.  You also learned how Romney’s success and the class envy-based reasoning of Senator Ron Wyden, Democrat from Oregon, resulted in the recent proposal of the deceptively named RISE Act – Retirement Income and Savings Enhancement Act of 2016. So what is it?  And what’s the connection to the Trum p vs Clinton battle?  Let’s dig in now. The RISE Act Proposal is the work of Ron Wyden, democrat Senator from Oregon.  It offers two mildly positive features: A very slight increase in the age where you must begin to take required minimum distributions, and Removal of the maximum age for Traditional IRA contributions Those are good things, but they’re incredibly minor in the grand scheme of things.  But there are 3 features of this proposal – “features” is the wrong word, they’re more like ASSAULTS – and they’re truly horrible… a direct attack against you as an IRA user… these assaults are designed to make sure that the IRA is less valuable in the future than it is now… and one of those assaults is designed specifically to cut the legs out from under savvy users of self-directed IRA’s who invest in real estate, private businesses or any other non-exchange-listed assets.  Let’s take a look: Assault #1 targets owners of Traditional IRAs whether self-directed or otherwise.  If Senator Wyden’s proposal becomes law, you’ll no longer have the option of converting your Traditional to a Roth.  The Roth account is in the cross hairs of the government because the Roth actually ELIMINATES tax liability rather than deferring it like the traditional IRA.  As such, Wyden proposes to eliminate your right to reduce your tax liability by converting from a al to a Roth. Assault #2 targets owners of Roth IRA’s, whether self-directed or otherwise.  If that’s you, you’ll now be subject to required minimum distributions – the dreaded RMD.  If you’re not familiar, RMD is a formula for determining how much money MUST be withdrawn from your IRA, even if you don’t want to withdraw it.  Previously, only Traditional IRA’s were subject to this, but not Roths.  Why is Senator Wyden expanding it to Roth IRA’s?  Well, here again, Wyden and his ilk HATE the Roth IRA because it ELIMINATES taxes rather than just deferring them.  Furthermore, the Roth IRA may be the single greatest estate planning tool ever created, because if you leave a Roth IRA to a beneficiary, that beneficiary can take that money out totally tax free at any time… but they can also continue to build that account using the funds you left to them, and the profits from THEIR transactions are also entirely tax free, and also entirely available for withdrawal at any time they want.  In effect, the owner of a well-managed inherited Roth IRA could live their life ENTIRELY income-tax free.  The inherited Roth IRA is astoundingly powerful, and Wyden is doing what he can to make sure that not only do YOU get less benefit from your Roth IRA, but he’s also trying to make sure your Roth IRA is distributed during your lifetime so that your beneficiaries can’t continue benefiting from its income tax elimination features. Which leads us to Assault #3… and this is the one that really cuts the legs out from under self-directed IRA owners specifically, whether using a Traditional or Roth account.  This one is actually two assaults in one.  First, the assets of self-directed IRA’s will now be required to be formally valued via a “qualified appraisal”.  The meaning of “qualified appraisal” is not defined, meaning that it’s left to the IRS to decide.  At the very least, I suspect this will translate into a requirement for formal independent appraisals.  That, in itself, is a huge, huge issue for some investors.  The cost of appraising certain types of commercial real estate or privately held businesses or other non-exchange-traded assets can EASILY become prohibitive, running to the 10’s of thousands of dollars per asset, creating an astounding burden on the self-directed IRA owner. But that’s just the tip of the iceberg.  The REAL REASON that valuations are required under Senator Wyden’s proposal is that the RISE act explicitly prohibits you from buying any asset for less than its market value.  Yes, you heard that correctly.  If Senator Wyden gets his way, you’ll no longer even have the option of buying real estate at a discount.  You’ll no longer be able to buy discounted notes or mortgages or any other asset at favorable prices.  You’ll no longer have the ability to do the one thing that real estate investors always aim to do:  To profit on the front end by BUYING RIGHT.  That will, literally, be illegal. And that’s not the whole story.  There are even MORE assaults against you as an IRA investor.  It’s simply stunning how thoroughly anti-capitalist the RISE proposal really is.  Folks, the tiny, tiny, infinitesimally small benefits offered by the RISE Act proposal are absolutely worthless compared with the tremendous, tremendous damage this act will do to you as a self-directed IRA user, whether Roth or Traditional. In short, this is PROFOUNDLY opposed to your interests, and it’s opposed to the interests of your beneficiaries, if building a financial legacy matters to you.  There’s just no doubt about it. So what’s the connection to the Presidential election that rages on right now?  My friends, I’m sorry… I’ve run out of time again for this episode.  But in the interest of making sure you get the information in time, you can hear part 3 – the FINAL part of this URGENT topic right now by going over to SDIRadio.com/231.   My friends, invest wisely today, and live well forever! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

You’re a self-directed investor.  Do you think that there’s no difference between a vote for Trump and a vote for Hillary?  Think again, my friends.  A new legislative proposal is out that directly attacks self-directed IRA’s specifically, and this leads to the CLEAR and RATIONAL conclusion that the difference between the candidates is huge.  I’m Bryan Ellis. I’ll spell it out in CRYSTAL CLEAR LANGUAGE RIGHT NOW in Episode #229. ------  Hello SDI Nation, welcome to the podcast of record where we help you to declare independence from Wall Street and build a financial legacy for future generations.  Today I’ll do that by helping you to understand what’s at stake in the upcoming presidential election that’s directly relevant to YOU as a self-directed investor.  Just a heads up… in today’s show, you’re going to hear me refer to today’s show notes page a few times.  That page is SDIRadio.com/229 and it’s got some really important, profoundly relevant things for you.  So when you hear me refer to today’s show notes page, know that I’m referring to SDIRadio.com/229. First – folks, you’ve doubtlessly heard of my friends over at Fund & Grow.  These guys are absolute magicians when it comes to helping their clients acquire zero-interest lines of credit… lines of credit that are essentially just signature loans, not even secured by real estate or anything else.  Think about that, folks… what if you could finance that real estate deal using a zero percent interest loan?  It’s a game changer, and that’s exactly what my friends Ari and Mike over at Fund & Grow do.  I say they’re magicians, but in truth, they just follow a great, great process that’s very reliable.  For people with decent credit or better, it’s totally achievable to reach $250,000 in zero-interest credit… and my friends, they’ve actually generated over $2.9 million worth of that type of credit for your fellow listeners just this year alone.  So my recommendation?  Check them out, and do it now… at SDIRadio.com/credit.  Again, that’s SDIRadio.com/credit.  You’ll be glad you did. My friends, have you heard of the poorly named Retirement Improvements and Savings Enhancements Act of 2016 – aka the RISE Act proposal?  Probably not… but as a self-directed investor, it’s HUGELY relevant to you, because it’s an all-out attempt to gut your rights to use a self-directed IRA in the ways that work best.  I’ll tell you specifically how in just a minute, but you really need to understand the background. During the presidential battle of 2012, Mitt Romney made the shocking revelation that he owned an IRA worth as much as $102 MILLION.  When I heard that, I thought WOW!  I want to be like him when I grow up!  But when certain people in Congress heard about it, all they could see was “THE RICH GET RICHER” and “THAT’S UNFAIR” and “he couldn’t do that legally”. All of these things are, of course, just the typical babblings of intellectually dishonest politicians who – let’s be honest – don’t give one little damn self directed IRA’s or about you.  What they do care about is appearing to their constituents – at least half of whom are below the average national income – that “I’m on your side and I’ll punish those rich guys who are getting rich at your expense.” It’s absolute garbage… it’s simple-minded reasoning for simple-minded constituents who have been trained by government schools, the media and our self-obsessed culture that success should be attacked rather than emulated.  If you agree with that – that success should be attacked rather than emulated – then you should stop listening to this show right now, because I’m not interested in having you as a listener. But if you understand, you agree that success is laudable, good and praiseworthy, and you agree that success leaves clues that the rest of us can follow, then listen on as I explain how we got to the threat of the RISE act that we face today. One particularly class envy-oriented senator, Ron Wyden, Democrat from Oregon, appears to have really gone bankers over the fact that some people had become very successful using their IRA’s… so much so that he demanded that the Government Accountability Office perform a study to find out how big the “problem” was, and how it was that anyone could ever build that much wealth. That last part is a legit question.  Most IRA’s have a max contribution of 6 grand per year or so, and even if you got a long-term profit rate of 8% per year, it would still take more than 90 years to get to $100 million.  Clearly, Romney isn’t 90 years old, so how’d he do it? Well, Romney didn’t break any rules.  We don’t really know what he did to accumulate such an impressive sum, but here’s my guess... and that’s all it is is a guess.  Remember that Romney was became rich as a venture capitalist specializing in business turnarounds and restructuring.  In other words, it was his JOB to find companies that were headed towards or already in bankruptcy – and thus essentially worthless – and to turn those companies around in such a way as to make a big profit.  And I suspect, after Romney had been doing this for a while and was very good at predicting which companies could be successfully turned around before it happened, he started to acquire shares of these companies in his self-directed IRA BERFORE he turned them around while they were available at very, very low prices.  You know, a company in bankruptcy is not expensive to buy.  So maybe he’s able to acquire thousands or millions of shares of a company for a few pennies per share.  He then works his magic as a turnaround expert and brings that company back from the brink of bankruptcy and causes those shares he bought for a few pennies to be worth a dollar, or 5 dollars or $100 dollars or more. And I suspect he did this many times.  And with that, it suddenly becomes very, very plausible to accumulate as much money as Romney did.  Again, that’s just my guess… only Romney really knows… but I bet it’s pretty close to this. Well, like I said, this revelation drove Senator Wyden insane with class envy. He commissions the GAO study I mentioned to you a moment ago, and what was revealed is that this issue of “mega IRA’s” like Romney’s isn’t a particularly big issue.  There’s a total of about 9,000 IRA’s in the entirety of America with a balance of greater than $5 million, most of whom are formerly high-earning retirees.  There are more than 9,000 people within 5 miles of my house.  That’s a tiny number.  So clearly, there’s nothing to see here in terms of a real problem.  Frankly in my mind, it wouldn’t be a problem if there were a million huge IRA’s… but the way I think is very different from the way Senator Wyden thinks. Which leads us to the RISE act proposal… and its connection to the Trump vs Clinton battle.  But unfortunately, we’re out of time- past time actually – in this episode.  So let’s do this:  The next episode with the Trump/Clinton connection is up and available RIGHT NOW at SDIRadio.com/230.  Again, that’s SDIRadio.com/230… so please, go there right now and check it out, because nothing could be more TIME SENSITIVE or RELEVANT to the safety and security of your self-directed IRA. My friends, invest wisely today, and live well forever! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

My friends, get ready to learn something about a huge limit on your IRA that is TOTALLY OPPOSITE what you’ve been told by everybody else.  This is a big, big deal and a huge risk factor for your self-directed IRA.  I’m Bryan Ellis.  I’ve got the details for you now in Episode 228.   Hello, SDI Nation!  Welcome to the podcast of record for savvy self-directed investors like you, where we help you take control of your investments and your legacy, and today, I’ll do that by helping you to protect your self-directed IRA in the face of transactions that appear totally kosher, but could be like a nuclear detonation in your retirement savings. Let’s start the show with a bribe.  Hehehehe  Here goes: I want you to SUBSCRIBE to this show on iTunes.  That tells the iTunes people that we’re producing good stuff, and in turn they send us more listeners.  So here’s my proposal:  If I teach you something today you didn’t know before, which is DIRECTLY RELEVANT TO THE SAFETY OF YOUR INVESTMENTS either now or in the future, then will you SUBSCRIBE to this show for free when we’re done with this show in a few minutes?  That’s all I ask.  Deal?  Thanks so much! Awesome, let’s get to it.  This episode was spurred by an article I saw over at MarketWatch, where a debate broke out concerning whether a self-directed IRA can buy assets from or sell them to a COUSIN of the IRA owner.  The broadly accepted advice on this – spelled out on the IRS website – is that the only family members expressly disqualified are ancestors – like parents and grandparents – along with your descendants and their spouses.  This seems to indicate that other family members – like siblings, aunts, uncles, cousins, etc. are not disqualified and therefore are fair game as counterparties for your self-directed IRA. So is it kosher for your IRA to do business with a cousin, or other non-lineal family members?  Folks, that’s the WRONG QUESTION entirely, and looking at it that way can DESTROY your IRA.  Let’s look at that right after I tell you how to get 0% interest lines of credit of $50,000 to $250,000 by working with my friends at Fund & Grow.  A quick story – I was recently at the Georgia Real Estate Investors Association meeting, and another member came up to me and said “it works!”  I was really happy to hear this, but I didn’t know this person or what they were talking about… and that’s when they told me they’d listened in to the webinar I did with Fund & Grow… and as a result, this local investor was able to achieve an eye-popping amount of zero-interest credit!  It was really cool because they just approached me randomly… I wasn’t a speaker at that meeting or anything of the sort.  But this guy and his wife sought me out specifically to tell me about their GREAT results of getting 0% interest funding through my friends Ari & Mike at Fund & Grow.   Folks, if you need funding for any of your deals, do yourself a favor and reach out to them.  You can find them at SDIRadio.com/credit, and when you go there, you’ll learn how to have an extraordinary competitive advantage.  I believe in them.  Check them out right now at SDIRadio.com/credit. So… can your IRA do business with a cousin or aunt or uncle?  Or is that even the right question?  Well, to be blunt, it’s absolutely the WRONG question. Here’s the thing:  Yes, the IRS does stipulate a limited set of family members who are expressly disqualified from doing business with you through your IRA.  So, for example, if your parents or grandparents or even children owned a piece of real estate, and you wanted to buy it into your IRA, you can’t do it.  That’s prohibited very clearly.  But as far as family is concerned, the answer changes if the owner of the property isn’t your direct ancestors or descendants, but rather a sibling or cousin.  Those, at first glance, seem to be ok… and that’s the broadly accepted opinion. Alas, there’s more… FAR MORE… than meets the eye, and it’s all legally uncharted waters.  And I’m not giving legal advice here, though I am giving you exceptionally good information, hehehehehe. In moving forward, keep this little tidbit in mind:  The IRS lists 10 groups of people who are DISQUALIFIED from doing business with your IRA.  That list is linked in the resources for today’s show.  Number 6 on that list is “family members”… and we know from other sections that this only means lineal ancestors and descendants and their spouses. Ok, that’s great.  Siblings, cousins, aunts, uncles… none of them are listed as disqualified.  So it’s cool to buy from them, right? Ummm…. Not so fast, sparky. Family members only make the list at #6.  What’s #1?  That honor goes to anyone who can be described as a FIDUCIARY of the plan.  So what, right?  The custodian is the fiduciary, right?  Yep, that’s right.  But my trusted legal advisor Tim Berry – the Great One, we call him – tells me that Section 4975 of the tax code defines Fiduciary as anyone who has discretionary authority over a retirement plan. Do YOU have discretionary authority over your retirement plan?  Ummm…. Yes, you do.  Remember, it’s *SELF* directed. But that only prohibits the IRA from doing business directly with you, right?  You’d think so, but… no. According to Tim, the examples in that regulation make it arguable that the disqualification extends not just to the fiduciary, but to anyone in whom the fiduciary has an “interest” that could sway the judgment of the fiduciary.  Notice the use of the vague word “interest”.  It doesn’t say bloodline.  It doesn’t say family relationship.  It doesn’t even say “personal relationship”.  It just says “interest”. Is it arguable that you have an interest in your siblings, your aunts, your uncles, your nieces or nephews?  Sure it is. So the bad news is this:  The law says YOU are a fiduciary of your plan, and that you – and anyone in whom you’ve got an interest – are disqualified from doing business with your IRA.  That’s a sobering thought. The good news:  Tim says he’s never seen this authority asserted by the IRS, so maybe their operating definition is narrower than what appears to be stipulated in law. So there you have it:  Chances are stratospherically high that 7 minutes ago, you thought your IRA could safely do business with siblings or cousins.  You probably also didn’t know you are technically a fiduciary of your own self-directed IRA… and because of that troublesome designation, anyone in whom you have an interest is prohibited from engaging in transactions with your IRA. Hey – I’m sorry the news isn’t a little better.  My advice:  Before allowing your IRA to do business with ANYONE with whom you’ve ever had a relationship of ANY sort… personal or business… get advice from the Great One, Tim Berry, or some other attorney who REALLY knows self-directed IRA’s. Tim’s contact information is linked in the resource page for today’s show at SDIRadio.com/228. So there you have it… did I deliver on my promise to you at the beginning of the show… did I teach you something about self-directed IRA’s you didn’t know which could end up being DIRECTLY RELEVANT TO THE SAFETY YOUR ACCOUNT?  If so, *PLEASE* stop by iTunes and subscribe to this show.  It’s easy and free, and there are directions available at SDIRadio.com/howto.  That’s SDIRadio.com/howto. Thanks for joining me today – we’ve got a lot more for you coming up as we continue helping you take control of your investments AND your legacy. My friends, invest wisely today, and live well forever!   Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

When a candidate for President of the United States is so sick she’s got to leave the 9/11 memorial service halfway through, and then is unable to get into her vehicle under her own power, that’s a person who is clearly unwell.  Regardless of political stripes, we wish Hillary Clinton a speedy recovery.  But her illnesses – and the fact they’ve been so carefully hidden – begs the question:  What about YOU?  Have you prepared your spouse, your kids or whoever will inherit your portfolio all they need to know to understand and succeed with your assets?  And by the way – the potential of severe illness for Hillary has ramifications for your money, too.  Let’s take a hard look right now.  I’m Bryan Ellis.  This is Episode #227.  ----- Hello, SDI Nation!  Welcome to the podcast of record for savvy self-directed investors like you where we help you TAKE and KEEP control of your investments. In the last episode, we talked about Bob, who recently passed away and left his 3 children with an IRA containing real estate.  It was a very valuable IRA, but Bob didn’t plan for the fact that that real estate would have to be divided when he passed away, and the predictable result was bad:  Serious legal strife among his 3 kids. But the potential for conflict over dividing assets in an inherited IRA is only one challenge when beneficiaries inherit a self-directed retirement account.  The other challenge is brought into sharper focus by recent news of Hillary Clinton’s health challenges.  Now before we proceed, note that this isn’t a political analysis, but a financial one. We know that Mrs. Clinton is suffering from a severe case of pneumonia and that she’s had a collection of other serious head injuries and illnesses in the past.  There’s also pervasive discussion in the medical community of the likelihood that she suffers from ongoing neurological problems. Whether those things are true or a product of the political circus we’re all witnessing right now, one thing is true:  Mrs. Clinton – just like you and me – will die someday.  Now unlike me, and most of you as well, Mrs. Clinton and her husband are extremely wealthy, reportedly having a net worth in excess of $100 million.  I don’t know how or whether the Clintons invest their money, but this issue affects them just like it does me and you. What’s the issue?  Preparing the next generation to handle the money and the assets. If, God forbid, Hillary and Bill were hit by a train, would Chelsea know how to handle what they leave behind to her? More importantly, will YOUR spouse or your children know how to handle the assets you leave behind? It’s important for you to grasp this one central concept:  Your knowledge doesn’t transfer automatically.  Your motivations and plans don’t transfer automatically.  Not even your IRA or 401k transfer automatically.  In each case, you’ve got to DO SOMETHING to make sure that your assets – and the ability to properly manage them – ends up in the possession of your loved ones… ….and nobody can make that happen except for YOU. Here are some of the things you need to make sure to do to prepare your beneficiaries for a successful succession into your financial assets, and as I go through this list, ask yourself:  Do your beneficiaries have this information for YOUR assets?  Here we go: A clear, detailed list of assets, and the accounts in which they’re held. A clear, detailed status report for your assets, including valuation (and how to update the valuation), any debt, any recurring or expected expenses, most likely unplanned expenses and any risk factors you see Thorough financial records. Think in terms of preparation for an IRS audit, because that could happen after you’re gone, and you won’t be available to lend your knowledge A detailed explanation of assets. For example:  What is the asset, exactly?  Is it a stock or bond or real estate or precious metal or… what exactly is it?  How can it be profitable?  How can it lose money?  Why did you choose to invest in it to begin with?  What were you hoping to accomplish? A target for your assets. If you have specific financial benchmarks you’re hoping to achieve with your assets, after which you want to liquidate or take other action, detail these targets and intentions. List of resources & relationships needed to manage your assets. For example:  If you are leaving real estate behind, you should make sure that you’ve documented the names and contact information of your property managers, insurance companies, lenders and any other service providers.  Document the names of the law firms, accounting firms and other professional services used on the property.  The goal here is for truly simple, seamless transition. List of responsibilities of the assets. Again using a real estate example:  Each year, property taxes must be paid.  Insurance must be purchased.  The property must be rented to generate cash flow.  These are all examples, and there are more.  The point is this:  Don’t assume that your beneficiaries know any of this.  In fact, assume that they know NONE of it.  And don’t fail to document EVERYTHING, even if those responsibilities are presently handled by a management company or other professionals, because at the end of the day, those responsibilities are still responsibilities of the owner. Give yourself a report card on succession planning for your portfolio right now.  Forget about whether end-of-life issues are a top-of-mind consideration for you presently, since none of us are guaranteed another day.  This is a here-and-now kind of thing… if your beneficiaries are actually important to you, that is.  And OF COURSE they are.   This is important stuff, folks.  If you didn’t get all of those, check out the list, which I’ve left for you in the description area below. Think seriously about this stuff my friends.  Just think of all of the STUPID mistakes you can make on your first real estate deal… and that’s when you’re excited about being a real estate investor.  Odds are, your beneficiaries may not have your level of enthusiasm about it, so they could be even more prone to make costly mistakes, so do them a favor:  Make it easy by leaving CLEAR documentation.  There’s no other way! And folks, before I go, I want to mention something to you:  I’ve found a GREAT way to fund 100% of the cost of most deals – particularly those in the $50,000 to $250,000 range… and the cost to you is no more than the equivalent of a very few points up front and ZERO INTEREST on the loan.  That’s right… ZERO interest!  That funding method is to work with my friends Ari and Mike at Fund & Grow.  Those guys are THE EXPERTS at establishing zero-interest lines of credit for their clients.  They don’t tell you how… they do it for you!  This is great stuff and I’ve seen it work time and time and time again, so check them out right now over at SDIRadio.com/credit.  Again, SDIRadio.com/credit.  You’ll be VERY glad you did! That’s all for now, my friends, but I do wonder what you think about something:  What are YOU doing to prepare the next generation to inherit your assets?  What things in addition to those I’ve outlined do you think should be done?  Tell me!  Tell me now!   You can do that by leaving a comment on today’s show notes page over at SDIRadio.com/227.  And be sure to check out the first comment on that page, which is from me.  There I give you one more tip that I’m using, which is NOT in today’s episode… and then tell me what you think!  And hey… if you’ve enjoyed this show and want more, be sure to tell your friends about Self Directed Investor Radio.  And if you haven’t yet given us a 5-star rating on iTunes, I’ll be SO GRATEFUL if you’d do so.  It costs you nothing and has a HUGE impact on this show.  If you don’t know how to do that, just go to SDIRadio.com/howto where you can get full instructions. My friends… a lot of GREAT things are in the very near future for this show.  Hang with me, and we’ll blow your mind.  And remember: Invest wisely today, and live well forever! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Bob died recently, and left a self-directed IRA worth $2 million to his 3 adult children.  Fortunately for Bob, he never saw the huge problem he caused, which threatens to tear his family apart.  Today, I’ll tell you what Bob did wrong, because odds are, you’re doing exactly the same thing and don’t even know it.  I’m Bryan Ellis.  This is episode #226.   Hello Self Directed Investor Nation!  Welcome to the podcast of record for SAVVY self-directed investors like you, where each day we help you find, understand and PROFIT from exceptional investment opportunities. Today’s episode is a serious one, but first I’d like to share something with you from today’s sponsor, Fund & Grow.  Fund & Grow is awesome, plain and simple.  Ari & Mike, the guys who run the company, are MASTERS at helping you acquire ZERO-INTEREST lines of credit of $50,000 to $250,000 or more.  And it’s NOT THEORY in any way… I’ve seen it happen over and over and over again.  So if you need some capital for that great real estate deal, your business or anything else, reach out to them at SDIRadio.com/credit.  I recommend them because they are truly excellent at what they do. Ok folks, the serious matter at hand today:  Let’s consider Bob, who as I mentioned to you a moment ago, recently passed away.  Bob invested through his IRA and blew it up to being worth $2 million.  A great thing, for sure!  But Bob passed away, and now his 3 adult children own it, each with an equal share. Now if Bob’s portfolio was in stocks, mutual funds or other highly liquid assets, there’d really be no problem at all.  Each child would be able to have an inherited IRA with 1/3 of the assets of Bob’s account.  Any of Bob’s kid that doesn’t want to keep the stocks or mutual funds could sell them.  Any kid that wants to hold the assets could hold them.  Easy peasy. But in Bob’s case, he made his fortune through real estate investing.  In fact, the entire value of Bob’s account is attributable to a single piece of real estate he bought way back in the day that appreciated massively. And now, Bob’s 3 kids are going to own that piece of real estate… somehow. But how?  As it turns out, Kid #1 wants to keep the real estate.  Kids 2 & 3 want the money from selling the real estate.  And Bob… for all his kindness in bequeathing this incredibly valuable account to his kids, did them no favors at all, because all he did was to stipulate that each child received 1/3 of the account.  He didn’t specify how those assets should be divided, nor did he use any strategies to make real estate – which is inherently difficult to divide – easier for his children to deal with. And now, Bob’s kids are fighting with each other.  There’s a civil war going on in Bob’s family, and frankly, Bob’s wonderful act of generosity, coupled with his incredible lack of foresight, is clearly the cause. What could Bob have done differently? The most simplistic answer would be that Bob could have sold off his property and converted the account to cash before he passed on.  Cash is much easier to divide than real estate.  But even if that had been convenient for him to do, it wasn’t what he WANTED to do, because Bob believed there was a lot of upside potential to the property. Another option is that the kids could – will probably have to, in fact – hire a lawyer to divide the property among them by re-conveying a portion of the property to each one of their inherited IRA’s.  That can work and will work if they go through this legal division process, but because there’s tension among the kids, there may well be litigation costs involved as well… certainly not what Bob wanted, or what you want for your beneficiaries. Another option could be that maybe Bob should have titled the real estate in an LLC or trust, and have his IRA be the owner of that LLC or trust.  That way, what the kids would be inheriting would be shares of an LLC or trust… which, like cash, is much easier to divide than real estate.  In fact, Bob could have specified in the LLC or trust documents exactly how the real estate was to be managed and distributed when he was gone, to remove even more uncertainty.  That would have been wise. Another option of great potential is this:  There’s nothing prohibiting you from explicitly dividing your account among your beneficiaries by some means OTHER than simple percentages.  For example, you could allocate Asset A to Kid 1, Asset B to Kid 2 and Asset C to Kid 3.  Obviously there are some risks here too, but this is particularly relevant and worth considering for those of you who, like me, think that involving the family in your financial decision making is a great way to help them learn from your experience. Bottom line?  Bob failed in two ways, not just one. The first one is obvious – he didn’t clarify how his assets were to be divided, even though he knew that real estate is difficult to divide. The other one is less obvious – he didn’t prepare his children for what they were about to receive… they just had no real connection to or understanding of this wonderful asset Bob was leaving for them.  In so doing, Bob’s wonderful gift to them turned into something of a curse. My friends, don’t let that happen to you or your family.  It’s actually quite simple to avoid this sort of fate, but since self-directed IRA’s are such a new phenomenon, nobody is talking about this.  But as your THOUGHT LEADER in the self-directed IRA world, I of course consider it my job to think the thoughts you should think, but aren’t yet thinking!  Hehehehe. And in all fairness, I learned a WHOLE LOT about this topic very recently from IRA attorney extraordinaire, Mr. Tim Berry.  That guy is like a mad scientist, only he’s an IRA lawyer, and he’s REALLY, REALLY good.  If today’s episode stoked any concerns you might have about leaving assets that could cause a problem for your family, Tim is the guy you should reach out to.  You can get his contact info on today’s show notes page at SDIRadio.com/226. That’s also where you should go to comment on this episode.  I’d love to hear what you have to say… if you’re investing in real estate or ANY illiquid type of asset, this issue is important for YOU!   So stop by at SDIRadio.com/226 and tell me if you’ve done any estate planning within your self-directed IRA… I’d love to hear from you!   My friends… invest wisely today, and live well forever! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Do you want to build a legacy, and not just a portfolio?  If so, there’s one financial tool that is CHEAP (under $10), easy to use, and will have a bigger impact on FUTURE GENERATIONS than anything else you’ve ever done.  And odds are, you’ve never even heard of it.  I’m Bryan Ellis.  I’ll tell you what it is and how to use it RIGHT NOW in Episode #225. ---- Hello, SDI Nation!  Welcome to the show of record for savvy self-directed investors like you, where each day you how to find, understand and profit from exceptional investments… and turn those investments into a wonderful legacy for generations to come! What a GREAT DAY to be alive, folks!  I’m so honored you’re spending some time with me right now, so let’s get right to it.  But a quick note to you, and I really hope you folks will take this seriously. Have you ever been in a situation where you were just a bit short of capital for an investment, or for your business, or anything else?  If so, I want you to check out my friends Ari and Mike at Fund & Grow. They are astoundingly good at acquiring zero interest credit of fifty to $250,000 that you can use at your discretion!  I really vouch for what they can do… it’s really amazing, and I’ve seen it work over and over with my own clients, many of whom are your fellow listeners!  To see how & why it works, just check out the short video we’ve posted at SDIRadio.com/credit.  You’ll be very glad you did. My friends, I know that many of you, like me, think in terms not only of building for your own retirement and other financial wellbeing, but also of building financial assets that will benefit future generations.  And you know, that’s a WISE thing to do.  In fact, right there in the middle of the greatest book of wisdom ever written, the Biblical book of Proverbs, is a verse that says that one thing that wise people do is to leave an inheritance for their children’s children… their grandchildren!  That means that wise people operate with an eye on making an enduring impact on at least 3 distinct generations:  Their own, their children’s generation, and their grandchildren’s generation. If you agree with that thinking, as I do… then ask yourself:  How would it impact your decisions today, if your time frame was not merely from now until retirement, or now until the end of your life… but at least now until the end of your GRANDCHILDREN’S lives?  Wow… that’s a huge, humbling and EXCITING thought, really… because time well used is the best friend of the wise investor. Now look, I’m no expert in Hebrew, the original language of that verse in Proverbs, but in the English translation of it I’m reading, there’s no indication that the inheritance that a wise person leaves to their children’s children is or should be limited to a FINANCIAL inheritance. What other kind of inheritance is there, you might wonder?  Well I’m glad you asked, my friends!  Hehehe What’s easily more valuable than any money you could leave is the benefit of your EXPERIENCE.  Don’t just leave money or assets… leave an awareness of what those assets are… why you chose them… what alternatives you considered and rejected… what factors about that asset gave you PAUSE, even though you opted to acquire it… what standards you adopted to know how long you should hold the asset… what kind of tax or legal structuring you used for the asset… what you planned to do with the cash flow generated by the asset… how the asset compares to other investments you’ve made in the past. There’s GOLD in that kind of information, my friends… PURE GOLD. Imagine if your parents or grandparents had passed on to you a journal… or many journals… that logged their thoughts about the kinds of decisions they made with their money?  There would be SO MUCH TO LEARN… even if your forebears were NOT financially successful… still, how valuable would it be to see the formation of the decisions that led them where they ended up?  Because it was THOSE decisions that affected YOU… and those decisions reverberate to your children, your grandchildren, great-grandchildren and beyond! I feel a real passion rising up in me for this notion… the notion of financial journaling…. But it’s not really just a financial thing… it’s more like LEGACY journaling… documenting the legacy that I want to leave and that you want to leave. And all it takes is to go down to the local office supply store and spend $10 on a journal.  I guess you could do it electronically, and there’d be value to that too, I suppose.  But there’s something special, I think, about handwriting. Can you imagine what it would be like to have the accumulated wisdom of multiple generations of your family to call upon?  Something to pass from one generation to the next… something that makes your family uniquely YOUR FAMILY among all of the families in the world?  Folks, nothing is more indicative of who you are, and who your family is, then how you spend your money.  Where your treasure is… what you use your money for… THAT is where your heart is.  THAT is what’s important to you… This is important stuff, folks!  And not just for investments.  For all things financial.  What if there was a history you could look back on to see when your parents considered whether to buy a home or a car or an insurance policy or even take a big vacation… how valuable would it be to know what, exactly they considered?  IMMENSELY valuable… because you’d have the benefit of hindsight, and the ability to objectively evaluate whether their decision turned out well or not. That kind of experience is PURE GOLD, my friends… absolutely priceless.  Absolutely priceless. And what about your financial RELATIONSHIPS?  Passing on knowledge of great advisors, great bankers, great attorneys, great accountants… that kind of information… those kinds of shortcuts have value of indescribable measure. This is a practical issue, too, for those of you who are interested in building not just a portfolio, but a legacy.  That’s because, unless you restrict your investments to the most plain-jane of assets, such as stocks or mutual funds, then there will be assets in your portfolio that may be unfamiliar to your children or grandchildren such that they don’t really know how to handle them.  But by WRITING DOWN what you bought, why you bought it, and how to know when it’s time to sell, you’ll be making the job EASY for them! There’s ABSOLUTE GOLD in that kind of information… and without it, that brilliant and very successful real estate deal you get into TODAY will likely be the one that your future beneficiaries will liquidate far below real value… not because they’re vindictive or foolish or anything other than that they simply don’t understand. So, that’s it, my friends… start a financial journal today.  Go to an office supply store, spend 10 bucks on a journal, and use it!  Maybe call it a legacy journal… and write down the important decisions you make and why you make them.  Then pass that information on, and teach your family to revere it as worth far more than money, because it is. Hey, that’s all for today except for one question I have for you:  Did you find today’s show helpful?  If you DID, and if you’d enjoy more shows like this, then PLEASE do this:   Tell a friend about SDI Radio, ok?  That’s the best way for us to grow.  Just tell them to stop by SDIRadio.com!  And be sure to leave your comments and questions over at today’s show notes page at SDIRadio.com/225…. I’d love to hear from you! And hey… if there’s anything you’d like to hear more about, drop me a line at feedback@sdiradio.com.  My friends… invest wisely today, and live well forever!   Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Is wealth a badge of honor… or a symbol of shame?  Practically every time Hillary Clinton or Barrack Obama open their mouths, they are vilifying the rich… while Donald Trump is clearly proud of his wealth, and promises repeatedly to bring wealth back to America.  Who’s right?  Is there something MORALLY or ETHICALLY either GOOD or BAD about wealth?  I’m Bryan Ellis.  I’ll spell out the answer for you RIGHT NOW in Episode #224. ---- Hello, SDI Nation!  Welcome to the podcast of record for savvy self-directed investors like you!  This is the show where you learn how to be a wise, profitable steward of your money… Today we’re going to talk about a topic that’s important, timely and rather personal.  We’re going to address the ETHICS… the MORALITY, even… of acquiring wealth, and being wealthy. But first, I’d like to introduce you to someone you should get to know, and I’d like to do that by asking you a question: Have you ever been in a situation where you found a great investment, but were a bit short of capital?  If so, I want you to check out my friends Ari and Mike at Fund & Grow. They are astoundingly good at acquiring zero interest credit of fifty to $250,000 that you can use at your discretion!  Yes, it sounds unreal, but it’s totally legit… I vouch for it… I’ve seen it work over and over with my own clients… your fellow listeners!  To see how & why it works, just check out the video we’ve posted at SDIRadio.com/credit.  You’ll be very glad you did. So… is wealth a good thing?  Is there any moral or ethical position to wealth at all? We’re in an election year, so it’s highly relevant to see what politicians are saying about wealth. Our outgoing president has left no doubt where he stands on that.  Remember these words of his from several years ago:  “If you’ve got a business, you didn’t build that.  Somebody else made that happen.”  That’s right, folks… there’s our president saying that those of you who have poured your blood, sweat and tears into building a business, well, guess what… you didn’t build that.  Somebody else made that happen… according to our President.  By the way… the link to the video where Obama said that is in today’s show notes page at SDIRadio.com/224. So Obama clearly thinks that your business… your wealth… isn’t yours.  Somebody else gave it to you.  You have what somebody else built.  You’ve taken what isn’t yours… you must give it back. Similarly, current candidate Hillary Clinton – who recently admitted she’s not driven a car since 1996 – commented that “There are rich people everywhere. And yet they do not contribute... They don't invest in public schools, in public hospitals, in other kinds of development”.  Clearly, Mrs. Clinton lumps all rich people into the category of being “takers”, not “givers”… with a clear implication that there’s something wrong, something fundamentally dirty, about wealth. Donald Trump has the opposite opinion, clearly and proudly embracing his own wealth, and claiming that it’s his wealth that makes him politically incorruptible. Who’s right and who’s wrong? Well, I’m right, and I’ll be happy to tell you why.  Hehehehe My friends, wealth and the things that comprise it… money, real estate, stocks, businesses, etc… these things are distinctly amoral… that means WITHOUT morality… neither good nor bad.  Practically all inanimate objects are completely without moral weight. I’ll go a step further… the moral character of money or assets does not change based on how that money or those assets were acquired.  Think about a $100 dollar bill.  Is that particular bill any more or less moral than any other $100 bill?  Of course not!  And that’s true whether that bill was acquired through flipping burgers at McDonald’s, through working as a corporate CEO, or even working as a drug dealer. Money is money.  It’s not good and it’s not bad.  Of course, if you’re a drug dealer, you’re a horrible scumbag who should be put under the jail for the rest of your life.  But that has no relevance whatsoever to the basically amoral nature of money itself. But we’re not talking about money, really.  We’re talking about wealth… wealth is an accumulation of excess money and assets, beyond what you need to live. So is WEALTH either good or bad?  There again, wealth is neither good nor bad.  BUT pay close attention to this: Contrary to what the left-leaning politicians will tell you, wealth is almost always a sign of GOODNESS… a sign that somebody has done something well along the way… an indicator that somebody has worked hard, made wise decisions, and remained diligent through trial. Allow me to say what’s profoundly politically Incorrect:  Amassing wealth PROBABLY means you’ve done something really, really well that helped a lot of people… or maybe that you helped a few people in a really profound way. Wealth is nearly ALWAYS an indicator of those three things – hard work, wise decision making and long-term diligence.  All of those are very good traits… and wealth is a common reward for having such admirable traits. And if you’re one of the bleeding heart types who instantly thinks of Bernie Madoff… or you get all out of what about the amount of money that CEO’s and hedge fund managers are paid… well, with all due respect… GROW UP.  I mean, come on, really!  For every crooked person who got rich, there are MILLIONS who became wealthy the right way… through hard work, wise decision making and long-term diligence.  And Madoff went to jail.  And those rich hedge fund managers… well guess what?  They’re rich specifically because they’ve made their CLIENTS rich, too… and if their clients are happy with them, why do you feel your opinion has a single iota of value? Yes, my friends… wealth is practically always a badge of honor, and not a symbol of shame.  In nearly every single case, guilt is an inappropriate emotion as a reaction to wealth, but the appropriate feeling is gratitude. Wealth is good.  The traits required to achieve wealth are good traits, and admirable traits.  And anybody who tells you otherwise is someone who opposes being committed to working hard, making wise decisions, and being diligent over the long term.  No, those traits don’t always lead to wealth.  But where wealth is earned, those traits are always present. Don’t be proud of your wealth, be grateful for it.  Rather, be proud of the hard work, be proud of the wise decisions, be proud of the diligence that got you where you are.  And be grateful for the wealth that resulted from it. And never, ever let scumbag politicians make you believe that wealth is bad or that you are bad because you’ve achieved it.  You are to be commended, and America wouldn’t be what it is without you, my financially successful friends. My friends… invest wisely today, and live well forever! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

It’s good to build wealth… but 100 years from now, what will that mean?  Statistically, probably nothing at all.  But there’s a way to make sure your wealth both provides for your needs, and actually changes the world in an enduring, powerful way.  And it all starts with a shift in perspective you can adopt today.  I’ll tell you all about it right now in Episode #223. ---- Hello, SDI Nation… welcome to the podcast of record for savvy self-directed investors like you.  Hey, today’s show is special… I’m going to dig deeper into my personal beliefs about money and wealth in a way much deeper than I’ve done in the past. So, my friends… today isn’t about investment strategy, capital deployment opportunities or market analysis.  Rather, for just a few minutes, we’re going to talk about something more fundamental:  Financial philosophy. Allow me to pose an important question to you:   Imagine that you were supremely successful as an investor… maybe even Warren Buffet level.  What does that do for you… and what is your “role” from that point forward, since you’ve already made more money than you could ever possibly spend? As you ponder that question, also consider this:  Most conventional financial advisors use some variation of the “work-backwards-from-the-goal” type of strategy when advising you how to handle your money.  In other words, they’ll ask you some questions about how you want your life to look in the future.  Then they help you figure out what your chosen lifestyle will cost on a monthly or annual basis.  That information, taken together with statistical projections about your expected life span, yields a certain dollar amount you must have saved by a certain date in order to afford the lifestyle you’ve chosen. Ok, so all of that is well and good.  But let’s say you follow the plan to the letter, and it works exactly as designed.  What have you really accomplished?  Yes, a nice life for yourself, sure… and there’s value to that.  But what have you REALLY done to leave a mark that makes the world a better place? In the interest of expediency, I’ll dispense with any flowery verbiage here and just say it like this:  If the purpose of my life is to pay for my life… what a weak, pathetic, temporary purpose I’ve had.  Same for you.  Same for all of us. There’s got to be more to this wealth-building thing, my friends… there’s got to be more.  If it’s just about making money… well that in and of itself isn’t particularly motivating to me, or to most.  There’s got to be more… a bigger purpose… a grand design in play. But what’s the bigger purpose for me?  What’s the grand design for you? My friends… there’s a very specific answer to that for each of us, and for each of us, I believe it revolves around one word: STEWARDSHIP. I believe that wise STEWARDSHIP of our resources should be our purposes, rather than wealth building. The core difference is stark. The wealth builder says:  This money is mine, and I’ll do what I can to make it grow. A wise steward says:  This money is under my control, and I’m responsible to make sure it serves the right purpose. Note that there’s absolutely nothing wrong with doing what you can to make money grow.  In fact, wealth building can be an important piece of wise stewardship… but they are not the same, and I propose to you that stewardship is a better model to pursue. Stewardship says:  I’ve been entrusted with the opportunity to manage this capital for a bigger purpose. If I’m a wise steward of resources, that means that my needs or preferences may not always be the first consideration in how money is used, managed or invested. Wise stewardship requires that I have a perspective far beyond myself… possibly even multiple generations in the future.  One ancient proverb that’s always resonated strongly with me says that wise people leave an inheritance for their children’s children… their grandchildren!  This suggests to me that maybe I’m not being very wise unless I’m carefully considering THREE ENTIRE GENERATIONS – my own, that of my children, and that of my future grandchildren. That’s a big, broad perspective. But I think it goes farther than that.  Imagine this:  Imagine that you build an amazing investment portfolio of cash-flowing real estate, private notes and other such high-value assets.  Furthermore, you do this inside of your Roth IRA so that it’s all totally tax-free. And then, something unfortunate happens… you very unexpectedly meet your life’s end, leaving that IRA to your spouse or children or grandchildren What will they do with it?  Invariably, somebody is going to have to make decisions about how to handle those assets… will your beneficiaries have understanding of how you were investing… of the factors you considered when making those investments… will they have awareness of what made those investments so wise, and awareness of the signs to watch for to indicate that it’s time to move on from a particular investment? Will they have awareness of the BIGGER PURPOSE you were aiming to achieve through your capital investments? In other words, will they be prepared to be wise stewards themselves? Or will the portfolio you’ve built be turned over to “professional” financial advisors who, for all their training, quite probably have practically zero understanding or perspective about real estate or other non-Wall Street types of investments?  Because if that’s what happens, your portfolio will be liquidated quickly… and probably for far, far less than it’s worth… and folks, there’s nothing wise about that at all. So in closing today, my friends, I encourage you to think about these things: Should your aim be adjusted from simply making great investments, to instead being a WISE STEWARD of your resources? Since stewardship requires you to see yourself as MANAGER of resources rather than owner… who do you view as the OWNER of those resources you’re managing?  Maybe it’s future generations of your family.  Maybe it’s a cause that’s near and dear to you.  Maybe like me you believe your resources are a blessing from God and are His to direct.  But you’ve got to clarify who you believe is owner of those resources, which leads to #3: And finally, whoever you decide is the owner of the resources you manage, make it a priority to clarify the purpose and values of the owner so that your stewardship hits the mark. It’s a great thing to make great investments… in fact, it’s necessary.  But so much more rewarding – more deeply fulfilling – is for investing to be a subset of your greater role:  To be a wise steward over the resources with which you’ve been entrusted for a purpose much grander than mere provision of your own needs. There’s beauty here, my friends.  And through it all, it remains a very good thing for you to invest wisely today, and live well forever! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

“Stocks keep going up, and investors keep saying no thanks”.  At least, that's what a story from the Associated Press says. What's the evidence, and why are the booming results of Wall Street being rejected so broadly?  And most importantly... what superior alternatives exist?  I'm Bryan Ellis.  I'll give you the answer RIGHT NOW in episode #222. Hello, SDI Nation!  Welcome to the show of record for savvy self-directed investors like you, where we help you build wealth WITHOUT Wall Street!  This is Episode #222, so all of the notes and resources from today’s show can be found there at SDIRadio.com/222. The first such resource is a really interesting AP story published today at CBSNews.com entitled “Stocks Keep Going Up and Investors Keep Saying No Thanks”.  This one caught my eye because ANYTIME a large group of people do exactly the opposite of what you’d reasonably expect them to do, you’ve got to consider the big question of WHY? So first, the facts: The stock market is booming, with the S&P 500 hitting an all-time high on Monday and having been on a very strong trajectory upward since February. So what gives?  Why is it happening? Is it because the economy is strong and everyone is investing confidently?  Hardly.  GDP grew by a HORRIBLE 1.2% in the 2nd quarter of this year, and it was even worse in the first quarter.  In fact, Obama’s economic policies are on track to make him the first president in ALL OF US HISTORY not to produce a single year of at least 3% GDP growth.  So the stock market isn’t booming because the broader economy is strong. Is it because of improving unemployment?  It could be that, because unemployment has finally dropped below 5% for the first time since in 8 years. Wait a minute… I take that back.  It’s definitely not unemployment, because it turns out that the dirty little secret is that there are MORE PEOPLE NOT WORKING NOW than at any point in history, with an all-time LOW in labor force participation happening this year, with no end in sight.  If you can’t reconcile the fact that there are more people totally out of the labor force than ever before, and yet the unemployment rate is going down… well, you’re not the only one.  There’s no way to reconcile those facts with one another, unless you just desperately feel the need to believe political spin.  I, for one, do not have that need. So why’s the stock market still going up? Without citing the highly technical justification known as hocus pocus, AKA smoke and mirrors AKA utter hogwash, it’s safe to say that the US stock market is still riding high on the lingering fumes of QE along with the fact that the U.S. market is clearly viewed as the least bad alternative in the world right now, with economic uncertainty strongly reverberating on account of Britain’s exit from the European Union and the constant reality of China’s deceptiveness about its own financial situation.  Basically, the whole world stinks economically, but the USA stinks a little less… and that’s why big-dollar investors are still pouring money into stocks here and driving up prices. But didn’t I just tell you that LESS money is flowing into stocks?  Yes, I did… and there’s no conflict.  Where the inflow of capital has substantially slowed and even reversed in many cases is with mutual funds that invest in stocks.  That’s where investors are turning away. That’s important because by and large, mutual funds are fueled by the capital of individual investors… so it’s the INDIVIDUAL INVESTOR – that’s you and me – who is rejecting Wall Street right at the time when it’s reaching new highs. So what are they – what are YOU – doing instead? This article says that some investors are merely shifting their investments around, opting for index funds rather than actively managed stock funds.  But clearly there’s something bigger than that, because a whopping $47 BILLION dollars has left stock funds altogether in the last 12 months. Where there have been much bigger inflows is into BOND mutual funds, which are perceived as offering more safety and reliability.  But interest rates are so low right now that bonds simply aren’t producing much in the way of income, relegating the investors who are opting for bonds to a position of treating bonds like stocks, and profiting primarily from the changes in the bond prices themselves rather than from the cash flow the bonds create. BIG EXHALE…. I don’t know about you, but all of this makes me really glad I don’t depend on Wall Street for financial security. What could those investors be doing instead? I have 3 quick suggestions. The simplest path to simple, safe and strong returns for them would be to do some real estate secured private lending. For example:  If you have $100,000 to invest, lend that to somebody who has $150,000 worth of real estate collateral so your money is safe, and charge them 6 or 8 or 10 percent interest.  That’s a real gimme. Another great path, which is similar in many ways to buying bonds, is to buy real estate notes that already exist and are paying. All that means is that SOMEBODY ELSE did what I just recommended to you… they lent their money to someone in exchange for collateral and a great interest rate, and now they’re selling that note – similar to a bond – to you. And for those of you who don’t quite “get” the notion of real estate-secured debt, you should consider buying a good high-yielding turnkey rental property. Right now, with no trouble at all, there are several great turnkey properties available that are fully renovated, occupied by a paying tenant with a GOVERNMENT GUARANTEE for payment of the rent and a professional, experienced property manager handling the whole thing.  That means you don’t have to be a LANDLORD, you just get to be an INVESTOR.  And as an investor, the deals I work with routinely generate 10%+ NET INCOME from cash flow alone… that doesn’t even factor in appreciation of the property.  So the numbers here can be really, really attractive. Here’s why I mention those options to you:  You’ve got to begin thinking OUTSIDE of the Wall Street box… and look at other avenues for growing your capital that are SIMPLE, SAFE and STRONG… because Wall Street, while going through a relative period of strength at the moment, is not now and never will be SIMPLE or SAFE… and wise investors who truly respect their own capital demand all three:  SIMPLE, SAFE and STRONG. So if that’s you and you’re looking to redeploy some of your capital into opportunities that are SIMPLE, SAFE and STRONG, I’ll be happy to help you.  Just stop by SDIRadio.com/consultation and set up a time to talk with me.  I can help you out whether you're investing on behalf of your self-directed IRA, self-directed 401k or any other capital you're looking to profitably deploy. My friends, invest wisely today, and live well forever! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

3 things – very bad things – happen INSTANTLY, the very moment you commit a dreaded PROHIBITED TRANSACTION in your self-directed IRA, and you need to understand them.  I’m Bryan Ellis.  This is episode #221.  ----- Hello, SDI Nation!  Welcome to the podcast of record for savvy self-directed investors like you, where we help you build great wealth WITHOUT relying on Wall Street!  Be sure to visit SDIRadio.com/221 for today’s show notes and transcript and resources I mention in today’s episode. Over and over again, you’ve heard me warning you about the dangers of prohibited transactions in your self-directed retirement account, and particularly in self-directed IRA’s.  But today we’re going a bit deeper. But let’s start at the beginning:  What is a prohibited transaction Here’s a good generalization:  A prohibited transaction results whenever you use your IRA in such a way that you, or someone related to you, derives benefit from the money or assets of the IRA outside of the context of retirement.  So if you buy real estate with your IRA and then you or your family use that real estate yourselves BEFORE it’s distributed to you during retirement, that’s a prohibited transaction.  If you borrow money from your IRA, that’s prohibited.  If you sell to or buy from your IRA, that’s prohibited.  If you use your IRA as collateral for a loan, that’s prohibited.  You get the idea.  The common theme is you’re doing something with your IRA that benefits you or a related party NOW rather than benefiting you during retirement. But what REALLY happens when you commit a PT?  Let’s just say that you – completely unwittingly and quite surely without malice or intent to commit a PT – do something… anything… that the IRS regards as a Prohibited Transaction.  What actually happens at the moment you do the dirty deed? Well, there are 3 distinct things that happen, and they are: #1.  SILENCE.  That’s right… silence.  You’ll hear nothing.  You’ll see nothing.  There won’t be red flags waving or IRS agents knocking down your door.  There will be a whole lot of nothing.  That’s because the IRS – and most likely you, too – don’t even know it’s happened.  Almost nobody commits a PT intentionally, and so when it happens, you don’t even know it.  And so you continue onward… potentially for years… acting as if nothing has happened, continuing to use your IRA as before. And it may happen that nobody ever finds out you did it.  Generally speaking the only way your error would be “found out” is through an audit of your IRA, which may happen soon, or a long time into the future, or never happen at all.  And unfortunately, there’s no totally clear statute of limitations on this stuff.  There’s case law where the IRS hit an IRA owner about 10 years after the PT. So you commit a PT in your IRA, and you experience a whole lot of NOTHING right away.  But silence isn’t all that happens, because if the IRS later determines you’ve committed a prohibited transaction, you’ll discover the next thing that happened when you did so, which is: #2:  Your IRA ceased being an IRA instantly.  Actually, your IRA ceased being an IRA as of January 1 on the year when you committed the PT.  So… no more deductions for your deposits.  No more tax-free sale of assets and tax-free reinvestments.  No more legal protection from things like lawsuits, bankruptcies and creditors.  Basically, your IRA just becomes a financial account that has no benefits for you whatsoever. Here’s the problem… you don’t know this has happened.  And so you continue to use your IRA just like before… making deposits… buying assets… selling assets… the whole thing.  And you think you’re using an IRA.  But you’re not… which gives rise to the 3rd thing that happens immediately when you commit a PT, which is: #3:  You begin accumulating taxes, penalties and interest… at a BLISTERING rate.  So maybe it’s 2016 right now and you commit a PT today, but you have no idea you’ve done so.  So 2017, 2018, 2019 come along and you make a full contribution – and take a full tax deduction – for each of those years.  That would be fine if your account was an IRA, but remember… it isn’t.  And so you’re taking tax deductions to which you’re not entitled, and the IRS is going to hit you to repay those taxes along with penalties and interest. But that’s not the bad part.  The REALLY bad part is that every transaction you perform in your IRA from January 1 of the year you messed up, up until the present day, several years later… well, all of those transactions are FULLY TAXABLE.  But you won’t be paying taxes on them, because you think you’re using an IRA… but you’re not.  This is where the pain can reach stratospheric levels, because, as you know, it’s entirely plausible that you could be dealing with REALLY big profit margins in your IRA… and you’re expecting those profits NOT to be taxed.  But they’re wholly taxable, and you’ll have to pay penalties and interest on top of back taxes, and all of that begins to accumulate instantly when you commit your PT. That, my friends, is why it’s COMMON for people who commit a PT to lose half or even substantially more of the value of their IRA… they commit the PT completely without awareness and they continue on acting as if they are receiving the benefits of an IRA for many years… only to discover that those benefits vanished very suddenly several years before, and the only thing that’s been growing in the mean time is NOT their retirement savings, but their debt to the IRS.  In a single moment, years of diligent saving and wise investing can be wiped out, and the IRS hasn’t shown a lot of proclivity towards mercy in these situations.  It’s a horrible situation to be in. So my friends… when using your Self-Directed IRA, always err on the side of caution, opting to seek expert advice early in the process of each investment, so you’re not stuck dealing with the ugly fallout of this problem.  There aren’t very many attorneys who really know this stuff well… so I’ll save you a heap of trouble and recommend one to you… his name is Tim Berry and you can get his contact info over at SDIRadio.com/tim.  If you think you’ve committed a PT, you should do yourself a favor and reach out to him right away.   My friends, we’ve got a lot of EXCITING STUFF headed your way ont his show in the coming days, so do this:  If you’re listening on iTunes BE SURE to SUBSCRIBE to this show… it costs you nothing, but guarantees you that you won’t miss anything.  And whether you’re listening on iTunes or in any other way, be sure you’re on the SDI Private Notification list by texting the word SDIRADIO to 33444. My friends… invest wisely today, and live well forever! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

is tougher, my friends… but I’ve got the answer for you RIGHT NOW! Here's what you'll learn in this episode: ~ 3 Big Factors That Determine If Section 8 Is Right For YOU! ~ Why experienced property management is key to success with Section 8 ~ Why section 8 is NOT right for everyone ~ How Section 8 can eliminate problems with rental collections and reduce maintenance and vacancy costs Resources: ~ Show Notes: http://www.SDIRadio.com/220~ Yesterday's Introduction To Section 8: http://www.SDIRadio.com/219 ~ YouTube Page: https://youtu.be/LID1UBUHq_Q ~ HUD Section 8 Info: http://portal.hud.gov/hudportal/HUD?s... ~ HUD Housing Project Info: http://portal.hud.gov/hudportal/HUD?s... Join the free SDI Private Update List by texting SDIRADIO to 33444 Invest Wisely Today, Live Well Forever! Please check out Self Directed Investor Society here: http://www.SDISociety.org http://www.Facebook.com/SDISociety http://www.Twitter.com/SDISociety http://www.Instagram.com/SDISociety http://SDISociety.Tumblr.com Be sure to SUBSCRIBE to our channel for more news and training for affluent self-directed investors! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Want to cause a heated discussion among landlords? Just say the words “Section 8” and watch the fireworks explode! Today, I’ll tell you what Section 8 is, how it works… and why there’s not a single answer to “is it a good idea”. I’m Bryan Ellis. This is episode #219. Here's what you'll learn in this episode: ~ Where did the Section 8 program come from? ~ Why Section 8 housing is TOTALLY *UN*-LIKE government housing projects ~ How the process works for landlords who use Section 8 Resources: ~ Show Notes: http://www.SDIRadio.com/219 ~ YouTube Page: https://youtu.be/LID1UBUHq_Q ~ HUD Section 8 Info: http://portal.hud.gov/hudportal/HUD?s... ~ HUD Housing Project Info: http://portal.hud.gov/hudportal/HUD?s... Join the free SDI Private Update List by texting SDIRADIO to 33444 Invest Wisely Today, Live Well Forever! Please check out Self Directed Investor Society here: http://www.SDISociety.org http://www.Facebook.com/SDISociety http://www.Twitter.com/SDISociety http://www.Instagram.com/SDISociety http://SDISociety.Tumblr.com Be sure to SUBSCRIBE to our channel for more news and training for affluent self-directed investors! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

THIS CITY is more famous for poverty and civil rights-era protests than for its real estate, and frankly, some of you more “snooty” investors – you know who you are hehehe – will turn up your nose at this market. But you’ll be leaving money on the table, because much SMARTER MONEY has seen the cash flow opportunity here, and is SERIOUSLY jumping into it. I’m Bryan Ellis. I’ll tell you all about it right now in Episode 218. What You Will Learn: ~ 7 really strong motivators I’ve identified in favor of investing in real estate in Birmingham ~ Why the yields from Birmingham properties are reliable, high, and long term ~ How having Section 8 tenants can be beneficial to you There’s a LOT MORE in the video, please check it out at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tCLi0zPSpI4 http://www.SDIRadio.com/218 Join the free SDI Private Update List by texting SDIRADIO to 33444 If you missed the last episode of Self Directed Investor Radio, check it out here: http://www.SDIRadio.com/217 Invest Wisely Today, Live Well Forever! Please check out Self Directed Investor Society here: http://www.SDISociety.org http://www.Facebook.com/SDISociety http://www.Twitter.com/SDISociety http://www.Instagram.com/SDISociety http://SDISociety.Tumblr.comhttps://www.thestreet.com/author/1685512/bryan-ellis/all.html Be sure to SUBSCRIBE to our channel for more news and training for affluent self-directed investors!   Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

What You Will Learn: ~ What is the hottest market in the WORLD? ~ Why has it been BOOMING for the past 15 years? ~ Why is that market crashing right now... very quickly? Links & Resources: - http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2016-08-03/deals-are-collapsing-vancouvers-housing-bubble-has-just-burst - http://www.chpc.biz/vancouver-housing.html - http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/new-figures-show-massive-growth-in-metro-vancouver-real-estate-prices-1.3524888 - http://www.bloomberg.com/features/2016-vancouver-real-estate-market/ There’s a LOT MORE in the video, please check it above or at: https://youtu.be/0eiJl69-pAg http://www.SDIRadio.com/217 Join the free SDI Private Update List by texting SDIRADIO to 33444 If you missed the last episode of Self Directed Investor Radio, check it out here: http://www.SDIRadio.com/216 Invest Wisely Today, Live Well Forever! Please check out Self Directed Investor Society here: http://www.SDISociety.org http://www.Facebook.com/SDISociety http://www.Twitter.com/SDISociety http://www.Instagram.com/SDISociety http://SDISociety.Tumblr.com Be sure to SUBSCRIBE to our channel for more news and training for affluent self-directed investors! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Happy FRIDAY, SDI Nation! Hey, even if you have a self-directed IRA or 401k, you might still want to invest in stocks, which is totally kosher. But here’s the question: Can you trade stocks on MARGIN in your self-directed account? I’m Bryan Ellis. I’ll tell you the answer RIGHT NOW in Episode #216. What You Will Learn: ~What does it mean to "trade on margin"? ~Can your self-directed IRA use a margin trading account? ~What happens to an IRA that uses a margin account? There's a LOT MORE in the video, please check it above or at: https://youtu.be/l-O_xs-EWl8 http://www.SDIRadio.com/216 Join the free SDI Private Update List by texting SDIRADIO to 33444 If you missed the last episode of Self Directed Investor Radio, check it out here: http://www.SDIRadio.com/215 Invest Wisely Today, Live Well Forever! Please check out Self Directed Investor Society here: http://www.SDISociety.org http://www.Facebook.com/SDISociety http://www.Twitter.com/SDISociety http://www.Instagram.com/SDISociety http://SDISociety.Tumblr.com Be sure to SUBSCRIBE to our channel for more news and training for affluent self-directed investors! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Why do self-directed IRA’s exist? The tale is replete with scandal, theft, dishonest labor unions, and the annihilated retirement savings of the employees of a once-great American company. Strap on your seat belts my friends… this is going to get a little bumpy. I’m Bryan Ellis. This is Episode #213. What You Will Learn: ~Why IRA's were created to begin with ~How the auto industry & destructive labor unions helped lead to the creation of IRA's ~Distinction among IRA's, "self-directed" IRA's and TRULY Self-Directed IRA's Links and Resources Mentioned: *Wall Street Journal Article about Pension Failures My friends, have a great weekend, and remember: Invest Wisely Today, Live Well Forever! Please check out Self Directed Investor Society here: http://www.SDISociety.org http://www.Facebook.com/SDISociety http://www.Twitter.com/SDISociety http://www.Instagram.com/SDISociety http://SDISociety.Tumblr.com Be sure to SUBSCRIBE to our channel for more news and training for affluent self-directed investors! This video is available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B_Jyq0kjVic Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

From the beaches, to the bikinis, to the nightlife… and yes – the real estate market – this Oceanside paradise is the essence of the word HOT!  Everything about it screams YES! to many eager real estate investors.  But to the discerning eye, it appears a storm may be brewing below the surface, and you need to know about it.  I’m Bryan Ellis.  This is Episode #212. My friends, it’s Monday, and that means it’s time for MARKET MONDAY, a new and weekly feature here on SDI Radio where we take a real estate market, consider what’s being reported about it, what the data is REALLY saying, and give you a basis to consider action… or avoidance! And with today’s Monday Market Analysis is my business partner – and also, much to my delight, my wife – Carole Ellis, host of the Real Estate Investing today podcast, a contributor to the Huffington Post and editor of the 700,000-subscriber-strong Bryan Ellis Investing Letter. Carole, what do you have for us today? Bryan, you said it right.  Today’s market, Miami, Florida – the magic city – is blazing hot, and it’s real estate market has followed suit, and things could get even better as a result of foreign capital looking for safe havens in light of Britain’s recent exit from the European Union. There’s plenty in favor of Miami real estate, as it has posted 8.6 percent appreciation in the past 12 months, and it’s showing huge construction activity during a period of time in this country when new construction is in hot demand but hard to find.  Plus, it’s MIAMI… it’s just cool to own property in a place like that. But all may not be as it seems in this most glamorous of locales. Here’s my gut sense of things:  It looks like the boom may have already happened and could be headed for the exits.  I base this on three indicators that are readily available, but seem to be overlooked by the press and the economists. FIRST: Miami’s hot housing numbers have been heavily bolstered by LUXURY housing… and that segment is showing serious signs of weakness. Before the housing crash, the Miami luxury market was booming, and it recovered relatively quickly compared to other U.S. markets thanks to Russian, Chinese, and South American investors.  But since then, the U.S. dollar has strengthened substantially, essentially making U.S. real estate more expensive to foreign investors.  A great example is Russian capital, which funded a whopping 20% of the luxury condo purchases in Miami in 2013… but plunged to 6.6% last year… a stunning decline of two thirds!  Simultaneously, transaction volume FELL by 20%... all ominous signs.  Could the demand for a safe haven created by Brexit revive this market sector?  Sure… but for how long?  SECOND: The “Boom Premise” is based on a myth. When investors (foreign and native) started buying in Miami, the premise was that Miami property was a good investment because luxury buyers (specifically monied retiring baby boomers) were quote “moving back to the city” to live in areas with rich entertainment, good healthcare options, and high walkability. Unfortunately, most of the buyers have been extremely eager INVESTORS and *not* baby-boomers. And when investors start outbidding each other in a rabid attempt to get into a market at any cost, it’s not usually a good sign for the strength of the market. THIRD: Developers are not taking the hint. Although dozens of projects in Miami have been postponed or canceled since the end of last year, new construction in the area is still outpacing last year. Developers have sunk more than $4 billion into construction since January of this year, and with comparable west coast markets like San Francisco and L.A. posting a serious DEARTH of new construction, many investors are tempted to think that any new construction in a hot market is a sign of health and growth potential. However, the new construction in Miami is not, for the most part, affordable, lower-end housing but high-end housing, which further bloats an already-overbuilt sector. So does that mean that you should cross Miami off your list completely? Not necessarily, but I believe you should view Miami as a hot-right-now market, and not an opportunity just waiting to happen.  Despite this tepid endorsement, I do see two points of opportunity in this market: First, look into lower-end housing in Miami, where home prices have jumped 13 PERCENT in the last 12 months. For these properties, demand is growing along from a population of buyers who have been renting and now want to own and feel they have the wherewithal to do so.  Second, remember that the Miami-Dade area has the dubious distinction of being home to more underwater properties than every other market in America, excluding only Las Vegas. So if you’ve got the skills to work directly with banks.. or even with some underwater home owners… then Miami presents a large amount of opportunity. My bottom line on Miami:  It’s an interesting market, and there is some opportunity scattered throughout it.  But be cautious… and let the core of every investment decision you make in Miami and elsewhere be this:  Always respect your own capital! Well said, Carole! Here’s what I hear in that report, my friends:  if you have a particular interest in Miami, then there are some reasons to dig deeper and look closer into specific segments showing promise… but what I do NOT hear is any reason to think that Miami should be counted on for profitability if you’re buying at retail and merely hoping for continued appreciation. In every real estate investment decision, caution should be central.  But in some markets with histories of astounding volatility – and Miami is certainly one of those – caution should rule the day.  Ask yourself these 3 questions: Is it SIMPLE? Is It SAFE? Is it STRONG? It’s got to be ALL-3 to make the grade as an SDI-Strong investment… it’s got to be ALL 3 to be worthy of YOUR capital, my friends. Folks, happy Independence Day and God Bless America!  Enjoy the day with your family and friends, and remember: Invest wisely today, and live well forever! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

If you want to invest in real estate through your retirement account, isn’t the easiest way to do that to buy into a publicly-traded REIT – a real estate investment trust – rather than buying physical real estate?  This question comes from Mark, an ophthalmologist in Atlanta, Georgia.  Mark – and SDI Nation – you’ll get the answer to that question RIGHT NOW.  I’m Bryan Ellis.  This is Episode #211.  ------ Hello SDI Nation!  Welcome to the podcast of record for Savvy Self-Directed Investors like you,  where each day, we guide you to FIND, UNDERSTAND and PROFIT from exceptional investment opportunities!  Hey folks – be sure to stop by SDIRadio.com/211 – that’s the page for today’s Episode #211, where you’ll find all of the links and resources I mention on today’s show.  Or just text the word SDIRADIO to 33444 and we’ll send you all the info you need. It’s a beautiful day in America, my friends!  The real estate portfolio of the Ellis Household expands by 3 more properties today, each of which is a single-family property that’s fully renovated, rented, managed and producing exceptional cash flow!  Well, technically, it’s not the Ellis household, as we don’t own valuable assets in our own names, nor should you.  But you get the point!  Hehehehe Folks, I feel like the luckiest man alive to have the chance to do deals like the one we’re closing today.  Can I tell you how this deal went down?  I think you’ll appreciate it.  So one of your fellow listeners – hey Chip! – had asked to purchase a portfolio of rental properties, which we arranged for him.  Sweet deal… only about $150,000 investment, and the net yield after ALL expenses was solidly above 10%.  Well, that’s what Chip was interested in doing, but something happened in his personal life and he needed to delay that purchase for a bit. Well, folks… ultimately that was for my benefit.  Because I looked at that deal and realized, yet again, that what I say is true:  I don’t sell assets that I wouldn’t buy.  So this package of 3 properties, well… my lovely wife Carole and I decided that they’d be an excellent addition to our own portfolio.  And fate has favored that decision so far, because the appraisals came in even higher than we expected.  So now, we’ll have 3 more properties yielding double-digit net returns… and I couldn’t be happier! So, onward to the excellent question from Mark, an ophthalmologist right here in the ATL, Atlanta, Georgia, a BOOMING city that offers all of the wonderful things that come with a big city… but at a substantially lower cost than virtually every other big city! Mark asks this question:  “Hi Bryan, I really enjoy your show.  I’d like to increase my portfolio’s exposure to real estate.  I have about $250,000 I’d like to invest.  I appreciate your endorsement of turnkey-rental properties and I’m seriously considering that approach, but wouldn’t it be much simpler, and just as effective, to purchase a publicly-traded REIT rather than buying physical real estate?  Thanks again for your show, I’m glad you’re back.” Mark – thanks for a great question! For those of you who may not be aware, a REIT – more precisely, a real estate investment trust – is a company that buys cash flow-producing real estate and, by law, must pass on 90% or more of the net income it generates to its share holders.  It’s kind of like a mutual fund that invests only in cash flow producing real estate.  And there are several REIT’s that are publicly traded, which means that all you have to do to invest in them is to call up your stock broker and place an order, and voila!  Suddenly, you’re generating real estate income without the hassle of buying or owning physical real estate. Sounds enticing, doesn’t it?  It is!  It’s a sexy proposition if you’re looking for the benefits of real estate ownership.  Taking the REIT route is certainly simpler than owning physical real estate, and it doesn’t even require one to set up a truly self-directed IRA.  The partly self-directed IRA’s at Schwab or eTrade or elsewhere will work fine for investing in REITs.  And since you’d likely choose one of the publicly-traded REITs, your principal is quite liquid, so you could convert your investment back to cash very easily. It’s not all roses with REITs though, Mark.  There are 4 big votes against them, in my opinion: First, they can be VERY volatile. REITs slip in and out of favor very quickly, and that has a direct impact on your share price… aka, your principal investment. The second big vote against them is that REITs don’t provide a real hedge against currency fluctuation like direct ownership of real estate. This is a real consideration, folks – look at what BREXIT did to the British Pound just one week ago?  Currency risk – you know it as inflation or deflation – is a very cruel beast, and direct ownership of real estate helps to hedge your portfolio against it, whereas REIT ownership does not. Third: There’s very little tax flexibility with REITs.  Income is taxed as ordinary income, period… a problem if you’re a high income earner.  And you don’t get to do tax-free exchanges – such as the 1031 exchange – when investing in REITs, only with physical real estate. And fourth: You’re forced to buy at retail when buying REITs.  If a REIT share is priced at $100, you’re going to pay $100.  But with real estate… not so much!  We routinely buy real estate – fully renovated – at 60 to 70 cents on the dollar.  Yes, it takes some work to find those deals, but there are plenty of them out there.  If I could buy REITs at 60 to 70 percent of their public price, I’d be very tempted… but it doesn’t work that way. So should you invest in REITs or physical real estate?  I believe you should default to PHYSICAL REAL ESTATE unless one these two things are true about you: First, If your primary concern is liquidity – meaning that you need to be able to convert your investment to cash in a matter of hours or days – then a REIT is your best choice. Second, If you’re absolutely terrified by the thought of the things that go along with owning real estate, like maintenance costs or legal liability, etc., then you should invest in REITs… but ONLY after you educate yourself about those issues, all of which can be mitigated with proper planning. So then, Mark and SDI Nation, if you’ve opted towards physical real estate, the question becomes:  WHICH property do you purchase?  Hey, if you’re a full time real estate investor, then you’ve probably got that covered.  But if not – if you’re an ophthalmologist like Mark or an engineer or an entrepreneur or whatever it is you do – and you want to continue doing that thing while enjoying all of the benefits of real estate ownership, then do this: Stop by SDIRadio.com/211 and check out a case study of an excellent – but rather common – turnkey rental property deal.  Remember from before… the type of property where you write one check and suddenly you’re the owner of a property that’s renovated, rented, and managed without your involvement.  This particular deal is actually available… and it’s a great example of what’s possible. My friends, have a wonderful weekend and remember this:  Invest wisely today, and live well forever! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Real estate-secured notes are an exceptional asset class that offers the simplicity, safety and strength that wise investors seek.  And without a doubt, one of the best sources for getting the best note deals is from other individual investors.  But who, exactly… and how?  I’m glad you asked!  Today I share with you 3 key sources for acquiring privately held real estate notes.  I’m Bryan Ellis.  This is episode #210.  ---- Hello SDI Nation, welcome to the podcast of record for savvy self-directed investors like you, where each day we help you to FIND, UNDERSTAND and PROFIT from exceptional investments.  Be sure to check out the show notes for today’s episode #210 by visiting SDIRadio.com/210. One such resource you might enjoy is an article I recently wrote for TheStreet.com which addresses the weakness in the luxury end of one of the biggest real estate markets in the world:  New York City.  For those of you who are inclined towards focusing your investment capital on major money centers like New York City, you’ll see some really solid reasons why it’s worthwhile to expand your horizons a bit.  Again, the link to that article is on today’s show notes page at SDIRadio.com/210. And with regard to analyzing specific markets, I have great news, my friends.  Beginning this coming week, you’ll get to enjoy “Market Monday”… one episode per week – on Monday, not surprisingly, hehehe – that highlights a particular real estate market in the U.S., and why it is – or maybe IS NOT – a suitable investment target for YOU, the self-directed investor!  This isn’t a rah-rah session… and the analysis is just as likely to motivate you to “stay out” as to “jump in”.  The point will be both to educate you about current conditions in a particular market, along with showing you some fundamental factors that are supporting – or weighing on – particular real estate markets.  So look for the first edition of SDI’s Market Monday episode this coming Monday, and if there are any particular markets you’d like for us to analyze, please drop a note to me at feedback@sdiradio.com! So let’s return to note investing, and what is likely the single best source for acquiring them for you as an individual investor.  That source, generally, is private investors… other individuals like me and you who – for one reason or another – find themselves in possession of real estate notes.  Let’s break this group down into 3 categories: Category #1:  These are the other individual investors who presently own real estate notes.  They may have acquired these notes because they are in the business of selling their own properties through seller financing which inherently creates a real estate note, or maybe they acquired the note in some other way.  These people are frequently easy to find because you’ll see signs or other advertisements that offer “owner financing” or “seller financing”.  Just search CraigsList in your target market area to find some of them.  This verbiage in an ad is a dead giveaway that the person selling the property is creating a note.  At that point, the relevant questions become:  Do they want to sell the note, and if so, is it a good investment?  On the first point – do they want to sell – the only way to know is to ask!  On the second point – is it a good investment – we’ll defer that question just a bit, so stick with me. Category #2 of private note sources:  Create them yourself!  Look, this isn’t a good option for everybody, and I don’t want to suggest that it is.  But for those of you who are already landlords, the choice of monetizing your property through seller financing isn’t substantially different than monetizing it through a lease.  The big differences are that you’re getting a down payment that you keep, rather than a security deposit you must return, and that you don’t have to think about maintenance or management or landlord legal liability ever again.  So for those of you who are ALREADY actively involved as landlords – such as those of you who are active, day-to-day real estate investors – this could be a great option for you.  And finally, there’s Category #3:  Me.  That’s right, yours truly.  My business produces a lot of very high-quality real estate notes, and we’re fond of partnering with investors on these notes.  I don’t actually sell a lot of notes outright because they are, to me, a highly desirable asset.  Instead, what I do is look for investors who can benefit from the type of cash flow that notes can produce, and basically allow them to co-invest with me so that they are entitled to receive the payments from these notes for a long period of time… and in a manner that’s incredibly low-risk for their capital.  I won’t delve into the details right now, but if you’re looking for a way to generate between 6 and 12% on your money in a really simple way by co-investing with me, just drop me a note to feedback@sdiradio.com.  Those deals are usually fairly low-dollar, requiring on average LESS than $50,000 per note, so it’s not a huge capital commitment. So there you have it, folks:  3 great options for buying privately-owned real estate notes:  You can seek out people who are selling houses with seller financing; You can sell properties you already own with seller financing, and create a note that way; or you can just reach out to me and I’ll handle the whole shebang! Hey, before I let you go to resume all of the important things you’ll be doing today, I’d just like to say thank you.  As long-time listeners know, I had to take a hiatus from this show for a couple of months due to some big things going on in business and life that demanded my singular focus.  My absence tugged at me every single day, because this podcast is, frankly, my favorite thing to do each day.  And so I was quite concerned that my audience may have dissipated by the time I returned.  And that’s why I’d like to say thank you… based on being back for just about a week, I’d say that SDI Nation is alive and well… and may have even GROWN during my absence!  You folks are amazing and your attentiveness is so humbling.  I know that YOU… the person who is listening right now in your car or on your phone or wherever you are… YOU are the reason for the success of Self Directed Investor Radio, and I thank you. That’s all for today, folks.  Remember that you can catch this show on video too… We take video of my recording session each day and add some other nice content to it as well, so if you’re listening to the sound of my voice right now, but maybe you’re a more visual person, stop by SDIRadio.com/YouTube and SUBSCRIBE to the SDI Society Youtube channel so you get updates with each new episode we post. Have a great Wednesday, folks, and remember:  Invest wisely today, and live well forever! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

We return from the detour caused by the BREXIT to focus on my FAVORITE asset class: Real Estate Notes!  Here’s the big question: Where do you find them? Join me in Episode 209 to find out what kind of note is right for you. If you missed any of the last three episodes leading up to today’s show, I respectfully recommend that you go back and take them in before continuing today. Everything you’ll hear today builds on that information, particularly episode numbers 206 and 207. What You Will Learn: What a real estate note is Where to find real estate notes How to get on the “inside” of the real estate notes game Where and how to get real estate notes The differences between note brokers and individual investors Links and Resources Mentioned: Episode 206: a TERRIBLE LAWSUIT that should terrify Rental Property Owners Episode 207: Bryan’s Favorite Asset Class Episode 208: Brexit: Does it Really Matter to You? My friends… it’s so good to be with you again and always remember this: Invest wisely today, and live well forever! Social Media Links   Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

What is Brexit?  How will it affect your portfolio?  And is it important enough to justify my delaying by one day the info I promised you about note investing?  I’m Bryan Ellis.  I’ve got all the answers for you RIGHT NOW in Episode #208.   Hey folks be sure to check out today’s show notes page at SDIRadio.com/208 or if you’re not in front of a computer, just text the word SDIRADIO with no spaces or periods to 33444 to get access to the resources from today’s show #208. In the last episode, we talked about my favorite asset class… real estate notes.  If you didn’t hear that one, you should definitely check it out right now.  At the end, I promised to tell you where to find some of these great assets. Well, my friends, I have not forgotten about that, but there’s been some very important economic news that’s relevant to you… and to your future decision making as a self-directed investor. Friday last week, the world was shocked by news of the “Brexit”… that’s the pop-culturish term used to describe the decision by the people of Great Britain to exit the European Union.  A bit of context will be helpful here, because there are some really important lessons for me and you as investors in this experience, and in the fallout from it. Back in the 90’s Europe had had enough of getting their clocks cleaned economically by the US in particular and other economic powers in general.  Thus, the idea of a European Union was pitched… a political and economic confederation intended to give Europe more power and influence to compete successfully. Of course, as political things go, there was more to the story.  The real driving force behind the EU was an ideology known as globalism, in which political leaders ostensibly place the interests of the world at large above the interests of their own countries.  That sounds nice, but it never, ever works.  In reality, globalism is a ploy by political leaders to expand their power over the entire globe rather than just their own countries. So the EU was formed with many major countries of Europe involved, including Great Britain, Germany, France and others.  So what happened?  What always happens when bureaucrats exert power over economies:  The EU economy weakened and weakened to where it is now hobbling along at, according to the Economist, at less than ½ % per year.  That’s pretty pathetic. Furthermore, to implement the cultural changes needed to truly implement globalism, something else had to happen:  Unique national culture had to be diminished in each member country.  This is most easily accomplished by essentially erasing national borders and allowed unfettered immigration. To that effect, the United Nations – that most globalist of entities – recognized that European citizens were aging out of existence with a very low rate of childbirth, and so the UN recommended the “replacement” of Europe’s dwindling population with Muslim freeloaders.  They’re not refugees, they’re freeloaders. That’s not merely opinion.  Empirical evidence shows that the only “benefit” brought by Muslim immigration is expansion in government spending to care for them, as data from the Gatestone Institute shows that Muslim unemployment rates in Britain are about 50% for men and 75% for women.  I’m told that such behavior is actually condoned in the Islamic faith, which encourages Muslims to idly profit from the efforts of infidels – that’s what they call non-Muslims like me. So, bottom line:  The EU is formed… they take over the economies of all of the biggest European countries… they begin importing Muslim immigrants by the millions, who promptly take up a spot on the public dole, and are paid for by the efforts of the millions of hard-working citizens who contribute to society… …and a certain frustration has been building and building and building over time.  It was a deep, intense nationalistic frustration from people who loved their country, and who couldn’t stand that it was being overtaken by people who were there with zero regard for the law or the culture. And so the Brits decided to unwind themselves from the EU…. And shook the world, economically and politically. I commend them for this move.  Great Britain once was great.  It can be again. But what does this mean for you and me? There will be economic turbulence for a few days, but beyond that, it means a few things.  First:  elections have consequences for your money.  Remember – the Brits chose to join the EU.  Any reasonable analysis of history would have suggested that it was a terrible idea, but the idea was “fashionable”… and foolish.  That idea of globalism through the EU won the day back in the 90’s, and all of Europe has suffered since.  So folks, VOTE CAREFULLY… Second:  Immigration isn’t an issue to be taken lightly.  With all Donald Trump’s talk of erecting a wall and freezing immigration of Muslim refugees, faux intellectuals have made it fashionable to make accusations of xenophobia when faced with anyone so “uncouth” as to support immigration limits that are clearly pro-America.  But the truth is different that the fashion, as there’s clear evidence connecting Muslim immigrants to being economic leaches and downright dangerous, as yet again evidenced by the recent accusations that 3 Muslim boys, all 14 or younger, raped a 5-year-old girl with special needs in Idaho earlier this month.  Don’t be swayed by shapeless arguments about “fairness”… your family, and their wellbeing, should ALWAYS be the primary factor you consider. And Third:  If you’re not yet invested in hard assets – namely real estate – now’s the time.  You have to be smart about it, of course, but look at this:  Paper assets are subject to currency fluctuations, and in the past 3 days alone, the British pound has taken a HUGE BEATING… which means that paper assets – like stocks – are inherently worth LESS because their only value is in being converted to cash, and not because they have actual independent value, like real estate does.  So my friends… do yourself a favor… get serious about owning some high-quality, cash-flow producing real estate!  To that end, watch your email this week for the SDI Alert… I’ll be sending you some information about some REALLY STRONG real estate investment opportunities you’ll not want to miss. We’re about done for the day, and tomorrow, we’ll return to discussing SOURCES for finding great note investment deals.  But… ah yes… the more astute among you might think:  “Bryan, you just told us that paper assets are subject to currency fluctuations, and now you’re telling us to invest in real estate notes.  That’s a huge conflict!” Not so fast, my friends!  I’ll address that question rather conclusively and impressively, if I do say so myself, hehehehe, so be sure to join me here on tomorrow’s episode of SDI Radio.  And do you know how you can make sure you don’t miss it?  Just text the word SDIRADIO with no spaces or periods to 33444 and get on the FREE SDI Alerts email list.  That’s also where I’ll be sending info about some great real estate investment opportunities, so sign up now. Folks, amidst the chaos of Brexit and the political storms that are brewing right here in America, I’d like to leave you with one great piece of fundamental advice, and that is:  Invest wisely today, and live well forever! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

What's a great way to diversify your real estate portfolio so you STILL get great cash flow… but without the headaches or legal risk of having a constant stream of tenants? This may be my favorite type of asset of all, my friends, and I'm going to tell you about it right now. I'm Bryan Ellis. This is Episode #207! Hello, SDI Nation! Welcome to the podcast of record for savvy self-directed investors like you, where we help you to find, understand and profit from exceptional investment opportunities! Check my first article for TheStreet.com, a major news website that focuses on stock market investing. It seems they wanted to get some perspective about the real estate world, and they feel that your's truly will bring them a big audience. I'm betting they're correct. Hehehe. So, the last couple of days have been a bit downcast, I'll admit. The ugly lawsuit going on in Virginia against that landlord who made the unthinkable mistake of demanding background checks… and yesterday's discussion of the harsh reality of the fact that Uncle Sam is not on your side… well… I know that's a mouthful of bitterness to swallow. But let's return from the land of gloom and doom to focus on what we all love: Investments that are SIMPLE, SAFE and STRONG! Today I'm going to tell you about my favorite asset class: Real Estate Notes! But let's not bore ourselves with discussions of LTV's and interest rates and principal balances. No way! Rather, I'm going to tell you a story about a wonderful, amazing, magical golden box. Here's the story: You are visiting Omaha, Nebraska, headquarters of Berkshire Hathaway, the investment firm made famous by super-investor Warren Buffett. You're there for Buffett's annual shareholder meeting. This event, if you've ever been to it, is totally unlike any other shareholder meeting in the world. People come in from all over the world to attend this meeting – very, very smart, well informed and well connected people attend this meeting. They attend it because they're going to get the chance to hear from the man himself, the Oracle of Omaha… the one man on the planet who is revered as something nearly god-like in the investment world, none other than Mr. Buffett himself. Buffett always uses this meeting to give his impressions of how he's performed at Berkshire Hathaway, and he also talks more broadly about the state of the stock market, the economy, and the world. When Buffett speak, people listen… and that's why you're there… to learn from THE MAN. So, much to your delight and surprise, Buffett grabs you by the arm and pulls you into a private room. He says, “Look, I've got a magical box made of pure gold. This box is magical because every month for the next 30 years, it's going to spit out $1,000 cash. It just works automatically, no effort required from you. Plus, the box itself is worth $150,000 just from the gold content. I'd like to sell this box to you for only $100,000. Would you like to buy it?” So you think it over… and honestly, it's kind of a no-brainer. You get $1,000 per month for 30 years. And the box is worth $50 GRAND more than you've got to pay for it. If that wasn't enough, it's none other than WARREN BUFFETT recommending it to you… and like the box, his reputation is pure gold. So you tell Mr. Buffett: “Yes, I'd like to buy the magical golden box.” Then he looks at you and says “GREAT! But there's one catch: In 30 years from now, I get the box back." Well, that puts a bit of a curveball in your plans. You were secretly considering just “flipping” this magical golden box to capture as much of the $50,000 profit as you could, but it turns out, that could be difficult since Buffett gets the box back in 30 years from now. But you put pencil to paper, you do the math, and you realize that it's still a pretty strong deal to get $1,000 per month for 30 years in exchange for $100,000 now. But then, something important occurs to you. So you ask: “Mr. Buffett, what happens if the box stops working correctly, and doesn't continue to pay me $1,000 per month. What then?” And with a gleam of pride in his eye, Buffett looks at you and says “NOW you've asked the right question. I promise you on my word that you'll get your $1,000 per month for the next 30 years. But if something happens, and for some reason you DON'T get your monthly payment… THEN, and ONLY THEN, can you sell the box to recoup your investment and lost profits.” So you noodle the whole thing for a minute… and when you do, what you see is that this deal that Buffett is proposing to you is simple… because in return for investing $100,000 you get $1,000 per month for 30 years. It's safe because if for some reason your money doesn't get paid, you can sell that box, which is worth $50 GRAND more than you paid. And it's strong because – according to my trusty dusty, handy dandy financial calculator, the yield you'd be receiving on your money would be 11.63%... so that's really nice. That's it… it's a simple, safe and strong deal… it meets that basic criteria that we espouse here at SDI Society. So why this mythical story about a magical golden box? Because it's really just a story about how real estate notes work. A note is just a financial instrument that entitles it's owner to cash flow – payments from a mortgage. And just like that golden box, if you don't get your payments, you can sell the asset itself – the house – to get your money back. The opportunity lies in the fact that notes are what's called “negotiable instruments”. In other words, they can be bought and sold. You could sell the cash flow – the monthly payment stream – to somebody else for what you paid for it, or for more or for less. And if you get your payments as promised, it's all good. If not, you can sell the house attached to the note and get your money back that way. Same deal with a note. The level of flexibility you have with these things is simply astonishing. We won't get into the complexities right now, but let me make this clear to you: There's simply no more flexible type of financial instrument than a good real estate note, in my humble but entirely accurate opinion. Hehehehe. The options are astounding… and these instruments can easily be engineered – or even RE-ENGINEERED – to give you PRECISELY the level of simplicity, safety and strength that your portfolio needs. But how do you find them? Patience, my friends… patience! I'll cover that in tomorrow's episode. As for now, I have a favor to ask of you: *PLEASE* consider doing me a favor. In case you didn't know, there's now a VIDEO version of this show that's on YouTube. I'd be SO GRATEFUL if you'd visit the youtube page right now for this show – it's at SDIRadio.com/youtube – and PLEASE subscribe to the SDI Society channel there. It's free, it's simple… and I'll be truly grateful to you! Tomorrow we'll hit the ground running with some tips on FINDING great note investments. You're going to love it. Until then, my friends: Invest wisely today, and live well forever! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Rental Property Owners face a huge enemy today:  The Federal Government, which delights in creating new rules, regulations and rulings that take power FROM property owners like you and me, and redistributes that power to tenants, “housing advocates”, and of course, to the government itself.  How do YOU shield yourself from this onslaught against your rights as a property owner?  I’m Bryan Ellis.  I’ll tell you RIGHT NOW in Episode #206. Hello, SDI Nation!  Welcome to the podcast of recover for savvy self-directed investors like you, where you learn, in bite-sized chunks every day, how to find, understand and PROFIT from exceptional investments. My friends, here in America, a prevailing attitudes that has been taught by our public education system and reinforced by the media to the very large group of Americans I call the “oblivious lowbrows”– these are the people who have practically zero worthwhile knowledge, skills or experience, even though some of them have some or even substantial formal education – what these people have been programmed to believe is that the true EVILDOERS of the world are those awful RICH PEOPLE whose gain is undoubtedly ill-gotten and achieved on the backs of the “working man”… These folks – the unaware lowbrows – they are convinced that those RICH PEOPLE should be punished and that property and wealth should rightfully be owned by SOCIETY rather than those conniving, manipulative rich people. The result? An explosion in rules, regulations and rulings that virtually never favor property owners like you and me.  A good way to know that you’re dealing with a rule, regulation or ruling that does not favor you as the property owner is this:  Does the word “Fair” appear in the name?  You can always bet that the word “Fair” in a law means that the government is shifting the balance of power AWAY from the “RICH”, and towards the millions of oblivious lowbrows in our society. You might think this doesn’t apply to you since you don’t see yourself as “rich”.  But whose perspective determines the definition of “Rich”?  Again, it’s the oblivious lowbrows.  Take as an example of this group, a woman named Jane.  Jane doesn’t have a job, but she’s not really “unemployed” in a conventional sense… she’s got income and her basic needs are provided for.  She’s compensated – by the government – to do absolutely nothing. Most or all of Jane’s housing, her food, and her medical care are paid for by the government.  The same for her children… in fact, the more children Jane has, the more she’s paid by the government.  And Jane knows how to work the system, too… because she’s a product of it.  Jane knows that she’s eligible for even more stipends and pay from the government if her children fail to reach a certain standard of academic or intellectual performance… and thus, she’s unmotivated to emphasize education… because it certainly wasn’t emphasized to her. Jane is unmotivated to change anything about her life because her basic needs are being provided without her doing anything whatsoever. Why’d I take so much time describing Jane to you?  Jane is relevant to you as a rental property owner because the rules, regulations and rulings I mentioned at the top of the show are written to motivate Jane to vote for the politicians who support the programs that support Jane. The educational system, the media and Hollywood are willing accomplices in this process, feeding Jane and her ilk an incessant flow of propaganda that the problem is NOT Jane, it’s NOT her unwillingness to work, it’s not that she and tens of millions of others like her are happy to subsist simply by sucking at the tit of the federal government… no, what Jane is taught, and is happy to believe, is that the problem is the RICH PEOPLE who took all her money. Yes, Jane believes that the money should be hers, and that it was somehow taken from her. And it’s from JANE’S PERSPECTIVE that the word “rich” is defined.  You see, to me and you, “RICH” means Bill Gates.  It means Warren Buffett.  It means Donald Trump.  It means Mark Cuban or Elon Musk. But to Jane… RICH means the person living in that nice neighborhood on the other side of town.  And guess what?  That’s YOU.  YOU are the dirty, stinking, rotten, filthy, conniving RICH PERSON that Jane despises… and YOU are target of every law that has the word “FAIR” in it… YOU are who Jane perceives as having gotten what you have by taking advantage of others… and Jane believes it whole heartedly. My friends… are you aware of this?  My description to you just now is harsh, but dead on accurate.  If you don’t believe me, I dare you to go into a part of town that you don’t normally frequent – you know where I’m talking about – and just ask a few random people how the rich people got their money.  Then ask them this question:  “Where do the rich people live around here?”  It’s very, very likely that they’ll describe YOUR side of town. In today’s society, YOU are the rich person that’s being targeted.  So what do you to protect yourself from the fact that your preferred method of wealth building – real estate ownership – is one of the primary vehicles under attack by Uncle Sam? There are 3 simple suggestions I have for you: First, make sure that your property management company is legally savvy, and that they make a concerted effort to stay abreast of the changing legal environment for property owners.  Too many of them just don’t do this at all. Second, for those of you who buy turnkey rental properties, respect your own capital enough to ONLY work with companies that take an active interest in helping you stay up to date on developments that are profoundly relevant to you as a property owner.  Two great examples of what I mean are Episodes #90 and #205 of this show, where a year ago I gave you notice and a prediction about the disparate impact ruling from the Supreme Court, and then a year later – in yesterday’s Episode #205 – I showed you how my prediction is coming true, almost to the letter.  So if your turnkey rental property provider isn’t taking an interest in how your properties are affected, then you’ve got to question whether their motivation runs any deeper than just selling you a house. And my third and final suggestion:  This November, vote with your brain, not your emotions.  Good lord, people… when you were 20 years old, it was fine to vote for the candidate that made you feel warm and fuzzy and idealistic.  But you’re an adult now with responsibilities.  Don’t give away your vote just because that’s how you were brought up, or because that’s how people in your area vote, or because that’s how people of your particular ethnicity vote.  Vote based on YOUR INTERESTS... and remember:  When politicians talk about taxing the rich and making new rules and regulations to benefit the common man, they’re not talking about the “common man” as you and I know him.  They’re talking about Jane… they’re talking about the oblivious lowbrows who are wholly dependent on the government… they’re talking about making our country a subsistence society… and that’s COMPLETELY OPPOSITE YOUR INTERESTS… it’s completely opposite what is necessary to make America great again. I said I had only 3 suggestions, but I’ve got a bonus suggestion for you.  Here it is:  Consider diversifying your next real estate capital deployment AWAY from property ownership into something that’s a bit easier, more predictable… and dare I say… SMARTER than outright property ownership?  I’ll tell you more about that TOMORROW in Episode #207. Until then, my friends, remember this: Invest wisely today, and live well forever! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Are you a rental property owner?  Then answer this question:  Do you believe it’s reasonable to require criminal background checks of your tenants?  Now don’t forget your answer, because I’ve got some terrifying news for you today, made possible by an insane, destructive decision by the US Supreme Court last year.  I’m Bryan Ellis.  This is Episode #205. Hello, SDI Nation!  Welcome to the podcast of record, where we help savvy investors like you find, understand and profit from exceptional investments. On June 26 of last year – almost exactly a year ago – I told you in Episode #90 of this very show about a terrifying Supreme Court decision that I predicted would be a horrible blight on the freedom of real estate investors in America.  The case involved an issue called “disparate impact”.  In layman's terms, this refers to a policy that disproportionately affects one group of people more than another, even if there is no intent to discriminate against anyone. I gave an extreme example, that went like this:  You’re a landlord, and you institute a policy that you won’t rent your properties to anyone ever convicted of rape.  Seems reasoanble, right?  Well, a Supreme Court decision from last year adds in a “trump card” where your policies ae concerned:  RACE.  The way it works is this:  If your anti-rapist policies have a proportionate impact on all ethnicities, then you’re ok.  But if your anti-rapist policy has a disproportionately large impact on any ethnic group – even if the disqualifier issue (like rape) happens to be a criminal matter – then you risk being targeted by a civil rights lawsuit on the basis of a legal theory known as “disparate impact”.  Basically, the Supreme Court is telling us that your rental policy is RACIST even though there’s not a single drop of racial motivation anywhere to be found. And that’s exactly what’s happened.  There’s a civil rights lawsuit facing a landlord who is demanding proper identification so he can run criminal background checks.  This is painful, folks.  Here's the story from our friends over at The Daily Caller...   INSERT VIDEO HERE   Can you believe it?  What you’ve got is a landlord facing a VERY expensive lawsuit because a particular group of people who are BREAKING THE LAW by not having proper ID… well, they’re suing him because they believe that more people of their ethnicity break that particular law than people of other ethnicities, and so they should receive some protection from the repercussion of that particular criminal activity. It’s DISGUSTING.  Folks, this isn't about Latinos or African Americans or caucasians or any ethnicity.  It's about the fact that the new Supreme Court decision basically places ETHNICITY as a trump card over the law... or, at least, that's the effect that will exist if the plaintiffs win this case.  It's absolutely disgusting. Tell me something:  Where's the discrimination?  It doesn’t exist.  But what is being violated is this landlord’s right to manage his property in a safe and responsible manner.  This whole thing is mind-blowing and terrifying, just as I predicted back in Episode #90 of Self Directed Investor Radio. Have you ever been involved in a lawsuit?  If not, let me give you a taste of it.  I’ve only really had to deal with one big legal conflict.  A former business associate went… well, his mental condition changed, if that’s the right word for it… and he went ballistic and sued me in federal court in his home town.  My lawyers got it dismissed because it was a silly claim.  He then sued me in federal court in my home town.  Again, my lawyers got it dismissed, because it was just ridiculous.  But at the end of the day, that experience still cost me about $80,000. Why’s that relevant to YOU?  Well, the bottom line is that the Supreme Court’s decision last year make it MUCH more likely that the kind of lawsuit being faced by Waples Mobile Home Park will come to knock on your door someday, too.  Now at this point, this is still only a lawsuit.  It could still be withdrawn, it could be dismissed or it could go to trial, which I suspect will happen.  Nobody knows how it will turn out.  There's more to every story than meets the eye, and that's probably true here, too.  But here's what's so troubling to me as a real estate investor: It cost me $80,000 to get a frivolous lawsuit DISMISSED.  That didn’t include the cost of going to trial, because the claim against me was so silly as to be rejected outright by the judge.  Yet it still cost me $80,000 to make that happen. And now, lawsuits like the one against Waples are MUCH easier to bring against rental property owners … directly as a function of some incredibly twisted thinking at the Supreme Court.  And if the landlord in this case WINS… which is still entirely possible… it’s practically guaranteed that he’ll have to spend tens or hundreds of thousands of dollars – at minimum – defending himself against this claim. At the top of the show, I asked you:  Do you think it’s reasonable to do a criminal background check against your tenants?  If you answered YES – and I bet virtually every one of you did – then you’re facing a real risk. How do you mitigate that risk?  How do you steer clear of the legal landmines that our government LOVES to place in our paths? I’ve got the answer for that question in TOMORROW’s show, episode #206… so DON’T MISS IT.  Actually there are 3 answers… and at least one of those answers is going to anger a large segment of the real estate industry.  But hey… the truth is the truth, and you deserve to hear it. My friends, it was really great to be with you today, and I'm so grateful for your time.  And hey, always remember this:  Invest wisely today, and live well forever! Enjoy Self Directed IRA news & updates! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The U.S. government is on the attack again.  New rules from the Treasury department just killed an otherwise very big corporate merger, and the motivation is simple:  GREED on the part of the Obama administration.  This isn’t a political statement.  It’s all about YOUR PORTFOLIO, and I’ll tell you exactly how RIGHT NOW.  I’m Bryan Ellis.  This is Episode #204.-----Hello, SDI Nation!  Welcome to the podcast of record for savvy self-directed investors like you, where we have but one central purpose, and that is to help YOU make great investments that are simple, safe and strong.That’s right, ladies and gentlemen… you are the hero in the story of your portfolio, not me and not any other person to whom you look for guidance.  Or… maybe you’re the goat in the story of your portfolio.  I certainly hope not, but good news:  My job is to make you be the hero in your portfolio forevermore.Well, well, well ladies and gents… the U.S. treasury is at it again, directly interfering with business to the benefit of nobody but itself.  The latest action is rather disgusting, and I’ll tell you all about it after today’s Wisdom of the Ancients segment, where I tell you a short proverb, saying or quote that has stood the test of time and is deeply relevant to you and me as self-directed investors.  So here’s today’s proverb:“My son, if you have put up security for your neighbor, if you have shaken hands in pledge for a stranger, you have been trapped by what you said, ensnared by the words of your mouth.  So do this, my son, to free yourself, since you have fallen into your neighbor’s hands:  Go—to the point of exhaustion— and give your neighbor no rest!  Allow no sleep to your eyes, no slumber to your eyelids.  Free yourself, like a gazelle from the hand of the hunter, like a bird from the snare of the fowler.”Here’s what I’m seeing in that Proverb:  I’m seeing that just as you should be incredibly careful about making commitments, you should be incredibly aggressive and purposeful about resolving bad commitments.  This proverb says we should go to the other party, push the issue, and not rest until our liability has passed.  Be very careful about make commitments; be very quick to resolve bad ones.What do you think?  I welcome your comments in the comments section below.This has been a busy week for the U.S. government’s role as impediment-in-chief to the U.S. economy and citizenry.Just a little while ago, the Department of Labor published new rules that change the relationship that financial advisors have to clients using retirement accounts.  It’s too soon to know for sure, because the rules came out just a few minutes ago, but I’ve got to tell you:  I’m skeptical.  I’ll give you more about this in the next episode.But that’s not the focus of today’s show.  Today, we talk about TAX INVERSIONS.  Oh, don’t roll your eyes… not only is this easy to understand, but it’s important that YOU understand it since it may have already directly affected your portfolio.So here’s the deal, here in the good ole US of A, corporations face the HIGHEST TAX RATE IN THE INDUSTRIALIZED WORLD.  35% for federal, and 4.1% is the average state rate, so a total of 39.1%.Before I continue, I want you to understand the gravity of that.  Warren Buffet is considered to be the greatest investor who has ever lived.  His company – Berkshire Hathaway – has enjoyed average annual performance of nearly 20% per year for a very long time… an astounding feat indeed, that qualifies him for reverence and respect.Isn’t it curious that the U.S. government taxes corporations at nearly 40% nearly twice the ROI number of the greatest investor who has ever lived?  No, the two numbers aren’t the same… but the comparison is stark and illuminating.That super-high rate is so high, in fact, that it’s having a palpable impact on the ability of large U.S. companies to build profits.  And profit, I remind you, is the reason that one creates a company.  It’s that profit that gives value to the company’s shares.  It’s those shares in your portfolio that builds your wealth.  It’s the wealth you build that provides for the needs of you and your loved ones.  So yes, the growth of corporate profits is relevant to you, particularly if you are an investor in stocks.So what are some of these companies doing about the massively over-priced tax bills that Uncle Sam extorts from us all?Well, they’re moving themselves to countries that don’t punish them.It’s called an INVERSION when a U.S.-based company acquires or merges with a company located in another country with a lower tax rate, and then shifts management and headquarters to the lower-tax region in order to be subject to a lower tax burden.In truth, it’s not much different than the affluent retired couple who lives in New York – where taxes are ridiculously high – but who then moves to Florida for most of the year, where there is no state income tax.  It’s the same thing, and it’s totally legal.So a tax inversion is the same thing, only it’s done by a company instead of an individual, and it involves adjusting the organization of the company such that the corporation legally shifts the jurisdiction for income taxation from a high-tax place (like the United States) to a low-tax place (like Ireland).This is exactly what was happening with two large drug companies, Pfizer and Allergan, who had negotiated a huge $160 billion merger, only to have it targeted by the U.S. Treasury department with new rules that target inversions generally and the Pfizer/Allergan merger specifically.  The Treasury department was going to make the move so painful that the merger was cancelled and a $400 Million termination fee was paid… by choice.  That’s how punitive the new rules were going to be.Look, I’m not an investor in those companies, so my motivation to comment isn’t financial in nature.  Rather, my concern is one of FREEDOM.Folks, the U.S. government is not acting like a government that has the best interests of its citizens at heart, even though that’s what today’s new Department of Labor rules demand of others.  Rather, Obama and his crew are creating rules – without the consent of Congress – that directly aim to CONTROL companies by force.This is wrong, people.  It’s wrong.  The solution is much easier:  Make America be an ATTRACTIVE jurisdiction for big companies to begin with.  Make tax rates REASONABLE.  Reduce burdensome regulations so this country is a BEACON to entrepreneurship, not merely a stop along the way to a more attractive destination.If the U.S. government would show even one ounce of respect for the effort and risk involved in starting, running and owning businesses, and thereby use tax policy as a reasonable revenue generation rather than a PUNITIVE CAGE, then tax inversions would disappear naturally, because there’d be no reason for them to start with.I’m sick of it, folks.  There’s got to be change at the top.My friends… invest wisely today, and live well forever.  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Billions are pouring into U.S. real estate from investors in China… and frequently, those dollars are going into deals that, to me and you, simply make no sense at all.  But there’s method to the madness, and I’ve discovered 5 important things you need to know if you want to do business with investors in China.  I’m Bryan Ellis. This is Episode #203.------Hello, SDI Nation!  Welcome to the podcast of record for savvy self-directed investors like you!It’s Monday, and what a great day to be alive, my friends!  Spring is a spectacular time of year and we here at SDI Radio are champing at the bit for another great week, so let’s get to it!First, let’s hear a bit of wisdom from the ancients, shall we?  Every episode, I share with you a proverb, quote or saying that has stood the test of time, and is important for you and me as self-directed investors.  Here’s today’s proverb:  “A fortune made by a lying tongue is a fleeting vapor and a deadly snare.”Obvious, right?  Don’t lie to get rich, right?  Well sure, but to me, there’s more to that one.  Notice that this proverb doesn’t say that you CAN’T get rich by lying.  Bernie Madoff demonstrated that skillful deception can lead to fabulous wealth.  But Madoff demonstrated the rest of the proverb too… that fortunes made through deception are both temporary and a huge trap.  So clearly, let’s don’t grow our wealth through outright fraudulent deception like Madoff.  But one step further is this:  My view of wealth is stewardship rather than ownership.  Let us take care to be people of few words, and to make sure that the words we speak are careful and true.  There’s no great legacy we can pass to our children than a heritage of honesty… and there’s no better foundation to build wealth than through being wholly truthful in the big things and the little things.Your thoughts on this are welcomed on today’s show page over at SDIRadio.com/203.My friends, this past Friday, Carole and I had a really interesting lunch conversation with the president of real estate services conglomerate who owns over 5 dozen companies, several of whom have likely served some of your real estate needs along the way.I learned quite a bit from that conversation, and one topic in particular stood out to me quite clearly:  The nature of Asian investors who seek to invest in U.S. real estate.  My colleague has first-hand knowledge of the topic, having recently spent time in China and being provided with access to substantial amounts of that capital.Here are the things that I observed from this conversation:Chinese investors prefer hard assets. By hard assets, I mean things like direct ownership of REAL ESTATE.  They seem far less interested in “structured” types of investments like mortgage notes or even hedge funds that purchase real estate.  They want REAL ESTATE – real, direct ownership of it – PERIOD. Their Primary Concern Is Not ROI: Chinese investors tend to be willing to place their capital into investments that, from my vantage point, do not make a large amount of sense.  Many of these investments are relatively low-yielding in terms of cash flow and can easily be beaten by other alternatives.  But ROI is not their primary measuring stick.  Their real measure appears to be SAFETY OF CAPITAL.  The political system in China is such that one’s wealth is essentially and ultimately the property of the government, and to get that money out of their own banking system and into hard assets held in a relatively reliable jurisdiction like the United States represents something even more valuable than a big ROI:  It represents physical safety of the capital itself.  That’s where the focus of many Chinese investors is fixed. It’s Expensive For Chinese Investors to send money to the US: There are substantial brokerage fees to which Chinese capital maybe subject. Chinese Investors Prefer Multifamily Properties: While there is an appetite for other types of real estate also, many Chinese investors prefer multi-family residential properties, as this type of property allows them to deploy larger amounts of capital more easily in a single transaction, while still investing in residential property that is, at its core, fundamentally familiar as a concept. and Finally… Chinese Investors Prefer Specific Local Markets: To the Chinese investor, not all U.S. real estate markets are the same.  That’s clearly correct, but it goes further than that.  Not even all STRONG real U.S. real estate markets are the same.  Generally speaking, Chinese investors appear to be most interested – CURRENTLY – in properties in just a few specific very large markets, with California receiving a particularly large degree of interest.From my vantage point, I feel sympathy for Chinese investors.  What you have is, by and large, people who are very bright and have successfully monetized China’s economy, which is the biggest rival to the U.S. economy in raw size.  But China is a communist country, and so at the end of the day, the government can do anything it wants… including with the wealth of those entrepreneurs and investors who have built fortunes from their own ingenuity.  Their interest in U.S. real estate is as much a function of preservation as investment.We here at SDI are always in search of additional ways to serve Chinese investors looking to deploy their capital into U.S. real estate.  If you have any suggestions, drop me a line at feedback@sdi360.com.And hey – a quick note about our private real estate fund that invests in Northern California real estate.  So many of you have asked about it, so I’ll give you a bit of an update here.  The first quarter of 2016 just ended on Friday and since today is only Monday, we don’t yet have the final numbers back from the accountant.  But I’ll put it like this:  The total net return for the first quarter alone appears to be solidly in the double digits.  That’s not an annualized return… that’s just for the first quarter.  So things are going quite well, largely according to plan.My friends… always remember this:  Invest wisely today, and live well forever! 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Hey, stock market investors!  When members of the Federal Reserve are graphically expressing worry about the market, you’ve got to take it seriously.  And this news, my friends, is serious if you’re a stock investor.  I’ll tell you all about it right now.  I’m Bryan Ellis.  This is Episode #202.----Hello SDI Nation!  Welcome to the podcast of record for savvy self-directed investors like you!  Today’s show has one purpose:  To help YOU make great investments that are simple, safe and strong!Let’s get started with today’s installment of Wisdom of the Ancients, where I share with you a saying, quote or Proverb that has stood the test of time and conveys truth to which you and I as self-directed investors must pay close attention.  Today’s proverb says this:  “Those who give to the poor will lack nothing, but those who close their eyes to them receive many curses.”What does this mean to you?  To me, it means that it’s wise to live in an “others-focused” kind of way.  In other words… think of the needs of others… specifically those who are destitute.  Do you believe that the wealth you’ve accumulated was given to you solely for your benefit… or maybe, just maybe… is the reason you have that wealth to give you the chance to wisely steward resources that can be used to feed the hungry, cloth the naked and heal the sick… along with, of course, taking care of yourself and your loved ones?That’s what that proverb means to me.  What are your thoughts?  I’d love to hear them.  This is episode #202, so you can stop by SDIRadio.com/202 – the number 2 – 0 – 2 – and share your thoughts in the comments section.Now, on to some financial markets analysis.The stock market is doing pretty well these days, isn’t it?  It started the year by continuing a big plunge that began late last year, but sometime in February, the direction turned and now the market is actually up for the year despite the earlier fall.And for those of you who are in stocks, that makes me so happy!  I hope for the very best for you at all times.But there’s cause for alarm if you’re a rational thinker.  You see, in Episode #200, which you can, of course, hear by visiting SDIRadio.com/200, I told you that the rules of capitalism are no longer the governing rules for the actions of this market.  In a healthy economy, it’s the economy itself that determines success or failure of stocks.That’s not how things are working right now.You see, for the past 20 years or so, the one factor that has had an outsized influence on stock prices is the Federal Reserve, a group of bureaucrats who are tasked with establishing monetary policy for the United States.  There would be precious little need for specific monetary policy if our money actually had intrinsic value.  Alas, our money is based on nothing more than confidence in our government and where the value of your money is concerned, the part of the government that decides, rather directly, what your money is worth, is the Federal Reserve.This is important – critically important, actually – for you stock market investors.  Here’s why:  The Fed has, for the past 2-3 decades, taken as a central part of it’s mission to maintain the apparent health of the economy as measured by the U.S. stock market.Over and over again, the Fed has intervened with the specific intent of “propping up” the economy generally and stocks specifically.  Remember the bailouts that happened as part of the great Recession a few years ago?  That money came from the Fed.So for many years now, the Fed has been desperately using every trick in the book, like bailouts and interest rate manipulation, to keep the stock market high.  And do you know what?  Generally speaking, they’ve been very successful.But my friends… you can’t catch fish in a dry pond.  And the Fed is out of tricks.Note that it’s not me saying it… and it’s not just one person saying this.  But the MOST NOTABLE person sounding the alarm is none other than Richard Fisher, former president and CEO of the Dallas Federal Reserve Bank, one of the big branches of the Fed.  Fisher ran the Dallas fed for 10 years, and is currently a senior analyst at Barclay’s.  He’s a guy that’s able to speak with authority about the Fed’s role and growing impotence as a force for “good” in the market.Fisher was on CNBC just this morning and made a very interesting comment, and the link to that interview is on today’s show page at SDIRadio.com/202.  Fisher said, essentially, that there’s nothing left the Fed can do at this point… they’ve used all of the arrows in the quiver.  He says that the Fed is “living in constant fear of market reaction and that is not the way to manage policy.”That’s sobering.  If the Fed exists as a reactive force to the market, and if the Fed has already used up all of the tools at it’s disposal, then that’s pretty bad.But if you take it a step further and believe, as I do, that the market run-up in stocks in the past 10-20 years in stocks is not just because the economy has been growing, but also largely because of manipulation of the capital markets by the federal reserve, then the fact that the Fed is in a reactionary mode and is wholly out of ammo is even more terrifying.Look, I’m not predicting an immediate stock market crash.  But I ABSOLUTELY believe that the foundation of the stock market is like shifting sand… it’s a house of cards.  If you get out soon, you’ll be one of the people to have successfully “gamed” the biggest Ponzi scheme in the history of the world.Who knows… maybe I’m wrong.  Maybe the part of the market that actually does reflect the performance of the underlying companies, and the condition of the broader economy… maybe that part of the market is what is being reflected in today’s stock valuations.  But part of me – the skeptical, “protect the money” part of me – thinks otherwise.What about you?Share your thoughts with me at SDIRadio.com/202!That’s all for today.  A lot of you have been emailing me privately, asking our private equity funds.  So in the next episode, I’ll tell you a bit more about that… and that will be well timed, as we’re now at the end of Q12016, with some results to report.  Let’s just say that I’m pretty proud of what’s happened.  HeheheSo be sure to get notified about the next episode of SDI Radio by being on our private discussion list which you can join by texting the word SDIRADIO with no spaces or periods to 33444.  Again, that’s text the word SDIRADIO with no spaces or periods to 3344.My friends… invest wisely today, and live well forever! 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What a ride! Since the last day of last year, the stock market fell more than 10%... and subsequently got back all of that loss as of the market’s close on Friday. As a result, something interesting is happening in the self-directed retirement account world that is completely COUNTER-INTUITIVE… and you need to know about it. I’m Bryan Ellis. This is episode # 200.-----Hello, SDI Nation! Welcome to the podcast of record for savvy, self-directed investors like you where we have one, and only one goal: To help you make GREAT investments that are simple, safe and strong.And Today, I add a new, very brief segment to this show that I’ll call “Wisdom of the Ancients”. It’s a short quote, proverb or thought that may be directly related to wealth building, or may only be peripherally related. Regardless, it’s something that’s on my mind, and I’d like to share it with you for your own consideration, because it will contribute to helping you make great investments that are simple, safe and strong.Today’s Wisdom of the Ancients quote is an ancient proverb that says simply: “The plans of the diligent lead to profit, as surely as haste leads to poverty.” This tells me 3 things: We must have a plan, we must be DILIGENT about that plan, and we must never be hasty. If you have any additional thoughts on this, I’d love to hear from you on today’s episode page at SDIRadio.com/200 – that’s SDIRadio.com/ two zero zero.Folks, I had a very interesting conversation with a business development manager at a self-directed IRA company recently. It’s curious, the market he serves is very similar to – a subset, in fact – of the market that we serve here at Self Directed Investor Radio, and that’s you.And his observation was fascinating to me.He said, “Bryan, when the stock market started to get really bad late last year and early this year, we started to see a lot of people heading for the exits and jumping into the self-directed IRA world.”Well, of course, this makes sense to me. The stock market is demonstrating the volatility for which it’s famous, and volatility is a bad thing. So it stands to reason that investors would be more inclined to diversify away from stocks.But it was the rest of the conversation that I thought was interesting.He went on to say, “But since the market has started to rebound, we’ve had an absolute FLOOD of new people opening self-directed IRA’s… people with some very large stock portfolios who are just getting out right now, as quickly as they can.”That, my friends, is curious to me. Why would a person exit an investment that’s performing well… at least, recently?My colleague had an explanation for that, too. He said “people tell me that now that they’ve recovered their losses, they just don’t want to stick around to see what is going to happen. They don’t have confidence in this economy and just want to get their money into something that they think is more controllable, more predictable.”And you know, I think he’s totally right.We’ve received substantial interest in our SDI Cash Flow Quick Start offer recently, which includes 3 high-quality, high-yielding rental properties along with a built-in strong asset protection plan and customized tax consultation… all for only $150,000.I initially thought the reason for it was that the offer itself is so great, and while it is an extraordinary offer, the popularity is, I think, based on an external factor:People are getting out of stocks “while the gettin’ is good”, as they say.Over on Wall Street, they use the term “flight to quality” a lot. That means, in Wall Street parlance, the movement of capital from one asset to another of higher quality. And by higher quality, the talking heads on financial news stations generally mean things like blue-chip stocks or treasury bonds…But never do THEY mean investments of greater substance like, for example, real estate.Well, we all know why that is… real estate is a real asset… there’s an inherently limited quantity of it… and thus it’s virtually impossible to create illusory real estate… real estate that exist only on paper, in other words… and that type of illusory asset creation is at the heart of what’s done on Wall Street. They attempted to do that on a grand scale with real estate in the late 90’s through the early 2000’s, and our grandchildren and great grandchildren will hear stores of the great recession as a result. So in a very real sense, real estate simply doesn’t fit with the model of Wall Street, even though the value of U.S. real estate is estimated at about $23 TRILLION dollars.That’s certainly not to suggest that one can’t make money on Wall Street. We all know that you can.But what if there’s a better way… and it turns out that the only reason you’re naturally disposed to buying investments from Wall Street is because of MARKETING rather than REASON?Consider this:Right now, a wise investor can acquire high-quality, newly renovated rental properties in an EXCELLENT real estate market for about $50,000 each. And that asset has these characteristics:It’s newly renovatedIt’s occupied by a tenantIt’s under the care of a highly experienced property managerThe maintenance costs are guaranteed to be coveredThe monthly rent is paid every single month, and on time every time, by none other than the government itself!The NET cash flow is north of 10%... and that doesn’t even include appreciation or tax benefitsAnd to top it all off… they’re GUARANTEED! In other words, if after a year, you don’t like how it’s going, you can get your money back!Can you do anything like that on Wall Street? No, you can’t.Even if you could, folks… here’s a real issue. The stock market is not being allowed to use the rules of capitalism. In other words… there’s another factor in stock values that has grown in significance to the point of rendering the values of the companies themselves as increasingly meaningless when valuing the stocks… and let’s be clear… there’s a big distinction between the value of a stock and the value of the company represented by that stock.What is that factor that’s throwing the value of stocks so far out of line versus the companies they represent? I’ll tell you on the next episode of Self Directed Investor Radio, which will be ready for you two days from now, on Wednesday, March 23.But my friends… please, please, please… don’t miss the EXTRAORDINARY edition of the sister show of this podcast, called SDI Money Law, hosted by attorney extraordinaire, Tim Berry. Tim has discovered something in the law for self-directed 401k and IRA owners that is absolutely SHOCKING… this could easily be the biggest legal discovery of the past 10 years.How do you get to hear that? Very simple: Make sure you’re on the SDI Money Law email notice list by texting the words SDIMONEYLAW with no spaces or periods to 33444 right now. Again, text the phrase SDIMONEYLAW to 33444 right now, but use no spaces or periods.If you’ve ever been concerned about the potential for performing a prohibited transaction, or for being hit with taxes over doing a real estate flip inside your retirement account, then let me tell you…. You don’t want to miss tomorrow’s episode. Text SDIMONEYLAW to 33444 right now…And if you’re one of the wise investors looking to take this wonderful opportunity to cut and run from the stock market and redeploy some of your portfolio into assets that are simple, safe and strong… assets that make for GREAT investments, then stop by SDI360.com/consultation to set up a time to chat with us. We’d love to help YOU make great investments that are simple, safe and strong!My friends… invest wisely today, and live well forever! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Donald Trump racks up more primary victories, and it looks like the GOP establishment, and some Republican party types like Mitt Romney and Erick Erickson are pushing for open revolt.  What does this mean for your portfolio?  I’m Bryan Ellis.  I’ll tell you RIGHT NOW in Episode 199.----Hello, SDI nation!  Welcome to the podcast of record for savvy, self-directed investors like you, where we have one and only one goal and that is to help YOU make great investments that are simple, safe and strong.Yesterday was the biggest day in the Presidential primary process since Super Tuesday, and again, Donald Trump appears to be an unstoppable force on the Republican side, as is true for the gaffe-prone Hillary Clinton on the Democrat side.So folks, let’s talk about this like adults, shall we?I didn’t vote for Donald Trump in the primary in my home state of Georgia.  I did vote for a Republican candidate, but not Trump.  I am a conservative, but I am not a Republican.I find the whole situation disgusting, to be honest.  What we have is a situation in which Trump, a guy who – whether you love him or hate him – has shown some incredible business acumen over the years, notwithstanding the failure of a few of his businesses.  Note again that I didn’t vote for him, but I do respect much of what he’s accomplished.  I also greatly respect the negotiations philosophy used by his team, as described in detail in the book “Trump Style Negotiation” by his attorney, George Ross.Anyway, Trump is the CLEAR choice so far in Republican primaries.  There’s a guy on the radio here in Atlanta named Erick Erickson who sometimes gets some face time on Fox News as well.  Erickson is a good example of the foolishness that’s happening right now.  He’s pushing this notion that a majority of people on the Republican side do NOT want Trump to be president because he’s not gotten the majority of the votes in any primary.Erickson is a fool.  He’s always previously impressed me as a pretty bright guy, but Trump is totally inside his head, living rent free, and dominating Erickson’s thoughts.  It’s a statistical improbability that ANYBODY would get a majority vote in any election when there were as many as 17 different candidates on the ballots to begin with, and in fact, most of those candidates remain on the ballots to this day, despite the fact that many of them have formally dropped out, because those ballots are set months in advance.Who are the most popular politicians of the last 30 years?  Probably Ronald Reagan and Bill Clinton.  If Reagan or Clinton were on a ballot with 16 other candidates, those guys wouldn’t get majorities either.This isn’t a defense of Trump, by the way.  There’s a lot about him that I think is exciting, but there’s a lot about him I think that is terrifying.And there’s also Mitt Romney, a guy who lost the last election so badly that he should, quite honestly, be ashamed to be seen in public.  Here’s a guy who has been in numerous political races, and has lost every one of them, excepting only his victory to become governor of Massachusetts.  He didn’t run for that seat again, because his approval rating was in the 30% range, placing him at #48 among 50 governors for approval rating.  Point is, Mitt Romney is no political or leadership dynamo, yet he’s out there encouraging people to vote for any candidate but Trump, literally.The hysteria on the Republican side has been absolutely mind-blowing, and it proves that the job of people in politics is focused on one thing:  Keeping their power.  It’s OVERWHELMINGLY OBVIOUS that Trump is the favored candidate, and yet what you have is a national party making it clear that they hope to re-assign the nomination to someone other than Trump on the basis that THEY don’t like the candidate.It's insanity, folks.  It’s no less ridiculous on the Democrat side, where even in the states that Hillary Clinton has lost to Bernie Sanders, Clinton has garnered more delegates for the nomination.  The Republican side is full of confusion and power-brokering.  The Democrat side just seems corrupt.Regardless of where you fall on the political spectrum, you and I as self-directed investors have some important things to think about.  What would it look like to have a Trump presidency or a Clinton presidency?  Even bigger than that… what happens if the Republican nomination is assigned to somebody other than Trump, proving that the voice of the people is irrelevant in choosing their most powerful leaders?Nobody knows for sure what the end result of those things will be, but we can make some informed assumptions:Hillary Clinton will be like Obama. There’s no evidence to think otherwise.  That means she opposes everything about business, except for the donations she receives from business people.  There will be more illegal immigration, higher taxes and bigger deficits.  But there will be plenty of entitlement programs. Trump would be different from Obama in most ways, but we don’t yet know how. I suspect he could be VERY good for the economy, and I suspect he’ll have a substantive impact on stemming the tide of illegal immigration.  I also suspect he’ll end up taking positions as President that he opposed as a candidate in the name of “deal making” or “flexibility” as he calls it.What does all of this mean for your portfolio?It’s really rather simple:  More than ever, fundamentals matter.  Your investment choices must fit the “simple, safe and strong” mold – the S3 model that we here at Self Directed Investor Society so strongly espouse.Why is that?  What if, for example, simplicity doesn’t matter to you… you’re totally fine with making exotic investments or using complicated strategies?Look, some people are well suited to such, and that’s great.  Like I mentioned to you in episode 198, which you can hear at SDIRadio.com/198, the terms Simple, Safe and Strong, one thing that’s certain is that those terms are flexible, and don’t mean the same for everyone.But the other thing you learned in that episode is that there’s this thing called Perspective, and sometimes it’s helpful to consider perspectives other than your own.  And in a political environment in which the will of the electorate is being thwarted on both sides of the aisle, it’s simply a dangerous, worrisome environment in which to operate.And that’s why fundamentals matter so much.  No matter what the state of the economy or political turmoil, real assets have real value.  What is a “real asset”?  Sure, it’s hard assets like real estate or gold, but I think there’s a better definition, and that definition is any asset that is sufficiently valuable that there’s a market for it.For what kind of assets is there always a market?  Assets that are simple… safe… and strong.Fundamentals matter more than ever in an environment like we have right now.  Sometimes, you can do “cute” things in your portfolio that work out profitably.  I respectfully submit to you that now is not one of the times when it will be wise to get “cute” with your capital.  Wisdom and perspective must be your guide.Remember:  You must respect your own capital, because nobody else will.Folks, can I ask you to stop by iTunes to give this show a 5 star rating, if you like what you hear?  I’d be so grateful.  You can do that at SDIRadio.com/iTunes.My friends, invest wisely today, and live well forever. 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Is it greed, or is it ambition?  The difference is huge, but subtle.  One leads to excellence, the other to ruin… yet, they can feel very similar.   Here’s how to make the distinction, and avoid the devastation to your portfolio that awaits the greedy.  I’m Bryan Ellis.  This is Episode #198.----Hello, SDI Nation!  Welcome to the podcast of record for savvy self-directed investors like you, where we have one and only one goal:  To help you make GREAT investments that are simple, safe and strong.One thing I’ve learned in working with you fine folks is this:  There’s some subjectivity to the words “simple, safe and strong”… and that’s really as it should be.  While there’s a baseline for those things –  sending money to a Nigerian prince, for example, is always foolish and never safe – what is true is that what you define as simple or safe or strong may be different than how I define it, and that’s ok.Defining what those terms mean for you is really very important, and the answers simply aren’t the same for everyone.But there’s a line in the sand that mustn’t be crossed on one of those factors:  Strength.  Strength refers to the results of your investment, such as whether it garners the ROI that you need, and whether it’s sufficiently stable for you to avoid the kind of stress that hurts your body and mind more than it helps your pocketbook.On one side of the “strength” line is ambition.  Ambition is a good thing.  Ambition is the thing that drives us to be more, do more, and achieve more.  Ambition is what drives us to demand the best of ourselves, and that is why it’s good.  Pure ambition is an inherently good thing, because pure ambition is correctly aligned with the purpose of your life… it’s what drives you to be what you were put here to be.So, curiously, having clarity about your life purpose is a key part of being a successful investor… if you’re doing it the SDI way.Now On the other side of that line in the sand is something that feels a lot like ambition, but is wholly different:  Greed.  Greed is all about wanting more without being more or doing more.  Greed is not about fulfilling your life’s purpose… it’s about achieving a standard to which you falsely believe you’re entitled.Greed and ambition are separated by a line in the sand, and that line is called wisdom.  A better word for it might be “perspective”.  Perspective is the difference between extraordinary investors like Peter Lynch and Sir John Templeton versus criminals like Bernie Madoff   The former experienced tremendous wealth because they earned it.  The latter stole billions because he believed he was entitled to it, but absolutely did nothing to earn it.And that’s what greed is:  A sense of entitlement to something you do not deserve and have not earned.So let’s connect this back to helping you to make great investments that are simple, safe and, particularly in today’s context, strong.  There are two points of evaluation you must consider where strength is concerned and they are:First:  What is the cash-on-cash return?  In other words, how much money do you expect to pull out versus the amount of money you put in?Second:  What is the stress-adjusted return?  In other words, how does the volatility of the investment make the investment more or less attractive for you?That second part… the stress-adjusted return… is a factor that far too many investors fail to consider prior to taking an investment.  You might look at the cash on cash return, and be blinded by the financial potential, without ever considering that a 15% return that causes you overwhelming stress is far less desirable than a 7% return that’s perfectly reliable and predictable.  This is a critical consideration, my friends, and it can easily be reduced to a formula.Let’s use an example, shall we?Imagine that you’ve got an investment opportunity that you’ve been told will yield 15%.  Now we all know that 15% is an exceedingly attractive cash-on-cash return and makes for an excellent “headline”.  Anybody who gets that kind of return on a consistent basis is a superstar, and we all know that.But think about that for just a moment.  Which is better:  An investment that yields 15% and is fundamentally predictable and reliable, or an investment that yields 15% in the end but is so volatile that, on any given day, it looks like you might actually LOSE your investment rather than make a huge rate of return.The answer is clear… an investment that’s highly predictable and reliable is far better than one that’s volatile, even if the rate of return in the end is the same.So what we’ll do is to assign a “SDI Strength” factor to each investment with 10 being perfectly peaceful and reliable and 1 being just shy of suicidally volatile.The investment which yields 15% and is highly predictable and reliable gets an SDI Strength factor rating of 9.  The investment that yields 15% but is highly volatile gets an SDI Strength Factor rating of 5.It’s pretty easy to compare the two investments then… just make percentages of those numbers – 9 becomes 90%, 5 becomes 50%, etc… and multiple that percentage by the rate of return.  So the highly predictable investment has a stress-adjusted ROI of 13.5%, whereas the much more volatile investment has a stress-adjusted ROI of 7.5%.The difference is far more clear this way, isn’t it?  But that’s only an approximation.  The real difference is far more distinct, and it’s based on some mathematical relationships that will only excite the engineers and math geeks among us, of which I’m certainly one.So let’s do this:  Rather than talking about the math, I’m going to make a little spreadsheet you can download to do it for you.  What I’ll do is make a nice little page of tools for you to use, and it will be available at sdi360.com/tools.But give me a couple days on that, please.  Right now, my dear wife Carole is having some serious health problems, and has lost a substantial amount of hearing in both ears.  I’m desperately concerned about her and will be taking her for another round of doctor visits today and tomorrow, so please bear with me and I’ll get that posted for you within a couple of days.  And, if you’d be so kind… say a prayer for her, ok?  Thanks.But what about the whole ambition versus greed discussion?  How does this calculation help us to clarify this issue?The truth is that there’s no way to precisely quantify the difference between greed and ambition.  But here’s a pretty good standard:  Would you be happy if your investment yielded only the stress-adjusted return rather than the more attractive headline return?  If you’d only be happy with the “headline” return – the big number in bright lights – rather than the stress-adjusted return… well, then… you’re making an emotional decision rather than a rational… and that emotion may be greed rather than ambition.The answer is simple, but maybe not easy:  Be patient.  Find another investment where the numbers – including the SDI Strength Factor – actually line up to achieve the goals you seek.  Because it’s not greedy to demand strong performance for your capital.  But it’s the very essence of greed to demand that your investments achieve more than they can truly be expected to achieve.My friends… invest wisely today, and live well forever! 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Want the sexiest, most explosive way to blow up a retirement account that you can ever imagine… and it’s hiding in plain sight?  Get ready to have your mind blown YET AGAIN, my friends.  I’m Bryan Ellis.  This is Episode 197.-----Hello, SDI Nation!  Welcome to the podcast of record for savvy, self-directed investors like you, where we have one and only one purpose:  To help you make great investments that are simple, safe and strong!And BOY-oh-BOY do I have a great strategy for you today!Let’s take a journey into imagination, shall we?Imagine that you’re presented with an array of dozens of locked “treasure” boxes.  You can buy any of these treasure boxes you want for $1,000.  And when you do so, if you’re able to get the treasure box opened, there’s a multiple of your investment waiting inside… maybe $20,000…. Maybe $75,000… maybe much, much more.Of course, there’s the chance that there’s nothing inside at all.  And there’s the chance that you never figure out how to get the treasure box unlocked to begin with… and thus, your $1,000 is wasted.Sounds like a gamble, doesn’t it?But what if the predictability is MUCH higher?  What if a certain portion of those treasure boxes have a particular marking on the outside, which means that there’s treasure to extracted from within?And what if, before ever ponying up your $1,000, you were able to closely inspect the lock itself, to determine with a high degree of accuracy whether you can break the lock and pull out the treasure?Well, my friends, that’s exactly what I’m going to teach you to do today, and for those of you who are looking for a way to increase – potentially dramatically increase – the size of your portfolio, this is a special strategy… and it works particularly well for those of you using a self-directed IRA or 401k.Here’s how it works:There are hundreds of thousands of houses out there that have real value – they’re treasure boxes – but unfortunately, that treasure is bound up because of tax debt.  The owner of the house has some tax problems, there’s an IRS or state tax lien against them, and because of that, all of the equity in their treasure is totally ZAPPED.  It’s worth absolutely nothing.And that’s why it’s possible to buy these houses for virtually no money at all… because they are, from a wholly objective perspective, worthless.But why would you buy a worthless house, even if only for a small amount of money?It’s because you know two things:What the house would be worth without those liens against it, andHow to pick the lock – how to have those tax liens reduced far enough that there’s a big profit waiting in it for you!Here’s an example that’ll really get your juices flowing:Tim, a member of the SDI Team, recently found a property that’s worth a bit over $400k.  Unfortunately, there was about $900,000 of debt against that property, nearly all of which was tax debt.This house was to Tim one of those treasure boxes I mentioned to you.  Because he was able to acquire title to that property for virtually no money at all.But why would he do that?  Sure, it’s a $400,000 property… but it’s got absolutely no value.  And isn’t it just a crapshoot to invest in a property on the assumption that you’re going to be able to get the owner’s tax debt reduced?Well sure… it would be a crapshoot if that’s all the information Tim had.  But it wasn’t.  Tim was able to determine, in advance of putting a single dime into the property, that the entire situation – the owner, their financial situation, the property location and property value, all of the pertinent details – Tim was able to determine in advance that all of those things lined up such that there would be an overwhelmingly strong probability that he’d be able to work with the IRS and state taxing authorities to either reduce the debt or just remove it from the property, such that Tim would be left with a substantial amount of equity and a strong profit potential.So Tim’s “treasure box” gave clear signs on the outside that there was some real treasure inside, because he could see that the property was worth over $400,000.  And the lock on the treasure box – the tax liens – gave Tim enough information to know that there’s a very, very good chance that he could “get at” the treasure inside.The net result?  Well, Tim’s received a cash offer to buy this house for $374,000.  And when it’s all said and done, he’ll pocket around $90,000 in profit……all from a house that most investors would see as being utterly valueless, but is anything but that.This treasure box was stuffed with cash, and Tim was able to make a highly informed, high-probability decision whether to risk a tiny amount of capital – usually from $1,000 to $5,000 – in order to extract many, many multiples of his investment less than a year later.  He did have to get some funding to carry the property for a brief interlude, because the IRS isn’t flexible about the deadlines they set for payment arrangements.  But no matter… the numbers worked, and worked incredibly well.Think of it, my friends… think of the potential for buying well-selected “worthless” real estate like this in your IRA or 401k…  for a TINY amount of money… and then by using some legal expertise that can be purchased for a few thousand dollars, you’re able to “pick the lock”, creating substantial equity spreads that simply did not exist before you came into the picture?That, my friends… is brilliance in investing, and that is why you listen to SDI Radio.And you know what?  You’ve heard of this strategy before, but under a different name.  You’ve heard the term “short sale”, right?  That’s when you ask a lender to take less money than they’re owed because, in the grand scheme of things, it makes sense for them to do that.  Well, this is a short sale, too… only with tax debt.It turns out that it’s possible – in SOME cases – to do that with tax debt.  Just like with mortgage short sales, you can’t reduce just any tax debt.  There are certain situations where the IRS isn’t going to budge, and they shouldn’t.  But as much as we all dislike the notion of having the IRS breathing down our necks, the truth is that they’re not stupid, and in some situations, it makes sense for them to work with taxpayers who are in trouble.And it is those situations which create this opportunity.Want to know more?  Then be sure you’re subscribed to the SDI Radio private email discussion group by texting the word SDIRADIO with no periods or spaces to 33444.  That’s because on Monday, I’m going to email everyone on that subscriber list an invitation to a special webinar where we’ll teach you how you can profit from this strategy, without having to be an expert in any piece of it!  So again, be sure to text the word SDIRADIO with no spaces or periods to 33444.My friends… invest wisely today, and live well forever! 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Last episode, I gave you 5 shocking reasons that you should seriously consider NOT putting real estate investments inside of a self-directed IRA.  But there are two sides to the coin, and today I give you 5 great reasons that your IRA is a perfect home for great real estate deals.  I’m Bryan Ellis.  This is episode 196.-----Hello, SDI Nation!  Self Directed Investor Radio is here for one purpose:  To help YOU make great investments.  So let’s do that right now.Ok, so I know, I know, I know.  If you heard yesterday’s show – which is available to you right now at SDIRadio.com/195 – I’m betting you think I’ve flipped my wig, as I spent the entire episode giving you really strong reasons NOT to use your IRA to buy real estate.  This is, after all, the Self Directed Investor Radio, where self-directed IRAs are a key focal point.But look… the truth is that I’m primarily interested in helping you to make GREAT investments, and a big part of that is the legal structure under which you acquire your assets.  And sometimes an IRA is the perfect solution.  Other times, it’s really not.  Unlike your IRA custodian, I don’t have a bias towards any particular structure.  The only result that matters is that you make a great investment.So today, I give you the counter argument – 5 strong reasons that your IRA is a GREAT place for your real estate investments, starting with #1:  Tax savings.Yes, that’s right… there are a lot of taxes to be saved by properly using an IRA.  Specifically, if you’re using a Roth IRA, you could save a ton, because those profits will be 100% totally tax free… and that’s the best possible scenario.  But even if you use a traditional IRA – which has the nasty side effect of subjecting your profits to very high ordinary income tax rates rather than comparably low capital gains tax rates – it could still be tax-wise to go that route if you expect your income to be relatively low during retirement.  Honestly, it’s a murky question.  Best to get advice from your financial advisor.So that leads us to reason #2 to use your IRA to invest in real estate:  That’s where the money is!  This one is practical, sure.  But here’s the deal:  If you’ve got a great real estate deal that requires $200,000 in capital, and the only place you happen to have the capital available is in your IRA – even a traditional one – then by all means… go for it!  You’ve got to invest that money somewhere, and you can’t pull your profits out of the IRA without penalty before retirement anyway.  So don’t generalize my tips from last episode so much that you miss a good opportunity.Reason #3 to invest your IRA funds into real estate:  It’s called Turnkey Rental Property.  Why do I say that?  For those of you who may not be familiar, Turnkey Rental Property is a cool situation in which an investor purchases a property that’s already renovated, occupied by a paying tenant, and under the watchful eye of a competent manager.  So it’s a complete package, and on the very day you buy the property, you start collecting cash flow, and the property manager handles basically everything for you.  Why is this relevant to your retirement funds?  It’s because one of the biggest risks of investing in real estate through your IRA is that you’ll somehow, someway deliver “services” to your IRA.  What is a “service”?  Well, it’s not really defined, but one thing we know:  If you do it, you’ve committed a prohibited transaction, and that means your IRA is going to take a MASSIVE hit in taxes, penalties and interest.  And by investing in Turnkey Rental Property, you’re doing a very strong job of insulating yourself from delivering any “services” and thereby protecting your retirement portfolio.Reason #4 to invest in real estate through your IRA:  Real estate can be molded to fit your specific needs.  For example:  If you have 30 years before retirement, you might consider investing in real estate with overwhelming potential for appreciation.  If you pick your market wisely, that appreciation could make you very wealthy.  On the other hand, maybe you view rental property primarily as a way to generate substantial current income, and you only want to invest where you’ll have a high ROI from cash flow, with less regard to appreciation potential.  Well, with real estate you can do both.  I know that one of the markets where we’re very active – northern California – really offers almost nothing in terms of cash flow, but the market there is blazing hot with really strong appreciation.  On the other hand, we’re also very active in Birmingham, Alabama, where real estate is slow-moving and rather predictable… but the cash flows are simply outstanding.  Whatever your need or preference, selecting real estate wisely can really help with achieving your goals.And Reason #5 to use your IRA to buy real estate:  IRAs, by law, offer some really, really great protection from lawsuits and other ugly parts of life.  So, let’s say, God forbid, that you are the victim of a frivolous lawsuit or you have to declare bankruptcy, as long as you’ve followed the IRA rules correctly, then the contents of your IRA will have a very strong degree of legal protection, so your retirement portfolio will remain safe and available to you when you need it.So there are 5 good reasons to use your IRA to buy real estate.  Those aren’t all of the good reasons, either.  To be perfectly blunt, I think one of the best reasons to do so is because the IRA basically forces you to reinvest the cash flow you earn from real estate, since you can’t access that cash flow before retirement without penalty.As such, the strategy I call the Wealth Snowball works incredibly, incredibly well for retirement accounts.  By using this strategy with properties we offer, it’s plausible to invest around $150,000 one time, and 20 years later what you end up with – just by reinvesting your net earnings into more property – is that you own 13 houses producing a net income of nearly $100,000 per YEAR!  Imagine having your IRA produce that kind of cash every year, totally passively, net of all expenses!  That’s exactly what the Wealth Snowball Strategy can do, and using that strategy inside of a retirement account is a perfect place to do it.So there you have it, my friends… 5 strong reasons – plus a bonus reason or two – that an IRA is the PERFECT place to put your real estate investments.Now every time I mention the snowball strategy, I’m deluged with questions about it, because it’s pretty freaking sexy to invest about $150,000 one time, and have a six-digit income 20 years later.  Some people do that early enough in life that they can use that income during their own retirements.  Others do it specifically to leave a strong financial base for future generations.  Whatever the reason you’re interested, if you’re seriously interested in that, drop me an email to feedback@sdiradio.com and we’ll reach out to you right away!My friends, thank you for listening in today as we focus on the one thing that matters most here at SDI Radio:  helping YOU make great investments.  Until next time, remember:  Invest wisely today, and live well forever! 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 ONE TOPIC is irresistible catnip for real estate investors:  the Self-Directed IRA.  This special form of IRA enables investors to deploy their retirement capital into real estate, and to enjoy the substantial tax benefits offered by IRAs.IRAs can bring such substantial tax savings that it is easy to assume that any investment that can be performed in an IRA should be performed in an IRA.  But the devil is in the details, and real estate may be the only asset class for which the use of an IRA could be a fundamentally poor decision.Here are 5 devastating traps awaiting the real estate investor who uses a Self-Directed IRA:Punishing TaxesIt would be reasonable to assume that using an IRA would result in the payment of less taxes than without it.  Alas, that is frequently false.Users of the “Roth” type of IRA have the best tax advantage ever created:  Your profits are 100% tax-free, and that advantage is impossible to beat.But what about “Traditional” IRAs, which are merely tax-deferred rather than tax-free?  This is a highly relevant consideration, since there’s far more money stashed away in Traditional accounts versus Roth accounts.  Does the tax deferral of a traditional IRA outweigh the tax advantages of owning real estate outside of an IRA?Generally speaking:  The traditional IRA is less tax efficient for real estate.Real estate investments executed outside of an IRA are usually taxed at long-term capital gains rates, which are relatively low at 15-20 percent.  But if the same transaction happens in a traditional IRA, the investor will be hit with ordinary income tax rates during retirement, and those rates reach as high as 39.6 percent!For the benefit of temporary tax deferral, Traditional IRAs force investors to sacrifice the relatively low tax rates of capital gains treatment and instead pay much, much higher ordinary income tax rates.Cash Purchases Only… No Leveraged Purchases!Using debt to purchase real estate is one uniquely wonderful reasons that savvy investors prefer real estate as an asset class.  But in some very tangible ways, debt inside of an IRA profoundly diminishes your tax benefits.The law does not prohibit your IRA from borrowing money.  But doing so opens up your IRA to current tax liabilities, as the IRS categorizes income that results from debt in an IRA to be “business” income rather than “investment” income.As a result of this “fine-print distinction,” your account could be hit with a particularly nasty tax called “Unrelated Business Income Tax”, which could chop another 39.6% off of your profits.Non-IRA Tax Advantages DisappearReal estate may be the most tax-favored asset class of all.  Even without the benefit of an IRA, real estate offers a plethora of tax-reducing potential that can have an immediate impact on the investor’s current income tax burden.The two biggest examples are the “1031 exchange” and “depreciation.” The former enables investors to defer taxes on real estate profits indefinitely by reinvesting those funds into other real estate, while the latter enables some investors to substantially reduce their current income tax burden.Unfortunately, those tax advantages are unavailable to you personally when it’s your IRA that’s doing the investing.  The IRS views your IRA as a distinct entity from you, and even if the activities of your IRA would merit tax advantages if performed outside of your IRA, the execution of your transaction inside your IRA means those advantages are not available to you.Sweat Equity No More!One of the greatest opportunities in real estate is the ability to substantially increase value through improving the property, such as making repairs, adding rooms or even constructing entirely new structures.  For real estate investors, it is all about “highest and best use.”When the owner of a property performs this kind of work him or herself rather than paying a third party, it is called “sweat equity.” and it is an incredibly cost-efficient way for real estate investors to dramatically increase their equity at minimal cost.However, the IRS sees it very differently, viewing your work on the property as a “service” that is provided to the IRA.  Unfortunately, the law expressly prohibits the IRA owner from providing services to the IRA, under threat of tax and penalties that are utterly devastating.The Freedom To “Hang” YourselfOne would think that using a “Self-Directed IRA” would lead to profound freedom for the investor, yet the opposite is true.  While you are allowed to invest in nearly any asset class you like, the rules governing IRAs are very strict, inflexible and wholly unforgiving.What does it take to break those rules?  It is easier than you might think.  Each of the following actions is arguably prohibited for your IRA-owned property:Paying any bill connected with your IRAs property with personal (rather than IRA) fundsAllowing your boss, colleagues or family to use your IRAs beach-front propertyAllowing your granddaughter’s girl scout troop to sell cookies on property owned by your IRAThere is an untold number of ways to unintentionally commit a prohibited transaction, and the IRS has become rather aggressive of late in identifying these transgressions, as the payoff for them can be huge.  It is very plausible that committing any prohibited transaction could result in your IRA value being slashed by 50-100%, and there’s no simple way to fix these errors.Despite these risk factors, real estate investors should not automatically avoid self-directed IRAs.  There are many excellent reasons for real estate investors to use self-directed IRAs as you’ll see in a future article.  Real estate investors should, however, avoid the common assumption that any investment that can be made in an IRA should be made in an IRA.  That is dangerously untrue, and the ramifications of making the wrong choice can be very negative for your financial security during retirement. 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Do you have an IRA at a conventional custodian – like Charles Schwab or Fidelity or Ameritrade – and wish you could buy real estate inside it?  Well now… because of a new court ruling… you can!  But should you?  I’m Bryan Ellis.  I’ll give you all of the powerful details RIGHT NOW in episode #194.----Hello SDI Nation!  Welcome to the podcast of record for savvy self-directed investors like you!What a great day to be alive, people!  Don’t you agree?So there’s some BIG NEWS on the legal front that you, as a well-informed self-directed investor need to know… particularly for those of you who have IRA’s at conventional brokers and wish you could buy real estate or other assets – other than just stocks & bonds – inside those accounts.On February 24 – two days ago – a really, really interesting ruling in US tax court came down.  And I’ve got to say a big thank you to attorney extraordinaire Tim Berry – host of the upcoming new podcast SDI Money Law… a GREAT show, my friends – for turning me on to this information.  For you legal beagles in the audience, I’ve posted a link to this decision on today’s show page, which you can find at SDIRadio.com/194.So here’s the deal…The IRS decided to pursue a fellow named Raymond McGaugh for taxes, penalties and interest in connection with some activity in one of his IRA’s.Mr. McGaugh held a self-directed IRA at the big stock brokerage Merrill Lynch.  Now Merrill Lynch is as conventional Wall Street as a company can be.  They offer “self-directed” IRA’s… but Merrill… like virtually every other Wall-Street based custodian… only allows their clients to self-direct to the extent that Merrill will sell the type of product that the account holder wants to buy.  So if you want to buy publicly-traded stocks, bonds or mutual funds, you’re in luck.But Mr. McGaugh wanted to buy something different from that.  He wanted to buy shares of a privately-held company… in other words, a company that is NOT traded on Wall Street.  McGaugh seems to have done his homework… he knew that such an investment wasn’t inherently prohibited by the tax code, and since he had the available capital to make the investment, he instructed Merrill to purchase $50,000 work of that private-company stock on behalf of his IRA.But Merrill balked.  Remember… virtually all IRA’s that are billed as “self-directed” are only self-directed as far as the custodian can conveniently profit from the sale of the asset to the account owner.  And Merrill certainly couldn’t conveniently profit from this, even though the tax code clearly allowed it.  Thus, Merrill refused to honor Mr. McGaugh’s request.Well, McGaugh was determined.  So he instructed to send a wire transfer $50,000 directly to the company from whom he was purchasing stock, which they did.  He also instructed the company to issue his shares so that they were owned by McGaugh’s IRA rather than by himself personally.There are some other details of course, but the gist of the story is that McGaugh performed an end-run around Merrill’s restrictions for their self-directed IRA accounts.How does Merrill respond?  Not well.  In their tax statements to the IRS for McGaugh’s account, they indicated that McGaugh had withdrawn $50,000 from the account.  And that got the attention of the IRS, who certainly wanted their pound of flesh from that money.So, the IRS tries to hit up Mr. McGaugh for a bunch of money, but he won’t have any of it.  The issue went before tax court, and the ruling that was issued is VERY good for Mr. McGaugh and very interesting more generally.Bottom line:  The tax court ruled a few things:First, that the asset that McGaugh was purchasing wasn’t prohibited.  So they, in effect, re-confirmed the efficacy of investing in alternative assets.Second, the tax court ruled that McGaugh had NOT performed a withdrawal of his funds because he was never in receipt of those funds.  The funds were paid from the custodian to the seller of the company in whom Mr. McGaugh was purchasing shares, and that company, in turn, issued shares of ownership to Mr. McGaugh’s IRA.  And the tax court blessed the transaction as being compliant with the tax code.So what does this mean?On the surface, it looks like it means that you could use your conventional IRA to purchase non-conventional assets, so long as the funds are paid to the appropriate parties and that the assets purchased are titled in the name of your IRA and not your personal name.But let’s not get too hasty with this.Here’s the thing… It’s entirely possible that Merrill – or whichever conventional custodian you use – has other language in their account agreement to which this transaction may be subject which could cause trouble for you if you wanted to do so.But even if they don’t, I’ve got to tell you… I think it’s a HORRIBLE idea to use this newfound freedom to force your IRA custodian to buy assets with which they’re not accustomed to interacting.Imagine it was you buying real estate instead of private stock.  Do you think Merrill Lynch – or the other conventional custodians – have the first clue about the complexities of buying real estate in an IRA?  Almost certainly not.  Will they know what to do if a property tax bill is sent to them rather than to you?  Will they know how to handle it if – God forbid – you have legal troubles with that property – even as minor as an eviction – and the custodian begins receiving volumes of legal documentation?  I’ll bet the fees you’d have to pay would mount up very, very quickly.So, is it plausible that you now have the ability to buy unconventional assets through a conventional IRA?  Yes, it’s plausible, as the case that I’ve linked to at SDIRadio.com/194 plainly shows.But is it wise?  I’d have to say NO.  But this case is likely to be of great benefit for any of you who, maybe like Mr. McGaugh, chose to aggressively push your wishes onto your custodian.  Now, at least, you’ve got some legal cover.My dear friends… THANK YOU for listening in today!  I have a sincere request for you… please go over to iTunes and give this show a 5-star rating if you like it.  That helps us so very much, and it’s totally FREE for you to do.  You can get to our iTunes page at SDIRadio.com/iTunes.My friends… it’s good to be alive.  No matter the weather, it’s a beautiful day.  Thank you, God for another rotation of the globe, another day full of challenge and opportunity, another day to live out loud and make the most of this amazing world You’ve made!And, without a doubt, my friends… invest wisely today, and live well forever! 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The politicians – particularly Bernie Sanders – are talking a lot about FAIRNESS… but here’s the truth:  FAIRNESS is the OPPOSITE of freedom, and it’s a code word for targeting and confiscating YOUR WEALTH.  I’m Bryan Ellis.  I’ll tell you precisely why this is true RIGHT NOW in Episode #193.-----Hello, SDI Nation!  Welcome to the podcast of record for savvy self-directed investors like you!My friends, I hate that politics ever intersects with money.  Unfortunately, it does… and it’s the politicians who insist that it happens.Case in point:  In his victory speech at the New Hampshire primary, socialist Bernie Sanders proclaimed that “what American people understand is that our great country was based on a simple principle, and that principle is fairness.”My friends… what utter poppy-cock!  What an utterly foolish, wholly made-up statement!  This is a LIE, my friends… it’s exactly the OPPOSITE of the truth.This great country was based on a central concept… and it’s a concept that you and I as self-directed investors use every single day.  That concept is FREEDOM.  FREEDOM.  FREEDOM!My friends, not a single person who fought, bled and died to make this country independent from England did so because they yearned for FAIRNESS!The Pilgrims who came here so early in the history of this country didn’t come here to seek religious FAIRNESS… they came for religious FREEDOM.The revolutionaries who dumped tea into the harbor at the infamous Boston Tea Party in 1773 in defiance of English economic oppression… those people called themselves the Sons of Liberty – that’s FREEDOM – NOT the sons of Fairness!This is the land of the FREE and the home of the Brave… not the land of the Fair and the Home of the Same!And I’ll tell you one thing for damn sure, my friends:  My grandfather, who fought and bled and was shot and suffered mightily in world war II for the benefit of this country – in a war that had GENUINE relevance for the entire future of the world and of our country in particular:  He did NOT fight – nor did the millions who died in that effort – so that America would be FAIR.  He fought so that we’d be FREE.My friends:  Fairness is 100% OPPOSED to freedom.  Fairness is an intellectually simple concept that exists solely for one purpose:  to emotionally incite those who unwisely fail to realize that Fairness is a wholly subjective, and thus completely meaningless concept.And here’s the proof of that:Fairness to me means that if you, as a self-directed investor, invest wisely and make a profit, you should be able to choose what happens to that profit.Fairness to Bernie Sanders is that if you invest wisely and make a profit, you should pay a MASSIVE tax to benefit those who – for whatever reason – did NOT make a profit.  Because, you see, it’s not “fair” that you had more money than them.  It’s not “fair” that you had more knowledge than they did.  It’s not “fair” that they were too young or too old or lived in the wrong place or didn’t have the right education or that they didn’t know the right people.  In Bernie’s world… fairness happens only when everybody is exactly the SAME.That’s right, folks:  Fairness is about FORCING you – and everyone else – to sameness… removing your individuality… removing your ability to be exactly what you were created to be, and instead forcing you to be JUST LIKE EVERYBODY ELSE.  If you’ve got more money than most… you’ve got to give some up.  If you’ve got less than most, you get to collect some free money.If you need education, you get it for free… so everybody can be educated just the same.If you don’t have health insurance, you get it for free… at least that was the idea, right?... so that everybody can get health care just the same.Sounds really good doesn’t it… for everyone to have exactly the same?Well no, it doesn’t.   And here’s why:The concept of FAIRNESS – as Bernie and other politicians use it – is wholly and completely opposed to one central concept that we all value dearly:  Innovation.  Innovation is what makes it likely that tomorrow will be different and better than today.  It’s what means that life expectancy was about 47 years in 1900 and is about 80 years right now.  Innovation is why the iPhone in your pocket is such a spectacular device… and more powerful than the computers that occupied entire buildings just a few decades ago.FAIRNESS is just this:  It’s a tool to rally the ignorant and to control the producers.  And as long as FAIRNESS is the presumed to be the basis of governance, your wealth is at risk.  Because my friends, it is not “fair”, according to Bernie and his ilk, that you are successful.  It’s not FAIR that certain tax breaks apply to you because of your wealth but not to someone else because they’re not wealthy.  It’s not “fair”, they say, that you could have a health insurance plan with all of the bells and whistles, because there are others who can not afford those same plans.My friends, this great country was NOT founded on the idea of FAIRNESS.  Bernie made that up.  He lied to you.  This country was founded – and exists to this day – because of FREEDOM, and it’s twin value, OPPORTUNITY!  “Fairness” is “sameness”.  Sameness means It’s ok for somebody – with the backing of the government – to take what’s yours, to make you the “SAME” as others.  Sameness means there’s no motivation to innovate… that there is no reason for Apple to create the iPhone; Sameness means there’s no motivation for a person like Sir Alexander Fleming to do the research that led to the availability of the antibiotic penicillin...Remember:  Steve Jobs got VERY RICH as a business man.  And Sir Alexander Fleming was awarded the nobel prize.  Neither of those people wanted to be the SAME as everyone else.  They wanted to something BIGGER and BETTER and GREATER than anyone had ever been before…But that isn’t FAIR.  Fairness is the enemy of innovation.  Fairness is the enemy of freedom.  Fairness is a rhetorical tool good for one purpose only:  To rally the simple to the cause of the tyrant.  Whether that tyranny is the absolute kind ala Stalin, Mussolini, Hitler, Lenin, or Mao… or whether we’re talking about the softer form of tyranny that exists in so many nominally “free” countries today… the path of society is this:Freedom.  Fairness.  Tyranny.Let’s don’t let it happen, my friends.  Let’s not let that happen in America.I hope you’ll invest wisely today… and live well forever! 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A listener asks: Exactly how can you buy real estate in an IRA? Today, I answer that basic question… and the more important question behind it: SHOULD YOU buy real estate in your IRA? I’m Bryan Ellis. This is Episode #192.-----Hello, SDI Nation! Welcome to the podcast of record for savvy self-directed investors like you!Today, it’s back to basics day. But the “basic” idea we’re covering is one that many of you have done very, very wrong… and you don’t even know it.Before I get into the meat of today’s show, may I ask a personal favor of you? Please say a prayer for my daughter Kayla. She’s 18, and tomorrow she’ll be having surgery that we’re hoping and praying will correct some rather severe skeletal and maybe neurological issues she’s having which are causing her really, really great pain. She’s connected to this show by more than just being my daughter… she is the person who edits and publishes this show so that you get to hear it. So please, please say a prayer for her. Kayla, I love you so much and I’m praying for you. And, of course, I’ll be there with you at the hospital constantly. God is with you, kiddo, so take heart and be full of courage!I received a great question from a listener named Molly who had this excellent question for me: “Bryan, I really love your show, but I’m confused. I want to buy a house in my IRA. When I asked my IRA account people at Charles Schwab how to do this, they told me I couldn’t do it. What am I missing?”Thanks for the question, Molly. And by the way – I welcome your questions at feedback@sdi360.com. Molly, here’s the answer:By law, there are very few restrictions on what kinds of assets can be purchased with an IRA, and there’s certainly no problem LEGALLY with buying real estate in your retirement account.But different IRA Custodians – those are the companies that set up IRA’s, such as Charles Schwab in your case – different IRA Custodians allow different levels of flexibility in terms of the assets for which they will facilitate purchases.In the case of Charles Schwab, they’re brokerage for stocks, bonds & mutual funds. In other words – the conventional Wall Street type of assets. And you know, I used to have an account with them. I always liked the service they provided and thought they were a good company.But I had to move on from them once I realized it was possible to do MORE with my retirement account, and that’s what you’re going to need to do too, Molly.Your next step is to transfer your retirement account from Charles Schwab to what’s called a Self-Directed IRA custodian. Now I realize that at Charles Schwab particularly, they do use the term “self-directed” to describe their IRA accounts. And to an extent, that’s true. But the truth is, accounts there are only self-directed to the extent that you choose to invest in an asset that they’re willing to sell to you, which unfortunately is limited to stocks, bonds, mutual funds and conventional Wall Street type investments. If you’d like to go outside of Wall Street investments, then you need a TRULY self-directed retirement account.And never fear! I have a handy list of self-directed IRA custodians available to you at sdi360.com/custodians. There are a few dozen of them listed there from which you can choose.So Molly, you’ll select a self-directed IRA custodian, transfer your account to that custodian, and then you’re ready to buy real estate in your IRA.So what’s the process from there?Well, the most important thing to remember is that it’s your IRA that’s buying the real estate, not you. Technically, it’s your IRA Custodian who is buying it for the benefit of your account.So here’s how it works. What you do is negotiate the purchase contract just like normal… except that the BUYER will be your IRA custodian for the benefit of your account number. Confirm with your Custodian, but usually the buyer is listed as something like “XYZ Custodian for benefit of Joe Blow IRA, Account #123456”… or some variation of that. Just confirm with your custodian how they should be listed on the purchase & sale agreement.Next, you’ll send in the contract to your custodian for signing, along with something that’s usually called a “direction letter”. Yep, you guessed it: It’s a letter than tells the custodian exactly what you want them to do, such as payment of earnest money and funding of the ultimate purchase. The custodian will then follow your instructions, return a copy of the signed contract to you, and you can proceed to due diligence and closing.Note that every single expense involved in the process – including any costs of due diligence such as appraisals or inspections – must be paid by the IRA. To pay for such things out of your own pocket could be construed as a “prohibited transaction”… and that’s a bad, bad thing as you’ll see in a moment.The benefit of doing it the right way, of course, is that when you sell that real estate, the proceeds of sale lade inside your IRA and you get to enjoy all of the tax benefits that make IRA’s so attractive to begin with!So that’s how to buy real estate inside of your IRA. But Molly, I respectfully propose that you consider another question: SHOULD you buy real estate inside of your IRA?Here’s my answer to that: If you can do it in some other way, you should avoid buying real estate in your IRA. Here’s why:IRA’s are subject to something called “Prohibited Transaction” rules. Those are the rules that you absolutely can’t break with your IRA, and if you do, you’ve got a very, very serious and financially painful conflict with the IRS headed your way. This isn’t something to take lightly. And, unfortunately, the inherently complex nature of real estate transactions makes it not just plausible, but actually very easy, to commit a prohibited transaction.What should you do instead to benefit from real estate in your retirement account? The absolute best way to do this is to use a self-directed 401k instead of a self-directed IRA. That’s because even though the same prohibited transaction rules apply to 401k’s as to IRA’s, the fact is that it’s far, far simpler and less costly to “repair” a prohibited transaction in a 401k than in an IRA. With an IRA, prohibited transactions are like Armageddon. With 401k’s, they’re more like a simple nuisance.Another alternative is to structure the real estate transaction differently. Because of the unique tax advantages of real estate ownership, it’s frequently the case that you can do as well, and maybe even better, by buying the property outside of your IRA, while still using your IRA funds to do so. That’s a complex topic, and my advice is to spend a few bucks to hire a really bright attorney who understands both real estate and self-directed retirement accounts. There are only a few lawyers in the whole country with that skill set, and the very best of them is sdi360.com’s very own Tim Berry, who you can reach at sdi360.com/tim.So there you have it, folks… how YOU can buy real estate in your IRA… and my thoughts on some better ways to do it.My friends, invest wisely today, and live well forever! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The best-selling book and movie The Big Short tells the inside story of how Dr. Michael Burry made a huge fortune for his hedge fund clients by betting against the real estate market… and how those clients ultimately didn’t appreciate him despite a HUGE profit.  And I may be the only person in America who thinks so, but I think the clients were right and Dr. Burry was wrong.  I’m Bryan Ellis.  I’ll tell you why right now in Episode 191.----Hello, SDI Nation!  Welcome to the podcast of record for savvy self-directed investors like you!Have you ever read the book “The Big Short” by Michael Lewis?  If not, it’s a great read… and I really enjoyed the movie too, which is solidly over 2 hours long and felt like it was over in a flash.So I totally recommend the book and the movie… it’s a really fascinating explanation of what led up to the mortgage meltdown, and how it really was just a function of greed and carelessness.Part of the story involves Dr. Michael Burry.  He trained as a neurologist and got the degree and was a resident, but clearly his passion was in the financial world.  He had a website in the late 1990’s where he posted information about his stock picks and analysis leading to those picks.  His picks were so successful that he got the attention of some major financial players like Vanguard investments and the prominent investor Joel Greenblatt of Gotham Capital.To condense the story a bit, Burry quits medicine, starts a hedge fund called Scion Capital using some inherited capital, and continues to excel.  His first year brought a profit of 55%.  Soon, he had over $500 million under management and was turning money away.  But near the beginning, he attracted a large investment from Gotham Capital, who was Burry’s founding investor.Dr. Burry was clearly a brilliant man… clearly the reason Gotham was willing to give him millions of dollars for value-based stock investing.But Dr. Burry spread his focus a bit.  He recognized that there was a problem, and the problem was that the booming real estate market was built on a house of cards called EASY MONEY… that millions of people were being given loans they couldn’t afford for more than just a year or two during the low introductory teaser rates.  Dr. Burry recognized that there would be a huge wave of defaults soon after those teaser rates expired.Dr. Burry’s analysis turned out to be right… very, very right.  So in 2005 – while real estate was still raging hot – Dr. Burry convinced Goldman Sachs to sell him credit default swaps against loans that Burry saw as risky.  Goldman thought Burry was a sucker, sold him the swaps, and 2 years later, Burry had profited by more than $700 MILLION dollars, making his investors – including Gotham Capital – a huge, huge fortune.Curiously, Dr. Burry quit managing money after that experience.  He made a huge fortune, and doubtlessly could continue to do so as a money manager, because he absolutely has an eye for both risk and value… a rare thing, for sure.But here’s the thing… between the time Burry bought those swaps in 2005 and cashed them in for a huge profit in 2007, some bad things happened.  At first, the real estate market didn’t decline right away, and so those swaps lost value… very quickly.  Then to compound the problem, Goldman and the other brokerages who were responsible for pricing those swaps didn’t exactly do so in an honest way.  In fact, they aggressively took advantage of the situation by pegging the value of subprime mortgages as being far higher than any reasonable person would believe, thus causing the value of Burry’s swaps – which were really just a form of insurance – to sink in value, even though the opposite should have been happening.Burry held on, and in 2007 made a huge profit.  But in 2006… things didn’t look good.  For the first time, Burry’s fund was losing money… and a LOT of it… and worst yet, he was losing money on an investment – credit default swaps – that was outside of Dr. Burry’s core competency, which was value-based stock investing.This didn’t settle well with Burry’s investors.  It was a bad time… open revolt… and many of Burry’s investors… including his biggest client and original investor, Gotham Capital, rather forcefully demanded that Burry exit the trades and return their capital.It was a very bad time at Scion Capital… Burry had never experienced losses, and now he had investors who were losing confidence in him very aggressively, and demanding their money back.So Dr. Burry took an extreme step – he invoked a provision in his investor agreement that allowed him to delay the right of his investors to withdraw their capital… and that, of course, caused a huge problem as well, with lawsuits flying and tempers flaring and a generally awful situation.When it was all said and done, it turned out that Dr. Burry was right.  He made a huge fortune, and so did his investors.But Burry decided to get out of the business of capital management… largely, it appears, because he felt unappreciated.  The movie closes with Dr. Burry sending an unsolicited email to Gotham Capital that said, simply, “You’re welcome.”Ok, so here’s the thing:  The entire movie is set up to narrowly cast the blame for the mortgage meltdown on Wall Street – and there’s certainly lots of blame there, though it’s ABUNDANTLY CLEAR that the real blame belongs to good ole Uncle Sam.But the move also makes a point of glorifying Burry and the fact that he was right – and his big evil investors were wrong – and that they profited from his talent and never said thank you.My friends:  Burry’s investors were right, and Burry was wrong.  The fact that he was ultimately profitable isn’t relevant.I’ve told you over and over again on this show that as self-directed investors, we must use the S3 standard to judge all of our investment choices:  Simple, Safe and Strong.  Those words have some subjectivity, for sure – after all, we’re not all the same.But the real issue is that Dr. Burry did something VERY DIFFERENT with his client’s capital than his history suggested he should do.  Dr. Burry was a brilliant stock picker… brilliant is an understatement.  But he had no substantive experience trading credit default swaps.  He was not a real estate or mortgage investor.  And he wasn’t well connected with that world.  In short, he had only purely academic reasons to think that his hypothesis would prove out.It did prove out, of course, to his and his investor’s benefit.  But even though he was profitable, even though was right on that investment in an astounding, career-defining kind of way, he did something wrong:  He did not respect the capital of his investors.  It wasn’t that he didn’t comply with his legal commitments to them.  He certainly did.  But he quite substantially showed disrespect for their own judgement when he made a major shift in direction… and for an entire year, the objective evidence was the Dr. Burry was very, very wrong… and his fund was hemorrhaging tens of millions of dollars… dollars that belonged to his clients, not to him.Again, Dr. Burry was proven right in the end.  But that’s not the whole issue.  You see, if an investment causes you to worry… that’s a bad investment.  The financial results just don’t justify that.  It means that EITHER the investment is just a bad idea overall, or maybe that you’re using money in the deal you can’t afford to lose.  Either way… consistent, ongoing stress from an investment means it doesn’t FEEL strong to you… and whether we like it or not, those feelings are what brings stress.  And stress isn’t a good thing.  Take it from a guy who had a heart attack at the tender age of 39… and learned some really, really hard lessons about simplifying life and reducing stress as a result.To be clear, I admire Dr. Burry.  I wish I had his intellect.  But he didn’t respect his investor’s capital… and he provides a great case study for why it’s so critical that you work only with people who really, truly do respect your capital just as much as you do.My friends, invest wisely today, and live well forever. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Money is flowing out of the stock market in huge waves… but where is it going?  If you’ve made the wise choice to diversify away from Wall Street, here are 3 EXCELLENT options for how to invest $100,000 TODAY.  I’m Bryan Ellis… this is episode 190.-----Hello SDI Nation!  Welcome to the podcast of record for savvy self-directed investors like you!Welcome to the first day of the second month of 2016!  If you’re a stock market investor, January was a brutal month.  The Dow dropped, in aggregate, over 5% and as of mid-morning, the losses are continuing on the first trading day of February.A real barometer of the confidence of the public in the stock market is the inflow-outflows question.  In other words, on net, are more investors putting money IN or taking money OUT of stocks?For January, there’s a definite answer:  There’s a huge OUTFLOW.  People are abandoning stocks in droves.  A report from Bank of America shows that in the first 3 weeks of January alone, more than $25 BILLION flowed OUT of stock market equity funds… and that doesn’t even count people who are abandoning ship on ownership of individual stocks.Bottom line – a whole lot of money is heading for the exit from Wall Street… and with really good reason.But where’s that money going?  Those who jumped ship in January will doubtlessly be joined by many, many more this month.  What should they do with their money?Let’s assume that when you bid adieu to Wall Street with some of your portfolio ready for deployment in other places, what will you do with that capital?Here’s something you should NOT do:  Don’t put it in CD’s or money market accounts.  Those accounts are guaranteed LOSERS because their paltry interest rates – while guaranteed – are not even sufficient to keep up with inflation.  In normal human language – as expressed by the “loaf of bread” index – what this means is that if you have enough money to buy a loaf of bread today, but instead you invest that money into a CD or money market account for the next year or 5 years or however long – at the end of that time, you won’t even be able to buy a single loaf of bread even AFTER collecting your interest the whole time because the value of your money is decreasing faster than you’re receiving interest.  That’s a GUARANTEED loser.  So don’t do that.But I’ve got 3 REALLY great options for you, depending on YOUR specific needs.  I’m going to assume you have a minimum of $100,000 to invest… and if you do, one of these 3 options could be a GREAT match for you.Option #1:  The SDI Secured Loan.  Imagine this scenario:  You lend your $100 grand to some real estate investor who needs the money to buy and renovate a house.  He pays you a really nice interest rate – maybe 8-12% – for a period of 6-12 months.  And during that time, your money is secured by a lien against a property worth $200,000!  That’s right… you’ve got collateral worth literally twice as much as your investment, so that if that investor doesn’t pay you as promised, you can take that house back and sell it for an even greater profit yourself!  The SDI Secured Loan is an incredibly predictable, profitable way to generate strong returns… and a great alternative for your money seeking a superior home.Option #2:  SDI Passive Property Flipping.  If you’ve working in a strong market and have the right team, real estate flipping – which is just the purchase, renovation and resale of real estate for profit – can generate some astoundingly strong returns.  But let’s face it:  Finding a great deal and renovating a property can take a LOT of time, and it requires substantial skill and strong connections.  But there’s a variation of that idea – called the SDI Passive Property Flip – that enables affluent investors to PROFIT from real estate flipping without doing any of the work themselves.  Done correctly, SDI Passive Property Flipping can be very safe… while generating exceptional returns on investment.Option #3:  SDI Turnkey Rental Properties.  What if you could own rental properties… but never be hamstrung by being a landlord?  What if your monthly payments of rent were GUARANTEED?  What if your net income was very high – nearly always 10-12%+ per year?  And what if you could generate really attractive tax breaks simply by virtue of owning the property?  What if you never had to worry about property management, because there’s very experience, highly competent property management already in place… and the tenant is already in place on the day you purchase the property so that you’re cash-flow positive from day #1?  And hey… what if you could actually buy TWO houses like this for your $100,000 investment… just because we’re able to get such great prices for you?  That’s exactly the promise of SDI Turnkey Rental Properties.  It’s all the great things about owning rental real estate… with none of the hassles.Now here’s the thing, my friends:  All of these are great options, depending on your circumstances.  And I’d be honored to tell you more about each one of them if you’re ready to adjust away from Wall Street and into something that makes much more sense.  In fact, you can set up a consultation with me right away by visiting SDI360.com/consultation.And yes, that is a NEW website address… SDI360.com/consultation.Furthermore, this week, we’re going to focus very strongly on the 3rd option:  SDI Turnkey Rentals.  I’ve got to tell you:  I love the idea of turnkey rental properties whenever they fit wisely into your portfolio.  What makes it fit WISELY into your portfolio?  First:  Equity.  Be leery of buying real estate without having a solid equity position from day #1.  In other words:  Don’t pay full retail for your investments. Second:  Choose your markets WISELY.  Don’t look at a market just because it appears to be a “boom town”.  Don’t use silly justifications for buying into a market.  The only thing that matters is this:  Do you have substantive reason to believe that buying a property will be profitable right NOW… and will be profitable 15 years into the future?  Hot markets are inherently short-term… you have to look no further than Williston, North Dakota… the oil boom town that’s been red-hot in recent years, but appears headed for a hard, hard bust because of the implosion of oil prices.What’s better?  Long-term predictability… and ideally at high net returns-on-investment.And that, my friends, is exactly what I’ve got for you this week.  In fact, later this week, I’m hosting a special FREE webinar where I’ll tell you all about one specific market that I really like… where you can get into great real estate rental properties around the $50,000 price point… and the key words are RELIABILITY and HIGH-YIELD.Think of it… instantly yielding a 10% or better net cash-on-cash return… with guaranteed payments every month – so no twists and turns based on the finances of your tenants.  Imagine if your tenants TYPICALLY stay in the property for 3-4 years or MORE… and thus eliminate one of the biggest risks of rental property ownership… TURNOVER!  And on top of all of that… it’s totally turnkey… property management is in place.  Tax benefits readily available.  And high income to boot.I’ve got a few properties that match that description, and I’ll tell you about them on a special webinar THIS WEEK that you can access at SDI360.com/webinar.  Again, that’s SDI360.com/webinar.So if you’re one of the millions of stock market refugees looking to put your capital somewhere SMARTER than in the roller coaster of Wall Street, stop by at SDI360.com/webinar right now to learn more about an approach to investing that will prove – to yourself – that you do truly respect your own capital.My friends… invest wisely today, and live well forever! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Did you hear?  Barrack Obama is targeting YOUR RETIREMENT ACCOUNT in his proposed budget for 2017.  I’m Bryan Ellis.  I’ll tell you what he’s saying, what it actually means… and why this is a HUGE ISSUE for self-directed investors RIGHT NOW in Episode #189.----Hello SDI Nation!  Welcome to the podcast of record for savvy self-directed investors like you!  Welcome to another dose of predictably profitable thinking!Well, well, well my friends… another day, another proposal to regulate and overtake your control of your money from our good buddies – overlords, anyone – in Washington DC.  Today, you get another episode of the unfortunate intersection of politics with your money.That’s right my friends… Obama’s new budget proposal for Fiscal 2017, released in the last 24 hours, squarely targets something called “Retirement Security”.  Right there in black and white on the White House’s OMB – that’s office of management & budget – web page is a nice little paragraph that says, and I’ll ask for your indulgence as I – very dramatically and with entertaining flare – read this delightful citation about Obama’s take on the retirement situation in America:“Millions of working Americans lack access to a retirement savings plan at work. Fewer than 10 percent of those without plans at work save in a retirement account on their own. In 2015, retirement security will be one of the key topics of the White House Conference on Aging. The Budget would make it easy and automatic for workers to save for retirement through their employer – giving 30 million more workers access to a workplace savings opportunity. The Budget also ensures that long-term part-time employees can participate in their employers’ retirement plans and provides tax incentives to offset administrative expenses for small businesses that adopt retirement plans.”Ah yes, my friends… Obama… the white knight riding into save the day for the poor and downtrodden… those without the basic fundamental right of a big retirement account.  That’s a right somewhere in the Constitution, isn’t it?  Oh… no it’s not.  But hey, that doesn’t matter to this crew.  So we’ll just use some simple reasoning to figure out the REAL motive.So Obama’s OMB tells us that millions of Americans lack access to a retirement savings plan at work… and that virtually nobody who doesn’t save at work saves on their own.Mr. Obama and team… the truth isn’t familiar to you, is it?  You see, there’s this thing called an IRA.  The IRS says that stands for Individual Retirement Arrangement… most of us think of it as an Individual Retirement Account.  And here’s who is qualified to have an IRA:  ANYBODY who earns income and is under age 70 ½.  That’s it.  Those are the qualifications.  You’ve got to earn money – meaning you’re employed – and you’re 70 ½.  There’s nothing about minimum income requirements… so it’s available to the poor, too.  There’s nothing about minimum number of work hours… so it’s available to those working part-time, too.  And oh yeah… anybody using an IRA can take that bad boy from one employer to another as many times as they want… because it’s not connected to the employer at all.  It’s all about the INDIVIDUAL… and it ALREADY does everything you’re proposing.  What you’re proposing will NOT, as you said, give 30 million more people access to saving for retirement in the workplace.  That opportunity exists already… and all of the proof is right there on the IRS website for all the world to see.Remember:  All you need is to earn income and to be 70 ½ or less.  That’s it.So, my friends… maybe there’s another agenda here?Of course there is!To detect it, we need to read just a bit further, like so:“The Budget also ensures that long-term part-time employees can participate in their employers’ retirement plans and provides tax incentives to offset administrative expenses for small businesses that adopt retirement plans.”Ah-ha!  So what the actual plan is NOT to give more retirement savings options to the unwashed masses.  The actual plan is to further CENTRALIZE retirement savings under employer-sponsored plans.  Doesn’t sound so bad, does it?Well, upon further research, it’s revealed that Obama clan want to offer TAX INCENTIVES – yes, Obama, the most tax-happy president EVER… I mean EVER… THAT Obama wants to offer TAX INCENTIVES – for companies that adopt MANDATORY retirement savings accounts.  That means employees have NO CHOICE about whether to use the employer plan… it’s the only choice.  They’ve got to do it.Now why would dear old Comrade Obama want to do that?There are two reasons that your politically incorrect but SHOCKINGLY PRESCIENT host can see for this:First, it’s incredibly easy to envision regulations from the government dictating where those MANDATORY CONTRIBUTIONS will be invested.  And where might that be?  Very simple, my friends… all we need to do is look at ANOTHER Obama plan… the virtually worthless “MyRA” account Obama originally proposed in a budget a couple of years ago.  The MyRA is an IRA… but less.  It lets a person save for retirement without the pesky need to actually invest.  Why?  Because there’s one and only one choice for the money put into a MyRA… to invest in, essentially, U.S. Treasury Bonds.  That’s the only choice.Oh yeah… Treasury Bonds… those are the things used to fund the astounding budget deficits that exist right now.  So, basically, the MyRA is required to be invested in such a way to fund government debt… and there’s no other choice.  And that, I predict, will be where much or all of the funds placed into these MANDATORY retirement accounts will be required to be placed, under penalty of law from good ole Uncle Sam.Which kind of leads to the SECOND reason that the Obama regime would want to do this.  And this one, I admit, is a bit conspiratorial, but ABSOLUTELY NOT without precedent.  The more money is consolidated into EITHER or BOTH government-issued investments – like Treasury Bonds – and/or into government-regulated retirement accounts – like the new proposed MANDATORY employer-sponsored programs… well… all of that means all of the money is basically in one place, and makes it far easier for the government to do something AWFUL with that money that none of us would ever approve, up to and including the possibility of government confiscation to some degree.  I don’t think that plan is on the table… but what I do ABSOLUTELY believe is that the government is in the business of doing one thing:  Making itself MORE POWERFUL at the expense of you and me as individual citizens.And while I don’t think we’re necessarily on the precipice of a confiscatory action by the feds, it’s difficult to deny that this consolidation makes that much, much easier.  And it’s absolutely not without precedent, as this has been done in some countries with substantial economies in recent years, including Poland, Bulgaria, Hungary – and the big ones – Greece and Argentina, where the government stole $30 Billion in pension funds to shore up government deficits.But maybe this is just good-hearted concern for the common man from the Obama regime?Let’s not kid ourselves, friends.  This proposal does NOTHING for income earners in the lower-end… the clear target of this proposal… that isn’t already available to every single one of them right now in the form of a traditional IRA.This, my friends, is NOT about helping people save for retirement.  It’s about giving the government more control over your retirement.Here’s hoping that Congress will reject this outright.So this is target squarely at the lower-earning people in America, to be sure.  So it doesn’t affect you at all as an affluent self-directed investor, right?  Well, my friends… political choices have consequences.  This is what your children and grandchildren will face.  And this type of overbearing control of retirement savings… well, you can be sure if it’s instituted at the lower levels of economic production, it will creep up the ladder in the form of that shapeless, intellectually dishonest justifier called “fairness”… and then, it’ll bite you, too.  That’s the way these things work.And that concludes today’s edition of the unfortunate intersection of politics and your money.My friends, invest wisely today, and live well forever. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

There’s a moral component to self-directed investing… and the gravity of that component outweighs every other factor of success.  I’m Bryan Ellis.  I’ll tell you about that overlooked dimension of financial success right now in Episode 188.----Hello, SDI Nation.  Welcome to the podcast of record for savvy self-directed investors like you!  Get ready for another dose of predictably profitable thinking!Folks, I can tell you right now… some of you will be offended by the content of this show.  I regret that, but I’ve got to share this with you anyway.There’s a concept that’s long been popular among business people and self-motivated types:  Clarity.  Clarity, they say, is the key to making your hopes and dreams come true.  Without clarity about your goals, you don’t really have a goal.  Without clarity about your strategies, you can never implement those strategies.  Without clarity about your purpose, you have no purpose.  But with clarity comes true purpose… and an amazing alignment of intent and interest and focus happens to create the results you seek.All of those things are true.  Absolutely, 100% undeniably true.But my friends, there’s something that matters more… a logical level up from “clarity”…That level up is MORALITY.  That level up is realizing that there is such a thing as right and wrong, and that making wrong choices has impact far beyond the narrow circumstance where the wrong choice is made.What kinds of moral choices am I talking about?  Well, I’m glad you asked.Look… it’s EVERYTHING.  From the choice among absolute honesty to little white lies to outright deception.  It’s everything from the choice among perfect faithfulness to your spouse to the questionable wink, nod or kiss all the way to downright infidelity.  It’s everything from the choice among being a good steward of your capital to the occasional splurge all the way to utter theft.  Every moral choice has a continuum ranging from ideal to absolute wretchedness.  And the older I get, the more I’m convinced that there’s just not room for gray areas.  The only right choice is the one that’s entirely right… the one that would stand up well in view of your loved ones… it’s the choice that would stand you in good stead if you’re standing before God.Lest you think I’m preaching against you, I’m not.  To be very clear, I’ve made many, many poor choices myself and am not suggesting otherwise.  I’m speaking to you as a profoundly fallible human just like you, not as an exalted saint, which I am not.  Today’s commentary is not about judgment of anyone… except maybe myself.  But today’s commentary is my encouragement, even my imploring of you to get it RIGHT morally… and do it day in and day out. Why are we discussing morality on a show for affluent self-directed investors?It’s very simple, really:  Remember that “clarity” thing?  You can NOT have clarity with morality.  Morality opens your field of vision.  Morality allows you to see things as they really are.And seeing things as they really are… that is the very essence of clarity.  And clarity is the basis upon which sound decisions are made.If you’re not absolutely committed to doing the RIGHT THING in your life… both related to and totally apart from your investments, you begin to have FALSE CLARITY.  Your mental faculties become clouded.  It’s not that you can’t make decisions or be certain… it’s that your decisions and your certainty are based on a TINY SUBSET of reality because at the end of the day, moral failings make our scope of vision much narrower and shallower.There’s a TV commercial for the allergy medicine Claritin that illustrates this very well.  The commercial opens with a shot of a lovely nature scene and all seems well.  You could see that there was a lovely mountain and some mountain climbers getting ready for their ascent.  You could see that the sky was blue and it was a beautiful day.  You could see people smiling and happy.  And you’ve got a clear picture of what’s happening… and it’s all good.  But then a film is ripped away from the screen… and it’s clear that your vision has been obscured the entire time… only you didn’t know it.  You could see only a shell of what was actually there, with all the important details thoroughly obscured.  You could see the mountain, but you couldn’t see the contours of or crevices in the mountain.  You could see that there were mountain climbers with ropes, but you couldn’t see the stitching on the climbing ropes.  You could see the faces of the mountain climbers and their equipment… but you couldn’t really make out any of the details.And here’s the thing… you didn’t even know those details were there… that you had missed the entirely… until that film was torn away.  It’s not just that you missed the details… it’s that you didn’t know those details existed.  Those details were wholly invisible before than film was ripped away.That film is like the residue that accumulates from a life filled with immoral choices.  It clouds your vision, leaving you able to see less… while giving you the impression that you’re seeing all there is to be seen.This is not a suggestion that immoral people cannot be profitable as investors.  That’s certainly not the case.  Anybody can be lucky.  And frankly, immoral people have a proclivity towards being – or at least appearing – very successful in the short term.  Bernie Madoff, anyone?But at the end of the day, I believe sincerely, and believe more every day, that morality… which I define as doing the obviously RIGHT THING… well, I am pretty sure that the more fundamentally moral a person’s life is, the more likely they are to be able to make wise decisions… including wise decisions about their money.You know, this requirement to DO THE RIGHT THING is particularly true for self-directed investors.  That’s because you and I get more involved in our portfolios, and thus there’s more opportunity to be fast and loose with details, or to maybe take advantage of a counter party or an endless number of other things that, while maybe even wholly legal, are also clearly wrong.Do the right thing, my friends.  Always do the right thing.  And when you don’t do the right thing for whatever reason, go back and make it right, right away.Doing the right thing, the GOOD thing, the MORAL thing… and doing that every day… it’s that which leads to the clarity to allow you to see the contours of the investment landscape, the crevices in your asset selection and the real opportunity – or the real danger – lurking just around the corner.My friends… invest wisely today, and live well forever. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

What do you do to protect your 401k when the stock market is in free fall, and your retirement savings are disappearing like ice under heat? I’m Bryan Ellis. I’ll tell you exactly how to PRESERVE, PROTECT and GROW your retirement savings RIGHT NOW in Episode #187.-----Hello, SDI Nation! Welcome to the podcast of record for savvy, self-directed investors like you! Get ready for another dose of predictably profitable thinking!In the last 30 days, the Dow Jones Industrial Average – that’s the stock market – has been slashed by nearly 9%.Let’s think about the gravity of that for a moment. One way to look at is this: If you’ve been working and saving for the past 30 years – and your money is in Dow-type stocks – it’s almost as if 9% of that time – that’s 2.7 YEARS – it’s almost as if 2.7 YEARS of your life has now been erased… just wiped away… as if you never put in the blood, the sweat, the tears of those years… as if they never happened at all… and now there’s a financial chasm that has to be filled… but no matter what you do, you can never, ever manufacture another 2.7 years, no matter how badly you’d like to do so.What to do, what to do?Well, my friends, here on SDI Radio, we don’t moan and groan, we take action… action that results in positive, impressive, even enviable results. So let’s discuss a plan right now to help YOU during the in-progress market route……and make no mistake: I expect it to continue. It could be ugly for a while.Now to set the stage for you, I’ll be primarily addressing those of you who have 401k’s. But fret not, my loyal IRA-using listeners! Everything I share with you today applies almost exactly to you as well… only you automatically have more flexibility than the 401k users because most of you can, at any time, make almost any adjustment to your account that you like, but the same isn’t necessarily true of 401k users. So no matter whether you’re a 401k or IRA user, this show is for you.My friends, conventional financial planners consistently say one thing: Don’t panic. They’ll tell you the market goes up, and the market goes down, and it’s all part of the natural cycle. And they’re right. It is part of the natural cycle. But allow me to ask you this simple question: When there’s a hurricane coming your way, inevitably, you can see the signs before it happens. And you know how horrible the damage can be. We all know about hurricane Katrina in 2005… over 1,200 people died, much of New Orleans was laid to ruins and was left under 20 feet of water. The recovery for that city still isn’t 100%... and residents there suffered MIGHTILY for many years following. But as bad as that one was, it’s nowhere near the worst of all times. That has to belong to the great hurricane in Galveston, Texas in 1900… that one KILLED over 8,000 people and utterly destroyed the area. It was destruction through and through… the raw power of nature on display for all to see… and which nobody could do anything to stop.But it was NATURE. It was predictable. In fact, we could all see those storms coming before they came. And if you wanted to do it, you could get out of the way. That was an option. That way, your life, your family’s lives, and whatever you could take with you could be saved and gotten out of the way.But that’s not what your financial advisor suggests that you do with your money. Not at all. Instead, he suggests that you just wait it out, that things will be better in the future, and that the future is always brighter than the past.That’s very optimistic, isn’t it? But you, my friends, have doubtlessly mocked other people who used that logic in a different setting. Ready for the proof? How many times have you seen a person on the news during the lead-up to a horrible hurricane who says, very defiantly, “I’m not going anywhere. This is where I belong and I’m not leaving!”That person is insane, in my humble but entirely accurate opinion. And that’s exactly the strategy you’re using with the stock market when you choose to follow your advisor’s suggestion to just “wait it out”. Insanity.Remember Warren Buffett’s rule #1 of investing: Don’t lose money. Rule #2? Refer to rule #1. I’m not a Buffett fanboy like some, but I’m totally on board with those rules.Bottom line: There’s a MUCH BETTER WAY that what conventional financial advisors recommend.So let’s get on to strategy now, shall we?You’ve got a 401k with your employer, and because of market turbulence, it’s bleeding red. Not good. And you agree that just sitting tight isn’t a good idea. What do you do?The fundamental answer is always the same: Invest in assets that meet the S3 Criteria: Simple, Safe and Strong.More specifically?The simple answer… The simplest of answers… and not necessarily the best answer is this: Consider adjusting your portfolio allocation so that your capital is deployed into more conservative assets… maybe even cash assets, like a money market fund or conservative bond fund. But while those options are certainly simple and safe… they’re anything but strong. Money markets are hovering at or below 1% right now… but the long-term inflation rate is 3.2% per year, so that’s a guaranteed loser.But what can you do? You’re locked into your employer’s 401k plan, and so the only choice you have is to invest in the relatively small basket of asset choices they make available to you… right?Yes… but maybe not.Some employer-sponsored 401k’s have a thing called an in-service distribution. This allows you to take some or all of the money you’ve saved in your 401k and transfer it to another type of account that will allow you greater investment flexibility… in other words… you’ll have access to assets that actually are simple AND safe AND strong.Now a couple of things to consider about that. First, not all employer-sponsored plans offer in-service distributions. Many do not. But it’s definitely worth asking if yours does, because using that option would give you the ability to transfer at least a portion of your account into a self-directed IRA or, even better, a self-directed 401k.Why does this matter? Consider this, my friends: What if, during the same time that the market was getting slaughtered… as is now happening… what if you could be reliably collecting 8-10% interest on your money year in and year out? Or maybe even more? And what if your money was wholly protected by COLLATERAL… so much collateral that your investment capital faces a level of risk that statistically near zero? And to boot… you’d be investing in an asset that’s so simple, even your financially unsavvy brother-in-law could understand it?Well folks, that’s exactly what is TRULY possible using a self-directed IRA or 401k. The potential for growing your investment capital CONSISTENTLY – in good times and bad – that’s what’s available to you by having the right type of retirement account… the truly self-directed variety… and by investing that capital into assets that are SIMPLE and SAFE and STRONG.Want a little taste of what I’m talking about? One of my clients not long ago purchased a little rental property in Birmingham, Alabama. No, not the most exciting place in the world. But he did it for a couple very simple reasons: The income is very substantial, and the income is SAFE… almost entirely insulated from the broader economic environment.As for the numbers: He’s netting around 12% on an investment of about $50,000. Yep, you heard that right. And that’s just the cash flow. That doesn’t even include property appreciation or the vast tax benefits of owning real estate.And do you know how much this investment will be affected by the stock market’s problems, the Chinese economy or even local economic stress? Not one little bit. It’s sold and reliable.Is that what you’re after? Reliable financial results for your investments? Well, good news: I’ve got exactly 3 excellent rental properties in that same locale right now that match the description I just gave you. If you’d like to learn more about them, and if you’ve got at least $50,000 of liquid capital, just set up an appointment to chat with me at SDIRadio.com/consultation and I’ll be happy to tell you more.Tomorrow, look for episode #3 of Self Directed Investor Success Stories. In that episode, I’ll give you even more details about the example I just shared with you… because my friends, there’s really something to be said for being able to count on consistent, substantial cash flow. And that’s what I’ll tell you about on tomorrow’s edition of SDI Success Stories.In the mean time:Invest wisely today, and live well forever!  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Donald Trump, “New York Values”, Ted Cruz… and a BORING, Profitable Investment Strategy  |  Episode 186.----Hello, SDI Nation!  Welcome to the podcast of record for savvy self-directed investors like you!  Get ready for another dose of Predictably Profitable thinking!So, another Republican debate happened last night, and it was entertaining as ever.  Without commenting on anyone’s political views, I have an observation…Ted Cruz is a brilliant, brilliant man… and a masterful debater.  His skill in that area is without peer.But Donald Trump really got the best of him in a big moment last night… and I think that moment is instructive for all of us.The context was simple:  Ted Cruz was making the point that Trump is from New York, and New York isn’t known as a place that’s particularly supportive of conservative, i.e. Republican, values.  The suggestion was that there’s something unattractive about New York values, from the conservative point of view.It’s a reasonable thing Cruz was trying to do… to tie Trump to a label that wouldn’t be helpful for him in this campaign.And again, I’ve got to tell you… I think Ted Cruz is just a brilliant, brilliant, brilliant man, and his debate skill is simply over the top.  But Trump ate his lunch in a very un-Trump-like way:  He talked about shared values of a community, he talked about coming together against a challenge as New York did in the aftermath of 911, he spoke as one proud of his community and as a leader among them.So, Cruz really stepped in it… because the comment came off as him insulting New Yorkers, which I don’t think was the point at all.  But I was really shocked by Trump last night.  He took a solemn tone, spoke calmly and acted as a leader who is personally invested in the reputations and success of “his people”… New Yorkers.  I’ve got to admit… it might be nice to have a President who is PROUD of AMERICA… proud of it’s PEOPLE… and puts the values of America ahead of the values of every other country in the world… that would be a very, very nice change indeed.No, this isn’t an endorsement of Trump.  I’m undecided still.  But it is a segue into a deeper topic that’s highly relevant to me and you as investors… particularly as self-directed investors.Politics is an unsavory thing.  I suspect that politics used to be more noble – though I’m not entirely sure that’s true since political rivalries were settled with duels as recently as the late 1800’s.  On second thought… maybe dueling is a more elegant solution.  But I digress…Still, politics matters to me and you in a REALLY REALLY big way.  Here’s just one recent example:Last year, President Obama proposed drastically cutting the 1031 exchange, a tax deferral strategy strategy that’s almost exclusively used by real estate investors.  The government claims the impact of that would have been $18B more in tax collections.  But the impact of that is HORRENDOUS.  Here’s a point of comparison… in the entire 3rd quarter of last year, a TOTAL of about $7.9B was spent to buy houses that were flipped.  A lot of money for sure… but far less than HALF of the amount of money that would have been sucked out of the real estate market through Obama’s proposed changes.  With the stroke of a pen, he would have obliterated that capital.  Fortunately, he failed to achieve that goal… and that is to your benefit and mine… even if you’re not a user of 1031 exchanges.So, as much as I hate it… you and I as self-directed investors MUST pay attention to these things.  It would be so much better if I could just steer clear of these things.  But being a leader sometimes means stepping into dangerous territory, and as your fearless leader of the Self Directed Investor movement in America, I gladly step into the line of fire.This election happens in a very big year for America.  There’s every indication so far that this could be a very rough year for the stock market, and it COULD spill over into the broader economy.  But even more importantly, there’s a broad, pervading sense in America right now that the economic data we’re all being fed is a smokescreen… an accounting trick that would make the housing crisis look like child’s play.  There’s a WHOLE LOT of evidence to that effect.  As I say these words, it’s 9:57 am Eastern on January 15, and the Dow Jones Industrial Average is currently down by 390 points.There are MILLIONS of people who are out of work, but are no longer counted as being unemployed because of some accounting shenanigans pulled in recent years that affect how the unemployment rate is calculated.  But the bottom line – the number of people in America who are gainfully employed is right at it’s lowest in MULTIPLE DECADES……and because of regulations connected with Obamacare, many millions who used to be employed full time now get to work less than 30 hours a week.Again… there’s the intersection of politics with you and me as investors… fewer people who are fully employed leads to fewer buyers, fewer renters and bleaker prospects.So… here’s the thing… wisdom as investors involves NOT JUST analyzing a particular asset and making decisions about capital deployment and exit strategies and tax consequences.  It’s not just about looking forward to profits.  It’s about looking forward to changing environments in which our investments will operate.Remember:  If you’re buying rental property, for example, that’s typically a very long-term type of transaction… it could LITERALLY be decades long.  So your investment will be subject to the environment today, for sure… but it will be subject to everything that happens in the next 20 years…...and that future is PROFOUNDLY and DEEPLY affected by politics.  I hate it.  I’ll bet you hate it.  But it’s just the way it is.The best way to deal with it, I think, is to be informed… and rational.Set aside names and parties.  Think about the ISSUES that are relevant to you as an investor.  For example:  Taxes are the single biggest killers of profit.  Therefore, it makes good sense to give preference to candidates who don’t default towards tax hikes as the solution to every problem.  Another good example is what’s called “tort reform”… or reform of the way lawsuits are handled.  In that way, it probably makes pretty good sense to support candidates who have a business background because businesspeople and investors – that’s you and me – are FAR AND AWAY the most likely people to be faced with silly, abusive and EXPENSIVE lawsuits… and a candidate who understands how that world works may be able to better represent your interests as a business person or investor.Here’s my recommendation:  Forget the NAMES.  Forget the PERSONALITIES.  Just think, for a moment, about the real issues at stake… and decide what interests you think the various candidates will represent… and if those interests represent YOU and/or where you aspire to be.  If so, that candidate is worthy of your consideration.So, in closing folks – in light of the chaos that’s happening in world financial markets, and the potential for that to spill over into the broader economy, Carole – my lovely wife and business partner – are launching an investment fund that will focus on one small town to begin with… and may expand from there.  That town?  Birmingham, Alabama.  Why Birmingham?  Well… it’s not sexy… you’re not going to brag about being an owner of real estate in Birmingham… but the numbers, and the environment, really work well there.  How well?  It’s pretty easy to collect rents equal to 15-20% of the property value… every single year.  That’s a slam dunk.  And because of the unique circumstances in which we can do this, I have profound confidence that that cash flow would be wholly unaffected, even if the U.S. economy was to take a hard dive.So we’re going to form a fund and make it available to qualified investors.  And I promise you this:  For those of you who want all of the advantages of owning rental property without one single shred of the challenges… this is the answer.But hey… there is an opportunity to which I’ll alert you.  I’ve got 3 REALLY GOOD rental properties available in Birmingham right now.  Now, in the near future, I’ll not be offering them to you on an individual basis because my fund will be buying them instead.  But for now, I’ve got exactly 3 really solid deals… strong cash flow, fully renovated, tenants already in place.  Total turnkey solutions.  And these houses ALL sell for $55,000 max… many around $50K.  Interested?  If so, stop by SDIRadio.com/consultation to set up a time to chat.Have a great weekend, my friends, and…Invest wisely today, and live well forever!   Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Porn, IRS audits, and a SELL EVERYTHING warning from a massive international bank. Today’s show is a doozy, my friends. I’m Bryan Ellis. This is Episode 185.----Hello, SDI Nation. Welcome to the podcast of record for savvy, self-directed investors like you! Get ready for another dose of predictably profitable thinking!Hey just a special note: Tomorrow is Episode #1 of a NEW SDI podcast called SDI Money Law. Hosted by attorney Tim Berry, this show is powerful and unique. You see, affluence and wealth are certainly blessings… but they’re not blessings without cost. The affluent person or family faces challenges that the less affluent are not even aware of, and many of those challenges are of either a financial or legal nature. That’s what SDI Money Law is all about… it’s the ONLY podcast that focuses exclusively on the intersection of the law and your money and has a very simple goal: To teach you to use every advantage the law allows for making better profits, protecting those profits from wealth vampires, and passing that wealth to future generations. In short, it’s all about using the law to be a better steward of your financial blessings.The host, attorney Tim Berry, is an incredibly sharp attorney with clients ranging from normal affluent people all the way up to people who have 3 commas in their net worth number. Yeah, think that one over hehehehehe. He has extraordinary expertise in 3 areas: Tax law, high-end asset protection and self-directed retirement accounts. And, as it turns out, all 3 of those areas are quite heavily related. In tomorrow’s show, you’re going to learn how to save $25,000 on LAST YEAR’S tax bill… so be sure to tune in. To get a notice about the show, text the word SDIMONEYLAW with no spaces or periods to 33444. Again, text the word SDIMONEYLAW with no spaces or periods to 33444.Ok, people… Porn. IRS audits. And an incredibly dire prediction from a major bank. Where to begin.Let’s go with PORN! Actually, that one is all about the IRS, too.The IRS recently did an audit of disciplinary practices for its employees. That very notion brings up some big questions for me, as I wonder what exactly constitutes unacceptable behavior to the IRS on behalf of its employees, as I’m hearing more and more reports of the IRS returning to the bad old days of very heavy handed tactics during audits.Anyway, in this disciplinary practices audit, it was revealed that an attorney at the IRS viewed sexually explicit material on his computer for 2-3 hours per day for a period of four months.Let’s see… one month has about 20 work days. Four months is 80 work days. 80 work days times 3 hours per day… let’s see… that’s 240 hours.240 hours viewing porn at the IRS by one of their attorneys. That’s a whopping SIX WHOLE WEEKS in aggregate of this guy getting his jollies at the expense of you and me as taxpayers.What was that expense? Well, based on standard pay tables, it’s safe to say his salary was AT MINIMUM $100,000 per year. Thus, using the most conservative analysis possible, this guy was paid over $11,500 to act like a dirtbag during work hours.But don’t worry… the IRS really came down hard on him. They suspended him for 3 days. The report didn’t say if the suspension was with or without pay. What do you figure that guy did during those 3 days? HeheheheBut hey… at the end of the day, this gives us all a new strategy to consider during audits: Make sure that the revenue agent you’re facing is bombarded with voluminous amounts of porn during your audit. Maybe the 3 hours a day they’ll lose to smut-surfing will accrue to your benefit!On to a much more serious topic: RBS, the Royal Bank of Scotland – a HUGE bank with over a trillion dollars in assets, revenues north of $15 Billion per year and over 100,000 employees – issued a particularly dire warning.Their suggestion? “SELL EVERYTHING”RBS is predicting a cataclysmic year and is recommending that their clients SELL EVERYTHING except for high-quality bonds. They’ve suggested that their fear for their clients is the return OF their capital, rather than a return ON their capital.And RBS, like a few others, have said that they think this year is setting up very similarly to 2008.Sounds pretty awful, doesn’t it?Well here’s the thing: I don’t buy it, but I hope they’re right. Yes, I think this year could be pretty turbulent in the conventional financial markets. The Chinese stock market is in horrible disarray, and is being made far worse by the Chinese government’s insistence on manipulating that market. The U.S. Stock market has already fallen by more than 1,000 points this year, with just 13 days into the new year. And oil prices are absolutely freefalling, though the immediate impact of that for you and me is distinctly positive.Here’s why I don’t buy it: There are certainly some negative forces at work in the world economy, and here in the United States. No doubt about it. And I DO expect the U.S. stock market to have a really rough time this year.But I just don’t’ see a single CATACLYSM-level driver for destroying the markets like existed back then. Back then, everything came to a head at once for the mortgage crisis and the broader economy. Hey, here’s the harsh truth: It really wasn’t that bad, even back then. According to the St. Louis Fed, mortgage defaults never exceeded about 11%. That means that even at the worst of the worst times, 89% of mortgages in America were being paid as agreed. Think about that in your own portfolio: if 89% of your investments performed exactly as expected but 11% of them hit a rough patch… you’d probably be just fine… probably even happy. But I digress, as government math isn’t real math, and real people are invariably smarter than our friends in Washington.I do see turbulence ahead for the stock market, because I really do believe that the Fed will be shown to be a paper tiger, as the only real tool they have – interest rate adjustments – will do nothing to spur the economy.But what about those of you investing in real assets, like real estate or precious metals or even other paper-based assets that you really control, like private loans or even real businesses?Well, the wisdom of ownership of real assets always comes to the fore in times of economic weakness, and I suspect this time will be no different.But recall the standard used by wise self-directed investors for making investments: Every asset must be SIMPLE and SAFE and STRONG. This is a time for prudence. Part of the safety standard should be this: Is there a margin for error? In other words, if the U.S. stock market really melts down, does that inherently mean your portfolio will suffer? If oil trades down to $20 a barrel… or even back up to $150 a barrel… what would that mean for you?These questions matter, my friends.Here’s my advice: Boring investments that throw off cash will win the day. Boring cash producers. Boring cash producers. Boring cash producers. That’s what you should be looking to in 2016.BUT… never fear, my friends… BORING doesn’t mean unprofitable. In fact, we’re getting ready to do a major capital push into one of the most boring markets I know of. We’re going to buy a lot of rental property in this market and rent it out. Why? We can collect nearly 20% of the property price every single year… and those rents won’t be effected even slightly in the event of economic cataclysm.But this market is boring. I’ll bet nobody has ever visited this place to vacation. And you probably would never brag to your friends about the locale… but the NUMBERS are very, very sexy. You’d definitely brag about the numbers.Want to know more? Join me on RIGHT HERE on SDI Radio for our next episode on Friday… and I’ll tell you all about it. To be notified about that episode when it’s available, text the word SDIRADIO with no spaces or periods to 33444 right now.And in the mean time… invest wisely today, and live well forever! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Today’s episode is particularly raw and direct.  It’s about my TERROR in giving advice to you about investing, and about being responsible for the capital of others.  I’m Bryan Ellis.  This is episode 184.----Hello, SDI Nation!  Welcome to the podcast of record for savvy self-directed investors like you!  Get ready for another dose of Predictably Profitable thinking!Monday is, without a doubt, my very favorite day of the week.  I love the weekend, and the time with family and friends, and some rest.  Enjoying the waning days of my first daughter’s teenage years… watching my 15-year-old blossom… seeing both of those girls absolutely dote on their younger brothers, who are 1 and 2… and seeing those little boys transition from tiny infants capable of nothing into actual little people… it’s such a sweet, wonderful thing... and that time spent with and focused on them actually helps my mind to recharge and be ready for another great week of work… and that’s certainly the case today.I’m going to admit a certain terror to you, my friends.  I hope you’ll bear with a show of a bit more personal nature today.But first – if you’re in the Atlanta area, please be sure to stop by the Georgia Real Estate Investor’s Association meeting tonight.  I’ll be the featured speaker there, and I’ll be talking about how to raise capital for real estate transactions.  Now you, my friends, are more likely to be an investor of capital than someone who raises it.  But I GUARANTEE you’ll find it fascinating, because you’ll see in graphic detail the reverence with which I view the notion of controlling or influencing the capital of my clients.  And besides, I’d LOVE to meet you and even have a drink with my listeners after the presentation, so when you come tonight, please do be sure to introduce yourself to me… I’d really love to meet you.  Anyway, to be sure you get the notice with information about the time and location for tonight’s meeting of the Georgia Real Estate Investor Association, just text the word SDIRADIO with no spaces or periods to 33444 and I’ll send the reminder to you.Folks, as you know, I give out financial analysis and suggestions regularly on this show.  And you may also know, I run a private equity fund that focuses on purchase and resale of houses in certain strategic markets.  It’s been doing very, very well.  In fact, on tomorrow’s episode of Self Directed Investor Success Stories, I’m going to profile the latest deal that we closed this past week.  I’m totally confident you’ll be impressed.And you know, that success wasn’t by accident.  I’ve really done my homework.  I’ve really checked out the markets in which we focus; I’ve researched the PEOPLE who are working for and with me; I routinely monitor the economic situations and other macro issues that could affect what we’re doing.  I pay attention… CLOSE attention… every single day.So what you hear on this show is confidence.  And I am confident.  I’ve made a series of well-researched decisions.  I’m staying on top of everything.  I treat every single penny I manage as if it’s my own because here’s how I see it:  My client are risking money, and I’m risking my reputation.  My client’s capital… and the safety of it… is job #1.  Protecting that money is the first thing I care about.  And by extension, protecting my reputation is critically important to me, too… more than I can ever express.So the confidence with which I speak to you is well-founded.  It’s not an accident.  The evidence of the accuracy of my words is all around us.  There’s simply no arguing that it’s wiser to buy real estate below market value than at or above it.  There’s no arguing that engineering your investments in such a way that they’re predictable and profitable is very wise.  It’s beyond debate that investments secured by collateral are safer than those not secured by collateral.  These things are true.  These things are wise.  These things can’t be credibly challenged.And yet, in implementing those abstract ideas in the very real world, risk comes into the equation.  Sure, it makes all the sense in the world to buy real estate far below it’s real value in a rising market.  But what happens if a contractor slows down or even goes rogue?  What happens if the supply of assets dries up… or my strategy for acquiring them expires?  What happens if a crash in the Chinese stock market actually does have reverberations on the opposite side of the world, and suddenly the real estate market weakens in the places on which I’m focused.Here’s the truth:  I have a strategy in mind for each one of those risks.  I’m a big believer that, to the greatest extent possible, one should make decisions for difficult and undesirable situations before those situations ever materialize, in order that clearer thinking prevails.By my plans are, until enacted, only theory.  But that’s true every single day.  Every single day I have a theory that I can make decisions to direct my team the next day on which assets to buy, which assets to renovate, and which to sell.  Every day, I operate on a theory that has as its basis the assumption that I and my team, that we know something… or can do something… that gives us an advantage that can lead to profit.  That’s the difference between academia and business… academia gets to theorize.  In business, we get to see where theories work and where they don’t… in the real world.So the confidence you hear from me on this show is well founded.  I’m careful.  I’m certainly not paralyzed by my carefulness… not even close.  In our fund, for example, I’m absolutely very, very happy with every single asset we’ve purchased so far.  My theories are playing out well… and with my watchful eye on the whole process – a watchful eye which I suspect sometimes may be a bit heavy on my team – I expect we’ll continue to have success.But my friends… it’s terrifying.  Not stressful, but terrifying.  Those are different things.  Stress is essentially just an  extended negative reaction to a lack of preparedness.  You encounter something you weren’t expecting, for which you’re unprepared, and you experience stress.  Terror is fear of the unknown.  Yes, I’m terrified of the unknown.  I’m terrified I could get it wrong for clients in my private equity fund.  I’m terrified I could tell you something that’s not quite right on this show.  It’s a heavy load to be a trusted source of financial advice… a very heavy load.  The ramifications of doing it wrong?  Well, that’s terrifying.But that terror is motivating to me.  It keeps my mind sharp.  It keeps my senses turned up.  That terror makes it impossible for me to be complacent with the capital that my clients have entrusted to me.  And I wouldn’t have it any other way.There are two sayings that really resonate with me.First:  Everybody is a genius in a bull market.Second:  Pigs get fat, hogs get slaughtered.God, please grant me the wisdom to profitably manage my client’s capital.  Let me be wise in good markets and bad.  And may my guide posts be wisdom and prudence, not greed or pride.My friends, invest wisely today, and live well forever. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Are you an entrepreneur, independent sales rep, or anyone whose income isn’t the function of a consistent salary?  If so, you’ve got the makings of a great investor… and there are some things about you that could doom you to failure.  Today you get the knowledge you need to succeed BIG TIME as an investor.  I’m Bryan Ellis.  This is Episode #183.----Hello SDI Nation!  Welcome to the podcast of record for savvy self-directed investors like you!  Get ready for another dose of PREDICTABLY PROFITABLE thinking!We’re at the end of the first week of the new year.  How’d you do?  Is your year off to a great start?I’m feeling pretty good.  My private equity firm bought two more houses this week – both EXCELLENT deals – and I signed the closing papers on a resale we did just yesterday.  Made about 28% on that one in 22 days, so it was a slam dunk!  In fact, I’ll likely give a case study of that deal this coming Tuesday on the next edition of Self Directed Investor Success Stories, the sister show to this one.  But the private equity firm is off to a roaring start, and that’s really gratifying.Hey a quick note – this coming Monday night, I’m the featured speaker for the Georgia Real Estate Investor Association.  This is pretty rare.  I don’t do a lot of public speaking these days, so if you’d like to meet me, stop by, because I’d love to meet you too!  I’ll be talking about how individual investors and affluent investors can work together to fund and finish deals in a way that’s very safe and profitable for both.  If you have a goal of doing more deals this year… either as a real estate entrepreneur or as a passive investor and you’re in the Atlanta area, come on by.  This is a topic I know well, both from having done it very, very effectively and also very, very badly in the past.  This meeting officially starts at 6:30, I’m on at 7:30, but I’d not risk waiting until 7:30 to arrive.  There’s a $25 fee to come to the meeting but later today I’m going to send an email to the private SDI email list with a code to get in for free.  To be sure you’re on that list, text the word SDIRADIO to 33444 with no spaces or periods.  And when you come, please be sure to stop by and introduce yourself to me as an SDI Radio listener… I’d love to meet you.  Again, text SDIRADIO to 33444 to be sure you get that code.So my friends… are you an entrepreneur, independent sales person or anyone who doesn’t have the luxury of a salary to depend upon?  Hey, note – this isn’t a slam against those of you who are salaried employees.  Not at all.  This is a recognition of the different type of personality, the different type of person – not better or worse, just different – that it takes to live the entrepreneur’s life.Here’s the thing:  There’s a lot about the entrepreneurial nature that means you already have some of the best and most important traits for success as an investor.For example:  Entrepreneurs have an innate sense of the distinction between “price” and “value”.  They’re not the same thing, but are easy to confuse.  As an entrepreneur, you live or die by this distinction, because your price must always be equal to or below the value of your offer to your customer, otherwise there will be no sale.  You know that, you get it, it’s obvious to you.  And that thinking transfers well to investing.  For example:  Yesterday, Apple traded from a high of $100 per share down to a little above $96 per share.  That was it’s PRICE.  But what’s it’s VALUE?  You may not think that $4 swing is much… but that accounts for a $22 BILLION drop in value for that company.  Not trivial.Similarly, in real estate… there’s a difference between price and value.  Great example:  Yesterday, my private equity firm bought a house for $178,000.  Why’d we do that?  We know that after spending a max of $20,000 to fix it, we can sell it for $270,000… I expect we’ll profit by about $50,000 on that deal in a very, very short time frame.  So, value here is $270K… price was only $178K.  A clear opportunity.Entrepreneurs also tend to have an innate sense of the nature of risk – and an ability to be comfortable with calculated risk.  This is key in successful investing.  Related to that is the ability to make decisions, another key entrepreneurial requirement.  Not a small thing, either.  Not everybody can make a decision and stick with it.  Entrepreneurs must… and that plays well as an investor.One other highly compatible trait among entrepreneurs with great investors… Great entrepreneurs have, by necessity, a broader understanding of their businesses and industries than is true for most non-business owners.  And let me tell you… there’s HUGE value in being able to see the big picture as an investor because investments are not successful in a vacuum.  Everything effects everything else.  I’ve currently go my eye on how market turmoil in the Chinese stock market is going to affect the success of the technology industry in America… because that connects to the health of certain real estate markets in which I have great interest.  Everything is connected, and entrepreneurs have an innate ability to perceive and understand those connections.But my entrepreneurial friends, there are some things about you – about us, since I’m one of you – that can hold you back that may be less of a challenge for others in a more structured profession.  Really, it all comes down to time and delegation.  Time, because for entrepreneurs, their business isn’t just their means of income, it’s their life meaning.  And because of that, it takes a lot of time… time that doesn’t leave an opportunity for them to do the study and research it can take to be a great investor, time that they don’t have to learn the language of investing, which is a totally separate world unto itself.  For entrepreneurs, the work week doesn’t end at 40 or 50 hours… and there’s just not a lot of time to become proficient as an investor.And thus the second challenge:  Delegation.  The lack of time will make you more inclined to delegate your investments to conventional financial professionals, because they are in very large supply.  That, of course, relegates you to a portfolio of mutual funds, the occasional individual stock and more insurance than you ever dreamed possible.  Hey, look… maybe there’s a place for stock investing.  I know some people have done well with it.  But that kind of investing is wholly antithetical to entrepreneurs because it DEMANDS that you give up control.  Your only influence as a stock investor is to decide when to buy or sell.  That’s it.  So as a result of the BUSY-ness, entrepreneurs frequently do what they should be good at and delegate their investments… but rather than using the non-conventional thinking that brought them success as an entrepreneur to begin with, they take their entrepreneurial profits and pour them into the most plain-jane, uncontrollable and conventional investments that exist today:  Mutual funds.  Blah.Hey, entrepreneurs… your capital is the fruit of your labor.  Respect it.  Give that capital the chance to flourish in investment assets that may be different than what your financial advisor might consider… but different because they’re BETTER.  Does your financial advisor have a way for you to generate a 10% return that’s incredibly safe and is so simple that you immediately understand it?  No, they don’t.  But it can be done, and I’d be happy to tell you about it.So for you entrepreneurs… and for any of you who simply have idle or underperforming investment capital, but you lack either the time or the experience to work some magic with that capital yourself, let’s talk.  Go over to SDIRadio.com/consultation to set up an appointment with me, and let’s talk through some options for you.  As an entrepreneur myself, I can give you the perspective of an entrepreneurial investor, because that is my life.  And if I do say so myself, I’m pretty darn good at it!One final time my friends… be sure to join me at the Georgia REIA meeting this coming Monday night.  In the mean time…Invest wisely today, and live well forever! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Another day, another stock market route in China… leading to another day that’s looking incredibly bloody for the U.S. Stock market, with Dow Futures currently suggesting a DOWNWARD opening of well over 300 points.  Plus there’s the continuing weakness in Apple stock, the long-time market leader.  Now the good news… there’s a better way, and I’ll tell you all about it RIGHT NOW.  I’m Bryan Ellis.  This is episode 182.----Hello SDI Nation!  Welcome to the podcast of record for savvy, self-directed investors like you!  Get ready for another dose of Predictably Profitable thinking!This is a tune you’ve heard before… earlier this week, even.  China’s stock market suffers leading to a route across Europe and bringing on a bloody start to the day on Wall Street.  The same thing happened on the first trading day of this year…just 3 days ago, on Monday of this week.  That day, the Dow closed over 440 points lower than it closed on the last trading day of last year.  It was ugly.And then there’s Apple… long the darling of Wall Street, but it reached a peak last year and has declined by a whopping nearly 25% since then.  Apple has lost about $180 BILLION in value… that’s about the same as the TOTAL value of Bank of America, the TOTAL value of Coca Cola, the TOTAL value of CITIGROUP, Disney or Intel.And that’s just how much value Apple has LOST in the past year… and it’s your market leader.Back on August 13, I sounded the alarm about the stock market on this very show.  I told you things looked bleak for China.  I told you that a very bad technical indicator had formed in the U.S. stock market, called the “death cross” by technical analysts.  And I told you that the China problem was a huge problem for Apple, and that Apple could continue to be the stock market leader… to the downside.My friends, I’ve not been wrong.  I’ve been deadly accurate, in fact.Here’s something else that’s deadly accurate… it’s a different way to think about investing your money.Allow me to propose a hypothetical scenario to you… this is totally hypothetical, but definitely instructive.Let’s imagine that it was 6 months ago – July 7, 2015.  Apple stock was trading at $125 per share, and the sky was bright with hope and optimism.So a buddy of yours – who knows that you have some money – comes to you and says… “Hey, I’d like to buy $100,000 worth of Apple stock… the sky’s the limit!  Would you lend me the money? I’ll put up my shares of Apple as collateral for the loan.”So, let’s forget about the legalities and complexity, and let’s just imagine that it was a simple matter for you to lend your buddy the money and take his stock as collateral.Let’s further imagine that call me up and say… Bryan… I’ve got this guy who wants to borrow some money from me and place a really great piece of collateral as security.  What should I do?Here’s what I’d tell you to do:I’d tell you that, assuming the transaction itself is legally kosher, that you SHOULD lend the money to your buddy, under terms these conditions:Condition #1:  You’re not lending $100,000 to your buddy, but $65,000.  Your buddy has to put up the other $35,000.Condition #2:  You get paid an interest rate of 10% per year, with interest payments every month.Condition #3:  The loan has to be repaid or extended – at your option – every six months… unless Apple drops to $95 per share (about 25% below it’s current value), at which time the stock has to be sold and you are repaid.So you got it?  You’re only loaning 65% of the money, you’re getting 10% interest, it’s a 6 month deal, and you can sell the stock if it drops too far.Let’s look and see what would have happened with that, shall we?6 months ago today, July 7 2015, Apple was at $125.  You lend your friend $65,000 who then adds $35,000 of his own money and buys $100,000 of Apple Stock.  So far, so good.  Almost immediately, the stock drops to $120, then bounces back up to $132… it’s all good.So you go on your merry way, not thinking about it… and one month later on August 7, you get an interest payment from your friend, just as he committed.  But interestingly, Apple has DROPPED… and is now at $115… $10 below where your friend bought it.Another month passes, September 7 rolls around, and you get another payment from your friend… you’re still collecting 10% interest.  But Apple has dropped to $110.  So far, there’s been a 12% decline in the value of that stock.Another month passes, and on October 7, you’ve just received another payment at your 10% interest rate.  Apple is still at $110, still at a 12% decline overall.Another month passes, and on November 7, you get another payment from your friend.  You’re still making 10% interest.  Fortunately for your friend, Apple has bounced back up to $120.  Still a loss versus his purchase price, but better than before.Another month comes and goes, December 7… and you get another payment from your friend.  Apple is at $118.  Still a loss for your buddy, but you’ve gotten another payment at a 10% interest rate.Are you sensing a pattern here, my friends?  Your friend was basically WRONG about Apple… in fact your friend has LOST money on that trade… but you, as a WELL-SECURED private lender… you’ve been PROFITABLE and WELL SECURED the entire way.So, one month to go.  January 7 rolls around.  That, my friends, is today.  As of the time I’m writing this, the market hasn’t yet opened.  But yesterday, Apple closed at… WHOA!  $100 per share.  That means your friend’s trade on Apple is DOWN by 20%... only $5 away from the drop-dead price of $95.But you?  Today you get another payment, and your loan to your friend is over.  Today you have the option to call your loan due or extend it.  And I’m guessing based on how badly Apple is performing, you’re going to call it due.What’s happened here, my friends?  You’ve been a PRIVATE LENDER.  You’ve profited from a loan against a good asset… and you’ve made money even as that asset declined in value.Yet, every other person who poured money into Apple stock six months ago is looking at a loss of 20%.  But you?  You’re sitting pretty.  You’ve made a solid 10% interest rate the entire time… and you didn’t have to lose any sleep over it at all.My friends, that is EXACTLY how private lending really works, but in the REAL ESTATE market.  It’s exactly the same thing… you, as a private lender, get to make REALLY ATTRACTIVE interest rates… you get regular payments… and your money is EXTREMELY WELL SECURED.In this example, Apple stock lost $180 billion in value, but you STILL made your 10% interest.What if Apple stock had stayed flat?  You’d still have made your 10%.What if Apple stock had rocketed to the moon?  Well, your friend would be very happy… and you’d still have made your 10%.Are you sensing a pattern here?  This is exactly how it works in good real estate-backed private loans.  This is the essence of being PREDICTABLY PROFITABLE… this is wisdom in investing, pure and simple.Want to know more about how to make your money work for you in this way… simple, safe and strong… and be PREDICTABLY PROFITABLE?Then go RIGHT NOW to SDIRadio.com/predictable.  I’m hosting a webinar about this very topic, to help you understand it further, and to see how to make your money work for you in a PREDICTABLY PROFITABLE manner.  So again, go right now to SDIRadio.com/predictable.My friends, invest wisely today, and live well forever! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

What’s that cold, increasingly harsh feeling in the air?  If you said “winter”, you’re partly right.  The whole truth is, it’s “economic winter”… a period in which wise investments in real assets will be more important than has been the case for many, many decades.  Get ready for some hard truth… and strategies to weather the storms of the economic winter.  I’m Bryan Ellis.  This is episode #181.-------Hello, SDI Nation.  Welcome to the podcast of record for savvy self-directed investors like you!  Get ready for another dose of Predictably Profitable thinking.May I share a personal note with you before we begin?  Well of course I can, it’s my show.  Hehehehe.  Today is the 18th birthday of my first child, Kayla.  Boy… this, and her transition to college in the fall… man, it’s been tough on me.  She’s handling it all like a champ, but I find myself tearing up at the strangest times.  Not a fan of this transition.  Though I’ve got to say, she’s made a liar of everyone who told me to dread the teenage years.  She’s been an absolute delight and has never, ever been in any trouble and has always done really well in school.  Now I’m just blabbering.  Kayla, I know you’ll hear this… heck, you’ll probably be the person who edits and posts this show for all the world to hear.  I want you to know how amazing I think you are.  Really.  You’re an amazing young lady and what is thrilling for me is that I can clearly see a number of ways that you’re truly amazing, and you’ve not yet discovered those things about yourself… you think that everybody has the same wonderful qualities that you have, and it’s just not like that, as you’ll soon learn.  You’re special.  It’s going to be a great life for you, kid.  Always pursue wisdom as your highest priority, always operate with gratitude as your prevailing attitude, and view every blessing as an opportunity to be a wise, generous steward.  Do those things, and everything will always work out just as God intended.  I love you, Kayla, and happy birthday!Well, that’s a season that’s changing in my life… and it’s a big one.But there’s a season that’s changing for all of us, in America at least.  This season has been in effect in a number of other developed economies for quite a while already, and that is the ECONOMIC WINTER.  It’s a period of the economic cycle that is marked by what I’d describe as a reckoning… a time to pay the piper.There’s been a lot of foolish excess in the United States, brought on by our leaders at the top and by our own willingness to spend our money in ways that can’t be described as wise.  Many of the policies, in retrospect, look like they were actually designed to weaken this country.  It’s as if Americans vote and politicians govern on the basis of an adolescent idealism rather than giving heed to any consideration of wisdom.The examples are many.  There’s a serious immigration crisis in this country that has been growing for decades and has accelerated drastically in the last 7 years.  Yes, I’m talking about illegal immigration.  And if that raises your hackles… if the prospect of my using the word “illegal” rather than “undocumented” insults you or brings you to think negatively of me, then your thinking is consistent with the idealism that I mentioned which is antithetical to actual wisdom.Folks, just because something FEELS good doesn’t mean it is good.  It’s shocking that adults – many in their 60’s, 70’s, 80’s and beyond – simply haven’t learned that lesson yet.People, SUPPLY and DEMAND are the central consideration in economics.  Nothing else.  Supply and Demand.  Adolescent notions of fairness do not play into the equation, because fairness isn’t a real thing.  Fairness is an arbitrary standard that’s determined not by the wisest among us, but by those who scream the loudest.  Fairness is ALWAYS a distraction, and intellectual smokescreen to shape policy and law to the whims of those clinging to adolescent reasoning.And then there’s the entire mortgage crisis.  It’s easy to blame that on the ratings agencies and the big financial institutions, and they certainly have culpability.  But every bit of that was enabled by government policies that REQUIRED… actually FORCED lenders to make loans to people who had ZERO ability to repay, and to accept collateral worth far less than the loans.  Every bit of that was precipitated and encouraged by government policy.All of that leaves us where we are today… Economic Winter.  There’s a confluence of factors at this time… a strengthening dollar which discourages foreign investment in America, a clearly weak and weakening domestic economy, a huge and wealthy generation – the baby boomers – shifting their spending FROM consumables and into healthcare en masse, and a government bent on expanding its reach into and control of healthcare and the financial system.What does it all mean?Here’s what I fear… what I sense.  I’m am amateur at this financial prognostication stuff.  So take this for what you will… I sense a certain malaise… a depression… not of a financial nature, but a crisis of confidence.  Consider these words and whether they apply to today:“The threat is nearly invisible in ordinary ways. It is a crisis of confidence. It is a crisis that strikes at the very heart and soul and spirit of our national will. We can see this crisis in the growing doubt about the meaning of our own lives and in the loss of a unity of purpose for our nation.  The erosion of our confidence in the future is threatening to destroy the social and the political fabric of America.”Do those words resonate?  If yes, you should be concerned… those words come from Jimmy Carter’s famous “malaise” speech… that’s a time to which we don’t want to return, but which the policies instituted in this country appear to recreating before us now.  That’s the price of basing fiscal policy on idealism rather than wisdom.  That’s the price of giving credence to demands for a $15 minimum wage to people who simply are not worth $15 per hour.  That’s the price of giving respect to foolishness movements like Occupy Wall Street from a few years ago, and the price of actually believing that there’s a widespread epidemic of law enforcement officers targeting minorities for murder.  It’s all sensational and makes for great headlines… but the truth behind the headlines is different, yet the profoundly negative impact on the national psyche is nevertheless powerful and increasingly palpable.It’s time to let go of idealism and embrace wisdom.  Adult wisdom.  Wisdom that demands responsibility, not just rights.What are we to do?  You and I as self directed investors are really at the center of this storm, whether you realize it or not.  Our assets are at risk each day, as they should be, generating returns for us.  And for a long time, there have been returns to be had by deploying capital into questionable, but socially acceptable, assets.  But my friends, a time for prudence has come… a time for wisdom… a time for a certain conservatism.The malaise that I sense we’re approaching won’t necessarily be characterized by a huge sudden fall in stocks or real estate.  Those kinds of flash crashes could be a part of it, but I sense a longer-term doldrums… a stagnation motivated by fear and mistrust.  It won’t last forever, but it could last for a substantial season.From a purely practical perspective, the thing to do during times of stagnation is to focus your capital into REAL assets, not just paper.  You may think I’m referring to stocks when I say “paper”, and I am, but I’m also talking about cash.  The value of the dollar is high right now.  It’s a good time to convert it into real assets… and not just any assets.  Assets that can, themselves, produce cash.  And not just cash-flowing assets, but cash-flowing assets for which your basis is substantially below current value, in order to insulate you from economic shocks that happen along the way.My prediction:  15 years from now, the people who today focus on making VALUE-oriented purchases of real, meaning non-paper assets, well, those people will be doing very well in 15 years.  And yes, I do mean real estate… and also potentially some precious metals.This isn’t a blanket endorsement of real estate as an asset class, by the way.  I think that a KEY component of real estate as a hedge against the stagnation and economic pain that I fear is to come is to ALWAYS and ONLY acquire real estate on a value basis… less than what it’s “officially” worth today.  A good rule is this:  if you acquire real estate at a cost that allows you to rent it out for less than the market rent and still be profitable, then you’ve got a good, strong basis.  I suspect that people buying real estate, even for the purpose of cash flow, but who pay full retail price for it… those are the people who think they’re being wise now but will be bitten in the not too distant future.My friends, please consider today’s discussion of the Economic Winter which we may now be entering… consider this a call to wisdom and conservatism.  Consider this a call to forsake the idealism that feels good, but is not based in reality and is antithetical to wisdom.  Consider this a call to consider the LONG TERM, and FUTURE GENERATIONS, as important considerations rather than a sideshow.My friends… invest wisely today, and live well forever! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Overnight, the Shanghai Composite Index in China fell by nearly 7% in a single trading session, triggering circuit breakers and a domino effect that spread all over Europe. And now, 1 hour before the open of US financial markets, the Dow Jones Industrial Average is set for a triple-digit decline at the open. Who knows what will actually happen. Are you ready for carnage in stocks? Here’s how to protect yourself RIGHT AWAY… and banish these concerns permanently. I’m Bryan Ellis. This is Episode #180.----Hello, SDI Nation! Welcome to the podcast of record for savvy self-directed investors like you!It’s not a new thing, people… market upheaval in China spreads to Europe, dooming U.S. markets to a substantially lower open and substantially higher prospect of a bloody day on Wall Street.Now we don’t know what is actually going to happen. Could be one of those yoyo days on Wall Street where the averages bounce all over the place and end up higher. Or, it could do something very, very different… much worse… something that many people think this market is overdue for……and that’s a scary prospect.This brings to mind a text I got from a client 3 weeks ago, on December 18. That day, the Dow had fallen by over 4% in a single day. Around 4:30, I got a text from one of my favorite clients, Paul, who said “Yet another day I am glad I have a self directed 401k that is not reliant on the stock market. Thank you for all your hard work.”I really, really appreciated that text… thank you, Paul!... and it lends some context to this day.Why?Because right now, Dow Jones futures are set to open down by about 300 points. Again, things change rapidly and that could be resolved by the time the open rolls around in about an hour, but… probably not.Why is that relevant? Well, the Dow has, so far, failed to recover the losses it made on December 18 when Paul sent that very kind text to me. And with an open of 300 points to the down side, the Dow is going to fall even farther than it fell on that awful day 3 weeks ago.And still, Paul is sitting pretty. Why? He gets a very solid rate of return every single month. In fact, Paul doesn’t know this yet – unless he’s listening… and I’ll bet he is… Hi Paul! – but Paul’s ROI numbers are going to go up even more soon… and there’s simply no stress involved in making the strong returns he’s making.How?It’s like this: Paul is getting paid EVERY SINGLE MONTH… reliably… and safely. He’s doing that by lending his investment capital at very attractive rates of return… and he’s made his money safe by getting great collateral.In fact, he’s OVER-collateralized. That means that every dollar he has invested is protected by $1.50 in collateral. Paul’s collateral is real estate in very strong markets and because of his collateral position, those markets would have to be slashed by 1/3 of it’s value before Paul’s collateral was at risk.So let’s be clear, it absolutely IS possible for real estate to fall by that much. It happened in several markets during the real estate collapse of 07 and 08. But you know what? Even in that case… in the worst of the worst scenario… which, by the way, was Las Vegas, Nevada… even in that case it took a whopping 2 YEARS from the market’s high point before it fell by one third… and that was in one of the very the worst real estate market routes in history.And you know what? Had Paul been involved in that situation… he could have seen what was coming and gotten out. Heck, he could have dilly-dallied for 6 months, even a year, and THEN sold his collateral, and could have still gotten exactly the ROI he was planning on from the beginning. That is powerful, my friends.How about your stock portfolio? What’s your collateral? You guessed it: It’s NOTHING. Nothing at all, not a single penny of anything.But Paul? Paul is solid. The kind of investments Paul makes yields from 7 or 8 to a high of 10-13%... and is still incredibly well collateralized. And it’s TOTALLY stress free. It’s simple. It’s safe. It’s strong. That’s all there is to it.Oh, by the way… the U.S. Stock Market has opened since I started working on this episode. As of right now, the Dow is down about 400 points. What does that mean for your portfolio?Paul probably doesn’t even know this has happened. It’s not that he’s not informed. It’s just that that volatility you’re feeling… it’s not relevant to Paul. He doesn’t care, because he doesn’t have to.What about you, my friends? Would you like to make really, really solid returns – and do so in a way where you are PROTECTED from market volatility using a PREDICTABLY PROFITABLE strategy?If so, I’d love to tell you more about it. In fact, this Thursday, I’m offering a free webinar training that is 100% LIVE… I’ll be on there personally to provide some great info to you, and to answer your questions... and to show you how – just by adjusting your strategy a bit – you can go from simply hoping for the best to being PREDICTABLY PROFITABLE.This webinar training is FREE to you as a listener to Self Directed Investor Radio. To reserve your spot, just go over to SDIRadio.com/predictable. Again, that’s SDIRadio.com/predictable.My friends, tomorrow is the inaugural episode of Self Directed Investor Success Stories… and you’re going to hear about a deal that closed for a client of mine in just the last couple of weeks… the results were… well let’s just say, this one deal – which was this client’s first experience with us – beat the VERY BEST annual return that the S&P 500 has ever had all throughout history… Yep. It was that good.So be sure to join us on this show tomorrow for this incredible success story and in the mean time, go over to SDIRadio.com/predictable to register for an EXTRAORDINARY training opportunity to learn to become PREDICTABLY PROFITABLE!My friends, invest wisely today, and live well forever! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

What were the HOTTEST EPISODES of Self Directed Investor Radio for all of 2015? I hope you didn’t miss them, because they are SIZZLIN’ HOT! Hehehehe. I’m Bryan Ellis. I’ll tell you what they were and how to find them in the archives – and reveal MY favorite show of the year – RIGHT NOW in this special New Year’s Eve episode #179!-----Hello, SDI Nation. Welcome to the podcast of record for savvy self-directed investors like you.It was a milestone day, February 2, 2015. That was the day that Self Directed Investor Radio was launched EXCLUSIVELY as a podcast, and not as a radio show in any market.And yet… here today, less than a year later, far more people hear this show every single day than hear most radio shows across America. The growth has been AMAZING and I’m so grateful to YOU!Most of you found this program through iTunes which is great… but unfortunately, Apple is constantly toying around with that system, frequently adjusting the number of back-episodes to which they provide access. That’s too bad, because many of our older episodes were very, very well received. And with that, I’d like to take just a few minutes to share with you the top 5 episodes of 2015 – judged purely by the number of downloads:The FIFTH most popular episode of 2015, titled “Is your IRA liable to file tax returns”, Episode 48 revealed a truth that shocks many people: Your IRA isn’t completely tax exempt, and can very easily have tax return filing requirements. In fact, there are relatively FEW categories of transactions that can be done in an IRA that do not create a tax filing requirement, and in episode #48, a shocked America discovered the truth. You can check it out for yourself at SDIRadio.com/48.The FOURTH most popular episode of 2015: Titled, “Two Very Bad Signs About The U.S. Economy”, Episode #114 on August 13 warned about two hugely problematic indicators for the U.S. economy concerning CHINA and concerning activity in the U.S. stock market. And not coincidentally, the Dow Jones Industrial Average had dropped by nearly 2,000 points in the 2 weeks following that warning. You can hear it for yourself by visiting SDIRadio.com/114.The THIRD most popular episode of 2015: Titled “SKIP LANDLORDING! How To Really Make Cash Flow From Real Estate”, Episode #39 was a treatise of my feelings about investing money as a private lender, and I still feel that’s the best overall strategy, even better than owning rental properties for MOST investors. Both strategies are great, but to find out why I think private lending is a better place to START and to base your portfolio, particularly for newer real estate investors, check out episode #39 by visiting SDIRadio.com/39.The SECOND most popular episode of 2015: Titled “How To Buy Real Estate FAR BELOW It’s Actual Value” Episode #56 revealed a strategy that absolutely, positively works to get real estate at great prices. It’s particularly apt for those of you who only want to acquire an extra 1-4 properties per year, as it allows you to be very selective. This strategy is an ACTIVE strategy, meaning you have to work at it every month, although the time requirement is not big. But for those of you who are ACTIVE real estate investors looking for great deals, be sure to check out Episode 56 at SDIRadio.com/56.And DRUMROLL PLEASE…. Ok, no drumroll, we haven’t gotten that fancy yet. The most popular episode of 2015, Titled “CAUTION! Why rental property should NEVER be the foundation of your portfolio”, Episode #47 took a lot of people by surprise. Can rental property be a great investment? ABSOLUTELY! Should it be where you start? For most people, the answer is a resounding NO… and in episode 47 – a very controversial episode – you’ll find out why. You can listen in at SDIRadio.com/47.So there you have it… the top 5 most downloaded shows of 2015 for Self Directed Investor Radio.But there’s something about that stat you should know: The unique nature of podcasts… and the ability to download past episodes… means that older episodes will always have more listens that newer episodes.So to wrap up today’s show, I’d like to tell you about my favorite episode of the year. In fact… it wasn’t a real episode. It was something of a “filler” because I chose to take the day off and spend it with my family. It was my treatise on the very best investment available… that will beat the socks off of anything in which you’ve ever invested before. Check that one out… it’s at SDIRadio.com/best.My friends, this year has been amazing, and I’m so grateful to all of my loyal listeners, and grateful to have the opportunity to turn you casual listeners into the more loyal type! The new year will be full of wonderful opportunity… and I’ll share those opportunities with you, like I did in Episode 162 at SDIRadio.com/162, where I told you about an overlooked market that my team is taking advantage of for the benefit of our clients… and I’ll tell you, that market is being very good to us!The new year will be full of risk, too… and I’ll do my best to tell you about that stuff before it happens, just like I did in the previously mentioned Episode 114 where I give you a nearly 2-week warning before the Dow Jones got crushed.The new year will be full of changes… changes in the law – such as the really, really big one I alerted you to in June in Episode #90 about a huge Supreme Court decision that bodes very, very badly for the rights of real estate investors in America… and I, of course, suggested some ways to minimize that impact. You can hear that at SDIRadio.com/90.But most of all, the new year will be full of LIFE… beautiful, wonderful life for which we have the distinct honor and opportunity to be grateful every single day. There’s an extremely high probability that anyone hearing this podcast lives in one of the WEALTHY countries… such as here in the United States, where our “poverty line” would allow people in most other countries of the world to live in unimaginable splendor. We should all be so grateful for these opportunities, the risks that create them, and the time we’re given so that every single day can be a work of beauty… and it’s all up to each of us every single day.Hey folks, that’s all for 2015! Next year will be great, and I’d like to take this opportunity to thank GOD, who is faithful all the time, even and especially when I’m not. And I’d like to thank my wife Carole whose raw intelligence, incredibly productivity and impressively accurate instincts have made a huge difference in our business this year, and whose grace and beauty blow my mind every single day. I mean every single day. I love you, Carole.My friends, have fun tonight, but stay safe. We’ve got a lot of great things to do together in 2016!And of course… invest wisely today, and live well forever! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

2016 is coming up, and soon 2015 will disappear into the rear view. What did you learn this year that will make you a better self-directed investor? And just as importantly, what did you realize that you’re already doing well? Let’s do a bit of self-analysis today, shall we? And in the process, I’ll tell you about some WONDERFUL big changes coming soon to SDI Radio. I’m Bryan Ellis. This is episode 178.-----Hello, SDI Nation! Welcome to the podcast of record for savvy self-directed investors like you!What a year! It’s been a year of great learning, great growth and great excitement here for the SDI team, and I’ll tell you a bit more about that briefly. But more importantly…What about YOU?What did you do well as a self-directed investor this year?What could you have done better?Over and over again, one of the biggest regrets I hear from investors is that they didn’t take action sooner to diversify away from the stock market. This would have been a good year to do it, as the Dow and S&P are both flat, having gyrated wildly, and mostly to the downside.Will this be the year that you redeploy some of that capital you have in stocks to other assets… maybe like real estate, or secured debt, or even intellectual property?Another excellent change to consider is to get MORE outside input… to network more with other investors who have a similar preference for control of their investments. Investing is frequently a lonely road, but it is one of the places where the experienced-based input of others can make the biggest difference.That’s specifically why we here at Self Directed Investor Society are making a couple of really big changes this year, and I really think you’ll like them.First: In January, we’re launching SDI Society Local – a face to face networking and educational event to be held each month in select cities across the country. We’re currently planning to have SDI Society Local events in Atlanta, which begins in January. Then later in Q1, we’ll do the same intwo other cities out west, most likely one in Southern California and one in Northern California. Your thoughts about best cities for these events are welcomed by email at feedback@sdiradio.com... I’d love to hear from you!We’ve got other cities in our sites as well, including Las Vegas, where my Private Equity fund is headquartered, New York City, Washington DC, Austin and/or Dallas, Texas and Miami, Florida. But to begin with will be Atlanta and two locations out west.And if you’re not near one of the targeted cities, don’t fret! Because we’re going to offer SDI Society National as well, an internet-based meetup and discussion group. Sure, the local groups will be the best way to forge relationships of great value… but the National group is going to be GRAND CENTRAL STATION for the national self directed investor community… so look for more information about that very soon.We’re also updating the format of this show. I’ve had universally positive feedback about the very compact nature of this show, and we’re absolutely sticking with that. But this show will shift to 3 days a week rather than 5… published on Monday, Wednesday and Friday. Don’t be downcast my friends! You’ll still get your daily dose of SDI, because we’re launching two NEW shows next week: Self Directed Investor Success Stories and Self Directed Investor Expert Series.SDI Success Stories is a weekly show each Tuesday that highlights specific transactions done by and/or for the benefit of self-directed investors who GOT IT RIGHT and made a great profit. Each show will be entertaining and inspiring… and will show you a clear example of what is REALLY WORKING RIGHT NOW!For example: Next week’s show will feature a transaction of one of our client’s where the total net profit was well over 40% in under 5 months… and it required virtually no involvement from that client at all, other than their capital investment. I’ll give you the numbers on the deal, I’ll tell you what went right and wrong, and I’ll tell you how you can do the same thing for yourself…. And you’ll get a similarly informative and highly inspiring episode of SDI Success Stories each Tuesday!Then on Thursdays you’ll enjoy SDI Expert Series, a weekly show where I interview a real expert in the world of investing, finance and wealth protection. We have some EXTRAORDINARY guests lined up for you… people of great reputation that are chosen, at least in part, because I want to learn from them myself! This is going to be a great, great show each Thursday, and I KNOW you’re going to love it!All of this… this show, the new shows SDI Success Stories and SDI Expert Series, and the new SDI Society Local events… all of this is designed with one thing in mind: Relationships. I really want to get to know you folks. It’s been such a blessing to experience the overwhelming success of this show, but what’s been even more enjoyable to me have been the times I’ve gotten to actually MEET my listeners and forge relationships with them. So the purpose for the SDI Podcast series is to deliver content to you and bring value to you on a regular basis. And the purpose of SDO Society Local and National is to actually build real personal relationships with you, and to allow you to forge relationships of great value with OTHER self directed investors as well. There’s great power in associating with great people.Tomorrow – the last day of the year – I’ll be featuring a countdown of the top editions of SDI Radio in 2015… it’s been a great year, we’ve had some great shows, and tomorrow, you find out which are the most popular and the best of the best.Hey… please be sure you’re on our exclusive announcement list by texting the word SDIRADIO with no spaces or periods to 33444. And my friends: Invest wisely today, and live well forever! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

What does MALCOLM GLADWELL, the brilliant writer and thinker have to say about the financial markets? Nothing… but this ASTOUNDING observation from him has everything – and I mean EVERYTHING – to do with success in what could be a turbulent market. I’m Bryan Ellis. This is Episode 177.-----Hello, SDI Nation. Welcome to the podcast of record for savvy self-directed investors like you!It’s said if we don’t learn the lessons of history, we’re doomed to repeat them. Here’s a quick lesson NOT about investing… and completely about it all at the same time:“In the fall of 1973, the Syrian army began to gather a large number of tanks, artillery batteries, and infantry along its border with Israel. Simultaneously, to the south, the Egyptian army canceled all leaves, called up thousands of reservists, and launched a massive military exercise, building roads and preparing anti-aircraft and artillery positions along the Suez Canal. On October 4, an Israeli aerial reconnaissance mission showed that the Egyptians had moved artillery into offensive positions. That evening, Aman, the Israeli military intelligence agency, learned that portions of the Soviet fleet near Port Said and Alexandria had set sail, and that the Soviet government had begun airlifting the families of Soviet advisers out of Cairo and Damascus. Then, at four o’clock in the morning on October 6, Israel’s director of military intelligence received an urgent telephone call from one of the country’s most trusted intelligence sources. Egypt and Syria, the source said, would attack later that day. Top Israeli officials immediately called a meeting. Was war imminent? The head of Aman, Major General Eli Zeira, looked over the evidence and said he didn’t think so. He was wrong. That afternoon, Syria attacked from the east, overwhelming the thin Israeli defenses in the Golan Heights, and Egypt attacked from the south, bombing Israeli positions and sending either thousand infantry streaming across the Suez. Despite all the warnings of the previous weeks, Israeli officials were caught by surprise. Why couldn’t they connect the dots?”Those words come from the venerable Malcolm Gladwell – one of the most brilliant minds of our age – in his book called “What the Dog Saw”.So Major General Eli Zeira had absolutely every reason in the world to think that Israel WOULD be attacked by Syria and Egypt. Literally every single piece of evidence suggested that the attack was imminent and that Syria and Egypt were very serious. And let’s face it: Israeli intelligence has the reputation of being, shall we say, rather effective. But in this case – despite overwhelming evidence to the contrary – Israel chose NOT to set up defensive positions in response to enemy movements, and the tiny Middle Eastern country suffered mightily for it.Why? Why did Major General Zeira make such a clearly WRONG decision in the face of overwhelming evidence to go the other way?Consider this: Do you know anyone who was hurt by the mortgage meltdown of ’07 and ’08? Maybe even you, yourself, took some serious shrapnel from that one.But have you noticed that… even though the financial carnage from that event was very, very widespread, affecting investors and the general public alike… almost nobody seemed to see it coming at the time… yet now, if you ask nearly anybody, they’ll tell you, almost derisively, that anyone with a brain could have predicted it?Yet… almost nobody did predict what happened. The few who did became billionaires.What we all recognized at the time was that something was wrong… something fundamental was not right… something that could be damaging to us all was happening. And yet… almost nobody had the good sense to get out of the real estate market or even better yet, figure out a way to bet AGAINST it.Does that make you and me foolish? I don’t think so.In fact, you may be tempted to think that Israel’s Major General Zeira was just careless or even foolish. But there’s far more to the story. At the time, it was a rather common occurrence for Egyptians to mobilize for war… it was common for tanks and war supplies to be sent to the canal and for fortifications to be built. The president of Egypt made multiple public statements in years preceding this attack that war was imminent… and yet, it never happened.Egypt mobilized a whopping NINETEEN TIMES between January and October of ’73… and in not a single one of those cases did war commence.Furthermore, the trusted intelligence source who warned Israel the day of the attack… well, that person had recently given two completely wrong promptings.Given the extreme cost and difficulty of mobilizing for war, Israel – which is a tiny country with a citizen army – couldn’t afford to mobilize at every threat. The threat in early October of ’73 seemed to Major General Zeira a serious threat, to be sure… but a threat to be defended against on another day.How does this relate to investing? It’s a rather apt comparison, my friends. As manager of a private equity firm that buys real estate in some markets that have a volatile history – can anybody say NORTHERN CALIFORNIA – I think about this type of thing every single day. I think about the reports that venture capital is not flowing as freely into silicon valley, and I know that could be a problem since the entirety of northern California is just it’s own little universe that rises and falls largely on the strength of Silicon Valley and the Bay Area. I know that my target markets have a history of extreme volatility… on the upside and the downside. I know that the economy at large is NOT as strong as the press is leading us to believe.I also know that there are some substantial and profoundly negative factors that are not in play right now like they were in 2007 and 2008, and that’s a very good thing. I also know that most – not all, but most of the time – real estate markets follow a pattern when they’re beginning to reverse in a huge way, and that pattern isn’t in clear evidence presently, and isn’t in evidence at all in some very large markets.What do you believe? For me… and for my clients… I’ve responded by tightening our buying criteria. We’re going a bit more towards the “no deal is better than a marginal deal” approach. And in truth… this will likely cause me to miss some… but not most… opportunities. On this very day, actually, I’m tasked with making an allocation to my buyers for an auction that happens tomorrow, December 30… and there are a LOT of great opportunities. Still, we’re going to be conservative in our allocations because, at the end of the day, I don’t want to have missed the signs of impending meltdown.Right now, those signs aren’t in evidence. But there are winds blowing in that direction. Times like these usually presage a shift in markets, but whether that shift is an outright reversal or merely a temporary plateau… the reality is this: There is STILL opportunity… and a lot of it… to be had right now… and I believe for the near future as well.That’s why we’re hoping to buy several houses this week alone… and really get next year started off right for my private equity clients. We got one late last week where we’re expecting a net ROI in the neighborhood of 23-25% within 120 days… and both history and current market conditions support that projection, so it’s very exciting.My friends, tomorrow I tell you about what happens to SDIRadio in the New Year… and I think you’re going to love it… because you’ve been ASKING FOR IT. So until then, please be sure you’re subscribed to our PRIVATE and EXCLUSIVE notification list by texting the word SDIRADIO with no spaces or periods to 33444. And, now more than ever:Invest wisely today, and live well forever! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

What are the NON-FINANCIAL standards that overrule, overpower and even overshadow every other consideration in your investment decision making? We all have them… and to know them gives you great power. I’ll tell you one of mine RIGHT NOW. I’m Bryan Ellis. This is Episode #176.----Hello, SDI Nation! Welcome to the podcast of record for savvy self-directed investors like you!There I was, laying in a lump. I was at a mommy-and-me gymnastics class with my then 18-month-old daughter because… let’s face it… daddy is more fun in a gym than mommy. Hehehehehe. But I was having no fun at all this day.You see, I’d taken on several affluent clients to manage their money. My oldest daughter is about to go off to college, so this incident was well over a decade ago. Anyway, I was laying there on the mat, not being any fun at all because… I was STRESSED OUT. I was worried and it had caught up to me. I was worried about one thing: losing my client’s money. There wasn’t an ounce of peace in my body.Now here’s the thing… I’d just had one of the best days of my trading life. At the time, I was trading stocks and options. And you know what? I was good at it. This was during the time when tech stocks were absolutely going crazy – back when Microsoft and Dell and Juniper Networks and Cisco and Oracle were the headline makers – and you know, I’d played the market like a Stradivarius. In fact, in one single day where the market made a massive, massive downward swing and then returned to basically even in the very same day, the report on my trading that day looked like I had the day’s newspaper in advance. I covered shorts at the very bottom of the market… I sold out longs at the top… I was firing on all cylinders. I recall a client watching my trading as it was happening and he called me – actually complaining – because one of the option spread trades that I’d put on for him had reached maximum profitability and there was no way it could improve further… even though we’d made nearly 400% on that trade in a matter of weeks… yet somehow, he was upset.So there I lay on the matt in my daughter’s gym… and I was a mess. I was successful… I had plenty of prospects for additional money management clients, and I had a track record under way that would have impressed anyone. But I was stressed out to the max. Life was still happening outside of my work, but I wasn’t participating in it.So I gave it all up. I told my clients I’d manage their existing trades to completion and would release all of their capital back to them. The stress was killing me, and it simply wasn’t worth it to me any longer.I didn’t make that decision lightly. It was then, and remains now, a dream of mine – a dream which, gratefully, I’m achieving – to use my skills to bring strong investment results to my clients and their families. And on the surface, I had everything I needed: The skill to create that result, suitable markets in which to deploy capital, and clients with plenty of money.But there was one other thing I needed that I didn’t know at the time that I needed: The right kind of clients. I didn’t know what “the right kind” of client was… to me, at the time, it was anybody who had at least $250,000 in cash that I could trade.By the way, this isn’t a criticism of the clients from back then. It’s a criticism of me, of my lack of awareness at the time about things of greater consequence than money and financial success.So for me, one of those NON-FINANCIAL ISSUES that overrules every other consideration is PEACE. I just won’t purposefully put myself – or my clients – into a situation that won’t let me sleep well at night, or that causes me to lose the use of my waking hours, and thereby causes me NOT to be present with my beautiful wife Carole or an of my four kids. I just won’t do it anymore… and I want clients who value the same thing.I’d like to tell you another story about that in just a moment that’s far more recent – within the past week, actually – but first, let’s talk about how this relates to YOU.What are your NON-FINANCIAL standards that overrule every other consideration? You might be tempted to think that only financial considerations should determine financial decisions, but that’s not a particularly wholistic understanding of human decision making.Here are some other big considerations:CLARITY of thought is a huge issue… and it’s reasonable to demand that you are of clear mind when making financial decisions. But how and when does CLARITY happen for you? Does MENTAL clarity require that you take care of yourself PHYSICALLY? What about your spiritual life? Can you be totally mentally clear when you’re spiritually off-kilter?What about time of day? I do my best thinking, without a doubt, early in the morning when it’s still dark outside and no phones are ringing. Maybe clarity for you comes best at a certain time of day.Or maybe there’s a question of PRIORITIES. What are your PRIORITIES for building your portfolio? Clarity about your PRIORITIES is an excellent way to establish a GUIDE RAIL by which you are able to quickly reject or accept investment opportunities as being worthy of further consideration.All of this is on my mind because recently, a client in our passive flipping program experienced a net profit of over 20% in about 5 months – an awesome result by any standard, and in excess of what we had guided him to expect – and yet, his first instinct was to complain because it wasn’t MORE profitable because it didn’t happen even faster. This particular guy is a nice guy at heart, but frankly, this profile – the person who finds something about which to complain no matter how clearly success has been achieved – well, that type of person doesn’t contribute to peace in my life… and for me, my CLIENTS are my investments as much as any particular asset… and I only want those who are compatible with my priority of PEACE.My friends, what are YOUR “BIG ISSUES” that are not financial, but deeply impact your financial decision making? If you don’t know the answer, the time is now to look inside yourself and find out… to make your investing an extension of yourself, your personality and your greater life purpose.Because at the end of the day, what we’re all after is more abundant LIFE… not just a more abundant portfolio!Hey, ever heard of Malcolm Gladwell? He’s an extraordinary writer and thinker. And tomorrow, you’re going to hear the wisdom of Gladwell applied to investing strategy, SDI Style! So don’t miss that… be sure to text the word SDIRADIO with no spaces or periods to 33444 in order to subscribe and hear the next special episode!And may I ask a simple favor of you? If you enjoy this show, would you tell your friends about it? Just think of one person right now who you think would enjoy this show, and drop them an email today and direct them to SDIRadio.com… I’d really, really be grateful for your vote of confidence.And as always, my friends: Invest wisely today, and live well forever! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Merry Christmas, my friends! Today is light-hearted… let’s consider the popular Christmas movie “It’s A Wonderful Life” because, curiously, it reflects multiple sides of the Self-Directed Investor… and reveals a path to the merger of happiness and wealth that’s not actually achieved by any of the characters in the movie. I’m Bryan Ellis. This is a special CHRISTMAS EDITION… Episode #175.----Hello, SDI Nation! Welcome to the podcast of record for savvy self-directed investors like you!Merry Christmas, my friends! And Happy Holidays to you folks who celebrate something else.My lovely wife Carole has long loved the classic Christmas movie “It’s a Wonderful Life”, in which the good-hearted George Bailey finds himself in serious trouble on account of some financial carelessness at the Bailey Brothers Building & Loan. This gives an opening to Potter, the very wealthy and very evil villain, to swoop in and take over the Building & Loan and thus own absolutely everything in the little town of Bedford Falls, New York.I’d never seen the movie before I met Carole, so that’s just another wonderful thing she’s added to my life. But I enjoy that movie from a different perspective: Whereas nearly everybody who has ever seen it seems to think that the hero George Bailey is just a great guy and the villain Potter is a terrible menace, I see things very differently… and this distinction could be useful for all of us as self-directed investors.Potter is the bad guy in the movie. The first mention of him describes him as “the richest and meanest man in the county”. His demeanor is very gruff and matter of fact. He’s focused on the bottom line. He’s represented as, essentially, a slum lord. He is certainly not perfectly ethical, having chosen to take advantage of a huge mistake by one “Uncle Billy”, George’s Uncle – who, despite his undeniable problem with memory and with keeping appointments, is routinely entrusted with handling large amounts of money and in managing relations with the auditor of the Building & Loan. In fact, the whole conflict of the story comes down to Uncle Billy’s failure to make a very large deposit at Potter’s bank because he instead gloats to Potter and ends up misplacing the money… which Potter finds… and causes substantial legal trouble for the Building and Loan, and more specifically for George Bailey.So it’s a nice story because George Bailey – who runs the Building & Loan more as a charity than as an actual bank, and makes home mortgage loans on the basis of relationships rather than credit worthiness – well, George gets a chance, on account of a celestial intervention, to see what life would be like had he never been in picture to begin with.But here’s the part that’s curious to me: Potter, while certainly taking advantage of a very foolish error by Uncle Billy, espouses almost exclusively WISE business principles. For example: He is not in favor of granting loans based solely on personal relationships. He is not in favor of allowing non-paying borrowers to continue non-payment without facing foreclosure. He makes a very obvious… and not at all irrational… attempt at overtaking the Bailey Brothers Building & Loan when there is a mysterious run on the bank on the day of George’s wedding to Mary, and the planned departure day for their honeymoon. He is very brusk and very focused on the bottom line.All of this earns him the reputation of being EVIL, not wise. Now who knows… maybe his rental properties actually are slums. That’s never clarified… but there’s a clear mob mentality at work against him from some of his tenants.And then there’s George Bailey. George shows some discipline as a young man, getting a job very early in life, planning his life and career very, very carefully, and saving the money he earns in order to accomplish the specific objectives he’s set out. And along the way, he becomes friends with everybody in town, but his dreams are crushed when he’s forced to use the money he’s saved to provide liquidity to the Building and Loan in order to fend off a run and stop Potter from taking it over.Now here’s the thing, folks: George Bailey does an absolutely TERRIBLE job as “Executive Secretary” – essentially the CEO – of Baily Brothers Building & Loan. He makes foolish loans to unqualified borrowers. He entrusts his alcoholic and unreliable Uncle Billy to handle large volumes and cash and to interact with bank auditors. He gives out cash and loans without requiring one shred of documentation.In short, he’s TERRIBLE at his job. He believes social capital to be more relevant in financial transactions than actual capital. I’m certain that’s true in a number of individual situations, but it’s no way to run a financial institution.Bottom line: At the end, all of the people who George has helped along the way come together in a pinch and help George to raise the money he needs to stay out of jail. So it’s a happy ending and the evil Potter is thwarted yet again.But here are my observations:Potter is clearly doing a good job of running his business well. He owns businesses and real estate, and seems squarely focused on the performance of his assets. I find nothing to fault with this approach. We don’t REALLY know if the “slumlord” type of accusation was accurate or just the ranting of emotional tenants… and if you’re a landlord, you know how easy it can be for that to happen.George Bailey, while showing financial responsibility personally, is an absolutely terrible business person… among the very worst ever, I’d say. His only skills are building social relationships and in giving stirring speeches to defy the evil Potter. He doesn’t have the sense to remove Uncle Billy from a position of responsibility, even though Uncle Billy clearly is unfit for such a circumstance… and his business and his customers suffered for it.Honestly, if I had to choose, I’d rather be a more ethical version of Potter rather than a more business savvy version of George Bailey.Bailey’s failure as a business person is very emblematic of common thinking today, in which the public believes that the purpose of business is to provide jobs, or to serve other social purposes. My friends, that’s hogwash. The purpose of business is to be profitable, otherwise it’s a charity. And it’s fine and good and praiseworthy to support charities. But charity and business are not the same. To confuse the two is a fool’s game. The person who confuses charity with business is the person who will, in every case, be beaten by the person who understands the difference.But there’s a beautiful opportunity that this story leaves wide open, and that is an option for you and me as Self Directed Investors which is this: Let’s use the business cunning of Potter to create profit – as much of it as we legally and ethically can – and let’s use that profit to do wonderful things for the world.The most wonderful thing anybody can do is provide well for their own family. Their housing, their nutrition, their clothing, their education… it is a good, it is a wise, it is a noble thing to provide for those whose lives have been entrusted to you.Beyond that, it is absolutely a good, wise and noble thing to be generous with your blessings. It is, in fact, a necessary thing as well. You can tell a lot about a person by finding out how they spend their money, and by determining the things that they think are optional versus mandatory. For you and me as self-directed investors, using the blessings of profit to strategically benefit those in need is a very good thing – and I believe generosity is the magnet that brings some sort of other-worldly good fortune to financial and other endeavors.So with that, my friends, I wish you a very, very Merry Christmas.I hope that during this season, you’ll invest well – by being with the people you love most – and that your lives will be made better forever! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This is it, folks… the FINALE of the “CONSPIRACY THEORY” series, in which I make my predictions about where the United States is headed in terms of government control of the housing market… and today I tell you what it means for YOU as a self-directed investor. I’m Bryan Ellis. This is Episode #174.-----Hello, SDI Nation. Welcome to the podcast of record for savvy self-directed investors like you!Today is the last day we address this “Conspiracy Theory” topic. And I’ll tell you in advance… this one is longer than normal. We may even reach a whopping 10 or 12 minutes long. Hehehehe.You know, “conspiracy theory” is the wrong term to describe this… but that’s the term that is closest to the truth. What it really is is a policy objective by a whole lot of folks in Washington.And this isn’t related to a particular political party. Many of you know that I’m rather conservative fiscally and socially too… but this conspiracy theory issue transcends party. It’s Democrats for sure, but it’s also clearly Republicans… and the evidence that both parties are guided by these corrupting influences grows each day.Now I realize this is an investing show… and that we’ve spent a couple of days focused largely on what may appear to be political topics. If you’ve not heard the two previous shows, episodes 172 and 173, then you really should listen in to them right now at SDIRadio.com/172 and SDIRadio.com/173.The basic summary is this: Harvard University has announced that there’s a new housing crisis, and this one is a “rental crisis”. According to their study, rent costs more than can be afforded by most people.You know, my training is as an engineer. I proudly went to Georgia Tech, ranked among all Universities as #41 in the world, and consistently ranked as one of the top 5 engineering schools in America. And two of the things we learned there are that to build a solution, you’ve got to start with your objective in mind and work backwards; and that big objectives are achieved as an accumulation of smaller successes.So what’s the big objective that government is trying to achieve? I suspect that government is trying to take over control of the private housing market. The form of that takeover is yet to be determined, and will be determined by the shifting winds of political sentiment, but this is not a far-fetched idea.The process always works something like this: The government does something – theoretically in the interest of the elderly, the poor, or those facing some perceived or manufactured discrimination. So in the name of caring for these unfortunate souls – only a few of which have actual unmet needs – the government institutes a program.In healthcare, those programs are medicare and Medicaid.In nutrition, one of those programs is called “SNAP”… aka the “food stamps” program.And in housing, that program was called the Community Reinvestment Act, which forced banks to make loans to unworthy borrowers based largely on qualifications of race and geography, not financial ability.Without exception, these programs are imperfect from the start. They have to be. They’re financially foolish, each and every one. But the thing is: They’re not designed to be efficient or even effective. They’re designed to increase dependence on the government from the people who benefit from those programs… and they’re designed to attract more people into that dependence, even from people whoare on the fringes and could probably do just fine all by themselves. But more people in the program means more dependence on and power for the government, and remember: That’s the entire goal.So then it becomes clear just how imperfect the programs are. And from the point of view of politicians, the only way to solve a problem with a bad program is to create more legislation. The answer is never to unwind these programs and start over… as an example, that’s why we still have Social Security even though it’s a mess.So more law is instituted – sometimes in the form of additional statutes passed by Congress – but more frequently in the form of regulation written by the administration of whoever is currently President… and unfortunately, while there are some checks and balances to regulations, those checks and balances are very minor… and thus, law is implemented without consent of the people.In the case of food, there was food stamps, then there was school lunch programs… and now Michelle Obama is forcing public school children to eat food that you and I wouldn’t feed to our dogs… all because the government has absolute say in the matter, and those dependent on those programs have been in them their entire lives and have no awareness that any other options exist for them.In the case of healthcare, first there was medicare and Medicaid… then there were separate programs in each state that provide health insurance for children at no cost… even for middle-class families who have the ability to pay for it. And now we have ObamaCare… which is, by any reasonable analysis, a complete failure… and which will pave the way for the liberal fantasy of a “single payer system”, where the government directly pays for, and thus directly controls all health care.And then there’s housing. First there was the Community Reinvestment Act that forced banks to make stupid loans to unqualified borrowers. But it didn’t feel like it really affected me or you, so we ignored it. But it turns out that even before that act was the creation of Fannie Mae with the New Deal under Roosevelt, which was designed nominally to help more people become homeowners. A laudible goal, right? But not the actual goal. Because years later – in the 1990’s – Fannie Mae would be authorized by Congress to buy mortgages on the secondary market… lots of mortgages… so much so that Fannie Mae became, far and away… the largest owner of mortgages in America. Over 90% of them at the height.And along the way a program called Section 8 was created. This program provides vouchers for low-income people to have a rental home without the burden of actually having to pay for that home. It’s a giveaway, pure and simple… creating absolute dependency upon the government from people using the program. I bet fewer than 1% of the people in Section 8 housing will ever vote for anyone who doesn’t support Section 8… and that’s exactly the intention. Section 8 becomes important again in a moment, but back to Fannie Mae for now…Fannie Mae was the government’s way of providing the means to make STUPID loans… loans demanded by the Community Reinvestment Act… loans that ANYBODY with the slightest modicum of intelligence could see would never work, because the borrowers themselves had no value. Thus we had the mortgage meltdown of 2008, that was timed and kicked off by a memo from Senator Chuck Schumer that was designed to, and succeeded in, causing a run on and destruction of one of the biggest banks in America at the time… and which kicked off the mortgage meltdown just in time for Barrack Obama to benefit politically. Obama then created TARP which allowed the Federal Reserve to buy out all of thosehorrible loans and made it possible for some of those people to refinance their properties at the new, lower, valuations, effectively sticking the taxpayer – me and you – with the bill for those losses.That brings us to now. The real estate market has largely recovered to pre-meltdown heights… which is disturbing in and of itself. Millions of people have been foreclosed – which was totally predictable – and now are unable to get a mortgage. So what do they do? They rent… that’s the only choice.Now this Harvard study is released that says there’s a rent crisis, because – according to whatever standards the propeller heads at Harvard have devised – most people can’t afford their rents.My friends, as I mentioned in the first episode of this series, Episode #172, I believe this to all be by design. Because what I predict is as follows: The government will, at some point, take action on this “crisis”, manufactured though it is. I don’t know the timing of it, but I suspect it will play out something like this:First, the feds will expand Section 8 so that more people can get access to that program whereby they have to pay little or none of their own rent… thus creating substantial dependency on the part of those people.Second, as that expanded program grows, the government will use the incredible leverage of providing income to property owners to force them into compliance with burdensome and harmful regulations. For example: I suspect that Section 8 properties will be required to comply with some sort of global warming standards, despite the fact that the scientific basis for climate change is, at best, incredibly suspect and at worst, absolute hokum. Climate change is a golden issue for government because it is so incredibly vague… it can mean anything they want it to mean, and be used for any purpose. So the amount of regulation will be overwhelming for property owners, and the cost of compliance will go so high as to de-motivate people from investing in rental property, thus depressing the market, and causing further economic instability…Third, as memory of the mortgage meltdown fades, the government will again push lax credit standards, which will repeat the cycle in the future. This is already happening, actually… it’s rumored that Fannie Mae will, next year, return to allowing the use of “soft” documentation… like utility bills… to prove credit worthiness rather than requiring actual credit worthiness.Fourth, there will be a consolidation of government services… not in how they’re implemented – because government isn’t about efficiency – but in how they’re offered to citizens. There will no longer be “Section 8” and “food stamps” and “Obamacare”, there will be “Whole Citizen Care” – or whatever the name is – which markets housing, nutrition, healthcare, retirement funding and all basic needs at low or no cost… first to the poor and downtrodden – which will certainly include illegal immigrants – and later on to more and more of the citizenry.The response to which will be more government programs… more free housing, more free food, more free healthcare. It’s an unsustainable cycle.Where does this leave you as a self-directed investor?You have a few choices:1. You can operate on a theory that’s different from mine. That’s ok, of course.2. You can time the game… and a lot of people will make a lot of money doing this… you can go ahead and buy rental property, you can collect money from Section 8 because it’s hard to argue with the beauty of getting your money on time, every time, every month… and then unload your property – hopefully for a substantial windfall – just as the regulation starts to become problematic for you.3. You can centralize your investments outside of the United States, in a country where the government has more respect for its citizens;4. You can ignore all of this and just hope for the best.No matter which approach you choose, you can and should vote for leaders who at least claim to appreciate and value the freedom that’s necessary for people like you and me to be self-directed investors. There was a time I’d have recommended that Democrats vote for Republicans instead, and that Republicans take their voting more seriously. But at this point, both of those parties are as awful as the other. I no longer claim allegiance to the Republican party.But the point is this: Take your voting seriously, at the national and at the local level. Much of this will happen through regulations directed at local governments who are dependent on the federal government for their funding, and who will thus do as their told. You should take the election of your local officials very, very seriously to avoid being stuck in that kind of situation.This is a little depressing, I’ll grant to you. But I want to close this “conspiracy theory” analysis discussion with this reassuring fact: Freedom prevails. Not always in the short term, but ultimately, freedom reigns. Live as a free person. Sure, you’ve got to respect the law… but don’t give it one iota more respect than is required, and realize that laws CAN be changed… even law that’s been “decided” at the Supreme Court.My friends… tomorrow’s episode will be much, much happier. In fact, it’s our Christmas episode… and you fans of the classic movie “It’s A Wonderful Life” are going to love it. So please, do be sure that you’re on the PRIVATE SDI announcement list by texting the word SDIRADIO with no spaces or periods to 33444 right now. Again, text the word SDIRADIO with no spaces or periods to 33444 right now.My friends… invest wisely today, and live well forever! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Did you hear yesterday’s controversial episode, and you’re having a hard time swallowing the possibility that the government could be involved in a long-term plan – a conspiracy theory, of sorts – to take control of the housing market? Listen in today for more evidence… and to see exactly how the newly manufactured “rent crisis” is just the latest step in the process. I’m Bryan Ellis. This is episode 173.----Hello, SDI Nation… welcome to the podcast of record for savvy self-directed investors like you!Wowzha! The response to yesterday’s episode #172 – which you can find at SDIRadio.com/172 – was pretty strong. If you’ve not yet heard it, you should listen in now before continuing. Now today’s episode is substantially more politically oriented than most, so if politics totally turns you off, you’ve got my permission to skip today’s show. BUT, I must warn you… you’ll see how, in just a couple of minutes, it all ties back together very directly into your interests as a self-directed investor.So I got a whole lot of supportive comments to episode #172, but some opposed as well. My favorite oppositional comments were from two extremes of the intellectual spectrum. On the one side, there’s Dean Germeten, who shared these “pearls of wisdom” with me:“Of COURSE there's a rental crisis, what with globalism and export of US jobs & factories, renters can't afford the rent being charged by a**-hole real-estate investors like you, who can't resist taking advantage of any crisis. House flipping should be illegal, as well as 2nd party owners, so long as there's one single-family home-owner who wants a place to raise his kids. You're the lowest form of capitalist parasite there is, hope your karma comes back and bites you hard, like Skreli.”Wow, Mr. Germeten… how’s life in that bubble of ignorance?And on the other side was my friend Lee in Florida, who also disagreed with me, but who lends some intellectual substantiation to his argument. Lee’s basic premises are two: first, that the Harvard study declaring a rental crisis could easily be made to reflect any particular opinion; and second, that there’s no way that the folks in the U.S. government are smart enough to effect a long-term – as in multi-decade – plan to silently overtake the U.S. housing market. He then added some comments about the Dodd-Frank law about which he’s totally right and I think justify a show of their own.So I’m going to address the rest of this show to Lee, because I suspect that the more thoughtful among you who disagree with me have a similar rationale. To set the stage, you should all know that I think very, very highly of Lee and his wife Betty. They’re incredibly bright people… the kind of people that I constantly find myself hoping to get to spend more time with. This is not manufactured praise; I really think very highly of them.So Lee, here’s the thing… I agree with you in a big way: There’s not a lot of competence on display in Washington. The policies I mentioned yesterday – the Community Reinvestment Act, TARP, ObamaCare – are all really good examples of ideas that were implemented and totally screwed up by the government. So your questioning my assertion that what’s happening today is part of a larger plan is entirely reasonable.But there are 2 flaws in that criticism that I see:First, your comments appear to assume that the goal of Congress and various Presidents is to implement strategy that is fiscally and practically wise from a long-term perspective. That simply isn’t the case. The model followed by the government is this: One party suggests an incredibly insane idea. The other party resists it, but not strongly so, in order to avoid being too objectionable. A piece of legislation that is 80% of what was originally demanded is implemented, but it’s structurally incomplete and destined for substantial problems in the future. These problems leave room for the government to swoop in in the future, and further expand the reach, power and influence of the government and the cycle repeats itself. It’s happened that way with healthcare. It’s happened that way with gun rights. It happens every year that way with taxes. And it’s happening that way with housing. My point is this: You don’t have to be a long-term strategic genius in order to design a piece of legislation, the purpose of which is to be inadequate in the near future so as to create the opening for more legislation.My second point is this: Whether the feds in Washington are strategically intelligent is one question. But one thing that can’t be questioned is this: They are patient. There’s a reason that it’s so important to Washington that it have a huge role in determining how children are educated… that’s the starting point. It can take years to mold a mind into having a particular frame of reference – one of dependency rather than independence – but that’s what government is good for. It’s not just children, either… medicare, social security… both of these huge issues are a function of the fact that the people in Washington are very patient… and are willing to let time play out in their favor, even during the times when legislation isn’t going their way.So where does this leave us as investors? That’s the big question concerning this “rental crisis” issue that Harvard is drumming up.Is it possible that rents are getting too high? Sure it is! I don’t know that to be true, but it’s entirely possible… that’s the nature of a free economy… sometimes prices are high, sometimes they’re low, most of the time they’re about right.But regardless of the pricing, it will adjust, and what we have right now is not a crisis. It’s only a crisis if your definition of crisis is that not everybody can afford everything they want, such as with the intellectually embarrassing comment I cited earlier by Dean Germeten. In that case, there’s a crisis, and the only way to handle that crisis is for the feds to step in and take control of the market.And remember – an increase in government ALWAYS means a decrease in freedom. There are no exceptions. And that’s antithetical to you as a self-directed investor. It’s a part of your very genetic makeup to be able to make your own decisions.So where does this leave us? Where it leaves us is in a huge mess concerning our rights as real estate investors… for the moment, this is particularly relevant to you landlords.Presently, we have a program called Section 8. It’s a program that provides housing vouchers to low-income people so that they can rent a home at little or no cost to themselves. Now, absent any other considerations, I like Section 8 as a landlord because it means I get paid on time every time and it means that I have a huge “stick” to wield against tenants who might want to damage my property, as it’s possible to have vouchers stripped from people who do so.Having said that, it’s my expectation that at least two really bad things are on the horizon for our rights as property owners. One of them is the potential for a sort of national rent control… which will be softened by the expansion of a form of Section 8 that’s available more broadly than just to the lowest income recipients. And the other is increasing “nationalization” – although in a softer form – of real estate ownership. This latter issue is already under way, and I’ll tell you how in tomorrow’s episode of Self-Directed Investor Radio, in which I’ll conclude this line of thought with some rather scary revelations and some thoughts on how you should consider “playing this” as an investor.We’ve got some GREAT things planned for you in the coming year… including two new SDI shows that you’re going to LOVE! So please, don’t miss a thing… text the word SDIRADIO with no spaces or periods to 33444. Again, that’s text the word SDIRADIO to 33444 to get on our private update list!My friends… invest wisely today, and live well forever! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

You might call it CONSPIRACY THEORY – but only if you ignore the facts.  Today I explain to you the government’s social engineering of the housing marketing, and where both the mortgage crisis of 08 and the newly proclaimed rent crisis fit into that… and where this social engineering ultimately leads.  I’m Bryan Ellis, and this is a very disconcerting Episode #172.----Hello, SDI Nation!  Welcome to the podcast of record for savvy, self-directed investors like you!What is a crisis?  One definition of CRISIS is a time of intense difficulty or distress.  But there’s another definition – definition #3 if you use Google’s ‘define’ keyword – which is: “the turning point of a disease when an important change takes place, indicating either recovery or death”.  When the media – or the government – uses the word crisis, that’s the definition they’re using.But the recovery or death that will happen isn’t actually related to an economic situation.  It’s related to a policy objective.  In other words, when you hear the word “crisis” in the news, what that means is that somebody in government has decided that it’s time to implement a new policy, and that conditions “on the ground” are ripe for that change.One of those non-crisis crises is happening right now, actually.  CNBC recently reported on a study done by the Harvard Joint Center for Housing Studies.It comes from Harvard… it’s got to be accurate, right?Nope, not at all.The basic crux of the matter is this:  The study says that more people than ever are renting rather than owning, and that at least half of those renters are paying more in rent than they should be.  Of course, what they “should” be paying is wholly subjective.  Nevertheless, Harvard is declaring there to be a crisis.  And you know what happens with crises, right?  The government gets involved and takes control.Allow me to share with you where current events fit into a broader history of governmental manipulation of the housing markets.The biggest semi-recent contributor to this mess was the Community Reinvestment Act of 1977 signed into law by the 2nd worst president in history, Jimmy Carter.  That act required banks to begin lending to non-credit-worthy borrowers under threat of punishment from the government.  Long-held financial standards were kicked to the curb in favor of mostly race-based qualification criteria.Then in the early 90’s, President Clinton pushed the Community Reinvestment Act even further, requiring lenders to make loans that would be judged as, at very best, questionable by any reasonable mind.Congress did as it usually does… and made things far, far worse.  The real nail in the coffin was when, in the 90’s, Congress authorized Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to buy those loans and, in effect, make the U.S. government the largest holder of mortgage debt.  In fact, Fannie Mae’s share of the secondary market reached a whopping 90%.  The government had, without anyone really noticing, taken control of the mortgage market.So what was happening was fundamentally dangerous:  It was a situation in which credit standards no longer applied and absolutely anybody could get a loan… and all of those loans were ultimately centralized in one organization – Fannie Mae – which is, no matter how you slice it, a government entity.To make it all worse… these loans were being given to people who, quite objectively, could not afford the loans.  They were able to buy because of fancy constructs like interest-only or even negative amortizations yielded payments that were very low… but those low payments never lasted beyond a few years.So you’d think that the government would have a vested interest in making sure that, somehow, some way, that those loans WOULDN’T go bad and that the market would heal itself without there being a real crisis?Wrong again, my friends… because the grander scheme had not yet been achieved.Rahm Emanuel, former Chief of Staff to President Obama, once made a statement that was perfectly embodied in the mortgage crisis.  What he said was:  “You never let a serious crisis go to waste.  And what I mean by that it’s an opportunity to do things you could not do before.”Ok, sure.  When a crisis arises, it’s an opening for the government to take action.  That’s obvious.  But here’s the thing… nobody would ever want to assume that the crises themselves are manufactured from the ground up in order to give the government an opening to take action.  But that’s exactly what was happening.You see… the housing crisis was bubbling up in late 2007 and early 2008, and everybody in Washington knew it… because they had, in effect, planned for it to happen by forcing and incentivizing banks to give bad loans to unworthy borrowers.  This was a known issue… love him or hate him, President Bush was well aware of it, having issued literally DOZENS of warnings to Congress, who simply refused to do anything about it… because it played into a bigger plan.What was the bigger plan?  Well, there was a short-term plan and a long-term plan.  The long-term plan was to pave the way for outright government dominance of housing, and I’ll tell you more about that in a moment.  But the short-term plan was to make sure that the “crash”, as it were, happened while Bush was still in office in order to improve the chances of election for Barrack Obama.This isn’t theory, my friends, conspiracy theory or otherwise.  It’s very well known that the panic that led to genuine hysteria in 2008 happened precisely because Chuck Schumer, Democrat Senator from New York, wrote a memo questioning the solvency of IndyMac bank – a bank that was a political target for Schumer’s accomplices – and then Schumer purposefully leaked that memo to the public!Look, when a U.S. Senator who holds a number of important positions relative to the oversight of banks and lenders, that’s big news… and that news was reported, as Schumer anticipated.  That caused a run on IndyMac banks, and the 2nd largest bank failure in history.  And it was no accident… the director of the office of Thrift Supervision, John Reich, observed that Democrat Schumer had given IndyMac a heart attack.That moment in history was chosen because, of course, it kicked off a financial crisis of generational magnitude… and because Bush was still in office, the political repercussions were clear.Obama won the presidency – promising a fundamental transformation of America as we know it – and he began by providing literally TRILLIONS of dollars of non-existent money to cover the losses of the big financial institutions.  Note that that money was used to pay off the big financial firms.  Very, very little of it was used to bring relief to individuals.Along the way, the government took a huge step towards taking over our health care through ObamaCare… part of Obama’s fundamental transformation of America.But the issue at hand TODAY is a new “crisis” identified by Harvard – the rental crisis in which the number of renters is bigger than ever and growing constantly… and in which a huge percentage of those renters simply can’t afford their rents.Does that sound familiar to you?  Does it sound like, perhaps, the mortgage crisis?Yes, it does… both the mortgage crisis and the new “rental crisis” – which isn’t a crisis at all – were wholly manufactured with the sole intent of destabilizing our housing system and causing there to be a crisis, real or perceived.And remember what Democrat Rahm Emmanuel said – “you never let a good crisis go to waste”.And in tomorrow’s episode of Self Directed Investor Radio, I’ll tell you where I think this particular crisis is going to lead… and give you some tips on how to play it as an investor.Folks, we’re going to be covering some really meaty topics in coming days.  Please make sure you don’t miss a single episode by subscribing now – while it’s still free – by texting the word SDIRADIO to 33444.  There are no spaces or periods in that… just SDIRADIO text SDIRADIO to 33444 right now.My friends, invest wisely today, and live well forever! 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Want to know a POWERFUL WAY to get high-quality rental properties for 15-20% LESS when you’re doing a 1031 exchange?  This one is sexy, my friends.  I’m Bryan Ellis.  I’ll tell you all about it right now in Episode #171----Hello, SDI Nation!  Welcome to the podcast of record for savvy self-directed investors like you!Hey folks, before we get started today, I wanted to mention to you that we’ve just started a twitter account for Self Directed Investor Radio, and I’d LOVE for you to follow us.  You can get to our twitter feed by visiting SDIRadio.com/twitter.  And at the end of this show, I’m going to give you a nice bribe for engaging with us there on Twitter.  Again, you can reach our page by visiting SDIRadio.com/twitter.So the bane of all self-directed investors is not risk or market volatility or even inflation.  It’s TAXES.  That ever-present drain on our productivity and profits that is spent more wastefully than any of us care to imagine.Fortunately, we don’t have to sit idly by and let Uncle Sam rape our purses.  There are a number of strategies that are wholly compliant with the law – provided by the law, actually – which help to fight the beast of taxation.One of the best such strategies is the 1031 exchange.  I know many of you are familiar with this one, but quickly, for those of you who are not familiar:The 1031 exchange enables owners of real estate to avoid payment of taxes on profits from real estate simply by re-investing the capital in another piece of real estate.  Essentially, you’re just rolling your profits forward from one deal to the next.And this is a HUGE benefit because without the 1031 exchange, you’d be required to pay the taxes on your profits of 15 to almost 30% in some cases... and only after that would you be able to reinvest your profits into another deal… so your investable capital would be MUCH, MUCH, MUCH lower.But that issue goes away with a 1031 exchange… and that’s why so many real estate investors love that particular tax break so dearly.But you know… there are a couple of variations of the 1031 exchange that can be even more powerful than the one you’re already familiar with.  Those variations are called the “Construction Exchange” and the “Improvement Exchange”, and they both have one thing in common:  You’re dealing with unfinished property.Why is that such an opportunity?Ahh yes… my friends… it’s reasons like this that listening to SDI Radio can be so valuable for you.Consider this:An overwhelming majority of people who do 1031 exchanges will exchange INTO rental properties of some sort.  And that really can make some good sense.So for example, the SDI team routinely provides opportunities for investors to buy into great rental properties in Birmingham, Alabama… because the numbers there just work really, really well.  It’s pretty routine to be able to spend no more than $55,000 and end up with a fully renovated rental property that will bring in $750 or more per month making it possible to have a very real net yield of 10%+ per year… so attractive numbers, for sure.And because of that, I regularly hear from investors doing a 1031 exchange who ask me about properties we have available.And sure, I’m happy to share with them the properties we have available.  But the reality is… that’s the wrong question!A better question is:  What are the properties that you COULD have available?  Because if, instead of doing a conventional 1031, if we do a construction or improvement exchange instead, what that means is that your funds could be used on BOTH the purchase AND renovation of the property.Well… I’ll grant to you… that by itself doesn’t sound particularly exciting.But what IS exciting is what that means for your bottom line.  In effect, it means you’ll be able to get 15-20% more with your money than before.For example:  Most of the time, that same property that would cost you $55,000 and yield a monthly rent of $750 can actually be bought for a whopping 15-20% LESS than that – usually around $45,000 or so – by doing the transaction as a construction or improvement exchange.Why?  Nearly everyone who is in the business of buying these houses and renovating them for resale to people like you and me… these people are not investors, they’re contractors.  That’s cool… that’s not a slam… but it’s important to note, they’re contractors, not investors.  And frequently, the only kind of funding available for doing these sorts of deals is hard money, which is by it’s very nature, very expensive.And the truth is that funding for the lower-priced houses is even more expensive than for funding houses in a normal price range.  That’s how it is all over America.  So it’s not uncommon for the cost of funding to be the largest expense of the project.But by doing a construction or improvement exchange, what you’re doing is providing funding for the purchase of the property and funding for the improvements… and in return, you’re getting a massive price break.  Remember… a $10,000 cost savings on a $55,000 house is nearly 20%... and getting a 20% discount on a piece of real estate is, as Donald Trump might say… ABSOLUTELY YYYYUUUUUGE!Paying $55,000 for this kind of property is already a solid deal leading to a net return of around 10%.  But when you pay $10,000 less… your return can very realistically jump up to the 14-15% range.That’s a difference that really makes a difference, my friends.What does it cost you?  About two months?  Most of these projects take 2 months to purchase and fully renovate, which is WELL within the 1031 exchange guidelines.And by using this simple twist on the common 1031 strategy… your return can skyrocket from around 10% to around 14 or 15%.  And in case you missed it… that means your profit increases by 40-50%.That, my friends, is a game changer.  A long-term 10% return can make you financially strong.  A long-term 14% return can make you rich.And for those of you wondering if this is specific to 1031 exchanges… no, it’s not!  If you’d like to buy a rental property and you’re willing to allow for 2 months of time to purchase and renovate a property, you can get the same deal!  Frankly, this is a no-brainer.If that’s you… you’re doing a 1031 or you’re otherwise interested in owning high-yielding rental property at a 10-20% discount versus the already attractive price, then definitely reach out to me.  Just go over to SDIRadio.com/consultation and set up an appointment to talk with me.  Again, that’s SDIRadio.com/consultation.Ok, back to Twitter for just a moment.  We set up a twitter page just yesterday for SDIRadio, and I’d really love to have it take off quickly, so I’m going to do what all great business people do:  I’m going to offer you a bribe.Hehehehe get your mind out of the gutter… this one is totally ethical.  I have an excellent book called “Exchanging Up:  How To Build A Real Estate Empire Without Paying Taxes Using 1031 Exchanges”… and I’ve got 10 physical copies of it, and I’d like to send one of them to you… and it won’t cost you a penny.All I ask in return is your help with promoting our brand new twitter page, so just text the word SDITWITTER to 33444 for instructions.  Again that’s text the word SDITWITTER to 33444.  It’s spelled SDITWITTER with no spaces or periods.  Text SDITwitter to 33444 right now.My friends… invest wisely today, and live well forever! 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Is there a big tax bill headed your way for this year that you’d like to minimize or eliminate?  If so, pay close attention… I’ll teach you a strategy that allows you to have your cake and eat it too.  I’m Bryan Ellis.  You’ll learn it RIGHT NOW in Episode 170.------Hello, SDI Nation!  Welcome to the podcast of record for savvy self-directed investors like you!Was 2015 a great year for you, and now you need a way to get a huge tax break to avoid throwing your money away in that great pit of waste called the Federal Government?I’ve got just the thing for you.  It combines a HUGE present-day tax deduction… benefits for your favorite charity… and the ability for you to own and control your money – and even change your mind – in any way you want!I’ve got to credit my colleague Tim Berry, tax attorney extraordinaire, for sharing this information with me.  He recently used this strategy to help a client of his getting a whopping $480,000 tax deduction.  Yeah… huge.So here’s how it works, without the legal jargon.What you do is you pick a charity that is important to you.  You also pick an amount of on-hand capital you have to contribute to that charity.Hehehehe I can just hear some of you now… “so your big strategy is to get a charitable tax deduction?”  Hehehehe… no, there’s far more to it than that.  But think with me about this… what if you could get a huge charitable tax deduction right now… but spread out the contributions over many, many years… and even keep control of the money so you can invest it and keep the profits yourself in the mean time?Yep… you heard it right.So here’s how it works, with some of the details left out for easy understanding.You – or better yet, your attorney – sets up something called a Charitable Lead Trust, and you specify your favorite charity as the beneficiary.  You then put a big lump of money into that trust, and you agree to pay that money to the charity on an annual basis over a very long period of time, such as 30 years.This means that in the first years, you’re actually donating very, very little.  And you’re donating a whole lot more in the final years.But here’s the important thing – in the mean time, you have near absolute control of that money, which you can invest for further profits.  And here’s the beautiful kicker:  You get to keep the profits – or virtually all of the profits – yourself.  Those profits go back to you, not to the charity.Now that’s not the end of the cool thing about this strategy, but I want to make sure you understand where we’ve gotten to so far.  At this point, you have gotten a HUGE tax deduction for this year by doing little more than committing to give money to a charity over a 30-year period of time.  The IRS will allow you to take a deduction IMMEDIATELY in connection with the value of that commitment… and so you get to save big-time on your taxes this year. And truth be told… the amount of the contribution you have to make in the first several years is tiny… negligible, in fact.  But you still get to take the huge deduction up front, and you still get to control the capital inside that trust and invest it in any way you want… and don’t forget:  nearly all of those profits go back in your pocket.Plus, you can change your mind at any time you want.  You could, at any time, take your money back out of that trust.  You would have to repay the portion of the tax deduction to which you’re no longer entitled, but you have complete control to take that money back anytime you want it.And if you think about it… having to repay the tax deduction to which you’re no longer entitled… that’s pretty amazing too, because that’s not subject to penalties or interest.  It’s like a zero-interest loan to pay your taxes for the years between when you set up the trust and the day you close it.So we’re already a bit deeper in the weeds on this than I want to be.  Bottom line:  If you had a good year this year, and you need a big tax deduction… you should SERIOUSLY consider the potential for wise use of a Charitable Lead Trust.And, of course, if you don’t already have a lawyer who is intimately familiar with this strategy, I suggest you reach out to Tim Berry.  You can find his contact info at SDIRadio.com/tim.Another variation of this idea that is far simpler and a better option if you’re totally committed to making a gift to charity is to use a Donor Advised Fund.  Think of a Donor Advised Fund as your very own “meta charity”.  It’s like a tax-favored investment account for the benefit of the charities of your choice.  So the way it works is:  You contribute money or assets to the fund, which generates an immediate tax deduction for you.  You can then grow that money through investments, and the profits from those investments accumulate tax free in the account.  And at whatever time you choose, you can distribute some or all of the money in that account – whether principal or profits – to the charities of your choice.This works particularly well if you’re considering a large gift to a single charity, but you’d rather space out the giving over time so that the charity must remain frugal in their financial allocations.How do you decide between a Charitable Lead Trust or a donor advised fund… or even a direct gift to a charity?  You’d do well to speak with Tim Berry or your own financial advisor, but my assessment is this:If you’re absolutely certain that you want to give money to a charity and receive a full deduction for that contribution immediately, and you’re comfortable with the charity receiving the entire gift at one time, then a direct charitable contribution is for you.If you’re absolutely certain that you want to give money to a charity and receive a full deduction for that contribution immediately, but you’d like to either invest the money to grow it before gifting it, or even just space out the delivery of the gift over time, then a Donor Advised Fund is for you.And if you’re interested primarily in a present-day tax deduction that has positive benefits for a charity, but about which you can change your mind at any time and not be penalized, then the Charitable Lead Trust may be best for you.That’s all for now, my friends.  If you missed the unusual brief update I published yesterday afternoon about a special investment opportunity, then check it out right now on iTunes or at SDIRadio.com.And be sure to get on our update list by texting the word SDIRadio to 33444.Join me tomorrow for another excursion into investment excellence.And in the mean time… invest wisely today, and live well forever! 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Hi there, everybody… I am Bryan Ellis, host of Self Directed Investor Radio.  But this is NOT a fully episode of Self-Directed Investor Radio… but it is a short and very important bulletin.If you’re interested in acquiring cash-flowing real estate in the blazing hot markets of Northern California… boy did my team ever get a deal you’ll want to consider.This property is already rented for $875 a month to tenants who really want to stay in place.  They even asked if they could do some landscaping at their own expense… the kind of tenants that landlords hope for!I know that since this property is in the crazy-hot markets of Northern California, you’re expecting it cost cost a minimum of $250,00… and that’s a reasonable expectation.  After all… the area where this property is located – Stockton, California – is ranked by Realtor.com as the 10th hottest market in America and is predicted by Zillow to appreciate by 19% in the next 12 months.But the reality is that it’s ONLY $125,000.  We got a great deal at the auction and if you’re a serious buyer, this is a chance for you to get a very, very rare deal… a property that gives very, very solid cash flow, and does so in a market where it’s not just reasonable to expect appreciation… but it’s actually already predicted by reputable market experts.So if you’re interested in this opportunity, you should let me know right away.  The best way to do that is to reach out to me at SDIRadio.com/consultation and let’s talk.  Note that preference and incentives will be given to cash buyers.That’s all for now, my friends… thanks for listening to this Self-Directed Investor Radio update! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The stock market is crazy… bond mutual funds are shutting down… and there are tremors of concern about the real estate market.  So how would you like a way to make a safe, reliable 12% on your money?  I’m Bryan Ellis.  I’ll tell you how right now in Episode 169.-----Hello, SDI Nation!  Welcome to the podcast of record for savvy self-directed investors like you.Those of you who are long-time listeners to this show know that I believe in ONE STANDARD for investment evaluation for self-directed investors.  It’s called the S3 standard, and the 3 S’s stand for Simple, Safe and Strong.Today, I’d like to share with you a strategy that absolutely fits that mold.               It’s called Quick Flip Lending… and it’s incredibly simple… and very, very profitable.Here’s how it works:There are people out there – lots of them – who buy real estate with the specific purpose of renovating it and reselling as quickly as possible.  They’re called “Flippers” or “Quick Flippers” and there are a lot of people doing this.In fact, according to RealtyTrac, over 43,000 flips were completed in the 3rd quarter of this year.  And the AVERAGE gross margin on those deals was over 33%... so huge margins, indeed.So there are a LOT of people actively involved in flipping real estate.  And all of them are common in one way:  They need money.  A lot of it.That’s where you come in… and a huge opportunity for a simple, safe, strong profit.Imagine this:  Imagine I’m a property flipper and I come to you and say:  Mr. or Ms. Investor, there’s a property in a very hot market that I can buy for $76,000.  It needs only $10,000 of renovations.  Thing is, it’s worth $125,000.  So if I pay you interest at 12%, would you lend the money to me to do this project for the next 12 months?You, being an astute investor, know that 12% is a really solid return.  So you do a little snooping around… and sure enough, you find out that everything the flipper told you was true.  The property is in a strong market.  It is worth $125,000.  And it really does only need $10,000 of renovation work.What to do?  The flipper wants to borrow $86,000 to cover the cost of purchase and renovation.  Should you do that?Well, folks, essentially we’ve already established that this approach is consistent with the SIMPLE tenet of the S3 Criteria.  It’s just a loan.  You can’t get simpler than that.You know it’s strong, too… 12% is a strong return.  Seriously… I don’t know a lot of people who wouldn’t be happy to get a consistent, long-term 12% return on their capital.So we’ve got Simple.  We’ve got Strong.  But is it SAFE?Answer:  It CAN be very safe… or it can be a bit foolish.The safety will depend on a couple of fundamental issues:  How much money you actually choose to lend and how your money is SECURED.So here’s what I suggest for each of those issues in order to make this deal safe.How much should you lend?  Most lenders agree that the maximum that should be lent against a property – in order for your capital to be REALLY safe – is 65% of the property value, which in this case is $81,250.To make it simple, you might choose to lend only the purchase price of the property - $76,000 – and require the flipper to fund the renovation out of his own pocket.  Because let’s be clear, my friends:  It makes a lot of sense to demand that the borrower have some of his own skin in the game.  In fact, that’s very wise.  As someone who has done this kind of lending, I like the model in which the borrower is required to fund renovations out of his own pocket.So the question of how much to lend is answered.  But how will your money be kept SAFE?That, too, is rather simple:  You get a first lien against the property for the amount of your loan.  So you’ve got a $76,000 mortgage against a property that’s worth $125,000.  So bottom line – even if the borrower totally flakes out, you can quite easily sell that house and get all of your money, interest and fees back because there’s such a huge equity spread.With a well-structured, well considered quick flip loan, it’s hard for the lender to lose money.  Not impossible.  Nothing is a guarantee.  But with a modicum of rationality, these deals really make a lot of sense… they’re absolutely SIMPLE… SAFE and STRONG.It’s just a loan… well secured… for which you collect 12%.And you know what else?  These loans tend to be short – almost always under 12 months, usually under 6.  So you get your capital back quickly and can do it again.I happen to know there are some really, really attractive deals like this available right now.  In fact, the example I just gave you is a real deal.  Most of them require somewhere in the $100,000 to $200,000 range… but the ratios are all the same.  Still never lend more than 65% of the real property value, still require to the borrower to have a lot of skin in the game, still simple, still safe, still strong.If you’d like a referral to some of these opportunities, just stop go over to SDIRadio.com/lending for the info.  Again, that’s SDIRadio.com/lending.Folks, you know I LOVE real estate.  I think real estate is the best wealth opportunity ever.  But being a LENDER against real estate… using smart, safe terms… frankly, that may well be the best of all worlds.  I really do think that’s an extraordinarily strong way to go for far more people than currently are involved in it.  If you’ve never done any of this type of lending, I respectfully recommend you consider doing so… it’s hard to argue the wisdom of it.So check out SDIRadio.com/lending for more info.In tomorrow’s episode, I’m going to share with you an EXTRAORDINARY way to get a HUGE tax break for those of you who need some tax relief.  But to get a tax break for this year, you’ve got to do this by December 31, so be sure to tune in to tomorrow’s episode.In the mean time… invest wisely… and live well forever! 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Are alarm bells ringing on Wall Street?  Last week saw 2 huge announcements… and neither are good for the financial markets.  I’m Bryan Ellis.  I’ll tell you what they are, and why they matter to you RIGHT NOW in Episode #168.-----Hello SDI Nation!  Welcome to the podcast of record for savvy self-directed investors like you!Last week was a big week in the financial markets… and you may not have even heard why.Two rather large bond investing companies – Third Avenue Management and Stone Lion Capital – closed off some of their mutual funds from redemptions by investors.In plain language that means:  Investors put money in, but now they can’t take it out.Why is this important?  Isn’t it just a function of placing your capital at risk?Sure it is.  But there are a couple of issues which make these specific fund closures particularly distressing.First:  These are MUTUAL funds, not HEDGE funds.  Hedge funds are aimed at wealthy individuals who, while they are no more interested in losing money than anyone else, are generally better able to ride out financial storms.  In fact, most investors in hedge funds specifically agree to minimal liquidity as a requirement to participate in the fund.But these funds are MUTUAL funds… mutual funds are funds made for the masses, which are specifically designed to provide ongoing liquidity for their investors.  Liquidity and professional diversification are really the two big THEORETICAL benefits that the average retail investor gets from investing in a mutual fund.But in the cases of Third Avenue and Stone Lion… retail investors are getting the shaft, and it’s all because the type of assets purchased by those funds – distressed debt, mostly corporate debt – does not have enough of a ready market for the mutual fund managers to sell their assets in order to pay out on fund redemptions.  That market is dry.So the first big issue here is that two sizable mutual funds are essentially now dead.But the other big issue is this:  This is a BOND MARKET issue.  Those funds are bond market investment funds.  So if you’re a stock market investor, you might think this is not relevant to you.  Wrong-o, my friends.Do you think that the stock market is big?  Sure it is.  One estimate shows the U.S. equities market as having a size of $26.3 TRILLION… huge, huge, huge for sure.  But dwarfed by the U.S. bond market, with a size of $39.5 TRILLION.  Other estimates suggest that the divide between the size of the stock and bond markets is even bigger than that… that the bond market actually totally DWARFS the stock market.Why does this matter?  Well, because the bond market is so much larger than the stock market, bonds are frequently a leading indicator for what happens in stocks.And this thing with Third Avenue and Stone Lion… well, it’s not a good sign.  For the sake of perspective, it’s important to note that neither of those fund are very large on a relative basis, totaling under $1.2 Billion in assets.  But that doesn’t seem to matter, because there’s a total of about $1.4 TRILLION worth of that type of distressed debt out there right now… and that’s more than enough to cause tremors in the bond market… and later, in the stock market.In fact, there’s a tendency that some have observed that works like this:  The bond market – as more generally represented by treasury bonds rather than distressed debt – falls off or even craters.  But the stock market diverges and goes upward for a period of time, usually around 6 months, before equities realign with bonds at a lower level.That’s a mouthful.  Here’s the layman’s version of all of that:  The “high yield” bond market – what they used to call “junk bonds” – appears to be in trouble.  And there’s well-founded fear that the contagion in junk bonds will spread to the broader bond market, and ultimately to the stock market as well.And some people think there’s a correlation between junk bonds and the real estate markets, too… particularly the high-flying real estate markets like in California.Look, folks, this is real world stuff.  I think about it a lot.  I manage a private equity fund, one branch of which is dedicated to flipping real estate in Northern California… the highest of the high flying markets.  Do you think recent events have caught my attention?  You’re darn right, they have.I’m nervous and cautious.  I’ve instructed my team to tighten our buying criteria because NOTHING matters more to me than the safety of my investor’s capital.So here’s what I predict:  We’re probably at the end of the overwhelming up-cycle that has been going on in several real estate markets in the past several years.  But I don’t expect the market to totally reverse course all at once.  Rather, there will be a consolidation that takes 6-18 months during which the markets will vacillate and maybe even go up a bit more, but at a much slower pace, and then after that, it could be ugly for a while.So yes, I started this show with a warning about Wall Street.  But I think that warning is more broad because… let’s face it:  The stock market and real estate rallies we’ve had in recent years is based on vapor, and everybody knows it.  The economy is WEAK… and everybody knows it, no matter how the Obama administration manipulates the unemployment rate and GDP numbers.My prescription:  This is a time to take special care with your portfolio.  Watch closely.  Take care, and be ready to adjust.  That’s what I’m doing for the clients in my private equity fund, and it’s what you should do for yourself, too.  It is NOT that there’s not still opportunity out there… there ABSOLUTELY is.  But an extra measure of caution is in order at this time.Because at the end of the day, my friends, being a self-directed investor isn’t JUST about getting to choose your own investments… it’s also about knowing when to adjust course.  Let’s not be emotional about this… as I mentioned in last episode, if you have clarity about your investing standards, it becomes much easier to make wise decisions when the time comes that the market no longer agrees with your objectives.Hey, folks… may I ask a favor of you?  This would be so great… if you could stop by iTunes and give this show a rating – hopefully a 5-star rating?  That would be really, really helpful… I’d appreciate it so much.And look… I’ll keep you updated as things change.  I watch the markets for a living, and I’m happy to share with you, my loyal listeners, what I’m seeing out there.  Having that inside info might just SAVE you a million dollars!My friends, invest wisely today… and live well forever! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

What’s your CODE RED plan for when the market shifts from “full steam ahead” to full retreat mode?  It will happen for sure… and nobody knows when.  Whether you're using a self-directed IRA, a self-directed 401k, family funds or any other capital, here are some important things to consider for when the market invariably shifts against you.  I’m Bryan Ellis.  This is episode 167.----Hello, SDI Nation!  Welcome to the podcast of record for savvy, self-directed investors like you!The last 15 years or so have really been a financial roller coaster, haven’t they?  Right now, it’s easy for everyone to focus on the last 5 years, during which the stock market and the real estate market in America have both been screaming upwards, notwithstanding a bit of a slowdown this year in stocks. But that’s not all there is to the story, is it?Let’s look slightly more broadly… say… 15 years.  So, since December of 2000 to right now, December 2015, what’s REALLY happened?I think you’re going to be surprised.The S&P 500 has absolutely gone up… by a WHOPPING compounded annual growth rate of… drumroll please… 2.77%!On a nationwide basis, real estate hasn’t fared much better, increasing in the same period by a compounded annual growth rate of 3.23%.To be clear, neither of those numbers factor in the effect of cash flow – dividends for stocks or rents for real estate.  Furthermore, it’s not particularly accurate to compare the performance of ALL real estate to the stock market, since 100% of the people buying stocks are doing so with the expectation of profit whereas the commanding majority of people buying real estate do so to use it for living.  It would be far more accurate to compare all INVESTMENT real estate properties to the stock market rather than all real estate… but hey… I give you the data we have.I suspect those aren’t the numbers you expected to hear.  After all, in the last 5 YEARS, the S&P’s annual number is nearly 11% and the media is full of reports about the astounding real estate appreciation in places like Northern California, Denver, Dallas, Nashville and Detroit.The difference is, of course, that the last 5 years represent only the up-cycle and not the rest of the story.What happens when the market shifts course?  Maybe it will be a deep plunge.  Maybe it will be a  simple leveling off.  Whatever the case, do you have a plan?I was asked a question yesterday that really illustrates this point well.  One of your fellow listeners named Ted reached out to me.  Ted has a bankroll of about $1.1M and is interested in buying some of the high-yielding turnkey rental properties we have available in Northern California.  Ted’s side of the conversation went something like this:Bryan, I get it that it’s a great opportunity because I’m buying into a rapidly appreciating market, and because my property will actually yield very attractive rents, and because I’m paying a below-retail price.  All of that makes sense to me and I’m ready to sign on the dotted line.  But what happens if the economy in Northern California dries up?  What then?This is a fair question.  It’s absolutely possible that the economy could fall off… or a terrorist attack or anything else.  Neither Ted nor I have a crystal ball.  But what Ted has – what you have – is very powerful:  The power of intention.Here’s what I mean:  If Ted is clear about his intention for the investment, then that intention will guide him through changing market situations.In Ted’s case, he told me that he really likes the cash flow and tax benefits of rental property, and that’s why he’s bought a lot of other rental properties all over the country, mostly in lower-priced regions where his cash flow from rents is really strong.  He also really likes that he’ll be able to easily pass on his rental property when that time comes.  But what attracts him to THIS specific opportunity in Northern California versus buying more houses in other markets like Ohio or Indiana is the potential for real, near- AND long-term price appreciation.  You see, in most markets, it’s not possible to get high ROI’s from rent AND strong property appreciation.  Due to the fundamental nature of real estate markets, it’s nearly always an either-or.  But in this case, Ted – and possibly you as well – can get very attractive cap rates of 6-10%... and do so in a market that Zillow predicts will appreciate by 19% in the coming 12 months.So to Ted, that appreciation is the attraction factor, but it doesn’t change his core objective:  To generate strong cash flows and tax benefits.Will those things be affected if the economy in Northern California cools?No, they won’t.  Rents won’t likely drop because there’s a severe housing shortage in the area with basically no new construction happening to alleviate the problem.  So even if Ted – and Zillow – and most experts – are totally wrong, and the tech and financial sectors that drive Silicon Valley really cool down economically, Ted will still be getting what he wants… strong rents, great tax advantages, and a property that he can pass on to his heirs… and he’ll still be in a market that has HUGE, HUGE, HUGE upside potential.What about you?  Do you have real clarity as to what you’re REALLY trying to accomplish with your investments.  As an affluent investor, you’ve likely got your basic cash needs covered already.  You’ve also likely got a collection of investments performing at various levels, and you probably have a bankroll of cash that you’re considering deploying… or maybe you’re thinking of cashing in stocks or annuities to be more liquid for the right kinds of opportunities.If your focus is cash flow, then day-to-day or even year-to-year price fluctuations really shouldn’t occupy your focus much.  Similarly, rental income potential isn’t particularly relevant to short-term flippers, but market fluctuations can be really important.And one isn’t necessarily better than the other.  It’s all about your specific objectives.What REALLY matters to you, my friends?  This issue of priorities – more specific, CLARITY of priorities – is just huge.  It’s core.  It’s fundamental.  By making the decisions RIGHT NOW about what things really matter to you, you’ll be able to make actual GOOD decisions – wise decisions – decisions that respect your capital… later on when a market changes or fundamentals shift, and you’re forced to make a “should I stay or should I go” type of decision.What did Ted decide?  He’s going to diversify geographically and buy a few rental properties from us in Northern California.  He’ll get the cash flow numbers he needs, the tax benefits he needs, and he’ll also get something he’s not getting from any of the other markets where he owns rentals:  An extremely high probability… and almost historical certainty… that the properties he buys from us will experience substantial price appreciation over the long term.  After all, look at San Francisco, the centerpiece of Northern California:  There’s absolutely been price volatility over the years… but the long-term trend is positively, absolutely without a doubt… OVERWHELMINGLY POSITIVE.So here’s your homework for today, my friends:Assignment 1:  Clarify your own priorities.  Decide what really matters to you.  What are the make-or-break requirements for your investments?  Rental income, price appreciation, tax benefits, etc?  Decide what matters to you as a basis for making your own wise investment decisions.And Assignment #2 is:  If you’d like to own rental properties at VERY affordable prices that are BOTH high-yielding in cash flow and located in the blazing hot markets of northern California, then you’ve got to reach out to us RIGHT NOW at SDIRadio.com/nccashflow.  That’s SDIRadio.com/nccashflow as in Northern California Cash Flow.  You’re going to love what you find there, just like Ted did.My friends:  Invest wisely today, and live well forever! 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HIGH-YIELDING RENTALS IN NORTHERN CALIFORNIA!  It’s the HOLY GRAIL… the pixie dust…  the flawless diamond of cash-flow investing:  To own rental property with a STRONG cash flow in a SUPER-HOT MARKET that you can buy at a FAIR PRICE.  My friends… I’ve got it for you, right now, in the HOTTEST of hot markets in America.  I’m Bryan Ellis.  This is episode 166.-----Hello SDI Nation!  Welcome to the Podcast of Record for savvy self-directed investors like you.It was a great weekend this past weekend in Sacramento where I had the pleasure of meeting with investors in the SDI Private Equity fund.  That’s a great group of people and the real estate opportunities we have those folks involved in are… well… shall I say… QUITE IMPRESSIVE?  HeheheheIt was such a pleasure to meet all of our new clients along with many of you guys who are involved in other projects with us and chose to move forward on our Northern California investment adventures as well.  These are exciting times, folks!And I’d like to say to Karim – your next excursion to Walgreen’s is on me, man.  Carole and I are still just LOVING that your secret passion is visiting big-chain drug stores!  But we’re very happy to have you as a part of the SDI Private Equity family… and same for all of your who are part of our crew!Speaking of Northern California a moment ago… did you know that’s the hottest real estate region in the entire country… maybe the entire world?  The latest list of hot markets from Realtor.com shows Northern California as being home to 9 of the 20 hottest individual markets in America.  It’s just astounding.What makes for a hot market?  Well, it’s things like… rapid price appreciation, short supply, and bidding wars.  I recently saw that there’s only 1.5 months of housing supply in San Francisco.  That’s CRAZY – a normal supply level is 6 months, so San Francisco is INCREDIBLY low on inventory, as is the Bay Area and Silicon Valley as a whole.But it’s not just those vaunted areas… Northern California as a whole is experiencing some astounding things… and frankly, it’s all driven by tech companies and venture capital flowing into the Bay Area and Silicon Valley.And that, my friends, is where today’s astounding opportunity comes from.So here’s the deal:The SDI team has identified a source for CASH FLOWING RENTAL PROPERTY that can be bought very affordably… and it’s right in the heart of Northern California… commuting distance from Sacramento, Napa, Modesto and yes… even with commuting distance of the outskirts of the Bay Area.So here’s are 3 quick examples that will make you DROOL:Example 1 is a single family property.  Worth $100,000 CONSERVATIVELY… and frankly… I don’t believe that valuation.  I think it’s much, much, much higher.  Anyway, worth $100,000 – you can buy it for $90,000 – renovated and fully rent-ready.  Rent on this one is $800 per month… you’ll likely be NETTING over 7% just from cash flow on this one.Example 2 is a duplex.  You’ll collect $1,000 from each unit.  That’s $24,000 per year gross.  This property is EASILY worth $200,000.  You’ll pay $180,000 for it… you could realistically net as much as 10% per year on this one from CASH FLOW alone.But remember – this is in a highly appreciating area.  More on that in just a minute.Final example #3 is a triplex.  You’ll collect $2,100 per month from this property, and it’s easily worth $230,000.  You’ll pay only $200,000… and again, could net nearly 10% per year from cash flow alone.Folks, those are great numbers no matter where your property is located… but as you know, there’s a dichotomy that exists where single-family rental property is concerned:  There are deals that offer good cash flow, and then there are deals that offer solid appreciation potential.  It’s rare – almost unheard of – to get access to deals that offer both.This is just such a circumstance, my friends.You see, Zillow tells us that this area of Northern California appreciated at 12% in the past year… and they’re projecting another 19% appreciation in the coming year.My friends… getting 7-10% net per year from cash flow… that ALONE makes a deal a very attractive deal.  And buying in an area with double-digit appreciation… that ALONE makes a deal a very attractive deal.Put them together and what do you have?Something that’s rare… a needle in a haystack.And these deals truly are that rare.  How rare?  Well… in October of this year, there were more than 5 million homes sold in America.But deals like this… well… we can only supply about 5 per month.  Sometimes, not even that many.Yep, it’s a tiny supply.But the potential here is AMAZING…  and I’ve got the data to back it up.So how does that sound to YOU, my friends?If you’re in the market for some EXCELLENT cash flow property with high yields, in-place property management and paying tenants, then your time is now.Check out SDIRadio.com/nccashflow.  Again, that’s SDIRadio.com/nccashflow as in northern California cash flow.Some of these deals are at the $100,000 – most will be in the mid $100’s to low $200’s… and every one of them located in the hottest housing market in the entire country.Yes, we do have a very special source for these properties.  These certainly aren’t listed for sale on MLS, folks.  The only way you can get on the waiting list is to go RIGHT NOW to SDIRadio.com/nccashflow.My friends… it’s great to be back with you.  I’ll see you again tomorrow, and until then:Invest wisely today… and live well forever! 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What are the CORE BELIEFS of the true self-directed investor?  This isn’t a touchy-feely notion.  When it comes to the financial security of yourself, your family, of future generations… and of the world-changing causes you believe in, your CORE BELIEFS as a self-directed investor….  What are they?  Or rather, what should they be?  I’m Bryan Ellis.  Let’s talk it through right now in Episode 165.----Hello, SDI Nation.  Welcome to the podcast of record for savvy self-directed investors like you!So, folks, I’ve usually got a very clear idea of where I want to go with a show before I start it.Today… I’ve got an inkling, but not perfect clarity.Here’s the deal… There are certain core issues that bind people like me and you together.  Or, maybe not.  That’s really the issue.  I want to find the words that get to the commonalities that will be like a bright-shining beacon in the night to those who understand self-directed investing – and the opportunities and responsibilities of wealth – in the same way I do.You see, I want to create – I will create – a “platform” for Self-Directed Investors… a set of core beliefs… things that are central, primary and unquestionably true for all of us… almost like a statement of faith, albeit not requiring faith at all… a statement of the things that bind us together.And even as I say these words to you, the right term to describe it has come to me:  a manifesto.I will create a manifesto for the self-directed investor.  I’ve got some clear ideas about what should be part of that manifesto right now… and some parts of it are developing still.Here are some definite things to be a part of it… none of them yet well worded, but important each one:As Self Directed Investors, our most core principle is that we RESPECT our capital.  Risk is our ENEMY.We are open to opportunity but very rigid on principles.One of those principles is the SIMPLE, SAFE and STRONG mantra I repeat for you over and over again.  We recognize that our investments must be simple – because complexity hides risk.  Our investments must be safe because, again, we eschew risk.  And our investments must produce STRONG results, because at the end of the day, unacceptable returns are just another form of RISK that must be avoided.So yes… every investment we take must be simple and safe and strong.  No exceptions.  But those criteria can have different means at different stages of life.  Risk that’s acceptable once you’re already financially independent is very different than risk that’s acceptable while you’re still in building mode.  Simplicity means something different when you’re investing $100,000 to buy a rental property versus if you’re a billionaire with the capital to do a huge acquisition and to commission thorough due diligence by professionals.That’s what I mean… we’re open to opportunity, but rigid on principles.Another thing about us… we’re unapologetically seekers of profit, and we have the strength of character to realize that there’s absolutely nothing wrong with that.And we’re protective of that profit and the principal that bore it.  That capital is the fruit of our labor… the results of our wise decision making… indeed, our just due.  And so we do everything the law allows to shield it from risk.We recognize that the biggest risk to our capital isn’t actually bad investment decisions… it’s actually far more fundamental than that:  Taxes.  We believe in paying our fair share, and we always do.  But we will, without shame or apology, do everything we can to make sure that our fair share is as small as possible.  At a core level, we believe that government wastes money… and it’s worst when the money they waste is ours.We also recognize that we’ve got to protect our capital from the wealth vampires who prefer to use the legal system to steal from us.  So we – with regret, and against our own will – will spend time and money necessary to make sure that what we’ve worked so hard to achieve can’t be easily taken from us by greedy lawyers bending the law to suit themselves.But it’s not just about accumulating and protecting our money.  For self directed investors, investing has a purpose beyond mere profit.  Indeed, a purpose for the profit.First is, unapologetically, to provide for the needs of our immediate families and ourselves.  We want the best for our families:  Safe homes, food to eat, fine educations and wonderful opportunities. These are the people we love… the people whose lives have been entrusted to us.  It is our job to provide for them, and we do so with unwavering abandon.But for us, there’s more.There’s both the FUTURE of our families… and there’s the PRESENT reality of those in need outside of our loved ones.So we structure our affairs to pass on the assets we build to future generations.  We fully intend for our spouses, our children, our children’s children and our special loved ones to benefit from that which we leave behind.Much of what we leave behind will be financial.  But as self-directed investors, we realize that there’s far more than just money.  So we work aggressively to convey the intellectual capital generated through lifetimes of wise stewardship.Whether that intellectual capital is as simple as a secret family recipe for banana bread… or it’s as substantive as a long-standing banking or business relationship… these things are important.  They matter to us, as self-directed investors.  These are the things that make us who we are, much more than any amount of capital.And there’s purpose for our profit in the present day, too.  Because we recognize that the blessings of wealth carry with it a responsibility to be a blessing to others.  It’s not a one-way street.  We are not a dead-end for wealth, where it reaches a point and continues to grow but never leaves again.  No… we’re more like a funnel, focusing resources where they need to go to make the biggest impact.And those choices… of where the “deepest impact” can be made… those choice are deeply personal to us.  We are not fickle.  We do not let the shifting sands of public opinion or the waywardness of political correctness influence our commitment to the causes which we hold dear.  We listen to that voice inside that tells us where to go and what to do with the blessings of our success.At the core of it all for self-directed investors is one word:  Stewardship.  We recognize that we are blessed… we recognize that there’s a power involved far beyond our own power… and while we all may not agree exactly what or Who that power is, we all know it’s much bigger than we are… and that living wisely leads to financial blessing… and those financial blessings lead to the greatest wealth we can imagine:  The wealth of generosity.That, my friends, is what I believe it means to be a self-directed investor.If you have any thoughts to add, I’d REALLY love to hear from you.  Can you share your thoughts with me on the website?  Just got to SDIRadio.com/165 and leave a comment.  That’s 165 because this is episode #165.  Again, SDIRadio.com/165.I look forward to writing all of this up in a cleaner, more concise way and sharing it with you as the Self-Directed Investor’s Manifesto.My friends… invest wisely today, and live well forever! 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What is ARROGANT MONEY?  ARROGANT MONEY sometimes disguises itself as conservative, careful decision making.  But at the end of the day, it’s simple foolishness, disguised as experience.  I’m Bryan Ellis.  I’ll help you to know if yours is ARROGANT MONEY right now in Episode #164.----Hello, SDI Nation!  Welcome to the podcast of record for savvy self-directed investors like you.Arrogant money… it’s a funny thing.Ever heard of it?  It’s kind of like “Old Money” because it really refers to the owner of the money more than the money itself.Arrogant Money describes the person who has had some success in one kind of investment, and thus presumes himself to be expert in all others as well.I’d like to tell you about a recent example of Arrogant Money… and I hope you hear the caution in the story.There’s a guy named Will.  Real guy, but that’s not his real name.Will is in his 80’s and is clearly a very smart guy.  For years he focused his investments on note investing.  In other words, he’d lend out his money to home owners at a very high interest rate, and would secure his capital by getting a lien against the property.So far, so good.  Will did really well for himself.  He did some real estate deals along the way too… some rehab deals and some other stuff.  But at the core was always his note investing strategy.And you know… that worked very well for him.  It’s a fundamentally wise thing to lend money against valuable assets.  He was collecting 15% on his money… and just about anybody would be happy with that.So, several months ago, Will called me up.  He heard what we were doing in Phoenix, in which we were working with clients who provided capital, which my team then used to purchase, renovate and resell those properties… and profits were split.  And by the way… those deals are doing very well, and the results have been very strong.But Will called me up back then and we talked.  It was clear that he had plenty of capital to invest.  But what was also very clear was a “my way or the highway” type of attitude.So… who knows?  Maybe I caught the guy on a bad day.  So I certainly didn’t close the door on working with him, but he seemed more interested at the time in selling off his portfolio of notes than doing anything else.  I was interested… but not terribly so… because I knew – whether he did or not – that many of his notes were simply not compliant with new regulations, so they had the potential to really blow up.So, I hear from Will again this week.  He’s heard what we’re doing in Stockton – very similar to what we did in Phoenix several months ago, where we’ve got lots of happy clients – and he’s interested.So, I explain the deal to him.  Not particularly dissimilar to what we did in Phoenix.  Basic idea is – we use client capital to buy, renovate and resell the property, then we split the profit.  There are no guarantees on the profit, but history has shown results that are, shall we say, substantially superior even to what Will has been accustomed.That’s when Will drops the bomb on me.  His money won’t be invested into anything where he doesn’t have a guaranteed rate of return, and what he wants is 25%.  Barring that, he wants to structure the transaction totally differently to totally suit his purposes, and to the detriment of the other clients involved.You know, Will has every right to be cautious with his capital, and I applaud him for his concern.But in his case, caution has transformed into arrogance.Will believes his capital is “more worthy” than others.And you know, that’s ok.  But here’s the thing, folks… this is the lesson I want you to get out of today’s episode:There’s an ebb and flow to global capital markets.  Sometimes markets are short on capital and long on opportunity… sometimes, markets are short on great opportunity and awash in capital.Today’s environment is definitely the latter.  There’s a LOT of cash out there just waiting to be deployed, such that any worthy investment is not having difficulty attracting capital from reasonable investors.People like Will do really well when there’s a capital shortage.  But when there’s not… and there certainly isn’t right now… people like Will see their investment portfolios dwindle through underuse.  Inflation is the killer of arrogant money.  Arrogant money sits, and sits and sits… ready to be deployed, but never finding an opportunity that’s exactly the right one.Not because the right opportunity doesn’t exist… but because it isn’t the PERFECT opportunity.My friends… there’s no such thing as PERFECT opportunities.  There are only opportunities.  Wise opportunities and unwise opportunities.  And at the end of the day, arrogant money uses the only arrow in it’s quiver:  Rejection.  Rejection of unwise opportunities, sure.  But also rejection of wise opportunities.That, my friends, is a very sad thing.So, don’t be like Will, mmmmkay?  HeheheheWhy is this on my mind?  Well, it’s far more than just the fact that this conversation with Will happened yesterday.  It’s because we’re coming up on Thanksgiving tomorrow.  And for me, that’s the most meaningful holiday of the year because gratitude is such a central key to success.  I mean genuine real gratitude… the kind of gratitude that acknowledges that none of us are here alone, that none of us succeed independently, that all of us are blessed far beyond what we deserve.  Gratitude, in other words… is the very opposite of arrogance.And as the Good Book says… pride comes before the fall.  May that never be your fate.Folks, I’d like to express my deepest gratitude to you for listening to this show.  This year – 2015 – has been an amazing one for me.  Very, very hard at times, to be honest, but so deeply rewarding.  While I’m really proud of how well this show is doing, and how well our clients in Self Directed Investor Society are doing… the thing I’m most proud of for this year so far is my relationship with my wife.  We’ve worked very consciously to grow and become better and stronger for each other, and I’ve got to tell you… the effect it’s had on every other part of my life – including business – has been profound.  Carole, thank you, thank you, thank you.  I can never, ever thank you enough.  You’re a spectacular woman and I love you with all that is in me.Happy Thanksgiving, everyone.  You people are special to me, and I really do mean that.  So I hope you’ll…Invest wisely today… and live well forever! 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Want to get cash flow, appreciation and tax benefits from Real Estate?  Listen to this episode before you even think about buying another piece of rental property.  I’m Bryan Ellis.  This is Episode #163.-----Hello, SDI Nation.  Welcome to the podcast of record for savvy self-directed investors like you.I’ve got a dream… a vision… a new way of SERVING you, the affluent individual investor who seeks all of the great things that real estate investing can offer, like cash flow, appreciation and tax benefits.This vision is burning in me, and it’s going to change the game… just mark my word.So here’s the inside game that’s going on in my head that I’d like to share with you.For many years, I’ve been PROFOUNDLY fascinated with self-directed IRA’s and their potential.  Really cool stuff, to be sure.  So I learned a lot about them, did a few things, made a few mistakes… and really got to know the topic along the way.Then along came self-directed 401k’s… another huge change… another step up in potential… more great stuff.And then it turns out that a huge percentage of people who are looking for great investments are doing so outside of retirement accounts… so that was a great realization, too.And somewhere along the way, I accidentally discovered – just discovered, certainly didn’t invent – this notion of “turnkey” investing, in which affluent individuals deploy their capital into an investment – usually real estate related – because they want to make a great return, but not because they necessarily want to learn how to be real estate investors.  Rather, they want use their capital to fund deals that are found and executed by someone with a lot of experience… and for the parties involved to split the profits, somehow.Well, here’s the thing… there are now a lot of turnkey investing companies.  Some are pretty good, and some are not so good.  Thing is, most affluent investors who are targeted by these companies simply don’t have the frame of reference to know in advance who is good and who isn’t.So that’s a problem.But here’s a bigger problem with that model:  Those companies don’t really have any skin in the game.  If you want a rental property, they sell one to you.  They get their money and move on.  And you get a rental property, which may or may not work out for you.  Hopefully, it does.Now here’s the thing:  That’s not actually an indictment of the turnkey model.  But it is an opportunity.You see, I like the idea of providing people like you with great investment opportunities.  Scratch that… I LOVE it.  It really does something for me.  I love it love it love it.  And in fact, I am still involved in that model too, having closed the sale of turnkey deal for one of my clients as recently as yesterday afternoon.Concerning that:  Paul… thank you for your business, sir.  And for your trust.  It’s been a pleasure to serve you so many times already in such a short period of time, and I am grateful for the chance to continue to do so.But here’s the thing… and I want to be careful how I say this.When I started this show… and the broader effort behind it called Self Directed Investor Society… I did not want to build a business.  Rather, I wanted to build a portfolio.  I wanted to partner with people… the right people… very carefully chosen people… and I wanted to provide GREAT opportunities to them for investing… opportunities available to me and NOT to them… but to bring them into the loop by using their capital on my great opportunities… and that way, we’d all win together… and we’d all have some skin in the game on an enduring basis.So I have a vision… it’s a vision I’m working on fulfilling right now, and it’s burning in me.  Here’s how it works:  I want to make rental property investing as simple as making a deposit at your stock brokerage or 401k.  Literally, that simple.Here’s what I mean… Imagine if you wanted to enjoy the benefits of owning rental property… namely cash flow, appreciation, tax benefits, leverage, and hedging against inflation.Those are all great benefits, but ask yourself… do you REALLY want the trouble that goes along with it, like picking out a market… then picking out a property… then evaluating that property… the financing the purchase… then closing the deal… then hiring a management company… then managing the management company… then deciding when to sell… and hiring a real estate brokerage… and preparing the property for resale… and going through closing… and all the while, struggling to make sure that your insurance policy is the right policy… and that your property taxes are paid reliably… and then there’s the specter of dealing with bad tenants and maybe even lawsuits… and on and on and on…In other words… those are the things that you must endure to get the benefits of rental property ownership.  And here’s the thing:  Buying real estate from a turnkey investing company does NOT solve most of those problems.  Turnkey companies make ENTRY to rental property investing easier… but they don’t help much at all with the long game… and that’s where the important decisions are made.Now look… it can TOTALLY be worth it to all of the hard stuff.  I’m not suggesting otherwise.  But it’s not a small matter… and that’s my point.  It’s far more complex than most people guess ahead of time.So what if things were fundamentally different… what if, you were able to decide something like this:  You decide you have $100,000 which you’d like to invest in rentals.  But rather than going through all of the horrible headaches I just described, well, instead of that… you do something different:You deposit your investment funds, which are then deployed to good real estate opportunities and handled entirely from beginning to end.  And by the way… you still get your cash flow.  You still get your tax benefits.  You still get equity appreciation.  You still get every single benefit you’re looking for… only without having to think of any of the ugly details.And yes… whenever you’re ready, you can take your $100,000 back out… but of course, it will have grown because… that’s the whole idea, isn’t it?It’s my vision to change the “turnkey” real estate investing idea into a COLLECTIVE… an opportunity for smart people to come together… where everybody has skin in the game… and where, if I recommend an investment opportunity… you know I’m giving you my best, because I win only if the investment itself does well.I want to put my name on the line.  I want to stake my reputation on this stuff.  Because the difference I can make in the lives of affluent investors is… well, it’s a huge difference.So, there’s no call to action today, other than to say that if you’d like to get involved in a great turnkey FLIPPING opportunity right now, then check out SDIRadio.com/stockton because the opportunity there is, in a word, staggering… and it’s every bit as hands-off as I’ve described to you today.But my friends… all I can ask of you is this:  stay tuned.  Be patient with me.  I’m doing all I can to make this show and the services behind it the very best they can be… for you.My friends, invest wisely today, and live well forever! 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It’s CASE STUDY FRIDAY here at SDI Radio… Get ready for a real, recent example of a deal that’s going to motivate you because it’s REAL and because it’s REPEATABLE.  I’m Bryan Ellis.  This is episode #162.----Hello, SDI Nation!  Welcome to the podcast of record for Savvy, Self-Directed Investors like you!About 10 days ago, I shared with you an EXTRAORDINARY opportunity involving our passive property flipping program.  The basic idea is this:  In select, strategic markets, we at Self Directed Investor Society serve our clients by providing access to the SDI Flipping teams, who acquire, renovate and resell properties for our clients.Our numbers have been consistently EXTRAORDINARY… in fact, we had another closing just yesterday in Phoenix.  I’ll share the numbers with you on that one in a couple of days.But as for today, there’s another deal I’d like to share with you… and this one is in our hottest target market, Stockton, CA.  In that market, we purchase great properties – usually from the trustee sale – then renovate and resell them.  Nearly all of our projects there turn around in 4 months… even those that require evictions after foreclosure, so it’s a CRAZY HOT MARKET, to say the least.Anyway, here’s the deal:Many of you have listened in to the webinar we offer about this over at SDIRadio.com/stockton.  You heard the reasons it’s a uniquely perfect market for flipping, and why it’s still somewhat accessible to individual investors.  You know that Realtor.com pegged Stockton as the 11th hottest market in the country, and that a total of 9 of the hottest markets in America are all within about 100 miles of Stockton.  Without a doubt, that area of Northern California is the hottest real estate region in America.So here’s the case study.  It’s actually an update of one of the examples that I described there at SDIRadio.com/stockton.  And yes, that webinar is available now if you’d like to check it out.In that webinar, I gave a WHOLE LOT of case studies, including:Houston Avenue, where the project netted 26.8% cash-on-cash in 97 daysMendocino Avenue, where the project netted 30.3% in only 7 monthsMist Trail where the project netted 22.2% in 67 daysAll of those examples are without the use of leverage… those are straight-up cash deals, making those ROI numbers even more impressive.But of all of the examples I gave you, there was one that was unique because it was in escrow at the time I made the webinar 2 weeks ago, unlike all of the other examples that were CLOSED transactions.  Of course, I fully disclosed that distinction in the webinar, and was using Guernsey just as an example of the freshest possible activity.So that property was in escrow, and based on the contract price and closing date, it looked like the property would sell for $200,000 and close on November 26… which would yield an astounding net return of 21.9% in only 49 days.My friends… 21% in a whole year would be a beautiful result… so 21% in only 49 days is just stratospheric.But, my friends… not everything goes perfectly in real estate, and that’s what happened with Guernsey.The buyer ended up not being able to close, and the deal fell out of escrow.Bummer, right?  That was going to be a really great deal at a sale price of $200,000.Well, sure… you never want deals to go south, but remember:  This area, Stockton, is the 11th hottest market in America!  What exactly would you expect to happen when a good property goes on the market in a super-hot market?You guessed it:  It sold, and it sold quickly, and it sold at a premium price.The original contract that fell through was for $200,000.The new contract price?  Well, it’s a cool $220,000…. A nice gain of $20,000 over the original!And we’ve got a SOLID BUYER… who is putting down $100,000 in cash.And one other nice little item – it closes soon – so this entire deal will still only be about 3 months long, beginning to end… but with a total net yield of a whopping 34%.Yep.  You heard that right.Folks, we’ve got a GREAT THING going out in Stockton right now.  It’s SO EXCITING… and so profitable.If you’d like to check out the possibilities for yourself, stop by SDIRadio.com/stockton right now.And you know, this is a strategically EXTREMELY important period.  That’s because back in June, there was a strange SPIKE in the volume of foreclosures in Stockton.  The number of foreclosures – for that one month alone – tripled.  Big spike.Now here’s the thing:  The properties that started foreclosure during that spike, well… they hit the trustee sale during December and January.  So there’s going to be FAR MORE OPPORTUNITY than normal during those two months… and that’s SUPER-EXCITING.And the timing couldn’t be better, because houses purchased during December and January will be back up for sale during February through April – one of the hottest times of year to sell in an already super-hot market.  In other words, right now is a beautiful window of opportunity.So, my friends, let me encourage you with the example I shared with you today.That’s not the only one.  Our crew picked up another house just yesterday, and the all-in cost including renovation and everything will be just shy of $300,000… and then we’ll sell it… for $400,000.  After everything, if history continues as it has, then this deal will net about $80,000 in only 4 months.  If you’re doing the math, that equates to a cash-on-cash net of about 26%... in 4 months.Folks, if you were actually pocketing HALF of these numbers, you’d be doing EXTRAORDINARILY well.So here’s the thing:  If you’d like to learn more about how we’re doing this, you should go over right now to SDIRadio.com/stockton to check it out.  There’s a GREAT webinar there, and if you’re an affluent investor looking for a way to passively participate in the extraordinary flipping markets of Northern California, you’ve found your chance.Take a look at SDIRadio.com/stockton right now.My friends…Invest wisely today, and live well forever! 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QUICK!  When $1.2 million drops in your lap, how do you invest it?  I’m Bryan Ellis.  I’ll tell you exactly how RIGHT NOW in episode #161.----Hello SDI Nation!  Welcome to the podcast of record for savvy self-directed investors like you!What would you do if $1.2M in investment capital just dropped in your lap?  That’s what happened to Ted, a listener to this show who recently completed the sale of one of his businesses and now has a cool $1.2 million of after-tax money just sitting there, waiting to be deployed.Ted is a VERY SMART GUY.  Brain surgeon level.But for Ted – like so many other people who are very successful in their own fields of endeavor – well, when it comes to investing, his logic turns off.So Ted called me up and said:  Bryan, I’ve got $1.2M.  I’ve heard you talking a lot about these little houses in Birmingham that I can buy for under $60,000 each.  And that are yielding net returns of 10-15%.  My calculations say that I could buy 20 of them and would immediately have a net income of at least $120,000 per year, totally passively.  So let’s do it.  I’d like to buy 20 houses.Well, folks, a few days ago, I promised you I was going to be even more transparent with you on this show.  So here it is… at that moment, I was counting my money!  Selling 20 houses to Ted was going to be a profitable event for me, and it was pretty exciting.But then my rational mind returned to me.Now look… I know something about Ted.  He’s a wealthy guy.  This money – the $1.2M he’s trying to invest now – it’s not his only capital.  He’s a serial entrepreneur and has done really well for himself.So in that way, Ted makes the grade for someone who is worthy of making a $1.2M investment decision.But I had to ask Ted a couple of questions, namely:  Tell me how you feel about this, and tell me how Vicky feels about it.  Vicky is Ted’s wife.Ted told me he was really excited.  He’s done some research into Birmingham, and he “gets it”… though he’s still nervous about investing in the southeast, since he’s never done it before.  He also really likes the strategy we use for totally insulating him from the risk that the economy will decline or that his tenants will lose their jobs… those things are no longer a concern for him.  And he’s definitely excited about getting a large income totally passively for the first time in his life, and about the tax benefits.  He’s checked out our property managers, and he feels very good about them.  Sure, he’s nervous.  But Ted’s ready to take the plunge and buy 20 houses.Vicky, well… she’s also interested, and she’s happy with she sees on paper… but she’s far more cautious.  Vicky is familiar with all of the information that Ted has… and she agrees with his assessment.  But she’s really nervous.  To Vicky, even though she and Ted have other assets, to her, $1.2M is practically all of the money in the world. And you know what… she should be feeling cautious.  The fact is this:  Ted and Vicky have never done business with me before.  They’ve checked me out… that’s for sure.  Given me the third degree, actually.  As well they should.  But they know me only because a friend of theirs who is a doctor in California referred them to this show.  This particular doctor is a client who trusts me explicitly and allows me great latitude in allocating his portfolio, and we’ve done very, very well for him.  So my client’s referral carries a whole lot of weight with Ted and Vicky.And here’s the thing:  I’d like to do this deal with Ted and Vicky.  It would be good for them.  It would be good for me.  A real win-win.  But now… as in right now, this very moment in time… well, the timing is right for Ted and Vicky.I told Ted I absolutely believe he’s making a great decision for how to deploy that capital based on his financial situation and the other assets in his portfolio.  But I proposed that he adjust the timing.  Here’s what I mean:Instead of buying 20 houses right now, which Ted could do with the stroke of a pen, I proposed he buy only 2.  Invest only about $120,000 rather than $1.2M.  Put the rest of the money in a 6-Month CD.  And during that 6 months, watch and see how those 2 houses do for him.  If things go like he and Vicky expect, then they can deploy some, or even all, of the remainder at that time.Vicky liked that plan – a lot – and here’s what really tipped her over:  I guaranteed her success.  If things DON’T go like they want, then I offered to buy those two houses back from them for exactly what they paid.  Who ever heard of a money-back guarantee on an investment property?  Well, that’s the way we roll here at SDI Radio, and it’s a no brainer to me.  These are great deals, and removing their risk is something I’m happy to do.  There’s a 99.99% probability they’re going to love the experience.  And if they don’t, then I get to own an asset I believe in at a price that totally makes sense.  Total win-win.Hey… what about you?  Many of you have been seriously considering either starting your rental portfolio, or maybe expanding it… you’ve heard me talking about some of the great things we have going on in Birmingham… the insanely high cash flows, the complete immunity from economic risk, the absolute consistency of payments, the near elimination of vacancies… and you’re really interested.But hey… who are we kidding… you’ve got some reservations.  Maybe you live out in California or Hawaii and to you, Birmingham and the southeast is practically another world.  Or maybe you think you know something about the business of owning low-priced homes that makes you nervous.So here’s the deal:For a short time, I’m actually going to contractually guarantee your satisfaction as an investor in our properties in Birmingham.  How?  I’ll commit – in writing – to buying back your property for what you paid for it if you’re unsatisfied in ANY WAY WHATSOEVER.  I’ll give you the details about this in the coming days, but for now, there are 2 things you need to know:Next week, I’ll offer a webinar that tells you all about the EXTRAORDINARY opportunities we have available to you… and how I’m personally guaranteeing your success.  Again, this isn’t a theoretical thing… I’m guaranteeing your success in writing.To register for that webinar, go to SDIRadio.com/cashflow.  Again, that’s SDIRadio.com/cashflow.Now here’s the other thing:For now, I’m only going to offer that guarantee for the next 10 houses sold.  I’ve got to be able to honor my commitment and want to make sure we have the financial ability to do so.  3 of those guarantees are already issued, leaving only 7.So… if you’d like to TRY OUT what is absolutely among the very best real estate cash flow opportunities in America… and you’d like to do it without risking your capital, the time is now.  If that’s you, and if you have at least $60,000 in liquid capital you’d like to deploy right away into a strong cash flow opportunity, then you should set an appointment with me right away by visiting SDIRadio.com/consultation.You should do so immediately because I suspect there’s a very real possibility that all 7 of the remaining guarantees will be gone even before the webinar begins airing next week, particularly since so many investors prefer to buy more than one of these properties at the time, and I’ll be issuing the remaining 7 guarantees on the next 7 houses purchased, even if they’re all purchased by the same person.So again, if you meet those financial qualifications and you’d like a chance to generate STRONG cash flows, perfectly reliably – and have a full guarantee, set up a consultation with my team RIGHT NOW by visiting SDIRadio.com/consultation.So, to Ted and Vicky… and to every one of you out there:Invest wisely today, and live well forever! 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Why does this show – Self Directed Investor Radio – even exist, and why is it strategically wise for you to be a listener?  Today I open up about my motivations for doing this show… and my friends, it’s all about YOU.  I’m Bryan Ellis.  Listen in right now to discover whether I really know who YOU are, or not!  This is Special Episode #160.----Hello SDI Nation!  Welcome to the podcast of record for savvy self-directed investors like YOU!It’s another beautiful Monday morning, and I’m SO GLAD to have another day on planet earth and another 7 minutes to spend with you!Let’s cut straight to the heart of the matter, shall we?This show is designed to serve the unique needs of the affluent self-directed investor.  What does that really mean… who is this show really for?First, you must have an interest in growing your financial portfolio.  In other words, you must be an investor.  Second, is “Self Directed”.  While you might have a financial advisor and a conventional portfolio of stocks and mutual funds, chances are good that you are strongly inclined to shift AWAY from Wall Street and it’s retail investments.  And third, you must actually have sufficient capital to make those investments, which requires a degree of financial affluence.Now if any of these don’t apply to you, you’re still welcomed to listen to this show as an aspirational exercise.  But if all three of those things describe you – you’re an affluent self-directed investor, then you are precisely who we here at Self Directed Investor Society exist to serve.A little background.  Most of you who are listeners to this show don’t know that this show isn’t the only thing I do.  Empirically, this show isn’t even the biggest thing I do – even though this show has been wildly successful from day 1 – and I thank you for that.  And by the way, I suspect this show will be the biggest thing I’m doing as it continues to grow stratospherically in the coming 12 months.  But my other activities are part and parcel to why I’m here to serve you today.I also am the publisher of a newsletter for real estate investors called the Bryan Ellis Investing Letter.  That newsletter has a subscriber base of over 700,000 real estate investors of all experience levels, focused mostly in the United States but with subscribers in many dozens of countries all over the world.  (As an aside… did you know this show has listeners in 139 countries?  Very cool… and welcome to all of my listeners outside the United States!)That newsletter is sent out on a near daily basis and contains news and strategy for investors.  We regularly host training events targeted at new investors, as a commanding percentage of the readership of that newsletter are people whose experience as real estate investors is limited.That business has been a fun, fulfilling and profitable business.  We still run it to this day.  In fact, my wife Carole is now wholly in control of that business and is, frankly, doing a better job running it than I ever did.But here’s the thing… a few years ago, a bug bit me, and I got a fever of sorts.  And I’ve never lost that fever.Here’s what happened:Several years ago, before the real estate crash, I was contacted by a group of people who were seeking to find actual investors for real transactions.  In other words, they were not EDUCATORS, they were INVESTORS looking to deploy capital, and they wanted my help with finding more clients.I got involved with them and lo and behold, the craziest thing happened…. My clients made money.  Like real, spendable profits.  Some of the clients made a lot, some of them made a little.  I don’t believe we had any losses, thankfully.  But the point was that my clients were seeing REAL, TANGIBLE results.That was a refreshing change for me.Why?  Prior to that, most of my business was wrapped up in providing educational programs to my subscribers.  So if a person wanted to learn how to flip real estate, we sold them a training program on real estate flipping.  If they wanted to be a private lender, we sold them courses on private lending.  That sort of thing.And you know what?  I was, and am, proud to be involved in that business.  There are people out there who are very self-motivated and who just want to be taught how to get a result so they can go out and produce that result.  I, myself, am the product of such an approach to learning and have thoroughly enjoyed being a part of the mix for the inestimable number of people who have learned from and implemented the training we’ve provided.But here’s the thing… education is a LONG GAME.  In other words, a person who buys a training program today COULD learn the information and start right away.  But that’s not what the overwhelming majority will do.  Most people will go through the program, or parts of it.  They’ll then put it on the shelf for a while and let it simmer in their minds.  Then at some point in the future, they’ll come back to it… or maybe not.  Education is as much about DISCOVERY as about learning… discovering the things about which you’re really actually passionate.So the education business, while rewarding, is a slow-moving thing for people who are new real estate investors.  And that’s ok… it’s very necessary.But folks, I’m an engineer.  For me, things are very black and white.  And from my vantage point, what I want now, and what I always wanted, was to produce MEASURABLE RESULTS for my clients.  And not just in the distant long term, but right away.  Over the years, I developed a working theory:  I want it to be the case that a year after doing business with me, a client can look back at their BALANCE SHEET and see where there was a clear, positive impact as a result of doing business with me.  Education and discovery isn’t enough… there must be results.Thus, Self-Directed Investor Society was born.  We still provide education, but usually it’s in the form of individual consultations for specific circumstances.  But more than anything else, we help our clients make wise decisions about deploying their capital into investments that are SIMPLE, SAFE and STRONG.  Many deals have closed for our clients in recent weeks, and many more will close this week in the next few weeks, that will match perfectly with my working theory:  The clients in those deals will have a clear, undeniably positive measurable financial impact as a result of working with the team here at Self Directed Investor Society.It’s been so humbling, folks, with so much success so quickly, and having already received substantial trust from our clients in such a short period of time.  It’s humbling, it’s gratifying… it’s amazing.And it’s all about serving one very specific group of people:  Affluent, Self-Directed Investors.So if that’s you… if you’re an AFFLUENT, SELF-DIRECTED INVESTOR… you’re in the right place, and these are exciting times.  And thank you for listening to this show.Tomorrow I’ll return with more about some truly SIMPLE, SAFE and STRONG investment opportunities that will absolutely get your attention.  You don’t want to miss it.  In fact, be sure to get on our notification list right now by texting the word SDIRADIO to 33444.My friends, invest wisely today… and live well forever! 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Every American walks around with a bazooka strapped to their should all of the time, right?  What CORE BELIEFS of yours are totally false… and are costing you the chance to enjoy astounding investment results?  I’m Bryan Ellis.  I’ll expose the profit-sucking bias you don’t even know is controlling your mind RIGHT NOW in Episode 159.----Hello SDI Nation!  Welcome to the podcast of record for savvy self-directed investors like you!So there we were in an elevator.  My wife and I were heading downstairs in a hotel to a presentation to some affluent investors.  I had a large cylinder strapped over my should which contained a poster I was going to use in the presentation.  The doors opened on another floor for a lady to get in, and when she said “hello”… it was clear she was European.But she kept staring at my poster tube.  She seemed really uncomfortable.So, clearly joking, I looked at her and said – “This is my bazooka.  Where’s yours?”  If you don’t know, a bazooka is a cylindrical weapon used to launch grenades at tanks.Well, the lady turned pale white.  She appeared to choke up.  So I told her to relax… I was only kidding… it’s just a poster.She then said the strangest thing to me… she said:  “Well, I watch news.  I know all of you Americans are heavily armed.”That’s right, folks… that’s what the rest of the world thinks of us.  That we all walk around with bazookas strapped to our shoulders.  And this is NOT a fabricated story, folks.  But it’s a GREAT example of ignorant, false bias.  More on that in a moment.My friends… I’d like to thank you for the incredibly kind response you showed to my show on yesterday where I opened up a bit about a mistake I nearly made concerning raising capital to work with my clients.               If you didn’t get to hear it, I’d really recommend you do so now… you can hear it at SDIRadio.com/158.As a result of that show, I got a really cool note from one of my clients named Joe out in Arizona, thanking me for the transparency and offering a word of encouragement.  Joe… man, I really appreciate your note of support.  Joe has placed several hundred thousand dollars into play in other transactions he’s doing with us, and he very kindly indicated he plans to deploy another $100,000 with us.  I really do appreciate your confidence, Joe… as always, we’ll serve you very, very well.  I thank you for the opportunity, sir!So what about this CORE BELIEF that many of you hold… a latent form of discrimination, which is costing you REAL financial opportunity?Here’s an illustration:I have a friend who’s just a really great salt-of-the-earth type of guy.  Loves his kids.  Works hard.  He went through a divorce recently, so that was tough on him.  He’s a t-shirt and jeans kind of guy, but is a respected professional too… regularly speaks to very large audiences and is well known in his industry. This guy drives a normal car.  He has a nice, but not particularly extravagant home.  Not because he can’t afford it… but because his personal style is more subdued.  His kids go to good private schools.  On the surface, this guy has an upper-middle-class kind of lifestyle.But BELOW the surface… this guy is FLUSH.  I mean… he has stupid-high cash flows… consistently, each and every month.  He will never be worried about money for a single day in his life, because he’s got money coming in – in VERY LARGE VOLUME – each and every month.  His cash flows would enable him to live anywhere in the world that he wants to live.And his cash flow is TRULY PASSIVE.  He does NOTHING to maintain it.  I mean… not a darn thing.One more thing… he’s young… in his mid 40’s… and achieved this without an inheritance or winning the lottery.  How’d he do it?He buys little houses in just a few specific markets in the south and east… He particularly likes Alabama.  He pays no more than about $55,000 each for them, full renovated. He then leases them out through a government program that provides housing for lower income people.  And he has property managers handle it all who specializes in this particular program.Here’s what I know:  Even right now, a lot of you, my dear listeners… well, you’re having a “bazooka moment” just like the European lady in the elevator.  Whether you admit it to yourself or not, the misinformation you’ve accepted as truth is raising big red flags in your mind.That is your profit-sucking bias at work.  And I’d like to begin to free you of that monster today.For some of you – many of you – your bias is against anywhere that’s not your home… that’s particularly true for my friends in California.  Many of you have a clear bias against investing in the southern United States, particularly the southeast, thinking incorrectly that the region remains the exclusive domain of hillbillies and gap-toothed morons… when in reality, there are more Fortune 500 businesses headquartered in Texas than in any other state and 3 of the top 5 states are in the south and east; the two largest research parks in the country are in the Triangle Park area of North Carolina and in Huntsville, Alabama; and four of the five biggest banks in the country are headquartered in the east. Those gap-toothed hillbillies have done quite well for themselves, haven’t they?Some of you have bias against smaller, inexpensive homes… thinking that because a tiny 1-bedroom condo in San Francisco costs way over $500,000 that if a 3-bedroom house that costs 1/10th of that, it must be in a crime-ridden slum, when in reality, there’s far more crime in L.A. than in the neighborhoods where these homes are located.And some of you have a bias against being involved in government programs that serve lower income Americans… assuming that all such people are inherently disrespectful of their place of residence and incapable of being good tenants.Hogwash, folks.  I can’t count how many HIGHLY experienced investors I know who now strongly PREFER well-screened tenants from the government program because they ALWAYS get their rent on time and because those tenants have a huge incentive – that of getting a free place to live – to be a good tenant.Your assumptions are, respectfully, outdated and misinformed. So, to the person who just sold a highly appreciated property in California and now wants to reinvest the $1,000,000 profit – maybe even as part of a time-sensitive 1031 exchange – and you’re considering taking that money and using it as a down payment so you can buy $5,00,000 of property elsewhere…What if it was possible to take that same money… and instead of taking on more debt, you buy 18 properties… all newly renovated, each owned totally free and clear, and each managed by highly competent professionals and, IMMEDIATELY, within DAYS of your purchase, begin to net way over $100,000 per year… and get some EXTRAORDINARY tax benefits to boot?All, might I add, without your active involvement?This can be done.  And it can be done in places that are good, safe areas.  Probably not places where you live.  Certainly not in the place that I live.  But in good, safe areas… areas that offer real leverageyou’re your capital and lead to real on-going wealth… real financial freedom.So here’s the thing:  I’m going to challenge you right now.  Begin to release that discrimination.  Let it go.  Let truth be your guide rather than the media and Hollywood.  Because my friends, in the coming weeks, I’m going to UNLEASH some astounding opportunities to you… opportunities you won’t see if your point of view is so narrow that you may as well be viewing your portfolio through the barrel of a bazooka. And yes… since I always get this question, the answer is YES… yes, if you’re looking to deploy capital – particularly into high-quality, full managed cash flow opportunities – yes, you should reach out to me right now… great options are available.  You can do so right now at SDIRadio.com/consultation.  Again, that’s SDIRadio.com/consultation.My friends… invest wisely today, and live well forever! 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Ever had a BIG SETBACK in your investing objectives?  Yesterday, I had one, and I’d like to tell you about it so we can all learn together.  This one is expensive, folks… and will be good for you to know.  I’m Bryan Ellis.  This is Episode 158.----Hello, SDI Nation!  Welcome to the podcast of record for savvy self-directed investors like you.Folks, I’m guilty of something that I’d like to confess.  It’s not really a sin or a moral failing, but something that I need to correct nonetheless.This show… which I LOVE doing… I mean I truly LOVE it… every episode is like a dream fulfilled for me, well… I’ve not been as fully authentic with you as I want.  That’s not to say I’ve been deceptive… that’s far from the truth.  In fact, I pride myself on offering you brutal honesty.  And that must come through, given then really nice review that Dave the Cop left for this show on iTunes where he said “Bryan’s program and information is refreshing!  His honesty and integrity come through.”Dave, I really… REALLY appreciate that very much.But where the authenticity issue comes into play is this:  I’ve been providing information to you – good information, relevant information, actionable information – and been doing it in a highly scripted manner.  Every morning, I write this show – word for word – and then I record it.  I try my best to make every single word perfect, every pause meaningful and every topic timely and relevant.And I think, based on the way you folks have responded, that I’ve done pretty well… and I thank you for your kind feedback.And here’s the thing:I’m a true self-directed investor.  Like, at my core, that’s what I am.  I LOVE this stuff.  I love it!  The reason I do this show is because this is what I think about all day long every single day.  I think about investment opportunities, I think about legal constructs, I think about ways to help people grow their portfolios.  This is really who I am.  This is me at my core, and I LOVE this stuff.But you know… my existence as a self-directed investor is NOT well scripted.  It’s pretty chaotic sometimes.  Sometimes – like yesterday – big fires appear out of nowhere that must be faced and put down.  And frankly, up to this point in the show, I’d never consider sharing that kind of stuff with you.  Even though I’ve never really admitted it to myself until now, the truth is that I hoped you folks would see me as some sort of exalted aspirational figure with all of the answers… as the wise man at the top of the mountain, so to speak.And I still aspire to that.  But from now on, I’m going to be more transparent with you about what’s happening here with Self Directed Investor Society on a day-to-day basis.  Not because you care about my business, but because, at the core, remember this:  You and I are the same.  The exact same.  The reason I do this show is to advance my own self-directed investment objectives by way of providing value to my listeners.  That’s 100% of my motivation, and nothing else.  So, you and I are the same… and hopefully my experiences can benefit you.So the big lesson from yesterday:  Securities law.  Let me set the stage for you:Like I said, the entire reason I do this show is to advance my own self-directed investment objectives by way of providing great opportunities to my clients.  We’ve got a deal going on right now whereby we’re taking on new clients for a turnkey flipping program in Stockton California.  Frankly, the response has been overwhelming.  We’re having an event out in Stockton in early December, and within 3 days of opening that offer, it was full.  If you want to learn more about it for the next round, you can check it out at SDIRadio.com/stockton.  But bottom line… the response has been amazing.Now, understand that I’m not making a pitch to you right now for the offer at SDIRadio.com/stockton.  I’m just giving you some context.  So the way that deal works is that our clients put up some capital, which my team then uses to purchase a property, renovate it and resell it.  We then share the profits.  Everybody wins… it’s a good thing, with a massive amount of successful history to prove it.So here’s the deal… a lawyer out there in the great state of California told me that he sees this deal differently than other lawyers I’ve spoken to, and that he believes that we could have some trouble with securities laws.  Now folks, if there’s one area I don’t want to get tangled up in, it’s securities laws.  When you mess up there, it’s go-to-jail type of stuff.  Now, securities laws don’t matter until somebody loses money, and I have no plans for anybody to ever lose money.  But until I have a crystal ball, I’ve got to plan for the worst, right?Well, bottom line… this lawyer says that we need to form a particular type of investment fund – called a 506b – that allows us to raise money from accredited investors, and that exempts us from those securities concerns.  Ok… fair enough, I think… let’s do it.  It’s inconvenient because it’s going to introduce a minor change into the structure of the deal that I’ve already mentioned to my investors, but it’s a very small change for them, so I don’t think they’ll care.But then comes the big news – it’s going to cost a LOT of money to do this.  I’m not going to say how much, but solid 5 figures.  As in, I’ve got to wire him the money tomorrow… and that’s only because today is a bank holiday.By the way… Veterans:  Thank you for your service.  Thank you from the bottom of my heart.  Thank you on behalf of my family.  Just know that many of us – most of us – in America are truly, truly, truly grateful to and for you.  May God bless and keep you.So, just like that, a huge expenditure that I wasn’t expecting… a painful expenditure… one I didn’t really want to make.But here’s the upside… and something I want to help you to understand… now, I can run that part of the business with confidence that I’m compliant, and we can do many, many millions of dollars in real estate business in the next few months… and everybody wins!  My clients will enjoy exactly the same profits, my business partners will enjoy exactly the same profits, and I will enjoy exactly the same profits, too… minus this big chunk.  But that’s ok.  That’s the way it’s got to be if you’re a self-directed investor who serves the interests of other investors, as I do.Here’s one more bit of vulnerability:  The fact that I didn’t know this already – about the need to structure our business in that particular manner – well, it’s disturbing. In this case, we took care of it before there was a problem.  But it makes me wonder… what other things don’t I know?  What other lessons of experience have I yet to learn?Thankfully, we’ve endured no real calamities in our business in the past, and God willing, it will stay that way.  We try very hard… and focus very hard on getting great legal advice… to avoid problems in the future by being smart today.That’s all for today, my friends…  Tune in tomorrow and I’ll tell you more about the particulars of raising money like we’re doing.  You’ll benefit from that regardless of whether you want to raise money, or if you’re considering partnering with someone like me who is doing so.Invest wisely today, and live well forever! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

WHAT IF you could buy a GREAT MUTIFAMILY property that stands on it’s own as a GREAT INVESTMENT… but without spending a single penny more, you get a HUGE tax benefit for this year’s taxes… and in the process, you feed over 1,500 desperately poor children 2 meals every single day?  Today’s DEAL OF THE WEEK is the ultimate example of doing very well for yourself while doing great good for others.  I’m Bryan Ellis… this is Episode 157.----Hello SDI Nation!  Welcome to the podcast of record for savvy self-directed investors like you!I’m REALLY JAZZED about today’s show, people!  You’re going to hear about an awesome investment opportunity that – even if there wasn’t an EXTRAORDINARY social and spiritual benefit attached to it – would be a great deal all by itself.  But with this add-on benefit… wow… this one is impossible to ignore.So here’s the thing…My wife Carole and I have a burning desire to bring practical help to people who are desperately poor and without hope.  We don’t talk publicly about this private passion of ours very much, but we – and our companies – give rather aggressively to that effect.  I’ll not share the numbers with you, but suffice it to say:  We absolutely put our money where our mouth is on this.But I’m not really a fan of making the nebulous statement that, for every new client, we’ll donate to charity XYZ.  I’m not critical of that, I just don’t think it’s for me.  I like specificity.So how about this:  Whoever gets in on the deal I describe to you today will not only get a GREAT and HIGH-CASH FLOWING multi-family investment deal that absolutely stands on its own in terms of quality, but you’ll also get a tax deduction of about $65,000 for THIS YEAR… and that money will be used to feed over 1,500 children 2 meals a day… children who live in the desperately poor slums of Nairobi, Kenya, in Africa… the single biggest slum in the entire world.If you’re listening to this show over at SDIRadio.com/157 be sure to check out the picture of the Nairobi slums… it’s heartbreaking… and that’s where you’ll be making a HUGE difference… literally a life-saving difference.Here’s the deal:I’ve got a GREAT multi-family unit in Birmingham, Alabama.  It’s a 5-unit… each unit has 2 beds and one bath and it’s just been COMPLETELY renovated!  It’s practically a brand new property!All 5 units are ALREADY rented.  The Veteran’s Administration has rented the entire building for veterans who need housing.  Each unit will collect $600 per month… a total of $3,000 per month.  And here’s the thing:  With the VA, you get your payments, period.  On time, every time, every month.  There’s no squabbling with tenants.  You get your income, period.  No question about it.Now folks, I’m not going to go into great detail on this deal, but I’ll put it like this:  After factoring out property taxes, insurance, property management and very generous allowances for vacancy and maintenance, my calculations suggest you’ll end up with net annual cash flow of about $25,000.  So after factoring in the purchase price of $250,000… well, you’ll be yielding a solid 10% on your money every year… not to mention the on-going tax benefits of depreciation and the potential – the probability, actually, of growing rents over time.So bottom line… this is a very, very good deal all on it’s own.  No doubt about it… a very good deal.  The numbers are solid… the valuation is appraiser-supported, the income is already contractually committed, the property management is experienced and in place… this is a turnkey investor’s dream scenario.But here’s how we’re making a deal that’s already WISE and PROFITABLE be even better… by adding a rare adjective for real estate investments:  LIFE-SAVING.I’m going to be brutally honest with you about this.  This property is worth $250,000 as I mentioned.  And I’ve got a good opportunity on this one… I can buy, totally finished, for $185,000.  That’s a difference of $65,000.What I want to do is see that money – the part of the deal that would normally be my profit – go to our team in Nairobi, Kenya for our feeding programs.So I’m prepared to adjust this deal however it needs to be adjusted to see that happen.  We’ll certainly have to get some tax advice to make sure that we do everything properly, but here’s the bottom line – you can either reduce what you pay for this property from $250,000 to $185,000 and simultaneously make a charitable donation of the balance, or you can pay the full $250,000 and I’ll donate the profit.  Doesn’t really matter to me, and the right answer is probably relative to your tax situation.My goal is one thing:  To make a huge, immediate impact for some children who, without this help, may not see the end of the year.And depending on how you want to structure this deal, you could get a tax deduction for THIS YEAR of a whopping $65,000!  That could reduce your income taxes by over $25,000 this year alone… and that’s just federal income tax.  For you people who live in confiscation states like Hawaii, New York and ESPECIALLY California… you’ll have an even bigger immediate benefit!Plus… since you’ll effectively only be paying $185,000 for this deal, your cap rate will explode upwards to well over 13%!Now like I said, this deal stands on its own merit without the huge extra benefit.  No doubt about it, it’s a solid, solid deal.  But with this tax benefit… well, this one is a SLAM DUNK.And if you’re wondering… no, there’s no sneaky structuring whereby I actually profit from this deal.  That’s not my goal.  I’ve been blessed already, and I believe the entire purpose of being blessed is so that I can be a blessing.  And by using this deal as the medium through which that happens… you can have an astoundingly positive benefit, too!So what I’m going to do is host a webinar later this week and I’ll tell you all about this deal.  It’ll be an online pro-forma of sorts.  I’ll also tell you about my team in Nairobi – with whom I’ve been working closely for YEARS… this isn’t a new relationship – and exactly how they’re having such a huge impact on those who are truly, desperately poor.This deal has everything, folks… great value, high cash flow, massive immediate tax benefits, great enduring tax benefits through depreciation… and maybe even most importantly… you’ll LITERALLY be saving lives.I dare you… go find an investment with returns better than that.  I dare you.So you can get it on the webinar this week by going to SDIRadio.com/kenya.  Again, that’s SDIRadio.com/kenya.My friends… if you’re a real estate investor who has ever dreamed of making a real difference in the lives of others… of somehow bringing a tangible, substantive, truly life-giving benefit to others as a direct result of your investing… well, this is your chance.Remember:  This deal, without the extra incentives, is a great deal.  No doubt about it.  With the incentives… it’s of incomparable value.So come over to SDIRadio.com/kenya right now for more information.My friends:  Invest wisely today – and help yourself, your family, and thousands of children in Nairobi, Kenya to live well forever!      Hosted on Acast. 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What is the HOTTEST REAL ESTATE MARKET in America?  A “top 20 hottest markets in America” list was just released by a big real estate organization… but I’ll tell you why their #1 market isn’t even close… and what part of the country absolutely is LIGHTING IT UP where real estate appreciation is concerned… and how YOU can profit from it, no matter where you live!  I’m Bryan Ellis.  This is episode 156.-----Hello SDI Nation!  Welcome to the podcast of record for savvy, self-directed investors like you!Ok, people, I get it!  You missed me!  Hehehehe.  Thank you for all of the nice emails so many of you have sent me in the last few days as I had to step back and focus on our real estate business a bit.  There are some crazy exciting things happening and it’s been so much fun to watch.  Carole and I have about 13 real estate transactions in progress right now and 3 of them are closing in the coming week alone.  So things are just crazy right now… crazy wonderful!So… you want to know about the hottest market in America?Well, the infamous National Association of Realtors – the organization famous for saying “it’s a great time to buy” no matter what’s going on the economy – releases a “hottest markets” list from time to time.And I’ll tell you… as a matter of trivia, it is pretty interesting.  If you’d like to get a copy of that HOT MARKETS list, I’ll be happy to send it to you… just text the word HOTLIST with no spaces to 33444 and I’ll send it to you.So here’s the thing:  The top HOT MARKET in America for October 2015 was, according to Realtor.com, Denver, Colorado.Denver, in case you’ve never visited, is a beautiful city.  Really nice place.  I can totally see why people would want to live there, and why it’s an in-demand market.  I’ve got nothing bad to say about that city at all.But there is something worth noting:Denver is #1 on the Realtor.com list, sure.  And well deserved, I’m sure.  But here’s the thing:Of the top 20 hottest markets in America, 12 of them – 60% - are in the state of California.Now that alone is pretty amazing.  But let’s face it:  California is bigger than most countries in the world, so it’s not statistically improbable that there’d be a high concentration of hot markets there.  But let’s take it one step further to see where the REAL hottest market in America is.As I said, 12 of the 20 hottest markets are in California.  But of those 12, 9 of them are concentrated in a small area of Northern California.  All 9 of those markets are within about 100 miles of each other.So what you have is 9 blazing hot markets supporting each other… natural spillover causing great market strength in the broader area.It’s all arguably a function of the astounding success of the tech sector and the venture capital business in and around Silicon Valley and San Francisco.  But that strength – ASTOUNDING strength, to be sure – is spreading the wealth in the markets of Northern California.One of those markets is Stockton, CA.  Yes, THAT Stockton… the one that’s famous for crime problems and also for having gone bankrupt back in 2013.  Stockton is absolutely ON FIRE… and the investors who are making bank there just don’t seem to care about those things.How hot is it? Well, just a couple of days ago, I got a market analysis report from Zillow about Stockton.  Bottom line?  Zillow has observed that Stockton has appreciated by 12% in the past year, and they’re predicting appreciation of 19% in the coming year.That, my friends, is CRAZY awesome.  Imagine what it would mean for your portfolio if all of your properties appreciated by 19% in the coming year?  You’d be doing a happy dance, for sure!I wanted to zero in on Stockton because it’s unique among many of the super hot markets in northern California. It’s unique because it’s large enough that there’s a lot of real estate activity – there are about 300,000 residents of that city – but small enough that there’s not much in the way of competition from BIG MONEY interests like hedge funds and other major capital sources.  And that means something really good for individual investors like me and you:  Serious opportunity.Now stick with me here, folks, because this serious opportunity exists for EVERYBODY… not just those of you who are physically close to Northern California.Let me give you an example of what my team in Stockton is doing RIGHT NOW.  As in… November 4… Wednesday of this week.My team picked up a property in Stockton on Fairway Glen street for $137,000.  We’ll put about $12 grand into fixing it… and in about 100 days – barely even three months – we’ll have resold it for at least $195,000.  We’re confidently predicting a net profit of about $33,000.Now this one isn’t one of our top 10 deals.  Not even close.  This one will likely yield about 22% cash-on-cash in 100 days.  Maybe more than that, because the fact is that the time between now and when we put the property back on the market is enough for property values to have been pushed even higher.And here’s what I want you to understand:  This deal is one we’re doing for a CLIENT.  A client who will never pick up a hammer.  A client who will never see the property.  A client who, for all practical purposes, has no connection to real estate investing whatsoever… other than that she sees the clear opportunity to do very, very well by taking advantage of the scorching hot market there in Stockton.And you know… you can’t really do this the same way in San Jose or San Francisco.  Yes, the markets are exploding there, too.  But the entry point for doing deals is SO MUCH HIGHER in those markets that it really precludes involvement from all but the most cash-rich among us.Well here’s why I’m telling you all this, my friends:  Just yesterday, I opened 7 spots for new clients in the SDI Passive Property Flipping program.  For these clients, my team will FIND the great deals in the Stockton market, we’ll FIX the property to great resale condition, and will FLIP it to the next buyer… FAST!  Here’s something that’s cool:  Fully 1/3 of our deals in Stockton take a grand total of 90 days or less!  Yep.  Full life cycle from purchase to reno to sale and close of escrow.  90 days.Now here’s the thing:  3 of those spots are already taken after less than one day of availability.  I suspect they’ll all be full within a week… maybe even within a day or two……and if you’d like to take advantage of the amazing opportunity to make VERY substantial gains in your portfolio from investing in a TRULY HISTORICALLY STRONG market… without getting your hands dirty at all, then here’s what you should do RIGHT NOW:Visit SDIRadio.com/stockton right now.  There you’ll find a webinar that I’ve created that will tell you all about this program.  You’ll see a whole lot of case studies… not including the one I just mentioned to you, because that one is literally under 48 hours old… but you’ll see a LOT of case studies… all from the latter part of this year, so they’re all fresh, real examples.You’ll see how the program works and learn whether you qualify for it.  But I respectfully recommend you go to check it out RIGHT NOW at SDIRadio.com/stockton.  We do have a “tour” event coming up in early December so that you can come out and meet the team if you’d like, but there’s a VERY VERY LIMITED capacity for that event.  So go right now to SDIRadio.com/stockton to learn more.My friends…Invest wisely today, and live well forever! 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You want great investment opportunities in the Golden State of California!  Well, we’ve got the great opportunities you’ve been looking for in Cali, and I’ll tell you all about them right now.  I’m Bryan Ellis.  This is Episode 155.----Hello, SDI Nation!  Welcome to the podcast of record for savvy self-directed investors like you!Here we are on another glorious Monday!  I don’t know if you look forward to Monday like I do, but my friends… it’s got to be my favorite day of the week… Except for the other 6, which I also love!Folks, a disproportionately large number of you, my dear listeners, live out in California.  And a lot of you who don’t live there would like the opportunity to invest there.Today, I’m going to tell you about a way to do that that’s Simple… Safe… and Strong.  Crazy strong, actually.Let’s start with a little example, shall we?Just a few weeks ago, the SDI Flipping Team in northern California closed a very good – and rather typical for us – real estate flip transaction.Will you bear with me for 30 seconds while I give you some numbers for those of you who are detail oriented?  Don’t worry… I’ll reduce it down to net profit and total duration in just a second.  Here are the quick details:  This house sold for $180,000.  We bought it for $121.  Put about $14,000 worth of rehab into it.But for any deal, there are really only 3 bottom line numbers that matter – out-of-pocket investment, net profit, and duration.And for this deal – on Houston Avenue in Stockton California – the total out-of-pocket was $135,500.  Total NET profit… after all costs… was $38,200… which is 28.1% cash-on-cash profit… and it all happened in a total of 45 days.If you’re listening to this podcast on our website at SDIRadio.com, just scroll down to see a picture of this property – courtesy of Zillow – and a delightful little table showing those numbers:Purchase Price:  $121,00Resale Price:  $180,000Out-Of-Pocket Costs:  $135,500Profit:  $38,200 (28.1% Cash-on-Cash)Duration:  45 daysNow here’s the thing, folks:There’s nothing that’s unusual about that, for experienced flippers.In fact, RealtyTrac releases a report each quarter about flipping activity in the United States.  The most recent such report is for the third quarter of 2015 – released just in the last few days – and what it shows is that real estate flipping is BIG……with over 43,000 flips completed in just the third quarter of this year.  That’s 5% of all home sale volume, but the really interesting stats are the average gross profit number – a whopping $62,122 per deal – and the average gross ROI – also a MASSIVE 33.8%.So there’s huge results being generated in very large volume out there right now, if you’re in the right market.So why are we focused on Northern California?Well folks, it’s just a question of looking at the data.Just this morning – November 2, 2015 – realtor.com released their latest list of 20 hottest markets in America… and almost half of those 20 markets for the entire country are… wait for it…In Northern California!  Whether you’re talking about San Francisco or Sacramento or Stockton… that’s really where the action is.Now, let’s be clear… this isn’t a low-dollar game.  The one region of Northern California where we focus is, I believe, the very best option available because the prices there are more affordable, but even so, you really shouldn’t even think about getting involved in flipping in NorCal unless you have a budget of at least $200,000.But if you do… just think of it!The example I gave you is just one of DOZENS my teams has performed this year… and that one isn’t particularly unusual.We closed on another one just recently in Stockton… the #11 hottest market in America… And this one yielded a net profit of almost $56,000 versus an investment from our client of $176k… that’s a net roi of 31.7%!That one took 150 days… but only because we had to evict a tenant from the property after we bought it.  But we knew that going in, and frankly… the numbers were just too good to pass up… and I’m glad we took it… 31.7% net ROI in 150 days?  I’d take it every single time.So, my friends… some of you are looking for great investment opportunities in California?  Well, I’ve got you covered… but I’ve only got room for a grand total of 5 new turnkey flipping clients right now.Never heard of Turnkey Flipping?  Well think of it like this:  You fund the deal.  You do nothing else.  And 3-6 months later… you get your money back plus a big, big payday.  That’s the bottom line!Yes, there’s risk.  It’s entirely possible that California could break off into the ocean and you’d lose your entire investment.  And frankly, that’s one risk that I’ve not yet figured out how to hedge against.But we have many, many very happy turnkey flipping clients and I’m so excited to offer you the opportunity to join us as a turnkey flipping client in the scorching hot markets of Northern California!Want to learn more?  Then check out SDIRadio.com/norcal where I have a special webinar waiting on you with more information about this special opportunity.  Again, that’s SDIRadio.com/norcal… during that webinar, I’ll give you a WHOLE LOT MORE case studies, and I’ll give you a thorough introduction to the PROCESS we use for analyzing, selecting, purchasing, renovating and reselling properties.  You’ll understand where all of our efficiencies happen and why it’s possible for US to get great deals in a market that’s so hot it’s practically boiling.So that’s all for today, my friends… check out SDIRadio.com/norcal for more info right away.  And remember:Invest wisely today… and live well forever! 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Want a BRILLIANT way to find a high-quality tenant for your rental property?  This one is so simple, and so powerful, it’ll SHOCK you.  I’m Bryan Ellis… this is Episode 154.----Hello, SDI Nation!  Welcome to the podcast of record for savvy self-directed investors like you!If you’re buying nice houses in nice neighborhoods as rentals, one thing is for sure:  You have a HUGE vested interest in making sure that you’re finding great, high-quality tenants.  In fact, when you’re buying into “Class A” type homes, the lower the concentration of rental properties versus owner occupants is for your target area, the more important it is that you find what I call “owner-quality” renters.Good news:  I’ve got a brilliant and simple way to do that.But here’s the thing – you shouldn’t be managing your own property, even if you live next door.  Let property managers do what they do, and you focus on building your portfolio.  So, maybe you should tell your property manager to listen to this episode for your benefit.  Just tell them to check out SDIRadio.com/154 to hear this concept.So here’s the premise of the strategy:In nice “Class A” type neighborhoods, neighbors aren’t exactly thrilled when they learn that a property in the area has become a rental.  We can all understand why… there’s the perception that more renters mean lower property values.  That’s not inherently true, but that is what many home owners think.But there’s a GREAT way to use that to your advantage to find high-caliber, owner-quality renters at exceptionally low cost.Here’s how it works:First, get a list of every address in the neighborhood.  You can buy that from a data service, or you can just take an hour one day and write them down.  Either way is great.Second, send a POSTCARD to every one of those addresses.  The postcard has one purpose:  To startle the other homeowners… to make them feel a bit of concern.  That will happen by using postcards of a particular color – I like neon colors – and by using very specific wording on the postcard.  Something like:  WARNING!  One home in our neighborhood is in danger of decreasing our property values, and it requires immediate action. Call this number for information – it’s just a recorded message for residents of NEIGHBORHOOD NAME only.  The idea is that you write a postcard that’s somewhat alarming because it mentions a threat to property values… but it’s also vague because it doesn’t say WHICH PROPERTY is the “threat”.Third, when owners in your rental’s neighborhood call that number, what they’ll hear is YOUR VOICE on a voice mail message – you won’t actually speak to them, they’ll just hear the voice mail –you’re your message will explain to them that you’ve bought that property and you’re fixing it up and will now be renting it out… and that it’s extremely important to YOU that you help to protect and enhance their property values.  Then you tell them you’re about to find a tenant, but what you’d REALLY like is a tenant that’s recommended by an existing member of the community, because you’ve found that tenants with a connection to the community are very responsible and act more like owners than renters.  And you’ll ask them to make a recommendation to you about anyone they know who might like to live in the area.You might even sweeten the pot by offering a referral fee of some sort.Then at the end of the message, they’ll hear a beep and they can let you know if they have a referral.Pretty cool, right?Now it’s REALLY important that the postcard and the voice mail message be very, very well written… I can’t stress this enough.  Using the wrong postcard verbiage or the wrong voice mail message could not only make the strategy fail, but could also put you in a very negative situation with the neighbors.So if you’re interested… if you see the immediate value of finding a tenant based on neighbor referrals… here's a sample postcard and voicemail script that does this very, very well.But as cool as it is to have the neighbors themselves find a tenant for you, that’s not the really cool part.When you use the right kind of phone service for this, what happens is that the telephone numbers of the callers are collected… and the numbers that are cell phones are placed onto a list that makes it really easy for you to send a text message to everybody on that list whenever you want.  Thus, you’ll be able to easily find tenants again in the future… with just a simple text message… and you could use the same list to help find a BUYER when the time comes to sell that property!Want a great option for this service?  Check out this service - it's cheap, effective and does the job really, really well!Having an easy way to quickly communicate with the entire neighborhood instantly… well that’s OVERWHELMINGLY valuable for a landlord.Now, again… I’d like to stress that you probably shouldn’t be doing this yourself.  Instead, ask your property manager to listen to this episode and have them do it for you.  But it’s a great strategy worth applying in your own rental property portfolio. I hope you enjoy the resources I've provided to you today.  Of course, if you're a member of the SDI Discussion Group, you received this stuff directly via email this morning.What?  You're NOT a part of the SDI Discussion Group?  There's a simple solution, and it's free!  Just text the word SDIRADIO to 33444 right now.  No spaces, no periods, just text the word SDIRADIO to 33444 and you'll get automatic access to the future resources automatically at no cost!My friends:  Invest wisely today, and live well forever! 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Want a way to generate monthly cash flow that’s MORE PROFITABLE and LOWER STRESS even than a well-managed rental property?  How’s 12% per year - or more - sound?  I’m Bryan Ellis, and I’ll tell you how to do it RIGHT NOW in Episode 153.----Hello SDI Nation!  Welcome to the podcast of record for savvy self-directed investors like you!People, people, people… I’ve been getting a lot of notes lately saying something like… “Bryan… you used to talk a lot about real estate notes as the best asset class, and now all I hear you talking about is rental properties.  Aren’t notes still a good option?”My friends, not only are high-quality real estate notes a good option, but they remain a MUCH BETTER FOUNDATION for your portfolio than anything else… including rental properties!For those of you who may be new listeners, a note – also called a mortgage – is just a loan for which real estate is placed as collateral.  So let’s say you have $100,000.  You might choose to lend that to someone in exchange for a certain interest rate.  But in order to make it safe for you to lend, you require that the borrower place a piece of real estate as collateral that you can sell if the borrower fails to make his payments as agreed.  That’s a simple explanation of notes – they’re really just real estate loans.  No more than that.And usually, when a person wants to invest in notes, what they’re looking to do is to find a note that’s been originated by a lender, and then the investor – that’s somebody like you – would look to buy that note from that lender in order to generate a good yield on their capital.And do you know what?  That kind of deal DOES happen every day… but, generally speaking, not with individual investors.  Sure, there are individuals who have the connections to pull off good note deals, but that’s pretty rare.But that doesn’t matter, my friends, because there’s a MUCH BETTER WAY.  And that way is to create your very own notes – with exactly the terms you want – from scratch!Now my friends, I’ll quickly explain the process to you.  There are a few of you in the audience who are do-it-yourselfers and will take what I give you and run with it… and that’s great!  But for the vast majority of my audience who are true passive investors, you should listen in for a moment as well so you understand the process… and then I’ll tell you how to have it all DONE FOR YOU – totally passively – in just a minute.So here’s how it works:The basic idea is that you’ll buy a house, and then you’ll TRANSFORM that house into a paying real estate note.  How?  You’ll sell the house using a strategy called Seller Financing, in which the buyer – rather than going to the bank to get a loan – the buyer will give YOU a down payment, and then they’ll also make payments to you for years to come, just as if you were the bank.  When you do this, you’ve BECOME THE BANK and you’ve transformed your house into a cash-flowing note!But what kind of house does this work best with?  Well, there are 3 simple financial standards you should look for.  Curiously, the standards are all related to RENTAL RATES.  Why?  What you’ll find is that by targeting RENTERS who want to be buyers with a special message – that message being “you can now OWN a property for what you’re paying in RENT – then you’ll find it quite simple to convert houses into NOTES… and that’s the whole goal.  Thus, all of the standards involve the prevailing market rental rate for the property in question.  We’re going to use the rental rate to BACK IN to what we charge the buyer when they buy the property from us via seller financing.So standard #1 is Rent To Value, or RTV – just divide the value of the property by the monthly rent.  What you’re looking for is a number at or below 100.Standard #2 is Rent To Price, or RTP – just divide the actual PRICE you’re paying by the monthly rent.  What you’re looking for is a number that’s no higher than 80, and the lower the better.Standard #3 is Rent to Recurring Costs, or RTR – just divide the sum total amount that has to be paid each month to cover property taxes, insurance and any servicing fees by the monthly rent amount.  A good standard here is that recurring costs should be, at most, 25-30% of the monthly rent amount.That’s all a bunch of mathematical gobbledygook at this point, so let’s look at a real deal.So I’ve got a little house that’s newly renovated.  It’s worth $60,000 and I can buy it for $45,000.  Market rent for this house is $750.So what I’m going to do is buy it for $45,000, I’m going to sell it for about 10% more than the cash sale price, so I’ll sell it for about $66,000.  I’ll ask for a down payment of about 10% - let’s say $6,000 – and then I’ll finance the rest of it – $60,000 – for the buyer in the form of a note.But what will the interest rate of that note be?  That’s easy – we let the market tell us.  We already know the property rents for $750, and that we want to market this thing as being available for the same price as rent.  So all we do is take out the monthly cost for things like property taxes, insurance and servicing fees, and what we’re left with is the amount we can collect in principal and interest.In this case, that number is $612.50 per month.Then, with the help of my trusty-dusty, handy-dandy financial calculator, I see that if I want to finance the amount of $60,000 and receive payments of $612.50 per month for, say, 20 years, then the face rate of that note will be a whopping 10.83%!That’s right, folks… you’ll yield 10.83% for 20 years.  And that’s a BEAUTIFUL thing! But is that ACTUALLY right?No, it’s not.  The truth is even better.  Because while the amount you’ve financed for the buyer is $60,000 – remember that the amount you actually have tied up in the purchase of the property is only $45,000!  So returning to my trusty-dusty, hand-dandy financial calculator, what I learn is that by collecting the same amount of money per month, but by having only $45grand invested rather than 60 – well, your annual yield goes up to an eye-popping 15.6%!And remember – your capital is secured against the property.  If the buyer defaults – which is statistically improbable on any given deal – then you can sell the property on the open market or even just resell it to another owner financed buyer!  With these deals, the downside is not distressing, and the upside is simply BEAUTIFUL!So, my friends:  Those of you who have been itching to do a really great real estate note deal yourself… but you’re having trouble finding a good note to buy… I’ve got great news for you!I’m not introducing the world’s very first turnkey real estate NOTE investing program… and you’re going to love it.  My team will do all the work for you – we’ll find a great property that meets the parameters, perform the marketing to find a seller-financed buyer for you, and we’ll put it all together in a pretty little package so that you have to do virtually nothing other than fund the purchase of the property… and shortly thereafter, you end up with a note that can pay you – and pay you HANDSOMELY – for decades to come!But we’re doing this as a test only.  I already know the strategy works… what we’re testing is whether it’s worth our time to offer this as a turnkey service.  So I’ll be taking on exactly 5 test clients, and two of those spots are already taken.Want to know more?  Everything you need to know is in a short webinar at SDIRadio.com/noteinvesting.  Again, that’s SDIRadio.com/noteinvesting.  Go over and check it out.  If you’re looking for low-stress investments with a consistently high yield, you’ll love what you find there.My friends, invest wisely today… and live well forever! 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There’s been a IMPORTANT RULING in federal court that’s big for owners of rental properties… and this one is all about MANDATORY GOVERNMENT INSPECTIONS of rental houses.  If you’re a prospective owner of rental property, pay close attention to this one.  I’m Bryan Ellis.  This is episode 152.----Hello, SDI Nation!  Welcome to the podcast of record for savvy self-directed investors like you!If you’re a rental property owner with property located in a jurisdiction that has mandatory rental property inspections – particularly in the jurisdictions that FORCE the inspection and DEMAND that you pay for it, too – you know how much of a problem those inspections can be, with very substantial, very detailed, and sometimes very ARBITRARY standards which can cost property owners thousands of dollars, even for very well maintained properties.Many locales even include CRIMINAL penalties for landlords who fail to comply with the inspection requirement.  That’s right… I said CRIMINAL penalties.  It’s a big deal.But there’s a problem… a problem for jurisdictions that do this sort of thing.You see, there’s this little thing called the Fourth Amendment to the United States Constitution.  That’s the one that guarantees the rights of citizens against unreasonable search and seizure of their persons, their papers, their effects and YES… their HOUSES without probable cause as evidenced by a warrant.Now, I realize that some of the more bleeding heart types out there will immediately think that it’s a good thing for the government to be able to force their way into a home, without being asked or welcomed, and to inspect that property for whatever purpose deemed suitable by the government.  But I, my friends, am not a bleeding heart.  I think – and the law agrees with me – that you have rights as a property owner, and when a government forces its way into your property – particularly under the threat of criminal prosecution, and under the demand that YOU PAY for that forced inspection – well, then your rights against unreasonable search and seizure have been trampled for both landlord AND tenant.Thankfully, a federal court judge for the Southern District of Ohio recently came to the same conclusion.The case was called Baker vs City of Portsmouth, which was handled by the 185 Center For Constitutional Law on behalf of four rental property owners and one tenant.The bottom line of this case is that, surprisingly but happily, the court did it’s primary job:  To protect citizens – in this case, individual investors like you and me – from unreasonable government encroachment.Ahhh yes… you think this is a genuine public safety issue, don’t you?  It’s not, folks.  Here’s the deal:  The honest observer will see that these forced inspections have two purposes:  First, to generate revenue for the government – both directly by charging inspection fees, and indirectly by driving spending for repairs which is then subject to local sales tax – and second, to directly and substantially influence the “type of people” who live in an area.  Yes, that’s right… it’s incredibly easy to see where an inspector can harshly apply an arbitrary standard while inspecting the property of an “undesirable” resident, thus effectively forcing that tenant to reconsider where to live and/or own property.Surely the government wouldn’t do that to you, an honest, decent individual investor… would they?Well, now they definitely won’t in the city of Portsmouth in Ohio.  And frankly, it’s quite reasonable to see how this legal rationale could spread to other parts of the country as well… there’s just not a lot of gray area in this.It was so cut-and-dry, in fact, that the judge in this case not only ended the unreasonable searches being performed by the city of Portsmouth, but he also allowed a related lawsuit to continue, in which landlords are suing the city for reimbursement of the inspection fees they’ve been forced to pay over the years… fees which were, as you’ll recall, enforced under threat of CRIMINAL prosecution.But folks, don’t get too excited about this just yet if you live in an area with forced inspections or other encroachments against property owners.  The reality is that this case has absolutely no bearing on anyone other than the parties to the case.  Only if it reached the appellate court level with the same result would this ruling apply to the entire 6th circuit.  The only way to make it national would be for it to go to the U.S. supreme court with the same ruling.Folks, this is why one of the standards I look at when choosing a local market for buy-and-hold real estate is the REGULATORY ENVIRONMENT.  Look, none of us like to think about statutes, regulations or law enforcement… but you’ve got to consider it.  Look at it like this:  What if you had the choice to invest in two basically similar properties… similar cost, similar yields, similar expectations… but one of them was located in a place like Portsmouth, where the local government is overtly overbearing and uses law as a WEAPON against its citizens?Well, it’s obvious… you’d choose not to invest there.  You’d go with other options.  That’s why a KEY COMPONENT of choosing a good locale for your investing is to evaluate the regulatory environment.  The fundamental question is this:Does the locale you’re considering view investors and business people as ALLIES or as ADVERSARIES.  Thumbtack – a cool service for connecting consumers with specific service providers in their areas – provide an annual survey that ranks relative “friendliness” of states and cities to small businesses.  The results?LEAST friendly states are California, Illinois, Connecticut and Rhode Island, followed closely by New York, Massachusetts and Pennsylvania.So, I have a question for you:  When you perform due diligence on a property, do you include an analysis of the regulatory environment of the target market?  If so, what factors do you consider?  This is episode 152, so go over to SDIRadio.com/152 to share your comments about this topic.  We’d love to hear from you!My friends, invest wisely today, and live well forever! 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Today you learn why the “wealth building” model you’ve been taught about rental property investing is – well, it’s totally ASS-BACKWARDS – and I’ll teach you a MUCH SMARTER way that can yield you a portfolio of 15 reliable, high-yielding rental properties for a one-time investment of ONLY $150,000.  I’m Bryan Ellis… get ready to have you mind blown right now in Episode 151.----Hello, SDI Nation!  Welcome to the podcast of record for savvy self-directed investors like you!I hope you’ll forgive my use of the mildly vulgar word in today’s introduction, but this one is worth shocking you to get your attention.There’s a belief that’s pervasive… and it’s true.  The belief is this:  Rental property investing can make you wealthy over the long term.That’s very, very true.  Folks, the advantages of owning rental real estate are almost too vast to mention… regular income, appreciation, tax benefits… it’s like the ultimate cornucopia of investment benefits.But the way you’re taught to achieve it is, well… it’s totally backwards.  Here’s the prevailing ‘wisdom’ – and I use that word very loosely – on the topic:Conventional wisdom tells you to go out and buy a house – ideally at below-market pricing.  You leverage your efforts by getting a loan to finance the property.  You place a tenant in the property, who pays rent, which you use to pay down your debt and to cover expenses like property taxes and maintenance.  And hopefully, you’ll have $200 a month or so left over after all expenses as your reward.Then the hope is that one day into the future – probably 25-30 years into the future – the property will be totally free and clear of all debt, yielding you a substantial bump in income, and you’ll have an asset that you can then sell to finance your retirement.Of course, you’ve got to do this 10-20 times in order to provide the kind of income and financial future you’ll need… and each time, it means shelling out another $100,000 to $150,000 to get a top-quality rental property.Can this approach work?  Yes, it can.  But I know a whole lot of real estate investors… and not many who have had success with this approach.  The problem is that it takes SO LONG to get any benefit from doing this… it’s just terribly demotivating.  This is an example of a strategy that is very, very easy to sell rental properties to investors – particularly new ones – but it just doesn’t hold up under the strain of reality.  The payoff is too distant and too uncertain.And frankly, it’s REALLY, REALLY dangerous.  If you’re clearing $200 or $300 per month… that won’t be enough to make a dent when an air conditioner goes out or a roof must be replaced.  You’ll go into the red very, very quickly.The thing about rental property is this:  It does not make sense as a one-off investment.  The best scenario is to have a portfolio of multiple properties, all generating strong cash flow, so that you’re protected from the ebb and flow of natural variations in expenses like maintenance and vacancies.  But you can’t do that with one property only……and you can’t even do that with multiple properties, if they’re all leveraged and you’re only clearing a couple hundred dollars a month on them.What’s the answer?Do exactly the OPPOSITE of conventional wisdom… use the SDI Wealth Snowball strategy.Using the SDI Wealth Snowball Strategy, you make a one-time investment into wise high-yielding properties… pay all cash for those properties… and you let the income generated buy you ever more property to repeat the process over and over… until some point in the future, when you have many, many properties… all free and clear, and all yielding a truly SUBSTANTIAL income… all as a result of a one-time investment.This isn’t some wild, theoretical idea either.  Imagine this scenario with me:You call me up and say “Bryan, I’ve got $150,000 available cash, and I’d like to build a large, very profitable cash flow portfolio from that money.”  Here’s what I’d do:First, I’d confirm your TIME HORIZON. If you have only 3-5 years, you’ll certainly get some benefit.  But if your time horizon is 10 years… or even better, 15-25 years, then you’re a great fitNext, I’d confirm your STRUCTURING. The SDI Wealth Snowball relies on certain tax advantages that are readily available to basically everyone… and the strategy assumes the accumulation of a very large portfolio of great value, and that you’ll want to pass that portfolio to future generations in a safe, favorable manner.  If your current legal structure can accommodate all of that, great!  If not, I advise you on how to make it happen.Finally, I’d confirm your FUNDING. This strategy requires $150,000.  Not $150,000 per property, but $150,000 total, one time, forever.  And it must be cash.What’s possible using the SDI Wealth Snowball?  Well, here’s how it works:We’d use your $150,000 to buy 3 high-quality, high-yielding rental properties that yield at least 8.5% net annual cash flow AFTER a very, very generous allowance for maintenance, vacancy, property taxes, insurance and property management.  So, after ALL of those expenses are handled – and handled with plenty of room to spare – you yield at least 8.5% annually.If you heard me correctly, and you realized that I’m suggesting that you buy 3 DIFFERENT properties with your $150,000… and thus the average cost per property is only $50,000… well, you heard me right.  There are SEVERAL key markets across the country where very high-quality property can be acquired in that price range… and due to some very powerful advantages unique to these select local markets, there’s a huge preponderance of available renters.Not all markets where you can buy a $50,000 property are the same.  Some of those places are downright dangerous and foolish.  But some of them – a few of them – are like absolute gold mines for investors who want to create strong cash flow.So here’s the thing… with the SDI Wealth Snowball, all of your income is plowed back into buying more properties.  And with the EXTREMELY conservative model we use, it still takes only 4 years before your income has actually purchased ANOTHER ENTIRE RENTAL PROPERTY… at no additional cost to you!  Now you have 4 properties…  And then you get another free property somewhere during year 7 and year 10… and then about year 17… you start getting another free property EVERY SINGLE YEAR.Where does this leave you?  After 25 years… that one-time investment of $150,000 is now bringing you an annual income of over $75,000 – and you own 18 different properties totally free & clear with a value of about $1,000,000… even if they haven’t appreciated by a single penny!And my friends… there are 2 things I want you to know about what I’ve just told you:First, These estimates are CONSERVATIVE… truly conservative. If you saw the ACTUAL numbers rather than these hypotheticals, you’d be BLOWN AWAY.Second, this strategy leaves you with an overwhelmingly valuable portfolio which can PROFOUNDLY aid with your own financial needs… and is also very easy to pass down to future generations, and provide an amazing base of financial security for them as well!This strategy, my friends, the SDI Wealth Snowball – it’s just proof that better thinking leads to better investing.How does that feel to you, my friends… how would you like to invest a sum total of $150,000 – not 100 grand here and 100 grand there every few years, but $150,000 one and only one time – and then in just the right amount of time for your situation, you have a portfolio of many, many properties producing strong cash flow with absolutely no debt… suitable for funding your retirement and perfectly structured for building multi-generational wealth for your family…...well, if that’s a worthy outcome for you, and if you’d like to learn more, check out my FREE webinar on this program by visiting SDIRadio.com/snowball.  Again, that’s SDIRadio.com/snowball.  I’ve got some EXTRAORDINARY options available right now that will simply blow your mind.  So if you’ve got $150,000 and the thought of building a grand portfolio of cash-flow producing assets appeals to you, without ever investing additional money beyond $150,000, then check out my special webinar at SDIRadio.com/snowball right now… you’ll be very, very glad you did.My friends:  Invest wisely today, and live well forever! 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Want to know what a REALLY sexy rental property cash flow deal looks like?  I’ll profile one for you right now… and tell you how to find deals like this little jewel for yourself… maybe even this exact property!  I’m Bryan Ellis.  This is episode 150.-----Hello, SDI Nation.  Welcome to the podcast of record for savvy, self-directed investors like you!My friends, there’s great wealth to be built by owning alternative assets – you know, assets other than those your financial advisor would sell to you.  Nothing wrong with a good financial advisor, they certainly have their place, but I’ve observed that almost exclusively, the only thing they’ll offer you are assets that come from Wall Street.  But is there a better way?The answer is, without a doubt, YES.  I’d like to give you a REAL example today.  And you’re going to want to pay close attention to this for two reasons:First, it’s a GREAT case study of a particular type of cash flow-generating asset that has a place in nearly every portfolio… quite certainly, including yours.And Second, this particular asset is actually AVAILABLE right now… and if you’re in the market for an EXCELLENT turnkey rental property, I respectfully suggest you listen very, very closely.This is a property located in an older neighborhood in the southeast.  The property itself was originally built in 1920, though it’s silly to suggest that the property itself is that old, as it’s been almost entirely newly renovated in the last couple of months.  Every major system – you know, the stuff that is expensive to replace – all of that stuff is NEW.  It is, in fact, in excellent condition… it’s even warranted for an entire year for the next owner.Another thing about it is that it’s OCCUPIED with a paying tenant.  The rental rate is $700 per month.  After the most primary expenses – Property tax, insurance and Property Management and maintenance – the net is right at $6,000 per year.And versus the TINY purchase price of $49,900, that creates a NET of about 11.7% PER YEAR.  And hey… for all of you legal beagles, I’ve got to stipulate:  That’s a projection.  Your results could be much better.  Or much worse.  Who knows… I guess it’s possible that this property could break off into the sea and never be seen again……Though from what I hear, that’s a lot more likely to happen to you folks out in the People’s Republic of California!  Speaking of your Californians… I’d like to ask you something:  How much will just the DOWN PAYMENT of your next California property cost you?  A WHOLE LOT MORE than the measly $49,900 of this property.  That’s just the down payment.  And are you going to make a 11.7% cash flow on that money?You know the answer – the answer is NO.  Of course, I know what you’re hoping.  You’re hoping that real estate prices continue to scream ever higher, even though real estate price in LA and San Diego are perilously close to the highs they reached during the bubble, and they’re already there in San Francisco.  My friends, it’s time to think a bit broader.Here’s something amazing to consider:  At 11.7%, it takes less than 6 1/2 years to get your ENTIRE INVESTMENT back out.  And for you pessimists out there, go ahead and add in the Murphy’s law factor that says that anything that can go wrong will go wrong, and you’ve still got 100% of your capital investment back in 7 years.  And after that, what you have is an asset that STILL generates substantial cash flow every single year – while you do nothing whatsoever to manage it, other than reading the statement from your property manager from time to time.Plus, one of the most beautiful things about this deal is that it’s what’s called a “Section 8” house.  The long and short of that is that it means that the rents you receive each month are actually paid directly by the government.  And it’s on time, every time, 100% of the time.  Your rents are paid like clockwork.  There’s no variability.  For more information about that program, check out episode 144 of this show, available at SDIRadio.com/144.I like this deal.  It makes a LOT of sense.  But there’s only one exactly like this… and if you’d like to learn how it can be yours, the time is now!  It’s a massive projected cash yield of 11.7% versus the tiny investment of only $49,900 on a property that’s totally newly renovated with a maintenance warranty and a paying tenant in place, then here’s what you should do, and should do RIGHT NOW:Go to SDIRadio.com/consultation and make an appointment to talk with me… right away.  This one won’t last long.Invest wisely today, and live well forever! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Find This Episode - and All Resources - here: https://SelfDirected.org/podcasts/investor-talk/big-lie-ira-not-limited-using-non-recourse-loans-episode-149   Interested in borrowing money in your IRA to do bigger deals?  Have you been told you’ve got to use a Non-Recourse loan?  THINK AGAIN… It’s just not true!  In fact… I’ll tell you why even some “Non-Recourse” loans don’t even qualify for use in an IRA.  I’m Bryan Ellis.  I’ll tell you the brutal details RIGHT NOW in Episode 149 of Self Directed Investor Talk. ---- Hello, SDI Nation!  Welcome to the podcast of record for SAVVY self-directed investors like you! There’s been a whirlwind of activity here at SDI Headquarters.  We’re doing a lot of great deals with our clients and we’ve got a couple of really, really solid multifamily properties that, frankly, are truly solid deals – one of them a 5-unit building in the $250,000 price range and a 12-unit building around $800K.  Both fully renovated with highly reliable cash flows and double digit cap rates… a beautiful, beautiful thing.  Plus, you might recall a couple of weeks ago when I had 19 GREAT fully turnkey single-family properties available for purchase, and all 19 of them were snapped up within about a week?  Well, one of those is available again due to an unfortunate situation for the former buyer… and this is a good one!  Get this – the pro forma suggests you can get a solid 11.5% cash-on-cash return AFTER factoring out property taxes, insurance, management fees and even maintenance expenses!  And this property will only cost you $49,900 to get into it… that’s not the down payment, that’s the entire price!  So some really, really awesome opportunities available right now, for a very brief time. If that sort of thing gets your attention – as well it should – then let me know – and quick!  Just go over to SDIRadio.com/consultation and set up a time to talk with me. My friends… there’s a rumor going around.  This one is pervasive.  It goes something like this: If your IRA borrows money, it must use a “non-recourse” loan. You ever heard that one?  It’s almost true… but very, very wrong. For those of you who may not know, a “non-recourse” loan is one in which the lender’s only recourse if the borrower defaults is to foreclose the property.  The lender isn’t allowed to sue the borrower or take any action other than to foreclose the property.  These loans aren’t generally available at local banks or big lenders.  They’re the domain of specialty lenders who cater That’s the reason that the “non-recourse” fable is so prominent among self-directed IRA custodians and account holders.  You’re not allowed to use your IRA as collateral for a loan or other extensions of credit.  To do so is a prohibited transaction, and would totally blow up the account. But nowhere in the tax code – that I am aware of – is there any indication that the only loans that can be utilized by an IRA are non-recourse loans.  What is clear is that neither the IRA itself nor the owner of the IRA is allowed to accept liability for such loans. But that leaves… oh, let me see… nearly EVERYBODY ELSE IN THE ENTIRE WORLD!  Here’s what I mean: What if you could get some unrelated third party to acquire financing for a deal in your place?  Maybe a close friend or a business colleague would serve as something of a “credit partner” and allow you to essentially “rent” their credit from them.  You’d do something like pay the third party a fee, and in exchange, they’d get a loan for your deal that is more favorable or more legally compatible with your IRA than anything you could get yourself. In that case, the loan is absolutely NOT a “non-recourse” loan.  The lender could take the property – which is pledged as collateral – if your IRA defaulted, but that lender could also pursue judgments or other recourse.  But that recourse would be against the CREDIT PARTNER, and not against your IRA. So there you have it:  Use of a full-recourse loan that does not violate the requirements of your IRA. And this isn’t just a neat idea without practical value.  Here’s a simple example of why:  Most non-recourse loans that are suitable for your IRA are more expensive than the same loan would be if it was a normal full-recourse loan.  Additionally, non-recourse loans can have some unusual terms and penalties that are not standard fare in full-recourse loans. Thus it’s entirely plausible that it would be cheaper or otherwise more favorable for an IRA owner who needs funding to pay an unrelated third party a fee for them to acquire conventional full-recourse funding for the asset on behalf of the IRA.  Frankly, it’s not much different than paying points on the front end of a loan to make the loan cheaper over its lifetime. And you know, that’s not the only reason that you might consider avoiding non-recourse loans.  There’s another, more sinister, reason.  That reason is called a “carve-out”. A carve-out is an exception to the “non-recourse” nature of a loan. In other words, it’s possible – and rather common these days – for a loan to stipulate that the lender can’t pursue claims against the borrower… except for certain situations.  Those situations are called “carve-outs” or “bad-boy guarantees”.  They are exceptions for which the non-recourse provisions no longer apply. Historically, carve-outs have been used to reclaim the ability to take action against the guarantor of a loan in the event that the guarantor commits an illegal act or fraudulent act, or if the guarantor does something to impair the lender’s claim against the collateral. But increasingly, carve-outs are being used for very broad issues that, frankly, are, in my humble but entirely correct opinion, so vague as to put borrowers in real danger.  For example, I’ve got a loan document in front of me this moment from North American Savings Bank, a non-recourse lender, which stipulates that the loan is non-recourse… unless the borrower is involved in “waste committed or permitted on the property”… and there is also recourse against the borrower for any fees involved in the loan which are neither principal nor interest. Why does this matter? Even though these things are contingencies, they still represent an extension of credit by the IRA, as the IRA is committing to cover those expenses in the event it is required to do so. Why does it matter if your IRA extends credit? That one is simple:  That’s prohibited… yep, the good ole prohibited transaction… the one that irreparably blows up your account and subjects your account to Armageddon-like taxes, penalties and interest… all because you took out a “non recourse” loan which, it turns out, wasn’t really non-recourse at all. So that little trick I told you at the beginning, where your IRA pays a 3rd party credit partner to get a conventional (and cheaper) loan to finance your deal… well, that’s sounding smarter and smarter all the time, isn’t it?  Because in that case, your IRA is just paying a fee to your credit partner… but not signing on the dotted line for any loans with questionable terms that could blow up your account. And one more word of warning:  Generally speaking, you’re going to have to pay a proportionate amount of income tax from your IRA for any profits made from leveraged transactions.  So, for example, if you do a deal for which you acquired a 90% loan, then roughly 90% of the profits will be taxable to your IRA.  But with one simple change, you can probably eliminate that tax burden entirely.  What is that change?  Convert your account to a self-directed 401k instead, and suddenly, the income tax liability on the debt financed portion of your deal probably goes away entirely! That’s all for today… My friends, invest wisely today, and live well forever! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

STOP THE PRESSES!  I was WRONG about investing in Gold in your retirement account!  Yes, I made a rare error, and I’m here to correct the record.  But WAIT A MINUTE… you’re going to be surprised about HOW I was wrong… and you’ll learn something very valuable in the process.  Plus, you’ll hear about an EXTRAORDINARY multi-family investment property opportunity.  I’m Bryan Ellis.  You’ll get it all right now in Episode 148.----Hello, SDI Nation.  Welcome to the podcast of record for savvy self-directed investors like you!Yes, you heard it right:  I screwed up.  Sort of.  But people… not a single one of you caught my error.  What’s up with you people?Hehehehe.  It actually took the watchful eye of the venerable expert Mr. Tim Berry, IRA & 401k attorney extraordinaire out in Phoenix.  Tim, thanks for catching my error… but don’t you have better things to do than listen to this little podcast?  Ha!  Of course you don’t… because this is the PODCAST of RECORD for savvy self-directed investors!  Seriously Tim, thanks so much!I’ll get to that error in about 10 seconds, but first:  Hang with me until the end, particularly if you’re interested in enjoying HIGH cash flow.  I’ll tell you a bit about some multifamily property investment opportunities that involve VERY high cash flow, substantial equity from day 1, and physical structures that are totally newly renovated… all in a locale that’s very, very stable!  Doesn’t get much better than that, so stick with me.So here’s the error I made about investing in gold through your retirement account:All of the stuff I told you about the restrictions on investing in gold through your IRA is totally true.  If you buy gold in your IRA, its got to be 99.9% pure.  And if it’s a coin, basically it has to be a government-issued coin like the American Eagle or Canadian Maple Leafs.You can’t just go out and buy gold willy-nilly in your IRA.  I wasn’t wrong about that.What, did you think I was FUNDAMENTALLY wrong about what I told you yesterday?  Ha!  Don’t be silly.But here’s where I wasn’t exactly perfect, and honestly, I shouldn’t even be surprised.Here’s the deal:  All of those restrictions apply to buying precious metals in your IRA.  Exactly like I said.BUT… as is nearly always the case… a self-directed 401k is better than a self-directed IRA.  Why?  Those restrictions apply to a self-directed IRA, but if you’re using a self-directed 401k, then you could let your 401k buy gold bones and let the dog bury them in the back yard for safe keeping.Yep… that’s right:  The Self-Directed 401k lets you have astounding flexibility when purchasing precious metals... and a self-directed IRA does not.So if you want to be an investor in precious metals, your options when using a self-directed IRA are severely limited versus using a self-directed 401k.  I didn’t know that before yesterday, though I’m really not surprised to find another CLEAR EXAMPLE of the superiority of self-directed 401k’s over IRA’s.And folks, if you don’t yet have a self-directed 401k and you think you don’t qualify to have one, go back to Episode 141 of Self Directed Investor Radio to hear exactly what those requirements are, and how nearly ANYONE can comply with them with just a small bit of effort… effort that is TOTALLY worthwhile.BUT… and this is huge:  Not all self-directed 401k’s are created equally.  It depends profoundly on the specific words used in the plan documents and here’s something I’ve observed:  A whole lot of the self-directed IRA custodians who also offer self-directed 401k’s actually draft their plans in such a way that the limitations of IRA’s actually apply also to their 401k’s as well.  Yes, folks, it happens… and it happens VERY frequently.That means that it’s POSSIBLE for you to have a self-directed 401k and STILL not get the flexibility it offers because the language used in your plan, as drafted by your custodian, imposes IRA-based limits on your account rather than allowing you the full range of freedom that’s available in a 401k.My advice:  Don’t use the wrong kind of 401k!Where can you get the right kind of self-directed 401k that offers all of this flexibility… and practically makes you a financial genius at the same time?  HeheheheJust check out SDIRadio.com/best401k.  Again, that’s SDIRadio.com/best401k.My friends… I don’t often get things wrong.  I’m almost always right.  Just ask me.  I’ll confirm it for you.  HeheheheBut I got this one wrong, and I’m happy to have had the chance to correct it for you.Folks, that’s all about Gold investing.  Honestly, it’s not my favorite topic anyway, but it’s important.  But what IS a favorite topic is building consistent, reliable CASH FLOW and WEALTH through REAL ESTATE!So how would you like to own – or possibly even partner with me in ownership of – a GREAT multi-family property that has excellent and highly reliable double-digit net cash flows, is totally newly renovated, and is potentially available at FAR below it’s appraised value?  Well, that opportunity exists and is very real.  I’ll be sending information about it to my TOP PICKS list tomorrow, so be sure to get on that list right now if you’re not on it already.  To do that, just text TOPPICKS to 33444.  Again, text the word TOPPICKS – spelled TOPPICKS with no spaces to 33444.  You’ll be glad you did!My friends:  Invest wisely today, and live well forever!  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

GOLD!  No matter how expensive or cheap gold is, there’s always a lot of conversation about investing in it through an IRA or 401k.  But the IRS says you can’t use your IRA to invest in collectibles, which includes metals and coins.  Is it even possible or legal to buy gold in your IRA or 401k?  I’m Bryan Ellis.  I’ll tell you the answer right now in Episode 147.-----Hello, SDI Nation!  Welcome to the podcast of record for savvy, self-directed investors like you!It’s always easy to stir up conversation and find out what a person’s world view is by bringing up the topic of gold investing.  Gold is the one asset where many otherwise intelligent investors are wholly willing to completely ignore declining value just because of the feeling of security offered by ownership of the asset.  It’s as if Gold occupies some rarified plain of uniqueness among asset classes.And you know, I’m not really going to argue with that.  I’m not a total brainwashee to the whole “gold” thing… but I certainly see the point of those who are.Having said that, there’s a curiosity – more of a technicality, actually – that you need to know about if you’re interested in using your retirement account to purchase gold.The technicality is that, technically, you can’t really do it.  The IRS specifically includes bullion and coins in the definition of the term “collectibles”.  And collectibles is one of only two asset classes specified as wholly unavailable to retirement accounts, with the other being life insurance.And if you can’t buy gold in the form of bullion or coins, how will you buy it?Fortunately, there are exceptions.  Those exceptions are rather specific, but not unreasonably restrictive.  Here’s the gist of it:If you want to buy bullion – specifically, gold, silver, platinum or palladium – the purity of the bullion must be equal to or greater than the level required by public exchanges like COMEX or NYMEX, which is measures about 99.9%… in other words, very, very pure bullion.  If it meets that standard, then your retirement account is allowed to purchase it.And then there’s the question of gold coins.  The rules are fairly rigid here as well.  By and large, government-manufactured gold coins are acceptable.  For example – American Eagles, Canadian Maple Leafs and Australian Nuggets.  But the purity standard still applies.  For that reason, some popular government-issued gold coins, including the South African Krugerrand, which has a purity below 92%, does not meet the qualifications.But that’s not the end of the story.  Now that your retirement account has purchased bullion or coins of the appropriate purity, the next big question becomes:  Where are those assets physically housed?  Do you get to take possession of those items, such as to store in a home safe or safe deposit box?Folks, this answer certainly isn’t going to make you happy if you’re one of the many people who have an inherent distrust in either financial institutions or the government – which certainly includes me.  The answer is that – with only one exception – if you own coins or bullion, they must be physically in the custody of a trustee, which will likely be the custodian of your self-directed retirement account.I hate to burst your bubble on that one, for those of you who like the idea of stashing a lot of gold at your home in the event of a systemic collapse.But there is, as I mentioned, one exception.  The exception is that if your retirement account purchases a specific type of gold coin – American Eagles – then those coins can be held by you personally at your discretion.  So, bottom line:  If you want to use your retirement funds to buy gold and you want to hold that gold in your home safe or otherwise, then you must purchase American Eagles.As an aside, have you ever looked at an American Eagle coin?  Those coins are absolutely stunning, just an absolutely magnificent design.There you have it, folks… the rules for investing in Gold or other precious metals in your retirement account.  I think there absolutely is a place for Gold in the portfolio of most investors, though I prefer other hard assets more, such as real estate.  But Gold certainly has a place.  And if you’re in the market to buy some gold, I do have some suggestions for you concerning a good, reputable source for making those purchases.  Just check out SDIRadio.com/gold for that information.My friends, invest wisely today, and live well forever! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Are YOU interested in investing in residential real estate?  If so, there’s one more threat to your property value that didn’t exist before a few years ago… but it’s a big one.  And you have companies like AirBNB, VRBO, HomeAway and CraigsList to thank for it.  I’m Bryan Ellis.  I’ll tell you all about it RIGHT NOW in Episode 146.----Hello, SDI Nation!  Welcome to the podcast of record for savvy self-directed investors like YOU!Imagine this:  You’ve bought a great house in Austin, Texas… or Tuscaloosa, Alabama… or San Diego, California… or Tallahassee, Florida… or Boise, Idaho… or Seattle, Washington… or any of hundreds of other cities ALL OVER America…It’s a good house in a good neighborhood.  It’s certainly a Class A property… the type of place that would be entirely suitable for you and our own family to live in.  This isn’t a war zone.  This is a place with walkable streets and obvious local pride.Your hopes are high.  You’re going to rent out that property, make a little cash flow, and build some equity.  You’re chasing financial freedom… and you’re doing it in a very responsible way.Except, the phone isn’t ringing.  It seems that nobody wants to lease that house from you.  And you just can’t understand why.That’s when you learn something interesting:  The house next door… and one several doors down… they’re listed on one of those services – like AirBNB, VRBO, HomeAway, and, of course, CraigsList – that allow home owners to rent out their houses on a short-term basis.  These services enable homeowners to begin running their own hotel service right in their own home…. The home that’s in the same neighborhood as your home.No big deal, right?That’s right… except for one thing:  Your property is located in a city that’s a common vacation destination… or home to a very popular college or pro football team… or it’s convenient to a huge venue where events are held on a regular basis like Madison Square Garden or the Georgia Dome or Staples Center…And because of that proximity, those short-term rental properties that are in the same neighborhood as your property are very, VERY popular… and because of the nature of the reason why people come to town, there’s one common theme for those short-term visitor:  They’re coming to town to PARTY.Hey, we all love a good party.  No doubt about it.  But there are limits… and when that party happens over and over… disturbing the peace in your neighborhood and making your property undesirable to renters or buyers, then that translates into a very real problem:  The potential for declining property values.My friends, this is a real phenomenon.  The latest press coverage of it was this past Friday in the New York Times… and the coverage wasn’t kind to those renting their houses out in this way.Clearly, AirBnB… maybe the biggest of the services who specialize in these short-term rentals… recognizes that there’s a problem. They’ve set up a neighbor hotline to call if there are problems.  But the reality is, there’s simply not much that AirBnB can do.Austin, Texas – a very popular destination – tried to tackle the problem by stipulating that no more than 6 unrelated people could stay in any of these homes at any one time.  But that effort was thwarted by short-term renters of these properties, who had apparently been coached to tell local law enforcement that they weren’t actually “staying” in the property, just visiting… and some others claimed to be cousins or other distant relatives, thus technically satisfying the rule in a manner that couldn’t easily be disproven by police.The net result in Austin:  Regulation has done little to stem the tide of disrespect of neighbors by users of short-term rentals.To be certain, not every AirBnB or HomeAway client is a disrespectful partier.  Far from it.  But you know that it doesn’t take too many nights of disturbed sleep for one to lose patience with this type of behavior… and quite justifiably so.What can we observe from this?One thing is that you should certainly investigate the locale where you’re considering the purchase of property to see if there are any properties nearby that are offered as short-term rentals.  Particularly problematic are the properties that are represented as suitable for 8 or more people, as the larger the group of people occupying the property, the more probable it is that the group is a traveling party.  To my way of thinking, properties like these make other nearby properties less attractive than they’d otherwise be, and certainly demand additional caution.Another thing we can conclude is that more regulation is coming to address these issues.  And reactionary regulation such as that spurred by issues like this short-term rental issue is usually poorly considered and has unintended side effects that are negative for the broader populace.  You can be sure that such regulation will ultimately restrict the rights of reasonable home owners as well, and not just those using their properties as short-term rental property.  And clearly, that’s a bad thing.One solution that I can think of is this:  Home Owners Associations.  I’m not a huge fan of home owner’s associations, because they’re frequently controlled by people with less intellectual acuity, and even less integrity, than – well, I don’t want to insult criminals or those with mental challenges – so let’s just say they’re frequently not the most high-quality people in the world.But this is a PERFECT place for a responsible Home Owner’s Association to take action.  Most HOA’s have quasi-governmental authority over the properties in their neighborhoods, usually including the right of foreclosure, as a response to rules violations.  And that is a very big stick to wield.  Why not use that authority – in a responsible way – to solve this problem on a neighborhood-by-neighborhood basis?There… problem solved for a very large swath of residential properties in America.  No need for more regulations.But bottom line, folks:  Don’t overlook this issue.  It’s an easy piece of due diligence to perform, and it could be a really big factor in the desirability, and thus the value, of that piece of property in which you’re considering investing.  Like good ole Ben Franklin told us… an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure!Hey… I hope you enjoyed today’s show.  If you’d like a transcript of this show, text the word TRANSCRIPT to 33444 and I’ll be happy to send it to you, free of charge.My friends, I’ve got some GREAT… really great… investment opportunities coming up that I’ll announce very soon – within 10 days, actually… and you’ll definitely want to know about these.  May I remind you that when I had 19 great investment properties available 2 weeks ago, they all disappeared within a few days?  And what I have to share with you within 10 days is just as spectacular as those opportunities – maybe even more so!So be prepared.  Text the word TOPPICKS to 33444 to get on my early notification list.  The word there is TOPPICKS spelled TOPPICKS with no spaces.  Text TOPPPICKS to 33444 now!My friends… invest wisely today, and live well forever! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Want a way to buy very safe, very profitable real estate notes… and recoup ALL of your capital within 90 days while still receiving zero-risk profits for years to come?  I’m Bryan Ellis.  I’ll tell you how to do it RIGHT NOW in Episode 145.----Hello SDI Nation!  Welcome to the podcast of record for savvy, self-directed investors like you!Here’s a shout out to Julie Blackwell, who just yesterday and without any prompting, gave this show a 5-star rating on iTunes and left this review… she said:  “This is the best and most honest investment advice I’ve ever listened to.  Thanks so much!”Julie… THANK YOU… I’m so grateful to you.  Please do me a favor, Julie… drop an email to me at feedback@sdiradio.com.   I’ve got a special thank-you gift I’d like to give you for giving this show such a nice, unsolicited rating on iTunes.  I look forward to showing you my appreciation!Oh… that goes for the rest of you, too…  if you’ve not already given this show a 5-star rating on iTunes, I’d be really grateful if you’d do that right away.  As soon as you’ve done so, just email me at feedback@sdiradio.com and I’ll send you a very nice thank-you gift too!My friends, I’ve got a VERY powerful concept to share with you today.  You’re going to love it.  It’s a bit advanced, and I won’t mislead you:  It takes some effort.  But the payoff is astounding.  Basically, it’s a way to get high-value real estate cash flow assets at absolutely no cost.  It’s not a zero-down strategy, as you’ve got to have capital to get into the deal and hold it for a time – frequently under 3-6 months – but after that, you get most or all of your capital back, there’s no longer any risk to your capital, and you still get to enjoy a substantial flow stream for years to come.Here’s how it works:This strategy involves real estate NOTES, which are loans used to purchase real estate.  For example:  Imagine a guy named Bob Borrower, who buys a $100,000 house by putting up $20,000 in cash and borrowing $80,000.  The document Bob signs that specifies his repayment terms is called a “promissory note”, or “note” for short.So here’s a really, really simplified version of this strategy.Let’s imagine that Bob has paid his mortgage very reliably for 4 ½ years, but 6 months ago he lost his job, and in the time since, he’s only made a couple of payments.  Thus, he’s defaulting on his loan and on the path to foreclosure.That’s a problem for his lender, because with every missed payment, the value of that loan declines, and the lender knows it.  Furthermore, foreclosures are to lenders like Kryptonite is to Superman:  Something to avoid at nearly any cost.Thus, maybe some smart investors – say you and me, for example – we contact the lender and offer to buy that defaulted note.  If Bob had made all of his payments on time, the note would probably have a balance of around, say, $73,000.  But since the note is in arrears and headed towards foreclosure, you and I offer the lender $60,000 – and they take it.But you and I chose to take the risk of buying that defaulting note for two really excellent reasons:First, we analyzed the payment history and looked into Bob Borrower a bit.  We discovered he was always completely reliable prior to losing his job, and we have every reason to believe he’ll resume those payments when he finds a job again… which you and I believe to be likely.And Secondly, even if Bob never gets another job, our money is still safe, because our $60,000 is secured by a house worth $100,000.  If nothing else, we can sell that house, get our money back, and probably even make a profit that way.  So to me and you, there’s really not a huge amount of risk.So we buy that loan for $60,000 and we set out to work with Bob to get him back on track.  Sure enough, he gets another job, and you and I amend his loans to put the missed payments at the end and let Bob begin again with a “clean slate”.And now, what you and I have is called a “reperforming” loan.  Before Bob missed payments, his loan was called “performing”.  When he wasn’t making payments, it was classified as “defaulted”.  Now that he’s paying on time again, it’s called “reperforming”.But you and I are savvy investors, and we’re focused on one thing:  How quickly can we get our capital back?  So here’s how we’re going to do it:We’re going to sell off a part of that loan – not all of it, just enough of it to collect our $60,000.  And however much of the loan is left will be the profit that you and I get to enjoy, without having a single penny of our own capital tied up in the deal!I’ll not bore you with the calculations, but a very good estimate is that in this example, we’d have to sell off about 2/3 of the remaining payments on the loan.  In other words, somebody would give you and me $60,000 and in exchange, they’d get roughly the next 200 payments from Bob, after which you and I would receive the final 100 payments or so.What have you and I accomplished?  Investment MAGIC is what we’ve accomplished!  Because you and I have purchased a defaulted note for $60,000… we then rehabilitated the note back into reperforming status… then we extracted ALL of our investment capital, so that we have exactly ZERO money remaining in the deal.  And 200 months into the future, we begin collecting monthly payments from Bob… for 100 whole months.  That’s right… 100 whole months of payments for which you and I have not a single penny invested or at risk.Now if you’re thinking… that’s crazy… why would I do a deal where I don’t get a payoff for 200 months?  Then you’ve totally missed the point.But if you get it… if the notion of doing deals where you’re able to get ALL of your capital out of the deal in a short period of time – usually 3-6 months – and in the process build yourself the equivalent of a very strong annuity that pays you for an extended period of time without effort on your part… well, if that’s what you got out of this brief description, then you understand why I LOVE this strategy so very much.Like I said, it’s complicated.  It’s not the easiest thing in the world to find the right kind of notes for this strategy, but the payoff is worth the effort, because you can do one deal after another after another… ALL with the same capital!  What if you could take a piece of capital – say $100,000 – and do one of these deals every year for the next 15 years?  Remember – you could use the same $100,000 over and over, you’d never need to add more money to do the deal again.  But at the end of 15 years, you’ve got 15 separate “annuities” that are going to begin paying you very, very handsomely in the future… and for which you’ve got zero money invested and zero money at risk.That, my friends, is investment BRILLIANCE, if I do say so myself.Interested in doing some of these deals?  If you’ve got at least $50,000 of liquid capital and want to see if it’s right for you, set up a time for us to talk by going to SDIRadio.com/consultation.  I’d love to chat with you.My friends:  Invest wisely today… and live well forever! 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What do you think when you hear the term “SECTION 8”?  For most of us, thoughts of this government assistance program that provides housing to low income people sends chills down our spines.  And that may be exactly the right response… but is it really?  Today we look at the Section 8 program from an objective point of view and learn 5 solid reasons rental property owners shouldn’t write off this program.  I’m Bryan Ellis.  This is Episode 144.----Hello, SDI Nation!  Welcome to the podcast of record for savvy self-directed investors like you!I had the pleasure of spending yesterday with a brand new client named Mike from Delaware.  Mike is a brand new listener to this show, having discovered us just last week.  But he was bright enough to see the opportunity in the cash flow properties I’ve mentioned to you during the past week, and he came for a visit to make a purchase.  Mike, it was great to meet you, and I look forward to serving you well!By the way, folks, for those of you who may be interested… all 19 of the properties I mentioned in last week’s podcast are now sold.  Every single one of them.  Thank you to those of you who responded so immediately… you folks are amazing and I’m so grateful to you.The rest of you… don’t despair.  I’ll soon – very, very soon – have more great cash flow deals to share with you.  But the lesson here is this:  Don’t delay!  They never last long because one thing I can tell you for certain:  If you hear ME talking about a deal, you can bet on it that that deal is very, very attractive.  Thus, they go quickly.  So listen in for announcements about more in the future, or you can even get on my notification list right now by texting the word TOPPICKS to 33444.So, Section 8.  Section 8 is a government assistance program for low-income earners.  The gist of the program is that the federal government pays some or all a low-income person’s rent for them, directly to the landlord.  In exchange, the tenant is required to respect the property.Now, my friends, I’ve got to be honest with you:  I have a bias against giving things away for free.  People who expect things for free are generally people who expect EVERYTHING for free… the very essence of the entitlement mentality… and I can’t begin to express how thoroughly I despise people who believe their entitled to things they’ve not earned.And I still feel that way.  No question about it.That’s why this Section 8 thing has historically been a huge conflict for me.  On the one hand, as a landlord, you get something very, very valuable:  You essentially get a guarantee from the federal government that you will receive the rent you’re due on time, every time, each month.  And typically, the rents offered through Section 8 are very competitive, if not slightly above the market rate.  But on the other hand, my assumption has always been that if you give someone the right to live in your house for free, then what you’re asking for is serious property damage and endless property management headaches.And you know, that definitely can happen.  It’s not difficult to find horror stories about Section 8 tenants who have damaged properties in a terrible way.  There’s no doubt about that.But my friends, there’s more to the story, which I only recently learned.A colleague of mine is a Section 8 guru of sorts.  He’s managed over 1,000 Section 8 properties.  He’s the kind of guy who knows the in’s and out’s of the business very well.  I was discussing my biases with him about the Section 8 program, and he looked at me a bit incredulously.  He actually said “I thought you were smarter than that”.  Hehehehehe!  And I’ll admit, he gave me a bit of a schooling.He specified 5 big reasons he likes Section 8 properties… 5 big advantages that the section 8 property has over the non-section 8 property.First:  Section 8 pays rental rates that are competitive, and frequently a bit above market rates.  Your gross income under Section 8 quite certainly won’t be less, and may be more, with Section 8.Second:  That rent is absolutely guaranteed to arrive on time, every time, every month.  What this means is that payment is direct-deposited… there isn’t even any waiting for a check.  It happens automatically and totally reliably.Third:  In my colleague’s market, the average duration of tenant he’s had is 3-4 years.  3-4 YEARS!  Think about that!  The single biggest issue for many landlords is turnover… and the 1-2 months it takes between each tenant to ready the property and remarket for the next tenant.  Imagine if you only had to replace tenants once every 3-4 years on average!  That’s huge!Fourth:  He says that it’s downright easy to find tenants, because there’s such a massive backlog of people who have rental vouchers from Section 8, but who have nowhere to live.  That’s simply because there’s a pretty severe shortage of supply of these properties in most markets.And the Fifth reason he likes Section 8:  Leverage over tenants.  My colleague explained it to me like this:  He said:  “Bryan, if you have a conventional tenant who doesn’t pay or who damages your property, what recourse do you have?”  Of course, I know that the answer is that I can take that tenant to court and probably get a judgment against them.  That’s when he smiled and said:  “Do you know what it’s actually worth to have a judgment?  Sure, it’s possible to collect against a bad tenant if you have a judgment, but it’s not automatic at all, and frankly it’s not worth the time it takes in many cases, after you factor in the need to hire someone to do the collection for you.  So sure, you can get a judgment, but it’s really not worth much.  But I’ve got a much bigger “STICK” to use with a Section 8 tenant… one with far more influence on them.”Of course, he had my attention at this point.  He went on to explain that if a Section 8 tenant damages his property outside of normal wear and tear, that that tenant is required by the Section 8 program to pay for those damages.And, of course, I immediately said there’s no way that they’ll ever pay… they have no money… that’s why they’re on Section 8 to begin with.He laughed again and said:  “You’re right… most of them won’t pay.  But that’s because most of them won’t actually damage the property unreasonably for two reasons:  First, you have the full right to screen your tenants in Section 8 just like you do otherwise.  And Second, and far more importantly:  If a section 8 tenant damages your property and doesn’t pay, you can absolutely have them kicked out of the Section 8 program.  That means they lose their voucher and they no longer get free rent in the future.  And in my area, once they’re kicked out of the program, they can’t get back in.  It’s a big deal to lose a housing voucher.  In my area, there’s a 2-5 year WAITING LIST for people to get into this program, and once you have it, it’s like gold.  These people don’t want to lose their voucher.  And if they mistreat you or your property, losing their voucher is a very real risk.”Well, my friends… I’ve got to admit… he changed my bias.  I still don’t think it’s smart to default to Section 8.  Here’s what I’ve concluded so far:  It probably only works well in areas where there’s a severe imbalance of supply and demand, meaning that there are far more Section 8 tenants than Section 8 properties.  That way, market dynamics work in your favor.You shouldn’t consider this to be a full-throated endorsement of the Section 8 program.  It is not that.  But my friends, this I can say with confidence:  I had an absolute bias against Section 8, and I was wrong.  And being wrong probably cost me a whole lot of money over the years.  So I hope you can learn from my experience on this.My friends:  Invest wisely today, and live well forever! 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You ever heard things like “only buy class A or class B rental property”?  Or what about… “stay away from Class C properties” or “never go into a war zone!” or “Section 8 tenants are a problem waiting to happen”?  Every one of these… a generalization.  But are they facts… or just marketing hype?  I’m Bryan Ellis.  As always, I’ll help you separate propaganda from truth RIGHT NOW in episode #143.-----Greetings, SDI Nation!  You people are the ABSOLUTE BEST and I’m so grateful for you!  Welcome to the podcast of record for savvy self-directed investors like you!Folks, generalizations in real estate are almost never true.May I give you an example?  Of course I can, it’s my show!  So here goes:This, by the way, is a true story.  Totally true, no detail is embellished.This past Friday, I had a meeting with a guy who was soliciting me for access to YOU, my dear friends.  You people are a very hot commodity!Anyway, the man I was sitting with has done many hundreds of real estate deals.  He’s basically a high-volume rehabber and has built a good-sized portfolio of rental properties as well.  And what he told me was this:  “Nobody ever makes money from those Class C properties.  They’re trouble waiting to happen.”  The fact is this:  He told me that because his business is based around class B properties.  So, of course, anything that’s not class B doesn’t make sense to him.And you know… this guy is credible.  Like I’ve said, he’s done hundreds of rehabs and has a rental portfolio that’s much larger than most people will ever have.  And if I was anybody else, I’d probably just take that advice to heart and go with it for reasons I’ll tell you in just a moment.But that’s not the whole story.  The rest of the story is that this past Monday – 4 days before the meeting I just described to you – I had a meeting with another guy.  This guys is also a high-volume rehabber who has done a huge number of deals – over 1,000 in his case – and who has amassed an impressive portfolio of rentals.He told me something interesting… without any prompting from me about the “classes” of properties, he said this:  “You know, I love these class C houses.  The cash flow is so much higher, and the tenants stay so much longer.  I wouldn’t do anything else.”So what we have is ANOTHER investor with overwhelming credentials who wholly endorses class C properties and wants nothing to do with anything else.So who’s right?We’ll come back to that.  But first, let’s get clear about what these categories mean.  Generally speaking, properties fit into one of four categories:  Class A-C and then War Zones.Class A is the part of town you’d be happy to live.  Nice, newer properties.  Very safe.  High credit quality.  High income.  But also generally speaking, high price and relatively low cash flow, usually in the mid single digits.  This is the domain of middle and upper-middle class folks.Class B is a lot like Class A, only older.  These properties may have a bit of deferred maintenance and certainly don’t have all of the latest amenities.  This is where the lower-middle class tier lives.  These properties are a bit less expensive than Class A’s, and usually generate a cash return of somewhere in the mid to high single digits.Class C is the older property that might need a fair amount of work to be habitable.  These areas are generally safe to be in, but you certainly would lock your doors at night driving through.  In these areas, the vast majority of the houses are livable but old, but there are a few houses that are abandoned and in a wholly uninhabitable state of repair.  This is where the lowest income-earners and some folks on government assistance live.  These properties are, relative to Class A, very inexpensive and the cash return on investment is pretty much always in the double digits.And then there are the war zones.  These are the areas where it’s literally not safe to visit due to crime.  Most people don’t want to be here during the night or day.  Property is dirt cheap and returns on investment can be very, very high on a percentage basis… but unlike the other property classes, the risk you’re taking in war zones is risk to your physical safety as much as it is that you’ll experience financial loss.And here’s what I know to be true:  Anyone who says that it’s impossible to do well in any one of these categories is someone whose opinion is either uninformed or tainted.  Particularly when you hear a turnkey rental property company suggest that it’s foolish to do deals in a class below the one where they’re selling.  What that really means is:  They can make more money selling you more expensive properties, so they want you to buy from them only.  Sad, but true.Which one is right for you?  That’s probably the wrong question.  I suspect there’s room for a bit of all them – other than the war zone properties – in most portfolios.  Here are some good guidelines for you:If your objective is capital preservation, Class A properties are the right place for you.  This is where foreign investors who just want a safe place for their capital tend to dump their money.Class B is where many newer investors start because they think that the lower prices of Class B versus Class A means they’re getting a better deal.  That’s probably not true, but the returns on rents in Class B are certainly better than Class A, generally speaking.  Most Class B properties are occupied by tenants who are not on Section 8, which is a government assistance program to help low income people with rent.Class C is where the rent to price ratio starts to go strongly in favor of the investor.  It’s easy to lose money in Class C properties if you’re new to investing in these areas, but there’s huge opportunity in Class C if you’re able to acquire very old properties for next to nothing, bring them up to Class B standards, and rent them out to the right kind of tenant.  A lot of Class C properties tend to have Section 8 – in other words, government assistance – types of tenants.  I’ll say more about that in just a moment.And War Zones – well, I’m not going to make the mistake I just told you to watch out for by telling you that it’s impossible to make money in war zones, because it’s not.  But I don’t understand that business and prefer to avoid it.  I’ll tell you this much, though:  It’s amazing how much money can be made by the people who understand how to monetize those properties.  But that person isn’t me.So, back to Section 8.  If you’re not familiar with it, Section 8 is a government assistance program for low income people that helps them pay their rent.  It is a national program, but it varies somewhat from market to market in terms of how it’s implemented and managed.  But the bottom line is this:  People on Section 8 are given a voucher, and that voucher is good for payment of either part or, very frequently, 100% of the rent due on a property.  The tenant gets a place to live for either nothing or very little, and the landlord gets a huge benefit, too – the rent gets paid, each and every month, without question, and it’s never, ever late.  That’s because it’s being paid directly by the local housing authority, and not by the tenant.Now I had a HUGE, MASSIVE, OVERWHELMING bias where Section 8 was concerned.  I was absolutely convinced I was right, and I acted on this bias for many, many years.I was dead, dead wrong.I’ll tell you all about that bias in tomorrow’s episode of Self Directed Investor Radio, because I’ve got to tell you… it was enlightening for me to realize the error of my ways.  Had I understood some things a little better, I’d have made much better decisions.  If you think you know the truth about Section 8 – positive or negative – be sure to listen in tomorrow, because you’ll hear a perspective that’s unique and, fortunately, much more informed than in the past.Folks, speaking of rental property… if you’d like to generate some JAW-DROPPING cash-on-cash returns from rental property investing, I can tell you HOW and WHERE to do exactly that.  Just stop by at SDIRadio.com/cashflow to learn all about it.  There’s a great webinar there that’s not going to waste your time with the THEORY of rental property investing.  Rather, I’ll tell you exactly where to buy into great cash-flowing properties, and I’ll even tell you about a few specific properties that have strong double-digit returns and that are – as of this particular moment – available for purchase!  So remember – visit SDIRadio.com/cashflow right now to check that out!My friends, that’s all for now.  Remember:  Invest wisely today, and live well forever! 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Think Uncle Sam is protecting the money you’ve stashed away in 401k’s, IRA’s and mutual funds?  Think again, folks.  The feds are, time and time again, allowing convicted felons to handle your retirement money – even though that’s blatantly against the law.  And I’m about to tell you exactly which firms have the felons in their employ – and why Uncle Sam is so happy to break the law on behalf of Wall Street and to YOUR detriment.  That’s all RIGHT NOW  in Episode #142.----Hello, SDI Nation – welcome to the podcast of record for savvy self-directed investors like you!Today, I have a real doozy for you.  It’s going to disgust you… unless, of course, you like blatant collusion between Uncle Sam and Wall Street that represents REAL RISK to your money.So, you ever heard of a QPAM?  Nah, most people haven’t.  It stands for “Qualified Professional Asset Manager”.  It’s a designation given by the feds to SOME companies that allows them to break the rules.Yep, you heard that right.  You’ve certainly heard me discussing the notion of prohibited transactions on this show, that group of laws that limits how you can use the money in your retirement accounts… you know, things like your IRA can’t buy assets from or sell assets to most of your family members because… well because the opportunity for fraud among related-party transactions is just far too high.And you know what?  That makes perfect sense.What you may not know is that those rules also apply in large part to financial institutions if they’re managing retirement funds.  In other words, if, for example, you have funds placed at JP Morgan or Credit Suisse or Citigroup or Deutsche Bank or UBS or… well, you get the picture… then those institutions have to play by the rules too, and they can’t do deals with other institutions that are related to them… in other words, the companies that they own… or other companies with the same owner.  You get the idea.Makes sense, right?  Remember:  Where YOU are concerned, the feds know that the opportunity for fraud is just far too high to allow transactions among related parties, so there are laws on the books for the exact same thing for the financial firms.Enter the QPAM – Qualified Professional Asset Manager.  This is a convenient little designation that Uncle Sam offers to certain institutions that, fundamentally, allows them to totally ignore the related party rules.  Yes, you heard that correctly – if your financial institution wants to do business with other divisions of itself using your retirement funds… the QPAM status gives them the right to do that.Sketchy, huh?Oh, my friends, that’s not the half of it.So, you’ll remember back in the 2005-2008 time frame, a little thing called the mortgage crisis happened.  Crazy things like no-doc loans and credit default swaps and mortgage backed securities were all the rage.  And there was so much money involved that the big Wall Street firms were willing to do anything – very nearly anything at all – to collect their huge pieces of the pie.  And so, many employees of those firms committed crimes… felonies, to be precise… and have since been convicted of those felonies.And, of course, federal law prohibits financial institutions from being approved as a QPAM – that thing that lets them use your money to trade with themselves – if the firm employs convicted felons.And that’s a big deal.  Literally billions of dollars in assets and income are at stake.So you don’t have anything to worry about.  Uncle Sam has your back.Yeah…. Right.Last week, the Department of Labor – the part of the federal government that is in charge of regulations related to retirement funds – announced that it granted a bit of a reprieve to Credit Suisse.  You see, the problem Credit Suisse had is that they have felons working at their company, but they still want to have that special QPAM designation.So what the Department of Labor say about this?  You might expect them to take the opportunity to stare down Credit Suisse firmly and say “your actions have consequences, and now you get to pay the price.”But no, that’s not what good ole Uncle Sam did at all.  Rather, he said… “ya know, I think I’ll give you a pass, Credit Suisse.  You can keep your employees who are convicted criminals.  And you can continue to skim fees off the retirement assets of your customers by self-dealing those funds among your subsidiaries.  It’s all good, guys… business as usual!”Of course, nobody from the Labor Department said it that clearly.  That would approach honesty, and that’s something we all know that we never get from the government.But my friends, before you go and think that this is an exceptional case, and that the feds really do have your best interest at heart, just don’t even bother to think that.That list of financial institutions that I read to you a bit ago – JP Morgan, Credit Suisse, Citigroup, Deutsche Bank, UBS – every single one of them have applied for waivers for their felonious activities in order to keep their QPAM status as well.But good news – the Credit Suisse waiver grant was unusual.Um….  Well… wait a minute.I got that wrong.  Correction.Apparently, the Department of Labor has granted that waiver EVERY SINGLE TIME it has ever been asked.  You heard that correctly:  The Department of Labor simply does not care if felons work for the firms managing your retirement funds.  In fact, every single time they’ve been given the explicit opportunity to turn away felons from working in proximity to your retirement funds, they’ve refused to do so.So, let’s be clear:  Those financial firms, they’ve got some problems.  We know that.But the bigger problem is with Uncle Sam… and the level of cronyism that’s developed between Washington DC and Wall Street in the past several years is nothing short of astounding… and disgusting.What’s the answer?Take control of your money yourself, people.  The time for blindly trusting Wall Street is behind us.  The time for trusting the government is behind us.  The only person you can trust to respect your capital is YOU.  You, and nobody else.That is the essence of a Self-Directed Investor.My friends, there’s a better way than by buying into conventional wisdom.  Heck, RIGHT NOW, I’ve got a connection with some great cash-flowing rental properties that are producing DOUBLE-DIGIT returns after ALL expenses… with reliability of income so high that nothing else compares.  If you could make double digits reliably, why would you ever risk your hard-earned capital on Wall Street?  Answer:  It simply doesn’t make any sense.  In fact, the only reason you do it now is because that’s what you’ve been conditioned to do.  How many of you have made a substantive study of investment alternatives outside of Wall Street?  A few of you have… and those of you for whom that’s true… almost none of you still invest substantially in Wall Street.Folks, consider this clear revelation of collusion between Uncle Sam and Wall Street to be a wake-up call.  The stakes are nothing short of your retirement funds.  If you need help strategizing how to make your transition from Wall Street, I’d be delighted to help you.  Just stop by SDIRadio.com/consultation to set an appointment.And my friends, if you’d like to learn more about some extraordinary cash-flow rental property investment opportunities… the time is now.  Stop by SDIRadio.com/cashflow and check it out.  Your jaw will drop when you see some of this stuff.That’s all for now, my friends.  Tomorrow I’m going to share with you an important distinction I learned about evaluating cash flowing rental properties… I had a huge bias against a certain type of property, and you know what?  I was wrong… and it cost me a LOT of money.I’ll tell you how, and why, in tomorrow’s episode of Self Directed Investor Radio.  And hey, would you do me a huge favor and tell one of your friends about this show?  I’d be so very grateful to you.And hey… invest wisely today, and live well forever! 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The king is dead, long live the king!  The Self-Directed IRA used to be the king of the hill for self-directed investors planning for retirement, but now, it’s the Self-Directed 401k… and it’s so much better than the IRA version, it’s not even close.  But do YOU qualify to have one?  And if not, HOW CAN you qualify?  I’m Bryan Ellis.  I’ll tell you right now in Episode 141.------Hello, SDI Nation!  Welcome to the podcast of record for savvy self-directed investors like you!For the longest time, the Self-Directed IRA was the king of the hill for those of you who want to invest your retirement funds in anything other than stocks, bonds, mutual funds or any other exchange-traded asset.  The Self-Directed IRA was like manna from heaven because suddenly, here was a tool that imposed very few limits on our investment choices, and we could finally buy real estate or private companies or precious metals or private placements or whatever we wanted with very few real limitations.What’s more, there was a broad perception for a very long time that the IRA was basically a fortress.  Once money goes in, no creditor or government agency could ever take it out.  But it turns out, that’s just not true… there’s the specter of this thing called prohibited transactions which, when you commit one, your IRA ceases to be an IRA, subjects you to huge taxes, penalties and interest, and just as importantly, exposes everything in your IRA to creditors.To make it worse, once your IRA is polluted by a prohibited transaction, there’s very little you can do to correct it.  In short, you’re screwed.And so when this thing called the Self-Directed 401k came along, we were all excited about it because it was an improvement over the self-directed IRA in some useful ways, like… it could accept a whole lot more money, and you could borrow money from it, and you could absolutely and pretty easily directly manage your own capital without the involvement of an expensive custodian.  There are even some circumstances where the IRA would be subject to regular income tax and the 401k wouldn’t.  All good things… but maybe not game changers.But there is ONE game changing difference that, even if everything else was the same, would make the Self-Directed 401k infinitely superior to the IRA, and it’s this:  The prohibited transaction rules are different, and far more favorable for 401k’s, than for IRA’s.  To be clear, you’re still subject to prohibited transaction limitations when using a 401k.  No doubt about it.  But unlike with IRA’s, there’s a very clear approach to CORRECTING problems you may have caused yourself by committing a prohibited transaction.  Yes, it will cost you a bit of time and money to make those corrections… but, unlike with IRA’s, correcting a prohibited transaction in a 401k is entirely possible.  And whereas the penalty for committing a PT in an IRA is absolutely draconian and disastrous, the cost for correcting PT’s in a 401k can be managed without costing you your entire retirement savings.But here’s the thing… it’s those pesky regulatory issues Chad referred to a moment ago… there are some very specific requirements for qualifying for a Self-Directed 401k that are a bit more stringent even than for IRA’s, which are really restricted only as a function of your age and income.What are those requirements to use a self-directed 401k?  Really, it all boils down to one thing:  You’ve got to be an owner or partner in a business that has no full-time employees other than yourself, your partners and spouses.That’s it.  Well, technically you also have to have taxable income in the year you start the plan.  So there’s that.So If you own or are partner in such a business, then you’re good.  And you should set up your self-directed 401k right away, with haste.  I’ll give you a suggestion in just a moment for where to go to set it up, because not all 401k providers are the same, and you may as well start out with the very best option.But what if you don’t fit that requirement?  What if you don’t own a small business?  Or what if you DO own a small business, but you have full time employees?Let’s deal with those separately.If you don’t own a small business, but you’re serious about self-directed retirement investing through a self-directed 401k, then here’s what I suggest you consider:  Start a business.  It doesn’t have to be a huge business, and it doesn’t have to be a full-time business.  It just has to be a legitimate business.  Why don’t you go out on Craig’s List, buy a wave runner, and rent it out a few times a year?  That’s a small – but legitimate – business, and would reasonably be enough to let you create a self-directed 401k.Of course, such a tiny business won’t put off enough cash to allow you to make huge contributions to the plan, but it will allow you to do something very important… it will allow you to create the plan so that you can TRANSFER your current IRA savings into your 401k!  And that, my friends, is a very wise thing to do.  Yes, there are some limitations to that, but particularly if you have retirement savings either in a traditional IRA or in an employer 401k, chances are very, very good that you could transfer all of that money into a self-directed 401k and start to enjoy all of the benefits that make the 401k wildly superior to the self-directed IRA.And what if you DO own a small business, but you have employees?  You’ve got a couple of choices, one of which is to restructure your business into multiple entities such that one of those entities complies with the requirements of law, or you can set up a normal 401k for you and all of your employees, which just happens to be self-directed as well!  Yes, that’s possible.  Hang with me for a suggestion on who to handle this for you, because it’s got to be done right.So my friends, two things I want you to know:  Having a self-directed 401k is worth its weight in gold, particularly for you real estate investors, or anyone buying non-exchange-traded assets.  That’s because the IRS is taking the position that EVERY self-directed IRA contains a prohibited transaction, and they believe it’s their job to find it.  They don’t even give the slightest presumption of compliance.  Thus, having a self-directed 401k in which it’s possible to correct those errors, do so affordably and with relatively little complication… that distinction alone is a massive, massive advantage.And no matter which situation you’re in – you already qualify for a self-directed 401k but don’t have one, or maybe you don’t qualify but would like to, or maybe you’ve got too many employees – no matter which is true for you, here’s what I recommend:Go over to SDIRadio.com/best401k to get my recommendation for who to guide you to set up your plan.  There’s one guy who is the best of the best at this, and his info is there at SDIRadio.com/best401k…We’re out of time today folks, but remember:  I’ve got a very, very special webinar coming up TOMORROW that will tell you how you can get involved in some incredibly attractive cash-flowing properties that… well I’m just blown away.  It’s the result of a distress situation where I was in the right place at the right time, and let’s just say, if you’re looking for cashflow properties, you’ve GOT to hear this right away.  To join that webinar, just text the word TOPPICKS to 33444 or if you’re outside of the United States or otherwise can’t text, just visit SDIRadio.com/cashflow.  You’ll be very, very glad you did.My friends… Invest wisely today, and live well forever! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Self Directed IRA’s are powerful.  Self-directed IRA’s are flexible.  Self-Directed IRA’s can help to make you very, very rich.  And today, I’ll give you the sobering reason to consider abandoning your self-directed IRA, and to never, ever use it again.  I’m Bryan Ellis.  I’ll give you the reasons, and the solution, RIGHT NOW in episode #140.------Hello, SDI Nation!  Welcome to the podcast of record for savvy self-directed investors like you.My friends… I’m going to do it again today… I’ll bang the drum on the risk of prohibited transactions, and why those of you who are doing real estate transactions – or investing in nearly any non-exchange-traded assets – are taking a huge, unnecessary risk by sticking blindly to the use of your self-directed IRA.But first… HOLY COW, people!  Clearly, a whole lot of you are interested in owning some cash-flowing rentals!  Registrations for this week’s webinar about that topic have absolutely blown up.  Here’s the deal:  I’ve found one of those gold-mind types of opportunities.  A very successful real estate investor owns a portfolio of over 50 properties, but he’s in a serious legal dispute with his business partner, and their mediation requires them to liquidate these properties quickly.  That’s created a huge, wonderful opportunity because, folks… these are some incredibly solid cash-flowing deals.  I’m talking about properties that can be bought in the mid-$50,000 range that are collecting rents of $750-$800… and for reasons I’ll explain to you on the webinar this week, tenants tend to stay in these properties for 3-5 years and never, ever miss payments.  It’s a beautiful situation.  Anyway, bottom line is that even after expenses and reserves, most of the 19 or so properties I picked out of that portfolio are still yielding 12% cash-on-cash… and sometimes, quite a bit more.  Several of those properties are ALREADY gone, as some other smart investors like you have already jumped on it, so we’re down to somewhere around 13 remaining as of now.  Bottom line:  You’ll need to act quickly if highly cash-flowing property, fully managed, with very long-term, low-maintenance tenancies is something that appeals to you.  The webinar where I’ll tell all of you about it as a group is THIS week, and you can get the FREE registration link by texting the word TOPPICKS to 33444 right now.  I’ll give that to you again in just a minute, but also if you’re an existing client of mine and you’d like to chat with me personally about this BEFORE the webinar, you know I’m happy to talk with you, as existing clients get first shot at everything.  If that’s you, just go to SDIRadio.com/consultation and set up an appointment time, and I’ll be glad to talk with you.  And if you’re not an existing client, please be sure to join me on the webinar… register by texting the word TOPPICKS – spelled toppicks with no spaces – to 33444.  Text TOPPICKS to 33444.So, my friends, the importance of prohibited transactions can’t be overstated, and since most IRA custodians won’t do you the good service of making it clear to you just how risky it is to use a Self-Directed IRA to buy any non-exchange-traded assets, clearly that responsibility falls to me, and I gladly bear it for you, my dear listeners.Very quickly… a prohibited transaction is when you break a certain set of rules that the IRS has put in place that limits, to a small degree, what you can do with your account, and with whom you can do such things.  Bottom line:  If you break any one of those rules when using your IRA, your account is BLOWN UP, and the financial ramifications will be truly, deeply severe.  Ever seen those pictures of Nagasaki, Japan, when the atom bomb was dropped on it, forming a huge mushroom cloud?  It’s the financial equivalent of that… it’s a disaster if you commit one of these things within a self-directed IRA.  It’s entirely plausible to lose 50% or more… up to the whole thing… due to taxes, penalties and interest.  It’s an absolute disaster… and there’s simply no easy way to get any grace from the IRS to fix your mistake.  With few exceptions, once you’ve screwed up and Uncle Sam finds out about it, then it’s as if your house is already on fire and you can no longer buy insurance.  You’re screwed.Here’s an example.There’s a pending bankruptcy case involving a person named Donald Rogers.  Rogers filed for bankruptcy, and given that he had a self-directed retirement account, the bankruptcy trustee – the person who is trying to take away Roger’s assets for the benefit of creditors – promptly inspected the account for a prohibited transaction because if Rogers had committed one of them, then his account would no longer have any protection from creditors.  That’s one of the downsides of committing a prohibited transaction… suddenly, your IRA can be taken by creditors.And, as it turned out, Rogers really, really appears to have committed prohibited transactions.  Some really, really, really obvious ones.  Things like… he lived in property owned by his account… he bought a boat using the funds in the account, and used the boat himself… he did business with relatives, took loans, and basically did absolutely everything wrong that he possibly could have.  Looks like an open and shut case.  No question about it.That’s why the Bankruptcy Trustee asked the judge to rule that Roger’s account had been involved in a prohibited transaction… it was obvious.  Slam dunk.And folks… the ramifications are huge.  Rogers’ 401k is worth about $300,000, and frankly, he’s going to be ruined by this.  When you factor in his creditors along with the taxes, penalties and interest he’s going to owe as a result of this, his retirement account will end up being a huge liability rather than an asset.  It’s amazing… he could lose the whole thing, and then some.  We don’t know for sure yet, because the part of the case I’m telling you about was a request by the Trustee for summary judgment concerning prohibited transactions and not the conclusion of the full case.Oh, but wait a minute.  There’s an important detail I got wrong in my description to you.  Hmmm….It turns out that Rogers has a self-directed 401k, not a self-directed IRA.  And largely because of and related to that, the judge REFUSED the request of the trustee to grant summary judgment, which would have cleared the way for the trustee to take away Roger’s 401k.  But the judge didn’t do that… the Trustee just couldn’t yet show that the 401k was disqualified.And here’s the rest of the story… this particular case is still pending, so we don’t know what will happen.  But if Roger’s attorney knows anything about this stuff – which is, frankly, doubtful – he’ll reach out to the Department of Labor – the government entity that regulates 401ks – and will take a few simple steps to adjust the plan and bring it back into full compliance.  It will likely cost very, very little to do that, and what will be the result?At the end of the day, if Rogers’ attorney knows what he’s doing, Rogers will be able to keep his 401k… the bankruptcy trustee won’t get his hands on that money… it just won’t happen.  All for one simple reason:  The rules for 401k’s are FAR MORE forgiving than for IRA’s where prohibited transactions are concerned… the difference isn’t even close.In this case… the difference is worth $300,000.  For Rogers, it’s worth literally everything he owns… because his 401k may well end up being the only thing he has left after bankruptcy.And remember:  You don’t have to file bankruptcy for this to be relevant.  Just by committing a prohibited transaction in your IRA, you’ll be subject to the same taxes, penalties and interest… and the financial pain that can cause is absolutely, positively brutal.And don’t kid yourself, my friends.  Don’t just tell yourself that you’re smarter and more careful than Rogers.  Honestly, it’s hard for me to imagine a circumstance in which a person does any substantive real estate investing through a self-directed retirement account WITHOUT committing a prohibited transaction.  It’s just very, very easy to do.Want to get a self-directed 401k set up the RIGHT WAY?  I’ve got a great recommendation for you.  Go over to SDIRadio.com/best401k for my suggestion.So the moral of the story?  My friends, if you qualify, you absolutely should use a self-directed 401k rather than a self-directed IRA.  There’s just no counter argument.  And if you don’t qualify to use a self-directed 401k, you should make some changes so that you DO qualify.And THAT will be the topic of tomorrow’s show… Do YOU qualify for a self-directed 401k… and if not, HOW CAN you qualify?  It’s so important, my friends…. So important.  So be sure you’re subscribed to this show on iTunes or Stitcher so that you don’t miss it.  This is a huge, huge deal.That’s all for now.  One final reminder – text TOPPICKS to 33444 for the registration link for this week’s webinar on acquiring high cash-flowing rental properties.And remember:  Invest wisely today, and live well forever! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Hedge funds, venture capital and private placements.  Ah yes… it’s the world of investing that’s open only to the wealthiest of investors… until now.  I’m Bryan Ellis.  I’ll tell you why the most hush-hush of investment opportunities are taking to the streets for everyone to see RIGHT NOW in Episode 139.-----Hello, SDI Nation!  Welcome to the podcast of record for savvy, self-directed investors like you!You know, as I sit here behind the SDI microphone, I’m struck by the sheer enormity of the opportunity that’s available to smart, well-connected investors.  Case in point:  Just yesterday, I met with a guy who owns a company who has built a portfolio of over 50 single-family rental properties, nearly all of which are yielding 12%+ per year from cash flow… sometimes MUCH more… and that’s assuming full purchase with cash, not one of those hocus-pocus deals where the high return is only because of taking on mortgage debt.  These properties are just WINNERS… high yielders… and very, very attractive.But you know what?  This guy has a problem.  He and his business partner are fighting in a really big way… and he’s got to unload his portfolio.  As in… he MUST do it… those are the terms of the mediation  between the partners… and he’s got to do so under terms that are, shall I say, rather UNFAVORABLE to him, but rather favorable to the buyer.  And that buyer will be me… and small number of my most decisive clients who are willing and able to act quickly.So here’s the deal… I’ve got exactly 19 properties available with these characteristics:Characteristic #1:  VERY high cash flow… like rents of $750-800 versus purchase prices in the $50’s!Characteristic #2:  Totally new renovation, with brand new city inspections and certifications plus a one-year maintenance warranty!Characteristic #3:  Tenant already in place, with 100% reliable third-party rental payment guarantees…Characteristic #4:  Experienced, competent and reliable property management ALREADY in place!Characteristic #5:  Purchase BELOW retail value!My friends, if you’re looking to build some incredibly reliable and very low-stress cash flow… with EXTREMELY attractive cash-on-cash ROI, then here’s what you do:If you’re on my top picks notification list, then I’ve already sent you an invitation to learn more about this opportunity on a webinar I’m giving THIS WEEK.  You’ll want to see that webinar, right away, because I have a very limited number of properties – 19, to be precise – that will go very quickly given the attractiveness of this opportunity.If you’re NOT on my top picks list, then, RIGHT NOW, text the word TOP PICKS with no spaces to 33444.  Again, just text the word TOPPICKS – spelled TOPPICKS with no spaces – to 33444 and I’ll immediately send you the information you need to get on that webinar.  And when you get it, register immediately.This is a beautiful opportunity and I hope you don’t miss it!So… we’ve all heard of these fancy hedge funds and private equity firms that are the exclusive domain of the uber-wealthy.  And many investors who are certainly affluent, but maybe not ultra-wealthy, certainly have longed for greater access to some of these elusive opportunities.Well, the wait may be over… to an extent.  In the last couple of years, the law has changed such that one opportunity has become available to some of these investment funds that was never before available:  General Solicitation.That’s the fancy term for “advertising”.  Previously, it was illegal for non-publicly-traded investment funds to advertise themselves to the public.  That’s because, with just a few minor exceptions, investing in those funds was limited to one group of people:  Accredited investors.  Many of you, my dear listeners, are yourselves accredited investors.  It basically means that, as an individual, you have a net worth of over a million dollars, excluding your home.Truth is, I don’t think that will really make much of a difference in the long run.  Unaccredited investors simply can’t afford the minimum investment in many of these funds, which is usually $100,000 to $250,000 on the lower end.But here’s where there could be an interesting impact for the thousands of you in this audience who do meet the standards of accreditation but who are not currently privy to any of those types of opportunities.I suspect that you will see a growing number of private investment funds begin to advertise their services per the new rules.  This is a good thing… more choice is always a good thing for consumers, including consumers of investment opportunities like you and me.  And while advertising in and of itself is certainly NOT a standard for evaluating the quality of such opportunities, there’s no doubt that increasing competition in that world is a good thing… and I’m equally certain that increasing the opportunities available to you OUTSIDE of Wall Street is a good thing.But always remember the standard of a wise self-directed investor:  Simple, Safe and Strong.  Any investment that isn’t simple enough to explain coherently to your grandmother in a sentence or two is too complicated.  Any investment that doesn’t have a clear, concrete way to protect and return your capital as it’s chief concern is not safe enough for your capital.  And any investment that can’t reliably generate the financial results you need… both at the conclusion of the investment and during the entire holding period… that investment isn’t strong enough to justify use of your capital.Remember:  Your capital must be respected.  That’s job #1.  That capital didn’t come to you freely, nor must it be given away carelessly.  Simple, Safe and Strong… that’s guide, that’s the rule.My friends, if you’re looking for some EXTRAORDINARY cash-flowing real estate ownership opportunities, the time is NOW to text the word TOPPICKS to 33444 so I can send you information about the package of 19 properties I mentioned to you before.  Curiously, I got an email about that while I was writing this episode for you, so we may not even have that many remaining any longer.  So go ahead and text TOPPICKS to 33444 right now to get the info.Tomorrow I’m going to give you a powerful and maybe shocking example of how much safer your money will be if you choose to use a self-directed 401k over a self-directed IRA.  The difference is stark, disturbing and… well, you can’t ignore this.  So be sure to SUBSCRIBE to this show on either iTunes or Stitcher RIGHT NOW so you don’t miss an episode.My friends… invest wisely today, and live well forever! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Hello, SDI Nation!  I’m Bryan Ellis, your host for Self Directed Investor Radio.  Today is unusual… There will not be a normal episode of SDI Radio.  Why is that, you may ask?Here’s why, my friends:  At the end of the day, I’m not just the host of a booming podcast, nor am I just the publisher of a very successful real estate newsletter.  I’m a self-directed investor investor, too… I actually DO the things I speak to you about each day.And I’ve got to take a sudden, rather unexpected trip to do some serious due diligence on what appears to be a very attractive porfolio of over 50 cash-flowing rental properties that can be acquired at very, very attractive pricing.  It’s a classic distress situation – a guy who is a very seasoned real estate investor is having serious trouble with his business partner, and they’ve got a legal dispute brewing between them.  They’re trying to unload their property portfolio as quickly as possible because that’s the advice they’ve been given by their attorneys and mediators.Bad for them, because there’s a LOT of equity in these properties, most of which already have paying tenants in them.  Good for me, because I’d be delighted to buy every single one of those properties if they fit my model.This is, of course, relevant for you, because I’ll share this opportunity with you.  I know, because so many of you have told me clearly, that you REALLY want to acquire cash-flowing rental properties.  And I don’t blame you!  Acquiring the right portfolio of cash flow-producing properties is a reliable, predictable path to long-term wealth, if your properties meet the right criteria.But what is that criteria?  The answer is the S3 Criteria:  Simple, Safe and Strong.  And that’s what I’m going to do today is to determine whether the portfolio I’m reviewing meets my standard.I’ve got a lot of digging to confirm.  I’ve got to talk to the property owners – the partners who are feuding – along with their attorneys and the lenders who are funding these deals.  I’ve got to talk with some of the current renters of the property.  I’ve got to do some serious digging into the specifics of the local area where these properties are located.My gut feeling is positive… I think there’s a real opportunity here.  That’s why I’m taking an unscheduled day away from the office today because, God knows I don’t have time to do that since, as my regular listeners know, I was ill for so long and missed quite a lot of work time.  But my friends, I have a sense this one might be worthwhile, and might really pay off.And if it DOES, the VERY FIRST people I’ll tell about it is those of you on my TOP PICKS notification list.  In fact, the very moment that I know I’ve got something that’s worth sharing, I’ll immediately fire out a notice to my top picks list with the details.  And here’s one thing of which you can be sure:  If you hear about an opportunity on my top picks list, then it’s an opportunity worth taking seriously, and worth investigating immediately.So here’s my respectful suggestion to you:  MAKE SURE you’re on the top picks early notice list by texting the word TOPPICKS to 33444.  Again, text the word TOPPICKS – spelled toppicks with no spaces or periods – to 33444.  That will put you on our Top Picks list at absolutely no cost.One more thing… Soon, it won’t be free to get on the top picks list.  Right now it is.  Get in while the getting’ is free! That’s all for now, folks.  Have a spectacular day, and remember:Invest wisely today, and live well forever! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Contempt, Whistleblowers and Wall Street.  Today you learn just how far the scumbags on Wall Street will go to line their own pockets at your expense, and it's DISGUSTING.  Get ready for more evidence that the men and women of "BIG FINANCE" absolutely loathe you.  I'm Bryan Ellis.  This is Episode 138.------Hello, SDI Nation.  Welcome to the podcast of record for savvy, self-directed investors like you!Today, you hear a story that's disgusting, but very illustrative.  I hope you'll not just take this story as an anecdote, but as a motivator to action.  Because my friends, though this story is about the contempt that drives one single person, if he gets what he wants, it will have a very direct and very negatve impact on millions of people-quite certainly including many, many listeners to this show.Today's story is one of contempt and greed.  Allow me to set the stage.Back in 2006, Congress authorized the creation of a Whistleblower Office within the IRS.  The idea was simple - to motivate people to identify others thought to be engaged in tax fraud, with the motivation of receiving a percentage of the taxes collected as a result.  Yep, a formal "snitching" program.  Classy, huh?  But the IRS was really only after the "big fish", because the reward only applies if there's potential for collecting more than $2,000,000.And, like everything else the government does, this program is wildly inefficient.  For example, in 2012, 8,634 people snitched on their employers, their competitors, their neighbors and their friends.  How many of those cases resulted in collecting $2,000,000 or more?  12.  Yep, 12.  Not even 1% of the cases reported by snitches resulted in achieving the ojective of the program.  Barely 1% of 1%, actually.Yes, the IRS Whistleblower program connects to Wall Street's loathing for you.  Hang with me.Another piece of this tale is the mutual fund company Vanguard.  This is where the story will connect to many of you, my dear listeners.Vanguard is a very highly reputable mutual fund company that has achieved some impressive operational efficiencies.  As a result, the fees they charge clients of their mutual funds are far less than their competitors.  In fact, their average expense ratio is, depending on whose stats you're looking at, somewhere between 60 and 85% less than the industry average.  And despite this, their mutual funds are competitive in terms of returns.As a result, Vanguard has become a very large company and is a favorite of individual investors who want to keep their expenses low.So what's the problem?A guy named David Danon used to work for Vanguard.  Danon is a lawyer.  And Danon chose to use the information to which he had access while acting as a lawyer for Vanguard to report them to the IRS for underpayment of taxes.I want that to sink in for just a moment.  Let's set aside, for a moment, whether Vanguard actually underpaid taxes.  I want you to focus on the fact that Danon, an attorney for Vanguard who continued to work for them while he was preparing this Whistelblower claim, an attorney who is bound by attorney-client confidentiality, nevertheless reported his client to the IRS... not out of the goodness of his heart, but because he expects to be paid a percentage of the revenue the IRS may attempt to collect.That, my friends, is disgusting.But why does Danon allege an underpayment of taxes?  This gets to the point of contempt for YOU.  As in all lawsuits, the devil is in the details, but in this one specifically, the general idea is this:  Danon alleges that because Vanguard charges lower fees to it's clients than it's competitors, that it therefore made less profit than it should.  And therefore, Danon suggests, Vanguard should be taxed on the fees it SHOULD HAVE charged.That's right, folks, Vanguard is being accused of being a tax cheat essentially because they could have made more profit than they actually did.  They didn't rip you off like all of their competitors, and this guy Danon - a Wall Street guy - wants them to pay for it.And, if he wins in this effort, Vanguard will pay... but more importantly, YOU will pay.The bottom line:  This guy Danon, a Wall Street insider to be sure, is doing just the same as his industry does:  Putting his own interests far ahead of that of clients like YOU.This isn't a small deal.  My reading of this situation suggests that there's a tax bill of nearly $35 BILLION at stake for Vanguard, should they lose.  And who will pay that?  You.  Not just You if you're a Vanguard customer.  You if you're invested in Wall Street at all.  Because after Vanguard's low pricing model goes, there will be no real competitive restraint to even higher fees.At the end of the day, the real issue is confiscatory taxation that’s weaponized against taxpayers in the form of a Whistleblower program that is proven to be astoundingly inefficient.  But you can’t do much about that, other than by voting for politicians who believe, correctly, that taxes are far too high.But what you CAN do – what you SHOULD do – is to stop merely CONSIDERING shifting your assets out of the stock market and into an asset class that actually MAKES SENSE.  You need to actually TAKE ACTION!To that end, I’ve got some great news.  In the coming week, I’ll have a lot more to share with you about some TRULY worthwhile assets… some very attractive cash flowing rental properties that you can purchase in strong markets, with guaranteed rental income, built-in property management and at below-retail pricing!  We’re at an advanced stage in working to acquire a great portfolio of cash-flow producing rental property, and I’ve got to tell you… this one is exciting.  If you’re considering the purchase of rental property in the near future – or particularly if you’re seriously considering another property right this moment – I respectfully suggest you consider waiting until next week when you hear what I have to share with you.  You’ll be very, very glad you did.I’ll announce more about that on this show when the details are confirmed, but as always, the best way to make sure you get the most timely notice of great opportunities is to be on my TOP PICKS notification list.  To get on that list, at no cost, just text the word TOPPICKS with no spaces to 33444.  Again, text the word TOPPICKS to 33444.  It’s spelled TOPPICKS with no spaces.Well, my friends, I’m off to spend a day with daughter at a college interview she’s been invited to attend.  I hope you have a great weekend, and be sure to join me on Monday because on that day, I’m going to tell you about that magical world of hedge funds and private placements that have always been the exclusive domain of the very wealthy… and I’ll show you how YOU can get access to that world, as well… even if you’re not exactly Bill Gates.  But the only way to get it for sure is to SUBSCRIBE to this show on iTunes or Stitcher, so be sure to do that right now!In the mean time, folks:  Invest wisely today, and live well forever! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

If one is good, two must be better, right?  In the world of Self-Directed IRA’s, the answer is probably YES!  You’ll be shocked at just how smart it can be to have more than one retirement account.  I’m Bryan Ellis.  You’ll learn how RIGHT NOW in Episode 137.-----Hello, SDI Nation!  You’re looking great, today, people!  Did you do something new with your hair?  HeheheheYou know, it’s nice to be back among the living, so to speak.  As my regular listeners know, I’ve been quite ill during the past several weeks, and it was awful.  I’m on a rapid climb back to full health and actually got to work a full day yesterday which has been quite rare lately, but so very welcomed!  My work backlog is huge, and I’m so happy to be with you here right now!Folks, I mentioned earlier in the week that by end of this week I’ll finish a new e-Book called “The Portfolio Fortress” that outlines a really great, and very efficient, approach to protecting your assets from financial predators, and it’s particularly apt for those of you with at least 3-5 real estate properties in your portfolio.  The most common strategy these days among people who are concerned about rogue lawsuits is to put every different property into a separate single-member LLC, but it seems like a new court decision every month is proving that strategy to be wildly ineffective.  There’s a better way, and it’s far more efficient than having a separate LLC for every property, and I describe that approach in The Portfolio Fortress.  I’m going to publish it on Amazon for sale there, but I’d like to give it to YOU as a listener to this show for free, if you request it before publication.  The way you get it is to text the word FORTRESS to 33444.  If you’ve already texted FORTRESS to 33444, you don’t need to do it again, I’ll send the ebook to you on today or tomorrow when it’s ready.  But if you’ve not yet requested a free pre-publication edition of it, then text the word FORTRESS to 33444 and I’ll be happy to send you a copy when it’s done in a couple of days.So… two or more IRA’s?  Who would ever need to do such a thing?  HeheheheThere are actually many reasons one might consider doing so, and at least one you may have never before considered that I’ll tell you in a moment.First things first:  There’s nothing in the law that prohibits you from having more than one IRA.  You can have a traditional and a Roth.  You can have multiple traditionals, multiple Roths, a 401k and a SEP mixed in for good measure, and so long as you qualify to make contributions to those accounts, and don’t go over the proscribed limits each year on a cumulative basis, then it’s fine to have multiple accounts.Sure, there are rules.  For example, if you have an employer-sponsored retirement plan, then there might be some limits to the deductions you can take from contributing to a traditional IRA outside of your employer’s plan.  That’s an area where it makes good sense to consult with your tax advisor.But the general idea is this:  It is totally kosher to have more than one retirement account.But is there any reason to do so?The answer – particularly for many self-directed IRA owners – is ABSO-FREAKIN-LUTELY!The reason, in two words, is PROHIBITED TRANSACTIONS.For my newer listeners, to commit a prohibited transaction means you’ve broken one of the rules that the IRS has put in place for your retirement account.  While those rules are complex, they’re easy to boil down into simple concepts:  You can do anything where the money in your account ends up in your own pocket, or the pockets of your family members, unless through a proper account withdrawal.  You can’t use slick strategies to contribute more to the account than the law allows.  You know, things like that which, honestly, seem pretty reasonable to me, given the magnitude of the tax advantages offered by these accounts.So here’s how Prohibited Transactions tie into the notion of having multiple IRA’s.Imagine with me, if you will, Joe Blow who has an IRA that’s worth a million dollars.  He has one and only one real estate transaction in that account – a small one – and the rest of his investments are in stocks and bonds.  That one real estate transaction was for $50,000 and he made that investment 5 years ago.  Unfortunately, he didn’t know the rules, and he purchased that property from his grandfather.  That’s a prohibited transaction… but he doesn’t even know it.So 5 years pass, and the IRS audits Joe.  They determine that his real estate investment was a prohibited transaction, and so he’s got to pay the piper.What are the ramifications?   You might think it doesn’t matter much since his real estate investment only amounts to 5% of his account value.  But you’d be wrong.  You see, from the perspective of the IRS, Joe’s ENTIRE ACCOUNT stopped being an IRA as of January 1 on the year when he bought that property.What does that mean?  Well, for starters, it means that he’s got to pay back any deductions he took for the last 5 years for any of the contributions he’s made to his IRA, along with penalties and interest.  That’s a pain in the rear, but it’s not that much money in the grand scheme of things.But that’s not the real issue.The real issue is that the prohibited transaction has that effect on EVERY SINGLE ASSET in the account.And that’s a huge problem.  Because in the past 5 years, Joe has made some shrewd stock investments, and has realized profits in excess of $450,000.  Since those profits were in an IRA, he had no tax liability for those profits.But suddenly, all because of one poorly-executed transaction, he’s got a real problem.Joe now owes regular taxes on his $450,000 of profit.  But worse than that, he owes penalties and interest.  And folks, now we’re definitely talking about a bill in the multiple hundreds of thousands of dollars… again, just because he didn’t understand the rules about prohibited transactions.How could he have avoided this?One really easy way would have been to use multiple IRA’s.  Here’s what I mean:Some transactions, like buying publicly traded stocks and bonds, have a practically zero risk of committing a prohibited transaction.  From the vantage point of prohibited transactions, those are very “safe” assets.But real estate transactions, and other transactions that are inherently more complicated than just calling your broker to place an order… those are the transactions where there’s real risk of a PT.What to do?  If Joe was smart, he’d have simply transferred enough of the money in his main IRA to a secondary IRA, and he’d have done the real estate transaction in that account, all by itself.Why?  Prohibited Transactions inherently screw up the ENTIRE IRA in which they’re committed.  In other words, if you mess up with any one investment, every other asset in the account suffers the same fate.  And it’s a fate that can be, financially, rather Armageddon-like.But if you’re smart enough to put risky transactions – including virtually all real estate transactions – into their own separate account, you’re inherently insulating all of your other assets from that risk.  Because while a PT does result in the “disqualification” of all of the assets in a specific IRA, that fate doesn’t actually extend across separate accounts.And that’s a very good thing.By the way… this is just another reason to prefer the self-directed 401k over the self-directed IRA.  For 401k’s, the penalties for prohibited transactions are far less severe than for IRA’s, and they apply only to the specific asset on which the violation was committed, and not every asset in the account.  That’s a big deal!My friends, thank you for your time today.  And remember:  Invest wisely today, and live well forever! 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What happens to your IRA or 401k when you pass on to the sweet by and by?  Whether your heirs receive the fruit of your effort easily and immediately, or whether they have to fight with the government, creditors and a lengthy bureaucratic mess is TOTALLY up to you.  I’m Bryan Ellis.  I’ll tell you how to make sure your loved ones get what you want them to have RIGHT NOW in Episode 136.-----Hello, SDI Nation!  Welcome to the podcast of record for savvy, self-directed investors like you.There’s one really interesting thing I’m observing with startling frequency about the way that very wealthy people use IRA’s versus their less affluent counterparts.  It’s not as a vehicle for retirement savings, but as a tool for estate planning.Now, my friends, much of this audience is, in fact, sufficiently wealthy that this is directly relevant to them.  But even for those of you who are merely affluent, and not truly “swimming in it”… well, this information is highly relevant for you, too.See, here’s the thing:  IRA’s offer some really cool estate planning capabilities.  I should be more specific.  Roth IRA’s… and Roth 401k’s also… are almost magical.  When the owner of a Roth account passes away, that account is inherited by the now-deceased owner’s designated beneficiary.  And in most cases, that account is then available to the beneficiary IMMEDIATELY… that beneficiary can take some of the money out or basically none of it – they do have to take at least a small amount out to be compliant with IRS rules – but the bottom line:  The beneficiary has nearly absolute discretion of when to withdraw that money.  But even that’s not the cool thing.The really cool thing is that because it’s a ROTH account, the beneficiary pays ZERO taxes on that money!  Zero, zilch, nada!  It doesn’t even matter if the beneficiary is of retirement age.  The beneficiary can, on day one, begin to enjoy the proceeds of that account without tax ramifications.That, my friends, is HUGE.  As Donald Trump might say…. HUUUUUUGE!BUT… and this, too, is HUUUUUGE… your intended beneficiary will NOT inherit your account automatically.  So how can you make sure your intended beneficiary inherits your account?The answer is to be certain that you’ve properly submitted a beneficiary designation form with your custodian.Here’s why:  If you file such a form with your custodian, it’s a simple process for them to effect the inheritance your account upon your passing.  Your account will end being converted to an “inherited IRA” account rather than a standard IRA, and that account will, with haste, be available to and under the control of the beneficiary or beneficiaries you’ve specified.  It’s a very quick, simple process.But what if you do NOT have a beneficiary designation on file?  In that case, unless your master agreement with the custodian specified default choices such as your spouse or children, then your IRA will become part of your estate and must go through probate.And there are a few serious problems with that.First, it’s going to take a long time.  Probate is a slow process, and if your beneficiary is in need of the inheritance, well… it’s a bad situation.Second, it’s expensive… probate lawyers have to eat, too.  And from what I hear, the fees they charge – which the funds in your IRA may be used to help pay – allow those lawyers to eat very, very well.Third, it’s dangerous… If you have creditors at the time of your passing, those creditors are entitled to make claims on the assets of your estate in order to be made whole.  But if you properly execute a beneficiary designation form, then your IRA will pass directly to your beneficiary, without passing through probate and without being used to pay down debts owed to your creditors.So here’s the bottom line:  Call your custodian today and make sure that you have specified both a beneficiary and an alternate beneficiary.  And put a mark on your calendar for every year at this time.  Make it as the SDI IRA Beneficiary Checkup Day.  And on that day each year, make sure that you have a beneficiary and alternate beneficiary designation form on file with your custodian, and that the forms on file still reflect your preferences.It’s the easiest thing in the world to do.  Unfortunately, it’s also the easiest thing in the world NOT to do.  But the negative impact of neglecting this one is really big.  Don’t make this rookie mistake!That’s all for today, except for this:It looks like there’s a good chance we’ll be able to acquire a portfolio of rental properties that offer BOTH very solid equity and very solid cash flow.  Really great opportunities, to be sure.  And I’ll be announcing more about that in the immediate future.  But to make sure you get that information in the most timely manner possible, be sure you’re on my TOP PICKS notification list.  Just text the word TOP PICKS to 33444.  That’s the words TOP PICKS with no spaces – spelled toppicks, text toppicks to 33444 to get on the priority notification list.In tomorrow’s episode, I’m going to tell you what the IRS thinks about your having more than one IRA… and I’ll tell you the situations in which it’s actually really, really, REALLY smart to have multiple retirement accounts.  This is particularly relevant for you real estate investors out there, so be sure to listen in to tomorrow’s episode… and the only way to be sure to do that is to SUBSCRIBE through iTunes or Stitcher, so do that right now!My friends, invest wisely today, and live well forever! 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Did you know that the Feds are talking about setting NEGATIVE interest rates?  I’ll prove it to you… and tell you the real effect of insanely low interest rates on YOU as a self-directed investor  RIGHT NOW in Episode #135-----Hello, SDI Nation!  Welcome to the podcast of record for savvy, self-directed investors like you!  What you hear on this show will invariably be on all of the other shows you listen to… because those show hosts listen to SDI Radio just like you do!Negative interest rates… what a weird concept!  Even weirder to have the concept being raised at Federal Reserve meetings, and then hearing denials from the Federal Reserve Chairwoman that sound, overwhelmingly, like non-denials.  And my friends, just like every episode, this isn’t some fluffy theoretical discussion.  It has a real impact on your finances… all the way down to the fees you pay for your self-directed IRA!  More on that in a minute.First, I’d like to thank you folks again for being so patient with me while I’ve been ill.  I’m still not yet 100%, but thankfully at this point, I’m making clear progress.  Thank you for your prayers.Second, I’m looking for an INTERN for a very special opportunity.  Given the demographics of my listeners, this isn’t likely a good fit for any of you, but it may be perfect for a college-aged person that you know.  This intern… who I hope will turn into a full time employee… will be trained personally by ME to be involved in every aspect of producing the show you’re now hearing.  And I know a thing or two about the podcasting thing, if I do say so myself, having just launched this show barely 7 months ago, and already consistently being among the tip-top investing shows in the world.  I’d like to teach all of that to a person who will become my RIGHT-HAND man or woman… But they’ve got to be the right person.  This is a FORMAL intern program… it’s 30 hours a week of work and 20 hours a week of training.  And at the end of that time, the right person will have both wildly valuable skills and a job opportunity to continue to push forward my grand ambitions for the Self Directed Investor Radio show.  This position does not require a college degree, but does require a very smart, very DRIVEN, tech-savvy person who wants to MAKE A DIFFERENCE with their lives very quickly.  You don’t need to know anything about podcasting or internet marketing – I’ll personally teach you every bit of that – but you need to be very, very comfortable with technology generally and social media and online research specifically.  Does that describe someone you know?  This could be – it WILL be – the opportunity of a lifetime for the right person.  If you are or you know that person, please ask THAT person to drop me a note at feedback@sdiradio.com.So, negative interest rates.  Crazy concept, right?  Under normal circumstances – when interest rates are not negative – lenders makes loans, because they’re compensated for that loan by the repayment of all principal plus the payment of interest.  But with NEGATIVE interest rates, it’s different… not only won’t a lender receive interest, but he won’t even receive a return of all of his principal, either!That is a CRAZY scenario, and one would think it to be impossible.  Alas, negative interest rates are the RULE RIGHT NOW in parts of the European Union… and that was certainly the case in Japan for a very long time.  But what does it REALLY mean?The background on this issue is the most recent Federal Reserve meeting.  Each meeting the Fed produces a chat showing where each of the Federal Reserve Board members expect interest rates to be in the future.  And for one of those Fed Board Members, the prediction was for NEGATIVE interest rates.Now here’s the thing:  Those board members can predict anything they want, and it’s believed to be the case that the person who made that prediction was a non-voting board member anyway.  But to me, the really shocking thing wasn’t the prediction, but the non-denial denial from Janet Yellen, the imminently unqualified chairperson of the Federal Reserve Board.Asked about this issue, Yellen said “I don’t expect that we’re going to be in a path of providing additional accommodation. But if the outlook were to change in a way that most of my colleagues and I do not expect, and we found ourselves with a weak economy that needed additional stimulus, we would look at all of our available tools. And that would be something that we would evaluate in that kind of context.”Doesn’t sound like a NO to me.  Does it to you?  I didn’t think so.Well, that’s all intellectually interesting, but that info is mostly valuable for making your friends and colleagues think you’re in-the-know about economic issues.  But does it really matter?Well… yes, and no.Yes, it does because ultimately the rates set by the Fed trickle down to other financial instruments.  And who this will hurt – as artificially low rates have already hurt – is the people who were smart enough to save their money and who hope to earn a safe interest rate from CD’s or other interest-bearing investments.In a negative interest rate environment, CD’s and savings accounts actually become guaranteed money losers since the nominal rate is negative.  But if we’re honest with ourselves that’s not really a change… real rates have been negative for years, given that so many people are collecting only 0.1 or 0.2% on their money, while prices are rising faster than that.  It’s what I call the grocery index:  If you put $1,000 in a CD today and let it mature for a year, could you buy more groceries at the end of the year than you could have at the beginning of the year.  Almost certainly, the answer is no.  That’s an example of REAL negative rates, even though the rate on your CD says 0.1%.As an aside, my friends:  I don’t understand why anybody would let their parents suffer through the indignity of investing in CD’s or savings accounts with paltry interest rates and negative real rates when there are options that yield 20-50 times more than CD’s and are as safe as can be.  I say “your parents” because it’s invariably the older generation who default to and place great confidence in these types of assets, largely because it made sense when they were younger, but certainly doesn’t make sense now.  By the way, if that’s you, and you’re looking for a way to redeploy capital very safely that’s currently languishing in CD’s or money markets, then reach out to me at SDIRadio.com/consultation and I’ll give you some thoughts about how to help your family stop wasting the opportunity of their own capital in an INCREDIBLY safe manner.It’s not just your parents, either.  Did you know that custodial fees for self-directed retirement accounts used to be much lower for many of the big custodians?  The reason is simple:  Back in the day, they made a lot of money from the “float”… from collecting interest on the unused capital in your account.  But with today’s falsely restrained interest rates, there’s no money to be made in that way, and so you’re paying more directly in the form of fees and expenses.I don’t actually expect that interest rates in America will become nominally – that is, officially – negative.  But it doesn’t matter.  The dynamic duo of near-zero rates coupled with rising prices have exactly the same effect on your real economic situation.  More and more, the only reason to keep cash in a CD or bank account is because that’s physically safer, not because it makes sense in any other way.That’s all for now, my friends.  Remember if to pass the word along if you have a friend or family member who might be a good fit for the intern opportunity I mentioned before.And remember:  Invest wisely today, and live well forever! 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What is a SERIES LLC, and why are self-directed investors so excited about this new legal structure?  I’m Bryan Ellis.  I’ll tell you the good AND the bad about Series LLC’s right now in Episode #134.-----Hello, SDI Nation!  Welcome to the PODCAST of RECORD for savvy self-directed investors like you!So have you heard of it?  This thing called a “series LLC”?  It’s a relatively new type of legal structure that offers the flexibility of multiple legal entities in one, in a manner of speaking.So, for example, let’s say you create a new LLC called SDI LLC and you register it as a “Series” LLC.  What this means is that by creating that one entity, you have actually created a virtually unlimited number of entities because you can then, without paying additional registration fees, create additional entities such as SDI Series 1 LLC, SDI Series 2 LLC, SDI Series 3 LLC, etc…Now here’s what’s cool about that… the governing law for this type of structure explicitly states that, in the eyes of the law, that each of those series are SEPARATE business entities.  This means that, each separate series you establish of that LLC has separate TAX liability, separate LEGAL liability, an entirely distinct LEGAL identity… even though you don’t have to pay additional fees to register the additional series after the first one.That has some real relevance for me and you as Self Directed Investors.  Here’s why:  Let’s think about this in the context of real estate.Let’s imagine you have 15 different pieces of property.  Some are residential, some are raw land, some are commercial.  But you have 15 different pieces, and they’re all owned by your IRA.And one day, somebody slips and falls on one of your properties – let’s just say it’s property #7, a nice little house on Main Street – and they’re seriously injured.  They’re going to sue everyone with any connection to that property, which will quite surely include your IRA as owner of the property.What happens if they win?  What happens if they get $5,000,000 judgment against your IRA?  Well, what will happen is that they’ll be able to, in one way or another, take away not just the property on Main Street where the accident happened, but all of the others as well, until their $5M judgement is satisfied.  That’s because, in the eyes of the law, those assets have the same owner, and it’s THAT owner – your IRA – that must satisfy the judgment.  In one fell swoop, your IRA is now worthless.Just as an aside, I know that some of you are thinking that your IRA provides protection against lawsuits, so you need not be concerned.  That’s not really true, folks.  If you PERSONALLY were sued and lost, then there IS some protection for your IRA in that kind of situation.  But that’s not what we’re talking about.  We’re talking about YOUR IRA being sued because IT is the owner of this property, and not you personally.  In that case, the assets of the IRA are up for grabs if it loses the lawsuit.And that’s where a Series LLC might come into play.  The way some people are using these things is that they’re setting up a Series LLC that’s owned by their IRA, and then they’re creating a separate series of that LLC – essentially a separate business – to own each piece of their property.The theory there works like this:  Instead of your IRA owning 15 separate properties, it owns a series LLC with 15 separate series, each of which contains one piece of property, including that infamous property #7, the nice little house on Main Street.  And when there’s an injury on that property that results in a lawsuit with a $5M judgement, things work out a little differently this time because Property #7 is not actually owned by your IRA directly.  Instead, it’s owned by SDI Series 7 LLC.  And since that house is the only thing owned by SDI Series 7 LLC – because every other property is in a different Series of SDI LLC – then you still take a hit… but it’s only against Property #7.  All of the other properties are safe, being legally separate from the one asset where there’s a big judgment.Sounds pretty good, doesn’t it?  I’ll admit, the theory is extremely attractive.But don’t do it, folks.  At least, not right now.  Here’s why:The fact is that Series LLC’s are just too new from a legal perspective.  There’s not enough case law to predict what’s going to happen when you’re actually on the other end of a lawsuit or a bankruptcy or a tax audit.  The uncertainty factor is stratospherically high.In fact, as of this time, only 13 states plus the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico even offer Series LLC’s.  And those states don’t use the same law.  For example, in some states, like Nevada, you can add as many series to your LLC as you want at no additional cost.  But in other states, you actually have to pay additional fees for each series.But the real question is in the states where there are no Series LLC laws.  What you really can’t predict is whether each Series will be considered as a legally separate entity in those states.  And even if you only do business in a state where there IS series LLC legislation, the reality is that it’s still entirely possible you could face legal action out of state from a vendor or from a person living in another state who just passes through your area.And it’s more than that.  Try opening a bank account for a Series LLC in a state where these entities are not yet common.  You’ll find it’s not a simple task.Now folks, I’m not a lawyer.  And I don’t play one on TV.  But even to my simple mind, this Series LLC thing just doesn’t add up.  From where I sit, the only real advantage to it… sometimes, not all the time, but sometimes… is that you might get to form multiple entities without paying additional registration fees.  Again, that’s not true in every state, so even that advantage is questionable.Other than that, I see no clear advantage.  And one huge disadvantage:  No legal history.30 years ago, nobody wanted to use traditional LLC’s because there was no case law for them at that time, either.  But that’s certainly changed, and traditional LLC’s are now a very common and reliable business structure, with plenty of case law to support them.  So maybe case law will catch up, and the Series LLC will become a viable and solid structure like the normal LLC.Unil then, may I make a suggestion?  Leave the Series LLC to the trailblazers.  Let them get the arrows in the back.  But you, you have two options:One is to just use as many different traditional LLC’s as is necessary to own your various properties.  That’s one option that can certainly work, though it’s a huge pain in the rear in terms of organization and compliance.  A real pain in the rear to be sure.So what’s a better option?  Well, my friends, there’s a strategy for protecting your properties that I absolutely LOVE… and it’s simple!  It requires only 2 LLC’s or other legal structures of your choice, no matter how many properties you own now or in the future.  So it’s very simple, and it’s also very, very simple to maintain.Want to know more about it?  I’m happy to share that info with you.  Later THIS WEEK, I’m releasing a brand new e-Book called “The Portfolio Fortress:  How To Keep Your Wealth Out Of The Hands Of Legal Predators”.  And it will tell you all about this great strategy that’s SIMPLE, SAFE and STRONG.Now, my friends, this is really only intended for those of you at least 3-5 properties or more.  And if that describes you, I really want you to have it.And I’ll not charge you a single dollar for it.  I want you to have it.  I want your assets to be kept safe!  So if you’d like the e-Book and you own at least 3 properties, you can get it at no cost by texting the word FORTRESS to 33444 right now.  Again, just text the word FORTRESS to 33444 right now.  If text doesn’t work for you for some reason, you can email me at feedback@sdiradio.com.  Again, it’ll be released later this week, and until then, I’m offering it as a free gift to listeners of this show. Thanks for listening, and remember:  Invest wisely today, and live well forever! 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You don’t know my voice… but as a listener to this show, you know my work, as you’ll soon see!  I’m filling in today for Bryan while he’s ill, but we’re not going to miss a beat. Today you learn how to confirm beyond any shadow of a doubt that the latest, greatest self-directed retirement account strategies you’re hearing about are officially kosher with the IRS before you ever take the plunge.  I’m Carole Ellis.  This is episode 132.----Hello, listeners in America and the world over!  It’s so exciting to be with you today!I’m sitting in for Bryan today, who is, despite his stubborn insistence to the contrary, still quite ill.  He’s been struggling with some rather severe respiratory illness, and hopes to be back to full health soon.  But you folks should feel honored:  Each day, for the past 2 weeks, he’s only been able to work about 2-3 productive hours per day before being too exhausted to continue, and each day, he’s given that time to you guys, because he LOVES doing this show.  It really makes him very happy to spend this time with you.  But last night, I through down the gauntlet and demanded that he actually rest until he’s better, like the doctor ordered.By the way, my name is Carole Ellis, and I’m Bryan’s wife and business partner.  And before you’re tempted to think that I’m behind the SDI microphone today only because I’m Bryan’s wife, well let’s go ahead and dispense with that now, shall we?  Bryan encouraged… insisted, actually, that I brag on myself a bit – he actually called it “establishing your overwhelming credibility to my listeners” – so here goes:  I’m currently involved in over a dozen active real estate investment projects as I speak to you.  Additionally, in just the last 30 days, Bryan and I have flipped 2 houses, both profitably; we have done hard money loans and sold a real estate note.  It’s Bryan’s role to find great deals… it’s my role to be the voice of reason and make sure he doesn’t miss anything on the due diligence side.  And by the way, I’ve written books and training programs for famous investors; I just wrote an article about the business of Private Lending which is featured in this month’s edition of Personal Real Estate Investor Magazine and is on newsstands right now; I’ve got another article coming out in a few days in another national real estate magazine about the research we’ve done into one particularly promising real estate market out west; and I’m the editor of a real estate investing newsletter with nearly 700,000 subscribers.  And by the way… nearly all of the hard data that Bryan shares with you on this show comes from my research.  So let’s just say I’ve got my finger on the pulse of the investing world in a pretty big way.Ok, enough of that.  Let’s talk about something that’s important today… AVOIDING trouble with your self-directed retirement account.But first, Bryan wanted me to tell all of you that he’s really in the mood to buy some first-lien real estate notes.  And honestly, people, I hope you’ll sell some to him.  He gets pretty moody when he’s in the mood to buy, and I’d like to see that be resolved as quickly as possible.  Hehehehe.  Seriously though, if you’ve got first-lien real estate notes against residential property, and if you actually own those notes – no brokers, please – then reach out to Bryan via text or online.  You can reach him by text by sending the word SELLNOTE to 33444.  That’s spelled S-E-L-L-N-O-T-E with no spaces.  Text the word sellnote to 33444.  Or you can go to SDIRadio.com/sellnote.  Either way works just fine.Let’s talk about something that’s near and dear to my heart:  Due Diligence.  Like I told you, in the deals Bryan and I do, a big part of my role is to make sure that he sees the big picture.  He’s a numbers guy, and is incredibly good at it.  But sometimes, there’s more to a deal than just the numbers, so let’s look at that today.When it comes to self-directed retirement accounts, it feels like the sky is the limit because the tax advantages one receives through them can be so very large, and because there are so few practical limits to how one can invest their capital.But even though those limits are few, they are important… and those limits sometimes conflict with the creativity of you people as self-directed investors.  I hear Bryan talking about the wildly imaginative ideas some of you have come up with for making profit through your self directed IRA’s or 401k’s, and… wow!  There are some smart people who listen to this show.But here’s the thing:  With self-directed IRA’s, it’s very nearly true that the sky’s the limit in terms of the kinds of investment strategies you can use… but it turns out there’s another limit, too:  The foundation.  What I mean is this:  The foundation of every self-directed IRA or 401k investment is the LAW.  You see, while there aren’t a lot of restrictions, there are some, and they’re very important.To run afoul of those restrictions can be a very, very bad thing.  You’ve certainly heard Bryan talking about the issue of Prohibited Transactions, a circumstance in which you unintentionally break one of the rules concerning IRA’s or 401k’s.  The ramifications are staggering and scary… it’s very, very plausible… normal, even… for a very substantial portion of your portfolio to be absolutely destroy by taxes, penalties and interest as a result of a prohibited transaction… and there’s no easy way to fix them.So what can you do to avoid that fate?  Two things:  One of them is that you should NEVER do the obvious things:  Don’t do anything with your IRA or 401k that will benefit you or your lineal family members in any way.  Don’t borrow money from your IRA.  Don’t treat your IRA like your personal bank account.  You know… the basic stuff.But the other way to avoid that fate is this:  When you come up with the latest, greatest strategy to use in your Self-Directed IRA or 401k… do two things:  First, consult with a competent, experienced attorney about whether your strategy has any supporting case law to suggest that it will pass muster if the IRS chooses to take a closer look.  And second, if there is NOT clear case law to support your concept, that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t use the strategy, but it does mean you should seriously consider the next step:  A private letter ruling.A private letter ruling is when your attorney provides information to the IRS about the strategy you’re considering IN ADVANCE of your use of the strategy.  The IRS takes a look at it and gives you their impression about your idea’s level of compliance with the law.  In most cases, doing this results in having a very, very clear indicator of whether the concept you’re considering is legally solid from a tax perspective.  Furthermore, doing so makes it virtually impossible for the IRS or anyone else to ever suggest that your strategy was intended to be fraudulent or abusive in any way, since you sought official clearance ahead of time.Getting a private letter ruling can take time and cost some money.  But it could EASILY be worthwhile, because remember:  If you commit a prohibited transaction, the real problem there is that it usually takes several years before you and the IRS realize you’ve done so… and when they do, they start the meter running on taxes, penalties and interest as of January 1 of the year you committed the error.  And the effects of those mounting taxes, penalties and interest can be staggering… literally wiping out much or all of your entire IRA.So, just as I advise Bryan, I’m advising you:  Be careful on the FRONT END.  It’s a great thing that there’s so much flexibility available with Self Directed retirement accounts.  And it’s just as a great that through private letter rulings, we have a way to make sure that our creativity doesn’t actually cross a line it shouldn’t.That’s all for today!  But I’ve got a request… if you enjoyed my stint as guest host today, please let Bryan know, ok?  Send him a note at feedback@sdiradio.com and tell him what you thought.  Thank you, I’d really appreciate it. And like Bryan always says:  Invest wisely today, and live well forever! 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Real estate can be a great investment for retirement.  Retirement accounts can be a great way to eliminate taxes.  So you might be surprised to discover it may be a TERRIBLE idea to buy real estate inside your IRA or 401k.  I’m Bryan Ellis.  I’ll tell you why RIGHT NOW in Episode #131.-----Hello SDI Nation!  Welcome to the podcast of record for savvy, self-directed investors like you!No secret here, my friends:  I love self-directed retirement accounts… particularly roth accounts.  The tax advantages are really amazing and for many people, the bigger and less well-known benefit comes from the estate planning potential of those accounts.So it’s my default to assume that if an investment can be done inside of a self-directed IRA or 401k, that it should be.  And while it turns out that’s a reasonable DEFAULT for nearly every other asset class, that default is absolutely NOT true for real estate, and we’ll talk about why right now.But first, a quick announcement for those of you who own real estate notes.  If you own a real estate note, may I interest you in a nice wad of cold, hard CASH?  I’m looking to acquire some first-lien real estate notes, and am ready to make it happen right away.  So if you personally own one or more notes – no brokers, please, this ain’t my first rodeo – and if you’d like to find out more about converting your note into a big chunk of cash, reach out to me now by texting the word SELLNOTE with no spaces to 33444 or go to SDIRadio.com/sellnote.  Again, that’s text the word SELLNOTE spelled SELLNOTE (with no spaces) to 33444 or go to SDIRadio.com/sellnote.  Now… on to the question of:  Should you do your real estate investing through your retirement account.You know, there are some amazing benefits to investing for retirement through an IRA or 401k, particularly the self-directed versions of those accounts.  The tax benefits are astounding.  For example:  Let’s say that you make an investment and experience a profit of $250,000.  Well, outside of a retirement account, you’re going to owe taxes on that profit… and those taxes could very, very easily be way over $100,000.  So you sell your investment, you pay your taxes, and you’re left with $150,000… and then you can make another investment.But with a retirement account… that profit is sheltered.  The $100,000 you’d have paid in taxes stays in your account, not subject to taxation, and you can reinvest it in any type of asset you’d like.  So, in other words, your profits accrue entirely tax free.And depending on whether you’re using a traditional or roth account, you’ll get other tax advantages too.  With a traditional account, you get to take an income tax deduction for money that you deposit into the account.  And with the Roth account… it’s REALLY amazing… you actually never, ever have to pay taxes on your profit at all.  It’s really amazing.So why in the world would you ever consider NOT doing your real estate investments in an IRA or 401k where these amazing tax benefits can be achieved?Well, there are a few reasons.First:  Funding.  If, like most people, you prefer to leverage your investment in real estate by financing some of the purchase with a loan, your options for doing so through a retirement account are very limited.  Tax regulations make it basically impossible to get a loan for your IRA through your local bank or mortgage broker and, in fact, there are relatively few lenders who do the specialized type of lending – called non-recourse lending – that is compatible with retirement accounts in the first place.  And watch out!  You can bet on it that your IRA will actually owe an income tax bill if you get a loan to do deals.  That’s right… not everything is inherently tax-free just because it’s done in an IRA.  So the first big reason to consider doing real estate deals OUTSIDE of your retirement account is that funding becomes substantially more complicated.The second reason is all about taxes.  You see, the big reason to use a retirement account is because of the tax benefits it offers.  No other reason even comes close to that one.  But real estate – unlike stocks, mutual funds, precious metals, etc – real estate offers some really astounding tax saving potential that renders the benefits of a retirement account far less relevant.  For example, this thing called “depreciation” makes it possible for many real estate investors to substantially reduce, or even eliminate, their present-day income tax burden.  That’s massive, and something that no retirement account can simulate!  There’s also something called a “1031 exchange” that makes it possible for real estate investors to take a huge profit from one deal and roll it over to the next deal without paying any taxes.  There again… HUGE… and goes a long way towards duplicating the tax-free accrual of profits that is offered by retirement accounts.  Bottom line:  Retirement accounts offer some really astounding tax benefits… but with real estate investments, there’s more than one way to skin a cat.And the final reason to consider doing real estate deals OUTSIDE of retirement accounts is this:  There is substantial inherent RISK in using retirement accounts in the form of prohibited transactions.  The term “prohibited transaction” simply refers to any time you break one of those arcane rules that the IRS has created around retirement accounts.  My friends, committing a prohibited transaction is like financial Armageddon.  The ramifications are severe.  It’s possible your entire retirement account could be wiped away due to taxes, penalties and interest.  And it’s not hard to commit one.  For example:  Imagine you have a rental property in your retirement account.  You receive a bill for $75 for an insurance premium. The bill arrived late and you don’t want your policy to be canceled, so you pay the bill out of your own pocket, and then apply to your retirement account custodian to reimburse that money to you.  That, my friend – as innocent as it is – is a prohibited transaction.  And the reason it’s such a huge problem is because it’s likely to be 3-5 years or more before the IRS discovers that it happened, and once they discover it, they’re going to tag you for taxes, penalties, and interest for the entire time.  It can be a TRUE disaster… and frankly, it’s hard to avoid that type of thing when investing in real estate through your IRA.So given that the tax advantages available to real estate investors are so substantial even when NOT using a retirement account, I hope you can see why my bias is AGAINST doing real estate deals inside of a retirement account.But at the end of the day, there’s one beautiful advantage offered by retirement accounts – Roth accounts, specifically – that is just without pier:  The ability to pay absolutely ZERO taxes on profits during retirement.  My friends, that one alone could outweigh everything else.So what’s the right answer for you?  Obviously, the answer is to speak with your own tax professional to determine whether that real estate investment you’re considering should go into your retirement account or not.  Because in real estate, unlike nearly every other type of asset, there are so many different ways to get great tax advantages, that it’s a wise use of your time to consider each one, with professional guidance.And one final time, folks… if you own any real estate notes and you’d like to convert that into a nice wad of cash, let’s talk.  You can reach me by texting the word SELLNOTE to 33444.  That’s SELLNOTE with no spaces.  Text the word SELLNOTE to 33444 or go to SDIRadio.com/sellnote. My friends, invest wisely today… and live well forever! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Donald Trump!  He’s soaking up all of the headlines in the Presidential race, but nobody really knows much about what he believes.  Is there a right way to see Trump from the perspective of a wise, responsible self-directed investor?  There sure is.  I’m Bryan Ellis.  I’ll help you see that perspective RIGHT NOW in Episode #130.------Hello, SDI Nation!  It is SO GOOD to be back in the saddle.  For the last two weeks, I’ve struggled with a combination of pneumonia and bronchitis… and it’s been MISERABLE!  I’m not at 100% yet – probably still only about 85% - but I’ll give every bit that I have to making this an unforgettable experience as you listen to this, the podcast of record for savvy, self-directed investors like you!Thank you for the rather overwhelming response to the last episode, #129 – available at SDIRadio.com/129 – where I encouraged you to view “bankruptcy” not as a financial escape hatch, but as a standard of financial preparedness.  My theory is this:  Bankruptcy is the one situation in which a person must absolutely come clean and disclose absolutely everything about their financial situation.  Privacy doesn’t matter.  Everything is on the line and known by all parties.  So if, in that situation, your financial affairs can be arranged in advance in a way that’s BOTH totally in compliance with the law, AND capable of making sure that your assets aren’t lost even if you went through bankruptcy, then in my humble but undeniably accurate opinion, THAT is the gold standard of asset protection.  So talk with your own attorney about getting that kind of protection established, because it’s important that you do this long BEFORE you’re facing legal or creditor difficulty.  By the time you’re already in the middle of the fire, it could be too late.  If you don’t have an attorney that you trust on these issues, go back and listen to SDIRadio.com/129 for a referral.So what about Donald Trump?!Let’s get the partisan issue out of the way first.  Donald Trump may be running as a republican, but let me tell you without question:  Trump is not a republican.  Trump is not a democrat.  Trump is the founding and sole member of the Trump party, and he’s doubtlessly running for President to advance his own interests.So for those of you who are tempted to tune out just because I’m talking about a guy who is running under the Republican label… let’s leave the small mindedness at the door, shall we?  Polling already clearly indicates that Trump has substantial interest across party and ethnic lines, and since the guy has a commanding lead, it makes sense for you and me to know a thing or two about him, since he’s clearly a serious candidate who COULD become the next President of the United States.Spoiler alert:  I’m not going to tell you whether I support Trump or not.  I don’t know yet.  But what we can analyze are his ideals and determine whether his approach is compatible with our needs as self-directed investors.A moment ago I commented to you that Trump isn’t Republican or Democrat but is pursuing his own interests.  How’d that rub you?  My suspicion is that for many people, that may feel like a negative comment, but for the more enlightened among us, it may actually be a positive point of differentiation.Here’s my analysis of Donald Trump:First, I respect what he’s done in business.  He doesn’t have a perfect record, by any means, but overall, he’s been wildly successful… to the point that his name is plastered onto opulent resorts all over the world, and to the point that you and I are discussing him as a serious Presidential contender.  Some people are critical of him because of some history with bankruptcy, but that’s not entirely reasonable.  Some of his companies have gone through bankruptcy, but he’s personally never done so.  And for those of you who view with suspicion the ability to go through bankruptcy and still come out the other side as a billionaire… just think back to a few minutes ago on this very show when you were shaking your head in agreement, thinking “wow, wouldn’t that be great if my assets were insulated even from bankruptcy”.  That’s what Trump has done… it’s what you should do, too.Second, I respect his clarity of communication and complete disregard for political correctness.  For example, before Trump, nobody was talking with any strength about the threat represented by illegal immigration.  Everyone was too afraid of being called a racist.  Trump’s been called a racist as a result, too, and he simply doesn’t care.  He knows what he’s saying is true… and it resonates in America.  Frankly, the millions of legal immigrants in this country know he’s right, too… since polling clearly shows that Trump has an unprecedented level of support among legal Hispanic immigrants.  It’s really astounding.  You’ve doubtlessly heard the phrase about “Who’s going to be the bigger man?”  Well… it’s patently clear that Trump is perceived broadly as the bigger man… and he’s leveraging that rather expertly.Third, I’m in awe of, and very concerned by, the fact that Trump defaults so quickly to personal attacks.  That’s worked for him really well for a very long time.  You may recall the famous interview Trump did with Larry King back in 1989 when Trump started the interview by telling King how bad his breath was… to which King replied “Now that’s how you get the edge.”  Trump is a tough negotiator and is willing to use any edge to increase his own, and I suspect that’s worked beautifully for him in negotiations.  But as a Presidential candidate, there’s got to be a little more than that.  Truth be told, I think there’s a LOT more to Trump than that, but I am concerned that he defaults to that too much.Finally, I’m concerned that we don’t really know what Trump intends to be from a policy perspective, other than a few key issues he’s discussed, including immigration.  But my friends, I’ve got to tell you… part of me sees that as positive.  I don’t get the sense that Trump has any interest in being bogged down in the way things have always been done.  I think he actually does believe in his campaign moniker:  to “Make America Great Again”.  And while there’s room for Trump to be a dangerous figure as President, I think that it’s possible – I’m not yet certain, but it’s possible – that Trump’s interest really is to Make America Great again.  If that’s his intent… if he proves to me that’s what he really wants to accomplish… then I’m going to have a difficult time opposing him.I want to reiterate:  I’m not a Trump supporter.  I’m really not.  But I’m open to being one.  He makes me nervous, but he makes me feel hopeful, too.Do you know why I’m speaking to you like this about him?  It’s simple, really:  Trump is offering the one thing that EVERYBODY cries out for in one manner or another.  That one thing is LEADERSHIP.  Steel-spined, unequivocal LEADERSHIP.  The kind of leadership that says:  The thing that’s impossible without ME is totally achievable WITH me.  I don’t know if Trump as President could match Trump as candidate.  But with our alternatives, one is tempted to give him a try.And my friends, this is neither a political show nor a political episode.  I want you to back up just a bit and look at this from the point of view of YOUR interests as a self-directed investor.  To a huge extent, your fortunes and my fortunes are tied up directly with the fortunes of this country.  The value of our real estate, the value of our currency, the value of our stock market… all of these things are – much to my chagrine and I know to yours as well – substantially and inexorably tied to policy that comes out of Washington DC.  And in recent decades, America has declined in its role as a world economic and military power.  America is no longer viewed as the obvious default choice for investors worldwide.  And why?  There has been NO Steel-Spined leadership.  There’s not been anyone, since the 80’s, who dared to represent America as a shining city on a hill.  There’s been no one who has even made a credible effort to tell the world that the way we do things in America is different, is better, and is all because of one thing:  FREEDOM.Can Trump make this happen?  I don’t know.  I hope somebody can.  But one thing I know for sure:  Not even one other candidate is suggesting that they’ll really even try to do so.  But Trump is looming large with one and only real promise:  To make America great again.  That’s impossible to ignore… particularly for wise self-directed investors. My friends, invest wisely today, and live well forever! 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BANKRUPTCY!  If you’ve done it, you don’t like to talk about it.  If you’ve never done it, you might with contempt on those who have.  But I’m about to tell you why BANKRUPTCY is more important to those of you who are financially strong than for anyone else… and for a reason you’d never, ever guess.  Get ready for a perspective on Bankruptcy you’ve never heard before.  I’m Bryan Ellis.  This is Episode 129.-------Hello, SDI Nation!  Welcome to the podcast of record for brilliant, discerning self-directed investors like you!Apologies once again for the raspy voice.  This respiratory challenge is really taking it out of me, folks, but I find it impossible to resist the urge to spend this time with you each day, and am so grateful for your time and attention, so let’s get started.I’d like to begin with an interesting formal announcement from the IRS.  Apparently, they will no longer accept checks for tax payments in excess of $99,999,999.00.  That’s right.  So for those of you who might have to write a check for your tax liability of $100,000,000 or more, you’ll need to submit multiple checks.Hehehehehe.  I’m not kidding.  Gee whiz.So… Today we talk about bankruptcy.  You may think this is wholly unrelated to being a self-directed investor, but nothing could be further from the truth.  As you’re about to see, the rules surrounding bankruptcy line up perfectly with Core Value #1 of Self Directed Investors:  That You Must RESPECT YOUR OWN CAPITAL.  Here’s how:Bankruptcy is kind of a dirty word to many, and viewed as something to be avoided at virtually any cost.  And you know what?  I basically agree with that.  I’ve never declared bankruptcy, and never expect to do so.  You probably won’t ever do so, either.But I want you to understand why bankruptcy is a GOLD STANDARD of preparation, where the safety of your assets are concerned, even though you, God willing, will never have to go bankrupt. So here’s how bankruptcy works:  A person – let’s call him Joe – experiences financial trouble.  Let’s just imagine that Joe is NOT a financial deadbeat whatsoever… he’s a reliable guy entirely.  But he was in a car accident and was sued for a huge amount of money, and he lost.  So Joe now has a problem – he has creditors, and those creditors want to take Joe’s stuff, because he owes them money in the form of this judgment.Joe can no longer stand the hounding he’s receiving, and he hires a lawyer to declare bankruptcy on his behalf.  The process works roughly like this:  Joe declares his assets and his liabilities for all the world to see.  Joe’s creditors make their claims about how much of Joe’s assets belong to them.  And here’s the thing:  Joe doesn’t have the right to refuse to cooperate.  In fact, the entire authority of the federal government comes to bear against Joe.  He has to disclose EVERYTHING.  Failure to do so means Joe has broken the law, and in that case, the issue isn’t just debt, its jail time.  So basically, every bit of financial information about Joe is rather easily available to the creditors, and to the court.  Everything is in the open.So Joe’s creditors dig in, ask every question they can, and at some point the judge determine which creditors get which assets, and Joe is basically left without any financial assets at the end.  He might get to keep his home, or maybe he won’t (depending on the state).  But basically all of Joe’s assets MUST be liquidated in order for Joe to gain the one huge BENEFIT available through bankruptcy… and that benefit is massive:  Once the process is complete, Joe no longer has any liability to any creditors.  They’re all gone.  They can no longer hound Joe.  He’s out from under their weight.  No more bills, no more phone calls, no more lawsuits.  The financial nightmare for Joe is over.  Joe is now penniless, but Joe is free.  Joe can start over.But here’s a crazy question:What if it was possible for Joe to structure his assets in such a way that, even though he declared bankruptcy, that he never lost a single asset?  Before his BK, Joe lived in a great house.  After the BK, Joe lives in the same house.  Before his BK, Joe had 2 or 3 great cars, some large bank accounts – including a sizable retirement account – and other valuable “toys” like boats and a vacation home.  And after the BK, Joe still has all of that stuff… and can use it all as much as he likes?!How could it happen, you ask?  Because Joe was forced, under the force of law, to disclose every single asset he owned, and to liquidate all of those things in order to be protected from his creditors through bankruptcy.  So why did Joe seem not to lose ANYTHING?It’s because Joe didn’t actually own any of that stuff.  Joe was smart ahead of time.  More specifically, Joe’s attorney was smart.  His attorney designed a plan, in advance, such that in the event that Joe ever had to face an intense financial inquisition – like bankruptcy, which along with tax audit is probably the most invasive financial inquisition imaginable – Joe could honestly and legally disclose his ownership of assets as being NOTHING.  Zero.  Zilch.  Nada.  Even though he clearly has a wonderful lifestyle, both before and after the BK proceeding.And if Joe owns nothing, nothing can be taken from him.How did Joe accomplish that feat of financial and legal brilliance?  There are a number of different ways it could happen, but one of the most common and legally proven approaches is the use of a well-structured trust of some sort, which holds those assets for the benefit of Joe and his family.I’m not going to go into the legal minutia of trusts, because I’m not a lawyer and that is a PROFOUNDLY complicated area of law.  If you’re looking for a referral to a lawyer who is EXTRAORDINARY at this stuff, and in whom I have profound confidence, feel free to email me at feedback@sdiradio.com and I’ll happily make an introduction for you.  But I’m not going to get deep into those weeds right now.The point I do want to make – and which is OVERWHELMINGLY relevant for you – is that you, as an affluent individual, are a financial target.  Think of it like this:  if a beer-swilling, hourly laborer whose entire portfolio consists of the $258 in his checking account… if that guy is in a car wreck, he’s not going to face a lot of legal ramifications.  Why?  There’s no value in it.  Even if he’s sued, there’s nothing for anybody to win from him.But YOU… you’re different.  You probably don’t see yourself as wealthy… and maybe you’re not absolutely rolling in excess cash.  But the truth is that the average listener to this show is certainly affluent, with well above-average financial assets.  And even though you may not feel wealthy, you do have assets… assets that are at risk unless you protect them.And again, I submit to you that the gold standard of protection of your assets is this:  If you could go through Bankruptcy, and come out on the other side without having lost access to any of the assets you’ve accumulated, then in THAT CASE, you’re well protected, and you’re truly showing respect for the assets with which you’ve been blessed.A great approach for being prepared for anything is to work backwards.  So get with your attorney, and ask them to tell you exactly what would happen to your assets in the event that you were faced with the need to declare bankruptcy, or if you faced a surprising and substantial tax audit.  If the answer is that all of your assets are at risk, you should write to me at feedback@sdiradio.com and I’ll tell you who you need to speak to in order to rectify that situation.Remember, my friends:  Rule #1 for wise self-directed investors is to Always respect your own capital.  Most of the time, we talk about that in the context of choosing investments that are wise and low-risk.  But today’s perspective – that of showing respect for your capital by structuring it in ways to protect it from financial predators – that perspective is just as relevant, just as valuable, and more important now than it’s ever been. My friends, invest wisely today… and live well forever! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Conventional wisdom says that you’ve got a good rental property deal if your rent equals 1% of the purchase price.  Sure, go ahead… but it’s a dangerous smokescreen that could thrash your portfolio.  I’m Bryan Ellis.  I’ll tell you exactly why RIGHT now in Episode #128.-----Hello, SDI Nation.  I’m still sounding awful, but starting to recover from my bout with pneumonia and bronchitis, thankfully.  And do you know what?  There’s NOWHERE I’d rather be than RIGHT HERE with you on the podcast of record for savvy self-directed investors like YOU!I feel the need to gush over you guys again and how amazingly well you’re supporting this show.  I’ll just summarize that by saying… THANK YOU!  You people are awesome.So, I had an interesting experience recently that I wanted to tell you about.I had a great rental property investment available, and called one of my clients who had expressed an interest in acquiring new cash flow deals.  Now, who is named Cathy, is a very smart lady.  I respect her opinion.  So when she rejected the deal I offered to her rather abruptly, I was surprised.Why did she reject it?  It’s because she has a rule… her rule is that she only wants rental properties that collect rent that’s equal to at least 1% of the purchase price of the property.  So in other words, if she pays $100,000 for a house, she wants to collect rent of $1,000 per month from that house.For the sake of simplicity, let’s call that the 1% rule, ok?Now, before I go on, I’d like to say that Cathy is smart enough that I have no doubt that she has criteria beyond just that one, and so Cathy, if you’re listening, please be aware this is NOT a response to you, as I’m well aware that your evaluation criteria is much more substantive than that one rule alone.  I know you’re a successful investor and I very much respect your opinion.But your response absolutely set me to thinking about that criteria, because it is such a common notion, and one that is accepted as gospel by so many people.But is that actually a good guide?If that’s the primary factor in your evaluation process, the answer is NO… it’s a TERRIBLE standard.  And I’ll prove it to you right now.Imagine you have that house that you bought for $100,000 and that you are, in fact, collecting $1,000 per month in rent.Well, that’s great!  It’s a good foundation to start from.But let’s throw in a few very REAL-WORLD considerations.Let’s imagine that that house is 50 years old.  It’s structurally sound and should last many more years.  But… it’s old.  Isn’t it likely that a house that’s that old will likely require significant repairs or upgrades during the course of your ownership period?  The answer is YES, absolutely.  Even if those issues aren’t yet apparent, it’s the nature of older property that these risks are more frequently realized than with newer properties.Ever heard of that website called Angie’s list?  It’s designed to help people find high-quality service providers in your local area.  According to them, the actual average cost of replacing a roof for their customers has been in the $11,000 to $12,000 range.And just like that, an ENTIRE YEAR of cash flow is gone.Same deal with air conditioners.  I know this one all too well as we’ve got to replace one of the 3 units in my family’s home.  Pricing for that covers a wide range… around a low of $3,000 up to $8,000 or more.  I’d say $4,000 is a reasonable average…And POOF, just like that, another 4 months of rental income disappears.Now, folks, we all know that there’s no way to absolutely prevent those kinds of issues.  But is it rational that you’re less likely to have those problems by purchasing newer, high-quality homes versus very old homes?  Yes, of course that’s rational.  And a great way to show respect for your capital.But those kinds of issues, as expensive as they are, may never materialize… and that’s why it’s so easy to ignore the risk and move forward with overly simplistic judgment criteria like the 1% rule.  So what are some other factors that may render that standard as impotent and maybe even dangerous?Well, there are two expense factors that you’ll ALWAYS have to think about, without exception.  Those factors are INSURANCE and PROPERTY TAXES.  And here’s the thing, my friends:  WHERE you buy property has a HUGE effect on those expenses.  Here’s what I mean:CBS News tells us that nation wide, the average property tax bill is about $2,000 per year.  But certain states have consistently and substantially HIGHER property taxes… and that expense comes straight out of your rental income.  In New Jersey, the AVERAGE property tax bill for home owners is $3,971 per year.  That’s $2,000 per year more than average, equating to a reduction in your monthly cash flow of $166.  That’s a huge drop… and you take that hit every single month.Texas is another good example.  Honestly, Texas is a better representation of the real issue here because I don’t see a lot of people clamoring for property in New Jersey, but there’s a lot of excitement about Texas real estate.  The average property tax bill in Texas is $3,327… over $1,300 per year more than average, equating to a drop in your net rental income of over $110 per month.As an alternative, look at Alabama, which is actually a pretty interesting market.  Average property taxes there are $752/year.  And that happens to be one of those markets where you can still get a strong rent-to-value ratio.  Another example is this:  I’ve got a deal in Arizona right now that’s a great deal… though the rent it collects is not equal to 1% of the property value.  But do you know what?  It’s a great new property, in great condition, and it’s property taxes are a measly $683 per year.My friends, focusing on the top-line number is short sighted.  The top-line is the amount of rent you collect.  What REALLY matters is the BOTTOM-LINE number… the amount you get to keep.I’ll make more money on that deal in Arizona where the top line is LOWER than it would be if the same house was purchased in Texas.  And that’s because the expenses are far, far lower.  I get to keep more of the money.Same sort of issue exists for two other areas:  Insurance and legal compliance.  Some states simply are more expensive than others for buying hazard insurance.  The national average is $1,034 per year.  But in Florida, the average is double that.  The average in Texas is 50% higher than the national average… unfortunately Texas has very high expense ratios for both property taxes and hazard insurance.  Very similar stories for Oklahoma and Mississippi too.Bottom line?  It’s all about the BOTTOM LINE… not the top line!  The amount you collect in rent is definitely critically important.  But here’s the harsh reality:  The deal I’ve got in Arizona will cost about $1,200/year for both property taxes and insurance.  Same house in Texas costs over $4,800 per year… $400/month… for taxes and insurance.  That’s a bottom line net ADVANTAGE of $300 per month for the house in Arizona that collects “less” rent on a monthly basis.Which one of those deals is more profitable?  The answer is obvious… but not if you allow yourself to be smoke-screened by the 1% rule.  That rule sounds wise, and it’s not a bad as part of a collection of good evaluation criteria… but so many people select rental property PURELY on the basis of that rule… and as you’ve seen, that rule as a primary guideline can easily net you FAR LESS MONEY in your pocket than other deals with lower income but SUBSTANTIALLY lower expenses.And none of this even touches on the one factor where there’s REAL risk to your cash flow:  Legal compliance.  In some states, landlords have strong rights… and it’s fairly inexpensive to do business as a landlord in these states.  In other states, tenants have strong rights… and it’s costly and DANGEROUS to be a landlord in those states.  And where legal compliance is concerned, your costs can go from nothing at all to tens of thousands of dollars with just one bad tenant.  States like Massachusetts and New York come to mind.My friends, I simply want you to factor in EVERYTHING that matters.  Don’t be beguiled by smoke screens like the 1% rule.  Repeat after me:  The only thing that matters is the BOTTOM LINE!We’re done for today… may I ask a favor of you?  It would be SO HELPFUL to me if you’d go over to iTunes and leave a 5-star rating for this show, but only if you think we deserve it.  Truly, I’d be so genuinely grateful.  Thank you! My friends, invest wisely today, and live well forever! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

What is LABOR DAY really all about?  And why does it matter for Self Directed Investors?  I’m Bryan Ellis.  I’ll tell you in today’s special episode #127.-------Hello, SDI Nation!  This is your raspy-voiced host Bryan Ellis… welcome to the podcast of record for savvy self-directed investors like you!My friends, I regret that you’re hearing me in this condition, and hopefully my voice will improve quickly.  I’ve got both bronchitis and pneumonia at the moment, and in general am really just feeling rotten.So today’s show will be a little shorter than normal…  But being with you is truly one of the high points of my day, and I didn’t want to miss this chance, so here I am… and more importantly, there you are… and I thank you for that!My friends, before the next 7 minutes are done, you’re likely to be tempted to think that today’s show is political in nature.  It’s not.  It’s all about Core Value #1 of self-directed investors:  To respect your own capital.  You’ll see exactly why that’s true in just a moment, so hang with me.So, Labor Day was yesterday.  By the way… I had no voice at all yesterday, which explains why you’re hearing this today rather than on the actual day itself.Americans look forward to Labor day because it’s a paid vacation day from work.  And sure, what’s not to like about that?Well, my friends, the truth of the matter is that labor day is NOT a celebration of you as a worker, or an expression of gratitude for your efforts.  Historically, it’s actually a celebration of labor UNIONS, not laborers.Yes, labor unions.  Those quasi-governmental organizations that, while they represent a measly 11% of the work force, still somehow manage to be the second most HORRIBLE drag on our economy, behind only overreaching government regulations.There was a time when workers weren’t treated well in this country, and labor unions played a useful role in ending that abuse.But like a Congressman getting a taste of power and remaining entrenched for decades in Washington DC’s Capital building, labor unions have stuck around endlessly, far beyond their necessary or useful lives, and have become a clear force for BAD in our economy.This isn’t a political statement.  It’s a factual observation.  And it’s relevant to your portfolio, either as an investor in stocks OR real estate, and I’ll tell you exactly how:Let’s consider the business community.  There is one observation that is indisputable:  The presence of labor unions SUBSTANTIALLY and CONSISTENTLY drives UP the cost of production.  There’s simply no questioning of that reality.  Feel free to check it out yourself online if you’re interested.  They drive up costs in regular, consistent ways because it’s virtually always the case that labor unions are the most expensive option versus all other choices… and they drive up costs because the presence of unions inherently means higher legal costs for the company, along with the fact that there will likely be strikes from time to time.As a business owner, this outrages me.  It’s the blood, sweat, tears and CAPITAL of the owners of the company that matter.  Without that vision, that sacrifice, and that risk, the business – the source of the employment – simply wouldn’t exist to begin with.  Yet in many states, labor unions have the legal authority to blackmail and harass these employers into paying far more for the same work than they’d otherwise have to pay.And let’s not forget… those costs come out of YOUR pocket, and my POCKET… and those profits that are lost to labor unions come out of the pockets of the families of the people who had the vision, and who took the risk, to start the business in the first place, and to grow it to a point of success… success substantial enough to attract the attention of blood-sucking labor unions.So if labor unions are such bad news for business, why does anyone ever choose to do business with them?Well, it’s because those businesses don’t have a choice.Only 25 states in America – mostly in the southern and western part of the country – have what’s called “right to work” laws.  Right to work laws prohibit unions from imposing restrictions on employers and their employees in terms of requiring payment of membership dues, minimum salaries and benefits.  In all other states, unions are free to move into a company, pressure employees to unionize – and the thuggish, illegal nature of that pressure is well documented – and thereby drive UP the costs for the business, the costs for consumers like you and me, and DESTROY the control a company’s owners and managers need in order to make the business as successful as it could be.To compound that problem, the national labor relations board – the government entity that regulates labor unions – is not an unbiased bystander.  It’s an activist organization that aggressively advocates FOR unions, not for regular people.Oh, by the way – union membership is WAY down.  Only about 11% of the workers in America are union members – that’s less than half of what it was back in the 80’s.  So a lot of people are catching on.But because union are so entrenched in GOVERNMENT, their power has NOT declined commensurately, even though the U.S. public clearly recognizes that there’s no legitimate motivation to work for labor unions.In fact, a huge percentage of those who DO work for labor unions at this time do so for legacy reasons.  They were working at a company that was unionized and then became union-dominated, and they were forced to join in order not to lose their jobs.  It’s disgusting.So a good thing to consider when choosing STOCKS in which to invest is to evaluate their exposure to labor unions.  You’ll not likely be able to wholly avoid stocks just based on whether they use union labor, but to the greatest extent possible, you should do so.  Because, remember:  The overwhelming additional expense of union labor comes out of profits… and profits are what drive your stock price.  The other thing that drives your stock values are the wisdom of good management decisions.  And in a business where unions dominate, the authority of management to do the right thing for the business is SUBSTANTIALLY hindered, because labor unions invariably force a seat at the management table for themselves… and their ONLY objective is to expand the power of the labor unions.  There’s nothing admirable about what they do.And if you’re a real estate investor… particularly in multi-family or commercial real estate… and if your property is in a non-right-to-work state, you’ve got to think about these issues as well.  Because when the inevitable time comes for repairs, maintenance or even reconstruction, you’re going to see exactly how painful it is to use union labor rather than work directly with good companies whose only motivation is to build the best, most profitable company they can.Because my friends, a business that achieves and sustains profitability long-term only does so by performing very, very well, and by becoming valuable to its customers.And THAT is why today’s show is all about respecting your own capital.  If you have a choice to invest in two companies, and one of them is subject to labor union influence and the other is not, you should give STRONG preference to the one that has no labor union influence.If you’re considering investing in real estate in multiple states, but only one of those states has right-to-work laws that prohibit labor unions from infesting businesses that will serve you, you should give STRONG preference to investing in real estate in the places where there’s no forced labor union influence.It’s all about respecting… and protecting… your capital, my friends.How do we know labor unions are bad for America’s economy?  It’s because the only way they exist and survive is by protection of law.  Without that legal protection, labor unions would disappear even more quickly than they have.My friends… politics frequently collides directly with the interests of your portfolio.  And for your reference, in the upcoming political season, there are 3 presidential candidates or potential candidates who are loud advocates of empowering unions – and are thus in favor of bringing harm to YOUR portfolio as a result.  Those candidates are Hillary Clinton, Bernie Sanders and Joe Biden.  So, vote carefully.Folks… I appreciate you. I really do.  Thank you for suffering through my raspy voice today.  And one more thing: Invest wisely today… and live well forever! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Nothing else matters if the real estate you buy declines in value.  So EXACTLY when should you buy… and EXACTLY when should you sell?  Get ready to have your mind blow, my friends.  I’m Bryan Ellis.  This is Episode 126.------Hello, SDI Nation!  I look forward to greeting you every single day, my friends!  Welcome to Self Directed Investor Radio, the PODCAST OF RECORD for savvy, self-directed investors like you!I’ve got something special for you today, my friends.  We’re going to talk about a scientific and astoundingly accurate way to PREDICT THE FUTURE when it comes to real estate values.  No, we’re not going to get deep into the weeds on science or math, because as it turns out, this MARKET PREDICTOR is actually about PSYCHOLOGY – the psychology of all of the other people in the market who will drive up, or drive down, the prices of real estate.  So get ready to have your mind opened up and some earth-shaking knowledge poured into it!But first…Folks, I’m going to brag for just a moment, and I think you’ll be ok with it, because I’m bragging on YOU!You folks have made this show grow so much, so quickly… I’m just amazed.  Last month was, far and away, the biggest month for this show, which was true for each of the preceding months as well.  And yesterday was the biggest day for this show ever, eclipsing a record that had been set about a week prior, which eclipsed a record that had been set about a week prior.  The point is:  This show is BOOMING, and it’s ALL because of YOU!  This show has more listeners than radio stations in many good-sized markets… and we’re barely 6 months old!So, THANK YOU… and I’d like to extend a PARTICULAR thanks to those of you who actually spread the word about this show to your friends and colleagues.  Those of you who do that have a particularly special place in my heart, and I’m so very, very, very grateful to you.I guess I’ll move on from gushing over you guys for now… but one final time… THANK YOU.  And remember – there are now 126 regular episodes and few special episodes, and every single one of them is worth your listening to and freely available at SDIRadio.com!So, onward to the mind-blowing stuff!YESTERDAY, which, by the way, was one of the most popular episodes of this show of all time, revealed one of two ways to analyze real estate markets.  This works for stocks too, but that’s not the best game in town, so we’ll focus on real estate.The way you learned yesterday is called “Fundamental Analysis”, in which the astute investor considers factors like population growth and interest rates and unemployment and other such factors to determine whether there’s a rational case for the value of real estate to go up.The idea is to buy into a market on the basis of a factor or combination of factors that’s not widely known.  And there’s real value to fundamental analysis, no doubt about it. But some people criticize fundamental analysis.  They’ll tell you that fundamental analysis isn’t worthwhile because there’s no clear tie from those factors to property values.  For example, everybody thinks that changing interest rates have a big impact on real estate prices, but history shows that’s simply not true with any consistency, so interest rates really aren’t a useful way to directly predict changes to real estate value. And there’s some truth to that.  If you have little-known knowledge about a market that should lead to appreciation, who’s to say that the market actually just doesn’t care about your reasoning?  That’s always a risk with fundamental analysis, which leads to the other way to pick strong markets… and even more importantly it’s also a way to TIME your entry to and exit from markets.That other method is called Technical Analysis.  The basic idea is that we use past pricing history to predict future valuation.  An astoundingly simplified version of it is this:  Let’s imagine that in Poughkeepsie, New York, real estate values crash by 15% in January of every 5th year, but that the average annual appreciation rate is 8%.Now, please keep in mind, folks:  This is a made-up example.  It doesn’t really work this way in Poughkeepsie, or anywhere.  But if one could find patters like that, what would it mean?  It would mean, very simply, that it would be very wise to buy real estate immediately when property values crashed in January of every 5th year, and to sell that real estate no later than December of every 4th year.  By doing so, you’re in the market when it’s good, and you’re out when it’s bad.That’s a really simple example of technical analysis.  All we’re doing is looking for patters than show how values have historically changed so that we can make predictions about how the market will react in the present day, and in the near future.Technical analysis is used very, very extensively in the financial markets.  Literally TRILLIONS of dollars’ worth of trade volume happens every single year in the currency markets, wholly as a result of technical analysis.  This is an area of math and science that is really quite well developed.No, it is NOT perfect.  But using it wisely gives one a huge advantage over not using it.Why haven’t you heard about technical analysis being used in the real estate market?  Because it’s really not used that much, and the reason is simple:  It’s very hard, and very expensive, to get the actual DATA to do this kind of analysis.  It’s not like the stock market, where every single transaction is funneled through one of a very small number of exchanges, from which one can derive a complete historical record of pricing.  Instead, we have over 3,000 counties in America where real estate records are recorded, each of them varying in terms of the systems they use and the data they can easily produce.  So it’s a huge, expensive challenge to have the data necessary to do this type of analysis.But VERY HARD and VERY EXPENSIVE don’t mean impossible.  And given the proper data, one would absolutely have a huge advantage in being able to predict real estate market value changes.  In fact, many proponents of technical analysis suggest you can entirely DISREGARD fundamental analysis if you’ve got a good technical analysis, because at the end of the day, you might not really care very much about the core health of a market if you have a way to profit from the swings in it’s prices.And that’s really what technical analysis is all about:  It uses pricing history to measure the PSYCHOLOGY of the market itself.  Mass psychology in financial markets is a fascinating thing.  Remember last week when the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell by over 1,100 points immediately upon opening, then rose by about 1,000 points, only to end the day down about 600 points.Do you think that the REAL VALUE of those companies actually changed that much during the course of a single day?  Of course not.  But mass psychology was at work, changing market prices in a massive way… and it’s constantly at work in the real estate market, too.What if you could see, very clearly, when a shift in mass psychology was happening in the real estate market?  More importantly… what if you could see it on a market-by-market basis?  Because as we know, there’s not really a NATIONAL real estate market… real estate is distinctly local.So what if you could see markets from a totally different point of view… one where, as values change – and as the mass psychology about your specific market changes – you can clearly see the BEGINNING of trends and the END of trends as they occur?THAT would be worthwhile.  THAT would give YOU as a self-directed investor a MASSIVE advantage… You’d be able to INTELLIGENTLY buy into good markets, hold on to those purchases for the 1-4 years that is the typical length of up trends, and then unload your investments BEFORE mass psychology turns against you, and your investment.And what if you could do all of this without even understanding technical analysis?I’ve got good news, my friends:  I’ll be bringing this to you very, very soon.  And it’s going to rock your world.In the meantime, make sure you’re a part of the SDI Discussion Group by texting the word SDIGROUP to 33444.  That group gets advance warning about EVERYTHING… and for now, it’s free to join that group.  Again, just text the word SDIGROUP with no spaces or periods to 33444, or visit SDIRadio.com. My friends:  Invest wisely today… and live well forever! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Real estate is all about location, location, location… or is it?  Here’s how you determine EXACTLY which market is best for your portfolio dollars… along with the one thing that might matter even more than location.  I’m Bryan Ellis.  This is Episode #125.----------Hello, SDI Nation!  Welcome to the podcast of record for savvy self-directed investors like you.What is the very best market in America for real estate investing?  What about the top 5?I’ll get to that in just a moment, but first:Later today, I’ll be sending out an update to my TOP PICKS list with some great new rental properties that can be purchased FAR below retail price… seriously excellent deals, to be frank.So if you’re looking for an actual GREAT real estate deal, in a very desirable market, that you can acquire for a very attractive price – then be SURE to be on my Top Picks notification list.  To get on that list, text the word TOP PICKS with no spaces to 33444.  Again, text the word TOP PICKS with no spaces to 33444 and later today, I’ll send out the notice to you!So… which real estate markets are absolutely the best?More importantly, how does one accurately determine this information?The best approach, of course, is a crystal ball.  That’s what I use, and it’s served me very well.  HeheheheheJust kidding, of course!  I could practically hear all of my more woo-woo listeners in California going gaga in the realization that I’m one of them.   HeheheheheBut actually, I’m not.  I’m more of a hard numbers, analyze a spreadsheet, black-and-white standards sort of guy.  Not as exciting as the hocus pocus, but it works a lot better!So, short of invoking the supernatural, how do we know where real estate is likely to boom or bust?Incidentally, what I’m about to tell you is relevant for stocks, too.There are 2 general approaches to analyzing markets… regardless of what the market is.  One is called “Fundamental Analysis” and one is called “Technical Analysis”.You should have conceptual familiarity with both.  So I’ll give that to you right now.Here’s the gist of fundamental analysis:  There are some factors that tend to have an impact on asset pricing.  The most fundamental of fundamental factors is supply and demand.  Recently, there’s been a relative shortage of housing inventory in cities like Charlotte, San Antonio and San Diego.  And since people continue to want to move into those areas, prices are naturally driven higher.So, the SUPPLY of housing inventory in a market is a very, very important consideration, and it’s fairly easy to know.  The U.S. Census Bureau freely offers this data, and you can get this information from the National Association of Realtors as well.But what about the other side of the coin:  Demand?  Assuming a market isn’t oversaturated with housing, how can you know whether there will be demand for real estate there?Here again, adherents to the discipline of fundamental analysis believe that logically connected factors drive demand, and therefore pricing, of real estate markets.  Some of the most commonly relied upon fundamental factors are: Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

What is the SINGLE BIGGEST FACTOR for investing success… in BOTH the stock market and in real estate?  I’m Bryan Ellis.  I’ll tell you right now in Episode 124.-------Hello, SDI Nation!  Welcome to the podcast of record for savvy self-directed investors like you!Another crazy day on Wall Street yesterday, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average dropping another nearly 500 points.  Oh, what?  You didn’t hear about that one?  These rather massive swings have really become the norm, haven’t they?I have a question for you:  Do you think that’s the sign of a healthy market?  Seriously, do you?  Neither do I.And, by extension, it’s not a healthy environment for your capital.So, a couple of days ago, I offered a free copy of my upcoming new book to the first 100 of you who asked for it.  And WOW, did you folks ever respond.  All 100 copies were snapped up on the first day.But here’s the reason I bring that up:  I’m finishing up the last bit of work on that book, when it occurred to me that I have the PERFECT way to explain to you the single biggest factor for investing success in stocks and in real estate… really, in any asset class where your success is a function of appreciation.What is that factor?I’ll explain it to you with a story.My wife and daughters love to go tubing.  That’s where you sit in large inner tube and float down a river.  Yep, that’s it.  The way it works is you go to a little business that rents tubes where you pay your money, they lend you a tube, then they drive you up river a couple miles and drop you off.  You get in the water, and the river carries you back down to the starting point.It’s just a really fun, relaxing way to hang out together.  Just perfect for laughing and goofing off and just being together.  We’ve only done it 2 or 3 times, but it’s something we really enjoy.So, recently, the 4 of us went tubing down the Chattahoochee River in North Georgia.  Just like normal, we paid our money to the guy at the tubing company and engaged in some friendly banter.  Somewhere along the way, he rather casually mentioned that the water level was a little low, but that we’d be just fine, and that there were a lot of people out there today having fun.  And truth be told, we were eager to join them.So we hop on the van that takes us to the entry point, and we jump into our tubes.And within minutes after getting in the water, I get stuck on a small rock outcropping.  It’s no big deal… I’m a pretty big guy, and my wife and daughters are still floating merrily down the river, so no problem.  Besides, this time they gave me a handy staff to use to push myself off in case I needed to do so.At this point, I caught a small current that helped me go forward a bit… but most of the time, I kept hearing a “scraping noise” that I couldn’t quite make out.I also noticed that a few people here and there had gotten out of the water and were sitting with their tubes along the riverbank.  Not many, but usually, nobody does that.A moment later I’m stuck on another rock, and then another.I’m still moving forward, because I’ve got the stick to push off with, and I’m hearing the scraping noise more and more.Then, I just stop.  I’m not stuck on a rock, and there’s water around me, but I’m not moving at all anymore.Well, it turns out that the river isn’t just a little low… it’s DESPERATELY low.  There’s literally so little water flowing that my inner tube is stuck against the riverbed.  And while there’s water in the river… there’s not much, and there’s just not enough to push me forward.And do you know what?  No matter how much I wanted it to be different, the BEST I could hope for was the occasional forward momentum in the specific parts of the river where the water was a bit deeper… and even that momentum would, necessarily, be short lived.Bottom line?  I had to get out of the river.  I wanted it to work, but it just DIDN’T… and before I finally got the message and stopped trying to force something that wasn’t going to happen, there was a WHOLE LOT of frustration for me along the way.  And a bunch of bumps and bruises, as I had to get out of the tube several times to actually pull it forward over the shallow water, but managed to stumble and fall because, even though the water was too shallow to carry me forward, it was still deep enough to cover rocks that tripped me up.My friends, I really enjoy tubing.  But as I discovered, I HATE tubing when the water level is low.What’s this mean for you?  Well, there’s ONE THING that matter more than any other factor when it comes to making money from real estate or stocks, and it’s kind of like the water in that river.What is it?  It’s the MARKET itself.  It’s the activity of the other people in the world who are interested in the thing you’re investing in… and the psychology under which they, as a group, are operating.The “Market” is really nothing more than the way people are behaving who are making investments similar to yours.So in stocks, if you’re buying Google, you probably are also paying attention to what’s going on with Facebook and Netflix and Amazon… they’re all tech stocks, a clear market sector.  Because it’s very rare for ONE stock to have a strong run without other similar stocks also having a strong run.Same thing in real estate. If you’re buying real estate in Atlanta or Boston, the thing that’s going to make the most difference to whether that real estate increases in value is how much activity there is from OTHER investors in Atlanta or Boston… but what’s going on in Dallas or Los Angeles don’t matter as much, because they are entirely different markets.My friends, mark my words:  It’s almost impossible to buy real estate that will go up in value if that property is in a stagnant or declining market.  And, thankfully, the converse is true, too:  It’s actually pretty hard to lose money on real estate if you’re buying into a market that’s fundamentally healthy and on uptrending.What’s the lesson for you?  Don’t buy properties, buy markets. And you know what?  When those markets run dry, get out.  Buy-and-hold-forever is a fool’s game.  Why?  Sometimes, markets flow like raging rapids, and sometimes they’re dry.  And there are ALWAYS hints in advance of what’s to come.I’ll spend more time on this in future episodes, because I suspect there’s a real appetite out there for knowing which markets look best and which look poised to fall apart.  Want to know more?  Then there are 2 things you MUST do:First, be sure that you’re subscribed to this show through iTunes or Stitcher.  It’s important that you do so… and it costs you nothing to make sure you don’t miss this information.Second, even more importantly, make sure you’re on the Self Directed Investor private discussion group.  Just text the word SDIGROUP to 33444 to join at no cost.  Again, text the word SDIGROUP with no spaces or periods to 33444.Which markets are best?  Which have the right amount of water to push your portfolio profitably down the river and on to predictable profitability?Join me again for the next episode of Self Directed Investor Radio, my friends, and I’ll tell you more. In the mean time:  Invest WISELY today, and live well forever! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The face of housing in America is changing, my friends… and it translates DIRECTLY into real opportunity for YOUR PORTFOLIO!  I’m Bryan Ellis.  I’ll tell you how RIGHT NOW in Episode #123.-------Hello, SDI Nation!  Welcome to the podcast of record for savvy, self directed investors like you!My friends, something is happening in America.  Frankly, I don’t think it’s a good thing for America, but as they say:  It is what it is.  And what it is, is:  A clear, undeniable shift from a nation of home owners to a nation of renters.For various reasons, Americans are choosing to rent rather than to own.  We’ll talk about some of the reasons why in just a moment… and how that translates into opportunity for you.  But first, let’s look at the hard data.Right now, the home ownership rate is at 63.4%.  So what, right?  Here’s why that matters:  It’s been nearly 50 years since the home ownership rate was this low… and it’s on a MASSIVE DECLINE.  That rate hit the highest it’s ever been in 2004… and in the 11 years since, the U.S. home ownership rate has absolutely PLUMMETTED.  It’s now a mere ½ percentage point from being at the lowest level EVER recorded.And yet… the population of our country is at it’s highest ever, and more and more housing is being built every single day.  Household formation is RISING!What gives?The answer is simple:  A figurative TECTONIC shift in the attitudes of Americans about home ownership… and particularly that crew that gets so much attention, the “Millenials”.The prevailing attitude today is NOT to put down roots into a community, but for transience to constantly be an option.  And it’s pretty rational, if you think about it:First, you have the perceived risk in owning real estate… the perception is that risk is still rather high, with the carnage from the real estate crisis of a few years ago still fresh in the minds of adults, young and old.But it’s not just that… there’s also the employment situation.  Let’s face it:  The job market is awful.  Don’t believe the 5%ish number that the Labor Department is reporting.  If you do, be sure to listen to Episode 117 of this show to see the harsh truth about that.  Today’s worker feels the need to uproot at the first offer of a job, rather than hope to find great employment close to home.And finally – there’s a “mind shift” that’s happened.  Even though America’s population is bigger than it’s ever been, the “feeling” about America is that it’s smaller… meaning more accessible… than it’s ever been.  As a function of the internet generally and Facebook specifically, it’s easy to FEEL like you’re a member of communities far beyond your geographic locale… and it’s easier to be willing to pick and physically move, too.But here’s the thing, my friends:  This bias AGAINST home ownership presents an opportunity for you, the savvy self-directed investor.  And that opportunity is simple:  Be the PROVIDER of that housing by owning rental property!Now, folks, you can’t do this haphazardly.  You can’t buy just anywhere, nor will just any property do the trick.  You’ve got to understand the bigger trends and the market dynamics in play.Well, let me correct myself there.  You CAN buy just anywhere.  And, as you learned back in Episode 119, randomly buying real estate in America is a nearly guaranteed way to LOSE money, even if ALL you do is factor in the cost of inflation, and no other expenses.But folks, as you can see, if you can pick the RIGHT rental properties, there’s great opportunity because, the fundamental, prevailing attitude of the latest generation of American adults is coalescing around the idea that RENTAL HOUSING – even long-term rental – is a superior idea to ownership.But there are 3 factors you MUST get right every single time in order to be predictably successful as a rental owner in today’s new environment:Those factors are:  MARKET, VALUE and MANAGEMENT.All 3 must be present.  The absence of any one of those legs makes for a stool that can’t stand up… and that can’t support your financial needs.Look, I’m not going to belabor the point, so very quickly, here’s what I mean by “market, value and management”:The market is the geographic location of your property.  Really, it’s about one thing:  How desirable is the location, both now, and for the foreseeable future.  Because my friends, frequently the biggest single benefit one will get out of being a landlord is the windfall of profit that comes at the end when the property is sold, and… nothing, absolutely nothing, is more of a determinant of future appreciation than the market in which the property is located.  The market is EVERYTHING.Then there’s the value factor.  People, unless you have a crystal ball, don’t throw your capital to the wind by purchasing real estate at it’s retail price.  If some random Joe Blow would pay $X for the property on the open market, you need to pay BELOW $X.  You’re not buying real estate because you’re a collector, you’re buying it because you’re an investor.  And investors buy into GREAT VALUE… the best approach to which is to never, ever pay retail value for your properties.And the final element is MANAGEMENT.  No, my friends, don’t even think about managing the property yourself.  Don’t think about it.  NOT a good idea.  Not only does that restrict you to your own local market, but do you want to reduce yourself to menial labor like collecting rents and calling repairmen and tracking down mortgage statements?  NO… you need a good manager to handle that for you.  But here’s the thing:  A GOOD property manager is HARD TO FIND.  Darn near impossible, even.  You’ve GOT to find this person as a result of serious research into available options.  Or… better yet… a first-hand referral.Market.  Value.  Management.  All key.  All required.  All critical.Want to know how to get all 3 of those things… even if you’re not “well connected” in the real estate business?I can help you there, my friends.  As it turns out, I’ve got a book about this very topic coming out VERY SOON.  This one isn’t another book that just attempts to convince you that rental investing is a good idea.  It’s specifically for those of you who are ready, willing and financially able to buy great rental properties… but you need expert guidance on selecting property in the RIGHT MARKET, at the right VALUE, under the right MANAGEMENT.This is the book for those of you who want to get it right the first time… or for those of you who may not have done it perfectly the first time, and who wants to correct course while you still can.So… if that’s you… you’re ready, willing and able to start or expand your portfolio now, but you want to do it the RIGHT WAY… then I’ve got a free copy of this book for you… or, specifically, for the first 100 of you to respond.  (It’s not free to print these books, people!  Gimme a break… many thousands of you will hear this show, and I just can’t give away that many copies!)  HeheheheSo to reserve your free copy, please text the word RENTALBOOK to 33444.  Again, that’s RENTALBOOK – no spaces, put the word RENTAL and the word BOOK together and text it to 33444.But remember – this is only for those of you who are seriously interested in building your rental portfolio in the RIGHT MARKET… at the RIGHT VALUE… and under the RIGHT MANAGEMENT!Folks, invest wisely today… and live well forever!   Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Do you love the idea of cash flow from rental properties, but you’re TERRIFIED that an air conditioner will break or a tenant will sue or that something will happen that consumes all your cash flow and turns your rental into a money pit?  Fret no more, my friends:  There’s an ULTRA SAFE way to profit from rentals, and never, ever worry about a single one of those risks.  I’m Bryan Ellis.  I’ll tell you all about it right now in Episode #122.--------Hello, SDI Nation!  Welcome to the podcast of record for savvy self-directed investors like you.This is a big day, my friends!  Later today, and also this evening, I’ll be delivering a special webinar for those of you who are REALLY SMART about rental property investing.  We’ve got a number of opportunities – 17 houses in 3 different markets, to be precise – which are all EXCELLENT rental opportunities… they are located in great markets with SOLID appreciation prospects and a strong supply of tenants, they each come already loaded with a paying renter and immediate cash flow for the buyer, they each have experienced, competent property management in place, and, BEST OF ALL… each of these occupied properties are available for purchase by savvy investors like you at BELOW-MARKET pricing.  That’s right… no cap rate-based pricing mumbo jumbo here!  We figure out what the property would sell for under normal market conditions to a normal retail buyer… and we sell it to you for LESS!Every one of these properties are Certified as S3-Compliant:  Simple, Safe and Strong.  Really solid bets.That event happens once this afternoon and once this evening, so if you’d like to get an invitation to join us at no cost as my guest, just text the word INVITATION to 33444 right now, or visit SDIRadio.com/invitation.  Either way works, but this particular event happens once later today and once more later tonight, so you’ve got to jump on this right away!  Just text the word INVITATION to 33444 or visit SDIRadio.com/invitation right now!So… when you buy rental property the RIGHT WAY… meaning in a way that’s 100% consistent with my SIMPLE, SAFE and STRONG formula… you’re in a solid position for near-term cash flow and tax benefits and for substantial long-term growth in equity and therefore your wealth.  That’s a beautiful, beautiful thing… and for most of you, it’s an option to be seriously considered.But there are some of you who, entirely reasonably, simply do not want to take the risk that there could be big unforeseen expenses with a rental property.  Let’s face it, folks:  Even in the best of rental properties, things can go wrong – severe weather can damage property, perfectly stable tenants can experience sudden emotional upheaval, and damage the property, or the surrounding area can go into decline, hurting rents and appreciation. Now, with proper planning, the risk of these things drops to nearly zero, but the risk remains.  And for some people, even the thought of the possibility of that risk is sufficiently stressful that it would be worthwhile to avoid that risk entirely.But there’s a GREAT way for those of you who agree with the fundamental wisdom of buying rental property in the S3 way – simple, safe and strong – to benefit from rentals without facing down those risks for even one single moment.Here it is:  Let’s say you’ve got $100,000 that, ideally, you’d like to invest into a rental, but you just don’t want the stress from that risk.  What could you do instead?How about this:  Why don’t you LEND that $100,000 to ANOTHER INVESTOR who is buying really solid S3-Certified rental property?  You’ve got some great assurance that they’re investing into an asset of high quality, because the S3 Certification is a high standard which most rental properties are unable to meet.  And that’s important, because that S3-Certified property is going to be your COLLATERAL… your GUARANTEE, that you get your payment every single month.But YOU must do that safely.  So if an investor wants to buy a property that costs $100,000, then why don’t you lend him HALF of that… $50,000?  That way, your collateral – the real estate – is worth exactly twice what you lend against it.  This puts you in an INCREDIBLY safe situation, and makes it a virtual certainty that the investor will always make their payments on time to you.  And those payments will bring you an interest rate that is EXTREMELY attractive for the right investor.Who is the RIGHT investor for this type of opportunity?  Well, if you’ve still got decades before retirement, this isn’t for you at all.  But for those of you nearing or already in your retirement years, this is a great option.I was speaking just yesterday to one of your fellow listeners to this show named Bob.  Bob, if you’re listening now, it was a pleasure to speak with you!  Bob is clearly a very savvy investor and has a substantial portfolio.  He was looking for great investment opportunities for himself, but what struck me most was part of the conversation towards the end when he told me about his mother.Bob’s mother is about to be moved into an assisted living facility.  She has some savings of her own, and Bob has some responsibility for helping her with that money.  He mentioned that he was frustrated because her money is in a bank CD collecting 0.1% interest.  0.1% interest?  WOW!  My friends, that’s not a certificate of deposit, that’s a certificate of depreciation!  I checked at my own small local bank and found out that he’s not kidding about that rate.  It’s disgusting.So Bob’s mother could benefit profoundly from this type of strategy, because she’d collect a very respectable rate of about 5% - literally 50 TIMES what her CD is paying her – and the capital would be safe, Safe SAFE!  Folks, loans made for only ½ of the property value virtually never go bad.  And the monthly payments would just hit Bob’s mom’s account each and every month, month in and month out, reliably, like clockwork.  In fact, a lot of lenders have their payments automatically debited from their borrower’s checking accounts!And the best part?  If you or your parent get involved in this lending, there’s PLENTY of opportunity to deploy your capital, AND it’s very, very easy to get a 3rd party guarantee so that in the indescribably unlikely event that the loan goes bad, the 3rd party will step in and cash you out with no trouble at all.  It’s an amazing win-win scenario.Folks, obviously, this isn’t for everybody.  But it might be for somebody you know and love.  For most of my listeners, the wisest thing for you to do is to join us for today’s training where I’ll introduce you to 3 great rental markets, and the 17 properties we have on offer there that are available at BELOW market pricing.  Great opportunities, every one… and I’m eager to explain them to you.But for those of you looking for an ultra-conservative strategy that pays up to 50 TIMES the prevailing rates on CD’s… it’s an extraordinary fit.So here’s how to move forward, regardless of which camp you sit in:If you – or your parent or other loved one – needs a strong but ultra-conservative way to generate consistent income, just as I’ve described in this episode, then set up a time to talk with me.  You can do that by texting the word GUIDANCE to 33444 or by visiting SDIRadio.com/guidance.Or, if you’re on the other side of that equation, and you’re looking to actually accumulate GREAT rental properties in GREAT markets with SOLID tenants and highly reliable property management… at well-below-market pricing, then I’d love to have you on today’s training.  To get your invitation, you can text the word INVITATION to 33444 or you can visit SDIRadio.com/invitation.Either way, my friends, I have one piece of advice I’ll hope you’ll live by, and it is: Invest wisely today, and live well forever! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

There’s a heinous risk that lurks with every single rental property investment.  One false move with this powder keg, and your portfolio can go BOOM.  I’m Bryan Ellis… I’ll tell you what it is, and how to mitigate it RIGHT NOW in Episode #121---------Hello, SDI Nation!  Welcome to the podcast of record for savvy self-directed investors like you!  If you’re looking for advice that’s adequate for nearly any investor… strategy that any John or Jane Doe can use… opportunities for the masses… well then, this AIN’T your show.  I’m here to bring great clarity and expose exceptional opportunities to the affluent self-directed investor… and to you alone.  If that’s you, let’s get started, shall we?So, yesterday was a crazy day on Wall Street, huh?  The Dow was down well over 1,000 points to start the day, then it rallied back almost as much, only to close the day down a net of nearly 600 points.  Absolute insanity is what it is.And you know what?  All indications are that today will be a huge UP-day.  Not for fundamental reasons, but for reactionary ones.  And before I get to the focus of today’s show – which is one mega-risk that exists with rental property as an asset class – I’d like for you to ponder this, my friends:Core Value #1 of wise self-directed investors is this:  We RESPECT our own capital.  That capital came as a result of your own time, energy and effort… or maybe it found its way to you through the blood, sweat and tears of someone who cares about you.  Either way, that capital deserves to be RESPECTED.Is it really showing respect for your capital to have it exposed to the incredible risk that is Wall Street?  Is it showing respect for your capital to expose it to a risk that is absolute, ferocious, and wholly outside of your control?  Think hard, my friends.  Think hard.So, on to today’s discussion about rental risk – and how to mitigate it.  Just a quick note:  This week I’m hosting a GREAT training… I’ll be teaching you about 3 different geographic markets that MAKE THE GRADE as excellent rental property locales.  But even within those markets, not every single property gets the SDI seal of approval as SIMPLE, SAFE and STRONG.  But I’ll tell you EXACTLY how to find those properties and what makes them such great opportunities.  In fact, I’ll have several samples currently available to share with you.  More about this training at the end of this show, but if you’d like to go ahead and register now, you can do so by texting the word INVITATION to 33444 or by visiting SDIRadio.com/invitation.Folks, I think that buying and holding rental property can be a great way to build a sustainable base of wealth for your portfolio.  I really do.  Look – on the training I mentioned to you just a moment ago, which happens later this week, I’m going to introduce you to some great off-market properties that, in my humble but entirely accurate opinion, represent really, really solid investment opportunities.But I’m also a realist.  And there’s a risk that exists with rental property ownership that, frankly, is terrifying… and that most companies who market “turnkey” rental properties are careful to avoid discussing with you.What’s that risk?  Lawsuits.  And more specifically, the astounding cost of those lawsuits.Really, if you think about it, lawsuits go with the territory of real estate.  Even in the normal course of business, you’ll occasionally have a tenant who doesn’t turn out quite right, and will have to evict the tenant.  In most states, eviction involves a legal proceeding of some sort, and sometimes even a court appearance.  Sure, it’s likely your property manager who handles that for you, but the point remains:  Lawsuits really are part and parcel to the rental property business.I won’t spend any real time talking about mitigation of legal risks involved in eviction, other than to say that 99% of the battle there is proper documentation.  Documentation of things like:  The terms of your lease, move in/move out inspections, handling of security deposits, maintenance responsibiliteis, etc.  Again, this stuff is the job of your property manager, so you shouldn’t have to think much about it.  But you should, at the very least, determine before hiring a property manager what their success rate is when filing evictions.  It should be very close to 100%.  If it’s not, either the property manager isn’t documenting the important things well, or the regulatory environment is unfavorable to landlords.  You can always replace your property manager.  But you can’t easily change the law… so buy carefully to begin with.But far more ominous than eviction lawsuits are what I’d call real lawsuits… the kind where somebody on your property trips over a stump, falls down, hits their head on a stump and dies or is seriously injured from the impact.  Or more likely, the kind of lawsuit that results when you’re in a minor fender-bender, but the other party decides to sue you for all you’re worth… which includes your rental property.Folks, the thing about lawsuits is this:  They can be CATASTROPHIC, even if you win them.  Here’s an example from my own life:  I once took on a business partner, and it was a poor decision.  Very poor decision.  Great learning experience – taught me the horrible effects of insufficient due diligence – but still a very poor decision.  What I failed to discover in time was that this guy was actually a convicted felon AND was very, very fond of suing people.  And ultimately, he sued me – as he’d done with so many of his past business associates.  Now, here’s the thing:  I won.  Won convincingly.  In fact, he sued twice, and both times, we got his case dismissed before trial.  It’s hard to win more convincingly than that.  But do you know what?  It still cost me about $80,000 to win.  Not good!  That’s the cost of a rental property by itself.What’s the solution?  Well, there’s good news and there’s bad news.  The Bad news:  There’s absolutely no way to absolutely eliminate the threat of lawsuits.  You can – and should, after confirming with your own lawyers – use language in your contracts that sets strict limits on liability and firm guidelines for how disputes will be resolved, but that only goes so far.  If you’re involved in a fender bender with a litigious counter party, there won’t be any prior agreement between the two of you determining how to settle the conflict.  It’ll just be a matter for the legal system.So what’s the good news?  It’s possible to make yourself a very, very unattractive target for that kind of lawsuit.  How?  I’ll bet you think it has something to do with putting your properties into LLC’s or corporations or something.  Sure, that’s one way to go… and maybe it’s the right call for you.  But there are other, easier ways to practically be very, very wealthy while being legally very, very poor.One great approach is to legally SHIFT the equity in your properties so that, in effect, nobody even knows that equity exists.  If you appear to own a lot of property, but you have no – or even negative – equity in them, you become very unappealing as a lawsuit target.  There are a number of ways to do this, and the right way to do it for YOU is not a cookie-cutter answer.  In fact, one way of doing it that’s perfect for me might actually cause YOU even more legal trouble.  That’s why, by the way, every client in my SDI Core 100 group – the small group of investors with whom I work most closely – is required to have a pre-purchase consultation with the asset protection attorney that is my SECRET WEAPON for avoiding legal trouble.  We actually pay for this consultation for our members… it’s that important that it happen.  You see, you’ve got to get this stuff right from day 1, and in fact, I won’t even work with clients who refuse to be proactive about protecting themselves from legal risks.  Because, you know what?  It’s really pretty easy to get it right… when you think about it in advance.  And that’s part of what I FORCE my clients to do before I allow them to purchase any of the great deals we offer from time to time.So what about you?  If you’d like to learn about 3 GREAT markets for rental property in America… along with an introduction to several specific off-market rental properties that fully embody the criteria of SIMPLE, SAFE and STRONG – and maybe even learn how you can have a solid dose of legal protection built into your rental property investments from day 1 – then join me for our special webinar this week.  To get your invitation, text the word INVITATION to 33444 or visit SDIRadio.com/invitation.  Respectfully, I recommend you move quickly on this. My friends:  Invest wisely today… and live well forever! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The CRUSH IS ON in the stock market.  Yes, I’ll continue our analysis of the RISK of rental property investing… but with what’s happening in the stock market right now… well, America is crying out for leadership where the caving-in of the stock market is concerned, and I’m here to give it to you.  I’m Bryan Ellis.  This is episode #120.---------Hello, SDI Nation!  Welcome to the podcast of record for savvy self-directed investors like you.  Ever wonder why the topics I discuss so frequently find their way onto other financial shows?  It’s simple:  Self Directed Investor Radio is SHOW PREP for everyone else.  We set the table… everyone else sits at it.  And you, my friends, are welcomed guests!Back on August 5, I gave you a warning about the stock market.  I focused on Apple computer, and suggested to you that as Apple goes, so goes the rest of the market.  I told you the reason that I feared for Apple was because of the weakness of China’s economy, and the dependency Apple has on that market for future growth.On that day, I advised:  Consider taking at least some of your profits out of Apple… and fast.And since that day?  Well, it’s a big, fat, I told-you-so.Since then:Apple stock has dropped by 8.3%.The S&P 500 has dropped by over 6%.And, oh yeah… China devalued their currency in the wake of a crash in their stock market… confirming for all the world to see that the great economic power of the east is, at very best, on shaky ground after decades of misrepresenting the truth.And, oh, by the way, as of this moment – about 8am Eastern on Monday, August 24 – Dow Jones Industrial Average Futures were down by over 700 points at one point this morning.  The Nasdaq is presently locked at what’s called “Limit Down”… meaning that traders are pushing the market lower, but the market circuit breakers are kicking in and forcing an artificial stop to the descent.Who knows what will actually happen.  The whole thing could recover before the market opens.  But I doubt it.  There are some really negative indicators going on right now.Now, my friends, I want you to understand the gravity of what’s going on here.If you had $100,000 invested in Apple stock back on August 5 when I brought this up, you’ve now lost about $8,300 if you didn’t take action based on my analysis back then.  Who’s to say that Apple won’t rally and achieve new all-time highs?  Nobody, absolutely nobody.  But here’s the thing:  The chart doesn’t look good……Either for Apple, or for the broader market.Folks, there’s a time and place for everything.  I respectfully submit to you that now is not the time, and this is not the place to be a retail stock investor.There are many companies out there that are very well run, and that represent fundamentally wise plays, if you’re analyzing the quality of those companies in a vacuum separate from the broader economy.  But folks, you know that’s not wise.How do you feel about our economy?  Do you feel like it’s really as strong as the media is telling you?  I told you just a few days ago, in Episode 117, the hard evidence of how the government is very aggressively lying to all of us about the state of this economy.  And as the insanely vicious and racially bigoted preacher Jeremiah Wright one said, “America’s chickens are coming home to roost!”My friends… in the middle of this chaos… in the middle of this concern…  Things have been pretty boring around my house.  Pleasantly so.  We keep getting checks in the mail.  It’s not sexy like the stock market.  We know exactly what the amount of those checks will be every month.  I mean… in one way – the profitability – it’s WAY sexier than the stock market.  But it’s boring.  Checks month after month.  Month after month.  Not volatile.  Not exciting.  Very boring.And PROFOUNDLY RELIABLE.My friends, listen up:  This show is not for the faint of heart.  If you want somebody to tell you some middle-of-the-road advice… if you want to hear ideas that are merely acceptable for everybody but truly great for nobody… this isn’t your show.But if you want the hard truth, people, here it is:The truth about the U.S. stock market has been manipulated so incredibly thoroughly, and it simply can’t go on.  The media hasn’t even had to lie to you about the situation in stocks for several years, because it’s looked so positive.  But it’s a LIE, my friends… and if we’re not on the precipice of the big reveal of that fact, we’re not far away.Folks, you’ve doubtlessly heard the phrase “Quantitative Easing”.  You may have even heard it as QE1 or QE2 or QE3… because the government did it in 3 different distinct, massive rounds.  I’ll not bother you with what they SAY quantitative easing was all about.  But I will tell you what it actually was:  It was a way for the federal reserve to print a HUGE amount of new money, dump it into the stock market in order to see the averages go higher, and thereby distract the entire country from the fact that the fundamentals of this economy are HORRIBLE.Folks… it’s been more than 40 years since our labor force participation was as awful as it is right now.The REAL unemployment rate – factoring in people who are working menial part time jobs or other obvious underemployment – is, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistic’s own admission – is over 10%... and much higher than that according to some very reputable sources, including the Gallup organization.My friends:  The time for you to do as you’re told with your money is long since over.I’d like to remind you of something I said just a moment ago:  In the midst of this financial chaos – and I fear that’s exactly what’s brewing, is real chaos – things have been pleasantly calm in the Ellis household.  The stock market can fall apart, and, while it’s certainly not true that I don’t care about that, what I can say is… it doesn’t affect me.  Those boring, consistent, predictable checks keep coming in… month after month… and the profits keep mounting.Folks, I’m not telling you it’s time to sell your portfolio.  Though… who’s to say.  What I am telling you is this:  It’s time to consider a new CORE for your portfolio.  An entirely new basis… something that’s strong, something based on real value, something that’s profitable, something you can predict and plan for.You need something that’s SIMPLE.  You need something that’s SAFE.  You need something that’s STRONG.It’s time for a return to SANITY.If you’re worried about what the current terror in the market will mean for your portfolio, let’s talk.  You can set up an appointment by texting the word GUIDANCE to 33444 or visiting SDIRadio.com/guidance. Better yet, my friends, if you’d like to never, ever have to be worried again about what the terror in the market will mean for your portfolio, that’s an even better reason for us to talk, and to talk right away.  It’s not too late.  Again, you can set up an appointment by texting the word GUIDANCE to 33444 or visiting SDIRadio.com/guidance.My friends, remember that core value #1 of wise self-directed investors is this:  We always RESPECT our own capital.  Is it showing respect for your capital to leave it sitting in a market with a foundation as shaky as that of the U.S. stock market.Wouldn’t you like to have a firm foundation for your portfolio, folks?  I love these words about building on a firm foundation:  “The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house, yet it did not fall, because it had its foundation on the rock.”Like I said, it’s entirely possible that the market will recover entirely today and it will turn out to be a “normal” day… at least as far as the history books are concerned.  But what’s happening right now isn’t normal for a foundation built on solid rock.I’d love to help you build that foundation in your portfolio. My friends:  Invest wisely today, and live well forever! 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It’s time for some more BRUTAL HONESTY.  You think that “buy and hold” real estate is a good bet… that home values usually grow over time.  Well, my friends:  Somebody – EVERYBODY – lied to you.  U.S. housing is, generally speaking, a LOSING PROPOSITION as a buy-and-hold investment, and I’ve got the data to prove it.  I’m Bryan Ellis.  Get ready for the shocking truth RIGHT NOW in Episode #119.-------Hello, hello, hello SDI Nation!  What a great day to be alive, and thank you for spending the next 7 minutes with me again today.As my thanks for your attention, how about I just go ahead and BLOW YOUR MIND?Here goes:  There’s a long-standing believe that the odds are on your side if you buy real estate and just hold it.  Alas, my friends:  It’s just not true… and I’ve got the HARD EVIDENCE to prove it.Before I do that, let’s establish some context.  In the last episode of this show, we began to analyze the notion of buying rental properties in the context of the S3 Investing Criteria of SIMPLE, SAFE and STRONG.  I gave you some pointers on determining whether rental property ownership is, as a concept and in terms of implementation, sufficiently SIMPLE to be worthy of your portfolio dollars.  Remember, complexity hides risk, and so SIMPLICITY is a key component for every wise investment.One other thing we discussed on the last episode, which really comes into sharper focus today, is the reality that not all rental properties are the same.  If someone is trying to sell you a rental property, you should ALWAYS seek out additional options for comparison – maybe even in entirely different markets and with entirely different providers – because rental property is NOT a commodity.  One deal is NOT the same as the next.  Folks, it’s very realistic that two separate deals could look really good to you, but one will lead to profit and the other will lead to financial ruin.  How do you know the difference?  Well, start with what you learned on yesterday’s episode, and then pay attention to this, too:SAFETY is the 2nd leg of the Simple-Safe-Strong trifecta of investment excellence, and nothing is more fundamental to the question of safety than having a strong reason to believe that your property will increase in value over time.  In fact, equity appreciation is frequently the very biggest part of the payoff for owning rental property at all.That’s why it’s so easy for slick salespeople to mislead you about the likelihood that your property will be worth more in the future.  They’re relying on the same thing that everybody else relies upon:  The assumed knowledge that housing values go up over time.My friends, it just isn’t true… as much as I wish it was.  And this isn’t my opinion.  Here’s the data:For a recent 45-year-period, the average home price in America – whether new or existing – DID increase at a rate of 5.4% annually.  That’s the statistic that makes it so easy to claim that home prices increase.But that’s incredibly deceptive, because in that time period, the SIZE of the average house went from under 1,000 square feet to over 2,300 square feet, so it stands to reason that average home prices went up during that time as well, and they did.So average home price is the wrong metric.  What’s a better metric?  Average price per square foot.  That’s where the real story is told.And when we look at THAT metric, the National Association of Realtors tells us that existing homes prices increased by 3.7% per year.So what’s the problem?Well, PRICES are increasing, but VALUE is actually DECLINING.  That’s because those figures do not factor in the most silent killer of wealth:  INFLATION.I’m not going to bore you to tears with inflation rates or statistics, so here’s what I’ll tell you to make it clear:  In 1992, an average square foot of housing was worth 76 loaves of bread.  By 2010 – 18 years later – that same square foot could only buy about 60 loaves of bread.So… while your net worth would have increased rather nicely in that time frame, your REAL WEALTH – your BUYING POWER – would have decreased… a LOT.What’s the lesson here?  Is it that you shouldn’t invest in residential rental property?Well, YES, that’s the lesson… if you’re going to do it indiscriminately.  You can’t rely on platitudes like “real estate has made more millionaires than any other investment” or that “real estate is the most historically proven asset class”.  Those things just aren’t true.But if you can internalize the fact that real estate isn’t an automatic winner – that some rental property is inherently FOOLISH and some is inherently WISE – you STILL can do well, and do well safely.  There are 2 reasons this is true:First:  Real estate is a distinctly local issue.   National statistics are great for understanding broad trends, and for counteracting fundamentally false beliefs like those I mentioned before, but the truth is that certain specific regions of the country are more inclined than others to show increases in value, and those places are where you should focus your investment dollars.Second:  You can still do well in real estate because all of those statistics make one big assumption:  They assume that you’re paying regular retail prices for your properties.  And if you’re thinking of buying your real estate from a turnkey real estate company, you probably are paying full retail… and possibly a bit more.But did you know that the situation changes rather dramatically if you are able to get as little as a 10% discount on the price you pay versus the retail value of the property?  In other words, the dynamics change greatly if you pay $90,000 for that $100,000 house.  By making that adjustment – by insisting that you never pay more than 90% of retail value, and ideally less – for your rental properties, suddenly your real estate buys MORE BREAD at the end of the investment than at the beginning.  You actually make money rather than losing it.Buying real estate below market value is what enables you to be Profitable From Day 1.  That, my friends, should ALWAYS be your operational standard for investing.Now, there are a few other risk points that affect the safety of investing in rental property, and I’ll discuss them with you in the next episode.So then the question becomes:  How do you find properties in strong markets that you can purchase for at least 10% below market value?  That’s where you have to start.  If you can’t get an attractive price in a desirable market, nothing else matters.This isn’t a minor thing, folks.  It’s not easy to find real estate that you can buy below its real value.But, my friends, I’m happy to help you.  Right now, we at Self Directed Investor Network have identified 3 HIGHLY FAVORABLE real estate markets across America that have THE RIGHT STUFF… strong rental rates, solid expectancy for appreciation… and most importantly, because of our influence in the market, the ability to purchase property SOLIDLY below retail value.If you’d like to know what those markets are… and how YOU can own property well below it’s actual value – so that you can be PROFITABLE FROM DAY 1 – then please plan to join me for my upcoming webinar called:  “Profitable From Day 1:  3 Ideal Markets For Building Wealth”.  Sponsored by Self-Directed Investor Radio, this webinar will feature YOURS TRULY as I help you to understand exactly WHAT characteristics make for a great rental investment, what are the hidden red flags, and – most importantly – an introduction to exactly the right people who can help you to grow your cash flow and your wealth by investing in rentals the right way, the SDI way – Simple, Safe and Strong.To get your invitation for this webinar, just text the word INVITATION to 33444 and I’ll send you one right away.  Again, text the word INVITATION to 33444.  But I do recommend you do this right away… I’m telling you about it first here on SDI Radio so you’ll get first shot, but when I announce it to my email list in a couple of days, it will fill up instantly, so please do request your invitation now by texting the word INVITATION to 33444.  Or if texting doesn’t work for you, just go to SDIRadio.com/invitation. My friends:  Invest wisely today – the SDI way – and live well forever! 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EXACTLY what matters when you’re evaluating a rental property investment?  It’s a short list, but every single thing matters.  I’m Bryan Ellis.  I’ll tell you the CRITICAL FACTORS for evaluating rental property investments RIGHT NOW in Episode #118------It’s a wonderful day to be alive, isn’t it my friends!  It is SO AMAZING to get another great day on God’s green earth!Welcome to another exciting edition of the podcast of record for savvy, self-directed investors like you!Today, we’re talking rental property.  It’s an important topic because the change in consumer mentality towards living arrangements has shifted DRAMATICALLY towards rentals and away from ownership, presenting a great opportunity for you and me.But, my friends, please listen very carefully to this:  Rental properties are not inherently a great investment.  Sorry, no, it’s just not true.  They are not all the same.  Not all properties are the same.  Not all markets are the same.  Not all tenants are the same, not all property managers are the same.  These are not commodity products.Repeat after me:  Some rental deals are better than others.  Some are far worse.  Do only the best ones!But which are the best ones?  This episode was inspired by a great conversation I had with a new client just yesterday, who bought a rental property from us for a very deeply-below-retail-value price on Monday.  He since received a solicitation from a turnkey rental company for some other investment properties, and he asked for my help in figuring out whether the properties they offered him made sense.  Jack… it was a pleasure to speak with you!  I hope our conversation was helpful!So let’s you and I talk about what makes for a good rental property investment, shall we?Folks, think like a business person.  If you own rental property, then your product is housing.  The fundamental question is:  How desirable is your product?  Doesn’t really matter which property you consider… there’s an occupant for it on some level of the scale.  On the one end of the scale is the property that has all of the bells and whistles, in the nicest part of town, that commands the highest premiums in rent.  And on the other end of the scale is the property that’s occupied by vagrants and is an eyesore and a physical danger.Where does your property fall on that scale?Being on either end of that spectrum is the wrong place for most investors.  You’re generally looking for salt-of-the-earth type properties that are, in most markets, in the $50,000 to $150,000 range.So aside from price range, what are some of the factors to consider?As always, the criteria to use at the start is the S3 Investing Criteria of SIMPLE, SAFE and STRONG.Let’s look at SIMPLICITY.  Obviously, the rental property is a conceptually simple business.  So we’re good there.  But looking deeper… is the specific PROPERTY simple to deal with?  Is the MARKET where it’s located strategically wise such that you can make a SIMPLE case for why you should invest there?For example:  There’s a geographic part of the country that we at Self Directed Investor Network are VERY excited about.  We’ve done our homework, and this part of the country is absolutely in the path of progress and has, in my humble – but astoundingly accurate – opinion, a GREAT chance at substantial appreciation in the coming decade.  The reasons are simple – it’s between two major cities connected by a major highway, and there’s an overwhelming amount of evidence that infrastructure is rapidly growing between those two cities, raising demand for property and associated pricing.  It’s a slam dunk.  But the BEST thing about it is that with a bit of market expertise, one can still buy properties there VERY inexpensively, below appraised value… and these properties are PERFECT as rentals!  So it’s a beautiful, beautiful opportunity.  Simple to understand, simple to explain.  Just simple.  By the way – if you’d like more information about this market, hang on a minute and I’ll give you that information at the end of the show.Another consideration for simplicity is your choice of property manager.  It’s basically their job to make it simple for you to benefit from your rental property.  Have you taken a moment to talk to a few other clients of the property management firm to find out their experiences?  Particularly if you’re buying a rental property from a turnkey company, who provides a property manager along with the property when you buy it, you need to be particularly diligent.  A few turnkey companies do a great job of vetting the property managers they recommend.  Most do not.  It’s YOUR JOB to make sure, because at the end of the day, it’s YOUR MONEY… and your sanity… that’s on the line!Another element of simplicity is the regulatory environment.  Yes, it’s your property manager’s job to handle most regulatory issues on your behalf but your property manager is definitely subject to the constraints of the law.  For example, is it simple or difficult to raise rental rates?  Are you required to provide inspection reports to the government?  Is it simple or difficult – in other words, quick or slow – to evict a problem tenant?  Even if you have the greatest property manager in the world, they can do nothing about an unfavorable regulatory environment.So, for example, some markets that offer strong favorability towards landlords are Arizona, Georgia, Texas and Indiana.  But New York, California, Washington and Connecticut are states that can represent serious expenses, challenges and delays for rental property owners.  Remember that delays mean extended periods where you don’t collect rent.  During these times, your rental property becomes a LIABILITY rather than an asset… so it’s CRITICAL to pick markets that are favorable – and simple – for rental property investors.And one other quick note about this issue:  The regulatory or political environment can vary dramatically from one city to the next within the same state.  For example, San Francisco is notoriously challenging as an environment for landlords, even more than most of the rest of the cities in California.  So look at this issue from both a state-wide and city perspective.One other note about simplicity:  Exactly how simple is it to find tenants in the market you’re considering.  This is one of the big issues with buying a rental property that already has a tenant living in it.  You simply don’t know how long it took to find that tenant.  A long search suggest that either there’s little demand or that you’ve got a subpar property manager.  Both are warning signs.  So ask your potential property manager to give you specific stats about how long it takes their firm to fill a vacant rental generally, and whether they have other rentals in the same area.  If they do have other rentals in the same area, that’s a good sign… and it’s a good source for information about exactly how simple it has been historically to find good tenants.And, while we’re at it, my friends:  A good way to evaluate property management companies is to get a report from the local county courthouse for how many evictions have been filed by your prospective property manager.  Then, find out how many properties are being managed by that firm.  If the number of evictions filed in the past 12-24 months versus the number of properties under management seems high to you, that’s probably a sign that the property manager is good at finding tenants, but not good at choosing the best ones.Ok, so today we’ve covered the how to evaluate whether owning a particular rental property is going to be sufficiently SIMPLE to be a wise investment for you.  There’s more to the mix, though, folks.  There’s also SAFE and STRONG.  We’ll get to those tomorrow.Now I do want to tell you that we’ve got some AMAZING rental property investment opportunities coming up right away that MANY of you will want to consider.  But you’ll definitely have to act QUICKLY, as the properties we offer are always priced so attractively that they sell quickly.  The latest example:  I made one property available this past Thursday afternoon, and it was taken Thursday evening.And if this notion of building wealth through rental property appeals to you, then I’d recommend you set aside some time to join me for a very special webinar that’s coming up, where I’ll introduce you to some GREAT properties in some GREAT markets that we’ve pre-vetted to confirm that they fully comply with the S3 Investment Criteria of SIMPLE, SAFE and STRONG.To get an invitation to that webinar, you must be part of my Top Picks group.  The only way to get in that group is to text the word TOPPICKS – that’s one word with no spaces, spelled TOPPICKS – text TOPPICKS to 33444.  Again, text TOPPICKS to 33444 to get on the Top Picks list and to receive an invitation for the upcoming webinar where you’ll learn all about how to get access to pre-vetted rental property investment opportunities that ABSOLUTELY measure up to the SIMPLE, SAFE and STRONG criteria that MUST be the core of your evaluation process.More about how to recognize great rental opportunities in tomorrow’s episode.  Until then, my friends, remember: Invest wisely today, and live well forever! 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They tell us the truth, right?  Not so fast… Today you learn one specific and truly heinous way that the government lies to YOU about the economy… and how it can be a DISASTER for your finances.  It’s time to put your “big boy” or “big girl” pants on, folks, because it’s about to get ugly.  I’m Bryan Ellis.  This is Episode 117.----------Hello, SDI Nation.  Welcome to the podcast of record for savvy self-directed investors like YOU.Something’s rotten in the state of Denmark, my friends.  Actually… it’s Washington DC where the foul stench originates, and it gets stinkier on the first Friday of each month when the feds release news stats  about unemployment in the United States.We’re not going to talk about statistics and computation and that sort of thing today.  We’re going to talk about the reality of willful deceit from the government, and why it’s so important for you as a Self-Directed Investor.  This is a rubber-meats-the-road kind of episode.Let’s imagine, for a moment, that you’re evaluating an investment.  Maybe it’s stock in a construction company or a consumer electronics maker.  Maybe it’s rental property in the heartland.  Maybe it’s the formation of your own business.It doesn’t really matter… whatever the case, your investment ultimately relies on one thing for success:  Customers.  And not just customers, customers who have the wherewithal to spend money and buy, buy, buy!And, by and large, that relies on one thing:  a well-employed populace.  Whether there are able-to-buy customers in the world isn’t something that’s merely nice to know… it’s critical.And, of course, the government very helpfully provides information about the unemployment rate in this country on the first Friday of every month.  The last such announcement was for the month of July, when the national unemployment rate was 5.3% - the lowest of the entire Obama presidency.But, my friends… something is wrong.  Something is terribly wrong.Do you know anyone who is unemployed?  I certainly do.  Do you know anyone who has been unemployed for a very long time?  Again, so do I.In fact… while there are fewer unemployed than at the height of the economic collapse… anecdotally, it still seems to me like there are a whole lot of able-bodied people who either aren’t working, or who are working at menial jobs, far below their potential and below their experience level.And there’s something else that’s totally wrong.  The output of this country is barely moving at all.  Economic growth in the first quarter of this year didn’t even reach 1%... and the second quarter was reported as being “strong”… even though the growth rate was only about 2%.Folks, this is not good.  There’s fundamental weakness… but to hear the government say it, everything is hunky dory.But it’s not… and those of us who are self directed investors simply do not have the option of drinking the Koolaid.  We, by virtue of our acceptance of responsibility for our own financial success, simply must be aware of the REALITY… despite what Washington DC would have us to believe.So here’s a painful example of how they’re lying to you… and expecting you to be stupid enough to trust them.The basic way that the unemployment rate is calculated is by dividing the number of people who are unemployed by the size of the labor force.Simple enough, right?  But here’s the problem… the Obama administration radically altered the definition of unemployment.  To me, a person is unemployed if they want a job and don’t have one.  But did you know that by Obama’s new rules, there are literally MILLIONS of people who do not have a job, and who would be THRILLED to get one… but none of them are being counted as being Unemployed?It’s insanity.  It’s blatant deception.But that’s not where the travesty ends.  Do you know who IS COUNTED as being employed?  Anybody who makes $20 by cutting a neighbor’s lawn… and anybody who works just a few hours a week flipping burgers to make ends meet.Let’s dig in here just a bit, my friends.  Maybe it’s ok for the teenager who’s working 15 hours a week to count as “employed” because they have a job at the local McDonald’s.  But the feds ALSO count as fully employed the man or woman who was a mid-level executive making $150,000 a year before they were laid off, and who has taken a part-time job at Mickie D’s just to make ends meet until they find a job that’s actually SUITABLE for them.So what we have is a situation where the feds do NOT count people as unemployed, who absolutely, clearly are.And we have the feds counting people as FULLY employed who have menial jobs that are, quite honestly, far below their potential, and who are FORCED to take those jobs because the health of the economy is so poor that the RIGHT kind of jobs simply aren’t available.We know why this was done – it was the worst kind of electioneering back in 2010.  But that doesn’t make it better.  It makes it worse.Folks, this is a bad, bad situation.  And to compound it further, the labor force in America has been shrinking very, very aggressively, such that it’s now at the same relative size as it was in the late 1970’s when, let’s face it, the policies of Jimmy Carter had run this country’s economy completely into the ground.All of this sounds like bad news.And you know what?  It is bad news.  There’s no sugar coating it.But this is why, now more than ever, it’s so critical for you to fully embrace Core Value #1 of Self Directed Investors:  To RESPECT your own capital.  And how do you do that?  By requiring… demanding… that every time your investment capital is deployed, it be done so consistently with the S3 Investing Critera of SIMPLE and SAFE and STRONG.Yes, you can have all 3 of those elements in place at exactly the same time.  One investment CAN be SIMPLE and SAFE and STRONG.For example:  People will always need housing, and the trend among the millennial generation is to make shorter geographic commitments by renting rather than buying, so it stands to reason that rental property makes good sense as an asset class.But friends, please understand this:  Not all rental property opportunities are the same!  Each individual opportunity is different and must be evaluated on the merits of the deal, not simply on the merits of the person who brings the deal to your attention.For example:  If you’re considering the purchase of a rental property, would it be better to pay FULL RETAIL value for that property, or LESS THAN full retail value for that property?  Obviously, paying LESS than full retail is better, so… you should only look for opportunities to pay LESS than full retail value.  That’s safer… it protects your capital better… it just makes better sense.Rental property is one of those investments that just makes sense on a really core, fundamental level… but the trend I’m seeing right now, my friends, is that very smart people who are very successful in their own fields and have amassed substantial capital – but who have very limited experience as rental property investors – are being presented with rental property investment opportunities that appear very, very attractive, but that investors with even a modicum of experience in that asset class would reject outright as too risky.Now, the good thing about rental properties is that even if you make a poor buying decision, you can probably hold onto it for 10-20 years and end up being profitable – if you ignore the opportunity cost of the initial poor decision.But why don’t you just do it better to begin with, my friends?  If you’ve ever bought real estate from a turnkey rental property company, or if you’re interested in easily building a cash-flowing rental portfolio of your own, I’d like to offer you a better way… a way to get into great properties BELOW their retail cost, in areas where there’s STRONG REASON to expect future appreciation… and using tax-smart strategies that have a wildly positive impact on your bottom line RIGHT NOW… not just after decades of holding on.If that’s you – if you’ve got the capital position and the full intention to build a strong rental portfolio that’s totally consistent with the S3 Standard of SIMPLE, SAFE and STRONG, stop by SDIRadio.com/guidance to schedule a time for us to talk and I’ll give you some thoughts on building a rental portfolio smartly.  No… let’s do better than smartly, let’s do it BRILLIANTLY, my friends.  Let’s make it PROFITABLE FROM DAY 1!  Again, that’s SDIRadio.com/guidance to set up a time to discuss this with me.  My friends… invest wisely today… and live well forever! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Who is the hottest stock picker on Wall Street… the one that millennials are adopting by the busload, venture capitalists are funding by the truckload, and is capturing the attention of the financial press in an amazing way?  I’m Bryan Ellis.  I’ll tell you RIGHT NOW in Episode #116-------Hello, my friends!  What a great weekend… a lot of time with Carole and the kids, a lot of rest… it’s just what the doctor ordered!  I’m back with you recharged, refreshed and ready for another big week of Investment Excellence, right here on the podcast of record for savvy, self-directed investors like you!What do you do when you just don’t trust your stock broker or investment advisor, but you believe Wall Street is your only medium for growing wealth?Well, of course, you turn all of your decision making over to a computer.Huh?  Yep… you heard it right, folks.  A huge trend in financial planning – particularly among cash-rich millennials – is something called a “Robo Advisor”.  It’s essentially just a software program that you give fully authority to manage your investment portfolio on a fully automated basis.The premise is an interesting one.  After all, isn’t it true that most of the mistakes made by stock market investors are mistakes born of emotional response that’s not supported by logic?And wouldn’t the use of an emotionless computer help to mitigate that risk – and make it possible to factor in a breathtakingly large amount of information into every decision on a moment-by-moment basis?Well, maybe.  I’ll give you my perspective on that in a moment… which, you might find interesting, as I’m both an active investor and was, for many years, a rather successful software developer.This trend towards Robo Advisory is interesting, and it’s attracting major attention from venture capital firms, and of course, some of the major Wall Street firms – like Charles Schwab and Vanguard – have gotten in on the act with Robo Advisory services of their own.I’ll admit:  The premise is appealing.  It’s easy to make the marketing case for why Robo Advisory would be a great idea.  After all, clearly, it’s possible to make profits in the stock market… so why wouldn’t a computer… with infinitely better information access than any human… be a superior choice?Well, so far, it looks like the humans are winning.  Overall, results for RoboAdvisory firms, including some of the big names like Wealthfront and Betterment, are underperforming the market as a rule.Here’s the thing, folks:  I’m a big believer in the notion of PROPER PREMISE.  And it’s pretty clear to me that the flight to Robo Advisory is based on a flawed premise.What is that flawed premise?  It’s simple:  Wall Street is the best place to invest your capital.My friends, the facts simply don’t bear that out.Look, if you’re going to be an active and focused investor, carefully choosing your own investments and monitoring their performance regularly and adjusting whenever necessary, then it’s possible you can invest in stocks and beat the averages.  Note:  That’s possible, not likely.  It’s astounding, but it’s still true that the goal of most financial advisors is to beat the performance of the S&P 500 – and most of them just don’t do it with any consistency at all.But the mere POSSIBILITY of making money is no way to choose an asset class.Where is it POSSIBLE to make money?  Well… in stocks, for sure.  In Las Vegas… very low odds, but very high return potential.  If you really want to go where the money is, you could fund the production of crystal meth and become fabulously wealthy in just a few days, but at the risk of both imprisonment and death.The stakes aren’t quite so high in the stock market, but the idea is the same.  There’s a concept I’ve discussed with you before:  Reversion to the mean.  That means that things to go back to their averages.  If you’re likely to win 1 time out of every 20 on the slot machines in Vegas, then that’s about how frequently you’ll win over time, even if you lose every round for a while, or even if you win 5 in a row.  If there’s a 90% chance you’ll end in prison or dead by getting into the crystal meth business and you’re presently neither incarcerated or dead, then you should buy life insurance and move out of the country.And if you’re investing in stocks… the 80-year compounded annual growth rate of the S&P 500 is about 6.5%.  That’s the average.  That’s what it does.  Sometimes better, sometimes worse.  But that’s the average… and that’s what the S&P500 will revert to.And along the way… volatility.  Unpredictability.  Stress.  Not good things.Look, I’m not actually opposed to stock market investing.  I think there are almost always great opportunities… but those opportunities are almost never where the public is looking.So here’s how all of this relates to the notion of having a PROPER PREMISE.  The 3 problems with the premise that Wall Street is the best place to invest your capital are:  (1) you’re investing in a market where the mean to which your returns will revert are basically only in the 6% range; (2) historically, individual investors perform BELOW the index as a whole because they don’t stay the course consistently over time; and (3) the low average return is DESPITE the fact that the market is incredibly volatile… in other words, the high degree of volatility… in other words, risk… is totally out of line with the low level of PROFIT.And it looks like the Robo Advisors are not yet outperforming their human counterparts.  I think it’s possible that the Robo Advisors could catch up to the performance of human advisors, but the reality is that these applications are created by humans using algorithms created by humans, relying on patterns observed by humans… inherently, the human bias is built in to these services.The one attractive thing about RoboAdvisors is that they are, by and large, relatively inexpensive.  So if you insist on gambling on Wall Street, at least you’ll lose less in the form of commissions.You know another way to beat the averages?  Inspired by the 1973 book “A Random Walk Down Wall Street” in which Princeton Professor Burton Malkiel claimed that a blindfolded monkey would beat the market by picking stocks chosen by throwing darts at a newspaper’s financial page – a firm called Research Associates did an interesting study in which they chose 100 totally random portfolios.  And you know what?  98 of the 100 random portfolios actually DID beat the performance of the market!My friends:  Not good.  Not good at all.A smarter premise is this:  Everything reverts to the mean, so let’s choose investments with better averages!  And let’s choose investments that aren’t so volatile that the stress induced on the way to making those returns counteracts the financial benefit of the profit!Want to know how to do that with YOUR portfolio?  Just text the word GUIDANCE to 33444 and I’ll be happy to give you my thoughts about that. My friends, invest wisely today… and live well forever! 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ONE SINGLE WORD explains it all, my friends.  Why do so many people mindlessly plow so much money into stocks & mutual funds, when FAR BETTER OPTIONS exist?  I’m Bryan Ellis… I’ll tell you what that ONE WORD is, and how YOU can get more of it RIGHT NOW in Episode #115.----------Another day, and I get to be with you yet again!  I swear to you, my friends, I feel like the luckiest man alive to get to spend this time with you each day!Welcome back to ANOTHER exciting episode of the podcast of record for savvy self-directed investors like YOU.So, folks, before I get started:  Today I’m delivering a POWERFUL webinar that’s exactly perfect for many of you.  If you need a way to generate a solid, predictable and astoundingly safe 7% on your investment portfolio, I’ll show you EXACTLY how to do that in today’s webinar.  It’s not an exotic strategy… in fact, you’ll understand the fundamentals in under 30 seconds.  But it is POWERFUL… and if you’re looking for a way to deploy the CORE of your portfolio… the part that you’re depending upon, and that you can’t afford to risk… well, join us today!  The webinar cost $97 for the general public but for you as a listener to the Self Directed Investor Radio show, I’ll admit you without cost.  But there are only a small number of complimentary passes remaining for today’s live broadcast and then for a couple of re-broadcasts that are coming up.  If you’d like to get one of those free passes, then text the word RESERVE to 33444 right now.  Again, text the word RESERVE to 33444 right now and I’ll send you a link so you can get one of those complimentary passes!My friends, yesterday was a crazy, delightful day.  My team bought 4 different houses yesterday, all of which were bought so far below value that we have every reason in the world to expect to be able to turn these properties very quickly for really, really substantial profits.I’d like to tell you about one of those deals.  It’s the one of the 4 I know most about, because my wife Carole and I bought it, at her urging.A quick aside – gentlemen, aren’t you grateful for your wife?  Wow… that woman has improved the quality of my decision making immensely, both in steering me away from bad ideas and pushing me towards the good ones.  Carole… thank you.  I’m doing a terrible job of expressing how truly grateful I am for you, and how profoundly CENTRAL you are to the success of our businesses, but I want you to know, and I want everyone to know:  I *KNOW* I couldn’t do it without you… not even close.  And what I get from you isn’t just nebulous help in the form of being a good, supportive wife – which you certainly are – but you also contribute materially and substantially to our businesses in ways that nobody ever sees publicly, and I’m so grateful to you.  Thank you!Ok, returning from that aside:  I’d like to tell you about the deal I got yesterday, because it’s a really good one.  But the reason I want to tell you about it is not to brag, but to express today’s point about the ONE WORD that explains why so many people choose fundamentally QUESTIONABLE investments – including stocks & mutual funds – when so many superior options exist.So about this deal… I wasn’t planning to buy it.  I wasn’t planning to do any investing yesterday at all.  I was just minding my own business when the phone rang.On the other end of the phone was a friend and colleague who I’ve come to respect and trust.  This guy is a dynamo at finding really great real estate deals.He called me and said… “Bryan, I know you’ve been looking for some rental property in the Phoenix-Tucson corridor.  I’ve got one for you if you want it.”  Well, I wasn’t expecting the call, so I was a bit surprised, but certainly intrigued.He went on to explain…  “Property is worth $100k.  You can rent it for about $850.  Including purchase and renovation, you’ll be in it for $55,000.”Ummm…. Yeah.  I think I want that one.The deal is great, and it’s in a region of the country where we have some serious inside information that leads us to believe that there’s massive appreciation potential.  It’s an exciting, exciting deal!But that’s not where the story ends.  I wasn’t expecting to do any investing yesterday, and so I didn’t have all of my funding at the ready.  This was a deal bought at foreclosure auction, so time is of the essence.  It’s a pay-now-or-don’t-get-the-deal kind of thing.So we’re funding this deal from a retirement account, and the person who controls that IRA is wholly unavailable to wire the funds until Monday.  Big problem, right?Well, yeah… but when I expressed this to my colleague, and told him he could just let it go to someone else, he said – no worries.  I’ll carry it for you over the weekend.”So the guy essentially lent me $55,000 on nothing more than the strength of a good relationship.This deal is going to be profitable, my friends.  In fact, I may well just sell this one as a turnkey rental property and leave a huge chunk of equity in it for my buyer.But here’s why I’m telling you all of this:  Yesterday, all over America, people called their stock brokers or logged onto their e-Trade accounts or whatever they do, and they bought mutual funds.  I’ll bet somewhere, somebody actually invested a similar amount of money - $55,000 – as the amount of my deal.And do you know what?  Even if I sell it really, really cheaply, I’ll still put $20,000 in my pocket… in 45 days or less.  And you know what?  At the average annual return of about 6.8%, it will take that same stock market investor 5 years to achieve what I’ll achieve in the next 45 days.  And I’ll take FAR LESS RISK while doing it.Why?  Why am I doing it that way – and hopefully you too – rather than the conventional route of mutual funds?It all comes down to one word:  ACCESS.  I have access to these opportunities.  And in truth, it’s not really even access, as much as RELATIONSHIPS.  Relationships with people of influence, people with connections… folks, that’s the secret sauce of being a successful self-directed investor.  It really is.Another quick example… and then I’ll help you to see why this is GREAT NEWS for you, even if you don’t feel like you have the access to these kinds of opportunities that you want.So, I’m always on the lookout for opportunities to connect my clients – many of whom are listeners to this very show – with GREAT investment opportunities.  I’m always looking for things that match the S3 Investment Standard of Simple, Safe and Strong.Well, one guy I’m evaluating has a pretty astounding track record.  He understands this “relationship” issue far better than most.  The guy does ZERO in the way of marketing, yet the kind of deals he gets… in VERY LARGE VOLUME – 35 deals in the last 60 days – is just astounding.  It’s all a function of his RELATIONSHIPS.He just bought a house for $273,000 that needs ZERO renovation work.  In as-is condition, this property is worth $450,000.  That’s a MASSIVE paycheck about to happen… because of a strong relationship.He got another one for $95,000 all in that’s worth $170,000.  And another all-in deal at $90,000 that’s worth $150,000.  He got a horse farm in a polo community for $258,000 that’s easily worth $600,000 which he’ll sell in a matter of days at the discounted price of $499,000.  He’ll only make about $140,000 in a few days.  Poor guy.  HeheheheHere’s my point, folks:  It’s all about ACCESS to high quality relationships.And for those of you with whom I have the pleasure of working, and for whom I get to serve as YOUR ACCESS to deals of this quality… well, thank you!What about YOU, my friend?  Would you like to be involved in deals like I just described to you?  Well… if this guy passes my due diligence process – and frankly, most do not – but if he does, then I’ll be looking for people – for savvy, self-directed investors – who would like to take part in transactions like that.Interested?  I thought so!  Make sure you’re part of the Self Directed Investor 5-Star listener’s group, and I’ll share more information there.  If you’re not a part of the group, just text the word SDIGROUPD to 33444.  Again, text the word SDIGROUP with no spaces or periods to 33444. My friends:  Invest wisely today, and live well forever! 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Warning sirens are sounding as a result of an ominous indicator in the stock market and the devaluation of the Chinese currency.  But what does that mean practically for the self-directed investor?  I’m Bryan Ellis.  I’ll tell you what it means for you RIGHT NOW in Episode #114.---------Hello, my friends.  You’re listening to the podcast of record for savvy self-directed investors like you.  I’m truly grateful that you’re listening right now.  It’s so gratifying to see how you folks are helping us grow.  For the last week or so, I’ve been waking up to see that this podcast has already been downloaded as many times by 8:00am as was happening in an entire day as recently as 2 weeks ago.  The growth is just amazing… thank you, my friends.I’ll get to the information about the stock market and the Chinese currency in just a moment.  But I’d like to take a minute or two and make sure we’re all keeping our “eye on the ball” and are investing on PURPOSE rather than by default.Folks, a very positive consequence of the fact that this show is growing and succeeding is that I’m slowly honing the message that I want to drive home to you every single day.And one piece of that message is that the CORE VALUE of self-directed investors is this:  To respect your own capital.  Nobody else will do it for you.  That capital cost you time, energy and effort… or maybe it’s the result of the blood, sweat and tears of someone who cares about you.  Either way, the time, the energy, the effort it took for you to acquire it – the very LIFE it required for you to acquire it – makes that capital profoundly worthy of respect.And NOBODY will ever respect that capital more than you will.  Not your financial advisor.  Not the government.  Not anyone else.  That’s why we have to require… we have to DEMAND… that every investment choice we make stringently complies with the S3 Investing Standard of:  SIMPLE and SAFE and STRONG.But that’s not where the core values of self-directed investors end.  You see, there’s a core value #2 that I’d like to share with you right now, and it is this:Profit has purpose beyond build wealth.  It’s a means to an, not an end unto itself.Do you have clarity about YOUR purpose for the profit you’re making?  Certainly, part of your purpose is to create financial security for yourself and your loved ones, and that’s a central responsibility for you as a responsible adult.  But what about beyond that?  What about a broader, bigger purpose… maybe even a purpose that transcends just yourself and engages your entire family, maybe even for multiple generations?I’m not going to delve deeply into that topic today, but can I encourage you to think about that in the coming days.  I’ll address it more fully in coming episodes… but my friends, I will say this:  When there’s clear purpose for your profit beyond mere wealth building, the clarity with which you operate when making investment and financial decisions steps up another level.  Your perspective becomes greater, your point of view is more enlightened.  Basically, you become wiser.  And wisdom is among the highest objectives to which any of us can aspire.So, let this question simmer in your mind a bit:  What is the greater purpose for your profit?Now, let’s focus on building that profit a bit more, shall we?Folks, two very ominous events have occurred in recent days, and you need to understand them.First:  China has devalued their currency.And Second:  The death cross signal in U.S. stocks.Both of those things sound a bit wonky, so here’s what those things mean in plain language:About China’s currency:  The net effect of China’s currency being devalued is that Chinese goods will be less expensive, thus boosting sales and exports of Chinese goods, and in turn, the Chinese economy as a whole.  Currency devaluation is an artificial way to spur economic growth.  In effect, this is an acknowledgement from Beijing that trouble is brewing in China.You are aware, aren’t you, that the Chinese stock market experienced a major crash last month?  Over $3 TRILLION in value was wiped away in a single month.  About a third of the Shanghai Composite Index vanished in just a few weeks.  And if all of the comparisons of the Chinese market crash to the great crash of 1929 prove accurate, then the Chinese market has a lot farther to fall.Is this relevant to you?  Yes… particularly if you’re relying on Wall Street investments to grow your wealth.  To understand why, you have to look no farther than the long-time darling of Wall Street and the business world, Apple.Apple’s stock has been very weak this year, in large part due to the realization that the Chinese economy is weak.  Since China is Apple’s primary growth market, Apple’s future looks far less predictable than it’s past.  Thus, Apple’s stock has been very weak, plunging about 14% from its high of the year.So, follow the chain of events:  Weakness in China’s economy leads to stock market crash and currency devaluation, leading to lowered profit expectations from American companies (like Apple), leading to pressure on stock prices and declining markets overall, which leads to the second ominous issue of the day:The DEATH CROSS signal in the U.S. stock market.I won’t bore you with the details of the death cross, other than to say it’s one of those kinds of indicators that propeller-head types use to analyze and predict stock market movements.  The basic idea is that the long-term trend of the market is flattening out while the nearer-term trend has turned distinctly negative.  On a practical level, all it means is that more capital is flowing OUT of stocks than into them.This signal is certainly a negative indicator, no doubt about it.  But it’s not necessarily a kiss of death.  While there have been some times that this signal has materialized and the stock market continued upward, there have been a few times when it materialized and the stock market took a real bloodbath.But when considering the death cross in concert with the fact that China is finally beginning to admit to the weakness that all informed analysts already knew was there, well… it’s an ominous signal.Wow… all of that is complicated.  Very.The real point is this, my friends:  The stock market is not truly predictable… but the signals it’s giving aren’t positive.And remember this, my friends:  if you look back at the past 80 years – the average lifespan of an American – what you’ll see is that the average annual stock market increase during that time is in the 6 percent range.All of this volatility, unpredictability, and overwhelming risk… for a 6% average?My friends… you have better information… better knowledge… better opportunity.I want something better for you.Let me ask you something, my friends, and I ask this with utmost sincerity:Do you truly BUY IN to being a self-directed investor?  Remember – that means some… it means something specific.It means that you RESPECT your own capital.It means that your profit has purpose beyond wealth.So ask yourself, my friend… is it showing respect to your capital to accept that risk… that unpredictability… that volatility… for something that, in the long run, will equal to 6%?Will accepting such meager returns enable you to have enough profit for your purpose beyond mere wealth?There’s a better way, my friends.  Many better ways.If the time has come for you to think about transitioning OUT of the stock market – maybe even with just a portion of your portfolio – and into some options that are truly SIMPLE and SAFE and STRONG, I’d be delighted to talk with you.Just go to SDIRadio.com/guidance and pick a time.  Or if you’re not in front of a computer, just text the word GUIDANCE to 33444.  Again, go to SDIRadio.com/guidance or text the word GUIDANCE to 33444.My friends…  I appreciate you.  Would you do me a favor?  It’s this: Invest wisely today, and live well forever! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Do you own rental property?  Want to get paid – in advance – for an entire year’s worth (or more) of rental payments?  It’s easier than you think, and I’ll tell you how right now.  I’m Bryan Ellis.  This is episode #113.---------Welcome back to the podcast of record for the Self Directed Investor community.  Thank you for making us the undisputed king of the jungle among savvy individual investors like you!My friends, it’s the stuff of fantasy for landlords:  the tenant who will pay 100% of their annual rental fees up front, freeing the landlord from cash flow worries for an entire year at the time.  It’s practically nirvana!Well, my friends, as it turns out, that’s possible… and much more easily than you think.But before I tell you how that works, 2 quick announcements:First, we’re getting a steady supply of REALLY GREAT cash-flow properties that are stocked with a paying tenant, that have solid property management in place, and that, most importantly, you can buy for FAR BELOW retail value.  No inflated costs for turnkey rental properties here, my friends.  Only problem is, because the deals are so good, we have a fairly low supply… we might get 10-15 or so of these deals per month, which is nowhere near enough to service all of my valued listeners.  Do YOU want to know the very moment these high-cash flow, high-equity opportunities are available?  Then join my TOP PICKS notification list.  It’s free for listeners to this show.  To join that list right now, please text the word TOPPICKS to 33444.  Again, that’s text the word TOPPICKS – no spaces, it’s spelled TOPPICKS – text the word TOPPICKS to 33444.Second, and kind of related to the first, we’re going to host a very special event for those of you who want to build a strong portfolio of cash flow-producing, high-equity rental properties… but without having to get your hands dirty in the details of being a landlord.  There are a lot of people who will sell you rental properties… those are just commodities.  But cash flow properties that meet the S3 Standard of being SIMPLE and SAFE and STRONG?  Well… there’s only one way to get properties, and to build a portfolio, that meets that standard, and that’s to join us for the upcoming Self Directed Investor Cash Flow Summit.  I’ll host that event in a couple of months and it will be for a very limited number of attendees… each of whom will be shown how, and specifically given then opportunity, to build an astoundingly strong stable of cash-flow-producing, high equity properties.  My friends… why should you pay high prices for your rental properties from turnkey companies when you can get TRULY strong cash flow AND high equity, all from day 1?  So if you’d like to be notified about this opportunity, please be sure to get on the Self Directed Investor Radio email discussion group by texting SDIGROUP to 33444.  There are no spaces or periods, it’s SDIGROUP, text SDIGROUP to 33444.  You’d do well to be on that email discussion group list for early notification of the SDI Cash Flow Summit, as our last live event – the Passive Property Flipping Summit – filled to capacity weeks ahead of time.  So, again, text SDIGROUP to 33444.My friends, if you own rental property presently, and you like the idea of getting paid all of your rental income for an entire year UP FRONT, then listen up!I learned a very cool strategy recently that I want to share with you.  Folks, definitely get advice from your attorney before using this one, but I’ve got to tell you… the potential is ASTOUNDING to me…You may remember back from episode #102, I told you about a special type of real estate deed called a “life estate”.  I’d suggest that you go back and listen to that episode again, because the strategy therein is REALLY amazing, and it’s definitely related to what I’m going to teach you today.But today we’re going to have fun with another type of special real estate deed… and I’ll show you landlords how it can be used to generate income for large periods of time rather than on a month-to-month basis.Here’s how it works:You own rental property.  You’ve got a tenant paying $1,000 a month for your property.Thing is… you want or you need a chunk of capital for something else… and getting most or all of your rent up front would be a great way to make that happen.Here’s one way you could do that:Find somebody who’s interested in TAX-FREE cash flow.Do you think there might be SOMEBODY, SOMEWHERE who’d like to have tax-free income?  Hehehehe… yeah, I think so, too.  And I’ll tell you why this income can be tax-free, or at least, extremely LOW tax, in just a moment.So here’s what you do:You deed that rental property to this person – we’ll call her Barbara – who needs to have some income.  That’s right, you sell the property to Barbara entirely.  You make it HER rental property… HER tenant… HER cash flow, BUT…There’s one big difference:When you deed this property to Barbara, you’re not going to use a standard deed.  That would give her permanent ownership of the property… and that’s no good.  What you do instead is use a type of deed called an “Estate for Years” or “Estate for Term”.What’s an Estate for Years?  It’s really just a type of deed that conveys ownership for a set, limited period of time.  So, going back to our example, you’ve got this rental property that’s producing income, and you’ve got Barbara who needs to have that income.You know that what Barbara is looking for is an 8% ROI, so what you do is work backwards.  You use your trusty-dusty, handy-dandy financial calculator and you plug in the numbers and you determine that you can sell a year’s worth of payments to Barbara at an 8% yield for about $11,500.  So you’re taking $500 less to get all of your money RIGHT NOW…And actually, you may not even need to take a discount at all because of another huge advantage that Barbara will enjoy as a result of this transaction:  Tax Savings.  Because for that year while Barbara owns that property, SHE is entitled to take the depreciation deductions.  As you may know… depreciation can yield some VERY substantial tax savings… and in this way, the income she generates is going to be worth more than 8% to her, because she’ll pay zero, or very little, in taxes as a result of that depreciation.This is PARTICULARLY cool for those of you who own rental property in your IRA or 401k.  Why?  Well, you’re not using the depreciation deduction anyway.  So you’re not even losing any tax benefits by doing this!Now, my friends, I realize that there are lots of variables and important things to consider that we’ve not discussed in this brief show, but look, my point is to expose you to a new idea… a new way of thinking.  And my friends, this is some SERIOUSLY COOL stuff.  For those of you who are a little bit creative, I’m sure the wheels are really turning in your mind right now!That’s all for today, my friends!Remember – be SURE to get on the SDI Radio private discussion group list by texting the word SDIGROUP to 33444.  That’s how you’ll get early notice for my upcoming events – which always fill weeks in advance – and early notice of other great benefits of being a listener to Self Directed Investor Radio.And hey… right now is a GREAT time to go back and listen to any of the 112 episodes that came before this one.  Every one of them is at SDIRadio.com – enjoy, and please, tell your friends! My friends, invest wisely today… and live well forever! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

If you’re thinking of buying a rental property right now, STOP!  Do you know what you should ACTUALLY pay for that property?  I’m Bryan Ellis.  I’ll tell you how to know if you’re overpaying RIGHT NOW in Episode #112 ---------- Welcome, my friends, back to another exciting edition of the podcast of record for self directed investors the world over! Let’s talk about rental properties, shall we?  Many of you have the impression that I disapprove of owning rental property, or that I somehow disapprove of the notion of “turnkey” rental properties, in which you buy a rental property from a company who also stocks the house with a tenant and selects a property manager so that all of that stuff is in place without your having to do anything. Both of those things are wrong.  I absolutely approve of owning rental property.  And I absolutely approve of solid turnkey rental deals. But let’s be careful to pay the right prices, ok?  Remember:  The core value of a self-directed investor is to RESPECT YOUR OWN CAPITAL… and the most basic, fundamental way to do that is to NEVER, EVER pay too much for an investment. So what is the right price to pay for a rental property? Let’s start with what ISN’T the right price. Do this:  Before you buy your next rental property, call up a real estate agent in the area.  Ask them what that property would sell for on the open market.  Whatever they tell you is a good approximation of the retail value of that property. The right price for you to pay for a rental ISN’T the retail value.  You must pay LESS than that. My friends, remember this:  you will be successful primarily as a result of getting good deals.  What makes for a good deal?  Property bought below it’s retail value.  How much below?  I’d say 10% below is a good starting place.  15-20% or more is better.  But what does NOT make any sense is to pay full retail value for that property.  Paying retail is for bush league investors who don’t know what they don’t know.  That’s not you… now you know better. But I’d like to give you a warning.  Many people selling turnkey rental property will try to confuse you by basing their pricing on something called cap rate, or capitalization ratio.  Honestly, if you hear the word “cap rate” in connection with single family houses, somebody is probably trying to confuse you.  It’s VERY, VERY easy – repeat, VERY easy – to do some financial magic such that it looks like your “cap rate” is very high, at 12-15% or more.  They want to do that because it’s easy to justify charging higher prices for the property when you perceive the rate of return to be stronger. My friends:  Repeat after me:  Cap rate doesn’t matter.  What DOES matter is the REAL VALUE – what would the house sell for on the retail market?  And then, you ALWAYS pay LESS than that number! Folks, this is one of those places where your intelligence actually puts you at a disadvantage.  If you’re like 95% of my audience, then you’re a smart, successful person who is probably an engineer or a sales person or a computer programmer or a physician or some other type of professional who is very good at your job, and it’s likely you have a high income.  It’s also likely you’re not a real estate expert, and that’s OK! Here’s the thing:  Like me, and like everyone else, you simply don’t know what you don’t know… and like me, you may be inclined to think that because you don’t see any holes in the argument being put in front of you, that there are, therefore, no holes in the argument.  And buying a turnkey rental property presents a fertile ground for you to be confused while falsely feeling very confident.  What happens is that you are redirected to focus on other issues like CAP RATE or the potential for tax savings through depreciation or discussions about the difference between “nominal” and “actual” dollars, and of course, why real estate is such a great hedge against inflation. My friends, all of that is interesting stuff, but it’s not relevant at the point of your portfolio balance.  All of that stuff exists in EVERY real estate deal… not just the one they’re trying to sell you. Can I show you how I might evaluate a deal?  This, by the way, is a real deal… it’s actually available right now. So this is a little house in a strategically VERY attractive area of the country.  The property is solidly worth $95,000, arguably even $100,000… and that’s based on comparing it to other houses in the area, not based on any cap rate-related sleight of hand.  It’s totally rent-ready and rents for $850. Here’s a really simple analysis: $850 rent means $10,200 in gross income per year. By the time we factor out property taxes, insurance and property management, you’ll net $8,186 per year.  So what’s your ROI? Well, that’s the interesting thing.  If you’re buying this from a typical turnkey rental company, you’re going to pay – repeat after me – FULL RETAIL or higher.  In this case, that would mean $100,000 or more. Not here.  You’ll get this property for $80,000 – a full $15,000 to $20,000 below it’s REAL value. And based on that price of $80,000, your cash-on-cash yield will be 10.2%! Folks, that’s cash-on-cash of 10.2% - and that doesn’t even include the substantial EQUITY position that you’ll have from day 1! Now, let’s be clear:  That’s the pre-maintenance profit.  There WILL be maintenance costs.  Likely less to begin with and more as the property ages.  And I’ll tell you… you’d be VERY wise to set aside the entire first year of cash flow for use as rental reserves.  That’s an aggressive approach… but it’s one that will make sure you don’t find yourself in trouble. So what makes this deal a good deal?  Well, it’s a very attractive price – well below retail value – the cash flow is very solid… and… it’s in a great, appreciating area!  This one is really attractive.  I think that buying a turnkey property 10% below retail is a really good start… but when they’re 15-20% below retail like this one… well… it’s a no-brainer. And do you see that I didn’t have to try to confuse you with discussions about tax benefits or inflation rates… and a really big one – I didn’t try to tell you that equity doesn’t matter, and that you should look ONLY at your results in terms of cash flow.  Whenever you hear that one, my friends, you should RUN. Sure, you get tax benefits with this property, just like every other property in America.  Sure, this property is a hedge against inflation, just like the property you’re considering from a turnkey property provider.  But the difference is – this is ACTUALLY a really good deal… and you simply don’t need a degree in finance to understand that. Remember the S3 Investment Criteria, my friends:  Simple. Safe. Strong.  This investment is SIMPLE… it’s a rental in an appreciating and growing market!  It’s SAFE… you’ve got a solid equity position and very good cash flow from DAY #1.  And it’s STRONG – strong cash flow, strong equity, strong market. This one, I believe, makes a LOT of sense. Incidentally, this property is a real deal and really available.  It came across my desk this morning.  We only get about 10-15 deals like this a month where you get a GREAT cash-flowing rental property with a vetted tenant and solid property management… along with a GREAT below-market price.  In fact, many of our deals are so inexpensive, that you’re getting the house BELOW what it costs to build, and you’re getting the land, effectively for FREE! So, those deals tend to go very, very quickly.  Are you interested in getting into some GREAT turnkey rental properties that actually MAKE SENSE…  Well, my friends, I’ve got them!  If you’ve got at least $100,000 of capital – which is about where most of these properties are priced – and you’d like to be on the Self Directed Investor rental Top Picks notification list, just text the word TOPPICKS to 33444.  That’s just one word, with no spaces.  Text the word TOPPICKS to 33444 – but only if you’d like to be notified as we receive access to great turnkey rental properties you can buy well BELOW retail cost… in other words, truly SMART deals!   My friends, invest wisely today…and live well forever! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

How would you like to own a certificate of deposit with returns that actually BEAT the stock market?  Something so reliable that it’s a great way to invest that part of your portfolio that you absolutely can not afford to lose… yet you still get a great return?  Well, I’ve got something even better, and I’ll tell you all about it RIGHT NOW.  I’m Bryan Ellis, and this is Episode #111---------Hello, SDI Nation!  Welcome to the podcast of record for smart, individual investors!I didn’t get to be with you on Friday, and I really missed that!  But boy did I have a great time with some of your colleagues and fellow listeners at our Passive Property Flipping Summit.  That event was for affluent investors seeking to deploy their capital into passive real estate flipping opportunities, and it was an extraordinary experience.  The event filled up many weeks ahead of time and it was just truly wonderful to actually meet so many of you face-to-face!My friends, I’ve got some great info to share, and I’ll get to that in about 30 seconds.  But first, let me say THANK YOU for listening!  This podcast is only about 6 months old and it’s already a major force to be reckoned with because of YOU.  It’s astounding how many other shows feel the need to respond to what I say, because what I teach is completely counter to the advice given by others who have a conflict of interest.  And heck, there are a lot of shows that are now rather directly ripping off my material now.  Yes, my friends, what you’re now hearing is SHOW PREP for the other shows you listen to.  Hehehehe  You know what they say… imitation is the sincerest form of flattery!  Until the cease-and-desist letter, that is.  HeheheheheBut seriously, we’re doing so well because of YOU, and I’m SO VERY GRATEFUL to you.  Nobody would care about what I have to say if YOU didn’t care about what I have to say… and so really, YOU are the hero, the person of influence, in this situation.  And I’m so grateful to you.So, I’m going to give you some great value yet again today!Here we go:It would be great if there was a bank that would issue a CD that could beat – or even equal – the long-term average of the stock market.Well, my friends, such a CD does not exist, as you know.  But something that’s BETTER actually does exist.And before I tell you about it, let’s determine what is ACTUALLY the long-term return of the stock market.  What would you guess?  A lot of people think that number is 10% or 12%.  What do you think?Well, my friends, let’s look at the actual numbers, shall we?We’ll use a period of 80 years, because that’s the average lifespan of an American citizen.  And over the last 80 years, the compounded annual growth rate for BOTH the Dow Jones Industrial Average and the S&P 500 has been in the 6% range.Surprising, isn’t it?  Much lower than you guessed, no doubt.  But the news is worse than that.  Around 6% is what the MARKET has averaged.  The results for the typical investor in stocks has been FAR WORSE.There’s a fascinating study that’s published every year called Dalbar’s Quantitative Analysis of Investor Behavior.  Sounds like a great read, doesn’t it?  Hehehehe.  Well, there is one particular piece of information in that you MUST pay attention to:The average investor who invests in stocks does NOT achieve a 6% rate of return.  Far from it.  According to Dalbar, the average 30-year annualized rate of return is a whopping 1.9%.Yes, you heard that right:  1.9%.How could that be?  The painful truth is that you and I aren’t very good at stock picking or timing.  Remember – that magical 76 number is based on the assumption that you put money in 80 years ago, and that you leave that investment alone for the entire 80 years following.  But is that reality?  No, of course not.Folks, do you remember back as recently as 2008… a year when there were 3 SEPARATE days when the entire S&P500 fell by about 9%?  It was a bloodbath.  Or do you remember back to Black Monday – October 19, 1987 – when the ENTIRE MARKET fell by more than 20% in a single day?The ugly reality is most investors revert to their baser instincts of survival mode when such things happen.  That’s the nature of the stock market.  It encourages emotion-based decisions, which leads to buying high and selling low.  And that, my dear listeners, is why even though the long-term average for the market is about 6%... the average for people like you who invest in the stock market is less than a third of that, at 1.9%.Have your results been better than that?Then pay close attention to this:My friends, there’s a concept in statistics and finance called “reversion to the mean”.  This means that anything you’re measuring tends to return to it’s long-term average over time.  If right now you’re below average, it’s likely your results will rise.  If right now you’re performing above the average, it’s quite likely your results will revert to the mean.What’s the answer?  Let’s invest in assets that have a higher average!How about, say, 7%?  That way, we beat the stock market and the average investor!So where can you get such a result?  It’s easy:  don’t look to Wall Street.  Look to Main Street.Imagine a local guy named Joe.  Joe found a piece of real estate he can buy WAY below it’s value.  I mean… WAY below it’s value… about half.  Problem is, he doesn’t have all of the money he needs.This is an opportunity for you to get a SLAM-DUNK investment.  Here’s how it works:  You make a loan to Joe.  You lend him money at 7% interest, and so that it’s easy for him to make payments, you only require interest-only payments.Joe loves it… he’s got a really low payment and now he can do his deal, but the reason this deal is safe for you is this:You will ONLY lend Joe half of the value of the property.  If the property is worth $100,000 then you’ll lend him $50,000.  If it’s worth $300,000 then you’ll lend him $150,000.Whatever the value… you’ll lend half.And then, there’s one other thing:  If Joe doesn’t keep up his payments, you get to take that house and sell it.  And the reality is you’ll likely make a WHOLE LOT MORE money from doing that if you must.  In other words, you have a Plan “A”… where you collect 7% interest… and you have a Plan “B”, where you can make FAR MORE than that, if for any reason Plan A doesn’t work!But you know what?  Joe isn’t going to miss his payments.  Because this house is such a SMOKING-GREAT deal that he wants the profit that’s built into it.And thus, you get paid 7% interest – guaranteed – every single month.  No volatility, no complication, no trouble.  It’s just simple.  It’s safe.  It’s strong.Now, you probably don’t want to do this with all of your portfolio.  But folks, most people wisely consider about 1/3 to 2/3 of their portfolio as the “conservative” portion… the part where they just can’t afford to lose money.  You’ll want to really optimize the other 1/3 for high returns, but……For that core of your portfolio… the part that matters the MOST to your financial future… isn’t it appealing to think you could BEAT the stock market… and have NO VOLATILITY and virtually NO RISK to your money?  It’s like a REALLY AWESOME Certificate of Deposit… only the rate is much higher… and it just MAKES SENSE to you why it works!But the big problem for you is finding somebody like JOE who wants to borrow money under those terms.My friends, I can help you with that.  Actually, I can make the problem go away entirely… it becomes a totally “turnkey” opportunity for you!Want to learn more?  Join me for a special webinar THIS WEEK for Self Directed Investor Radio listeners ONLY.  I’ll tell you more about the strategy – including why it’s so incredibly safe and predictable, along with very profitable – and further, I’ll show you how to get those results in a totally turnkey manner, so you never even need to understand how to find somebody like Joe or evaluate real estate or any of that stuff.  You just get to make incredibly safe loans at a 7% interest rate and forget about everything else!To get a link where you can register for this premium webinar at no cost, just text the word RESERVE to 33444.  But there is a limited number of free passes available, and to get one, just text the word RESERVE to 33444.My friends, invest wisely today… and live well forever! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Why did the Federal Government specify THIS ONE SPECIAL TYPE of business structure as a way to build millions in your IRA?  I’m Bryan Ellis.  I’ll tell you right now in Episode #108.----------So many of you have given me feedback that says something like this:  I’m learning things from you that nobody else is talking about!  I suspected these things could be done… but before Self Directed Investor Radio, nobody told me how!My friends, get ready… what you’re going to hear today fits squarely into that “HOLY COW” category!A quick note – the strategy I’m teaching you today is easy to understand but a bit complex.  I’m going to do a great job of explaining this to you in the 7-minute confines of this show today.  But I STRONGLY recommend… VERY STRONGLY… that you make a point to watch the more complete training video that I’m posting to the Self Directed Investor Radio 5-Star Listeners Group this week.  The training is called “The Profit Partition Partnership:  Uncle Sam’s Way To Millions” and will expose additional ways to use and benefit from this strategy – at least one of which will absolutely blow your mind with potential, particularly for those of you with very large Traditional IRA’s.  It’s free to get this training:  Just join my 5-Star Listeners Group right now by texting the word SDIGroup to 33444.  Again, that’s SDIGROUP, spelled s-d-i-g-r-o-u-p with no spaces or periods.  Text SDIGroup to 33444 right now.So, you’ll recall from yesterday’s episode that the Government Accountability Office published a report that provides data that is supposed to convince Congress to change the rules on IRA’s so that nobody can amass a very large IRA balance.And in that report, they – very curiously – outlined 2 strategies used to actually build very large IRA’s.One of those – to buy into a corporation with your Roth IRA before it goes public – well… that CAN happen for anyone, and will work.  But the odds aren’t in your favor for that to happen.But the other one is HUGE for you and me, even though it doesn’t seem like it to start.The example they gave was that of the formation of an investment fund, where the fund raises $1Billion and the partners are compensated by payment of a “performance fee”… and that performance fee lands inside of the partner’s Roth IRA.  I believe in the example GAO gave us, one of the partners ended up with $20million in her Roth IRA.So… are you expecting to raise a $1Billion investment fund anytime soon?  Me either?  But there’s still some REAL GOLD here for you and me.  I’ll stick with the investment fund example for a moment before I broaden it out to you and me.Now before I go any farther, I’d like to point out 2 things:  First, get confirmation of all of this from your own attorney, because I’m not one.  Second, for those of you who are attorneys or who have a high degree of legal acumen, please don’t write to me explaining all of the details I’m not exposing here.  Really, I know what I’m talking about you probably do too, but my listeners are busy people who want to know the CONCEPT to determine if it’s right for them, not every arcane detail.So, the partner whose Roth IRA made $20Million owned what’s called a “Profits Interest” in the investment fund.  What that means is that the investment fund was organized in such a way that there are 2 different “classes” of owners – one class for the clients and one class for the partners.  These different classes of owners are entitled to different distributions of profits and different authority in the fund.Specifically, the clients get their share of the profits before the partners do.  That’s only fair!  And similarly, the partners have authority to manage and invest the capital of the fund, but the clients have no such authority.So let’s give some names to these roles.Let’s call the class of ownership given to the CLIENTS of the investment fund the “PRIORITY” class, because they always get their profits before anybody else.And let’s call the class of ownership given to the partners – in other words, the owners – let’s call that the “REMAINDER” class, because they get what’s left after the clients are taken care of.So maybe this investment fund is structured like so many, whereby the rule is that 80% of the profits will be distributed to the PRIORITY class of owners – those are the clients – and the other 20% of profits will be distributed to the REMAINDER class of owners – those are the partners.So it’s pretty simple… having multiple classes of ownership allows us to divide up things like profit distributions as well as management authority and control of the company.So how is that relevant to self-directed investors?Oh, let me count the ways!The answer to this, in a word, is LEVERAGE.  Think back to the partners who created the investment fund.  Usually the way those deals work is that the partners who start the business contribute 1% of the value of the company, and the rest – 99% of it – is funded by clients.  But those partners get to keep 20% of the profit.  20% … even though their investment is only 1%!And that leverage can be a beautiful thing.Imagine this, my friends:  You find a great real estate deal.  You can buy it for only $100,000, which is FAR below it’s real value, and the cash-on-cash yield will be 20% - that’s $20,000 per year.Great deal!  You should jump for joy!But how could you make that better?What if you could invest only $10,000 instead of $100,000 without taking on any debt whatsoever?Here’s how it could work:You find a partner who likes this deal.  They put up $90grand.  You put up the other $10grand.Your partner, because he put up more money, gets priority.  So every dollar of net income that comes in belongs to your partner, up to the point that he makes $7,000 per year, or 7% on his money.But remember – the total net return on this deal is 20% per year, or $20grand.  Your partner automatically gets the first $7grand.  That leaves $13… and you know what?The two of you SPLIT that money.  Down the middle.So you get $6,500 per year… and your investment was only $10,000.  65% ROI.  THAT, my friends, is a beautiful thing.You get a higher yield… you invest less money… and you accept ZERO debt.By using the power of the Profit Partition Partnership, you’ve taken what is a solid deal, and you’ve turned it into an AWESOME deal… and it’s awesome for both you and your partner!If you’re wondering why you’d be entitled to half of the profits above the first $7k since you only funded 10% of the deal…well… remember this important factoid:  YOU found the deal.  There is no deal without you.  That has great value.This description is modeled after deals I’ve actually done, my friends.  This isn’t theory.  It’s powerful, powerful stuff.Now, the amazing thing is this:  The example I just gave you only scratches the surface of what’s possible using the Profit Partition Partnership.  I take that back… as awesome as this example is, it does NOT scratch the surface of what’s possible with the Profit Partition Partnership.And I’d love to give you the rest of the story.  But we’re out of time today.  If you’d like the rest of the story on this powerful tool, I’ll give it to you for FREE… this week, I’m posting an AWESOME free video training on this very strategy - the Profit Partition Partnership in the SDI 5-Star Listener’s Group training vault.  To get it, just join the SDI Radio 5-Star Listener’s Group for free by texting the word SDIGroup to 33444.  Again, text the word SDIGroup – with no spaces or periods, spelled s-d-i-g-r-o-u-p – text SDIGroup to 33444 and that will get you access to the 5-star group, and to the special video training. My friends… invest wisely today, and live well forever! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Uncle Sam screwed up!  In a recent report, the feds attempted to demonize two strategies for creating multi-million dollar profits in your retirement account.  And in the process, they showed us just how to do it.  I’m Bryan Ellis.  I’ll tell you all about those strategies RIGHT NOW in Episode #107.----------Hello, SDI Nation.  It’s so great to be with you again!  I’ve got so much to share with you… after today’s show, you’ll feel like you’ve been drinking from a firehose!First, there are two EXTRAORDINARY resources I’ll be adding to the 5-star listener group this week.Resource #1 is a FASCINATING interview with a little-known but incredibly insightful financial analyst.  I was blown away.  There’s a connection between the price of gold and the price of housing, and it’s been highly predictive in the past.  I never would have guessed this correlation, but it’s true.  And in this special interview, you’ll see exactly what it’s predicting for housing in the immediate future!Resource #2 is a training video called “The Profit Partition Partnership:  Uncle Sam’s Way To Millions” is an ASTOUNDING strategy that I’d bet BIG TIME you’ve never heard of.  You’ll get a bit of an introduction to it in today’s podcast – but I’ll tell you… this one has some many different wildly powerful applications – specifically for retirement account investing – that it’s IMPOSSIBLE to overstate the importance of this info.  You MUST see this training.Both of these resources – the “Gold/Housing Ratio” interview and the Profit Partition Partnership training – are totally free to members of the Self Directed Investor Radio’s 5-Star Listener group.  And it’s free to be a member of that group.  Just text the word “SDIGroup” to 33444 and you’re in!  Again, that’s SDIGROUP with no spaces or periods, spelled S-D-I-G-r-o-u-p… text SDIGroup to 33444 for free access to the SDI 5-Star Listener’s Group!My friends, a fascinating report from the federal government’s General Account Office was released in October 2014.  No, the writing wasn’t riveting, and this one won’t make any “best of” literary lists.  But for anyone smart enough to read between the lines, that report was PACKED TIGHT with content that’s actually GENUINELY helpful.Not all of the news is good in that report.  I told you about some of it in a previous episode of SDIRadio… the entire report is a reaction to the fact that there is a very small group of people in America who have grown their IRA’s to a very large size - $25 million or more.That’s the type of result many of us dream of, isn’t it?  Yet that’s the type of success that gets negative attention from the government.Oh… and by the way… there are only 314 IRA’s in the entire country as of the date of this publication that had $25 million or more.  Yep, that’s right:  This 93-page report, which doubtlessly costs hundreds of thousands of dollars to product, is aimed at 314 people.Actually, it’s less than that.  Because as you see by reading the report, the feds are only REALLY concerned with people who have large ROTH IRA’s… because they know that ultimately, they’ll get their piece of all of those traditional accounts.  But the Roths?  Well… any Roth account is entirely opposed to the purposes of the government – which is to grow the size and power of government – since the profit in those Roth accounts will NEVER be subject to taxation.  So it’s a clear double-standard.  But we all expect that from Uncle Sam, don’t we?So the real GOLD that appears in that report comes in Appendix 4, aptly titled “Examples of Strategies to Accumulate Large Individual Retirement Accounts”.I’ll preface this by saying that BOTH of these strategies are really interesting intellectually.  But as I explain them to you, there’s a crazy-high probability you’re going to think something like “sounds interesting… but I’m not going to take a company public” or maybe “sounds interesting… but I’m not a partner in a billion-dollar hedge fund”.Fair enough… just listen to the strategies, and then I promise I’ll help you to understand how they connect to you.  Actually, I think only one of them is relevant for you… but it could be relevant for a WHOLE LOT of you.So, strategy #1 works like this:  A group of people form a new business and structure it as a privately-held corporation.  The founders decide that the company should issue 100 million shares of stock at an incredibly small price per share – something like 1/8th of a penny per share.  And one of those founders, - we’ll call him Brilliant Bob – well, he very wisely contributes $5,000 to a roth IRA and spends all of that money on buying into the shares of this new company.Well, at such a tiny per-share price, 5 grand actually buys Brilliant Bob 4 million shares.So, a few years later, this company is doing well.  They raise capital by selling some shares to a Venture Capital firm at $10 per share… and Brilliant Bob gets to participate in that by selling 1 million of his shares.Well, right there Bob makes a windfall of $10,000,000.  He really is Brilliant.It gets better a few years later when the company goes public at $25 a share and those other 3,000,000 share Bob owns are now worth $75,000,000.So, Brilliant Bob now has $85,000,000 in his Roth IRA… and he’ll never pay a dime of taxes on that money.Ok, so here’s the thing about that strategy:  No, it’s not practical for most people.  Unless you’re involved at the very front end on a company that ultimately proves very successful in the public market, you’re not likely to be able to replicate this particular type of result.But my friends, I think this example – while far less applicable to me and you than the second example – is nevertheless fascinating.  THAT is a way that makes sense to me to play the stock market… as a FOUNDER of the companies that go public, and not as an investor in the publicly traded shares.But what about the other strategy?You’re likely to feel that this example is just as unapproachable as the first, but my friends… there’s HUGE, MASSIVE potential in this one for me and you.So, this example involves the creation of an investment fund.  I’ll spare you some of the less interesting details, but the way it works is like this:A group of 10 successful investors – including our hero for this story, Genius Jane – partner together to form an investment company, where they invest money on behalf of 3rd parties.  They manage to raise $1 BILLION from their clients, and the way they’re compensated is that they get to keep 20% of the profits they generate.  This is called a “Profits Interest”.  It’s a common and pretty fair way for investment managers to be compensated.So, Genius Jane played this whole situation very smartly.  Like all of the 10 partners in the investment fund, Genius Jane had to invest some capital herself.  But her investment came straight from her Roth IRA.Why does that matter?  Because the fund proves to be successful, and other the next 10 years, it generates $1BILLION in profits.  The investment fund as a whole gets 20% of those profits – or $200 Million.  And Genius Jane’s part of that is $20 Million.Totally tax free.  Forever.Well, my friends… I’ve got some news for you.  This strategy – the “Profits Interest” concept – is something that is REALLY powerful… and wildly powerful for YOU and ME… even though we may not be forming a billion-dollar private equity fund.How?  I’ll give you more about this tomorrow, but I sincerely and strongly recommend that you join the Self Directed Investor Radio 5-Star Listeners Group RIGHT NOW so you can see the FULL PRESENTATION I’m doing on this concept.  It will be detailed, powerful and INCREDIBLY revealing to you.  I’m confident it’ll blow your mind.It’s free to join the 5-star group.  Just text the word SDIGroup – with no spaces or periods – to 33444 right now.  Again, text the word SDIGroup to 33444. My friends… invest wisely today – including using the strategies you’ll learn in the free 5-star group – and live well forever! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Want a tax-free way to fund educational expenses for your family?  Today I open the rumor mill, and tell you how some people are diverting the profits of some of their best deals into a highly tax-favored educational fund.  I’m Bryan Ellis.  This is Episode 106.----------Wow!  Education costs a lot. It’s on my mind right now because today, my wife and I are taking my oldest daughter on another college tour.I’m tempted to launch into a tirade about the cost of higher education, since that’s one of the few industries that CONSISTENTLY increases its prices every year by substantially more than the rate of inflation, while simultaneously, the value of their product – as measured by employment rates and averages starting salaries – continues to decline.  Amazing, huh?  Worth less every year, charge more every year… a total racket.But I digress.We spend a lot of time talking about the nebulous concept of investing, and I think for most people, there’s an assumption that “investing” means the same thing as “investing for retirement”.  That’s certainly not true for all of you – I know that quite a number of you are, essentially, professional investors as your entire livelihood comes from your investment proceeds.But today, we’re going to veer off of the retirement trail and into the murky world of education savings.There’s a special type of account that can be really useful for this purpose.  It’s known by several names – the Education IRA, the Coverdell Account, or ESA aka the Educational Savings Account – and, if you qualify to have one, can be a really great thing.The basic idea:  You designate a beneficiary – a student under the age of 18 – and each year, up to $2,000 can be contributed into that account and invested for retirement.  The taxation works like a Roth account – you get no tax break for the contribution, but generally speaking, there are no taxes due on withdrawal if used for educational expenses.And, by the way, these accounts can be used to fund expenses associated with education expenses prior to college as well.  So if your child – or grandchild or niece or nephew or a broad range of relatives – happens to attend a private elementary school or high school, for example, then these accounts can be used to fund such expenses.Ok, so far, so good.  Maybe you’ve heard of these accounts before.But did you know that there’s a SELF-DIRECTED version?  That’s right… if you’ve got a hot investment, you do that investment inside of your child’s ESA account.Yet, that may not be such a huge benefit, because no more than $2,000 per year can be contributed per child, so you’re options are pretty limited on the investment front.UNLESS…If what I hear on the rumor mill is true, this may be a better opportunity than it first seemed.What I’m hearing of people doing goes something like this:First, Grandpa (or some family member) opens up an ESA for little Suzy’s benefit at a self-directed account custodian.Second, Grandpa contributes money to the ESA.Third, Grandpa happens upon a great real estate deal and places a purchase option on it in the name of little Suzy’s ESA.  So, for example, this property Grandpa found is worth $300,000 but little Suzy’s ESA now has an option on it to purchase for $250,000.Fourth, when that property sells – presumably to an unrelated 3rd party at a retail cost of $300,000 – the purchase option in little Suzy’s ESA will have to be paid off in order for the buyer to receive clear title.  So, in effect, what happens is that property owner will receive their $250,000 and all of the income above that, net of expenses, goes into little Suzy’s ESA.So, that’s a pretty cool way for Graandpa to really quickly explode the value of little Suzy’s ESA despite the meager $2,000 contribution limits.Now, before you run out and redirect your deals into an ESA, take note of something:  I haven’t confirmed that this is kosher with the IRS.  I suspect it would be ok, as from what I can tell, the IRS seems to have a relaxed attitude about this sort of thing – which is, essentially, flipping – so long as you don’t do it very frequently, but that’s merely an impression and certainly not an actual policy.  Before you do it, talk to an attorney.There’s a small variation of the strategy that walks even closer to the line, and may even step over it.  I’ll explain it to you, not because I’m recommending it, but because I’d really like for you to get good legal advice before you do it, in case it’s something you’re considering.And that is:  In addition to putting an option on the property in the name of little Suzy’s ESA, Grandpa might take the additional step of subsequently purchasing the property himself, directly from the current owner, at full retail value, rather than waiting for a third-party buyer to come along and purchase the property.Why would he do this?  Well, clearly, the only reason Grandpa would do so is to have the excess funds – the profit above the option price – land in little Suzy’s ESA.  It’s a clever idea, but… I have a strong suspicion that the IRS would cry foul over this.  It’s really just a back-handed way of making a much, much larger contribution to the ESA than is really allowed.I’ve sent a note to Tim Berry, a top-tier attorney for self-directed retirement account issues and a friend of this show.  I’ll tell you what he thinks about this soon.Seems to me that if the fundamental strategy is kosher – the part about putting an option on the property through an ESA and collecting the profits when it’s sold at full retail – then it’s probably not kosher to have a clearly related party be the source of the funds that ultimately lands in the ESA.Because, folks… all of the prohibited transaction rules that apply to an IRA also apply to the ESA.  And the cost of running afoul of those rules is NOT GOOD!But regardless… remember that the ESA is a great option for tax-favored education savings and, if you qualify for it, offers some real flexibility through self-direction. My friends… invest wisely today, and live well forever!  Hosted on Acast. 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There are only 3 fundamental worldviews when it comes to investing.  Until you know which one you are, you’ll constantly “get in your own way” as an investor.  I’m Bryan Ellis.  I’ll help you figure out which one you are, and help you to be the best of who you are as an investor RIGHT NOW in Episode #105.----------Welcome, my friends, to another excursion into investment excellence.Folks, we all love a good self-assessment.  Who among us hasn’t taken a personality test just so we could read about ourselves?  Or maybe an IQ or aptitude test to see just how smart or gifted we really are? So, let’s pull back the curtain in your brain to see where you stand.There are really only 3 basic investment worldviews:  The trend follower, the contrarian, and what I’ll call the infrastructurist.  You’re quite certainly more of one of those than the other two.  In other words, you have a single dominant approach.  But all 3 are completely valid.  Which are you?Let’s figure that out right now.Investing Worldview #1 is the trend follower.  This type of investor looks for the asset that’s already profitable, and buys in under the assumption that success breeds more success.  This is the investor who, right now, would buy Apple stock because it’s done so well for so long.  This investor would, right now, buy into real estate in San Francisco because it’s a super-hot market.  The trend follower isn’t a value investor.  You’ve heard the phrase “buy low, sell high”?  Well, the trend follower doesn’t do that at all.  The trend follower buys high – and hopes to sell higher.Investing Worldview #2 is the contrarian.  The contrarian believes that nothing is forever, and everything operates in cycles.  As such, he looks for assets that are about to switch direction in value, so that he can capitalize on being IN FRONT of trends before they happen.  The contrarian profits by jumping into an asset before it’s popular, and taking advantage of the wave as the out-of-vogue asset becomes “cool” again.  This is the very essence of the “buy low, sell high” approach.Most investment experts end the discussion with trend followers and contrarians, but I know there’s a third investing worldview, which I call the infrastructurist.What is infrastructure?  It’s the basic structural “stuff” needed to make an organization or enterprise function correctly.  In the context of a country, it’s things like roads, bridges, power plants, etc.  But in the context of business, infrastructure is really just one thing:  Capital.  And the infrastructurist deals in capital rather than in the things that capital can buy.  A simple generalization is that the infrastructurist is usually focused on DEBT investments – lending, in other words – rather than EQUITY investments.  If you’d rather make loans to the person buying real estate in San Francisco rather than buy the property yourself, you’re an infrastructurist.  If you’d rather buy bonds issued by a company rather than their stocks, you’re an infrastructurist.There is absolutely merit to each one of these approaches.  The key for you, my friends, is to figure out which one you TRULY are.  Investment strategies that appeal to the trend follower will likely be anathema to the infrastructurist, for example.But here’s the big idea I want you to take home with you from this discussion:  Most investors BELIEVE themselves to be Trend Followers, because that’s what’s publicized as the “right way” to invest.  Everyone sees what’s happening with Apple stock over the last several years… we all see what’s happened to San Francisco real estate… and those things look appealing.  And frankly, following the crowd is what we’re taught to do.Maybe that approach matches who you really are, but my friends, you and I are not “Sheeple”, we’re people.  You’re not just an investor, you’re a SELF-DIRECTED Investor, and that distinction is truly important.  What that means is that you make your investment decisions independently… your own criteria, your own objectives, your own values.  You inherently DON’T follow the crowd.  Doesn’t mean you won’t buy Apple stock or San Francisco real estate… it just means that you don’t trust Wall Street, the media, social pressure or even your financial advisor to make your investment decisions for you.You understand, at a core level, that nobody cares as much about your portfolio as you do.There’s one CORE VALUE of wise self-directed investors, and it is this:  We self-directed investors RESPECT our own capital.That capital came as a result of your own toil and trouble, or through the blood, sweat and tears of someone who cares about you.  It deserves your respect.But without a clear plan to achieve it, the notion of “respecting your own capital” is just a platitude.  So the way that wise self-directed investors like you and me actually implement the core value of respect for capital is through the consistent application of the S3 Criteria.  The S3 Criteria demands that we evaluate, and constantly re-evaluate our investment choices by these standards: Hosted on Acast. 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Please Text SDIRadio to 33444 To Remain Updated On This TopicI know how much money is in your retirement account.  It’s on the public record… and you didn’t even know it, did you?  I’m Bryan Ellis… I’ll tell you how to protect your private data RIGHT NOW in Episode #104.Intro HereHello, SDI Nation.  Today’s episode is short… but really, really BIG.There’s this booming issue out there called Cyber Security.  You may have heard of it.  It’s close cousin, Data Privacy, is also getting a lot of attention.  And reasonably so.The major retailer Target was targeted by hackers.  There’s news out TODAY that the Canadian government was just hit by hackers.  And… oh yeah… due to colossal incompetence in the current presidential administration, over 21 million Americans have had their social security number and other private data exposed directly to Chinese hackers who, let’s face it, bear no good will towards you and me.Well… it’s probably going to blow your mind that one piece of wildly sensitive financial data is readily available to the public, and the party who is exposing it – unnecessarily – is your tax preparer.You see, 401k plans – including the self-directed variety I recommend so highly here on SDI Radio – are required to file tax returns once they pass a certain threshold of asset value.  Under the law, a 401k plan is really just a type of trust, and thus it’s required to file its own tax return.So far, so good.  Data filed on tax returns is private, isn’t it?Ummm…. Not so fast.Get ready to be bowled over, my friends.There are 2 different forms that can be used when filing a return for self-directed 401k.  One is called the 5500EZ, and one is called the 5500SF.The EZ form is simple.  Not much data is required.  Again, very simple.The SF form is more complicated and discloses far more information.Your tax preparer gets the choice of which one to file for your self-directed 401k plan.  It’s totally their choice.  There are NO OTHER FACTORS determining which of those forms is used.But there’s a HUGE difference in what happens with that data.Data submitted on the EZ form… it’s basically private.  Only the feds get this info.  And to the extent you trust them with your data – and really, why should you?  But I digress – to the extent they are able to keep that data secure, it will not be exposed to the public in any way.But the other form… the 5500SF form… well, not only is it far more complicated… not only does it expose far more data… including the name, address and telephone number of the owner along with the value of all of your assets… and a whole lot more information as well.So there’s a lot more information.  But the real kicker?  That data is public record.  Yep, that’s right… if a 5500SF is filed for your 401k – whether a solo 401k or a normal 401k – that data is available to the public, and the amount of data is staggering.I’ve got the latest spreadsheet.  There are over 180,000 401k plans that have divulged a massive amount of information that is, frankly, just mind blowing.And if you have a solo 401k, as many of you do, and if your tax preparer files the 5500SF form, I know exactly how much money you had in your account as of the end of last year.  And I’ll know again for this year very soon, too.Do you think it’s safe to have that information out there, so easily available?  Of course not.  It’s a huge, huge risk.  It puts a huge bullseye on your retirement savings.But remember – if you have a solo 401k, it is totally the choice of your tax preparer which form to use.So, do this:  DEMAND that your preparer use the EZ form.  They might resist, because the SF form likely generates higher fees for them, and from what I can tell, the SF form may be easier to e-File.  But the convenience of your tax preparer really isn’t a consideration.  You should DEMAND that your data be kept private.You should in no way think that these comments are an indictment of self-directed 401k plans, also know as solo 401k plans.  If you need a tax-favored retirement plan and you qualify to have a self-directed 401k, by all means, you should do that.  It’s my humble – but deadly accurate opinion – that the self-directed 401k is absolutely superior to every other option, including the self directed IRA.  There’s simply no comparison.The only adjustment you need to make if you already are using such a plan or establish one in the future is to make sure your tax preparer uses the 5500EZ form.  That’s it.My friends, that’s all for today… EXCEPT…Please do make sure you’ve liked our Facebook page which you can reach at SDIRadio.com/fb.  I’d love to hear from you and answer your questions there, so please stop by right now at SDIRadio.com/fb My friends… invest wisely today… and live well forever! Please Text SDIRadio to 33444 To Remain Updated On This Topic Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

What is the single most valuable piece of advice ever given by Warren Buffett?  A lot of what he says is utterly irrelevant for you and me as Self-Directed Investors, but this bit – which you’ve probably never heard before – is absolute GOLD.  I’m Bryan Ellis.  I’ll tell you what it is RIGHT NOW in Episode #103.-----------Hello, members of SDI Nation!  I’m so glad to be back with you.Last week was TOUGH, my friends!  I had one of those summer colds that really zapped a big portion of the week, and one of the things I missed most was getting to spend this time with you!  I say that totally sincerely, folks:  I feel like the luckiest man alive to get to do this show and to have your attention for a few minutes each day… so thank you for being such great listeners.And a special shout-out is in order to a few specific listeners, who have recently left 5-star reviews for this show on iTunes.  They are:Toliver5, who just discovered the show and has already listened to over 20 episodes… thank you, sir!Ccy1189, who describes what you hear each day as “informative, inspirational and innovative!”JV Crum III who describes the show as “in a class by itself”And others including Phily M, Joel Boggess, Roy Chumley, Dr. Mark C and a whole lot more of you.  Folks, I’m so eager to share Buffett’s best advice ever, but I’d be remiss if I didn’t, with the utmost respect, ask you to consider stopping by iTunes to give this show a 5-star rating.  I’ll be so overwhelmingly grateful if you can.  Thanks so much!Ok, so you regular listeners have a sense of my opinion of Warren Buffett.  On the one hand, the guy is an overwhelmingly successful investor in the equities market.  It’s simply undeniable.  His results have created substantial influence, and there is a lot to be learned from the man’s approach to investing.  His politics are shockingly simple-minded, but it’s easy enough to separate that from financial issues for our purposes.Did you know that Buffett is a proponent of the S3 model of investing that I teach here on SDI Radio?  The S3 model is basically this:  Every single investment you make must be SIMPLE and SAFE and STRONG.  Now, Buffett doesn’t call it the S3 model… but that’s really what he’s doing.  In fact, maybe I’ll do a show that really details the striking similarities.Nevertheless, it’s not investment strategy per se that is the most valuable advice he’s ever given.  Rather, it’s the “20-slot” concept.It’s rumored that Buffett once said these words:  “I could improve your ultimate financial welfare by giving you a ticket with only 20 slots in it so that you had twenty punches - representing all the investments that you got to make in a lifetime. And once you'd punched through the card, you couldn't make any more investments at all.”Think about THAT, my friends.  Think about the ability to make an investment as a strictly limited quantity… a commodity in short supply that, once exhausted, can never be replenished.Sure, that’s not actually true… or is it?  Actually… I think the real-life version of that rule may be far more restrictive than 20 slots, and I’ll tell you why in just a moment.But what’s ABSOLUTELY true is that many self-directed investors – particularly those of us in America – have a fundamental weakness:  It’s the assumption that there will always be more.  There will be more money, or more opportunities, or more time.  There will be more economic stability, there will be more strong markets, there will be more health, there will be more days to our lives.  We believe there will always, no matter what, be more.My friends, there’s a concept that is so important in the world of self-directed investing, but nobody talks much about it.  It’s the concept of STEWARDSHIP.  In truth, that’s what I would like for this show to be – the STEWARDSHIP show.  Alas, that concept is too foreign to most.Let’s separate investing and stewardship, shall we?Investing is about one objective, and only one objective:  Taking one thing, and making it into something more.  And that is a noble, praiseworthy objective.  Never, ever will you hear me denigrate the notion of investing.  It’s a good thing, an honorable thing and a necessary thing.But stewardship is about something bigger than that.  Stewardship is a step above investing on the financial hierarchy.  Stewardship absolutely includes successful investing, no doubt about it.  Even the biblical parable of the talents shows that the 2 men who invested their talents and gained more were praised, but the one who simply protected the talent and did nothing to grow it was punished as wicked.  So, wise investing is a key part of stewardship.But there’s more to it.  It’s a different perspective – a higher perspective.  Stewardship includes a few additional considerations including: Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Hey, you with the big retirement account!  Yeah you… the person desperately wishing your savings were in a Roth account rather than a Traditional account.  What if you could make that transition right now… without a penny in taxes or penalties?  I’m Bryan Ellis… get ready to have your mind blown RIGHT NOW in Episode #102!----------Folks, thanks for your patience during the past couple of days while I’ve not published episodes for you.  You can probably tell that my voice sounds bad right now, and it’s been worse in the last couple of days.  Very bad cold.  So thanks for your indulgence!Socrates once said:  “Like sands through the hourglass, so are the days of our lives.”Well, I’m not certain if he really said that, or if it was just ripped off by a 1980’s-era soap opera, but the hourglass is a central figure in the powerful strategy you’re about to learn.Let’s lay the ground work:  You’ve got an IRA or 401k, and it’s built up very well for you over time.  But it’s a traditional account, and when you start making withdrawals in a few years, Uncle Sam is going to come calling… and you’ll be paying him back for those tax deductions… and a whole lot more… that you took along the way that you thought were such a good deal.You’d do nearly anything to have a “redo”… to use a Roth account instead, so your withdrawals would be totally tax free.  Because what Uncle Sam is about to do to you… well… you can practically hear pigs squealing and that awful banjo music from the movie “Deliverance”.But before I go any farther:  I’m not acting as your tax or legal adviser.  Go see somebody who is licensed.  This is a bleeding edge strategy, and it’s entirely possible to screw it up.  So don’t screw it up.  Get help from a professional.  If you want a referral, I’ll give you that info in a minute.It would be absolutely ideal if you could just transfer your Traditional funds into your Roth and let that be the end of the story.  And you can, but the tax bill you’ll get will be staggering.  So, no dice there.  And it would also be nice if there was a fancy legal construct by which you could just bleed value from your Traditional to your Roth, but that’s not kosher either.  There must ALWAYS be an exchange of fair value in every transaction, otherwise the IRS is going to send you a particularly nasty letter.But, there IS a really cool strategy which can go very much in that direction, while fully respecting the law.  And since it’s a pretty technically intense strategy, I’m going to illustrate it with a story.Two young men, brothers in their 30’s, wanted to partner together to purchase an investment property.  They found a good piece of property for their objective.  Good location, strong potential, everything is in place as it should be.  The asking price was totally reasonable.  The deal was a go.But the brothers had a disagreement.  Both of them had enough to buy more than 50% of the property, but neither of them had enough to buy the whole thing.  So they had to decide how to divide it up.They thought about doing a 50/50 deal, but they knew they’d ultimately run into a disagreement at some point.  And that’s when the older brother had a great idea.  His proposal was this:  The younger brother would pay the majority of the purchase price, and would own the property outright immediately.  He could do anything he wanted with the property, and every penny that he made from that property would be his to keep.The older brother would put up the remainder of the purchase price – less than half – and he’d not own the property at all… until a certain point in the future.  What point is that?  25 years from now.  It’s as if there was a special hourglass… but this one doesn’t measure hours.  It’s measurement is for 25 years.  While sand is still flowing through this hourglass, the younger brother is in complete control.  The property is his.  All of the benefits are his.  All of the income is his.  All of the authority is.  And then… 25 years from now, when that last grain of sand passes from top bulb to bottom… the roles reverse, and the older brother becomes permanent owner with all of the benefits of ownership.Well… that suited the younger brother just fine.  He got the property he wanted at a great price, and he could keep all of the money he made from using that property.  And the older brother got to invest a much smaller amount of money, but had a clear way to benefit in the future from that investment.So what actually happened?  How did the transaction work out for the brothers?Hahahahaha!  My friends, believe it or not, that’s totally irrelevant.  What IS relevant is this:On day 1 of this deal, it’s a beautiful thing for the younger brother and kind of a drag for the older brother.  But older brother is a bit wiser, and more patient.How does it look on the day this deal turns 10 years old?  Well… the younger brother still has plenty of time, and can make plenty of money… but he’s starting to be aware of the limited nature of his situation.And what about when this deal gets to be 24 years old, with only 1 year remaining?  Think of it this way:  If you were thinking about buying the interest of just ONE of these brothers on the day that the deal is 24 years old with only 1 year remaining… which brother has the better position, for which you’d pay most money?Clearly, the older brother.  The younger brother has only 1 year of ownership left, but the older brother gets everything after that.  Because with every passing day… with every grain of sand that slips through the hourglass, the older brother is another day closer to owning that property outright, forever.  And the younger brother is another day closer to having nothing at all.It’s as if time – and time alone – transfers value from the younger brother to the older brother.  And in reality, that’s really what’s happening.How does this relate to your retirement account?Think of the younger brother as your Traditional IRA with a lot of money, and the older brother as the Roth where you want your money to end up.So, it goes like this.  You have a Traditional IRA or 401k with a lot of taxable profits.  And what you really want is for that account to quit growing and for a Roth account to grow instead.So you set up a Roth and put a small amount of capital in it.Then, your two accounts partner on a real estate deal.  Your traditional pays the lion’s share of the price in order to own the property in the near term.  And your Roth pays a much smaller amount in order to own the property in the long term.In the meantime, your Traditional account will likely do things to improve that property… so that property will likely become a lot more valuable.  And of course, your Traditional is free to use that property to generate income or whatever it wants to do.But… here’s the beauty of it… with each passing day… with each passing grain of sand… the value of that property is shifting more and more AWAY from the “Here-and-Now”… the part that’s owned by your Traditional account… and is shifting more and more TOWARDS the “Forever After”… the part that’s owned by your Roth account.And – at some point in the future – that property, along with all of the improvements made on it by your Traditional account – will be the sole property of your Roth account.  And when your Roth account sells that property in the future… those profits – which could be SUBSTANTIAL – will be available to you ENTIRELY tax-free.This is called “Transaction Engineering”.  Sometimes, you’ll make more money simply by STRUCTURING an investment well, even if the investment itself isn’t wildly profitable.  And when the investment IS profitable, those gains are beautifully and powerfully amplified.Want to know more, and how to make it work to LESSEN the burden of the income taxes Uncle Sam will demand of you when you cash in that fat Traditional IRA of yours?Then be sure you’re on my private discussion list by texting the word SDIRadio to 33444.  I’ll send you a referral for a great attorney who can help you do this entirely by the book… and other magical things as well!Again, text the word SDIRadio – with no spaces or periods – to 33444 right now. My friends… invest wisely today, and live well forever! 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What did Warren Buffett predict about long-term stock market returns… and how can you consistently beat those returns, so consistently, in fact, that you can plan on it – while taking FAR LESS risk?  I’m Bryan Ellis.  I’ll tell you how to banish the bulls and bears and just collect the BUCKS… right now in Episode #101.-----------Hello, my friends!  First, a quick update – the upcoming Passive Property Flipping Summit on August 7 in Phoenix that I’ve mentioned to you before is 100% full.  No more spaces available!  Thank you for filling that event 3 full weeks ahead of time.  You people amaze me… I’m so grateful to you.  You can still go over to S3Flip.com to see the presentation and get on the waiting list if we have another one.So, how can we safely, consistently whip the returns offered by Wall Street?Well, let’s get our objective in clear focus.The lion’s share of most individual investor’s portfolios are dedicated to the stock market.  Sometimes in the form of individual stocks, and most frequently in the form of mutual funds and exchange-traded funds.Can we beat results offered by those assets – and by “beat”, I mean get a consistently better rate of return – while experiencing more safety and more consistency along the way?  I mean, to my way of thinking, that’s the very definition of investment wisdom:  strong returns, predictability and low risk… all of those things TOGETHER, SIMULTANEOUSLY.Well, we’ve got to know what those rates of return REALLY are.  And there’s nobody better to comment on this than the venerable Warren Buffett.  Yes, it’s true that Buffett is frequently more concerned about political correctness than with being totally forthcoming, but still, his analysis of what one should REALLY expect from the stock market is rather revealing.In a conversation with Bloomberg, Buffett made a very interesting analysis.  He said:  “The economy can be expected to grow… at an annual rate of about 3% over the long term, and inflation of 2% would push nominal GDP growth to 5%.  Stocks will probably rise at about that rate and divided payments will boost total returns to 6-7%.”And do you know what?  History bears that out pretty well.So, 6-7% per year.  To make it simple, let’s split the difference at 6.5%.I can just hear it right now.  Some of you are thinking?  6.5% annually?  Ha!  I made that much last week on my Apple stock?And of course you did… congratulations!  Apple has been on a great run lately… except for that brutal firesale a couple of years ago when Apple plunged over 40% very quickly. Right now, Apple is doing great.  They remind me of Microsoft… the powerhouse software company that could do no wrong in the market… until the Justice Department cracked them open, and the company was never the same again.  Apple reminds me of Texas Instruments – a company whose trajectory in the late 90’s makes Apple’s rise look dull by comparison – until the market changed, and changed painfully, rather quickly.No, I’m not saying you can’t make money in individual stocks.  You certainly can.  But there’s clearly a HUGE amount of risk in doing so.  And the odds that you’ll beat the law of averages is, quite scientifically, improbable.  That’s why nearly all individual investors invest either in mutual funds or ETF’s.  By investing in many different stocks simultaneously, the overwhelming risk of individual stocks is rounded out.But can you and I, as self-directed investors, do better than that?And more importantly, can we do better than that while taking LESS RISK?  SUBSTANTIALLY LESS RISK?And more importantly still, can we do better than that while having essentially ZERO volatility along the way?Let’s pick a healthy rate of return.  Let’s say – 8%.  If you could make 8% per year… CONSISTENTLY… and be paid your returns each and every month… and have a RISK measurement of your investment be very near ZERO… would you want to do that?Yes… to be clear, I did just ask you if you’d like to substantially beat the stock market every single year… Do so predictably… Do so with REGULAR cash returns into your account… and Do so with an almost unspeakably low level of risk to your principle?Well… I can tell you how.  And the truth is… if you want to do it all yourself, you can make more than 8%.  But I’ll explain this to you on the assumption that you would prefer for someone else to do everything for you, so that all you have to do is invest your capital and cash the checks you get every month.So here’s how it works:Imagine you have $100,000 to invest.  What if you did something VERY simple with that money.  What if you LENT that money to someone at 8% interest.  They’ll make an interest payment to you every single month, and at the end of a period of time – whatever you choose – maybe 2 years or 5 years or 15 years – whatever you choose – they pay the $100,000 back to you.  And all the while, you’ve been receiving interest payments directly into your pocket every single month, yielding a consistent, predictable 8% return on your investment.Answer this question for yourself:  If that could be done… and could be done ABSOLUTELY SAFELY… would you be interested?  I’ll tell you how it can be done very safely in just a moment, so relax, ok?  Hehehe.  But answer for yourself this question:If you could, with overwhelming safety, collect a consistent, predictable rate of return of 8% on your capital, would you do it?Not everybody would, and that’s ok.  But many of you understand with gut-level instinct why this makes so much sense for your specific portfolio.So for those of you who “get it” – for those of you who resonate with the opportunity to make a consistent rate of return that WHIPS the stock market averages, and does so at an infinitesimally small fraction of the risk you must take in the stock market – well, to you folks who “get it”, here’s how we do that, and we do it very, very safely:The key, my friends, is a simple concept:  COLLATERAL.  You know all about this.  When you got a mortgage to purchase your last home, the bank gave you a loan, but they made you put up your home as collateral.  So the deal is simple:  If you don’t pay, you lose your house.  Pretty simple deal, right?But here’s where banks do this poorly, and you and I will do it very, very wisely.Imagine yourself.  When you got that mortgage loan, the bank probably required that you make a down payment of 10% or so in order to have some of your own money tied up.  Heck, maybe they even made you put up 20%.  The idea is that, the more of your own money is in the deal, the more you have to lose by defaulting on your loan… and thus, the more you have to lose, the safer the loan is for the lender.What if you and I took that to something of an extreme?  What if, rather than requiring 10 or 20% equity in the property, you and I demanded something much larger?  Maybe 35%?  Maybe 50%?If our number was 50%, that would mean that your $100,000 would be loaned to someone who could give you collateral – probably real estate – that has a verifiable value of $200,000 or more.  And they’d pay you your 8%...That, my friends, is a SAFE way to make a VERY, VERY strong return of 8%.In fact, if you do the entire process yourself – if you find the borrower, vet the collateral, do the research, and make sure that all of the legal issues are properly handled – it’s very plausible for you to make 10%+ through this strategy.But if you just want it totally handled for you… where you write a check, and you get to collect interest from a loan that’s extremely well secured… well, that can be done at a very, very solid interest rate of 8%... in a totally passive manner.So what do you think?  This notion of making a loan as a way to invest your capital is very simple.  You understand it already.  It’s also very safe… you understand why collateral is such a great idea, too.  And 8%... well… Warren Buffett has already shown us that 8% is much better than you’ll get from the stock market in the long term.So… for those of you who GET IT… who understand the beauty of a great rate like 8%... in a safe, secure, predictable investment, and if you’ve got at least $50,000 of liquid capital and want to know how to make it happen for YOU… easily and automatically, just text the word GETEASY8 to 33444.  I’ll give that to you again.  There are no spaces in this word  It’s GETEASY8 spelled G-E-T-E-A-S-Y number 8.  Text GETEASY8 to 33444 and I’ll be happy to get back to you. My friends… as always… invest WISELY today, and live well forever! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

There’s something really interesting I know about YOU… and you probably don’t even know it yourself.  But you should, you must, it’s important to you as a self-directed investor.  I’m Bryan Ellis… you’ll hear about it right now in Episode #100. ---------Hello hello hello my friends!  Welcome to another excursion into investment excellence!Folks, this is an exciting day for me… and I have YOU to thank for it.You see, this is Episode #100 of Self Directed Investor Radio.  100 is nothing more than just a nice round number, but it’s a special day for this show, and I’d like to tell you why.May I tell you a bit about my background?  If you’ll indulge me, you’ll very quickly understand why my background is important to expressing how grateful I am for and to YOU!  I’ve been around the real estate business and alternative investment world for about 20 years.  For most of the last 10 years or so, I’ve been focused primarily on publishing my newsletter, the Bryan Ellis Investing Letter.  And wow… has that ever been a success.  I’m so grateful to God and to my subscribers and really to my wife, without whom it simply couldn’t have happened.We have nearly 700,000 subscribers to that newsletter, and through that publication I’ve achieved a level of influence in the real estate world for which I’m so deeply grateful.That newsletter is heavily focused on coverage of news, public policy and current events that are relevant to individual investors.  We also offer a lot of educational opportunities for people who want to learn the in’s and out’s of various real estate investment strategies.And wow am I grateful to everyone who has been a subscriber.  Far more than I can say.But you know… there was a bit of a yearning in my soul for something different… something bigger, and smaller, at the same time.You see, several years ago, I offered an opportunity to my newsletter readers that was different than I’d ever done before.  Instead of just offering educational programs, I actually offered my subscribers the chance to actually invest their money in real deals.  These were what are now called “turnkey” deals, because these real estate deals were completely passive for the investor.Well, something really cool happened… people made money!  And my clients were HAPPY.  I mean, genuinely happy.  Many of them had always wanted to invest in real estate, but had never done so for many reasons… maybe lack of time, lack of knowledge, or simple fear.  But what they saw in the opportunity I provided for them was a “green light”… a clear path to actually producing real financial results rather than just attending a real estate course or reading an investment book.Well, that was a couple of years before the crash of 2007, and about a year before that crash, I saw the writing on the wall, and asked my clients to stop those investments.  Thankfully, they did, and we had a really great run together.But you know what?  I never forgot that experience.  I absolutely loved it.  What I got was the chance to have a really meaningful impact on the lives of those clients… an impact that could be measured in dollars and cents.  Some of you may know, my formal education is in engineering.  Software engineering, specifically.  I went to the Georgia Tech – one of the top 10 engineering universities in the entire world – on academic scholarship.  So, needless to say, I’m a bottom line, black-and-white kind of guy.  Making a difference is a good thing, and I’d been doing that for years by educating people through the Bryan Ellis Investing Letter.  But making a MEASURABLE difference is even better… and my experience helping those clients in such a clear, measurable way lit a fire in me that never went away.Well, while the market was crashing, I wasn’t about to go back into the business of recommending real estate investments.  The timing was all wrong.But as soon as it was clear that the market was turning UPWARDS again, I chose to make a move back into attracting clients who I could assist with making a real, measurable impact on their lives.And while there’s still much more to the story, which I’ll be happy to tell you when I have the pleasure of meeting you face to face – and I certainly hope to do that – well, the truth is that this podcast – and YOU – are a central part of that plan.You see, I believe that there’s a group of people in the world who are underserved… poorly served, even.  That group of people is Self-Directed Investors.  These are special people.  What they’re after is clear RESULTS in their investment portfolios, but for them, it’s about more than just following the crowd.These people think differently.  They think that there is some opportunity on Wall Street, and they probably own or have owned stocks or mutual funds at various times.  But they’re open and flexible.  They’re intrigued by having more options.  These people are very cautious about making investments, but they’re willing to try things off of the beaten path.These are the people who, instead of putting all their money on stocks, might allocate a part of their portfolio to something like a well secured private loan, or they might even buy into a commercial building or maybe even oil & gas opportunities or even intellectual property.The point is… this person – you – is both very open-minded AND very cautious.And the fact is that there’s simply nobody serving your needs in the world.There are plenty of brokers for conventional stock market investments.  There are plenty of real estate brokers who will sell you real estate.  There are even plenty of turnkey companies that purport to selling you fully packaged real estate investments.But NONE of those investment providers require of themselves to offer the 3 things that wise self-directed investors demand:  That every investment be simple AND safe AND strong.  I call it the S3 standard – simple, safe and strong.  It’s easy to find investments that have one of those elements.  Even 2 of them.  But all 3?  Not so simple.That’s why I’m here… and my friend, that’s why I’m SO GRATEFUL that you’re here.  You see, YOU have made this show a success.  A HUGE success.  You may remember a show I made a few weeks ago where I made reference to the fact that even though this show is only about 7 minutes long, it still takes me about 2 ½ hours a day to do the research, the writing, the recording, etc to put it together?Well you know what?  The reality is this:  The 7 minutes you dedicate to listening to this show is so much more important to me than the time I spend putting it together.  I’m so very grateful to you.  It’s hard to express the degree to which this show has become a rapid success without sounding as if I’m bragging, but I’m going to do it anyway, because the bragging is on YOU:Because of YOU:  This show was one of the top 3 podcasts on iTunes during the first 8 weeks, during which time Apple ranks all new shows against each other.  I was amazed.Because of YOU:  We have HUNDREDS of 5-star ratings at iTunes… a massive number for a show that’s existed for only a few months.  It’s astounding.Because of YOU:  We’re routinely among the top shows in the investing category             .  This show is regularly listed in the “What’s Hot” section of iTunes among investing shows, putting us alongside such investment titans as CNBC’s Jim Cramer and Motley Fool and Financial Guru Dave Ramsey.  Heck, we frequently CRUSH podcasts from major players like Goldman Sachs, Time Magazine, Ric Edelman and Morningstar.  It’s amazing… YOU are amazing!This show keeps growing and growing… because you keep on listening and listening.Thank you, my friends.  Thank you so much.  Thank you from the bottom of my heart.This podcast has been a dream of mine for some time.  You folks are making it real.  Thank you… I can never say it enough.So, today is kind of a special day for this show… not really a birthday, but certainly a milestone.  And because I owe it all to you, I’d like to do something very special for you.There’s a gift I’d like to send to you at no expense.  I think you’re going to like it.  But I need to know where to send it, so please just get on my contact list by texting SDIRadio to 33444 and I’ll send it to you in the next few days.  You’ll be really glad you did… I want to reward you very well for being such a great listener.And may I ask a favor of you?  Please… tell at least one friend or colleague about this show today.  Maybe even go ahead and decide right now who you’ll tell, and then do so right away… I’ll be SO GRATEFUL to you, my friends.One final time:  THANK YOU, from the bottom of my heart… thank you. And… invest wisely today… and Live well forever! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

What does the debt situation in Greece mean to Self-Directed Investors like you and me?  Should it change the way you invest here at home?  I’m Bryan Ellis, I’ll tell you the answer right now in Episode #99--------Hello my friends.  Today’s topic is a little bit wonky, and I promise you right now that I will not bury you with too many facts and figures or archaic economic terms.  I’d really rather spend this time telling you about the great results our clients are getting, but I’ll skip that for now. Folks, there’s a real crisis in Greece.  The bottom line is this:  That government has been spending money like it’s going out of style, and the growth of the economy simply hasn’t kept pace to justify it.  It’s a huge, huge, huge problem… and that’s putting it lightly.This government debt problem in Greece is so bad that it’s literally altering the face of geopolitics as we speak.  Greece is the perfect picture of what happens when government gets too big, and tries to act more like a nanny state than a political organization.Can you imagine that?  I mean, what if the government was willing to pay for everything for citizens from cell phones to high speed internet connections?Oh wait, I’m sorry, that’s right here in the United States.  Now back to Greece.But just a minute… there’s a lesson in the parallel between the debt situations of the United States and Greece… a parallel which is sobering and enlightening, if you look closely.So here’s the thing about Greece.  Their national debt is presently 177% of GDP.  So, in other words, Greece owes nearly twice as much money as the total amount of every penny they produce every single year.  As a result, Greece’s debt payments are so high that the other obligations of the government – all of the ridiculous benefits they’ve promised to their citizens – simply cannot be satisfied.Greece is broke.  Well, not true.  They’re far below broke.  The country is bankrupt.  And that is the natural end of the socialist policies that have been aggressively employed there.But here’s the thing:  while Greece is a whole country, the fact is this:  In the grand scheme of the entire world, it’s not much.  Greece makes up about 1.8% of the Eurozone economy.  All of America’s exports to Greece amounts to a few thousands of one percent.  So the direct impact won’t be felt in America at all, and only as a nuisance in the Eurozone.But still, there are two valuable pieces of learning that you and I as Self Directed Investors can garner from the situation.  And they are: Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

What’s the better investment:  Rental Property or Flipping?  Well, the verdict is in from a major real estate data firm.  I’m Bryan Ellis.  I’ll tell you what that verdict is, and it’s relevance for you, RIGHT NOW in Episode #98…----------Ahhhh yes… it’s a classic conflict among investors…  Take a small bit of cash flow now and for years as a pacifier while you wait for big gains… or get in for the quick but substantial hit of profit by focusing on undervalued assets. Yes, my friends, it’s the constant debate of whether it’s smarter to RENT PROPERTY or to FLIP IT.  And our friends at CoreLogic have the answer, which is:  real estate FLIPPING is definitely winning the day versus rentals.And why wouldn’t that be true in today’s market?  Real estate prices in much of the country is still undergoing a rather substantial rebound from the market carnage of 2007-2009… frankly, it’s the perfect scenario for real estate flipping, as the market itself is doing much of the work of bringing a profit for flippers.Still, there’s more to the story.  This survey was conducted among investors purchasing real estate at auction… both in live auction settings and in online auctions.  And there were 3 different types of buyers identified in the survey:  One-time buyers, Real Estate Investors, and agents or representatives of investors.One-time buyers is the only group who preferred renting to flipping.  It’s easy to see why:  One-time buyers are inherently low-volume in terms of real estate transactions and frankly, it’s not plausible to be a flipper if you’re only doing it every now and then.  That particular method of profiting from real estate doesn’t lend itself well to the casual investor.But to those professionals and serious flippers… this market remains a truly stellar environment in which to generate rather substantial short-term profits.  I guess that’s why, among real estate investors and those who represent them at auctions, the Flip vs Rental option is won by the flippers by a differential that, if it was a presidential election, would be a landslide.There’s one large generalization that can be drawn from this study, and it is:The MORE PROPERTIES a person tends to buy in a year, the more likely they are to be real estate flippers rather than buy-and-hold investors.  In fact, people who buy zero or one property per year are more likely to be landlords by a factor of about 60 to 40.  But that ratio reverses almost exactly the very moment a person buys their second property.But overall, one thing is clear:  Flipping is where the most money is being deployed among savvy, active real estate investors… and by a very, very wide margin.Why?It’s simple – there’s a lot of money in flipping.  That’s not always the case.  Look… I have a team of flippers that does GREAT work and are able to make profits in good times and bad times but, the truth is, sometimes it’s just EASIER to make money as a flipper than it is at other times.  And right now – and I expect for at least another 2-3 years – flipping is in a real sweet spot.The best evidence of that is NOT the CoreLogic report, which is just a survey that people say what they “intend” to do.  The best evidence is the RealtyTrac report that analyzes quarterly real estate flipping activity.  That report shows what actually happened… not just intentions.  And that report shows some really amazing numbers:First, it showed that the average GROSS profit for real estate flips that closed in Q1 of this year was over $72,000.  Second, and just as importantly, it showed that the gross profit margin – sell price versus buy price – was over 35%.  That means that it wasn’t mega-mansions that led to $72,000 average gross profits, but houses in the $100,000-$300,000 range… a much more palatable scale for most investors.But all of that is nebulous and imprecise… the result of studies, and not specific deals.  So let’s look at some specific deals to see what’s REALLY going on out there.My Flip team closes 1-3 flips basically every week.  One of the deals we closed last week, Barcelona Lane in Maricopa, Arizona, yielded rather typical results for my guys.  That deal had gross numbers that absolutely exceeded the average gross profit and gross ROI numbers reported by RealtyTrac.  But those are gross numbers, not net.  The numbers that really matter on the Barcelona deal are these:This deal was completed in 4 months – almost to the day.  And it returned a total NET cash-on-cash return of 29.6%.While this kind of result is far from atypical for my flip team, let’s face it… that’s an astounding result.  If you got that result from investing in the S&P 500, that would be one of the 10 best years the stock market has ever seen.  But that result is, thankfully, rather common for my flip team.My point is this:  There’s a HUGE amount of opportunity in flipping, but I do have a warning for you:  Don’t try this at home.  Flipping isn’t a game for amateurs.  Flipping is a real profession.  It requires a lot of knowledge.  It requires having highly reliable team members to do the work.  It requires having a real system in place to produce consistent profit.  Most of all, it takes experience to know which deals really make sense, and which are ticking time bombs, just waiting to wreak havoc on your portfolio.But you should NOT overlook the opportunity to get involved in real estate flipping… just not on your own.  My advice?  Work with somebody who has done HUNDREDS or THOUSANDS of these deals… don’t bite the bullet on your own.  Better yet… work with someone who has that level of experience, and who will agree to compensation based on a percentage of the profits rather than contractor fees.Where can you find such a team with vast experience and the ability to work with 3rd party investors such as yourself?The answer is simple:  Go over to S3Flip.com and I’ll tell you about a team who has done this a HUGE number of times… with an ASTOUNDING track record of success.  Did you know that my team in Arizona has bought over 13,000 houses at the foreclosure auctions?  We know what we’re doing… and have a vast amount of evidence to prove it.  So stop by S3Flip.com to check it out. Look, this isn’t just me telling you about my flip team.  This is PRESENT DAY REALITY, my friends.  A huge part of my goal for this show is to connect you – the Self-Directed Investor – with great options for self-directing your investment portfolio.  The answer to “what’s working now” is not always the same.  Flipping is not always the best choice.  Right now, it makes a huge amount of sense.And so in just a few weeks, I’m holding a live event in Phoenix called the Passive Property Flipping Summit, where I’ll gather investors together who see the promise of “Outsourced Flipping” – where you provide the capital but have no other responsibilities – and I’ll introduce you to my team, help you to understand our process, and show you how to participate in this very lucrative opportunity, without having to be a real estate flipper yourself.So if you’re interested, stop by at S3Flip.com because my friends, flipping is what’s working now.  Not only does the survey from CoreLogic show that that’s where smart money is being deployed, but the analysis of over 17,000 flips done in Q1 of this year by RealtyTrac show the numbers undeniably:  There’s very big opportunity in flipping right now… and the absolute best way for you to be connected to it is to see the “Outsource Property Flipper” training over at S3Flip.comOh… if you’re qualified to attend – which means you’ve got at least $75,000 of liquid capital to deploy – then the Passive Property Flipping Summit is free for you to attend.  But it’s basically full already.  I’m down to 15% capacity.  So check it out right now if you’re interested at S3Flip.com.My friends… invest wisely today… and live well forever! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Want to fund some big investments of your own?  Want to use Other People’s Money to do it… in a totally win-win manner?  There’s an absolute OCEAN OF CAPITAL available in today’s market that’s hidden in plain view.  I’m Bryan Ellis, and I’ll tell you how to find and access that capital to fund your own investment opportunities… RIGHT NOW in Episode #97------Ahh yes, you know… this is just a beautiful, beautiful thing. Hello, my friends… the coveted members of SDI Nation!  Welcome to another exciting excursion into Investment Excellence!Quickly… the next Passive Property Flipping Summit – where I invite a small group of qualified investors to meet me and my team, and to learn how they can PASSIVELY profit from our highly lucrative real estate flipping operation… well, that’s coming up VERY soon… and it’s almost full.  As in, 90%.  If you’ve got at least $75,000 in liquid capital and would like to learn more, stop by S3Flip.com right now.  Again, S3Flip.com.Alright, my friends…  Basically every episode of this show has been targeted to the person who has investment capital, who wants to invest in Simple, Safe and STRONG investment opportunities, and who may have some general ideas about how to deploy that capital.  But most of you don’t have extremely SPECIFIC ideas about how to invest your capital.  Maybe you like the idea of real estate or private lending, and you know you’d like to go in that direction.  Or many of you know what you DON’T like – the uncertainty of the stock market – and you simply want to replace that option with something that makes more sense.But there’s another group of you listening to this podcast who are a little different, and today I’d like to speak to you.  You also have investment capital… and you have some very specific ideas about the types of investments you’d like to complete.  You probably also have some experience as an investor or investment operator in the asset class that you’re targeting.  You may even have a specific piece of real estate you’d like to acquire… or a specific business you’d like to fund… but there’s one problem:While you DO have investment capital… you don’t have ENOUGH capital.And today, my friends, I’m going to teach you how to solve that problem.  I’m going to show you where there’s an OCEAN of capital just waiting to be tapped… and solve your investment funding needs forever.What I’m about to tell you is very real and absolutely can work for you.  But there’ an assumption that I’m going to make before I tell you the process:You absolutely MUST have a REAL investment opportunity that makes real sense.  It must be explainable.  It must show respect for the value of the capital your investors will choose to risk with you.  And you really better deliver to them a strong return on investment.In other words – You’ve got to remember the core value of Self-Directed Investors, which is to Respect Your Own Capital…  but you’ve got to respect the capital you’re using EVEN MORE when that capital does not belong to you.  It’s a solemn, serious thing to accept money from other investors.So don’t take this lightly, or use what I’m about to teach you to promote some half-cocked, ill-conceived investment.  You won’t get a chance to fix the reputation you’ll destroy if you’re not deeply, profoundly respectful of the capital provided to you by your clients.So, what to do?Well, today’s market is AWASH in liquid capital.  I sat on panel last night at a Real Estate Investor Association meeting where we addressed the topic of how to find funding for real estate transaction… and while each of the panel members had slightly different ideas about how to access that OCEAN of available capital, we all agreed on one thing:  There’s a LOT of it out there, waiting to be deployed.So here are 3 things to understand to find all of the money you will ever need:First, understand that there are tens of billions of dollars, RIGHT NOW, sitting in self-directed retirement accounts.  You know… self-directed IRA’s and 401k’s… the kind of accounts you and I discuss regularly.  There are nearly a dozen separate self-directed account custodians who claim to have at least $2 billion in assets under management… so there’s a HUGE amount of capital in these accounts right now.Second, those accounts are useful for ONLY one thing to the people who own them – to make investments.  In other words, the owners of these accounts don’t have the option to use that money to buy a new home or a brand new car or an exotic vacation or to pay for a wedding or anything else that money OUTSIDE of a retirement account can be used for.  So, there’s relatively little competition for that capital… you just have to be able to convince those people that your investment is better than their other alternatives.And THIRD:  A huge percentage of those accounts are funded – meaning that there’s money sitting there in the account – but nothing is being done with the money.  Some, or all, of the money in those accounts is just SITTING.  Why?  The reality is that while self-directed retirement accounts give you substantially more flexibility in choosing investment options, they also require more effort to find the investments, perform due diligence and physically deploy the capital.  For all the benefits of self-directed retirement accounts, the reality is that they’re inherently more complicated to use… and so many of them are funded, but unused.This is a beautiful opportunity… a large volume of money… sitting in an account that can ONLY be used for investment purposes… and which is sitting wholly unused and fully available.  THAT is a beautiful scenario if you’re looking to fund an investment using other people’s capital.So how do you find these people?  Well, if you happen to be an expert on these things, you can start a podcast and quickly become America’s leading voice to the Self Directed Investor community.  But as it turns out, yours truly, Bryan Ellis, already owns that post.  JSo what to do instead?Do this:Step 1.  Get a list of self-directed account custodians.  Or, better yet, just go over to SDIRadio.com/custodians where I’ve made a handy list for you.Step 2.  Take a visit to your local county courthouse, where the real estate records are kept.Step 3.  Search the deed and mortgage records for anything containing the name of any of the account custodians.  Collect the names of the owners and the addresses of the properties.What you’re doing here, you see, is getting a list of people who have self directed accounts and who are already using them to own real estate or to fund loans.  This works because when one makes a purchase through a self-directed retirement account, the asset should always be titled in the name of the custodian, and for the benefit of your account.  But that means that, right there in the public record, is an indication of every property or loan that has been transacted through a self directed retirement account!Step 4.  Contact those people.  Send them a postcard.  Do something to get their attention and share the fact that you have an investment that might make sense for them.  Help them to understand the potential for getting involved in your investment opportunity, and tell them how to reach out to you if they’re interested.But be forewarned… since you’re actually looking to raise capital… and you’re probably hoping to raise it in a “pooled” manner where you put all of your investor’s capital together for use in one project, then… you’ve got to be sure you comply with securities laws.  So yes, that means you need to talk with a securities attorney to approve your messaging and to make sure you have the legal structure in place AHEAD OF TIME that will allow you to actually accept capital from investors.Now, my friends… I’d like to make sure that you completely understand the gravity of what I’ve just shared with you.  I’ve just told you how to find people who have self-directed retirement accounts and who are actively using them.  These people are PRIME as potential investors in a GOOD project.  Don’t let the simplicity of my explanation fool you.  I’ve just shown you how to find all the investment capital you could ever need. My friends… invest wisely today – particularly if you’re using other people’s money – and live well forever! 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A new policy from the Obama administration has the sinister aim of taking control of local real estate laws under the guise of expanding access to “fair housing”.  I’m Bryan Ellis.  I’ll tell you the teriffying details of how it works and why it must be CRUSHED right now in Episode #96Intro HereHello, my friends.  It’s SO GREAT to be back in the saddle and able to join you each day as normal.  Many of you know I’ve been traveling with my family for the past couple of weeks, and while we had a great time, it is so, so good to be back with you!  Today’s episode will be just a tad long, but it’s important.Quick question:  Do you want to be the investment wizard among your colleagues?  Do you want to be the person that others are always asking for advice… because your results are just consistently better than everyone else gets?  There’s a way to do that.  If you’re an affluent investor… and you like the idea of making very substantial cash-on-cash returns from real estate without doing the work yourself, then check out S3Flip.com.  You’ll be very, very, very glad you did.  S3Flip.com.My friends, the Obama regime published a new set of rules last week concerning the housing market, and let me just say… this is even more aggressive than Obamacare… and the effects will be even worse.The new policy is called “Affirmatively Furthering Fair Housing”, and it’s a very thinly veiled approach to expanding the power of the federal government over the real estate market by injecting racial politics, and subjecting racial minorities to second class citizen status… all in the name of making Uncle Sam stronger, and you and me, weaker.Here’s the idea:Uncle Sam, in his infinite – it’s not wisdom… maybe it’s more like power-madness – anyway, in his infinite power-madness, Uncle Sam discovers that a particular neighborhood isn’t racially “diverse”.  Or… at least, not enough such that Uncle Sam is placated.I feel dirty sullying the reputation of Uncle Sam by using that generic term rather than Obama’s name, so I’m going to stop now.  You and I are adults and regardless of where you or I stand politically, this is a huge attack on us as individuals and our ability to invest wisely, so I think I’ll go ahead and dispense with the pleasantries for now.So let’s consider an example.  Obama looks at neighborhoods all over the fruited plain, and what he finds is a neighborhood in somewhere, like, say, Georgia.  Or California.  Or Montana.  Doesn’t matter.  So this neighborhood in Georgia, Obama decides that this neighborhood, and the locale in which it’s located, is guilty of racism.  Yep… everybody there… they’re racists.Why?Well, Obama looked at the racial makeup of the area, and decided it wasn’t “diverse” enough.Can you feel Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. rolling over in his grave right now?  His dream that his children would be judged by the content of their character rather than the color of their skin… well, I don’t think Dr. King has ever had a bigger enemy than Barrack Obama.Anyway, Obama decides this area isn’t sufficiently racially diverse.  So, he forces the local community to accept Section 8 and other government-funded public housing into the area.Now… note something important here.  These areas Obama wants to target… mostly lower middle class neighborhoods… there’s one and only one impediment keeping ANYONE from living there who wants to, and that’s the ability to buy or rent a home there.  In other words, if you’ve got the money to move into the area, you can do it… no matter what your race.So, there’s absolutely ZERO racial discrimination involved.  None whatsoever.Alas, Obama is stretching the meaning of an already terrible ruling from the Supreme Court that was handed down 3 weeks ago.That court case addressed an issue called “disparate impact”, which allows the government to make charges of racial discrimination where discrimination clearly doesn’t exist.  For example:  Maybe you have rental property and require that your tenants have a credit score of at least 680.  Under this new ruling, it’s entirely arguable that you could be prosecuted for racial discrimination if it turns out that most racial minorities in the area happen to have a credit score below 680.  Yes, you heard that right… any policy which can be in ANY WAY connected to racial politics – even if the policy has absolutely nothing to do with race – is grounds for you to be prosecuted legally… and to endure the substantial cost, pain and humiliation of being labeled as a racial discriminator… even though you clearly are not.The relevance of that case to this new policy from the Obama regime is this:  They’re trying to expand those “policies” to include property value by saying, in effect, that if neighborhood X isn’t sufficiently racially diverse – according to whatever standard Obama and his cronies are demanding – then that neighborhood and locale are operating in a racially discriminatory way, and Obama’s solution will be to expand Section 8 and other government housing entitlements into that area.My friends who are racial minorities… if you’re feeling insulted here, since Obama is clearly associating being a racial minority with being poor… well, you should be feeling insulted.  This policy is NOT about racial discrimination, but is simply a way for the government to take over power of real estate law from local government.So two questions arise:  How can the federal government do this?  And what effect will it have for Obama to force federal public housing options into areas where such options do not exist?Let’s take the second question first:  Public housing, as a rather consistent rule, damages property value and increases crime.  You have to look no farther than what happened in both Chicago and Atlanta a few years ago when some old public housing projects in those cities were demolished.  What happened in those areas?  Crime plummeted.  Property values rose.  It was a very good thing for the safety of the other residents in those areas, and it was a very good thing for owners of real estate in those areas.So, forcing public housing into areas where it’s presently located is absolutely BAD news for those areas.But how can Obama force his way into controlling local real estate policy?Well, he’s going to use the “Foreign Aid” model.  Think of all of the untold billions that the United States gives to foreign countries in the form of nebulous “foreign aid”.  The idea is simple:  These countries, which are usually strapped for cash, become dependent on the foreign aid from Washington, and so when Uncle Sam comes calling with a demand, the foreign country must comply, under threat of losing that free cash.Same thing will happen with local real estate, like so:For decades, HUD – the department of Housing and Urban Development – has been distributing something called “Community Development Block Grants” to specific local communities.  This money is ostensibly for the furtherance of fair housing programs and the expansion of government entitlements.And it’s in areas where these grants are an essential part of the budget that the Obama regime will, at the threat of removal of those grants, force the communities to take steps that will make those areas less safe, less valuable and less desirable.The plan in this “Affirmatively Furthering Fair Housing” policy is to create regional real estate authorities that are controlled by Washington bureaucrats and NOT controlled by local government.  These “regional” authorities are the way that Obama intends to execute an end-run around the current system, in which virtually all authority for real estate laws and zoning exists at the city, county or state levels.And how will the Feds know which neighborhoods to target for this type of punishment?  Well, another part of the new plan is to build a massive database about every single neighborhood in America.  They want to know things like… racial makeup, income statistics, quality of public education, etc… because, at the end of the day, this policy is about one thing:  Control of political power.You see, along with the horrible effects on crime rates and property values, the biggest effect of this program is that it will give Obama and his successors the ability to have substantial control over where to place people who are receiving federal housing assistance.  Why does this matter?Votes.  Votes.  It’s about votes, pure and simple… and it’s just as heinous and horrible regardless of what party you align with.  You see, the harsh reality is this:  This is all about social engineering.  When the government can control where people live – people who are totally dependent on the government for their housing, for their food, for every aspect of their lives – well, those people can be shuffled about geographically by the powers that be to make sure that they have all of the votes they need in vulnerable districts.  And whoever happens to be in power at the time will have the ability to engineer the population in such a way as to gain political advantage.This, folks, is NOT about protecting racial minorities.  And it’s DISGUSTING that the Obama team have tried to hide this raw power grab behind a façade of racial politics.  But that’s the way of the world.But good news:  There’s action in the U.S. House of Representatives to defund the implementation of this plan, and frankly, there’s a good chance this will end up being a hot-button issue in the 2016 Presidential election… particularly because one of the top choices for Hillary Clinton’s VP will be Julian Castro – who is the secretary of HUD and is in charge of pushing this policy out.My friends… your votes have consequences.  And this is yet another terrible, terrible consequence that’s good for absolutely NOBODY… except for the federal government.  STAND UP… tell your representatives to kill this and make sure it never happens. My friends, invest wisely today, and live well forever! 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Do you have an old 401k with a former employer that’s just sitting and sitting?  What if you could make one simple change to those funds… and generate FAR BETTER returns for yourself without any ongoing effort?  I’m Bryan Ellis.  I’ll tell you exactly how to tap the treasure of your old 401k right now in Episode 95.----------Hello, my friends!  Family vacation time is nearing an end, as I’ll be heading back home from our family’s summer getaway in Northern Michigan.  It’s beautiful up here, and the weather has been really great as well.  And it’s always great to get to spend time with my family.But I’m nearly fully recharged at this point, and I’m looking forward to sharing some amazing things with you in the next few weeks.Frankly, I’ve got a real challenge on my hands.  There are a couple of topics that I DESPERATELY want to discuss with you, because those topics are ninja-level strategies for maximizing your self-directed 401k or IRA.  I GUARANTEE you’ve never heard anyone talking about these strategies before.  But the reality is this:  At least two of those topics aren’t particularly well suited for discussion in public.  Either they don’t apply to everyone – like the strategy for doing a basically tax-free traditional-to-Roth conversion, which can save you HUNDREDS OF THOUSANDS or MILLIONS of DOLLARS, but is only relevant for those of you with at least $500,000 or more in your account – or the strategy I call the “SDI Compound Account” which works like a 401k or IRA but allows you to take a deduction on the front end – like a traditional retirement account- AND on the back end – like a ROTH retirement account.  That one lets you truly have your cake and eat it too… but it’s legally complex, and so not a great fit for everyone.Now, one thing I have decided is this:  I’m going to share ONE of those strategies at my upcoming Summit for Affluent Investors.  This particular event – called the Passive Property Flipping Summit – is coming up very, very soon and is a free event for investors who are financially qualified.  At that event, we’re going to focus quite exclusively on our Passive Property Flipping program, whereby our affluent investor clients profit from the huge opportunity that exists in short-term real estate flips performed by my team of real estate professionals who have brain surgeon-level experience and a track record of overwhelmingly consistent success.  In fact, we closed 2 more deals in the past week and I’ll tell you about those very soon, but suffice it to say:  Our investor clients are doing very, very, very well for themselves.If you’d like to know more about the Passive Property Flipping Summit – the only event where I’m going to speak about either the tax-free Traditional-to-Roth conversion, or the SDI Compound Account that’s like a combination of the best elements of a Traditional and Roth retirement account, then go right now to S3Flip.com.  Note – you should not attend the Flipping Summit if your only objective is to learn those strategies.  Even though it would be totally worthwhile for you to do so, the fact is, that event is explicitly and exclusively for our clients who recognize the opportunity in PASSIVE property flipping, where the only real involvement for our clients is to fund the transaction, and nothing more.  So again, please visit S3Flip.com right now.So… on to dealing with that old 401k that’s taking up a bit of space in your consciousness… and for no good reason.  Let’s set the stage.  You changed jobs last year… or 5 years… or 15 years ago… and you had a 401k at that employer.  But rather than transferring that 401k to your new employer or – even better – doing something REALLY SMART with that money, you’ve just let it sit.  And sit.  And sit.So far in 2015, that’s been a pretty awful idea, hasn’t it.  Because that money is quite certainly invested in stocks.  And do you know what the S&P500 has done year to date?  Absolutely nothing.  I mean, literally at the moment I checked the S&P500 a moment ago, it was at EXACTLY the same number it was at on the first trading day of this year.But you may be deluding yourself with the fact that it improved substantially in the 2 or 3 years before that… of course, forgetting that, if you look at the last 50 years, that it only increases by about 6% per year.Yep, that’s what you’re accepting.  Even if you’re invested in something other than the S&P500, the averages always catch up.So, what to do?Well, to start, you’ve got to move your money into an account that will allow you to break the chains that are tying you to Wall Street investments.  Yes, sometimes those investments work out reasonably well.  But that’s the exception, not the rule.  Remember – the S&P has increased by about 6% per year over the last 50 years.  That REALLY stinks.But which kind of account?  Do you transfer into your new employer’s 401k?  Or into an IRA or some type, or maybe even one of those fancy-dancy self-directed accounts like you’ve heard me talking about?  Or maybe something else entirely?That’s a critical choice, and I’d LOVE to help you make that choice.  More about that in a second.And the next choice is:  What do you do with your money, once it’s in the new account that’s right for you.How about some options that you’ve never had before?  Such as… would you be interested in generating a GUARANTEED fixed return of 8%?  How about 10%?  Maybe even 12%?  Wouldn’t it be astounding to be able to generate results like that consistently… to be able to plan on it… and to understand exactly WHY those results can be guaranteed?Or maybe you’re looking to allocate the funds in your old 401k to a slightly more aggressive strategy… but one that’s still FAR SAFER and FAR MORE PREDICTABLE than the stock market.  I’ve seen many clients be able to generate truly SUBSTANTIAL returns through another strategy I recommend… I’m talking about cash-on-cash returns north of 15-20%  – sometimes FAR north of that level – when they do this strategy correctly.So here’s the bottom line:  If you have at least $50,000 of capital in your old account, and it’s just sitting there, being tossed to and fro with every whim of Wall Street and the Federal Reserve… and if you’d like to actually DO SOMETHING GREAT with that money… money which was earned by YOUR LABOR and YOUR EFFORT and YOUR TIME… money that deserves respect and can be very valuable to you, your family and to future generations, then…Let’s talk.  I’d love to help you figure out BOTH which type of account makes most sense for you… and how you can allocated that capital in a way that generates returns for you in a manner that’s totally consistent with my investment philosophy called S3:  SIMPLE, SAFE and STRONG.  You’ll finally be investing in assets that make sense to you, because they’re simple!  Your funds will be SAFE and your returns will be STRONG.So again, if you have an old 401k that’s just sitting, and it has at least $50,000 of cash or stocks in it, and you’d like to FINALLY have it really COUNT FOR SOMETHING… to really count for YOU and your FAMILY… then just go over to SDIRadio.com/consultation.  Again, that’s SDIRadio.com/consultation.  We’ve set aside space for 5 15-minute consultations in the coming week, and I’d love to be of service to you.Isn’t it time you get STRONG RESULTS for your old 401k funds… results that are PREDICTABLE… that don’t toss and turn constantly… and that you truly UNDERSTAND?Oh, and by the way… I can show you how to TOTALLY ELIMINATE all of the junk fees you’re paying right now.  And you probably don’t realize you’re paying them.SDIRadio.com/consultation is where you need to go.And one final time, my friends:  Check out S3Flip.com if you’re interested in learning why, nationwide in the first quarter of this year, the AVERAGE gross profit per flip in America over $72,000… and the average gross ROI per flip in that time period was over 35%!  And when you go to S3Flip.com, you’ll see how my team – who could be YOUR team – is making this type of result happen roughly every 4 months for our clients!  S3Flip.com, ladies and gentlemen. Folks:  Invest wisely today… and live well forever! 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I’ve heard it enough now, I’ll answer it.  I’m hearing… “Bryan, you’ve said you don’t like turnkey rental properties… but isn’t rental property a fundamentally good investment?  Why do you dislike it so much?”  I’m Bryan Ellis.  I’ll answer that for you RIGHT NOW in Episode #94.----------So… turnkey rental properties.  You guys think I don’t approve of a turnkey approach to real estate investing, right? WRONG!Nothing could be further from the truth.  We offer a turnkey real estate FLIPPING opportunity… and turnkey rental property investing can be a really valuable tool as well… IF some things are there to protect YOU!Before I begin with the business about turnkey rental properties, I’d like to give you an important heads-up to those of you who are seeking a diversification for your capital that really meets the S3 Standard of SIMPLE, SAFE and STRONG.  My team of professional real estate flippers are putting up some EXTRARODINARY numbers for our clients, with a track record of amazing consistency.  We have an opening for a tiny number of additional clients right now, and this is an opportunity not to be missed if you’re an affluent investor with at least $100,000 in liquid capital and investment duration tolerance of 6 months or so.  To find out more, go over to S3Flip.com right now.  Again, that’s S3Flip.com.So… turnkey rental properties…My friends, real estate investing isn’t simple like stock investing.  Setting aside the selection and usage of real estate to generate profit – which are themselves very complicated – the TRANSACTIONAL side of real estate (like financing, closing, titling, legal considerations, etc.) is both very complicated and very expensive.  It’s also not a simple thing to find tenants, and even harder to find a reliable property manager.  So, to have a service that does all of that for you is a GREAT thing.  I do not deny that at all.And I’ll be honest with you:  I’m on the hunt for a company who can provide great rental property investment opportunities to YOU, my valued listeners to Self Directed Investor Radio.  But here’s the thing:  Because I truly DO value you, there’s no way I’m going to recommend an investment opportunity that I don’t believe meets the S3 standard of SIMPLE and SAFE and STRONG.Can single-family rental property investments ever meet that standard?  I think absolutely, yes.  So let’s look at how that could be true… and then I’ll tell you precisely why you should steer clear of the vast majority of the “turnkey” rental property companies out there.Rental property investing is conceptually simple, to be sure… particularly when being handled by a professional and experienced property manager.  It can be safe as well, if buying at the right price and right terms and right property and market conditions.  And the returns can be strong if you buy in the right place at the right time.But my friends, I’d like for you to understand something.  There’s a big, big difference between the historical understanding of rental property investing versus what the turnkey operators offer to you.  The conventional understanding of rental investing goes like this:You buy a house in a suitable geographic market.  You must buy the house inexpensively enough so that you have equity from the start.  After bringing the property up to rent-ready condition, a good objective is to have at least 20% equity still in the property at that point.  You then rent the property to a tenant, putting away most of the income, knowing that certain expenses will absolutely happen.  One of those expenses is property maintenance, which is invariably far more expensive that you think, and can easily average 40%+ of your income.  Another of those expenses is vacancies, and the wisest standard for vacancy planning is to assume 75% occupancy.  Another of those expenses is mortgage payment, if you financed the property.  And some more of those expenses are property managers – well worth it, but still expensive – along with taxes on your rental income and on the property itself.  But if you view the rental income to be a cushion that’s primarily designed to absorb some of those expenses, then over time… probably 3-5 years down the road… you’ll have built up enough cash savings on this property that, if all is well with the property, maybe you can begin to enjoy some of the cash flow at that time.  And at some point in the future – probably 15-30 years down the road – you’ll sell the property, which will be free of debt and will hopefully have appreciated very well.So, that’s the traditional view of rental property investing, and it’s a very responsible view of it.  Entering into rental property investing with an approach like that makes a lot of sense.How’s that different from what turnkey rental company properties are selling?Folks, it pains me to point this out again because the reality is that I have many, many good friends in that business.  But here’s the basic pitch of most of the turnkey companies:You should buy this house – and several more after it – because doing so will yield a large cash flow for you.  You can expect a cap rate of about 10 on this deal, so it will be very profitable for you.  I’ll also have my own property manager – who I’ve vetted and confirmed will do a great job for you – to handle the entire thing for you so that you never have to worry about tenants or toilets.  My property manager has a 97% occupancy rate, so vacancies shouldn’t be a problem, and you’ll definitely have a paying tenant in place on the day you buy the house.  Plus, you’ll get great tax benefits along the way, so this is a win from any perspective.Here’s the thing:  All of that sounds great, and technically COULD be true.  But to assume that a 97% occupancy rate will always apply to you… or that the cap rate of 10 actually factors in the expenses and risks that they’re hoping you’ll ignore – such as real vacancies – well, that’s not just irresponsible, it’s financially dangerous.And here’s one more thing:  You’ll never hear turnkey companies talking about how you’re getting a good value on the property versus the retail value in today’s market.  In other words, if you have the property appraised before you buy it, what you’ll quite certainly find is that the price you’re paying is the same as, or above, the ACTUAL value of the property in today’s market.That is a travesty, my friends.  I’m not aware of any turnkey rental property companies that insist that their clients have properties appraised ahead of time, because virtually all of them sell these “investment” properties at or above market prices.  Folks, have you ever heard of it being smart to buy an “investment” above its actual value?  That could make sense if you have the ability to turn a piece of property into something much grander, greater and more valuable.  But that’s not the plan.  You want to buy the property to rent it out.And… my friends in California… you should be particularly careful.  You’re a great target for this type of pitch because your real estate values are so extreme and crazy that, for many of you, you’ve had the experience of making an offer on a property above the market price, and a few years later, selling for a huge profit.  So you’re less likely to be sensitive to purchase price.  And that’s a terrible thing because Hosted on Acast. 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A BOOMING TREND among affluent investors is the “Outsourced Real Estate Flip” where the investor provides the funding, and a professional real estate flipper does the rest.  But what does a REAL DEAL look like when doing this?  If you’re an affluent investor, and would like to enjoy the strong profits available from flipping in a wholly passive manner, today’s case study will answer a LOT of questions for you.  I’m Bryan Ellis… this is Episode #93!-------Hello my friends… today, I’ll give you a case study that you’re going to LOVE… that is, if you love the idea of an investment that’s SIMPLE and SAFE and STRONG… and FAST!  These deals last only a few months on average, but the hard dollar results look much longer term… you’re going to love it! A quick announcement:  I’m leaving today for a family vacation in northern Michigan for the next 2 weeks.  Each year, my wife, my 4 kids and the grandparents take a trip up to enjoy the family cottage and some time to recharge and to smell the roses!Now, the truth is, I’ll still be working half days… largely so that this podcast doesn’t become neglected.  But I do beg your grace for the next two weeks, as it’s possible… but not likely… I could miss a weekday or two.  Thanks in advance for your patience!So, today, I’d like to give you a great case study of a real deal that produced strong profits and a very fast and very high cash-on-cash ROI.  The example I’m about to give you is NOT unique… it was performed by MY flipping team, who work with my clientele of affluent investors to perform what is called a “Fully Outsourced Real Estate Flip”.  This is a quickly growing trend among affluent investors, and after I give you this case study, I’ll give you some things to look for, and some things to look OUT for, if you’re interested in adding this strategy to your portfolio.So, let’s call this case study WHITE CANYON.  That’s the road the property is on, in San Tan Valley, Arizona, a suburb of Phoenix.So here’s the story:  An affluent investor client – I need to respect his privacy, so let’s call him Bob – decided he wanted to profit from the strong opportunity in real estate flipping, but without having to swing hammers or hire crews.  So he agreed to fund a flip transaction with my Phoenix team.Here’s how it played out:My team learned about Bob’s financial capabilities… namely, that he had a budget of $75,000 and was willing to use hard money or other financing if it made sense.  We then got to work doing what we do best… buying the RIGHT PROPERTY at the RIGHT PRICE in order to quickly flip and make a nice profit.By the way… my team is, far and away, the biggest buyer of foreclosures in the Phoenix metro area.  Those guys have purchased OVER 13,000 properties at auction.  Nobody else is even close to that.So, on December 4, 2014, we purchased a property for Bob on White Canyon.  It was a property with real potential.  Bought it for $170,000 and got to work turning it’s potential into real in-the-pocket type of profit.So, we got Bob funding for 80% of that purchase price, so that he only had to fund a 20% down payment along with renovation and some minor miscellaneous costs.And 6 months later to the day, on June 4, 2015, that property closed escrow.  What were the results?Well… it was a cool cash-on-cash return of 33.81%.  That’s not an annualized number… that’s the straight-up result of this deal.  Bob’s out-of-pocket investment ended up at only a bit under $66,000 versus a net profit of over $22,000… a very strong result, to be sure.How would you like results like that in your portfolio?Now, I picked this example out of literally hundreds available to me… not because it’s the BEST example, but because it’s actually a somewhat muted example of what’s possible.  In terms of financial results, we see this level of result on a very regular and frequent basis, and have a vast supply of case studies to prove it.But what was really ATYPICAL… and subpar… about this deal is the duration of the deal.  This one took a full 6-month time horizon.  Frankly, I’m happy with making 33.8% in 6 months.  I’ll bet you are, too.But here’s the fact:  80% of our deals close in around 4 months or less.  So this one took a bit longer than normal.  But the goal for my clients is simple:  To complete 2 or 3 full flip transactions, on average, every 12 months… and for each one of those transactions to yield the type of return that blows away the ANNUAL AVERAGES for the stock market.So, I’ve really only scratched the surface of this particular case study.  There are a lot more of them available in the free webinar that I’ve created for you, which you can see right now at S3Flip.com.  We have literally DOZENS of these transactions going at any given time.  In fact, we bought one just this week for one of your fellow listeners to this show, and I’m so excited for them.In fact, to those listeners, I’d like to say:  Hello Paul and Rose… it looks like the guys got a really good one for you this week… very exciting!  Tell your daughter Camilla I said hello!Paul and Rose are listeners to this show, and I had the distinct pleasure of getting to meet them a few weeks ago at the Passive Property Flipping Summit in Phoenix.  They decided to move forward with our fully outsourced property flipping program, and we were able to buy a GREAT house with MASSIVE POTENTIAL for them.  I’m really excited about this one… statistically, it’s quite likely their deal will be completed in November… just in time to pay for a nice Christmas!So, my friends… if you are interested in learning more about how YOU can get involved in fully outsourced real estate flipping, I encourage you to do one thing:  Go to S3Flip.com RIGHT NOW.  I’m having another Passive Property Flipping Summit very soon… and presently it’s the last such event scheduled, as our client roster will be full after that.So… think of it like this… did you know that the S&P500 – which is considered the gold standard for comparison of investment results… well, the S&P500 has had an annual return in the 30%+ range only a few times in it’s entire history.  It’s very rare.BUT… our flip transactions routinely yield those kind of numbers… and most of the time, we do it in about 4 months or less… 1/3 of the time of the S&P500.  What does that mean?  You can do another transaction… or two… and blow up the results even higher.Yes, there is risk, and I’ll explain that rather graphically to you in the webinar over at S3Flip.com.  This is NOT for everybody.  Absolutely not.  And no, there are NO guarantees whatsoever.  But frankly, the proper clientele for this type of opportunity understands these things.So if you’d like to find out if this opportunity fits YOU – and if you have a minimum of $75,000 in liquid capital – then just go over to S3Flip.com right now and check out the webinar.  It’s VERY informative, and truly breaks down our process in detail.  If you’re someone who really appreciates attention to detail and a profound aversion to risk, you’ll love our approach.  So check it out now at S3Flip.com.Oh… and yes, while we’re an undeniable leader in this area, there are other companies who offer this type of service… and a few of them do a solid job.  So here’s a little story to keep in mind.  My son Sam is now 2 years old, and last year, he had to have brain surgery.  When that became necessary, my wife and I did research to find out who was the VERY BEST OF THE BEST among pediatric brain surgeons.  Well, we found him – his name is Dr. Andrew Reisner – and Dr. Reisner said something really interesting to me.  He said:  Bryan, you should certainly check out all of the doctors you want, and make sure you’re comfortable.  That’s very important.  Read some of the articles by other experts in this arena.  And when you do, remember this:  The type of surgery your son needs… well, to be considered an expert in that surgery, you only need to have done it about 100 times.  Most of the people who write articles about it have done it about 100 times.  I’ve done this surgery more than 1,000 times… my experience is literally 10 times greater than nearly every other “expert”.  And if I have the pleasure of serving you, I’ll certainly bring that experience to bear with the aim of the ideal result.My friends, Dr. Reisner delivered that ideal result, and I thank God and Dr. Reisner for that.And my team – who has bought over 13,000 houses at the Phoenix-area foreclosure auctions – well, if we have the pleasure of serving you, we’ll certainly bring that experience to bear with the aim of creating an ideal result for you, too.  Check out S3Flip.com for more examples of those “ideal” results… My friends… Invest wisely today – maybe even through outsourced flipping – and live well forever! 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Yes, your self-directed IRA or 401k can own a private LLC or corporation.  No doubt about it.  But should you use an OFFSHORE LLC or Corporation in your retirement account rather than a domestic one?  Will it make your money safer… or at far greater risk?  I’m Bryan Ellis.  I’ll tell you right now in Episode 92.----------Wow!  Based on the response to yesterday’s episode, there’s clearly a HUGE amount of interest in offshore investing with your retirement account.  So thank you for that!Let’s dig a little deeper today.  Yesterday, we touched on the most fundamental of questions – is it even possible for YOUR retirement account to buy offshore assets.  The answer isn’t a straightforward YES or NO… and if you don’t know for SURE about your account, then listen to yesterday’s episode #91 to find out.  You can hear that at SDIRadio.com/91.Today… I’m going to assume that you’ve determined that it is POSSIBLE for your account to invest in offshore assets.  So we’re going to delve into one of the most common ideas about what it means to be an offshore investor:  To use FOREIGN business entities instead of domestic ones.As many of you know, it can be very advantageous to own a private LLC or corporation in your self directed retirement IRA.  One of the fundamental weaknesses of a self-directed IRA is that it’s merely self-directed… but not actually directly controlled by you.  So for every transaction, you must make requests of and wait for permission from your custodian before performing the transaction.But by setting up a wholly-owned entity within your Self-Directed IRA, this problem is largely overcome and gives you very direct control over your funds, which can be a very good thing.  And when most people set up such a wholly-owned legal entity, they generally use what’s called a home-state entity.  So, for example, if you live in California, you’d likely set up a California LLC in your self-directed IRA.  But what if, instead of setting up a CALIFORNIA LLC, you set up an LLC organized in some other jurisdiction… a FOREIGN country… such as the Cayman Islands, Antigua or Nevis?You’ve heard about this before.  When they talk about it in the movies, you hear words like “shell corporation” and “offshore company” and you’re led to believe that all of the action is in the Caribbean, particularly the Cayman Islands.  It’s also suggested that the only people who use offshore entities are drug dealers and money launderers… basically, the miscreants of society.Frankly, that’s what the US government wants you to believe, because some of what you hear about using offshore entities is true:  To a large extent, going offshore puts your assets outside the reach of Uncle Sam.  And good ole Uncle Sam is power-hungry.  He wants you to have the illusion of control of your assets, while having the ability to take them from you at any time.  But shifting your assets offshore, well… that’s not a good thing for our greedy uncle, because in many cases, doing so transforms the “illusion” of control you currently have into actual control… at least, control enough where Uncle Sam can’t confiscate it just because he decides to.But why would you ever consider using a legal jurisdiction outside the United States?The reasons are many.  Some are good, some are questionable.  Here are the top 3:Far and away, the top reason is to minimize or avoid taxes.  The logic – which, I’ll warn you, is flawed – goes like this:  I’ll set up my LLC in Nevis, where there is no tax liability for LLC’s. The second BIG REASON people consider using offshore entities is for asset protection.  If you have a properly structured entity in certain offshore jurisdictions, those jurisdictions make it very, very hard for anyone – sometimes even the US government – to take your assets, even if a lawsuit has been filed against you, you lost, and a judgment has been entered.  That’s because those jurisdictions have made their name – and make significant revenue – by being legally friendly to debtors and very hostile to creditors.And the final BIG REASON that people go “offshore” is to achieve a large degree of financial privacy.  The more financially successful you become, the more likely you are to value your privacy… unless, of course, your last name is Trump.There are all noble and worthy ends.  Saving on taxes is a wonderful thing.  Protecting your assets is a wonderful thing.  Financial privacy is a wonderful thing.So, should you take the plunge and set up shop in your Self Directed IRA as an offshore company?Honestly, my friends, I think not.  Here’s why:First, in the context of your Self Directed IRA, you already have the ultimate tax benefit – you don’t have to pay them on your investment profits, by and large.  So there’s no reason to go offshore for that benefit.  Furthermore, it’s fallacy to think that merely by using a foreign entity rather than a domestic one, that you automatically save taxes.  It just doesn’t work that way, so the “I’ll save taxes” argument is absolutely worthless here.Where asset protection and privacy are concerned… well, those arguments are much stronger than the tax argument.  I’ll admit it:  asset protection is something that ALL self directed investors must think about quite seriously.  And with the incredible degree to which the asset protection advantages of IRA’s is shrinking, it may be very tempting to go the offshore route.  Particularly since… and I hate to say this, but… the biggest asset protection challenge you’ll ever face would likely come from Uncle Sam.  There have been SO MANY recent stories about the federal government outright STEALING money from individuals and businesses for no legitimate reason whatsoever.  Recently, the IRS swooped in and stole $107,000 from a North Carolina store owner.  Why?  They accused him of a STUPID, IDIOTIC, RIDICULOUS crime called “structuring” in which he was guilty of depositing amounts of under $10,000 in cash into his bank account on a frequent basis.Yep, you got it right… by depositing money into your bank account… money you legally obtained… into your own bank account… the IRS can steal everything you’ve got.  That’s what happened to the guy in North Carolina.  And there are MANY other stories just like his.  So, I’ve got to admit… there’s some real appeal to the asset protection rationale for taking your investment account “offshore”.But I’ve got to tell you… it makes me nervous.  I haven’t moved my retirement account offshore nor do I have any other assets offshore.  I don’t plan to change that, either.  But if I did, I’ll tell you this much:  I wouldn’t consider doing it without getting advice from a VERY EXPERIENCED lawyer.  And you’d want to check it out from both an asset protection point of view and from a tax point of view, which would likely require multiple sources of legal counsel.  So, clearly, to do this is going to cost some money… but it would be well worth the effort, because:I don’t know if it’s true, folks, but here’s what one attorney told me:  Where the IRS is concerned, when they see the use of offshore entities, well… they’re far more likely to LEAD the investigation of you and your assets through their CRIMINAL investigation division rather than as a civil matter.  So it’s a very big deal.One thing you could do to lessen that risk is to have your attorney submit your plan to the IRS in advance to get a private letter ruling, which is essentially a blessing from the IRS that your plan is tax compliant.  Frankly, that’s really the ONLY way I’d ever consider doing anything offshore.Oh, and be aware of one more thing:  The Feds passed a law not long ago that’s called the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act, or FATCA for short.  It’s basically a huge bureaucratic mess that has created, as a primary result, a situation in which MOST offshore banks and financial institutions are refusing to accept Americans and American-owned entities as clients.  And don’t think you can set up an offshore LLC and then use an American bank… that’s no safer than never going offshore to begin with.So, bottom line, my friends:  Going offshore is probably overkill for most of us, and I personally won’t go that direction.  But if you do, take it very seriously.  Respect the law and get good advice.  It’s absolutely NOT true that the offshore world is strictly the domain of criminals and miscreants.  But what it certainly is is the target of Uncle Sam’s ire, so you’ve got to be prepared to face that if you jump offshore.My friends, I promised you another case study from my flipping team in Phoenix today, because we’re putting up some huge numbers that may be a good match for you.  But we’re out of time now… I’ll try to publish a special episode later today with that information.  In the mean time, go over to S3Flip.com for more information! Have a great day, my friends, and remember:  Invest Wisely Today… and live well forever! 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Should you take your retirement account OFFSHORE… outside of the reach of Uncle Sam, and within grasp of a world of investment opportunities that don’t exist for most Americans?  I’m Bryan Ellis… I’ll give you a tantalizing peak into the world of offshore investing RIGHT NOW in Episode #91.----------Offshore investing… it conjures images of exotic locales, freedom from taxes and an end to the worry that Uncle Sam will go all Cyprus on your money and steal everything you’ve worked so hard to build.  And coupling offshore investment strategies with your retirement account… well, that seems to be the ultimate for a self-reliant, privacy-loving group like we Self Directed Investors. But is that the truth?  Well… I’ll tell you the honest truth about it right after this:Write this down, my friends:  S3Flip.com.  S3Flip.com.  You’ve heard me espousing the S3 Standard – SIMPLE, SAFE and STRONG – repeatedly on this show.  You’ll hear that over and over from me because it’s CORE.  It’s fundamental.  You and I, as responsible self-directed investors, have one core value:  To respect our own capital.  And we do that by employing the S3 Standard when we evaluate investment opportunities.  It’s no more complicated than that.But what about real estate flipping?  You’ve also heard me talking about that.  You’ve heard me sing the praises of my team, who facilitate fully outsourced property flips for our clientele of affluent investors who recognize the opportunity in flipping and are financially able to get involved, but who may not have the time or the expertise to handle it for themselves.But flipping is a really, really dangerous thing to do, isn’t it?  Can’t you lose a LOT of money by trying to make money that way?Well, the answer is an absolute YES… YOU can lose a lot of money by trying to be a flipper.  I mean… specifically… YOU could lose a lot of money by trying it because, well… you, my friend, are not a professional flipper.  Let me tell you something:  I personally have a vast, vast background in real estate investing.  But I’m not a flipper.  So for YOU… and for me, flipping is a dangerous thing.But my friends… what if you could join forces with someone who has done HUNDREDS of these deals?  Someone who does NOTHING BUT real estate flipping.  Someone who has an ASTOUNDING track record, available for you to review and confirm for yourself?  Someone who has a large clientele of affluent investors who come back to him over and over and over again?What if it could be YOUR money… working totally passively… and THEIR expertise and resources… and at the end of the day, BOTH of you benefit in the same way:  From PROFITABLE transactions!  What if these deals were rather short – almost all completed in 4 months or so – so that you could generate a strong return on your capital on each deal… and then do 2 or 3 deals every year?So, my friends, here’s the opportunity:  I have a team of EXTRAORDINARY real estate flippers that work with me and with some of my clients.  They are top-notch, and I’ve given you examples of their work in past episodes.  I’ll give you another case study tomorrow, too.  And RIGHT NOW… which is an unusual circumstances… I can take on a few more clients who recognize the opportunity that exists in today’s real estate market for short-term flipping.And what is that opportunity?  According to the huge real estate research firm RealtyTrac… the AVERAGE real estate flip in the first quarter of this year resulted in a gross profit of over $72,000 and gross ROI of over 35%.  That’s the AVERAGE gross profit, not an exceptional one.  And that’s across more than 17,000 flips that completed in the first quarter.  Yep… 17,000 in the first quarter alone.  Do the math on that… and what you’ll see is that in Q1 of this year, there was well over $1.2 BILLION in gross flipping profits.And guess what… our averages may be even better than what RealtyTrac has reported for the nation as a whole.So… maybe you’re already convinced of the opportunity.  Maybe you just suspect an opportunity but aren’t yet convinced of it.  But whatever your situation, if the prospect of making substantial cash-on-cash returns from real estate WITHOUT being tied up in it yourself gets your attention… if you’ve been looking for a way to diversify AWAY from Wall Street – you do know the S&P 500 is basically FLAT for the year, right? – and if your financial profile fits this opportunity which, at a basic level, means you have a minimum of $75,000 of liquid capital, then do this:Go to the website S3Flip.com.  Go there soon because as I mentioned, we don’t have the ability to take on an unlimited number of clients, but I’ve got some space right now.  On that page is a webinar you can watch where I’ll tell you all about our process… I’ll show you MANY examples of our deals… including the ONE losing transaction we’ve ever had for a client… and I’ll show you why this strategy… Fully Outsourced Real Estate Flips… along with MY FLIPPING TEAM… you’ll see why it’s such a BEAUTIFUL opportunity for those of you who want a SIMPLE and SAFE way to generate an incredibly STRONG return in a totally passive manner. So, again, that’s S3Flip.com.  Respectfully, please do be aware that that opportunity won’t be available for long.So… you want to mix your retirement account with offshore investing?Honestly, it’s going to take us a couple of episodes to even scratch the surface of this issue.  So let’s get started with it.Where to start?Well, let’s start with the most basic level:  What is offshore investing?It means a lot of different things to different people, but let’s describe it like this:  Offshore investing is when you invest in assets that are located in countries other than the US rather than in America-based assets.  So, arguably, buying stocks from foreign stock exchanges is offshore investing.  As is buying into foreign hedge funds, or creating foreign LLCs or corporations – rather than the American equivalent – for use in your retirement account.But can you do offshore investing through your retirement account?Well, maybe.  It depends a lot on the type of account you have.At a basic level, you MUST have a fully self-directed account.  I don’t mean a “self directed” account like they offer at eTrade or Schwab, where you get to self-direct so long as you buy products from those brokerages.  I mean a TRUE self-directed account that allows you to buy absolutely anything that is allowed by the IRS.If you don’t know for sure, call your custodian and ask this question:  “Can I buy shares of a private, unlisted company?”  If the answer is YES, then there’s a good chance you’ve got a fully self-directed account.But that’s not the end of the story.That’s because it appears… anecdotally… that a whole lot of self-directed account providers put restrictions in their account documents which require that all of the indicia of ownership of the account’s assets must be in the United States.  That’s a fancy way of saying that your investments must be based here in the good ole US of A.That is, of course, how Uncle Sam would prefer it.  That way, they have access to your assets if they ever want to take them away.  And if you think they can’t take them away… if you believe the nonsense that suggests your retirement savings are secure just because there’s some statutory protection for them under the law… well… I’ve got a bridge to sell to you.  And… you should probably check out past episodes of this show, in which I show you a LOT of ways the government can callously rip away your hard-earned retirement savings with very, very little effort on their part.But I digress.You’ve heard me say over and over again that there really is a DIFFERENCE from one self-directed retirement account to the next?  And most of the differences you’ll never even know… until you realize you can’t do something you wanted to do with your own retirement savings.Offshore investing is one of those things.  So, I’ll dig into this topic of offshore investing more on tomorrow’s show.  But for now, the first thing you’ve got to determine is this:  Does my Self-Directed Retirement Account even allow me to buy international assets?  Because… the hard truth is… many of them don’t.Tomorrow, we’ll get into the deeper things of offshore investing that many of you are pining for.  So, be sure to SUBSCRIBE to Self-Directed Investor Radio RIGHT NOW…  it’s really important that you do so.  Go over to iTunes or Stitcher and subscribe – at no cost – so you’ll automatically get our new daily episodes.And remember what I told you earlier about the opportunity to do very well financial from fully outsourced real estate flipping.  While that opportunity remains available, you can learn about it at S3Flip.com.My friends… invest wisely today… and live well forever! 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Hello, my friends… Happy Sunday!This is a special edition of Self Directed Investor Radio.  Let’s call it the “thought of the day”.  No fancy intro and outro.  But there is something I’d like to share with you very quickly.I have a question for you:  Is the wise investment of your capital simply a wise thing to do, or is it a moral imperative?I’d like to share a parable with you, recorded thousands of years ago.  It goes like this:14 "Again, it will be like a man going on a journey, who called his servants and entrusted his property to them. 15 To one he gave five talents of money, to another two talents, and to another one talent, each according to his ability. Then he went on his journey. 16 The man who had received the five talents went at once and put his money to work and gained five more. 17 So also, the one with the two talents gained two more. 18 But the man who had received the one talent went off, dug a hole in the ground and hid his master's money. 19 "After a long time the master of those servants returned and settled accounts with them. 20 The man who had received the five talents brought the other five. 'Master,' he said, 'you entrusted me with five talents. See, I have gained five more.' 21 "His master replied, 'Well done, good and faithful servant! You have been faithful with a few things; I will put you in charge of many things. Come and share your master's happiness!' 22 "The man with the two talents also came. 'Master,' he said, 'you entrusted me with two talents; see, I have gained two more.' 23 "His master replied, 'Well done, good and faithful servant! You have been faithful with a few things; I will put you in charge of many things. Come and share your master's happiness!' 24 "Then the man who had received the one talent came. 'Master,' he said, 'I knew that you are a hard man, harvesting where you have not sown and gathering where you have not scattered seed. 25 So I was afraid and went out and hid your talent in the ground. See, here is what belongs to you.' 26 "His master replied, 'You wicked, lazy servant! So you knew that I harvest where I have not sown and gather where I have not scattered seed? 27 Well then, you should have put my money on deposit with the bankers, so that when I returned I would have received it back with interest. 28 " 'Take the talent from him and give it to the one who has the ten talents. 29 For everyone who has will be given more, and he will have an abundance. Whoever does not have, even what he has will be taken from him.What does this mean to you?  To me, it means that it is a good, honorable and noble thing to invest wisely.  Similarly, it’s a deplorable and maybe even EVIL thing to waste the capital with which you’ve been entrusted, and to protect it to the exclusion of growing it. That’s my quick thought of the day today.  I’m so grateful to you for being a listener to this show.  Have a great day! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The SUPREME COURT leveled a massive attack against REAL ESTATE INVESTORS in a huge ruling from yesterday.  This one is big, folks.  I’m Bryan Ellis, and I’ll tell you how they’re stealing your rights again right now in Episode #90----------It’s a somber time as a real estate investor, and a somber time as an American. Yesterday, the US Supreme Court issued major rulings that make it imminently clear that the plain language of a law is not the standard by which the court will rule.  Rather, they’ve ruled egregiously in favor of the expansion of federal power, and against YOUR RIGHTS as a citizen of our once great country.You may think I’m referring to the ruling about Obamacare, the law which is already a disaster from any perspective.  And yes, that case was CERTAINLY an example of ignoring the language of the law in order to expand federal power.  There’s simply no arguing that point.But the case I’m referring to, which is so huge and so distinctly NEGATIVE for real estate investors, was between the Texas Department of Housing and the “Inclusive Communities Project”.So here’s what the case was about… and why it’s terrifying for real estate investors.  The question that the court had to decide was this:  Are you guilty of racial discrimination if you have no policies that have racial discrimination as an objective?Yes, that’s a convoluted notion… as is the entire case… but I’ll give you an example to clarify it:Let’s just say you live in a neighborhood and you also own a rental property in that neighborhood.  You’ve got kids, and you want to keep them safe.  And let’s say that you have a real conviction that you will not serve certain types of people with your rental property, in order to keep your family, and your neighborhood, safe.  The standard you’re using to filter out dangerous people… well, it’s completely objective.  And it’s not random.  You see, the group of people you refuse to service is convicted sex offenders.  You refuse, in principle, to serve such egregious scum.Fair enough, right?  Your property, your decision, right?Of course, there is the issue of the 1968 Fair Housing Act, a law that makes it illegal to discriminate in housing matters on the basis of race and a few other issues.But that’s not an issue for you.  You’re not a racist to begin with.  You’re happy for any qualified party to rent your property, regardless of their race… so long as they’re not a baby rapist.Guess what?  You’re quite certainly guilty of racial discrimination.Yep, that’s right.  And the lawsuit that results from it is going to be very expensive and will likely crush your financial objectives.So, how are you guilty of racial discrimination, when the parties you’re actually filtering from your rental property are baby rapists?Well, here’s the thing:  If the universe of people who are convicted baby rapists in your area happen to be mostly of a racial minority, then you are – according to this absolutely STUPID, INSULTING and TERRIFYING ruling – YOU are guilty of racial discrimination.Yep, you heard that right.Because you’re trying to protect your family and your neighborhood from baby rapists…Because you’re unwilling to provide housing to people who sexually assault children…Because you have standards of behavior which say that you won’t allow your business to benefit people who would rather RAPE your children rather than say hello to them…Well, you’re a racist.That’s right.  That’s what this decision from the Supreme Court effectively means for you.The judges who decided this are:  Anthony Kennedy, Ruth Ginsburg, Stephen Breyer, Sonya Sotomayor and Elena Kagan.To each one of those justices, I say:  GO TO HELL.  Making bad decisions as judges is one thing.  Making it ILLEGAL for Americans to protect their families is entirely another.  Making it illegal for people to live out their values in their business is REPUGNANT.  Each one of you judges are horrible human beings.A child rapist… no matter what his skin color… doesn’t deserve one ounce of respect or consideration.  But you people are DEMANDING that the one factor that trumps EVERY OTHER CONSIDERATION is race.  Each one of you is a race bigot.Of course, I’m assuming that there isn’t a law that protects baby rapists from discrimination.  In our screwed up society, there probably is.  But I’m going to continue on the assumption that there’s not.Let’s look back to the immortal words of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr:  “I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character.”I agree with Dr. King.  I’ll bet you do, too.  But the Supreme Court has just ruled – ostensibly to “protect” minority rights – that the one thing that MUST be ignored about a person is the content of their character, and the one thing that MUST be considered about a person is the color of their skin.Justices Kennedy, Ginsburg, Breyer, Sotomayor and Kagan:  You’ve just crushed the dream of Dr. King… and of everyone who believes that skin color has nothing to do with the value of a human being.  I’d like to repeat:  You’re all HORRIBLE people.But… that’s not the end of the bad news, my friends.The real problem is WHO can take legal action against you.  You see, it’s NOT likely that a baby rapist will sue you based on this particular issue, which is called “disparate impact” in legal parlance.  No, it’s worse than that.You see, this ruling opens the door for supposed community groups – who have not been damaged by your policies in any way, and who exist solely to pick race-based legal fights – to sue you in order to make their vision of the world – the one where the content of one’s character MUST be IGNORED, and where the color of one’s skin MUST be considered above all other factors.Here’s the next objective for our government:  They’re going to try to make it illegal for you to sell your real estate to the highest bidder.  Why?  There’s a disparate impact against racial minorities who may not have enough money to buy where your property is located.  The time is coming, folks.None of this is helpful to racial minorities, or to any other people… but it’s wildly valuable for the government.  Why?  It increases the government’s role in your life… and with every additional hint of government involvement in your daily life, your business and your family, the government’s power grows… and yours shrinks.My friends, I love America.  But we’re getting what we deserve.  By putting politicians in office who nominate Supreme Court justices like Kennedy, Ginsburg, Breyer, Sotomayor and Kagan… we’re getting exactly what we’ve asked for.I would also criticize our choices of Congress members and Presidents as well because it is they who create these laws to begin with.  But, as this case, and the yesterday’s ruling from the Obamacare case makes clear… the language of those laws don’t really matter anyway.  What matters in today’s America is the pronouncements from on high at the Supreme Court… and in every way, the Supreme Court is showing itself to be a friend of the huge federal government, and the enemy of individual citizens who love liberty and justice for all.It’s a sad day in America, my friends. Thanks to the Supreme Court – and to the liberal philosophy they’re pushing – it’s just become much harder to invest wisely toda … and to live well forever. 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What’s better than a Self-Directed IRA?  The answer is, of course, a Self-Directed 401k!  It’s everything that the Self Directed IRA is… but safer and far more financially potent.  But do you qualify to have a Self Directed 401k?  I’m Bryan Ellis… I’ll tell you how to make it happen RIGHT NOW in Episode #89----------Greetings, my friends!  I’ve seen one question over and over in various forms, and it’s time I address it!  The question comes from Nathan, who says:“I am a self-employed auto dealer in Walnut Creek, California operating as a sole proprietor.  I currently have a SEP IRA with a small amount invested.  I am interested in investing in a Solo 401K or Self Directed IRA that would allow me to invest in real estate rental properties.    Any information you have would be appreciated.”Thanks for the question, Nathan!  I’ll be delighted to help you clarify that question in this episode.But first, a quick shout-out to my flipping team in Phoenix.  Another job well done, guys!  They completed a deal on Desert Hills in the Phoenix metro area.  It was another great profit… over $31,000 in net profit, and the total net cash-on-cash return on this project was over 40%!  What’s even better… the deal took only 4 months and 3 days… and that 40% cash-on-cash return… well… that’s NOT an annualized number!  So, needless to say, our client in the Passive Property Flipping program was THRILLED with that result.Related to that, I’d like to thank those of you who have, so kindly, expressed interest in getting involved in the Passive Property Flipping Program.  I’ll take a quick second to tell you about that, because there’s an opportunity coming up that may be of interest to you.Here’s the bottom line on it:  Real estate flipping can be both VERY profitable, and VERY dangerous.  When done well, there’s a lot of money to be made.  RealtyTrac recently published a study about real estate flipping in the first quarter of 2015, and the results are that there were more than 17,000 properties flipped in Q1 of this year, and that the AVERAGE gross profit on those deals was over $72,000.So clearly, there’s HUGE financial potential.  BUT… it’s not a simple thing to do, and it takes a lot of time.  Yet still, there’s interest in real estate flipping from many affluent investors who have the money and the willingness, but neither the time nor the skill.That’s where the Passive Property Flipping program comes into plays.  My team is EXTRAORDINARY.  We have so many case studies to prove it that you’ll go crazy LONG before you see them all.  But that’s a good thing.  We have a process… a system… and it works… and there’s OVERWHELMING PROOF that it works consistently.  We’ve had exactly ONE losing deal… it was a very small $3,000 loss.  The rest of the deals… over a hundred in recent months alone… well, all of the rest have been profitable.  And I’m not going to tell you the results of a “typical” deal here because… well, your financial advisor has probably told you that results like we produce aren’t possible.  But our process works, and works incredibly well… and you’ll see exactly why we can produce great results consistently when you learn more about what we do.So… if you’d like to know more, and how YOU can get involved in enjoying real estate flipping profits… but WITHOUT requiring your time or expertise, then I’d suggest you check out our special webinar training RIGHT NOW… you can watch it at SDIRadio.com/flip… and it will tell you all about the program, with a WHOLE LOT of case studies and VERY THOROUGH explanation of our process.We are not ALWAYS able to take on new clients, but we do have an opening right now.  And this opportunity is only suitable for you if you have at least $75,000 of liquid capital.  If that’s you, and you’re interested in strong results for your portfolio from flipping go ahead and check out SDIRadio.com/flip.Now, for our question of the day!So… Nathan is a business owner and wants to form a self directed IRA or 401k and invest in real estate rentals.  Nathan:  Welcome!  You’re getting into a really exciting area of personal finance.Let’s start with the IRA vs 401k question.  Nathan, a Self Directed 401k is better than a Self Directed IRA in every way.  As in, EVERY way.  Not even close.  The biggest difference, to me, is that if you accidentally commit a prohibited transaction – in other words, if you break any of the IRS rules concerning IRA’s – then you’ve got a disaster on your hands if you’re using an IRA.  With a 401k, it’s still a problem… but a pretty easy one to fix.  There are many more reasons a 401k is superior.  Check out Episode #3 of Self Directed Investor Radio for a complete discussion of the differences.Nathan, I’m recommending a 401k to you because you qualify for it as a business owner.  If you didn’t own a business, you’d have to use a self directed IRA, which is still far better than any other non-self-directed retirement account option.But… I’m guessing you have employees.  If that’s the case, then you can’t use a Solo 401k, which is what most people think of when they think of a self directed 401k.  A solo 401k is basically a 401k that’s intended only for businesses with no employees except the owner and the owner’s spouse.  But no problem… you can still have a fully self-directed 401k even though you have employees… you just have to use a “regular” 401k that isn’t a solo.  It will cost you slightly more, but it’s what the law requires.Now… as for investing in rental property through your 401k… think hard about that, ok?  The fact is this:  There are a LOT of tax advantages to be had by owning real estate OUTSIDE of a retirement account.  Assuming you’re planning to hold your rental property for a long time, then it’s pretty likely you’d benefit from performing the transaction OUTSIDE of your 401k and depreciating the property, then later taking advantage of a 1031 exchange to defer the taxes forever.  Talk with a tax advisor to get the full story.  It makes sense to hold just about any kind of allowable investment asset in your ira or 401k rather than outside of it, but for long-term real estate holds, the tax advantages that exist for real estate specifically may outweigh other benefits you’d receive through your 401k.And one more thing, Nathan… if you have your 401k set up CORRECTLY… and believe me when I tell you that they’re NOT all the same… then it’s possible for you to borrow a rather substantial amount of money from your own 401k, so that you can use that money to do your real estate deals outside of the 401k!  But again, that’s subject to your having a 401k that is set up correctly to begin with.So Nathan, if you’d like a referral to the very best source for getting your Self Directed 401k established correctly – whether you need the solo 401k variety or the variety that allows for employees – just drop me a note at feedback@sdiradio.com and I’ll be happy to hook you up.That goes for the rest of you, too, my friends.  A self directed 401k is an AMAZING tool… and if you’re saving for retirement and you qualify to have one, you’d be unwise to use anything else.That’s all for today, my friends!  For you affluent investors who are interested in profiting from real estate flipping be sure to check out our special webinar training on The Passive Property Flipping Program over at SDIRadio.com/flip.  You’re going to love it! My friends… Invest wisely today… and live well forever! 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How stupid do they think you are?  It’s the favorite lie of real estate marketers and turnkey rental property:  “Real estate in market X is at the same price it was 5 – 10 – 20 years ago… it’s on sale… it’s time to BUY, BUY, BUY!”  My friends, I’m SICK OF IT…  I’m Bryan Ellis, and I’ll tell you how they’re lying to you, why the lie sounds so reasonable, and exactly why your portfolio is being SCREWED as a result… RIGHT NOW in episode #88--------I just heard it on a radio show… yet again.  It’s a huge lie… but it sounds SO GOOD…I’ll bet you’ve heard it, too.It goes like this:  “In my market, houses are selling for the same price they were selling for 20 years ago… it’s time to BUY, BUY, BUY!”DEAR LORD, people!  That may be the STUPIDEST justification for making an investment I’ve ever heard!  You’ve heard the old line “what goes up must come down”… a condensed version of the laws of gravity, and also a warning against getting involved in investments that are too hot for their own good?  Well, this argument – “houses are at 20-year-old pricing, so you should buy, buy, buy – well that one is the opposite:  They’re saying what goes DOWN – the house they’re trying to sell you – must come back UP.Insane!So let me get this straight…When a person makes this claim… invariably to convince YOU to purchase a property from them… what they’re hoping you’ll hear is this:“You should buy this house.  This kind of property could be bought 20 years ago for $100,000.  It appreciated a lot in the last 20 years, but now it’s back to $100,000 where it was priced 2 decades ago… and so it’s very undervalued and when you buy it, it will go back up and you’ll become wealthy!”Yep, that’s what they want you to hear.  And that’s absolute horse manure, for 2 really big reasons I’ll tell you in just a minute.The astute investor will hear it differently.  The astute investor will hear:“Hmmm…. So, this property has the same price now that it did 20 years ago?  What’s wrong with this property, or this market, that the price of this property is the same now as 20 years ago?”Would you ever buy that kind of logic in any other market?  Oh yes… I forgot… you can buy real estate indiscriminately because real estate always goes up, right?PLEASE!The same thing happens in stocks, too, right?  Remember:  If you ask any financial advisor, what will they tell you happens to the stocks of large, high-quality companies over time?  You guessed it:  They go up!But Kodak didn’t get the memo on that one.  Neither did Blockbuster Entertainment.  Or Sears.  Or Sun Microsystems.  Or Radio Shack.  Some of those companies are still putting along at their “undervalued” prices, where they’ve been trading for years.  Some of those companies are totally out of business.Yet… all of these stocks were once high flyers.  They were all market leaders in years and decades past.  But now… well… not so much.  But using the valuation logic that the real estate marketers are pushing on you, every one of them would be clear “BUY’s”.  Absolute caca, my friends.So would you be willing to buy a big old share of Blockbuster Entertainment because it’s stock is so cheap compared to past levels?  Sorry… no can do.  That company is a shell of what it once was, and isn’t even listed on the stock exchanges anymore.Yet… the EXACT SAME ARGUMENT – what comes down must go up – could have been made for buying into Blockbuster… or for any of the others…Well… that argument is for the simple-minded… and for those who are willing to take risks with their portfolio by using logic that FEELS plausible, yet is totally and completely irrational.  Foolish, even… though it certainly doesn’t sound foolish when the charming real estate marketer tells you it’s time to BUY BUY BUY!When you hear someone say to buy real estate today because it’s trading at the same prices as 20 years ago… they’re implying (or maybe outright saying) that the real estate they’re offering you is undervalued.  So, you should ask two questions:Question #1:  If the property you’re trying to sell me is UNDERVALUED right now, what is the CORRECT VALUE… and how do you determine that?  The ugly truth about this, my friends, is that the correct value of the property is whatever it’s selling for on the open market right now.  Past pricing simply doesn’t matter.  And for you to buy the property below value – as they’re suggesting you should do – the only way to make that happen is to purchase at a price that’s BELOW the market price.  So if a property is selling for $100,000 and you pay $80,000 for it… maybe that’s a good deal for you!  But if it’s selling on the open market for $100,000 and you pay $100,000 for it… well, there’s simply nothing that’s undervalued about that.  You’re paying full retail pricing.And Question #2… you should ask them this:  “I understand that this property is selling at $100,000 now and it also sold at $100,000 20 years ago.  But what is the price of the property today… using the value of money from 20 years ago?”  My friends… the answer is pretty brutal.  If money was still worth now what is worth 20 years ago, that house you’re about to pay $100,000 for would only cost $64,000… and that’s according to the nifty little inflation calculator over at the website for the Bureau of Labor Statistics.  That’s right, my friends:  That property they’re trying to sell you because it’s “undervalued”… well, the truth is that in real dollar terms – you know, the money it costs you to buy food at the grocery story – well, the property they’re pushing you to buy has actually DECLINED… SUBSTANTIALLY… in value.  Only you don’t see it, because it’s hidden by inflation.  But you feel it in higher prices now than 20 years ago… and the difference is STARK.Now I’d like to be clear with you:  It IS possible to buy property at undervalued pricing.  It’s done every single day by savvy real estate investors.  And it’s certainly possible for you to buy a piece of real estate that’s on an uptrend, and which will be worth more in the future than it is now.  No doubt, this can be done.But what I do NOT want you to do is to make investment decisions based on an absolutely asinine standard like the one that suggests that just because a property is selling for the same price now as 20 years ago… or even 5 or 10… that that alone means it’s a good deal for you.The dirty little secret is this:  Most real estate investment marketers sell their properties to people like you at FULL retail value, and some of them sell for much more than that.  You are inherently NOT getting a good deal when you pay full retail value for a piece of real estate.  But they don’t want you to know that.  So instead of telling you the real truth – that you’ve got to buy it below the CURRENT retail pricing to get a truly “undervalued” price – what they do instead is “shift the goal posts” and have you compare the price you’re being asked to pay to historical pricing levels.  Their argument is:  It’s been higher in the past… it’ll be higher again… and you should BUY BUY BUY!My friends… don’t fall for it.  I’m NOT telling you that there are no good deals to be found through real estate investment marketers.  But I am telling you to be EXTREMELY EXTREMELY careful.  Because that argument – it’s been higher in the past… it’ll be higher again – well, that argument is a smokescreen, and could hurt your portfolio very badly. My friends… invest wisely today… and live well forever! 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How do you maximize the potential for an inherited IRA… before you inherit it?  And why does this matter for you… even if you don’t expect to inherit an IRA?  I’m Bryan Ellis… I’ll tell you right now in Episode #87…--------The inherited IRA… particularly the inherited ROTH IRA… one of my favorite topics… and one of the most powerful financial tools EVER.I got a great question last week from a listener named Christa, who said:  “I followed your advice in Special Edition #1 from back in February of 2015 where you advised to have a relative create a roth IRA and to specify me as the beneficiary.  My father set up a Roth and deposited a small amount of money into the account as you advised.  What do I do now so I can maximize the benefits of the Roth?”Great question, Christa… and wise thinking on your part.  My friends, what Christa is referring to is one of my absolute favorite strategies.  Just imagine this:  Imagine an account for which, just by virtue of performing your investments in that account, that all of your profits on those investments are 100% tax FREE – not tax deferred – but, even better than a typical Roth IRA, you can actually take those profits out at any time you want, and not be required to wait until retirement age?Yep… you heard that right.  A magical financial account that makes income taxes on investment profits just VANISH.  Pretty amazing, right?  There’s only one problem:  The only way to get one of these magical accounts is to inherit it.  And for you to inherit it, you guessed:  Somebody has to pass on to the great by-and-by.Well, Christa has been smart, and has arranged for her father to create a small Roth account and has specified Christa as his beneficiary.  Christa’s father is not only not dead… but he’s doing quite well and will be with us for some time.  Christa’s question to me is:  What can I do in the mean time to maximize the value of that account when I inherit it?I love this question, Christa.  And I’ll tell you EXACTLY what you should do.But FIRST:  Can I take a moment to brag again on my Phoenix team?  We’re about to wrap up another GREAT “passive real estate flip” where we work with a client who wants to take advantage of the hot market for flipping real estate, but who hasn’t the time or expertise to perform the flipping process for themselves.  Now, I’ll go ahead and admit… the deal I’m about to describe to you is in escrow on the resale side.  We bought this property almost 3 months ago and have fully renovated it.  It is under contract to be sold, and escrow will close on that sale in about 2 weeks.  The bottom line on this deal?  Assuming it closes on time, the cash-on-cash return will be 29.6% for a 4-month transaction.  And even if escrow is extended, we’ll still solidly be in the 20% cash-on-cash ROI range on this deal.  My guys in Phoenix are just simply extraordinary… and I’m so proud to be associated with them, and to connect my clients with them.  If YOU would like more information about what they’re doing, and how YOU could get involved in our Passive Property Flipping, please check out my free webinar right now.  You can see it at SDIRadio.com/flip… again, that’s SDIRadio.com/flip.  This particular opportunity is most suitable for clients with a minimum of $75,000 of liquid capital. So, Christa wants to know how to maximize the benefit she receives from the Roth IRA she’ll inherit sometime in the future from her father, who is currently alive and kicking, thankfully!Christa, I admire your interest in planning for optimization.Here’s something I want you to remember:  That Roth IRA belongs to your father.  It will not be yours until you inherit it after his passing.  So the first thing to consider is that you should make sure your relationship with your father is on steady ground, because at any time between now and that fateful day, your father still owns that IRA, and can change the beneficiary at any time… or he could just withdraw the money in it and use it to his liking.But assuming that your family ties are strong, here’s what you can do:Consider building the Roth IRA alongside of your father.  Remember – it’s his account, so everything done with that account will require his approval.  Depending on the size of your account, you have various options.  It’s my impression from your email that your father deposited a fairly small amount of money into the account, and do you know what?  That’s ok.  The value of an inherited Roth IRA is not in the amount of money you inherit in it – though more is always better – but it’s in the incredible tax advantages that it offers you… you know, that advantage where all of your investment profits are both entirely tax free AND available for your immediate usage without penalty.So here’s the thing:  If your father’s account is small, I recommend that you do two things:  First, to the extent it’s consistent with your father’s tax planning and financial circumstances, ask your father to add more contributions to it over time in order to grow the capital base.  The money for those contributions may even be given to your father by you… so long as you do so in a tax-compliant manner.But the other thing… the far more consequential thing… that you should do is this:  Begin to learn some investment strategies you can use that require less money, and probably more effort.  For example:  Many people will flip one or two real estate contracts each year in their IRA.  While I do fear that the IRS could change it’s stance on that particular activity in the future, in recent years, it appears that they’ve been pretty liberal about allowing that strategy.  And the strategy is simple:  You find a property that can be bought at an attractive price and get it under contract in the name of your IRA, and pay the earnest money deposit using your IRA’s funds.  You then find some other party who is interested in the property, and “assign” the contract to them for a fee, thereby getting back your earnest money and a nice profit.  It’s frequently possible to earn nice sums of money – making $5,000 to $15,000 per assignment transaction is not uncommon.BUT… it does require work.  That’s the tradeoff… if you’re dealing with a small amount of money in your Roth IRA when you inherit it, you’re going to have to focus on deals where you can substitute effort for money, to the extent that such is allowable in your IRA.There are other methods too… there’s a lot of flexibility in note investing, for example… particularly with the use of partial notes.  But that’s a topic far too big for our remaining time.And something very important, Christa:  You can NOT contribute more money to the Roth IRA after you inherit it.  No more contributions are allowed after inheritance.  You can make all of the profit you want in that account, but you can’t contribute more money to it.Bottom line, Christa:  You should spend your time right now LEARNING how to do these types deals where you can substitute effort for money in an IRA-compatible manner.  This will allow you to quickly build up your Roth IRA capital base to a point where you can do other, more substantial, deals… and really enjoy the astounding tax advantages that an inherited Roth offers.And to the rest of my listeners:  A Roth IRA… even one with a limited amount of capital… coupled with education about how to use it… is one of the most valuable things you could leave to your children and grandchildren.  Please take a moment to listen to Special Edition 1 of this show, published on February 15, 2015 for more information.  It’ll blow your mind.Have a great day my friends… and remember to check out my webinar about Passive Property Flipping for affluent investors over at SDIRadio.com/flip.  Folks… invest wisely today… and live well forever! 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What happens when the SEC accuses one of the biggest self-directed IRA custodians in America of helping to promote a Ponzi scheme… a scheme which wiped out many MILLIONS of dollars from the accounts of that custodian’s clients?  I’m Bryan Ellis… I’ll give you the latest RIGHT NOW in Episode #86.---------------It’s an ugly, ugly situation, my friends.  And I hope you’re not one of the many unfortunate investors who were victimized.Before I give you all of the sordid details, it’s important that you understand that everything I’m about to share with you is allegation on the part of the SEC.  This has not yet gone to court, though it’s heading there presently.  It’s entirely possible that the huge Self-Directed IRA custodian involved in this situation could be fully exonerated.  They have denied the charges.But I’ve got to tell you… it doesn’t look good for Equity Trust, one of the largest – if not the very largest – self directed IRA custodian.I’ll give you the ugly details about that in just a moment.  But first, I’d like to give a heart-felt thank you to:  EVERY ONE OF YOU.  I just love doing this show… I love that you listen to this show… and I’m truly, truly grateful for you.So, back to our story:Here’s my reading of the situation from a layman’s point of view.  Equity Trust is in trouble because the SEC believes that they, in effect, helped to promote an investment that turned out to be a fraudulent Ponzi scheme… and they did nothing to alert their clients, even though there were some very clear red flags.  That Ponzi scheme – promoted by Ephren Taylor and Randy Poulson – resulted in the loss of a total of about $5 million dollars across about 100 accounts at Equity Trust.Why were so many Equity Trust clients involved in this particular scheme – which they all believed to be a legitimate investment?  Apparently, Equity Trust representatives participated at events hosted by Taylor and Poulson, where the custodian encouraged attendees to transfer their retirement savings from traditional IRAs to self-directed IRAs at Equity Trust so they could invest in the Taylor or Poulson offerings.But the real crux of the matter, according to the SEC’s allegation, is that there were some red flags that should have tipped off Equity Trust to the potentially fraudulent nature of the transaction.  And apparently, those red flags were ignored by Equity Trust.What were the red flags?  Well, possibly the biggest one was that even though Taylor and Poulsen were providing investments in the form of “notes” – basically just a loan – those guys apparently never provided investors with documentation about the collateral for those notes.  And this is a problem for Equity Trust, as the entity who seems to have both PROMOTED the investment and served as a custodian for accounts that purchased the investment.  What does the SEC think about that?  Well, Andrew J. Ceresney, Director of the SEC’s Division of Enforcement says it rather bluntly:“We allege that Equity Trust failed to protect the interests of its customers when it acted as more than a passive custodian.  When custodians like Equity Trust are aware of red flags suggesting an ongoing fraud, they must take action to try to prevent it.”So, the issue here is NOT that clients of Equity Trust were involved in an investment which turned out to be fraudulent.  After all, they sell self-directed accounts, which inherently includes the ability to self-direct into bad investments as well as good ones.  No, my friends, the problem is more fundamental:  The SEC thinks that Equity Trust, in effect, recommended the investment, and stepped out of the role they’re supposed to serve – which is as a passive custodian of assets – and into a role which is not compatible, and apparently legal problematic, for a custodian to be involved in… that role being investment advisory.  And since that investment showed some red flags of fraud, and later turned out to be genuine fraud… the SEC thinks Equity Trust’s role beyond passive custodianship obligated them to protect their clients, which clearly did not happen.  The next step will be a hearing an administrative law judge.Now my friends, let’s be clear:  I don’t know if any of this is true.  Equity Trust certainly denies it… but it doesn’t look good for them.  I don’t have an account at Equity Trust, so I have no first-hand experience with them.But I’ll tell you this much:  It’s NEVER good news when a custodian explicitly endorses an investment opportunity.  When you see that – and you certainly will, from time to time – ask yourself:  What’s the quid pro quo?Invariably, it’s one or both of two things:  The custodian is endorsing the investment because the investors must first set up a self-directed account with the custodian and/or the custodian is otherwise being compensated for promotion of the investment to its clients.Now, here’s the truth:  I’m not a huge fan of these types of regulations, so even though Equity Trust’s reputation is that they’re somewhat heavy-handed when it comes to pushing their services, still… I’m not a fan of government overreach.  But I’m not really sure that’s happening here.  It seems, on some level, quite reasonable for a custodianship to be a totally separate function from investment advisory.  But on the other hand… I prefer that laissez-faire be the rule.But that leaves a responsibility with you, my friends.  It’s the responsibility to do the one thing required of all self-directed investors:  To respect your own capital.  How do you do that?  Make sure that you stick only with investments that match the S3 Standard:  SIMPLE, SAFE and STRONG.This investment that’s gotten Equity Trust in trouble – and far more importantly – has resulted in the loss of MILLIONS of dollars for their clients… well, it CLEARLY didn’t meet the SAFE part of the standard.You’ve heard me talk about note investing many times here on this show.  I love a good note investment.  It makes sense in so many ways.  And the investment that Taylor and Poulsen were promoting through Equity Trust was a note investment… but it turned out to be fraudulent… and a complete rip-off.What’s the difference between what they were doing, and a GOOD note investment?  The answer is right there in the SEC press release:  There was no documentation about the collateral for the loan.  NO DOCUMENTATION!  I mean, COME ON, PEOPLE!  What do you think… do you think you should just trust people with your money?  Should you just turn over your money with nothing to show for it and hope for the best?  Jeez… how silly.Oh, wait a minute… that’s exactly what Wall Street requires you to do with stocks and mutual funds.Nevertheless, my point stands.  The ONE THING that can make a note investment really safe is to have really great collateral.  You’ve heard me talk about it on this show over and over.  Whenever my investors get involved in a new loan – in other words, a note – we tell them to DEMAND that the collateral that they receive is worth at least 50% MORE than the amount of the loan.  So if they make a $100,000 loan, they’ve got to get $150,000 of collateral.THAT is a great way to keep your money safe.  You’ve got to have ALL 3, my friends – simple, safe and strong – and you’ve got to have them all DOCUMENTED and in legally enforceable language!My friends… alternative assets can be GREAT!  In fact… I’d venture to say that it’s really quite simple to totally WHIP the long-term average of the S&P 500… and to do it in an incredibly safe way using alternative assets.  Particularly with well-collateralized notes.But… make sure you understand what you’re getting into.  If you don’t have a lot of personal experience with the investment opportunity you’re considering, be wise and hire an attorney or other advisor who does.  It just makes sense.Remember, my friends:  Respect your own capital.  That’s rule #1.That’s all for today, folks.  Please be sure you’re subscribed to the FREE self directed investor email discussion group.  Just text the word SDIRADIO (with no spaces or periods) to 33444 to join this private group.  Again, text SDIRADIO to 33444. My friends:  Invest wisely today… and live well forever! 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It’s our mantra around here:  Self-Directed Investors should only deploy their capital into opportunities that are SIMPLE and SAFE and STRONG.  In other words, they match our S3 standard.  But what does it mean, really, for an investment to be STRONG… is it just a function of the ROI number?  No, it’s much more than that, and I’ll you exactly why RIGHT NOW.  I’m Bryan Ellis, and this is Episode #85…What does it mean for your investment to be STRONG?Let’s get one thing taken care of right away:  Yes, your investment must be profitable.  The STRENGTH component of the S3 Standard can not be satisfied by an investment that yields a profit below the rate of inflation… or, even worse, an actual loss.And for all of our new listeners… first, welcome!... and next:  the S3 standard is the criteria by which we, as self directed investors, evaluate investment opportunities.  S3 is shorthand for SIMPLE, SAFE and STRONG, which are the 3 baseline characteristics that must be present before an investment opportunity is consistent with the core value of self-directed investors, which is to Respect Your Own Capital.And during the last couple of episodes, we’ve been looking at the converse of those characteristics in order to identify RED FLAGS to help us avoid bad investment choices.So, yes… your bottom-line ROI numbers are a key component of the STRENGTH factor of the S3 standard.  And only you can decide for yourself what constitutes a STRONG roi.  That’s a curious thing to me.  For many people, anything below a double-digit annual return is insulting.  But for many people, anything above 6-8% seems aggressive and fanciful.  We all have our unique individual vantage points, and clearly, you know what target ROI numbers are, for you, a “STRONG” result.But here’s the problem with focusing exclusively on ROI as a measure of strength. ROI measures ONLY the results of an investment AFTER it’s all said and done, and the check has been cashed.That’s a critical measure, to be certain.  But there’s something else to consider, and that is EVERY SINGLE MOMENT between the time you deploy your capital, until you get it all back and are no longer exposed to the investment.  It’s everything between the first moment and the very last moment.Do you know the biggest reason that people who have been successful as stock market investors choose to leave the stock market and invest in alternative assets like hard money loans and real estate notes?  It’s not because they weren’t profitable at the end, but because the investment was strong ONLY at the end, leaving nothing but stress in the middle.Here’s a hypothetical.  Imagine you bought a stock that was at $50 back at the turn of the millennium.  You invested $200,000 into this stock.And today – that same stock is worth $150, and you now have $600,000.  Good for you, right?Well, sure… except…That stock… the one that’s posted a strong ROI for you… well, it’s no been a smooth ride.  It trended up reasonably well for a few years and got to $75 a share… but then there was a terrible earnings announcement and it dropped down to $40.  It boomed upwards back to $80 and then the superstar CEO was fired without much explanation, cutting it back down to $50 and the next day, the SEC announced an investigation into the company, cutting it down to $20 per share.A few years later, the company is cleared by the SEC and in the meantime, they’ve come out with some great new products, and news of the SEC acquittal causes the shares to roar upwards to over $100 until it ultimately gets to where it is now, at $150.But in the meantime… your $50 stock has gone as low as $20 per share.  At that point… your $200,000 investment had been slashed down to $80,000.  That difference - $120,000 – is enough to pay for a good college education, a really great starter home, or even a really fancy sports car.And even when your investment wasn’t at it’s worst point, it was in the losing column for much of that time… and it was very, very volatile ALL of the time.In other words… even though the stock ultimately turned in a strong ROI at the end of the investment, it’s performance in the meantime was anything but strong.  It was profoundly inconsistent.  It was unpredictable.  Worst of all:It was STRESSFUL.  REALLY STRESSFUL.You simply had no way of knowing that the CEO would be fired… or that the SEC would attack… or that maybe something would happen in a foreign financial market that could hurt your investment here in a very painful way.So strength at the END of an investment isn’t the only consideration.  You should consider strength DURING an investment as well.And frankly… the best options for having a great result not just at the end, but all the way through an investment in a PREDICTABLE manner.And what investments are strong, not just at the end, but all the way through as well?For that, my friends… you’ll have to make sure you’re SUBSCRIBED to this show through iTunes so you don’t miss a single episode.  I’ll delve into that topic a lot in the coming days.But here’s the truth:  The point of today’s show isn’t as much to drive you into deploying your capital into a particular asset, as it is to understand and factor in the impact of the way that the volatility of that asset will affect your day to day life between the time you enter and exit the investment.That effect is a very real factor… It creates stress which in turn strains your body, your mind and potentially your relationships as well.  It’s not a factor to be taken lightly.  It’s fundamentally WISE to invest in a way that won’t stress you out.And so, my friends: Invest WISELY today, and live well forever!! 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What is your PLAN B if the stock you buy gets CRUSHED overnight?  What if that real estate investment goes the wrong way?  Listen in right away... Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

THESE INVESTMENTS will absolutely outperform anything you've ever done.  But they will not always be available.  Get involved RIGHT NOW.  Listen in for more... Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

EVERY CHOICE You make in your investment portfolio should be careful to AVOID these 3 TERRIFYING Red Flags... Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

PROHIBITED!  That's the worst thing that can be said of any transaction performed in your IRA.  But many people think that's the truth of the matter if you flip real estate in your IRA.  But a new court ruling sheds some more light on the topic, so listen  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

An affluent software engineer from LA is tempted by the success of his friends to become a real estate flipper.  Here's Bryan's response... Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Live in California?  Have an IRA?  A new legal ruling could STRIP your IRA of the protection you think it has from Bankruptcy and Lawsuits.  This trend will spread eastward.  Listen in now for full details... Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Diversification is Wall Street's answer to how to manage your portfolio.  But why isn't it actually working?  And what do both Warren Buffett and Plato have to say about it?  You'll be shocked... Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

https://SelfDirected.org/78 Dave Ramsey says "Debt is Dumb & Cash is King".  Robert Kiyosaki says there's "good debt" and there's "bad debt".  But they BOTH miss the mark... Listen in to find out how!  Text SDIRadio to 33444 for more info! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Want GREAT INVESTMENTS served up to you on a "Silver Platter"?  Here's exactly where you can find some of the great opportunities mentioned in Episodes 75 & 76!  Text SDIRADIO to 33444 for more info! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

If you could get an interest rate of 12% for your money, and it was PROFOUNDLY safe... you'd do it, wouldn't you?  Listen in to learn how! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

can you HAVE IT ALL in your investment portfolio?  You'll learn ONE STRATEGY that is EASY to understand... is very SAFE for your principle... and offers STRONG, STRONG returns!  Please text SDIRadio to 33444 for more info! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

It's SEXY!  The idea of Venture Capital investing conjures images of booming share prices and glamorous technology startups.  But is it right for you?  Bryan applies the S3 Investing Model criteria to find out!  Please text SDIRADIO to 33444 for more info Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

the ABSOLUTE CRAZE over 'Turnkey Rental Properties' creates 2 HUGE opportunities for you... neither of which I'd seen until this past week!  I'm a changed man!  See what this means right now in Episode #73!  Please test SDIRADIO to 33444 for more info! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

INVESTING IN FAMILY can be dangerous.  Particularly when it's your retirement savings.  But many, many successful businesses are family owned!  Here's exactly how to evaluate your opportunity!  Please text SDIRADIO to 33444 for more information! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Want to MAKE 12% Interest On Your Capital - in a TRULY SAFE way?  Here are 3 opportunities to do that RIGHT NOW... Listen in to this special episode immediately!  Text SDIRADIO to 33444 for more info. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

1031 - NOW or NEVER!  If you're up against the clock in your 1031 exchange and need to find a replacement property RIGHT AWAY, you'll enjoy this advice to a listener who faces that same challenge!  Test SDIRadio to 33444 For More Info! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

It's a LIE!  If Someone Tries To Sell You Rental Houses Based on CAP RATE, you should RUN!  Here's why... and how to buy SAFELY instead!  For more info, text SDIRadio to 33444 Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Want to make 15% EVERY SINGLE YEAR?  No Way... Unless you've created an S3-Model (Simple, Safe & Strong) Portfolio Like THIS BRILLIANT INVESTOR... and your fellow listener to SDI Radio!  For more info, text SDIRadio to 33444 now! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

DISASTER!  How An Investor Who Got "Professional Advice" About Rental Property Investing Is BLEEDING MONEY from his 5 "turnkey" properties... And Bryan's Instant Solution For Turning This Landlord's Losses Into BIG GAINS!  Text SDIRADIO to 33444 for more info! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

BIG PROFITS in FLIPPING?  RealtyTrac says that the AVERAGE Flip in Q1-2015 made $72,450 PER DEAL.. So Should You Jump In?  Maybe... But Probably Not!  Listen in to see why, and text SDIRADIO to 33444 for more info! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

the IRS is AGGRESSIVELY attacking Self-Directed IRA's... and in this interview with John Hyre, IRA tax lawyer, you'll see how SEVERE the situation is.  The IRS is on the WAR PATH - text SDIRADIO to 33444 for more info Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

WHAT IS the simple ratio that, when you follow it, is virtually a guarantee of PROFOUND investment success?  Listen in now to see what CONVENTIONAL financial advisers don't tell you.  Text SDIRADIO to 33444 for more info now! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

FALSE RUMOR:  There's MORE PROFIT by taking more risk and investing for apprecation rather than cash flow, right?  ACTUALLY... you're going to be shocked.  Listen in now for the TRUTH.  Text SDIRADO to 33444 for more info! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

TURNKEY RENTALS (Part 2) - This style of investing is growing in popularity, but there's a problem:  It fundamentally DANGEROUS - but new investors don't know the right questions to ask.  Listen in now, and text SDIRADIO to 33444 for more info. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

TURNKEY RENTALS are *popular*... but there are some REAL problems with "Turnkeys".  A listener asks for Bryan's guidance before risking her capital.  Today Bryan analyzes ATLANTA real estate and whether Turnkey investing makes the grade.  Text SDIRADIO to 33444 for more information! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

DANGER, Wll Robinson!  A new legal ruling suggests that your Retirement Account could have MAJOR problems if your custodian is deducting their fees directly from your retirement account.  Listen in now!  Text "SDIRADIO" (no quotes) to 33444 for more info! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

WARREN BUFFETT is a legend.  BUT... his advice for how to invest a portfolio is AWFUL for the individual investor.  I'll give you PROOF right now in Episode #59 - and I'll give you 5 key questions you MUST be able to answer about your retirement plans. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

HERE IT IS:  Exactly how you can earn a VERY attractive rate of interest on your IDLE or UNDERPERFORMING Capital... And Why It's EXTREMELY SAFE!  SDIRadio.com Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

TAX TRAP for your IRA:  Back in Episode #48, you learned that your IRA may be liable for filing a tax return... and that the ramifications of failing to do so are SERIOUSLY PAINFUL.  Well, there's one more HUGE TAX TRAP that faces your IRA... SDIRadio.com Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

VERY HIGH RETURNS -- Want to know SPECIFICALLY how to buy real estate FAR below it's current value?  Bryan uses a 5-step plan which he details for you in this episode.  You'll be thrilled with the potential... and dismayed you've never done this before! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

I owe you an apology... it's sincere and I'm sorry.  Please listen in for details.  Also - this week's Q&A broadcast! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

I ADMIT IT:  Real estate notes are the BEST asset class for individual investors.  BUT... there's a dark side... not all notes are created equal!  Here's a sobering case study for you... SDIRadio.com Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

WARNING:  The IRS appears to be poised to implement some SYSTEM-WIDE changes that will place YOUR IRA - no matter how large or small - directly in the crosshairs for audits and scrutiny.  Listen closely, my friends... we can fight back and WIN... listen n Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

URGENT - A new report from GAO (Government Accountability Office) shows precisely how Washington intends to attack you Self-Directed IRA... it's ugly... but we can do something about it... LISTEN NOW! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

INCOME INEQUALITY?  It's a problem that doesn't exist, designed entirely to WEAKEN you when the government comes for your money.  Listen to this episode now for a rational explanation of why it's so DANGEROUS... and what YOU should do about it right now. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

What is the HOTTEST MARKET in America for real estate investing proftis?  YOU KNOW... the market where you can make the biggest profits, the most quickly, with the least effort?  I'll tell you right now, in Episode #50! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Do You Want STRONG RETURNS that are VERY, VERY SAFE?  Answer these 3 questions... and see if you're ready for what you seek! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

SAY IT AIN'T SO!  Your IRA may actually be liable to file tax returns... but even the IRS isn't exactly WHO specifically (you or your custodian) is required to file it.  Liste in for the scary truth!  SDIRadio.com Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

WHAT?  Can you believe it?  Bryan says there IS a time you should invest in Real Estate Rentals rather than Real Estate Notes - but only under THIS circumstances (listen now!) Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

It's LISTENER Q&A DAY!  TOP 2 QUESTIONS of the week - How to eliminate UBIT in a Self Directed IRA; and How to convince a spouse who is leery of real estate note investing!  Check out this episode right now right here or on SDIRadio.com... Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

TOP 3 MYTHS... Uncle Sam HATES competition for your dollars... and so The Government, And The "Powers That Be" Routinely Perpetuate 3 Myths That May Have SCARED YOU From Considering Retirement Abroad.  Here's the truth, my friends! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

WHO DOES IT BETTER?  Men or women?  Get your mind out of the gutter... I'm talking about INVESTING!... and the WHY is more interesting than the WHAT... listen in NOW... Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

EXACTLY HOW TO Neutralize The Biggest Threat Facing Your Portfolio Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

OVERNIGHT DISASTER - There's only ONE WAY that you're likely to lose your entire portfolio OVERNIGHT... and you're not even guarding against it.  Here it is... Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

ELIMINATE LOSSES in your stock portfolio?  I'll show you how right now! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

A BIG DECISION concerning a 401k plan... hear Bryan's advice for the Self-Directed Investor way to handle this situation! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Cash Flow WITHOUT LANDLORDING?  YES... using THIS strategy, you'll make FAR MORE MONEY on the same property... with FAR LESS stress! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

DANGER:  Rental properties CAN make you rich... but not the way that most "Turnkey Property Companies" Sell Them.  Get The UNVARNISHED TRUTH Right Now... Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

EASY!  Here's how to make 6-8% returns CONSISTENTLY with zero stress... and it makes COMPLETE SENSE! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

PROOF:  Yet *ANOTHER* example why you should NEVER trust the big financial firms with your money (This is SO SAD... life savings LOST...) Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

TOP QUESTIONS from our listeners this week... and a special announcement about a BONUS training for YOU! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

As a sincere THANK YOU for making Self Directed Investor Radio SO SUCCESSFUL, so quickly... I've got a big REWARD for you! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

TOP 3!  Hundreds of thousands of AFFLUENT Americans have deserted the fruited plane and moved on to exotic foreign lands.  What are the best destinations?  Discover the TOP 3 right now! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

SCARY!  Even if you DON'T commit a prohibited transaction, the IRS could confiscate your IRA/401k for tax debt because of THIS REASON... Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

WARNING:  Putting Rental Property Into Your IRA Can Be A TERRIBLE IDEA... Here's How To Make The Decision For Yourself Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Want to ELIMINATE ALL RISK to your principal?  Listen in... and prepare to have your mind blown! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

How to LEVERAGE UP, my friends!  Here's how to get massive leverage in your investments... without debt... and REDUCE YOUR RISK simultaneously! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

One listener wants to take a couple of months to research Note investing and is SHOCKED at what it will cost her to be so indecisive Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

It·s time to think about the important things in life, my friends!  What powerful, little-known legal structure makes it possible to use your skills as a self-directed investor for the benefit of the most needy among us?  Learn it right now! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Why are REAL ESTATE NOTES · also known as mortgages · the ultimate investment asset for self directed investors?  I·m Bryan Ellis, and I·ll give you a powerful case study, sure to whet your appetite for high returns and low risk, right now in Episode #27· Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Would you even know it if your brokerage account or retirement savings were being drained by cyber criminals right this instant?  Listen to this right away... Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

If you could earn 12-18% each year - VERY VERY SAFELY - you'd jump right on it!  I'll tell you exactly how in Episode #25! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this SPECIAL Q&A Session, Bryan tackles questions from a long-time rental property investor who is interested in becoming a NOTE Investor instead.  Listen in right now! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

It's the most popular form of business entity in America... and unfortunately, they are also the MOST DANGEROUS for many small businesses and investors.  Here's why (you'll be shocked)... Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Most rental property owners think that VACANCY is a bad thing.  Bryan knows there's HUGE MONEY in rental vacancy... and here's how he makes it happen... Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

2015 Is Setting Up As A GREAT Year For A Specific Type Of Cash Flowing Investment Strategy... Find Out Why Demographics Support This Notion... And How To Get Involved While It's Wise To Do So! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Want to know how to have MORE INVESTMENT CAPITAL for your IRA or 401k without making additional contributions?  Tune in right now... More Capital Awaits You! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

A new study shows evidence that the next 5 years could be really rough for stocks.  Here's what to do instead... Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Is your Retirement Account IMMUNE to the threat of lawsuits and bankruptcy?  You probably think so, but a recent legal decision absolutely proves otherwise.  Here's how to understand the risk... and protect yourself from it! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Why would you ever consider diversifying AWAY from the stock market if you feels it's working well for you?  Find out why in this special Q&A episode of Self Directed Investor Radio! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

An excellent indicator of the success of a city - and the real estate located there - is that city's "Employment Multiplier". Here's what that is, and the top 5 cities for 2014! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Falling Oil Prices are good for many real estate markets... but those markets with big exposure to the oil industry can suffer mightly.  Here's an analysis of 3 oil towns in Texas and how each one will react differently to falling oil prices. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

If you could earn 9-15% cash-on-cash every six months, you'd be interested, wouldn't you?  Tune in to learn more!  PLUS:  How oil prices - and their crazy fluctuations - affect YOUR real estate portfolio... it's NOT how you think! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Your choice of Self Directed IRA Custodian is CRITICAL... You'll learn how to make that choice the right way... and you'll learn the role that custodians ACTUALLY play in your retirement account... it is NOT what you think, so be careful! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This UNKNOWN ACCOUNT renders your investment profits 100% tax free right now... and forever.  And you do NOT have to wait until retirement age to make withdrawals!  This one is a game-changer... and you've never heard it before.  Listen in now! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The MOST POPULAR episode of SDI Radio was last week's Listener Q&A... so let's do it again right now with more great questions sent in by you, our loyal listeners! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

a FOOL's GAME:  how major companies have been substantially damaged by racial politics from bigots like Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton... and why this is hard evidence that you must diversify AWAY from Wall Street into investments that actually make SENSE! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Yes, we believe REAL ESTATE NOTES, done properly, is very nearly the "Holy Grail" of all asset classes.  But even within the realm of note investing, there's a SWEET SPOT... a subset of performing notes... that is better tha the rest.  Find out now! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Investing in Performing Notes secured by real estate can MAKE YOU RICH.  It's happened time and time again for countless others.  All you need is a little bit of specialized knowledge, and the right contacts.  You get BOTH in this episode! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This rather UNKNOWN income strategy is VERY Safe, HIGHLY Profitable, Incredibly PREDICTABLE... and totally unknown to conventional financial advisors.  Yet, it makes disciplined practitioners WEALTHY.  This is one you can't afford to miss! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

A GREAT MARKET for real estate investors:  We apply the 3 market criteria discussed in Episode #5 to find one market that's commonly overlooked and certainly not "sexy"... but has HUGE promise as a real estate investment target market! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

SelfDirected.org/5   Prohibited Transactions frequently lead to the loss of half – or even all – of the host Self-Directed IRA Bryan’s definition of Prohibited Transaction:  A prohibited transaction happens when the money or assets in the account are used to benefit you or your loved ones in the here-and-now rather than being a benefit to you exclusively during retirement. Prohibited Transactions are practically impossible to correct in Self-Directed IRAs… in Solo 401(k)’s, correction tends to be much simpler Common Examples:  Borrowing from your IRA, paying yourself a salary for maanging your account, taking commissions for the sale of a property purchased or sold by your IRA, etc. Sometimes Prohibited Transactions can be very subtle, such as if you allow a family member to use your IRA’s property for seemingly innocent reasons Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Clark Howard Gives A Lot of Great Advice... But His Guidance About Self-Directed IRA's is Singularly Awful Hear His Advice - And Bryan's Reaction   Clark Howard released a video that casts a very negative impression of Self-Directed IRA's Howard's appears to equate the use of Self-Directed IRA's with fraudulent deals that are clearly scams Howard's basis for this appears to be an SEC warning about fraud through Self-Directed IRA's.  But he conveniently ignores the clear statement in the report which contradicts him and says that Self-Directed IRA's can be safe for retirement investments Is Howard's advice based on fundamental ignorance, or does he benefit from the sale of conventional investment assets, which is what he clearly endorses? Full story at https://SelfDirected.org/4 Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

SelfDirected.org/3 Here's what's in this episode: The Solo 401(k) is, in every way but one, vastly superior to the self-directed IRA The Solo 401(k) offers all of the best features of the checkbook IRA without any additional LLCs or other legal complexities The Solo 401(k) is demonostrably superior to the self-directed IRA in at least 7 clear ways, including much higher contribution limits and easier recovery from prohibited transactions Only weakness for Solo 401(k):  It’s only available to owners of certain small businesses Not all self-directed 401(k) plans are the same.  Seek competent legal advice to set one up. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

https://SelfDirected.org/2 The Checkbook IRA LLC Provides the Highest Level of Control Available Over a Self-Directed IRA... and Substantially Increases the Risk of Prohibited Transactions. Checkbook IRA LLC provides two huge benefits: Ultimate control (and instant access to capital) for the self-directed IRA account holder, and potentially lower transaction fees. This strategy works by using the capital held by a fully self-directed IRA custodian to purchase 100% of the shares of an LLC, which is managed and controlled by the IRA owner. But the freedom to control the capital does not minimize the need for the account to avoid prohibited transactions. In fact, the Checkbook IRA LLC strategy increases the risk of committing a prohibited transaction in your IRA. After a rule change in 2014, your custodian notifies the IRS when you use this strategy, or invest in any type of "illiquid asset". Cost of committing a prohibited transaction in your IRA is very frequently 50% of the IRA balance or more, with a cost running to 100% not unusual. Links & Resources: The Definitive Guide to Self-Directed IRA's Prohibited Transactions in your IRA Excellent Self-Directed IRA Attorney Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

https://SelfDirected.org/1The Big IdeaThe U.S. National Debt is approaching $20 trillion... and it's the job of the IRS to collect the cash to pay that debt. What's a key target for them? Self-Directed IRA's... here's why:Points To PonderThe U.S. National Debt is approaching $20 trillion dollars! It's the job of the IRS to collect the taxes to pay off that debtThere's a total of more than $25 trillion in retirement assets in America Of that, $8 trillion is in IRA'sMost vulnerable portion of that is in self-directed IRA's, because it's possible for IRS to confiscate the entire account value on account of "prohibited transactions"Self-directed IRA's are totally legal, and with proper care, prohibited transactions can be avoidedResourcesEpisode #1 of Self-Directed Investing with Bryan EllisUS National Debt ClockInvestment Company Institute Report On Retirement AssetsGovernment Documents Concerning Self-Directed IRA's Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.