Wealth Formula Podcast

In the last few episodes of Wealth Formula Podcast, we have had some serious specialists in the area of Real Estate and Natural Resources. These shows are important because you, as an investor, need to know what's going on out there so you can make educated decisions about where to deploy your capital. Solid information from experts is important, but the actual implementation of personal finance s...

The real estate podcast ecosystem is full of contrarians. Somehow we got mixed up in a crowd full of Austrian economic dogmatics and we constantly hear that the sky is falling. They tell us that the Zombie Apocalypse is near and that you should load up on precious metals (because everyone knows zombies only accept silver coins). Usually this group is at odds with mainstream economists. They rarely...

We talk about a lot of concepts on Wealth Formula Podcast related to personal finance and sometimes it can be overwhelming: especially for the newbies in our community. So let me summarize the basics. First, make sure you are protecting your family against the economic fall out of unexpected death. Estate planning, including life insurance, is critical. I am a firm advocate of cash value life insu...

Everyone loves talking about how to make money. Those who are already making money love talking about how they can pay less taxes. But you know what almost no one likes to talk about?...what happens to that amassed fortune when you die. Of course, there are some like me who are ultra paranoid about controlling their legacy. The moment my first daughter was born, I made sure that I bought as much t...

In recent years, I have made some pretty darn good bets that have made me a lot of money. Now I know you are thinking that I am referring to my investments. And you are correct. But I am not referring to financial investments. The investments that have made me the most money over the past few years are investments into relationships. One superpower that I have been blessed with is the ability to r...

I remember when I got out of surgical training and started my new life as an adult (at 33 years old), I was terrified by anything related to audits or legal issues. Any time I got a letter from the IRS about anything, I broke out into cold sweats. Every time I got a letter from an attorney I would do the same—-even though most of those letters were actually advertisements. Now, 47 years old and ow...

One of the secrets to my own success as an investor has been to involve myself into a variety of tribes. What I mean by that is that I am around other intelligent, successful people who have a wealth of experience collectively as investors. For me, that has resulted in introductions to people with whom I have partnered over the years and who have made me money. It is important not to underestimate...

The US tax code is thousands of pages long. What could it possibly have to say for that many pages? Well, as it turns out, only a very small fraction of the pages are devoted to how much you are taxed. The majority of the tax code provides for ways you can potentially pay less tax. You see, the tax code is nothing more than a series of incentives. It is intended to direct your behavior and your in...

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

This week's episode features a discussion with Ian Kurth—radiologist and highly sophisticated investor. Ian is a member of Wealth Formula Network and one of its major assets. He is doing exactly what, in my opinion, every high-paid professional ought to be doing. He has really transformed himself into a sophisticated investor and thought leader on personal finance for our demographic. The current...

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

If you have been ignoring distributed ledger technology, you will regret it if you don't start paying attention. I understand why people get suspicious of the space. The cryptocurrency ecosystem is full of scammers and hype. Talk of "lambos" and "mooning" can hardly be taken seriously by sophisticated investors. But amidst the din, lies technology that will fundamentally transform the world. I see...

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

I'm always fascinated by stories of entrepreneurs showing early signs of interest in the world of business as children. Warren Buffett was apparently inspired by a book he checked out from the Omaha library at the age of seven called: One Thousand Ways to Make $1000. He went on to pursue several childhood business ventures such as selling gum and Coca-Cola bottles and, of course, the rest is histo...

In case you didn't notice, we are in the middle of a massive cryptocurrency bull market. We haven't been here since 2017 and who knows how long it will last. For those of you with solid positions, enjoy the run but don't get greedy! I certainly learned my share of lessons from the last cryptocurrency bull run. I could have come away from it with a lot more money than I did if I had done things dif...

What gives something value? Gold has been considered valuable since ancient civilization. It has been used as money, as a store of value, and as jewelry. Gold is also scarce and it is not easy to mine. But…at the end of the day, gold is valuable because of a social construct that says it is and that it will continue to be going forward. The longevity of gold's claim to value certainly adds to its...

The alternative investing podcast ecosystem is full of doom and gloom. It's always that way. Any time we get out of a recession and the economy gets a little hot, everyone's calling for the zombie apocalypse. They tell you to prepare for the worst because the zombies are coming. Start growing your own food and buy lots of precious metals. Because, of course, silver coins are the currency of choice...

"Everyone has a plan until they get punched in the mouth." -Mike Tyson Life is full of surprises…both good and bad. The last 12 months were, to say the least, unexpected. Everyone has a different story. Hundreds of thousands of people died from Covid-19 and left even more people behind to mourn their loss. Businesses closed, people lost jobs and some experienced poverty for the first time. Marriag...

Value is a social construct. Things have value because we, as a society, agree that they are valuable. That is the only reason that gold has the value that it does. Yes, it has unique metallic qualities and it is scarce, but there is no intrinsic quality that gives it the value it has in society. We have collectively assigned that value to it. And to be clear, this is not intended to be a knock on...

I am not an economist but I do recognize the importance of understanding a little bit of macroeconomics to guide me as an investor. After all, financial markets don't move in a vacuum. They are affected by all sorts of things including monetary and fiscal policy. As a reminder, monetary policy is dictated by the Federal Reserve. Essentially, they have two powers that they can wield to impact the f...

Life is not long enough to take advantage of the wisdom that comes with age. It's really kind of a cruel joke of nature if you think about it. You get smarter as the rest of your body becomes less functional and closer to death. This phenomenon really needs to be experienced in order to be believed. I recall listening to a young syndicator recently telling me that experience is over-rated. That's...

It's time for another episode of "Ask Buck"! This week, we field questions on the economy—inflation or deflation, interest rates, and cap rates. We also touch on two sides of the same concept—owning permanent life insurance either your own policy or one that you buy from someone else! Make sure you tune in!

Investing is hard. It's hard because you have to know what you are doing. But it's also hard because you have to be tough psychologically and sometimes do things that seem counterintuitive to your own emotions. Believe me, I'm not immune to psychological miscues. At one point, I owned about 100 bitcoin. But, during crypto winter, I needed some liquidity for another investment and sold most of it o...

A few weeks ago I had my CPA, Tom Wheelwright, on the show to discuss what's going to happen with taxes in the next year or two under the new administration. Of course, the news was generally bad for high-income earners. Taxes will invariably go up. The idea is that the rich can afford it and they ought to pay their "fair share". It drives me crazy when I hear people say that—after all, what's fai...

Nassim Taleb, author of the Black Swan, extrapolates his theories on unpredictable events by suggesting that perhaps the ideal way to allocate your capital is by focusing on the extremes. He says that perhaps the ideal portfolio is one where there is extreme safety on the one hand—US Treasuries for example—and extreme risk and upside on the other. The idea is that you put the money you absolutely...