Wealth Formula Podcast

Digital currency is not dead. But it was wounded pretty badly over the past few months. Paradoxically, the undoing of the decentralized world happened from centralized companies and individuals like Do Kwon of Terra Luna and Sam Bankman-Fried of FTX. Ultimately, the greed of both these individuals and the flawed platforms that they ran resulted in billions of dollars being lost in the market. No one was immune. Companies like BlockFi ended up declaring bankruptcy and others, like the Grayscale Bitcoin Trust (GBTC) are on the brink of insolvency. Digital currency has never been a favorite of the SEC. This is an institution with a deep distaste for the wild decentralized west as it represents a very difficult animal to tame. The IRS also wants to dig its claws into digital currency realizing that they are likely missing out on hundreds of millions of dollars in revenue because of people not reporting. They are also left with a huge challenge on their hands—-trying to figure out who is misreporting. Bottom line is that the climate is right for some serious changes to the law involving digital currencies. This week, I speak to one of the foremost experts in cryptocurrency tax law to discuss the recent crypto collapse along with all of its implications. Make sure to tune in. There is some free tax advice in there for you as well if you own cryptocurrency!

What is all this wealth stuff for anyway? I have spent the last 15 years trying to accumulate wealth. It wasn't until about two years ago that I decided to start spending it. Why? Well, there were some major changes in my life and it made me think about mortality. Don't worry…my health is great. But everyone has to die someday right? Before this realization, I was doing what pretty much all responsible professionals do. I was working hard and wouldn't spend much money on myself. In hindsight, I'm not sure what I was waiting for. I probably should've tried to spend more on myself in my 20s and 30s and had some more fun. Of course, I can't change that now. But what I can do is to start enjoying life and trying to figure out how to stay feeling young as long as possible so I can make up for lost time. The good news for all of us is that there is an abundance of science and technology growth in the field of longevity and it's developing fast. We know so much more than our parents did on what to eat, how often to eat, how to optimize exercise and…what supplements and prescription drugs appear to lengthen not only lifespan, but more importantly, healthspan. There is so much information out there that it is also a time to be careful. Just think about all the money fraudsters can make off people by selling them the fountain of youth. As a physician myself (not practicing), I have spent a lot of time trying to understand what's real and what's not. Some of my friends and investors in our own community have pivoted their careers to the practice of longevity medicine. They know more than me. One of these guys is Dr. Rob Hamilton. Rob spoke at our last Wealth Formula event and seriously blew the audience away with his presentation. He is an encyclopedia of knowledge in the field of longevity and my guest on Wealth Formula Podcast this week. If this stuff is new for you, I urge you to start looking into what's out there. After all, what's the point of accumulating wealth if you don't have a long healthy life to enjoy it? Whether you are already on that journey or are interested in learning more, you will want to listen to this podcast. I'm biased because of my interests, but I think you might find this to be one of the most useful podcasts you've ever listened to in your life.

If you read business or entrepreneurial books you are probably sick of people telling you that you have to take risks and get uncomfortable. I get it. But what are you doing to take risks and to get uncomfortable? After all, it's really the only way to grow in your career or in your life. These concepts apply to everything. Think about all the things you didn't do in life but would like to. Maybe you should try to do some of those things? After all, what's the purpose of wealth? It is to have the freedom to focus on self-actualization. Need an example? Well, I never learned to swim as a kid. I remember my older brother and sister going to swim lessons. I would go with my mom to drop them off. But I was terrified of anything but the baby pool. When it came my turn for swim lessons, I declined. And, unfortunately, my parents didn't push back. So, I spent a good chunk of my adult life not being able to swim and it bothered me. As an adult, I tried private lessons on numerous occasions. I wasn't afraid of the water anymore. I just couldn't figure out how to move in the water. I had given up until 5-6 years ago when I heard Tim Ferris talking about having a similar experience as an adult who couldn't get swimming down. He also had multiple trainers who failed to get him functional in the water. That is until he met Terry Laughlin, the creator of the Total Immersion (TI) Technique. Tim said that Terry got him swimming laps by the end of a week. Well, I had to give this a try. So I reached out to Terry who lived in upstate New York. As it turned out, he had end-stage cancer and hadn't been doing lessons for some time. However, he had just finished chemo and was feeling a bit better so he invited me out anyway. So a few weeks later, I was at Terry's house out east in his training pool. The way Terry taught me was very easy and methodical. And believe it or not, by the end of the day, I was swimming. I stuck around for another day but had to get back to work. I figured I'd come back in a few months to get down the only part that I still struggled with—breathing. I wish I had stayed. Terry passed away just a couple of months later. So now I can swim, but not long enough to do laps for exercise. I still can't breathe. I tried another TI instructor, but it wasn't the same. Terry was a master. The point of this story is to illustrate getting uncomfortable to get over a lifetime full of anxiety and self-consciousness about being unable to swim. All I had to do was find the right instructor and be uncomfortable for a day. You could probably apply this to things in your life. What have you been avoiding for the last few decades? Is it time to confront these things and move on with your life? You'd probably feel better. And if it's something you need to do physically, well, you aren't getting any younger either. My guest this week on Wealth Formula Podcast has a unique take on risk and discomfort. He suggests that we should constantly be seeking discomfort in our lives. Maybe he's right. Listen in and see what you think!

We are in a unique period of time with the economy. We know something is going to declare itself soon enough but have no idea when or what it will look like. This time it's not just the contrarians. Everyone is predicting some kind of trouble in the coming months ranging from a mild recession (Biden) to an all out zombie apocalypse. Even the big brain contrarians differ on what lies ahead. Jim Rickards sees a rapidly coming deep recession followed by the Fed capitulating its hawkish stance. Nomi Prins forecasts a deep recession as well but sees the markets as relatively shielded because of a great distortion between the real economy and the financial markets as the Fed caters to what the markets need to grow. My guest this week on Wealth Formula Podcast, David Stockman, differs from both Rickards and Prins. He believes that the Fed will not reverse its course regardless of recession and he also believes that what Prins describes as a distortion between financial markets and the economy will not last and that, rather, a great catchup will see the equity and real estate markets correct in significant fashion to reflect the fledgling economy. David Stockman was Ronald Reagan's budget director and was in Washington through hyperinflation and the Paul Volker years. He has also spent a significant time on Wall Street in his career. He knows what he's talking about. But so do Nomi Prins and Jim Rickards. None of them are dummies but they can't all be right. That's just the nature of the period that we are in. The best any of us can do is to study what the economic gurus are saying and try to make decisions based on what we can conclude for ourselves. Listen to my interview with David Stockman HERE. And, if you haven't done so, go back and compare these opinions with those of Rickards (episode 348) and Dr. Nomi Prins (episode 339). They all make sense but they can't all be right. Let me know what you think!

The new year makes me think about how things keep changing so rapidly (including my age). For those of us who went to high school in the era of pay phones, it is a truly remarkable trajectory and it makes me wonder what the next few decades will unfold. There are so many technological advances in Science and Technology that have already laid the foundation for a completely different world. As a former practicing physician, I can't help but be excited about things like longevity science and potentially eradicating killer diseases such as cancer and cardiovascular disease If you think that sounds far-fetched for the next decade, I would disagree. All those billionaires who made their money in tech now realize that they are getting older and will die someday. They don't like that idea and now a ton of their money is going into research to battle death. But how quickly can we get there? The problem in making those kinds of estimations is that we don't know what other tools will be available to accelerate the work that needs to be done. One of those tools that will play a major role in revolutionizing healthcare and pretty much everything else in our lives will be artificial intelligence (AI). AI sounds scary but we are already using some of it today. Think of the app WAZE which calculates shortest drives based on traffic etc. Just like this application sneaked into our culture, I think you will see a ton of new technologies like this in several fields. One day you'll see it all around you. Anyway, Artificial Intelligence is an exciting science and to help us learn more about it, I have an expert in AI on this week's Wealth Formula Podcast. This is fun stuff that you might consider investing in. Listen now!

I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas! As we head into the last week of the year there is much to reflect upon. The last few years have been absolutely bonkers. If someone had told me in mid-2019 that a global pandemic would happen, and the world would be practically paralyzed for the next two years I would never have believed it. Oddly, during 2020-2021, the stock and real estate markets did great! Historically low interest rates made cheap money abundant for investors and, for that reason, the markets paradoxically rose as the real economy actually shrunk. Nomi Prins talked about this phenomenon on one of our past shows—"The Great Distortion" refers to the decoupling of financial markets with reality. While monetary policy made asset prices rise, fiscal policy contributed to inflation. Certainly, supply chains created problems of low supply. But helicopter money gave people extra money to spend and a huge injection of liquidity directly onto Main Street. The fact that we have been dealing with high inflation, therefore, should not be a surprise. It's simply policy chickens coming home to roost. And when there is high inflation, rates must go up and that's exactly what happened. What happens next is the big question. The Fed has never raised interest rates over 400 percent in 9 months. Usually, a small change in interest rates isn't really accounted for in the economy for about six months. The economy and inflation have clearly slowed down but what happens in the next few months will be very interesting. Will we indeed have a deep recession? And if we do, does the Fed reverse course on its hawkish stance? Interest rates will probably not go back to zero anytime soon. But remember, investors have always made money regardless of absolute interest rate percentages. There were investors making a lot of money even when interest rates were double digits. We just need a stable interest rate environment to get back to business and I do believe that will happen in 2023. That's my take on where we are now and what may happen. That said, as Yogi Berra said, "It's tough to make predictions, especially about the future". All we can do is to watch and wait and hopefully educate ourselves a bit. That's what this podcast is about and that's why this week I interviewed one of the smartest people you'll ever meet on these topics: Jim Rickards. You won't want to miss this show. LISTEN NOW!

The cryptocurrency markets have been crushed and don't be surprised if they go even lower once the full extent of the FTX meltdown is realized. However, it's clear to me that this in no way is the end of cryptocurrency. Believe me, I've been around crypto long enough to have seen it declared dead several times over. It won't happen. The reason for this is that behind cryptocurrency is a technology. It's not just tulips. Tulips didn't do anything. Underlying crypto assets lies decentralized distributed ledger technology that will change our world. Ok…so you've heard me and others make that statement before and it might be getting old. So, I think it's important to go into more detail and highlight examples of what this technology can do. Decentralized Finance (DeFi) is a major revolution that is happening now. It is still in its infancy but it is pretty clear that this technology represents the future of banking and really all market transactions. But why is it advantageous? This is an important question. You can easily be fooled by people selling you "tokens" while they are raising money for real estate or other assets. Tokenization does not replace good operations. In reality, most of these offerings are just marketing gimmicks. Just because your shares are represented by a token doesn't mean a lot. There are clearly advantages to tokenizing assets in the sense that they can be traded and potentially provide more individuals access to things in which they might not otherwise be able to invest. But there are a lot of kinks to be worked out. And while I believe in the technology, the current state of DeFi is still fraught with charlatans and Ponzi schemes. A major reason this is possible is that few DeFi projects are purely decentralized. When someone is in charge, that's not decentralization. It's a complicated topic so I asked someone knee-deep in the DeFi world to help us understand it a bit better. You should know a thing or two on this topic as it will enter your world sooner or later. So make sure to listen to this week's episode of Wealth Formula Podcast!

It's cold outside…even in Santa Barbara. The real estate markets are especially frozen now and will continue to be at least for the next couple of months into the new year. Why is this happening? Real estate, more than any other investment, is highly dependent on interest rates. Right now, there is simply too much volatility for reasonable underwriting. To be clear, it's not HIGH interest rates that are the problem. It's moving goalposts. All markets hate uncertainty. That said, we need to keep deploying money to keep up with inflation. I know a lot of people are sitting on cash which isn't a terrible idea. But just know that in the process you are losing 7-8 percent buying power on an annual basis. My own strategy has adjusted to this current reality. I've started looking at businesses as investments. In the right hands, businesses can provide streams of income that exceed cash on cash of real estate acquisitions. Indeed, if you bought your own business chances are that your return on capital would project out to about three years. Larger businesses will have smaller multiples. You see it's all about risk and reward profile of any investment. The reason large apartment building tend to trade at cap rates slightly below the mortgage rate is because they are extremely stable assets with few moving parts. Businesses inherently have more moving parts and, therefore, you should be rewarded for taking a bit more risk. I'm different from many of the podcasters in the personal finance podcast ecosystem because I started out as an entrepreneur. In fact, I started 3 multimillion-dollar businesses before I ever got into real estate syndication. In other words, I know a thing about starting businesses. That said, evaluating and buying businesses is a different skill set altogether. Zulfe Ali who you may have met at one of our last couple of meetups used to run a sovereign wealth fund and spearheaded acquisitions of multiple billion-dollar companies. That's a different level of expertise in business acquisition and that's why I'm following his lead. To be clear Not everyone should be an entrepreneur. My friend Jorge Newberry and I once talked about how you are most often born an entrepreneur and it's often a curse for people around us. So if you are not an entrepreneur but are interested in investing in businesses, what should you do? Well, you can look for private acquisitions to invest in passively. We have one of those coming up this week! But if you want to get your hands dirty, you might consider looking into franchises. Franchises often provide the guardrails for people who are not natural entrepreneurs and/or want a greater level of support. This week's guest on Wealth Formula Podcast is an expert at matching people with franchise opportunities. Listen in. This could be something you might get interested in and end up finding your next calling!

Happy Holidays everyone. I'm very thankful for you Wealth Formula Nation! It is a great pleasure for me to serve you as clarifier-in-chief at Wealth Formula. Listen in to this week's edition of Ask Buck. We talk about real estate depreciation issues, asset protection and more! Don't miss it!

It's been a while but this week's episode of Wealth Formula Podcast is the latest "Ask Buck" episode. As you know, most of the time I interview other people so I don't get a chance to talk to you directly. These episodes are great for learning. In fact, go back and listen to the last 10 "Ask Buck" shows and you will know as much as I do about personal finance! This week we have questions about multifamily investment opportunities, the Theory of Population Collapse, and bonus depreciation. Make sure to tune in!

Warren Buffet talks about being greedy when others are fearful. I think it's fair to say that there is a great deal of fear in the financial system right now with interest rates climbing as quickly as they are. Eventually, this will lead to distress in all financial markets. The stock market is already down—especially tech stocks. The Real Estate market is frozen. There is very little trading. That's why our investor group has not acquired anything since May. The worst part about where we are now in this cycle is uncertainty. Rates going up to more historical levels is not, in and of itself, problematic. The problem relates to the unexpected speed of rate increases and the fact that we don't really know when it will end. Even with higher rates, we can go back to business as normal. Buyers and sellers just need to have some sort of interest rate benchmark with which to underwrite. But the Fed is moving the goalposts too quickly for anyone to use a specific interest rate to put into a spreadsheet. One thing you might be wondering is why there is no significant distress in the market. The answer is largely that most buyers on floating rates purchased rate caps. But over time those will expire and if rents are not raised quickly enough, they could see negative cash flow pretty quickly. We could start seeing opportunities early next year. And when we do, I will be buying! Over the last month, the cryptocurrency market also got hit hard. It went from beloved, even by teenagers, to red-headed stepchild status within days. In crypto, down markets mean DESTROYED. And… that's where we are right now. Could it go lower? Maybe? But I am a buyer of bitcoin at this price. Bitcoin isn't going anywhere over the next several years and I believe will eventually be worth a lot more than it is today. It may be controversial to say, but investments in bitcoin or bitcoin mining today might be some of the more obvious plays to make for savvy investors. But again, there is fear in the financial ecosystem. Investors, as much as they like the idea of buying low and selling high usually do the opposite in these situations. But remember, be greedy when others are fearful. Cryptocurrency is down but not dead. People just stop talking about it when there is a bear market. But that's exactly why we should talk about it on Wealth Formula Podcast. My guest this week will tell us why blockchain and cryptocurrency are an inevitable part of the future…even for banks. And if that's the case, should you be investing? Make sure to tune in and find out.

As we get closer to the end of the year, I know a number of you are trying to figure out how to deploy capital. We will have some opportunities that are not real estate oriented. I also believe that it is a surprisingly good time to consider various life insurance strategies that we have discussed before. I have included the email sent to me on this topic by Rod and Christian and they will be my guest on this week's Wealth Formula Podcast. Make sure to listen in! —————————————————————————— We frequently receive questions about how the recent increase in interest rates will impact the strategies we teach that utilize the combination of high cash-value life insurance and leverage. Interest rate reset First, it's important to realize that rising interest rates are great for life insurance! Cash value life insurance is designed to outperform general interest rates. When interest rates go up, it allows life insurance companies to generate higher returns in their general account, that additional return then passes on to the policy holder. In fact, we're already seeing cap rates on IUL's begin to climb and adjust to the market. This increase in caps will result in a higher overall return inside the policy! In traditional whole life insurance, higher interest rates means higher dividends! It's also important to understand that life insurance companies primarily invest in bonds and notes, the types of investments that are sensitive to interest rates. However, there's a significant difference between an individual investor and an institutional investor. Life insurance companies are able to make considerably larger investments and for considerably longer time frames. We're talking about as long as 40 or 50 years. This advantage allows them to be more selective as to the types of investments they buy and for how long they will lock. In the context of our strategies, the recent increase in interest rates is actually creating a much healthier and more profitable environment for life insurance companies, which of course also means that dividends and cap rates will rise. Interestingly, the effect on loan rates is more short-lived. In many cases, when we run the Wealth Accelerator stress tests for the 1980's, we actually end up with a higher long-term IRR than when we run our baseline projections using a very conservative 2% spread. The impact of higher rates on Wealth Formula Banking If you're not yet familiar with Wealth Formula Banking, check out our webinar by going to www.wealthformulabanking.com. In a nutshell, we build up our investment opportunity fund inside of an overfunded whole life policy. We then loan against our cash value to invest in real estate, business, etc., our money stays and continues to grow inside of the account. By doing this, we're able to double dip, and create value in two places at the same time. This is the perfect time to get involved with WFB, especially if you're one of the many people who have money sitting on the sideline waiting for the right deal. Why let it sit in a checking account or money market account earning nothing, when we can put it in a WFB policy and generate a long-term 5%+ tax-free return? By the way, that 5%+ return is going up with interest rates! Here's a question I'm often asked: If I'm using a loan, and interest rates are rising, what does that mean for the WFB strategy? The good news is that for most of our clients there's a direct relationship between the interest they're paying on their loan and the interest that's being credited to the portion of their cash value that is collateralizing the loan. So, if interest rates keep going higher, the interest rate we earn on the collateralized cash value will keep going higher as well. The Impact of higher rates on the Wealth Accelerator For anyone who isn't familiar with the Wealth Accelerator, check out our webinar at www.wealthformulabanking.com. Briefly explained, we're building an asset using leverage. The individual puts the initial funds into overfunded whole life and/or IUL policies, and then we finance all future contributions to the policy. We're taking advantage of the spread that can be generated by creating higher growth in the policies than what we're accumulating in interest on the loan. The goal is to generate double-digit tax-free returns, which then creates massive future tax-free income and/or income-tax-free funds for estate planning. Many people assume that the rise in interest rates kills the opportunity to create a spread. This couldn't be further from the truth. As we mentioned above, a rise in interest rates creates a huge opportunity! The fact is, with interest rates going up, we're already seeing caps rising within IUL policies. And, although there's a slight lag time with dividends on whole-life policies, those will rise as well. One aspect that I think can help alleviate concern as well is the fact that we carry a healthy cushion in the form of our "Net Equity" value. This represents the amount

What makes for a highly successful entrepreneur or investor? It is the appetite for calculated risk. As Bruce Arians, coach of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers famously says, "No risk it, no biscuit". In entrepreneurship this might be more obvious. You probably know entrepreneurs who took risks by leaving their day job and pursuing a business that they KNEW was going to be successful. I'm one of those guys. In my case I got fired from a job that helped accelerate the development of my first business. But the next one was even riskier. Why was it riskier than the first? Well, when I started the first business, I had nothing. By the time I started the next business, I had a lot to lose. But I remember playing out the business model in my head and feeling like, "This will work". In my mind, there was no risk…only upside. I know that sounds reckless but that's the way young entrepreneurs must think to create successful businesses. In my case I was right fortunately. That next business did extremely well and took me to another level. Of course entrepreneurship is different from investing but there are some similarities. Again, it's not hard to hit singles and doubles. But in order to hit home runs, you have to be willing to take some calculated risks. Often there is asymmetric risk where the upside is huge but there is a possibility of losing it all as well. Some of you have already experienced that for better or worse in the world of cryptocurrency. The bottom line is, "no risk it, no biscuit". Ordinary investing will yield ordinary results. If you strive for more, you have to train yourself and your coronary arteries to be ok with risk. No one knows that more than my guest on this week's Wealth Formula Podcast. He has served as president and/or CEO of multiple major brands that you will recognize and is known for his unconventional approach for high performance through strategic thinking. Listen here to learn how to jump first and think fast!

The last 15 years have been a game of chicken between the Federal Reserve and the financial markets. Think about the old movies where the kids would speed in their cars towards each other until someone decided to quickly turn out of the way and avoid collision and certain death. Similarly, the financial markets and the Federal Reserve have been trying to figure out who would chicken out first for the past several years. Let me give you an example. Despite COVID shutting down the entire country, the asset markets (after quickly blinking) went sky high. Why? Because investors knew that the Fed would come to the rescue and they did. Rates dropped to zero, quantitative easing controlled the bond markets and all of that helped to embolden investors and reinforce the concept that the Fed will always come to the rescue. If you were at a Casino, wouldn't you keep playing if the house guaranteed you wouldn't lose money at the end of the night? That's the way investors came to see the Fed—as an insurance policy. So then we got this inflation thing because of the massive amount of helicopter money injected into the system and supply chains creating huge demand. Of course, the Fed started raising rates again. At first, the markets shrugged it off. Playing chicken again. Then the Fed showed some cajones and kept raising rates and now all of the sudden it's not quite as clear if they will blink first. The Fed has been clear about getting inflation under control. They know it has to be done. That's finally getting through to some investors…or is it? We also know that we can only raise rates so much because of sovereign debt issues. And what if we end up in a massive recession because of the rate increases? Many investors think that's exactly what's going to happen. The moral of the story is that there is now a well-established disconnect between the economy and financial markets. The question is where does this all lead us? Dr. Nomi Prins is one of the smartest financial authors out there and she's just released a new book on this very topic. She's going to tell about this great distortion and what it means for us in the long term. DO NOT MISS THIS SHOW!

If you made it out to our event last weekend I want to thank your for taking the time to prioritize our meetup. And if you were there, I'm guessing you were not disappointed. We had a few familiar faces in the morning talking about taxes and asset protection and some great presentations around asset allocation, the economy and bitcoin mining. But what I think really blew people's minds were the talks on longevity by Dr. John Foley and Dr. Rob Hamilton. This is something we are going to do more often for sure given the response we have gotten thus far. These meetings are also great in that I get to see what others are doing. I am in a bubble sometimes in Montecito behind my computer screen and there is nothing better than going out to meet people of like mind. There are people in our community who are doing amazing things and it's fun to hear their stories. It's even more fun for me to hear that I've made a difference in someone's life. Dr. Irene Lambiris was supposed to come to the meeting but ended up having to put her doctor hat on and miss it. I was bummed because she has a great story. And if you are up to hear about how a young female physician is kicking ass in the investor space, you are going to want to listen to this week's episode of Wealth Formula Podcast!

Boring is Good when it comes to investing. I've started hearing others echo that sentiment lately. I'm not sure if I had something to do with it but I'm glad that message is spreading in the podcast ecosystem. A decade ago, I used to be perhaps the busiest cosmetic surgeon in Chicago. I worked hard and got great results. And you know what…when the economy was good, I was crushing it. It's how I made my first million. From the outside, the cosmetic surgery field is glamourous and sexy. So are medspas that do botox, fillers and laser procedures. I can tell you from insider knowledge, however, that it's hard to make money in these fields unless you have a competitive edge over others. Mine was marketing and a tendency to go overboard on ad spending that would clog the coronaries of most of my fellow surgeons. That said, when the economy goes south, those beauty procedures become less important than food, shelter and the rest of the necessities of life. That is when boring prevails. Boring businesses involve unsexy things like cleaning, or selling widgets or widgets that make widgets. People need this stuff no matter what the economy is doing. Most of these kind of businesses exist in the background though—places where most people would not know to look. But if you can find these golden nuggets, you could make a fortune. A good example of the boring widget concept is the computer chip. Computer chips are critical in society today and the companies that make them are massively profitable despite not having the appeal of a brand like Apple. Just think about all the computers, cell phones and numerous other forms of hardware that MUST have computer chips to help our modern day society function. Computer chips have become commodities in world trade and are literally dictating global politics and even military strategies. This week's guest on Wealth Formula Podcast is an expert in this area and is going to tell you all about this massively underrated commodity.

I guess by now you've heard—we've got some inflation problems in the United States and globally and Central Banks are going to continue to ratchet up interest rates in attempts to reverse the tide. But wait a second. Why inflation now? Didn't we print billions of dollars over the last 15 years or so? Why didn't we have inflation then? Well, we kind of did actually. We've had historically low interest rates and quantitative easing since 2008. This kind of "money printing", however, does not really benefit the common man. Low interest rates don't make bananas cost more. But they do make stocks, real estate, and other assets soar in price. Ahh…so that's where all the money went. Well, let's not pretend we as investors did not benefit from this asset class inflation. We did. And of course, banks and institutional money benefitted even more. But again…the common man did not benefit from the usual money printing methodology. Arguably they weren't hurt too much either. But they are getting hurt now because inflation has drifted from the markets to the price of food and energy. Certainly, there are a number of reasons for this. But, there is one precipitating factor that I believe began the process of shifting inflation to the main street. Before the pandemic, NONE of the efforts by the Fed or fiscal policy put money DIRECTLY into the hands of people who spend it. Of course, that all changed when businesses shut down and the government sent everyone money via parachute. Now don't get me wrong. I know we needed to do that. People had to put food on the table. But I do believe that this is where the shift of inflation to the consumer began. Then you layer on screwed up supply chains and high demand for everyday stuff and of course you're going to have high inflation. And now the Fed is raising interest rates with a vengeance to try to snuff it out. Will it? A recession and high unemployment probably will. But we have high wages, very low unemployment and continued supply issues. Raising rates doesn't seem like it would help with those problems. Anyway, I'm no expert on interest rates and inflation but my guest on Wealth Formula Podcast this week is. He's written a book on it. Make sure to listen to the show and try to figure out how you might potentially benefit from the economy today.

Have you heard of the Financial Independence, Retire Early (FIRE) movement? The movement is defined by extreme frugality and extreme savings and investments in hopes of retiring early and living on small withdrawals of accumulated funds. The general rule of thumb is to live on only 30 percent of your income and invest the rest. So, if you make $300K per year and are in a tax bracket of 40 percent you would be living on $54,000 (less than 5K per month) per year after taxes in hopes of retiring a few years earlier. There is nothing special about the investing patterns for these individuals. They typically invest in a very traditional way through ETFs. The hope is that the market will keep going up and allow for 3-4 percent withdrawal for life at some point. What's particularly interesting to me in the physician community is that the FIRE people are rather militant. They mock other physicians with nice cars and homes. It's so weird to me. Should you consider this kind of lifestyle? Well, personally I would not. It doesn't sound like a lot of fun! And frankly, the militant FIRE people don't sound like much fun either! To be clear, I probably do invest close to 70 percent of my income per year. But that's because I make a lot more money than I need to have fun. In my opinion, that should be the goal—not to deprive yourself of Starbucks in hopes of living an austere retirement. So what if you are in a position where you are not quite financially where you want to be? Can you still enjoy some of the finer things in life? Buying a nice home in an area that will always appreciate is really an investment over the long term. What else? Well, one of my good friends only buys expensive vintage furniture for his home. Is that a waste? Well, the furniture he bought 5 years ago has significantly appreciated in value. This is the same friend of mine who has made a killing on buying and selling vintage cars. My friend helped me understand the concept of living and enjoying the fine things in life today and actually profiting from it. It's really quite genius. Bottom line is that if you can enjoy something really nice and effectively not lose money over time, you are winning. So can you do the same? Can you buy the cars and watches you want and potentially make money? My guest today on Wealth Formula Podcast has built an entire platform around this concept and it's something you might seriously consider for yourself. Trade in the FIRE movement for the BEAST movement: Buy, Enjoy, Appreciate, Sell/Trade. I think you'll have more fun.

First of all, if you have not signed up for the next Wealth Formula Meetup, you should do so NOW. This is going to be a very cool event. We are going to do personal finance talks in the morning like we usually do with lessons on taxes, asset protection and real estate. We are also going to get a big-picture macroeconomics talk from a guy who ran a sovereign wealth fund in the Middle East and an MIT-trained electrical engineer will give us a preview of a very exciting wind energy play as it relates to bitcoin mining! The afternoon is totally new and should be super fun. We will be talking about longevity and lifespan. I believe the first person to live to 150 years old has already been born. And I also believe that most of us have a really good chance of living to 100 and feeling like 50. Why? The science and technology behind longevity is moving at light speed. Some believe that "Longevity Escape Velocity" will be reached by 2030. In other words, the ability for people to essentially become immortal may be near. One thing is for sure. The idea of chronological age dictating your health and wellness will be redefined in the coming years. In fact, it already has and you need to know this stuff so you can implement these things in your life TODAY! That's exactly what we are going to talk about in the afternoon. Or…you can go on a bus tour like previous events. Your choice! People have a really hard time with getting their heads around new ideas like this—an entirely different paradigm which I believe we are on the precipice of. We live in our own reality that influences our cognitive biases. The reality we live in does not include people living to 150 and beyond. We think of ourselves as middle-aged in our 40s and 50s. But technology always sneaks up on us and provides us with a reset of our reality every few years. You probably are old enough to remember the days before the internet and cell phones. Some of the things we see today would have been downright futuristic just a decade or two ago. Furthermore, the concept of cognitive bias is bigger than technology. It affects everything in our life. We perceive the way we perceive because of our biases. What's interesting to me is that with social media and different kinds of political channels, there is a divergence within our population of what that reality is. I've never seen that before in my lifetime. That said, it is important to recognize your cognitive biases and try to add rationality—especially in the world of investing. My guest on Wealth Formula Podcast this week is an expert on cognitive bias and has written a book on how to overcome them to make the right decisions in your own life. Make sure to listen now! P.S. Sign up for our meetup HERE!

When I was growing up, the Republican Party stood for small government and free trade. Democrats were apparently on the other side of the table. Maybe it is an incorrect generalization, but one thing is for sure…neither party supports real free trade anymore. Why? Well, I think it stems from an overriding trend towards nationalism. The problem is that free trade is actually very beneficial for economies. Over the past several decades no other country has benefitted more from free trade than the United States. There are many benefits to free trade. Obviously, you have a greater variety of goods to choose from. Free trade allows for the maximization of resources and makes them more efficient to allocate. It also promotes efficiency in production, improves employment (net effect), and finally, allows us to keep the cost of stuff we consume way lower than it would be if we didn't have free trade. Just imagine what we would be paying for clothes without China! The body that regulates global trade is the World Trade Organization. And, as you can imagine, nationalistic forces have rendered it less effective than it was. To discuss the benefits of free trade and the health of global trade today, I had the opportunity to speak with one of the founders of the World Trade Organization, Congressman James Bacchus. Make sure to tune into this week's Wealth Formula Podcast and learn about the world trade organization, the current trade environment, and some potential solutions to the trade problems of our time. Listen HERE!

We haven't talked about cryptocurrency much lately. Admittedly, I am like everyone else who gets excited when the markets are going sky-high but quickly loses interest when markets are struggling. However, In times like these, regardless of asset class, it is critically important to stay rational. Let's take bitcoin as an example. As I write this Bitcoin is sitting just under $20K. It could absolutely go lower. But…for those of us who believe bitcoin is here to stay, does it matter? If you believe bitcoin is here to stay and that there is a finite amount of bitcoin that will ever be in existence, the price simply must go up over time as more people buy it and the market capitalization increases. This is an extraordinarily volatile market. But if you look at bitcoin price history, the trend is clearly UP. If that's the case, and you are a long-term holder/believer of bitcoin, you should be rejoicing about bitcoin prices today and strongly consider buying. This is a very difficult thing to do because ultimately we are wired to run away from danger (falling prices) and to run to pleasure (euphoric markets). But you have to rise above those instinctual impulses and be rational. That's how the best investors in the world, like Warren Buffet, differentiate themselves from the masses. Ok…so enough pep talk. Let's be practical. We are in a bear market. Many of us have lost significant value to our portfolios. The good news is that the tax rules for cryptocurrency are favorable—especially when it comes to locking in losses. As we wait for the bear market to end, it is a good time to make sure that we are aware of accounting principles and tax law as it relates to cryptocurrency. This will make it much easier when your portfolio explodes again! For that purpose, this week's Wealth Formula Podcast Features a CPA who specializes in cryptocurrency. Listen NOW!

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

It's been a while but this week's episode of Wealth Formula Podcast is the latest "Ask Buck" episode. As you know, most of the time I interview other people so I don't get a chance to talk to you directly. These episodes are great for learning. In fact, go back and listen to the last 10 "Ask Buck" shows and you will know as much as I do about personal finance! This week we will be talking a lot about taxes and the real estate market. Make sure to tune in!

Investing is hard enough without worrying about all the crooked stuff going on out there. When you add that to the picture, it's a miracle that most of us have actually made money investing. And if you think the nefarious activity is limited to the private space, you would be mistaken. Big money can manipulate public markets just as easily. Take Enron for example. The global financial collapse of 2008 exposed a lot of white-collar criminals. When the lending markets dried up it was like the tide went out and exposed all that were swimming naked. Of course, we had a front seat to the financial collapse in the United States beginning with the downfall of Lehman Brothers. But credit dried up globally and created chaos throughout the world. One of the most interesting stories is that of Iceland. My guest on today's Wealth Formula Podcast was one of the leading investigators into the Icelandic financial meltdown which was pound per pound the biggest financial meltdown in global history. Jared Bibler wrote a book on the topic with critics describing it as "Insatiable greed, flamboyant crimes, scheming politicians, dish-pan clanging housewives!" What else could you ask for? Tune in for a very entertaining conversation with Jared Bibler.

This week's episode of Wealth Formula Podcast is about emotional intelligence. Why would we talk about such things on a personal finance show? Well, let's define emotional intelligence for a moment. We all have emotions. If you want to see emotions in their rawest form, look at a toddler. One minute you might have an angel and the next you might have a complete meltdown and a demon from hell. Adults are no different. Emotional intelligence is the ability to step away from those emotions and examine why you are having them. Toddlers don't do that and only some adults really do. Why is emotional intelligence useful to have? Well, emotions can get us into trouble unchecked. We've all sent the text or email that we wish we hadn't in the moment. We all have those moments that we wish we had kept our mouths shut. As Warren Buffet says, " You can always tell someone to go to hell tomorrow." Buffet also says, "Be fearful when others are greedy, and greedy when others are fearful." Everyone knows that you should buy low and sell high, right? But when shit hits the fan, few are able to overcome emotions and do what they rationally know they should do. This week on Wealth Formula Podcast I talk to an expert in emotional intelligence who says that emotional intelligence can not only be measured, but also developed to optimize multiple facets in our lives. Maybe it can make you a better investor? Listen HERE

You've probably noticed that my emails have been pretty short the last few weeks. I've been in Europe so I'm letting the podcast speak for themselves for the most part. This week we go back to fundamentals. There's a reason why real estate is the foundation of the Wealth Formula personal finance ethos. There is simply nothing comparable in terms of risk adjusted returns and tax benefits. To reinforce these concepts, this week's podcast features a conversation with a CPA specializing in real estate. This is a must listen podcast. Enjoy!

When I think about all of what has happened to our economy over the past two decades, it's quite astounding. National debt has gone up by about 5x. Interest rates hovered at nearly zero for multiple years and we went through multiple shocks to the system like the 2008 meltdown and Covid. Again—all in the last two decades! This week's guest on Wealth Formula Podcast has seen a lot more than I have as he served in the Reagan administration at a time when Paul Volker used significant interest rate increases to bring down hyperinflation and he was deeply involved in the response to the Savings and Loans Crisis of the 1980s as well. Thomas Vartanian saw it all happen from the front row. His recent book, 200 Years of American Financial Panics: Crashes, Recessions, Depressions, and the Technology that Will Change it All captures the major themes of American Economic History. Tune into this week's show as we find out what he thinks about the economy today and what lessons from the past we can apply to try to get ourselves out of the mess!

There is a fine line between being a "quitter" and a pragmatic individual navigating life. Quitting has a very negative connotation in our culture. It's un-American and is associated with weakness and lack of grit. In reality however, quitting is often the best thing you can do and the sooner that you do it the better off you are. I'm a good example of a guy who has quit quite a few times and is much better off for it. For example, when I was in medical school, I was a hardcore student. They used to call people like me gunners. I was intense about my studies and got myself involved with lots of research projects and became the favorite student of the neurosurgery department. You see, at some point along the line I decided that I wanted to be a brain surgeon. I thought that the brain and the central nervous system were fascinating. In hindsight, however, I must admit that there were stronger drivers involved. I saw brain surgery as the top of the medical pecking order. Of course the idea of being a brain surgeon also appealed to me because of the social bragging rights that came along with it. After all, most people outside of medicine are pretty impressed when you tell them that you're a brain surgeon. So, I did what I had to do to get into a neurosurgical residency. I graduated with honors for medical school and scored very high on the required board exam used to evaluate residents. I also published multiple book chapters and peer reviewed articles in neurosurgery before I finished medical school. Because of that drive, I got into one of the top neurosurgery programs in the country that produced some of the most famous people in the profession. My grand scheme was working out beautifully. Then it happened. I started the program and, to my surprise, I wasn't really enjoying myself. Sure, I liked walking around with a white coat that said neurosurgery on it and tried to use it to impress cute nurses. I did feel pretty macho I must say. But it was not enough to get over the fact that I hated the hours. Very early mornings and very late nights were the norm on non-call days. When on call, any emergency meant I was up all night operating. Bleeding brains can't wait until the next morning. Then, I would have a full day of surgery the next day that I had to be alert and attentive for and try to learn something along the way. Boy…I really hated that. Curiously, I noticed that most of my fellow residents seem to get excited when the pager went off in the middle of the night. They got excited and filled with adrenaline when called to action—like Batman. Not me. When the pager went off in the middle of the night I would feel nothing but dread. It took me midway through my second year of neurosurgical residency to figure out that this was not going to work out. So I quit. At that point, I felt like I was in free fall. For years I had created this identity that I was living. It took thousands of hours to get there with lots of blood and sweat. Was it just a waste of time? Well, It probably was a waste of time but it could have been worse. I could have stuck it out for another five years and been miserable the rest of the way. My attending professors didn't seem to have such a great life either so it wasn't like there was light at the end of the tunnel. I ended up switching specialties and ended up in cosmetics (brains vs butts…what's the difference?) And of course after a few years of that, quit medicine altogether. I guess it just wasn't for me. Think of that for a moment. Four years of college, four years of medical school and seven years of postgraduate surgical training. And I just quit because I didn't want to do it anymore. Liberating. The moral of the story is that when you figure out that something is not working for you, move on quickly. It seems simple enough right? But how many people do you know who complain about their jobs every single day and talk about doing different things but never do? Relationships are no different. You usually know within the first few weeks if there is long-term potential. However, rather than break it off quickly, people often drag out relationships for months or years trying to make it work and sometimes even get married! Well, as a divorced guy, I'm not much of an authority on relationships. However, The larger theme here is quit while you are behind. Don't prolong the pain. There is plenty of gain to be had without enduring pain. My guest on this week's Wealth Formula Podcast is Steve Magness. He's written a book that tries to explain why being tough and resilient is not always the right thing to do for an individual. So, If you feel like a lab rat on a treadmill you'll definitely want to tune in to the show!

One of the consequences of inflation is increasing wealth disparity. Think about it for a moment. CPI indices only measure a basket of goods and services. But you and I know as investors that inflation helps us out with our investment portfolios as well. Asset inflation is a real thing. If you don't have the money to invest, you only get the downside of inflation. Prices for everyday stuff go up and it becomes harder and harder to get by. How bad can it get? Well we already have food insecurity in our own country…the richest most powerful country in the world. And there are pressures on food supplies globally now with draughts and the war in Ukraine, also known as the breadbasket of Europe. So are we heading to a worldwide food shortage? And if we are, what are the consequences to those at the top of the food chain? Maybe we don't go hungry but hunger is a big driver of social unrest globally. The world is already a highly volatile place. My guest on Wealth Formula Podcast this week studies the food supply and sheds light on the true extent of the problem. Make sure to tune in!

When was the happiest time of your life? I mean like inner-happy type happy? For me, it was definitely as a kid. My childhood was by no means all roses, but the little things in life brought me a ton of joy. I remember riding my bike to friends' houses and knocking on their doors (that's what we did in the 80s), getting together a group of friends for an impromptu baseball game or just riding around on our bikes and going places we shouldn't have gone. School was fun during elementary school. It felt like a camp. You got to go see your friends everyday, play at recess and learn some cool stuff. No pressure…just a pure routine. I had my intellectual curiosities as well. When I wasn't at school I would be closely studying the sports pages of the newspaper. I was a virtual encyclopedia on both the NHL and the NFL. It was pure joy for me to scour the library for books on famous athletes. By the time high school rolled around, a lot of the joy of academics was gone for me. I was good at school but definitely preferred to party and to play sports. And of course I discovered girls which brought a new level of interest for me to be at school. While I kept a steady state of party going in college, my academic work now became a job. When I decided to go to medical school, I realized I couldn't afford to take art and acting classes for fear of them bringing my grade point average down. I had to stick to advanced biochemistry and molecular biology! I wasn't doing any sports anymore and I had no real intellectual pursuits outside of my job as a premed student (and organic chemistry tutor). Medical school was really interesting but the specialization left little time for anything else in my life. As I track these different times in my life I can see the inner joy levels dropping precipitously at each step. Why? Well, my drops in inner happiness seem to be correlated to the times in my life when I transitioned from enjoying the present time as a kid to focussing primarily on the future as I progressed to college and medical school. I spent so much of my life sacrificing the present for things in the future. I gave up most of my 20s to medical school and surgical residency. Then I set my mind to create successful businesses and investments so that I could make all the money that I wanted to make. But now I'm kind of here. Sure I'm always happy to become richer but I have already surpassed anything I thought I would make. So now what? Of course I continue doing what got me here but I recently realized that something was really missing in my life. Thinking back to what made me happy as a kid, I decided to see if I could reverse engineer myself back into having a child's mindset. Here's some major things that made me happy as a kid: Playing sports. I was a good athlete. I even have one of those elite power athlete genes! Being part of a community. I didn't realize how hard it is to make close friends once you leave a school situation. Learning new stuff. For me, this is critical. I need intellectual stimulation. If I am not learning I feel like I am dying. Focusing on gratification today. Yes I mean gratification. We spend so much of our time planning for the future that we forget to have fun today. So yes…spend some of that money because you can't take it with you. So here's my plan. I'm going to get active in local sports leagues. I'm going to start volunteering in the community. I am going to read a book about something random every week. And I'm going to buy some fancy shit and not feel guilty. I'm not kidding. I'll tell you how it goes! All of this stuff I'm talking about has been on my mind for a while. Then I heard about the work of Frank Keil, a researcher at Yale who has been studying the concept of Wonder in childhood and was intrigued by how these ideas could be applied to my own journey. Dr. Keil's research on children and wonder is fascinating and might provide you some ideas on how to bring some youthful vigor back into your own life. Listen HERE for this week's episode of Wealth Formula Podcast.

There is a major distinction between economists and investors. While most economists classify themselves with schools of thought such as Keynesian or Austrian, successful investors cannot afford to do so. I just spent a significant amount of time reviewing the work of Saifedean Ammous, the author of The Bitcoin Standard which has really become the bible for serious bitcoiners of the world. Ammous is an academic, trained at Columbia. I highly recommend you read his work. He's very smart and when you listen to him, he just makes sense. The primary theme in his work is that Keynesian Economics is pretty much responsible for all evils of the world. I'm only slightly exaggerating. Ammous would say that pretty much every war since World War 1 could be blamed on Keynesian Economics. Without getting into too much detail, Keynesian economics refers to the idea that demand drives supply and the key to a healthy economy is to spend or invest more than you save. Keynesian economics is the reason governments borrow money and spend it. One of our biggest problems today is inflation which is, to some degree, required in the Keynesian system. Ultimately what leads to Ammous to consider a bitcoin standard the best economic system is that bitcoin is deflationary allowing people to actually store value over time in a meaningful way and it is out of the control of a central authority—ie a government with a gun to your head. Very interesting stuff. But how do we use this information practically? Hardcore bitcoiners will tell you to put all your money into bitcoin—get it out of fiat. If things work out the way Ammous and the rest of the hardline bitcoiners believe, that would be a very good move. But how do we know it's going to happen. Just because something makes sense doesn't mean it will ever be reality. The reality now is that governments rely on the Keynysian system. Therefore, it's not going anywhere anytime soon. And while bitcoiners often prophesize of some macroeconomic apocalyptic event leading to the bitcoin standard, I personally, would not count on it. Don't get me wrong. I do see bitcoin as a major player in the world economy in the coming years. It will take some time but I do believe it will be digital gold. Even over the next five years, I believe bitcoin will be worth $250K and that will just be the beginning. So…yes. I am stacking bitcoin. But I'm still 85 percent real estate because that's what I KNOW will be successful over time. You and I are investors. We may have our own belief systems and wish things were a certain way. But the playing field and the rules are written by governments, not ideological economists. So we have to navigate the personal finance world on what is, not what should be. What we do know right now is that inflation is real and we need to figure out how to make our investments exceed inflation. The money supply has grown an average of 14% every year for at least 60 years now. That's why inflation is inevitable. The best thing that investors can do is to invest in inflation-hedged assets like real estate. Although inflation does not directly include asset prices in its calculation, there is no doubt that owning assets is the way to keep up with it. What else can you do? As real estate investors, we work with a lot of debt. Inflation erodes debt and punishes savers. As long as we are prudent with our debt, the math is clear. Debtors are rewarded in inflationary environments—keep your leverage intact and let that debt erode as the governments print money. Finally, we need to figure out how to maximize our profits. If inflation is running at 7% per year you need to make more than that just to keep up. And remember, this is after taxes. That brings me to tax mitigation. One of the most powerful tools to maximize your investment dollar is tax-efficient investing. That's why tax mitigation is such a major theme of Wealth Formula. To maximize your profits you either make more money or pay less of it in taxes. Legally paying less taxes is easier and much quicker than making more money in most cases. From personal experience I can tell you that the investment of time and money into adequate tax planning is one of the most profitable decisions you can make. What I have learned and implemented from my guest on this week's Wealth Formula Podcast, Tom Wheelwright, is pure gold. Make sure to tune into this week's show and catch up with Tom. I guarantee you will learn something and that the return on investment will be infinite!

Big changes in the world seem to sneak up on you. One day you reflect on the way things used to be and wonder how the heck we got here. Anyone who has kids knows what I mean. My 13-year-old daughter is tall and beautiful and writes songs. I can remember the day she was born. How did that happen? I see her every day but I don't see the changes happening in real-time. Technology does this kind of thing to us as well. I remember a time when there were no cell phones. But in a blink of an eye, traditional landlines became extinct. Have you seen a phone booth lately? Speaking of phones, I remember receiving my first text message during surgical residency and having no clue what was going on. Now I text more than I talk to people on the phone. Ok…you get the idea. Now what if you actually noticed these happening under your own nose in real-time. On the tech side, that would probably make you a wealthy investor. If you recognized the Amazon phenomenon 15 years ago while it was developing, you would have made a ton of money. If you missed it, welcome to the club. I, for one, wasn't paying much attention. And to be perfectly honest, I didn't have much money to invest back then anyway. So what are the things that are going to become part of the fabric of our society in the next 15- 20 years? I can think of a few things but nothing so obvious and specific as the growth of bitcoin and its ecosystem. Right now we are seeing countries adopt it as legal tender. How crazy is that? I suspect that's just the tip of the iceberg. Samson Mow is one of those guys who saw bitcoin for what it is years before most. He is a true visionary in the bitcoin arena and he's also a visionary in the gaming industry. In this episode of Wealth Formula Podcast, Samson and his COO at Pixelmatic, Chris Wood, discuss what's going on with bitcoin today and the latest on their latest gaming venture—Infinite Fleet. You might even want to get involved yourself! Make sure to tune in!

What makes a great investor? Genetics? Personality type? Luck? Probably all of the above. But one thing I've noticed is that all the best investors in the world are very curious people and they tend to read a lot. Apparently Warren Buffett was reading between 800 and 1000 pages per day in the early days of Berkshire Hathaway. He probably learned a thing or two along the way. Even now, approaching his ninth decade, 80% of his day is reportedly spent reading. Bill Gates apparently clocks in at about a book per week as well. So maybe there is something to this reading thing? Neither one of these guys focuses just on personal finance either. They are learning all sorts of things about the world and about ideas. On a much smaller level, I believe that my broad background as a student of history, a medical doctor, and a macroeconomic theory enthusiast, have all played a role in my ability to think about things from a larger perspective than most. Just take for example the current inflationary environment. Most of us are probably not old enough to necessarily have experienced what it was like in the early 1980s. But understanding the similarities and differences between what happened then and what is happening now certainly provides perspective in an otherwise unpredictable world. History may not repeat itself, but it certainly rhymes. Furthermore, history is not the only thing that can teach you about the world. I take lessons from my days as a surgeon and understanding and processing the world on a day-to-day basis. The more you learn about STUFF, the larger arsenal you will have to confront the problems and challenges of life both professionally and personally. I truly believe that. My guest on this week's Wealth Formula Podcast believes it too. Aside from being a recognized value investor, he is a true man of letters. Vitaliy Katsenelson is a great example of a great thinker and how a great thinker can often translate to a great investor. Make sure to tune into the show!

Should you be investing in real estate now? After all, we have double digit inflation and rising interest rates. Well, let's start with an even more basic question. Should you be investing in anything right now? What is the alternative? The alternative is to sit on cash while inflation erodes the value of your money by double digits. Would you invest in something today that would guarantee you a loss of 8-12 percent of your money year over year? I'm guessing the answer is no. But that is exactly what you are doing if you are sitting on cash. Inflation punishes people who do not invest their money. So…I would argue that the answer to whether or not you should invest is YES. But what about real estate? I keep hearing people concerned about rising interest rates. But here is where a little bit of macroeconomic perspective is useful. Interest rates are going up in order to curtail inflation. Right now, inflation is far outpacing the rise of interest rates which are actually below 2018 levels. For real estate investors, that's very good news. Why? What is inflation? It's rising prices right? Guess what? Rents are part of that equation. In other words, rates will go up only as long as rents continue to go up as well. That is why real estate is considered a hedge against inflation. As you know, our investor club focuses on multifamily real estate. I would argue that in times of higher inflation, we are in exactly the right place to deploy capital. First of all, we are in the right geographic places in terms of where we invest. We are in high population growth markets. People have to live somewhere and construction is lagging way behind for a variety of reasons including supply chain disruption. We are also in the most desirable real estate class in terms of positioning for inflation. Our leases only last a year. Imagine owning commercial properties with 10 year leases escalating at 2-3 percent per year while inflation rages at 11 percent! In our portfolio, we have routinely raised rents greater than 20-30 percent per year because of not only inflation but because of value add programs. Right now, lending issues have slowed transactions of large multifamily assets, but the reality on the ground is that there is more demand than ever for housing and we are raising rents year over year way above inflation numbers. And remember, we have debt on every one of these properties. What does that mean? Think about it. Inflation erodes debt as well. There may not be as many opportunities to buy this year because sellers who don't need to sell may not do so. However, The opportunities that will come up have the potential to be very opportunistic and profitable. Times like these are when people make the most money. No one knows this market better than Western Wealth Capital CEO Janet LePage. Do yourself a favor. Avoid the swirl and start thinking about the fundamentals. In this week's Wealth Formula Podcast, Janet will help you do exactly that.

Nothing saddens me more than to see my fellow physicians and other highly trained professionals who spend their youth studying hard for the promise of a fulfilling career that will take care of them financially only to realize that they have been sold a false bill of goods. Physicians in particular have gotten really screwed. The golden age for physician reimbursement was in the 1980s and 1990s. These were the days where it might have been "worth it" to sacrifice the best decades of your life to medical school and residency—particularly for surgeons. Not anymore. Physician reimbursement on many major surgical procedures has decreased as much as 90 percent over the last two decades while liability and patient expectations are up. Now, I do understand that many of my surgical friends love what they do and never get burnt out like I did. They continue to practice and some even manage to do better than average through ancillary income. But the concept of the rich surgeon is now largely a myth. I have had innumerable conversations with physicians and surgeons alike that are worried about retirement. How can a person making 300-500k per year worry about retirement? Well, remember that most surgeons do not finish residency training until their early 30s. Residency income is on par with minimum wage when hours are taken into account. So, as a surgeon, you finish training often with hundreds of thousands of dollars of debt and with 20-25 years of career left in you. You have to make up for lost time. I use the example of surgeons because I am one but the story I'm telling relates to anyone who has spent a significant portion of their life "getting there" and who realizes that the amount of time to reap rewards of those educational investments is limited. I do think that it is possible to get on track and feel comfortable about retirement but it's not through the traditional investing paradigm. It's through the Wealth Formula. As we have shown through investor club for years now, extraordinary returns in short periods utilizing rapid redeployment and leverage is possible. And I still deploy 85-90 percent of my own investable capital per year in real estate. However, I recently discovered a newly designed insurance product that I am eager to share with you. As you know, despite misinformation from less sophisticated sources, the wealthiest people in the world continue to utilize life insurance retirement plans (LIRPs). I do as well. We have previously shown the benefits of Wealth Formula Banking and Velocity Plus. On this week's Wealth Formula Podcast we will discuss the most powerful LIRP I have ever seen. If you're 42 years old, an investment of $100k per year for the next 10 years could result in almost $44 million dollars of income until the age of 90 if you retire at 52 AND allow you to leave an additional $31 million in death benefit. This is totally real and something you should know about. And to be honest, the example I gave here is the least exciting example for me personally. The ability to create tremendous amounts of income and/or legacy with relatively modest investments now is something I have never seen with something this "safe" Please make sure to tune in to this week's Wealth Formula Podcast. This might be something that you might want to consider.

No matter how open-minded you think you are, you are always going to approach things with a certain bias. And it only takes being completely wrong about something that you would have bet your life on to realize that. My perspective on Covid-19 in the early days is a good example. Now I know there seem to be some who still don't think it was a big deal. However, at least old guard Covid and Delta were pretty dangerous and a lot of people died. Others, like me, got very sick and took a long time to fully recover. Early on, when reports started coming out of China, the data didn't impress me. In hindsight, the data wasn't accurate. However, the more powerful force in my mind negating the seriousness of Covid was my bias that something like that could not happen in our country. I certainly was aware of SARS and Ebola outbreaks overseas but my mind could not process a pandemic in the United States. I was wrong. And when you are wrong on such a serious thing it makes you realize your own biases and perspective very well. As an investor, this concept of trying to recognize your Blindspots is extraordinarily important. For example, remember that most digital assets i.e. cryptocurrency investments are still highly speculative and involve asymmetric risk. Aside from perhaps bitcoin, the risk profile for cryptocurrency is extremely high even if you believe in the individual projects and the team involved. Sometimes, if people around you are echoing the same positive sentiments, it can sometimes artificially blind us to the actual risk involved. A great example of that recently involves the cryptocurrency, Luna. It seemed like a great project with considerable upside but still had an asymmetric risk profile. And, as these kinds of investments can lead to tremendous upside, they can often go to zero which is exactly what happened to Luna. Biases based on perspective are around us everywhere. The reason I mention them now is because of my conversation with this week's guest on Wealth Formula Podcast, James Fok. James is an expert on China and its relations with the United States and the financial markets. His view on China's motives whether it comes to digital currency or the war in Ukraine are quite different from what I had expected. Reflecting on this interview, I realized it was just another example of how perspective can really influence the way you view the world. James is an English intellectual who lives in Hong Kong. I am an American who sees China as an adversary akin to the former Soviet Union. Tune in to this conversation. You'll see what I mean.

When times get tough, it is always easier to have a scapegoat. After all, it is easier to blame an enemy than an unfortunate circumstance. The enemy can be punished and held responsible. Circumstances cannot. The most extreme example of this in modern history is the vilification of Jews during World War 2. Reparations for World War 1 left Germany in a world of economic hurt. Hitler demonized Jews as the root of the problem as many of them were successful professionals and business people. As wealth disparities continue throughout developed nations, we are seeing a more subtle version of demagoguery playing out in real time in the form of nationalism. Again, it is easier to blame someone or a group of people for problems than it is to accept a circumstance that cannot be punished. This blame game is human nature. It's a common theme throughout history and in everyday life. It allows us to feel in control when we are often not. Is that what's behind all of the socialist rhetoric out there these days? As a child in the 1980s during the Reagan era it seemed like the wealthy were aspirational figures. Socialist voices blaming the rich for all that is wrong with the world were in the minority. Now, you can't turn on the television without hearing about how horrible and greedy the rich are and how they don't pay their fair share of taxes. Although few politicians and public figures would come to the rescue of millionaires and billionaires in a moral argument, the truth does matter. My guest on Wealth Formula Podcast this week has done a deep dive on the subject of whether or not the rich are an asset or a liability to society. Tune in and find out what he discovered!

I don't know about you but sometimes I have so many different things cycling through my brain at the same time but it's hard to keep track of any one of them. I'm not talking about just work or personal finance related issues. I'm also talking about trying to keep my kids' schedules straight. I've got three young daughters with a lot of friends who have birthdays seemingly every weekend. Then there are school events and conferences, pick up and drop off and after school sports! Thank God only one of them is particularly athletic! Throw in a dental appointment and a haircut, and maybe a work event, and now you've got a real monkey mind on your hands. I say this…but I also know that, compared to a lot of people, I've got it pretty darn good. I make plenty of money and can hire plenty of help and my kids are really well behaved. The issues that I am talking about aren't new to society. They are simply a product of being an adult and having responsibilities. That said, it's not a bad idea once in a while to take a step back and focus on our own mental health. So, and this week's Wealth Formula podcast, that's exactly what we will do. We will talk about the monkey mind and what you might be able to do if you suffer from it. Listen HERE!

The hardest part about understanding economics is terminology. In reality, economics really just comes down to understanding human behavior based on incentives. Let's take for example the Cobra Effect. This is a term coined by economist Horst Siebert to describe a time in India under British rule when the local governor was trying to figure out how to deal with an apparent uptick of venomous snakes in Delhi. The governor decided to implement a bounty system. People were paid handsomely for each and every cobra head that they could produce. The solution worked very well at the beginning and there was a significant drop in the number of snakes in the area. However, over time the problem returned with a vengeance. Even though significant dead snakes were being produced and awarded with cash, the problem did not go away and even seemed worse. What do you think happened? Well, what if you were a poor Indian person in Delhi who started making good money killing snakes and then realized that there were less and less of them around to cash in on? What would you do? Well, you'd figure out a way to find more snakes. And, the easiest way to do that would be to simply to start a snake farm yourself. That's what happened and that is what is referred to as the Cobra Effect. This is a classic example of thinking through the incentives that drive people to come up with some possible outcomes resulting from various situations and policies. That is essentially what economics is. However, like many fields, economics is hindered by a lot of technical Jargon. It's what makes academics feel smart and what helps members of the Federal Reserve keep you out of the loop of what's really going on in the world. What do you think their incentive for confusing you might be? There is another economics question for you! My guest on Wealth Formula Podcast this week is a journalist at a prestigious newspaper that believes that financial economics is just a matter of common sense. He didn't always think this. A journalist by trade, he felt completely overwhelmed by financial discussions until the age of 30. Then he took matters into his own hands and decided to take some time and learn the things that he thought were so confusing. To his surprise, they weren't confusing at all. They were common sense concepts that could be learned by anyone. In fact, he even wrote a book to help others understand the basics of macroeconomics from the perspective of a non-economist. His story is fascinating and inspiring. Make sure to listen in on our conversation on this week's Wealth Formula podcast. You might even want to grab a copy of his book.

As I write this email, I'm on my way to Phoenix for our biannual meetup. So…I'll keep it short. Coming up Covid and in the midst of a war in Europe we are experiencing unusual inflation forcing the Fed's hand at raising interest rates. Over the last several weeks, we have had several economists and authors on the show trying to predict the future. Unfortunately, that's not an easy task. We can look at the past and take some lessons from history. But nothing is exactly as it is today. Sure we had double-digit inflation in the late 70s and 80s but for very different reasons than rising inflation in 2022. So, the question is whether or not there is a playbook to deal with economic uncertainty and change. Of course, the answer is yes. We have our typical monetary and fiscal options. However, for a unique situation like we are in now, is there such thing as "economic truth"? My guest on this week's episode of Wealth Formula podcast thinks there is and he explains what he thinks we need to do in these interesting times. Listen Now!

The most common question I get from investors these days is how increasing interest rates will affect the performance of our real estate holdings. There is often concern, for good reason, that as rates go up our net operating income will go down. The good news is that things aren't that simple. Rate increases don't happen in a vacuum. Remember that the reason the Fed is increasing interest rates in the first place is because of inflation. We are in 1980s territory with 8.5 year over year inflation. The Federal Reserve has to raise rates to keep it under control. But drilling down on inflation reveals an important reality in multifamily real estate. In our high growth markets, we are increasing rents at a pace that often significantly out-paces inflation right now. In other words, what we are finding is that we are driving net operating income up at our properties far in excess to what the inflation numbers show—as scary as they may sound. This is why we always talk about real estate as a hedge to inflation. You are seeing this reality in real time. Not only are we hedging inflation. In reality, as the second largest landlord in Phoenix, our rent increases are probably making a significant impact on the inflationary data in that market. The specific kind of real estate that we focus on is also helpful. Our leases are year-to-year so we can raise rents appropriately with the economic realities on the ground. Many commercial leases are multi-year fixed contracts that can not be altered to reflect inflation. Finally, you should know that cap rates do not correlate with interest rates in a linear fashion. Cap rates rise slower than interest rates. We also mitigate that risk by buying rate caps on all of our properties. Bottom line is that, in my opinion, high quality multifamily real estate in high growth markets is a great place to be in inflationary environments like we are now. I understand the anxiety people have about deploying capital but remember, not investing when there is 8.5 percent inflation year over year essentially guarantees you lose money in form of buying power. So fear is not going to save you money. But I know it's a complicated topic and to drill down on it further I talk with serial real estate entrepreneur, Christopher Volk, on this week's episode of Wealth Formula Podcast. Having taken multiple companies public including a REIT, he knows a thing or two about the real estate market!

I have started a number of small businesses over the past decade. I know that a number of you run your own business or are thinking about some kind of new entrepreneurial endeavor. So, let me tell you about some of the things that I have learned. First, fewer variables make businesses easier to run and, in most cases, more profitable. You can see examples of this with big business all the time. Ever seen the menu at In-N-Out Burger? Pretty simple! While it may seem like a good idea to offer a lot of services to a lot of different kinds of people, most of the time businesses realize that this approach is not ideal. Too many products and services create too many variables. The more moving parts you have in a business makes it harder to run efficiently. Another lesson that I learned related to this concept of keeping complexity minimal is to stay away from businesses with too much overhead. I have run medical businesses with marketing budgets of over $1 million per year. In good months, I felt like I was king of the world. On the bad ones, I worried about becoming homeless! It's not a good way to live. Finally, the most difficult part of owning and scaling a business, in my opinion, is the issue of people. I once built a very successful cosmetic surgery business in Chicago and then tried to do the same in four other cities at the same time. My reasoning was that if I could do as well as I was in Chicago, why couldn't I do it in smaller markets? Well, those businesses failed miserably. And, in hindsight, the biggest reason for failure was because I did not have the right people to execute the plan. Of course, I'm just a bootstrap entrepreneur who's had some success and failures. But my guest on Wealth Formula podcast this week has been the chief economist at some of the biggest companies in the world. In fact, he has just been named the chief economist of Walmart. This week's Wealth Formula Podcast features an interview that I did with him. What I found fascinating about this interview was that many of the problems that I saw at my level were the same for multibillion dollar corporations. Of course, I couldn't resist getting his take on the current economy as well so I asked him a little bit about that. So whether you're interested on his takes on what it takes to grow and scale a business or what he thinks of today's unusual economic situation, be sure to tune in!

My kids are little. My oldest is 12 and her sisters are 9 and 6. Admittedly, I've spent no significant amount of time trying to teach them about money as of yet. If anything, I have taught them a little bit about the burden of taxes by eating half of the cupcakes and ice cream and metaphorically blaming the IRS. That one seems to get the point across! When they get older, you can be sure that I will spend a significant amount of time with them teaching them about money. After all, it is my intent to leave them plenty of it after I die! For those of you who are further along in the process, I thought this week's discussion about children and money with an actual high school teacher might be of value. Disclaimer: I have not reviewed this guy's course and I don't know if it's worth it at all. However, there is no harm in listening to this perspective on a bonus podcast.

You would think from the vilification of capitalists in recent years that we are nothing but a waste of space on earth. "Pay your fair share capitalist pig!" That's what you hear these days from popular politicians on the left. Of course, in reality, without us, the government would be broke. What makes America great and what has made the world the place that it is in terms of technology and health care over the last century has entirely to do with the efforts of capitalists. Just think about all of those people walking around with iPhones these days. Was Steve Jobs doing that for free? Now, more people in the world have cellular phones and are connected to one another than any time in history. If you are the Unabomber and hate technology, you might have another view. However, technology has made our lives better and it is because of investments from capitalists like you and me. Now I'm not in the world of Venture Capital myself. If I knew enough to be able to invest intelligently I probably would be. Beyond its potential for huge returns venture drives innovation in our world today. And while most of us are far more interested in owning stable assets such as multi family real estate, it's good to know the role venture capital in our world today. And who knows, you may be inspired to become a venture capitalist yourself. Listen to this week's Wealth Formula Podcast episode to learn why Venture Capital is a big deal.

Money has taken on many forms throughout history. In the last couple of centuries gold has been the dominant form of money recognized globally. In 1912 J.P. Morgan himself said, "Money is gold, and nothing else". Yet the relevance of gold has really come into question since Nixon took the dollar off the gold standard in 1971. That move has been vilified by Austrian economists and others who treasure the concept of sound money. The revolution that started in 1971 changed the global economy from one based on gold to one based on credit. That sounds like anathema doesn't it? Well…maybe a credit-based economy is not so bad. After all, it could be argued that the uncoupling of gold and the US dollar resulted in the most rapid growth in global wealth over the last 50 years than ever before in history. It could be argued that "creditism" resulted in fewer people in poverty around the world and even the fall of the Soviet Union. If that's the case, is credit and debt so bad? Richard Duncan doesn't think so. In fact, he's written a new book that suggests that we should lean into our debt with investments that will bring us to the next level of a civilized society. Curious? Make sure to tune into this week's episode of Wealth Formula Podcast!

I write this on the "Ides of March" one day before the Federal Reserve meets to discuss the economy and its plans for the near future. The 900-pound gorilla in the room is inflation although the war in Ukraine may be a mitigating factor for the impending hawkish moves anticipated. By the time this post is published and podcast recorded, you'll already know what happened at that meeting. Let me guess…an increase in the discount rate by 25 basis points? Well, that's what has baked into the markets and what will dictate any further market movements is discussion of further rate hikes and disposition of the Fed's bond portfolio. Ok, so now what do you do? Should you panic and stop investing? Well, that's the knee-jerk response right? But remember, why are rates going up in the first place? Yes…inflation. And what happens to the money in your bank account during inflation? It loses value. So, keeping yourself in cash right now is pretty much a guaranteed way to lose money. In order for you to break even, you have to be keeping up with inflation at least! What am I doing? I'm still investing my money in assets hedged for inflation. The good news is that I don't have to change my investment strategy at all because multifamily real estate is a great hedge against inflation. "But Buck", you ask, "won't cap rates go up with interest rates?" Typically that's true although it's not necessarily a linear relationship. Furthermore, ask yourself once again why mortgage rates would go up? Yes…inflation. And yes…inflation means increasing rents as well. In other words, increasing rates is hedged by increasing rents. Now to be clear, I'm not saying we have nothing to worry about. There is a Chinese curse that says, "May you live in interesting times." Like it or not, we live in interesting times with plenty of danger and uncertainty. All we can do is be rational and disciplined with how we allocate our money. How we allocate money may not be the same for everyone in the world right now either. If I was in Russia I'd try to buy as much bitcoin as possible to get out of the Ruble in a hurry. But in the US, the more reliable hedge might still be good old-fashioned multifamily real estate. It's a complicated topic and worth discussing further with experts on investing trends and that is exactly what we will do on this week's Wealth Formula Podcast with my guest David Sacco! P.S. DO NOT miss our upcoming meetup in Phoenix. Mark April 22nd and 23rd on your calendar and CLICK HERE to register ASAP. Only a few spots remain!

Americans have always enjoyed the advantage of geographic isolation from much of the Western World. It has allowed us, in many ways, to look at many of the world's conflicts from a relatively disinterested distance. Who knows if we would have gotten involved at all in World War 2 if not for the bombing of Pearl Harbor. Nevertheless, the implications of major conflicts like the one currently happening in Ukraine eventually find their way to our shores. And more often than not they do so most noticeably at the level of our pocketbooks. Make no mistake, the Russian invasion of Ukraine will affect you. Unless you drive a Tesla you're seeing it at the gas station now. But there are more subtle and long-term implications of this war that will continue to shape the global economy. To better understand how, this week's Wealth Formula Podcast episode features a conversation with an economist who was named one of the 100 most important public intellectuals in the world by Foreign Policy Magazine. Make sure to listen now and understand how Putin's war may affect you.

In June of 2008, I graduated from my surgical residency program, got married and discovered Robert Kiyosaki. 14 years later, I'm no longer a practicing surgeon nor am I married anymore. However, the impact of Robert's books defined the course of my life. It's really extraordinary when I think about how a single book that I stumbled upon in a dingy Mexican airport could have just profound implications for me. On the other hand, most of us can define a moment in time that changed it all. That could be meeting a person, going somewhere or, in my case, reading a book. These transitional experiences feel like being hit with lightning. I call my Kiyosaki transformation as taking the purple pill. Many of you have had similar experiences with his books. In this episode of Wealth Formula Podcast, I ask Robert Kiyosaki to talk about the defining experiences of his life that shaped his worldview and the course of his life. Listen HERE!

Distributed ledger technology is revolutionary and creates some problems for the old guard—specifically banks and the traditional financial markets. The young guns creating all of this technology are really shaking things up. But you can bet that the traditional guys who have been making millions of dollars off the old system aren't giving up easily. The old guard also has something else on their side—the financial regulatory system. You see, decentralized finance (AKA DeFi) is very appealing but it's not always terribly legal. Case in point, frequently individuals who own cryptocurrency are making swaps for other tokens on these platforms and no one knows about it. In fact, it is virtually impossible for an agency like the IRS to track these trades. And, many people have millions of dollars stashed in this underbelly of the decentralized economy. I wouldn't recommend living like that myself. Why? Well, I would just say that it's best not to bet against regulators and the US government in the long term. You risk going to jail. Nevertheless, DeFi and related technologies do offer so many advantages to consumers in the way of efficient transactions that are quick and inexpensive. In fact, I would argue that when technology this powerful comes down the pipe, it eventually prevails one way or another. But, practically speaking, how is that going to look? That's a good question. We really are in the early days of DeFi and distributed ledger technology in general. My guest on this week's Wealth Formula Podcast, Brian Hartzer, comes very much from the traditional financial system holding positions as a top executive at some of the largest banks in the world. Yet, he sees the disruption coming and believes he knows where technology will meet traditional finance and regulators straight on. It's a fascinating area to watch evolve as it is happening very quickly. Make sure you tune in to the show!