Wealth Formula Podcast

If you are part of our Wealth Formula Investor Club you know that we do a lot of multifamily real estate. In fact, 95 percent of what we do is working class, value-add multifamily real estate with the same two operators. Some of you have invested literally millions of dollars into these deals. I've got my own money and my dad's money in this stuff too so I'm not doing anything different. I know it...

I don't really like basketball and have never watched a full game in my life. Despite that, I knew who Kobe Bryant was and was shocked by the news of the tragic accident that took his and his daughter's life. His passing actually reminded me very much of Princess Diana dying in a car crash in 1997. I remember that I was at a bar attending a medical school new student orientation event when the new...

People send me real estate deals to look at all the time trying to get an opinion on whether or not they should invest. Usually it's some glossy executive summary showing nice pictures and impressive proforma numbers. "What do you think?", they ask. My answer is pretty much always the same. "I don't know these people so I can't comment". You see, real estate is not like publicly traded stock. If I...

I have a question for you. Did you make any significant New Year's resolutions or set some serious 2020 goals for yourself this year? I bet when you set those goals, you likely felt a lot of energy: "This time I'm going to do it!". You felt like nothing was going to stop you. Now, four weeks into the year, are you losing steam on that goal? If so, why do you think that is? Personally, I think we h...

Our private group, Wealth Formula Network, has a biweekly zoom video call to discuss anything and everything about personal finance. These calls are a lot of fun for people like me who like to geek out on money stuff. If you are the only one in your social network who likes this topic, Wealth Formula Network is a great way to get your fix through an on-line community instead. On our most recent ca...

Happy New Year! This is my first podcast of 2020 and I'm looking forward to another great year. I don't know about you, but I get very reflective this time of the year and it is usually pretty helpful. I have a suggestion for you. Write down where you are today and where you would like to be next year. This exercise can really help to focus in on what is NOT working. You see, it's easy to focus on...

Last summer I had a drug reaction that made me pretty sure I was going to die. There was nothing terribly remarkable about the day it happened. I was with my wife and kids visiting my parents in Minnesota. On our last evening there, I stayed up a little later to chat with my parents. The children were already asleep. By 11PM or so I headed down to bed. I felt a little funny walking down the stairs...

The end of the year is a good time for giving. Of course we are already in the mood with the holidays. Buying presents has a way of greasing up the credit cards and making it easier to pull the trigger. The end of the year is also a good time to give to charity. Even if you are a kind hearted human being, I'm sure it's not always easy to part with your hard earned money. However, at the end of the...

If you are struggling about finding the right Christmas present for your loved ones this year, I have a suggestion for you. Think EXPERIENCE. Last week I snuck my ten year old daughter out of school and drove her down to Los Angeles to be part of a live studio audience. It was for her favorite Nickelodeon show called All That—sort of like a kids Saturday Night Live. She was on cloud nine the whole...

Recently I started poking my nose into various physician financial facebook groups. I try to stay away from these things because they tend to put me in a bad mood. But facebook alerts make them constantly pop up on my phone and my brain reacts instinctually for its dopamine hit. When I do poke around in these groups, I'm often left a little bit nauseous. It's not just because I have a fundamentall...

I spend most shows interviewing other people. However, once in a while, it's fun to speak to you directly. We call these question answer shows, "Ask Buck". I recorded this podcast episode just before the holidays and I hope you enjoy it. By the time you get this note, Thanksgiving will be over but I do want to express my thanks to you for being part of the Wealth Formula Community! Enjoy the show!

With the recent boom of real estate crowdfunding platforms, I often get this question, "What do you think of the (fill in catchy name) platform? What platforms do you like?" The problem with this question is that it's really not asking the right question. I am a real estate investor. When I invest in real estate, either as a general or limited partner, I am looking at the asset itself, the busines...

In college, my two favorite courses were biochemistry and organic chemistry. The logic was very soothing to me. In high school, the only thing that gave me that sense of logically progressing to an answer was mathematics—especially geometry proofs. In other words, I like concrete answers and am not as comfortable leaving arguments unsettled. Like you, I also like money and am interested in how the...

A simple question can have so much complexity around it. Here's one I get all the time: "Should I pay off my house?". Conventional wisdom says this is a no brainer. Look at all the financial gurus out there like Dave Ramsey and Suzi Orman—they all think you ought to be paying off your mortgage. Is it possible that they are wrong? Even in the unconventional alternative space, this is a controversia...

With the end up the year coming up, my mind is focused on what I can do to mitigate my tax burden. We've done multiple investor club webinars on different strategies already this year within investor club. However, my favorite strategy to minimize my tax liability is to maximize depreciation. As it turns out, I have two houses in the Chicago area that I rent out. I used to live in one of them. Bec...

By now, you know my paradox. The more I invest in real estate, the less I pay in taxes because of my real estate professional designation. It could be worse. I could not have the designation and not be able to apply passive losses to all sources of my income! It's a good problem to have. My situation makes me think about the profound impact of the basic tenet of microeconomics. That is, people do...

If you read the title of this email and felt a little weird about it, I think that's pretty normal. It was intended to get a reaction out of everyone. For those who believe in giving for the purpose of being a good person, it might disgust you to think of adulterating your good deeds. If you are less charitable minded, it gave you good reason to read further rather than delete an email about givin...

Where are you today? Where do you want to be? Based on what you are doing right now, is there any chance that you are going to get there? Those are questions that I ask myself frequently—especially when I feel like I'm in a rut. Why is it important? Well, for those of us who are fortunate enough not to have the burden of worrying about where our next meal will come from, we have the opportunity to...

I'm a doctor, but Wealth Formula is not a doctor podcast. Sure, probably 30-40 percent of my Accredited Investor Club is made up of physicians and dentists, but that just happens to be the byproduct of my own professional past. People with common background tend to flock together I guess. That's fine with me. I love working with other health-care types but I don't ever want to approach them cold....

I am in a financial position that may seem somewhat unusual to you. You see, the IRS rewards me for my real estate investments by taxing me less. If, on the other hand, I keep my income in the bank, or invest it in traditional equities or bonds, the IRS shows me no mercy! Admittedly this is by design. I am a real estate professional. One of the great benefits to that designation is that all of my...

Have you heard of the 4 percent rule? I'm guessing you have as it seems to be some magical number espoused by traditional financial advisors and bloggers alike. The idea is that you should safely be able to withdraw 4 percent of your portfolio to live on for retirement. Theoretically the 4 percent is based on the idea that, over time, portfolio yield should outperform 4 percent and result in princ...

I am a simple guy. When I bowl, I throw the ball right down the middle of the lane. I couldn't put any spin on it if I tried. My thinking is equally simple. In order for me to understand things, I have to break them down into smaller, easier to digest bites or I won't understand. When I tell people that, they think I am joking. How does a guy who spent time as a brain surgeon call himself simple?...

There is clearly fear in the heart of investors in the equity markets and real estate alike as talk of trade wars and recessions abound. Meanwhile, I'm investing more in multifamily real estate this year than I ever have. In fact, I'm investing my 80 year old dad's money in the same offerings—the opportunities everyone sees in Investor Club! So why would I do this? Well, lots of reasons. Here are...

Up to 10 percent of my liquid assets are in very risky stuff—specifically digital assets and startups. A lot of people people think I am being irresponsible—particularly because I have a captive audience with whom I have influence. Now if I was shooting at the hip and telling you to put all your money in this stuff, I would understand. But even highly volatile investments (ie. gambling) may have t...

Last week I was in Monterrey for car week. While I still drive my Toyota Prius from 2008 that I purchased during my final surgical residency year, I have an appreciation for vintage Italian cars so I attended the annual Concorso Italiano. Those old Ferrari's are beautiful! There was a particularly stunning silver 1973 Ferrari Dino that I couldn't get out of my mind. There is a guy at my YMCA who d...