Podcasts about helocs

Paying off your mortgage can feel like one of the clearest signs of financial freedom. I understand the appeal. For many families, that monthly payment represents pressure, obligation, and dependence on someone else. That is exactly why Velocity Banking can sound so compelling. Use a home equity line of credit to attack the mortgage balance, run your income through the line, reduce the total interest you pay, and get the house paid off faster. On paper, the math can work. That is not really where Bruce and I disagree. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C6N3lnog3PY What I want you to look at is what happens to your control of capital while you are doing it. A HELOC gives you access to credit under a bank's contract and lending rules. Infinite Banking starts from a different premise: build capital first, then use the policy's loan provision to access capital against what you have already built. Both strategies can involve borrowing. Both require disciplined behavior. But they are not the same financial system. And I want to say this up front: we are not anti-HELOC. A HELOC can be a useful financial tool. The purpose of this conversation is not to tell you that using one is automatically wrong. It is to help you see the structural tradeoffs clearly, especially if you are thinking about making a HELOC the center of your banking strategy. When you are thinking beyond one transaction, about the opportunities you want to pursue, the people you want to provide for, and the financial strength you want to build for your family, that distinction matters. Key TakeawaysWhat Velocity Banking Actually DoesPaying Less Interest Is Not the Only Financial ObjectiveA HELOC Gives You Access to Credit. That Is Not the Same as Controlling Capital.Home Equity Is Valuable, but It Is Not Liquid CapitalWhat Infinite Banking ChangesThe Ownership Question MattersA Different Way to Think About Paying Off the MortgageThe HELOC Draw Period Deserves Attention From the BeginningInfinite Banking Has Tradeoffs TooThe Bigger Question Is Who Controls the Capital Key Takeaways Velocity Banking can accelerate mortgage payoff, but the HELOC itself does not create the savings. Your cash flow and additional principal reduction do the work. Home equity is a real asset, but it is not the same as liquid capital. Turning it into spendable cash requires a sale or another financing decision. A HELOC gives you access to bank credit. Your continued access to unused credit remains subject to the lender's contract and applicable rules. Infinite Banking requires capitalization first. Policy loans charge interest and have to be managed responsibly. Our preference for Infinite Banking is about building a capital system around liquidity, contractual guarantees, long-range behavior, and control, not pretending every bank loan is bad. Before you ask how fast you can eliminate your mortgage, ask what position your capital will be in while you are getting there. DimensionHELOC (Velocity Banking)Infinite BankingWhere the capital comes fromA bank's credit line against your home equityCapital you build first inside a participating whole life policyGetting access to itThe bank approves the line; access to unused credit stays subject to the lender's contract and rulesThe policy's loan provision, based on the contract and available loan value — not income, credit score, or home valueWho controls continued accessThe lender, which may freeze or reduce the line in defined circumstances (per the CFPB)You, within the terms of the policy you ownCost of borrowingCommonly a variable rate that can change over timePolicy-loan interest (not free money); an unpaid loan can reduce the death benefitLiquidity of the underlying assetHome equity is real but not spendable until you sell, refinance, or borrow against itA capital base designed to stay liquid, accessible, and deployableUnderwriting each time you use itSet when the line is established; future refinancing depends on conditions at that timeNo bank-style underwriting each time you use the loan provisionYour relationship to the institutionYou are the bank's customerYou participate in a mutual insurer as an eligible policyholder (dividends are non-guaranteed)The main tradeoff to weighAccess can tighten at exactly the moment you need itYou must capitalize the policy first, and give it timeHELOC vs. Infinite Banking at a glance What Velocity Banking Actually Does Velocity Banking uses a revolving line of credit, often a HELOC, as part of a mortgage-payoff strategy. The basic mechanics are straightforward. You open a HELOC against available equity in your home. You use some of that credit to reduce or replace mortgage debt. Then you direct income into the HELOC and use the line again for living expenses. If more cash flows into the line than flows back out, the balance declines. That can reduce the total interest you pay and shorten the payoff timeline. But here is the part I do not want you to miss: your surplus cash flow is paying down principal. The HELOC changes the path the money takes. It does not create the surplus. Bruce said it very simply in our conversation: your behavior is more important than the strategy. If your income is steady, your spending stays disciplined, rates cooperate, and you follow the plan consistently, the model can look very compelling. But life is not an illustration. Income changes. Businesses have slow seasons. Families face expenses they did not plan for. And sometimes an opportunity shows up at exactly the moment you were not expecting it. That is why I want a financial strategy to be evaluated by more than how it performs when everything goes perfectly. I also want to know what options it leaves you when life does not follow the spreadsheet. Paying Less Interest Is Not the Only Financial Objective One of the strongest arguments for Velocity Banking is something we actually agree with in principle: the interest rate by itself does not tell you the total cost. A higher rate on a balance that falls quickly can, in some circumstances, produce less total interest than a lower rate carried for decades. Looking only at the rate can give you an incomplete picture. But looking only at interest saved can do the same thing. I understand why people see the amount of interest on a long mortgage schedule and immediately think, "I need to get rid of this as fast as possible." That reaction makes sense. Nobody is trying to pay a bank more interest than necessary. The question I want you to add is: what else is happening to that dollar while you are paying down the house? Every extra dollar of principal you put into the four walls of your home increases your equity, but that dollar is no longer liquid. To turn home equity back into spendable cash, you have to sell, refinance, or borrow against the property. There is also an opportunity cost. Could that same dollar have strengthened your reserves? Funded your business? Put you in position for an investment opportunity? Built capital somewhere that remained accessible to your family? A paid-off home may absolutely be part of your financial plan and part of your legacy. But so is the financial capacity you preserve along the way. For me, that is the bigger conversation. We are not simply trying to win an interest calculation. We want each decision to strengthen the whole financial system. A HELOC Gives You Access to Credit. That Is Not the Same as Controlling Capital. This is the distinction at the center of the episode. When you have a HELOC, a bank has agreed to extend credit to you against the equity in your home. That credit can be incredibly useful, but it is still a lending relationship. The bank decides whether you qualify when the line is established. Your available credit exists under the agreement, the value of the collateral, and the lending rules that apply to the account. HELOCs also commonly have variable interest rates, so the cost of borrowing can change over time. Some products offer fixed-rate features, but the details depend on the lender and the contract. The other issue is access. An unused credit line is not the same thing as cash you already control. The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau explains that a lender may freeze additional advances or reduce a HELOC in certain circumstances, such as a significant decline in the home's value or a material change in the borrower's financial condition. That does not mean a bank can simply demand repayment of every HELOC whenever it wants. Bruce was careful about that distinction in our conversation, and I want to be just as careful here. It means your continued access to unused credit is not entirely yours to decide. If your financial strategy depends on that line staying open and available, that matters. You are still a customer of someone else's bank. Home Equity Is Valuable, but It Is Not Liquid Capital Owning more of your home is not a bad thing. A paid-off home can be a meaningful goal. But we need to distinguish between having equity and having capital you can deploy. Your home's equity is real. The house is an asset. But if you want to use that equity without selling the property, a lender usually has to become part of the decision again. That is why Bruce and I kept coming back to the image of money being stored inside the four walls of the house. You can put more money in by paying down principal. The harder question is how easily you can get that money back out when you need it, and on whose terms. If your primary financial objective is to pay off the house as fast as possible, you may be directing a large share of your available cash into an asset that is not immediately deployable. At the same time, you may be delaying your ability to build a capital base somewhere else. For me, financial freedom includes having capital that is growing,...

That super-low mortgage rate might not be saving you as much money as you think. In this episode, Todd sits down with mortgage expert Patrick Glaros and Ian Daniels to talk about the “lock-in effect” and why homeowners with 2% and 3% mortgage rates may be holding onto them at a much bigger cost than they realize. We break down how keeping a low mortgage rate can impact your bigger financial picture, especially if you're carrying high-interest credit card debt, auto loans, or other consumer debt. We also discuss options like home equity loans and HELOCs that may allow homeowners to access equity without giving up their existing first mortgage. But this conversation isn't only about the math. Sometimes staying locked into a house because of the interest rate can keep your family from moving closer to work, getting into the right school district, gaining the space you need, or simply living where you actually want to live. The goal isn't to convince you to sell your home, refinance, or take on more debt. It's to help you look at the entire picture your home, your debt, your equity, your monthly cash flow, and the life you actually want to live. If a low mortgage rate is the main thing keeping you from making a move, it may be time to run the numbers and have the conversation. Here is the link to the debt consolidation calculator that we referenced in the podcast: https://www.patrickglaros.com/calculators/debt-consolidation Call or Text us ANYTIME 214-216-2161 or visit www.dallashomerealty.com THIS SHOW IS BROUGHT TO YOU BY: The Patrick Glaros Mortgage Team: (469) 399-2411 Republic Title: (972) 423-8777 our insurance guy, Kyle Freire with TWFG Insurance: (954) 594-5347 And the Todd Tramonte Home Selling Team: (214) 216-2161

Curious? Take The Free Money Stress Quiz!Ready? Buy Our Simplified Budget System Now!Budget besties, sometimes budgeting is less about following the “perfect” financial plan and more about making your money work for the actual life you're living.In this episode, we're talking through two real-life coaching situations that show exactly what that can look like.First up: pets. And not just one cute little pet with an occasional bag of food—we're talking multiple animals, grooming appointments, vet visits, specialty food, emergencies, and an annual pet budget that can easily hit five figures. When one savings bucket starts feeling like its own mini economy, it might be time to give it its own checking account.We break down why creating a separate account for a large or complicated expense category can make budgeting so much easier. Instead of constantly transferring money back and forth, you can fund the account each month and let those expenses come directly from it. Less mental math. Less account juggling. More clarity.Then we get into HELOCs.One of Vanessa's clients had already paid off her credit card debt, had her savings buckets dialed in, and was doing an amazing job planning ahead—but she still had a large HELOC. The question became: Does she need to attack that debt immediately, or can she choose to focus on other priorities right now?That leads us into a bigger conversation about fake financial urgency.Sometimes we feel like we should pay something off faster because that's what we've heard we're supposed to do. But your budget doesn't have to be built around someone else's priorities.We talk about looking at the actual numbers—interest rates, whether the debt is fixed or variable, and how it fits into your bigger financial picture—while also asking a very important question:What actually matters to you right now?Because paying off debt is important, but so is building a budget that keeps you from going back into debt. Saving for future cars, kids, travel, pets, and everything else coming your way matters too.And yes, we also explain why a HELOC can be a little bit like keeping Oreos in the house. Sometimes the easiest way to avoid constantly taking “just a little more” is to recognize how tempting easy access can be in the first place.Let's Take Our Relationship To The Next Level:1️⃣ Facebook Group ➡︎ budgetbesties.com/facebook2️⃣ Be on the Podcast ➡︎ budgetbesties.com/livecall3️⃣ Private 1-on-1 Coaching. ➡︎ budgetbesties.com/coachingThis podcast is for educational and informational purposes only and is not personal financial, legal, or tax advice.This description may contain affiliate links, meaning we may get a commission at no cost to you if you click & purchase.Click here to view our privacy policy.

Welcome to our monthly feature Learn With A Lender with Austin Clarence. In this episode, Austin breaks down the lending strategies agents can use to help homeowners move without giving up the low mortgage rates they locked in years ago. Next, Austin explains how turning a current home into a rental, using bridge loans, HELOCs, and tapping into home equity can create new opportunities to purchase a next home or start building an investment portfolio. Austin also shares how AI is streamlining the lending process, particularly for HELOCs and other equity-based products, and why agents should stay in touch with past clients instead of assuming their options are limited. Subscribe to Austin's newsletter by sending an email to aclarence@nexalending.com. If you'd prefer to watch this interview, click here to view on YouTube! Austin Clarence can be reached at +1 650-906-2376 and aclarence@nexalending.com. This episode is brought to you by Real Geeks and Courted.io.

Our U.S. Consumer Finance Analyst Jay Bacow and our Co-Head of Securitized Product Research Jay Bacow explain why AI can transform the way Americans shop for, manage and refinance their mortgages.Read more insights from Morgan Stanley.----- Transcript -----Jeff Adelson: Welcome to Thoughts on the Market. I'm Jeff Adelson, Morgan Stanley's U.S. Consumer Finance Analyst.Jay Bacow: And I'm Jay Bacow, Co-Head of Securitized Products Research, also working at Morgan Stanley.Jeff Adelson: Today, how AI could change the way Americans shop for, manage, and refinance their mortgages.It's Monday, August 10th at 10am in New York. The U.S. mortgage market is worth more than $14 trillion, and its performance ultimately depends on the choices millions of homeowners make. Today, refinancing still means shopping around, comparing offers, and working through a lot of paperwork. AI could make that process much easier, especially when rates begin to fall.Jay, you led this work on our AI mortgage blue paper. What's the main way AI could change the mortgage market, and why does the borrower matter so much?Jay Bacow: So we think the biggest change would be borrower adoption of using AI agents to manage their personal finance. An agent on your phone could just monitor mortgage rates, compare lenders, reduce the paperwork, and make homeowners more likely to refinance when the economics work.Let's think about what that could be. Historically, only about 30 percent of borrowers that had the ability to lower their mortgage rate by a 100 basis points did so in a given year. When a borrower went to get a mortgage quote, less than half of them asked more than one lender for a quote.That agent could go reach out to 30 lenders, ask for a variety of different mortgages, could upload all the documents, could do this all effectively instantaneously, present the homeowner with the best option. Allow the homeowner to effectively click a button and refinance. I think this could be pretty transformative for the mortgage market.Jeff Adelson: Now, as we think about this transformation, Jay, mortgage investors still rely heavily on past refinancing behavior trends. If AI makes borrowers more likely to refi[nance] when rates fall, how could that change the way these investors value mortgage-backed securities?Jay Bacow: Well, we all know that past performance is not indicative of future performance, and those models are likely to understate future prepayments. If you get a faster response, it's going to make mortgages more negatively convex.That's going to make the durations shorten. It's likely to widen mortgage spreads by about 10 basis points in our base case. And now, if that base case were to happen and we get, let's call it 100 basis point rally in the future, we think that that could cause something like a 40 percent pickup in refinance volumes versus our current expectations of what refinance volumes would look like in that 100 basis point rally.Jeff, you cover a lot of the largest mortgage lenders. What does this mean for their business model?Jeff Adelson: So, it's pretty straightforward. More borrowers refinancing means more loans for the industry to originate. Today, we're still sitting below what I would describe as normalized levels of originations. We're sitting at about $2 trillion of mortgage originations per year. As we think about normalized, we think that's somewhere in the order [of] around $2.5 trillion. So just that $600 billion alone could get us straight there. We tend to think about this more in our bull case, where we could see something in the order of $3 trillion of originations or more, still below what we saw during the peak COVID years of about $4 trillion or more. But still pretty meaningful and material for the industry.Now, for the scaled lenders, that can create meaningful operating leverage. Mortgage companies have historically had to hire aggressively when volumes rise, and then they've had to reduce headcount when the cycle turns. AI could allow them to process more loans with the same employee base, making their cost structures more flexible and reducing the need to rebuild capacity during every single refi[nance] wave.But the earnings benefit we don't think will necessarily match the dollar benefit from volumes. If AI makes it easier for borrowers to compare offers and allows every lender to process more loans, then competition could intensify and pressure gain on sale margins. So the opportunity is a larger market and better productivity.The key question for individual lenders is: how much of that volume can they capture without giving too much back through pricing? Now, as we think about automation, Jay, it could bring in more loans, but could also intensify competition and reduce the profit lenders can earn when they originate and sell a mortgage. So, how should investors in your space weigh those two effects? Jay Bacow: So, the mortgage investors are short the option to the mortgage homeowner of when they can refinance.And if the mortgage homeowner is going to be more efficient about refinancing, the mortgage investor is going to need to get paid more for that. They're going to demand wider spreads, and they're particularly going to demand wider spreads where that option that they're shorting is worth more. That's generally how it's going to play out, but there's also other aspects as well.That duration shortening, because the borrower's more likely to refinance, means that the investors that own that duration will need to buy some more duration against that. You're also going to see more demand for duration as rates rally. So it's going to be a bid for the low strike receivers, as our options experts will pay close attention to.And then if we get a further rally, you also get a more of an impact across the consumer writ large. You can imagine a world where mortgage rates are substantially lower than they are right now. An agent could sit there and say, "Why don't you consolidate your debt between your credit card, your auto loan payments, maybe your student loan payments and your mortgage?" Allowing consumers to save more and then maybe spend that in the economy.Jeff Adelson: If we maybe take it a step beyond refinancing, how could AI affect home sales, homeownership, and access to home equity?Jay Bacow: So let's just go back to thinking about this agent that's on your phone that's looking at all the opportunities.Traditionally, right now, most people are only calling up one lender, they're getting one quote. If your agent is looking at lots of different lenders and lots of different options, you're probably going to get more ability to take out a mortgage. So you're going to get an expansion of the homeownership rate.That's going to create more demand for housing. As rates rally, you're going to get home sale activity picks up more than it used to, and people are also going to be more able to take advantage of the equity they have in their house. So, you're going to get more usage of second liens and HELOCs and cash-out refinance activity.Once again, we think this is mostly going to happen three to five years down the road, but we're not really sure exactly how this is going to play out. So Jeff, what would be some of the signs that people could look at to see if it's playing out in the three to five-year timeline that we're expecting – or slower, maybe even faster?Jeff Adelson: Sure. So yeah, I mean, I think it's going to be similar to what we've already observed as consumers ourselves and what we're seeing with all the LLMs and AI tools we're adopting today. You should see some rapid advances in the ease of use and the adoption of these technologies from a forward-facing, client-facing perspective. What we all see in the websites, what we all see in the apps.It should become easier for us to engage with the mortgage process, compare rates to actually step into the process. Whereas today, you still need to maybe speak with a bank officer, a loan officer, or a mortgage broker to get deeper into the process and actually better understand what your rate means today.So that would be the first step. The second step would be closing speeds. The average originator today still takes about 40 to 45 days to close a mortgage. The biggest and largest originators that have invested the most in technology and AI today are closing at about, call it, 12 to 20 days. So, half the industry level. So, that should come down over time and make it much easier to actually apply and finish a mortgage.And then quite frankly, the most obvious answer would just be at the given level of rates that are outstanding today, we should see a step up in the level of refi[nance] volumes. That would be the most obvious one. But that'll be the outcome of everything else we've talked about rather than the actual cause.Jay Bacow: That makes sense. So faster refinancing, it's likely to make the mortgage market more responsive when rates fall and effects that are going to reach well beyond the borrower. Jeff Adelson: That could mean higher volumes for lenders, quicker prepayments for investors, and wider swings across housing and rates markets.Jay Bacow: Jeff, thanks for taking the time to talk.Jeff Adelson: Great speaking with you, Jay.Jay Bacow: And thank you all for listening. If you enjoy Thoughts on the Market, please leave us a review wherever you listen and share the podcast with a friend or colleague today.

Home Loans Radio 08.08.2026 with That Mortgage Guy Don Rates are low and Helocs are the Hot commodity!www.thatmortgageguydon.com

Your Next Move: Smart Mortgage Strategies for Buying, Refinancing & Building Wealth helps today's homebuyers, homeowners, and real estate investors understand how to move from simply watching the market to preparing for opportunity. Michael Harris discusses whether now may be the right time to buy or refinance, why preparation can be more important than trying to perfectly time the market, and how economic factors such as inflation, employment, housing activity, consumer spending, and Federal Reserve policy can influence mortgage rates. The program also explores purchase financing, refinancing strategies, home equity options including HELOCs and reverse mortgages, DSCR and investment financing, and the Money Max Account strategy. Listeners receive practical questions to consider before applying for financing and actionable steps to become mortgage-ready, with an emphasis on making informed decisions rather than reacting to headlines.

Episode Summary Most people spend more time planning their retirement accounts than planning for the home they'll actually live in during retirement — yet for many Americans, the home is their largest asset, largest expense, and the biggest factor in whether retirement feels stressful or comfortable. Beth Dodson sits down with Rebecca Ivy of Blue Sky Financial for a candid, funny, and deeply practical conversation about treating retirement as "life design." They cover legacy homes vs. cash-flow homes, HELOCs and reverse mortgages, military clients with rental properties in multiple states, why your kids probably don't want your stuff, the three D's every woman should plan for, and Rebecca's unforgettable "get on the scale" philosophy: you can't make good choices about numbers you refuse to look at. Key Topics & Timestamps (00:41) — Why your home belongs in your retirement plan Beth frames the episode: your home is often your largest asset and expense, and the biggest factor in whether retirement feels stressful or comfortable. (01:54) — Retirement is designed around you Rebecca's philosophy at Blue Sky: no two clients are alike. Common paths include downsizing to fund retirement, or keeping a paid-off home as a long-term care safety net. (Nobody ever asks for a bigger house.) (03:13) — Beach houses, cabins, and rental portfolios Some clients plan for a second home; others fund retirement entirely through real estate. Military clients often accumulate paid-off rentals in multiple states — but managing properties from a distance at 67 is different than at 40. (05:08) — Real estate: concrete but flexible Sell it and live in a camper van, keep it as the family legacy hub, tap a HELOC in a health crisis, or explore a reverse mortgage. Unlike Bitcoin, real estate offers relative stability even as markets flux. (06:34) — Funding aging in place Using home equity for accessibility updates (wider doors, ramps), healthcare needs, and in-home care. (07:56) — The reality for women Women make less, save less, live longer, and often become caretakers for adult children and aging parents. Real estate appeals because it delivers the two things women need in planning: safety and control. (09:44) — Legacy home or cash-flow home? The big question. If it's not a legacy home, HELOCs and reverse mortgages make sense because you're planning toward an eventual sale. If it is, talk to your children — they may surprise you. (11:09) — The $8,000 vs. $32,000 carpet quote Same house, same 3,000 square feet, same woman — two wildly different bids. Not everybody's a good guy; get multiple quotes and be careful. (12:21) — The $5 million garage door panic A client with over $5M saved was stressed about affording new garage doors. Rebecca's approach: don't pat people on the head — walk through the numbers logically until confidence is real. (13:14) — Hope is not a plan A cash-flow home puts you in "danger territory" if the market doesn't cooperate when you need it. Be intentional, not reactive. (13:45) — The emotional side of the decision Keep the legacy home? Downsize? Hire a property manager? Balancing nostalgia (finger-painted hallways, gold star stickers everywhere) against practicality (no more mowing at 67). (18:28) — Retirement myths The biggest: not seeing retirement as life design. Also — "this is my home and I will never let it go" as a default rather than a decision, and assuming your kids want the house and the stuff. (They don't want your stuff. Ask them.) (23:21) — When should you start planning? When you get a job. Rebecca has retirement conversations with 25-year-olds. The longer your runway, the more creative power you have. Her advice to her 18-year-olds: put away $500 a month before life gets expensive. (27:47) — The three D's for women Death, divorce, desperation. Rebecca shares the story of her husband's sudden health crisis at 43, while homeschooling six kids: "The universe doesn't give us a warning shot." Divorce for women 50+ is up over 40% — plan for flexibility. (31:04) — Two things to do this year One: build a vision — if you didn't have to work, what would your life and income look like? Two: know your numbers — savings, home value, and whether your piece of the planet is appreciating. (33:24) — "Get on the scale" Rebecca's obstetrician's tough-love lesson, reclaimed as financial wisdom: the number isn't good or bad — what you do after you look at it is. You can't make a good choice about numbers you refuse to see. Key Takeaways Your home is a retirement asset — decide intentionally whether it's a legacy home or a cash-flow home, because the strategies differ completely. Retirement is life design, not just Social Security timing and 401(k) withdrawal rates. Real estate is uniquely flexible for a hard asset: sell, rent, HELOC, or reverse mortgage — but "hope the market cooperates" is not a plan. Talk to your children before assuming the house or the stuff is a legacy they want. Women especially should plan for the three D's — death, divorce, desperation — because they make less, save less, live longer, and caretake more. Start planning when you get your first job; the longer the runway, the more creative power you have. Get multiple quotes on home projects in retirement — the same job can be bid at $8,000 or $32,000. Know your numbers. Awareness isn't good or bad — it's the starting point for every good decision. Resources Mentioned Blue Sky Financial: Rebecca Ivy's firm, designing retirement around each individual client HomeZada: Beth's home management platform — know your home's value as part of knowing your numbers Rebecca's yearly challenge: (1) Build a vision of what you want retirement to look like; (2) know your numbers — savings, home value, and your local market  

Joining us in this episode of Living Off Rentals is a real estate investor who scaled from zero to six short-term rental properties (very soon to be 7) in just 13 months by using nearly every financing strategy available, from DSCR loans, to HELOCs, to a self-directed IRA. Joanna N is the co-owner of One Life Getaways and a member of my STR Blueprint program.  Before real estate, she built a career as a chiropractor, then pivoted through sales, sales training, leadership development, and recruiting — a path she once saw as a string of failures, but now credits as the foundation for how she successfully runs her STR business today. Listen as Joanna shares the financing strategies that helped her get started, buying the right property, building a team, and the practical advice she has for anyone looking to invest in short-term rentals. Enjoy the show! Key Takeaways: [00:00] Introducing Joanna N. and her background [02:57] How she got started with short-term rentals [04:55] The benefits of short-term rentals  [06:51] Picking the right market [10:21] Assessing your best place to buy property [11:44] Confidence of investing remotely [14:31] Working with a listing agent [15:53] The metrics Joanna use in selecting a property [23:25] Managing multiple short-term rentals while continuing to grow [26:39] Creating a team from scratch [35:18] How to balance conflicting ideas in your team [40:08] The different financing deals Joanna use [45:58] Building confidence in your team and lenders [54:21] Doing house tours on all her properties [57:30] Connect with Joanna N. [58:09] Outro Guest Links: Airbnb: https://www.airbnb.com/users/profile/1526349716038260752  Show Links: Living Off Rentals YouTube Channel – youtube.com/c/LivingOffRentals  Living Off Rentals YouTube Podcast Channel - youtube.com/c/LivingOffRentalsPodcast  Living Off Rentals Facebook Group – facebook.com/groups/livingoffrentals  Living Off Rentals Website – https://www.livingoffrentals.com/  Living Off Rentals Instagram – instagram.com/livingoffrentals  Living Off Rentals TikTok – tiktok.com/@livingoffrentals Want to start investing in short-term rentals? Book a call to see if my STR Blueprint program is a good fit for you: livingoffrentals.com/call   

For homeowners considering borrowing against the equity in their home, deciding how to access it is not always straightforward. Should you open a home equity line of credit, or would a cash-out refinance make more sense in the 2026 interest-rate environment? In this episode of Clear Money Talk, Tim Clairmont, MSFS™, LACP™, Wealth Advisor, and Tyler Andrews, CFP®, NSSA®, Wealth Advisor, compare HELOCs and cash-out refinances. They discuss how your existing mortgage rate, borrowing needs, repayment timeline, closing costs, and plans for the money can all influence the decision. They also explore when flexibility may matter more than a fixed repayment structure, why a lower monthly payment does not always lead to a lower long-term cost, and how borrowing against your home may affect your broader financial position. Tune in to hear the full conversation, available now on YouTube, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen.

For homeowners considering borrowing against the equity in their home, deciding how to access it is not always straightforward. Should you open a home equity line of credit, or would a cash-out refinance make more sense in the 2026 interest-rate environment? In this episode of Clear Money Talk, Tim Clairmont, MSFS™, LACP™, Wealth Advisor, and Tyler Andrews, CFP®, NSSA®, Wealth Advisor, compare HELOCs and cash-out refinances. They discuss how your existing mortgage rate, borrowing needs, repayment timeline, closing costs, and plans for the money can all influence the decision. They also explore when flexibility may matter more than a fixed repayment structure, why a lower monthly payment does not always lead to a lower long-term cost, and how borrowing against your home may affect your broader financial position. Tune in to hear the full conversation, available now on YouTube, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen.

Join Michael Harris, Mortgage Loan Originator #233410 with United Mortgage Corporation of America, for this week's episode of Your Real Estate Life as we explore how smarter real estate and mortgage decisions can help create a stronger financial future. In today's changing market, success is not just about finding the lowest interest rate, it is about having the right strategy. We'll discuss building wealth through homeownership, understanding equity, improving cash-flow management, the Money Max Account strategy, mortgage planning, investment property financing, HELOCs, reverse mortgage options, and how buyers and homeowners can prepare for future opportunities. Whether you are a first-time buyer, current homeowner, real estate investor, or planning for retirement, this educational program will help you better understand how real estate can become an important part of your overall financial blueprint. Listen Saturday at 9:00 AM on Fox Sports Ventura 1590 AM and 97.9 FM KVTA, streaming on KVTA.com, or watch YouTube at Your Real Estate Life with Michael Harris.

What if you could access the money in your investment account without selling a single share or triggering capital gains tax?In this episode of Gimme Some Truth, Ian and Alicia break down pledged asset lines (PALs) — what they are and how they work — and then introduce a newer, lesser-known alternative: the box spread portfolio loan. With lower interest rates, lower minimums, better tax treatment, and fewer restrictions on how you use the funds, box spread loans are quickly becoming a go-to strategy for investors sitting on large unrealized gains.If you've ever thought "I need cash but I don't want to sell," this episode walks you through exactly how to think about it.

One of the biggest misconceptions about buying a franchise is that you need to write one massive check upfront. In reality, experienced entrepreneurs often approach business ownership very differently by strategically combining multiple funding sources to preserve capital while investing in a business designed to generate long-term wealth.In this episode of the Hire Yourself Podcast, Pete Gilfillan breaks down the fundamentals of franchise financing and explains why understanding your funding options can be one of the most important steps toward becoming a business owner. Rather than viewing financing as a barrier, entrepreneurs learn to leverage available resources in ways that maximize flexibility, reduce risk, and maintain liquidity. Successful entrepreneurs focus less on the purchase price and more on building an effective financing strategy.The episode also explores several common funding options available to prospective franchise owners, including brokerage-backed lending, retirement funding through the ROBS (Rollover for Business Startups) program, SBA loans, traditional bank financing, home equity lines of credit (HELOCs), outside investors, friends and family financing, and franchise-sponsored financing programs. Key themes include:Why many successful entrepreneurs avoid paying for a business entirely with cashUnderstanding leverage as a core principle of business ownershipHow combining multiple financing sources can reduce financial strainThe advantages of retirement funding through the ROBS programHow SBA loans work and what entrepreneurs should expect during the processUsing brokerage accounts and home equity as sources of business capitalThe role of outside investors, friends and family, and franchise financing programsWhy preserving liquidity is critical when starting or acquiring a businessThe mindset shift from asking "Can I afford it?" to "What's the smartest way to finance it?"How understanding financing options can remove one of the biggest barriers to business ownershipFinancing a franchise is rarely about writing one large check. This episode helps listeners understand the full range of funding options available and strategically leverage multiple sources of capital to preserve cash, reduce financial risk, and build a stronger foundation for long-term business success.CONNECT WITH PETE GILFILLAN:

Keith Weinhold explains why inflation has become a permanent part of the post–World War II economy and what that shift means for today's financial system.  He breaks down economist Dr. Mark Skousen's five structural reasons behind never-ending inflation and ties them to the hollowing out of the middle class and the "last generation to live normally" concept.  Keith then introduces opportunity cost as the biggest financial expense most people overlook and illustrates how leveraging low-cost, long-term debt to buy productive real assets can turn inflation into an advantage.  He closes by outlining a practical hierarchy for which debts to eliminate first and which to keep as tools for long-term wealth building. Episode Page: GetRichEducation.com/614 For access to properties or free help with a GRE Investment Coach, start here: GREmarketplace.com GRE Free Investment Coaching: GREinvestmentcoach.com Get mortgage loans for investment property: RidgeLendingGroup.com or call 855-74-RIDGE  or e-mail: info@RidgeLendingGroup.com Invest with Freedom Family Investments.  For predictable 10-12% quarterly returns, visit FreedomFamilyInvestments.com/GRE or text  FAMILY to 66866  Unlock truly passive real estate income—visit flockhomes.com/GRE today to see if your properties qualify for a 721 exchange with Flock Homes. To get in the best physical, mental, and professional shape of your life, go to DanielThomasHind.com and apply for Daniel's intensive 1-on-1 coaching for burnt-out entrepreneurs and executives. Will you please leave a review for the show? I'd be grateful. Search "how to leave an Apple Podcasts review"  For advertising inquiries, visit: GetRichEducation.com/ad Best Financial Education: GetRichEducation.com Get our wealth-building newsletter free— GREletter.com  Our YouTube Channel: www.youtube.com/c/GetRichEducation Follow us on Instagram: @getricheducation Complete episode transcript:   Keith Weinhold  0:01   Welcome to GRE. I'm your host Keith Weinhold. In less than 40 years, America has gone from 75% gasoline to permanent inflation. Then learn about the biggest financial expense you will ever have in your life. It's not taxes, housing, interest charges, inflation, children, or healthcare. Most people have never heard of it today on Get Rich Education. You know, Mid South Homebuyers, that top Memphis turnkey provider. I learned that a secret weapon behind their explosive growth is more than just you buying their properties. It's an executive coach. For nine years now. Their CEO Terry Kerr and his COO Pat Nix have worked privately with a coach who I've now learned from too, and he doesn't market himself online anywhere. After 12 years behind the scenes, that coach is now making himself available exclusively for GRE listeners. His name is Daniel Thomas Hind. If you're a hard-charging business owner or investor who wants to get in the best shape of your life, physically, mentally, and professionally, you can fill out an application for a free consult. This is private one-on-one coaching for those willing to go to uncommon lengths to achieve uncommon results. Thanks to Daniel, we've all become better leaders, better operators, and better men. It started by showing up for ourselves. Now it's your turn. Go to DanielThomashHind.com. H-I-N-D. That's DanielThomashHind.com, and sign up before spots fill.   Keith Weinhold  1:41   What if you got your mortgage loans the same place I get mine? You sure can at Ridge Lending Group NMLS 42056 They provided GRE listeners with more loans than anyone because Ridge specializes in investment property. They'll help you build a long-term plan for growing your real estate empire with leverage. Start your prequal and even chat directly with President Chaley Ridge. While it's on your mind, start at ridgelendinggroup.com. That's ridgelendinggroup.com.   Speaker 1  2:14   You're listening to the show that has created more financial freedom than nearly any show in the world, this is Get Rich Education.   Keith Weinhold  2:31   Welcome to GRE from Bavaria, Germany, to Batavia, New York, and across 188 world nations. I'm Keith Weinhold, and you're listening to Get Rich Education. In the 19 the 1988 movie Die Hard, there's a California gas station sign in the background that's visible. You can see it there. The gas price on this sign is a jaw dropper. Unleaded 77.9 cents per gallon, regular 70-4.9 cents per gallon. That now looks like it belongs in a museum next to rotary phones and blockbuster video cards. Yes, California gas for 75 cents, and the movie Die Hard. It had all these actors from yesteryear, like Bruce Willis and Reginald Vel Johnson. Yet you, depending on your age, you might remember 1988. It's not like ancient history. Now we all know that inflation is always and everywhere a monetary phenomenon, like Milton Friedman said, but is there more to this? Is there more than the Fed targeting 2% inflation, just like it says on their website? Oh, there sure is. And by the way, with a little research, it looks like California Gas averaged 95 cents in 1988, not 75 like it shows in Die Hard, but in any case, the point is still there. And today, inflation keeps running hot. Four years ago, the pandemic made CPI inflation peak at 9.1 percent. Today, the hangover effects of tariffs push it up, and the Iran war are turning up the heat even more, with the latest reading above 4% Inflation is running at more than double what the Fed wants. You can even make the case now that inflation is out of control. But here's the thing: inflation has exceeded that 2% target for 60-three consecutive months now. I mean, think about what that means. My gosh, just imagine having an important target that affects every American and missing it 60-three times in a row. That's kind of what's happening now, and they're. Going to keep missing it. So this streak of inflation above 2% started back in March of 2021 during the pandemic hangover, and it is still going strong after 63 months. Nobody knows where this is going to end. Most Americans get crushed by rising prices because their wages don't keep up, and you know collectively they sort of think we are concerned, but then they mostly keep doing the same thing while their lifestyle quietly shrinks. So consumers despise inflation. Everyday investors are lukewarm about inflation, and leverage real estate investors are smiling like they found a 20-dollar bill in last winter's coat. Leverage real estate investors are pretty ecstatic about inflation. Now the history gets super interesting.   Keith Weinhold  5:59   Okay, how did we get into this, where we just always seem to have inflation? So learn the history, and then I'll tie it back to how it affects you as an investor. Because before World War II, inflation behaved differently. The old pre-1945 pattern was that we had inflation during wars and booms. We had deflation after panics and depressions. So therefore, the result was that over long stretches, price levels often just moved sideways. We used to have recessions more often back 80 plus years ago than we do now. So therefore, you just had these price levels move sideways because a recession even prompted deflation, actually a strengthening of purchasing power. But then after World War II, inflation basically went permanently positive. I mean, yeah, permanently positive, where inflation is just always turned on with very few exceptions to that. In wartime, now we have inflation. In peacetime, now we have inflation. During the Super Bowl, now we have inflation. It is inflation, no matter what is going on. Right then, so what changed? Prominent economist and GRE podcast guest here, Dr. Mark Skousen. He has cited five major reasons that inflation became a permanent fixture from 1945 until today. And Mark Skousen was here on the show with us almost exactly two years ago because he's also the founder of a great event called Freedom Fest that Nareesh and I broadcast a show from, the five reasons that Scowson cites for never-ending inflation are first, never-ending wars. Now this doesn't only mean formally declared boots on the ground wars where tanks are rolling, never-ending wars. It means this permanent state of global military readiness that we have today, where we have overseas bases, defense contractors, right with the military-industrial complex. We have NATO commitments.   Keith Weinhold  8:17   We have anti-terror operations, naval patrols, intelligence agencies, and all this enormous machinery that's required to keep America as the world's security backstop. Well, all that costs an awful lot of money, and when government wants more money than it collects, it has a favorite trick: just create more dollars and create them out of nothing. I mean, it's like ordering another round of drinks for the table and then putting it on the unborn grandchildren's tab. The second reason for the never-ending inflation is the 1913 creation of the Federal Reserve and how that's changed over time because the Fed they were originally supposed to defend the dollar, defend the gold standard, and act as lender of last resort. Today it mostly just does the last one. It acts as the lender of last resort, and it's really not even last resort. I mean, she shit seems to patch any significant hole in the economy by creating more dollars and then pumping them into the system. When markets wobble, banks panic, or politicians overspend, or the economy catches any kind of cold, you know, the Fed often just shows up with this fire hose of liquidity. Now, sometimes that's necessary, but either way, it means more currency creation. So, the Fed it began as this sort of sober hallway monitor, but now they're often the responsible party that needs monitoring. But no. No one is going to stand up and do it because no one in power wants austerity under their watch because that is extremely unpopular. The third reason for permanent inflation is the Bretton Woods Agreement. You've probably heard of this, but let me summarize what it briefly means. Okay, Bretton Woods was the 1944 deal that basically created the post-World War II global monetary system? It made the U.S. dollar the world's reserve currency. If you remember anything from Bretton Woods, just remember that it did that. It made the U.S. dollar the world's reserve currency, and the dollar was pegged to gold at $35 per ounce.   Keith Weinhold  13:29   And finally, the fifth reason for never-ending inflation post World War II is Keynesian economics. I mean, you probably at least heard the term before. It's been thrown around here from time to time. Named after John Maynard Keynes, K E Y N E S. And before I go on, I invested in real estate for a long time before I learned all this stuff. Probably close to a decade of investing first. So I taught myself this material, Keynesian economics. That's the belief that demand is what drives economic output and employment. So, if you only remember one thing about Keynesian economics, it's that you need demand, and it stokes demand. It says demand drives everything, and what I mean by that is the spending, spending from households, corporations, and government. So, in plain English, when private demand weakens, the government should step in and spend. That's what Keynesian economics says. Well, that means deficits, borrowing, stimulus, support, programs, relief, rescue packages, emergency measures, and see what happens is that temporary measures somehow become permanent measures wearing a fake mustache. Remember, even Nixon said removal from the gold standard is temporary. Well, that was now 50. 55 years ago, in theory, the government runs deficits in bad times and then tightens up in good times. But that doesn't really happen because, in practice, government often runs deficits in bad times and good times, war times, peace times, election years, non-election years, leap years, all the time running deficits, spending more than we take in, and when deficits become normal, well, then currency creation has got to follow. That's the consequence. Well, these five forces that I told you about for never-ending inflation, the reasons that I just shared with you-they are now structurally embedded. They are not going away.   Keith Weinhold  19:03   I mean, there is even political resistance to deflation in this system. Investors benefit the most when they own one thing: real assets tied to long-term debt. You probably knew that I was going to say that because if the dollar is designed to slowly melt. You don't want to be the one holding the ice cube. You want to own the freezer. That's the control that you have. The first half of the year recently ended. It's time for our asset class rundown. From the midpoint of last year to the midpoint of this year, single-family home values are up only about one and a half percent. That's the average of Case-Shiller and FHFA. Apartment building values are down 1% in the past year. When it comes to rents per Zillow, single-family home rents are up 2.8% in the past year to an all-time record of almost 20-$300 Apartment rents are up just. 1.3% nationally. Sunbelt Apartments were the weak spot. Apartments.com said the South was down seven tenths of 1% year over year, and the mountain region down one and a half percent. With San Antonio, Denver, Austin, and Phoenix among the weaker markets, that's due to oversupply in those areas. 30-year mortgage rates down from 6.8 to 6.6% The S S&P 500 up 21 percent on AI optimism, despite a war in Iran. Though down in past months for the year, gold is still up 21 percent, silver soared 63 percent, Bitcoin down 45 percent. I mean, speculative digital assets have really gotten a cold shoulder. Oil up 4% although it went on a wild ride, and CPI inflation reheated to 4.2% That's our asset class rundown.   Speaker 2  22:59   This is our rich dad poor dad author Robert Kiyosaki. Listen to Get Rich Education with Keith Weinhold. Don't quit your daydream.   Keith Weinhold  23:17   Welcome back to Get Rich Education. I'm your host Keith Weinhold. I want you to listen to something along with me, and then I'll come back to comment. This is from the parallel truth. It's called the last generation to live normally, and it's less than two minutes in length.   Speaker 2  23:32   We have to talk about something that sounds dramatic, but it is becoming true. Your parents may have been the last generation to live a normal life-not an easy life, not a perfect life, but a life where the basic deal still made sense. You could get a stable job, you could buy a house, you could raise children, you could save some money, you could retire one day. And even if life was hard, most people still believed that if they worked honestly, their future would slowly get better. But look at what happened to your generation. You work more, but own less. You study more, but feel less secure. You have more technology than any generation in history, but less peace, less time, and less confidence about the future. Your parents were told, "Work hard, and you will build a life. But you are being told that, "Work hard, and maybe you can afford rent. And the most disturbing part is that this did not happen overnight. It happened slowly. First, housing became an investment instead of a basic need. Then, education became a debt trap. Then, healthcare became too expensive. Then, stable jobs disappeared. Then, everything became a subscription: your house, your car, your software, your entertainment, even your future. Everything slowly became something you rent but never truly own. And while ordinary people were falling behind, the economy kept looking strong on paper. The stock market went up, billionaires got richer, companies made record profits. Politicians kept saying that everything was fine, but if everything is fine, why does an entire generation feel like it is drowning? The truth is, your parents did not live through normal history. They lived through a rare window where ordinary people. People were allowed to share in the wealth of the system, but that window is now closing. The old promise was simple: work hard, buy a home, raise a family, retire with dignity. The new promise is different: work forever, rent everything, delay children, carry debt, and call it freedom. So maybe young people are not lazy. Maybe they are just the first generation honest enough to admit that the old deal is dead. Your parents were not lucky because life was easy. They were lucky because they were the last ones who got the deal before it was taken away.   Keith Weinhold  25:27   Yeah, there it is-the last generation to live normally. That's really a fresh slant on the hollowing out of the middle class. The rules have changed. Inflation is entrenched. Now you know why. Back in 2020, the pandemic accelerated that effect, and yet it's just unbelievable to me that people think working hard and saving money is enough to get you the lifestyle that you desire. Now I am not against hard work, it's the fact that people think that that's all that it takes. Before we hit the permanent inflation era, it might have made sense for you to say, save your money, pay all cash for a cheap fixer-upper property, and work hard for years to fix it up yourself. Oh, and then you could own a modest home debt-free. Today, even if you could do that, why would you? Instead, you can just prudently finance your way through life. You could have instead borrowed for two or three already renovated properties and let debt, inflation, and perhaps even tenants do the work for you. Above all, do the right thing before you do things right. That's what I like to say. Well, the way you get wealthy is by owning a lot of assets, not by grinding in the salt mines to pay off your debt. Those that are debt free are often asset poor. The biggest financial expense that you will ever have in your life. Do you know what it is? It is not taxes or interest charges. It's not even inflation or housing or healthcare or having children, most people have never heard of it. You probably have, but most people have never heard of this biggest financial expense you'll ever have, and they certainly don't know how to avoid it.   Keith Weinhold  27:34   Say that you're 35 years old and you put 100k under a mattress for 30 years until you're 60- years old. Instead, if that would have been invested at a 12% annual return, do you know how much that would have grown to? That would have grown to $2.996 million All right, basically 3 million bucks, a 30x increase. Therefore, it would be a 2.9 million dollar mistake to save money, and what this means is that the biggest expense you'll ever pay in your life is called opportunity cost. Yeah, opportunity cost is life's biggest expense. It's the return that was foregone when you chose one option over another. So opportunity cost is not what you spend; it's what your money could have become had you put it somewhere more productive. All right, now that was a pretty extreme example of 100k under a mattress. As a listener to this show, you are probably more savvy than a person that would save big lumps of money for close to zero return. Let me give you a better example of how when you pay all cash for something, you've usually just made your future self poorer. A friend of mine heard the episode last year where I talked about buying a new car for myself, a BMW X3 SUV. As it is, you probably remember that episode. Though I could have paid all cash for the car, I put the minimum down payment in there and then financed as much as I could because of a favorable 4% interest rate that I got on a car loan. Well, my friend Jesse heard that episode. This influenced him. So what he did is he bought a Subaru for his wife. Although he had planned to pay all cash and could have paid all cash for the car, Jesse got financing, and he did better than me. He got just a 1% interest rate somehow. Wow! It was actually nine tenths of 1% but let's just call it 1% What a deal! Instead of paying all cash for the car, he held on to that chunk of money. Instead of tying it up in a depreciating asset, he is financing it all. Now I don't. How much the Subaru costs, but let's just say it was 50k to keep the numbers simple. Well, look, if Jesse feels like he can get a 10% return over time by investing his money instead of sinking it into a car, how much does he profit by borrowing? Of course, he has the advantage of keeping his funds more liquid as well, but how much does he actually profit from this arrangement?   Keith Weinhold  30:24   Well, the math is so easy that you can even visualize it in an audio format here. Now it depends on the loan term, but the simple spread is a 10% investment return minus a 1% car loan cost. That is a 9% positive spread on 50k. That's roughly $4,500 per year in benefit. That's before any taxes, risk, or fees. $4,500 a year just for doing some loan paperwork. Like if you wonder whether the loan paperwork is worth it or not, that's what we're talking about here, and that's 375 bucks a month. So if you're wondering if it's even worth it taking the time to get a car loan when you could pay all cash, it probably is. All right, now that's the upside. What about the risk that's associated with taking a loan instead of paying all cash, well, the caveat here is that the 1% loan is guaranteed, but the 10% return is probably not, and that risk gap does matter. If you're financially fragile and you can't make the payment with another pot of money, well, then you risk default. That is over leverage risk. That's the worst case scenario. All right, what's the flip side? The flip side is that you could earn a return even better than 10% As we know, with real estate pays five ways on investment property. If you earn a 20% return, now you're making $9,500 a year on the spread, not $4,500, but a 10% return. That is the base case. So again, by paying all cash instead of getting the loan, your future self would be poorer by $4,500 a year. And now, my friend Jesse, that learned this from me, he's actually a CFA, a chartered financial analyst, a sophisticated money guy. But he had simply been overlooking this. And said another way, what you're doing here is that over time, your investment is paying you more than your interest is costing you, and in my life, I have been doing exactly this sort of thing all over the place for decades. An interesting thing that I hear about this, although it makes me scratch my head, I've heard a few people say this. It's just like, oh well, I don't want to have to deal with a car payment? I just rather be done with it and move on. What is there to deal with? Just set up auto pay with preserving funds for say a 10% return. You're then going to see more dollars flowing into your account than you will out of it. I mean that part can just be automated.   Keith Weinhold  33:19   My life and finances are set up this way. In fact, when I get a loan for a rental property, I have had mortgage loan officers that are looking at my finances. They tell me that I have more stuff flowing into and out of my checking account than they've ever seen anyone have. I'm I'm financing and arbitraging my way through life passively. This is thanks in part to inflation. I am not paying very much at all in that biggest financial expense that we all have in our lives-not taxes or children or housing, but opportunity cost. I am avoiding paying that. This is the world that we live in today, a lot of times debt reduction is horrible advice. Debt free that can keep people from falling over a cliff, but it stalls any wealth creation. Now the debts that usually make the most sense to pay down they're the ones with high interest, variable rates, no tax benefit, and no productive asset attached. And here is the priority order that I use for paying down debt or paying off debt. First, it is credit cards. Pay down these first almost every time. I mean, a 20% or even 30% credit card rate. This is like financial quicksand. You don't need a sophisticated investment thesis when you can get a guaranteed 20-4% quote-unquote return by eliminating this debt. The next place I would pay down are payday loans, personal. Loans and consumer finance debt. I mean, these are usually bad debts because they're at a high rate, have a short amortization, and they're usually tied to consumption instead of an income-producing asset. Pay these aggressively too, and then next in priority is paying variable rate debt that could reset higher. This isn't quite as important to address.   Keith Weinhold  35:24   We're talking about things like HELOCs, adjustable rate loans, margin debt, and some business lines of credit. Some of those can become dangerous when rates rise, even if the rate's tolerable today. The uncertainty can be a bit of a problem. Now, when it comes to should you pay down student loans, consider that. low fixed-rate student loans that might not be urgent. It sure wasn't for me. High-rate private student loans that could be different. That could get more of your attention. You also got to weigh things like tax benefits. Look out for forgiveness programs when it comes to student loans, those haven't been quite as available lately under this administration. Also, look at employer repayment benefits before you rush to pay down student loans, and then really the last one: low fixed-rate mortgage debt. Pay that last if you ever do. In fact, it is quite possible that I will always keep this debt type around that low fixed rate mortgage debt. So really, my rule of thumb here is to kill toxic debt. Be careful with unstable debt, and don't rush to pay off cheap fixed productive debt if you ever pay it off at all. You and I covered a lot of ground today, starting with 75 cent gasoline in California, all the way to the biggest expense you'll ever pay throughout your life, being something that most people have never heard of: opportunity cost. Coming up on the show here, a lot of good episodes, including a great guest and I are going to discuss a new way to invest in residential real estate that we haven't discussed before, and it will massively boost your cash flow. If you found today's show valuable, whether it was the history of why we have permanent inflation or the idea of passively financing your way to wealth, rather than only working harder. I would be grateful if you share this episode with a friend. Just tap the share button in Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen, and send it to someone who would benefit from hearing it. Or take a screenshot of this episode and post it on social media. It helps more people find the show, and it gives you and your friends something smart to talk about with each other. Until next week, I'm your host Keith Weinhold. Don't quit your daydream.   Speaker 1  37:53   Nothing on this show should be considered specific, personal, or professional advice. Please consult an appropriate tax, legal, real estate, financial, or business professional for individualized advice. Opinions of guests are their own. Information is not guaranteed. All investment strategies have the potential for profit or loss. The host is operating on behalf of Get Rich Education LLC exclusively.    Keith Weinhold  38:21   The preceding program was brought to you by your home for wealth building at getricheducation.com.  

Did you ever wonder why so many people didn't get out before the dot-com crash? It's an important question to ask yourself, especially if you believe you'll know exactly when to get out before any potential correction in today's AI and semiconductor stocks.   The reality is that the dot-com bubble burst only 25 years ago. Human nature hasn't changed since then. Investors today are no smarter than investors were back then, and the same emotions that drove the bubble are showing up again. There were four major reasons so many people lost money during the tech bust.   The first was that investors stopped focusing on earnings and price-to-earnings ratios. Instead, they justified sky-high valuations by looking at metrics like website traffic, page views, click-through rates, and the number of "eyeballs" on a screen. The assumption was that if revenue kept growing, profits would eventually follow. Many ignored the reality that businesses also have expenses, competition, and execution risk.   The second reason was FOMO or the fear of missing out. Between 1995 and 2000, the Nasdaq surged roughly 400%. As people watched friends, coworkers, and investors make fortunes on tech stocks and IPOs, more and more money poured into the market. Institutional investors and retail investors alike stopped worrying about valuations. They simply saw stocks going up and didn't want to miss the ride.   The third reason was the belief that "this time is different." You heard it everywhere: "You just don't get it. This is the new economy." Investors argued that traditional valuation metrics no longer mattered because the only thing that counted was gaining market share. Profitability could always come later.   The fourth reason was the assumption that capital would never dry up. Few investors paid attention to where companies were getting their money. Many businesses were surviving on venture capital rather than sustainable profits. When funding slowed and investors became more selective, those companies had no profitable business model to fall back on. Many quickly went bankrupt.   At the peak of the bubble, investors stopped asking basic questions. What am I paying for this company's earnings? What am I paying for its cash flow? In many cases, there weren't any. Yet investors convinced themselves the speculative frenzy would continue indefinitely.   The biggest lesson is a humbling one. We like to believe we'll recognize the top and get out before everyone else. But investors in 2000 believed the same thing. Human psychology hasn't changed, which is why bubbles continue to repeat throughout history.   Don't Build That Data Center in My Backyard The race to build AI infrastructure is running into an obstacle that many investors probably didn't see coming: local communities.   Across the country, residents are protesting and filing lawsuits to stop new AI data centers from being built in their neighborhoods. One of the biggest concerns is something most people never think about, the constant noise. Data centers operate around the clock, with cooling fans, chillers, and backup generators creating a continuous hum 24 hours a day. That may not sound like a major issue until you have to live next to it.   New York has become one of the focal points of this debate. While the state has plenty of available land for development, many communities are pushing back. Governor Kathy Hochul is even considering legislation that would place a moratorium on the construction of large data centers in certain areas.   Public opinion reflects that growing resistance. According to recent polling, 44% of Americans oppose additional data center construction, while only 21% support it. When the question becomes more personal and whether people would support a data center being built in their own community, opposition jumps to 57%, while support falls to just 14%.   Residents also question the long-term economic benefits. Building a data center may create thousands of construction jobs, but once the facility is complete, permanent employment may fall to just 100 to 200 workers. At the same time, these facilities consume enormous amounts of electricity. In some regions served by smaller utilities, a single data center could account for as much as 25% of total power demand, raising concerns about higher electricity costs and increased strain on the grid.   The political landscape is becoming more challenging. Lawmakers in states including Arizona, Illinois, and Ohio have restricted or eliminated tax incentives that were previously used to attract data center investment.   Even the companies building this infrastructure recognize the growing risk. The hyperscalers are expected to spend nearly $1 trillion on AI infrastructure this year, but increasing public opposition could slow those plans. Nebius Group, for example, warned in its 2025 annual report that rising resistance to data center projects in certain communities could become a headwind for future expansion.   Investors have spent a great deal of time focusing on AI demand, chips, and software. However, another risk is emerging that deserves attention: if communities continue saying, "Not in my backyard," the pace of AI infrastructure growth may not be as smooth as many expect.   Is Crypto Weakening One of America's Most Powerful Weapons? One of the United States' greatest geopolitical advantages isn't its military, it's the U.S. dollar.   Roughly 90% of global foreign exchange transactions involve the U.S. dollar. That dominance gives the United States enormous leverage. When the U.S. imposes financial sanctions and cuts countries off from the dollar-based financial system, it becomes far more difficult for them to conduct international trade, finance military operations, or access global markets.   That advantage is beginning to erode. Countries that have long opposed the United States such as Russia, Iran, and North Korea are increasingly turning to cryptocurrencies to bypass traditional financial channels. According to reports, their use of virtual currencies for cross-border transactions surged from roughly $12.5 billion in 2024 to more than $100 billion in 2025.   Crypto gives sanctioned nations another way to move money. It can be used to purchase drones, weapons, military components, and fuel, while also helping finance operations such as smuggling oil and paying suppliers outside the traditional banking system.   North Korea has become one of the world's most aggressive crypto thieves, using hacking and other cybercrimes to steal digital assets that can then be converted into funding for its military and weapons programs.   Part of the challenge is that cryptocurrency wallets are identified by long strings of letters and numbers rather than names. While blockchain transactions are publicly visible, identifying the person or organization controlling a wallet can be extremely difficult without additional intelligence. That makes enforcement of financial sanctions much harder.   Even terrorist organizations such as Hamas have, at times, solicited donations in cryptocurrency, illustrating how digital assets can be used to circumvent traditional financial controls.   This is why I believe cryptocurrency has become more than just an investment story, it has become a national security issue.   If Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies were to experience a significant decline in value, it would reduce the purchasing power of those holding large crypto reserves, including sanctioned actors that rely on digital assets. While it would not eliminate their ability to use crypto, it could make this alternative financial system less effective and increase the relative importance of the dollar-based financial system.   The stronger the role of the U.S. dollar in global commerce, the more effective financial sanctions remain as a non-military tool of foreign policy. With cryptocurrencies becoming more widely adopted, policymakers will need to consider the risk of weakening one of America's most effective forms of economic leverage.   Even with oil off its recent peak, you still may not see cheaper airline tickets. You might assume that with the decline in oil prices, jet fuel costs are also declining, and airlines will pass those savings on to travelers through lower ticket prices. Oil and jet fuel prices have indeed come down, but don't expect airlines to slash fares anytime soon.   The reason is simple: demand remains strong. Even after airlines raised fares eight times since the start of the conflict in the Middle East, analysts say the average round-trip domestic ticket climbed roughly 19% to about $638 yet demand barely changed. In other words, consumers have shown they are willing to pay higher prices to travel. If people keep buying tickets, airlines have little incentive to lower fares and give up those higher profit margins.   Supply is also likely to remain constrained. Airlines aren't rushing to add flights because keeping capacity tight helps support higher ticket prices. The bankruptcy and downsizing of low-cost carriers such as Spirit Airlines has also reduced competition on many routes, making it easier for the remaining airlines to maintain pricing power.   To be fair, airline pricing should be viewed over a longer time horizon. From 2019 through 2025, overall consumer prices rose about 26%, while average airfares actually declined roughly 3.5%. So, despite the recent increases, airline tickets are still relatively inexpensive compared with the broader rise in inflation over the past six years.   The bottom line is that lower fuel costs alone don't guarantee lower ticket prices. As long as travel demand remains healthy and airlines keep capacity in check, consumers may not see much relief at the checkout screen.   Letting Air Out of the Investment Portfolio Balloon Before It Pops At one point or another, we've all seen a balloon inflated until it finally bursts. The same thing can happen to an investment portfolio.   Watching your portfolio grow is exciting, but every investor knows that markets don't go up forever. The challenge is that no one knows exactly when a portfolio has become too inflated. One of the biggest reasons investors refuse to sell is simple: they hate paying taxes. Believe me, I dislike paying taxes just as much as anyone else. But you should never let the tax bill dictate your investment decisions.   Sometimes the smartest move is to relieve some of the pressure in your portfolio before the market does it for you. There are two simple ways to accomplish this: trim oversized positions and sell investments that have become significantly overvalued.   The first strategy is reducing concentration risk. If you review your portfolio and discover that a single stock has grown to 10% or 12% of your total assets, it may be time to trim that position back to 7% or 8%. Yes, you'll likely owe capital gains taxes, but you'll also be reducing the risk that one investment can have an outsized impact on your portfolio if it suddenly declines.   The second strategy is selling investments that have exceeded your target price and can no longer be justified based on their fundamentals. If the valuation has become stretched and the company's earnings outlook no longer supports the stock price, it may be time to take profits. Again, you'll probably owe taxes on the gain, but remember that capital gains are generally taxed at favorable rates. More importantly, paying a 20% or 25% tax on your profit is often far less painful than watching the entire investment lose 20% or more in value. That 20% decline occurs on the entire position rather than just the gain.   No strategy is perfect. You may trim a position only to watch it continue climbing for another year or two. That's part of investing. Risk management isn't about perfectly timing the top, it's about ensuring that no single investment or sector can seriously damage your long-term financial plan.   Consistently following a disciplined, conservative approach won't always maximize returns during bull markets, but it can significantly reduce risk over a full market cycle. When the next major correction inevitably arrives, your portfolio should be positioned to withstand it. That makes it far easier to stay invested, avoid emotional decisions, and continue building wealth instead of panic-selling after the damage has already been done.   Successful investing isn't just about finding great investments. It's also about knowing when to reduce risk. Sometimes, letting a little air out of the balloon today is the best way to keep it from popping tomorrow.   Is AI creating the next memory boom... or setting up the next bust? SK Hynix just pulled off the largest foreign ADR listing in U.S. history, pricing its American depositary receipts at $149 and raising $26.5 billion. That isn't just a fundraising event, it is fuel for one of the most aggressive semiconductor expansion plans the industry has ever seen.   The company is pouring money into new factories, equipment, and advanced packaging capacity around the world. In the United States, SK Hynix is building its first manufacturing facility, a $4 billion advanced packaging plant in West Lafayette, Indiana, expected to be completed in 2028.   Back home in South Korea, the spending is even more staggering. SK Hynix plans to invest up to $720 billion expanding memory production, including a $390 billion semiconductor cluster in Yongin. The company has also committed roughly $7.8 billion by the end of 2027 for additional extreme ultraviolet (EUV) lithography machines, the highly specialized tools needed to manufacture cutting-edge HBM chips. These machines cost as much as $400 million each, are in extremely limited supply, and are only produced by ASML. The company is even accelerating its expansion timeline by more than a decade, with four new fabrication plants now expected to be completed by 2033.   The question investors should be asking isn't whether AI demand is real. It clearly is. The real question is whether the industry is repeating a familiar pattern. Memory has always been one of the most cyclical businesses in technology. Every major technology revolution from the dot-com boom, to smartphones, to cloud computing created a surge in demand for memory chips. Manufacturers responded by rapidly expanding production. Eventually supply caught up, prices collapsed, profits disappeared, and investors who arrived late learned just how brutal the memory cycle can be.   Today feels different... but that is often what every cycle feels like while it is happening.   SK Hynix's market value has increased more than sevenfold over the past year as AI infrastructure spending has created a shortage of HBM. Revenue nearly tripled between 2023 and 2025 to roughly $65 billion, and Wall Street expects sales to surge again to approximately $235 billion in 2026.   Those are incredible numbers. But when major memory producers start announcing massive capacity expansions, history suggests investors should at least consider what happens when today's shortage eventually becomes tomorrow's surplus. AI may create years of strong demand for memory, but the semiconductor industry has a long history of building too much capacity just as demand begins to normalize. The opportunity is enormous, but so is the risk if history repeats itself.   Financial Planning: Simple vs Compounding Interest Loans Many people assume that choosing a simple interest loan over a compound interest loan will dramatically reduce the amount of interest they pay, but in most real-world lending situations, the difference is minimal. The reason is that the power of compounding only becomes significant when a balance grows over time because interest is being added to the principal. With most consumer loans, borrowers either make interest-only payments that keep the principal balance unchanged or make payments that reduce the principal over time. In either case, the interest charged during each payment period is based on the outstanding loan balance at that time, not on an ever-growing balance. Since the loan balance is remaining the same or steadily declining rather than increasing, there is little opportunity for “interest on interest” to accumulate. While compounding can become important if unpaid interest is capitalized and added to the loan balance, that is the exception rather than the rule. For most mortgages, HELOCs, auto loans, personal loans, and similar debt, borrowers should focus far more on the interest rate than on whether the loan is described as using simple or compound interest.   Too Many People Are Using Target Date Funds in Their 401(k) For years, we've discussed the drawbacks of target date funds, including their higher fees and one-size-fits-all approach. Despite those concerns, they remain incredibly popular because they are simple and require very little effort from the investor. According to Vanguard, 61% of 401(k) participants invest in target date funds.   On the surface, they sound like the perfect solution. If you plan to retire around 2045, you simply choose the 2045 Target Date Fund and let it manage your investments. The fund automatically adjusts your portfolio over time, gradually reducing your exposure to stocks and increasing your allocation to bonds as you approach retirement.   Many investors don't realize how significant that shift can be. By the target retirement date, a target date fund may hold around 50% of its assets in bonds. The adjustments don't stop there. Reaching the target year doesn't mean the fund is liquidated or that you receive your money. Instead, the fund continues along its glide path and could increase its bond allocation to 70% or even 80% over the following years.   That approach may have made sense decades ago, but retirement looks very different today. Many people will spend 20 years or more in retirement. Over that length of time, maintaining enough exposure to stocks can be critical to helping your portfolio grow and keep pace with inflation. A portfolio that becomes too conservative too quickly may struggle to provide the long-term growth many retirees need.   Another limitation is that target date funds only manage the assets inside your 401(k). They don't take into account your IRAs, brokerage accounts, pensions, real estate, or other investments. As a result, your overall portfolio allocation could end up being far different than what is appropriate for your financial goals.   The convenience of target date funds is appealing, but convenience shouldn't replace planning. A successful retirement requires understanding how your money is invested, estimating what your portfolio could be worth when you retire, and developing a strategy for how those assets will be invested throughout retirement, not just until you reach it.   Is That Really Your Son or Daughter Calling You? You know your children's voices. You talk to them regularly. Then one day you get a frantic phone call from your son or daughter. They tell you they've just been in a serious accident. They need $15,000 immediately or they're going to jail. They tell you exactly how to send the money. Without hesitation, you wire the funds because you want to help your child.   Unfortunately, you have just been scammed by AI. AI-powered scams are exploding. Reports show AI-related fraud surged more than 1,200% in 2025, and at the current pace, losses from AI scams in the United States could reach $40 billion annually by 2027. Another study found that one in four adults has already experienced an AI voice scam.   Your first reaction may be, "That could never happen to me. I don't post anything on social media." But the problem may not be your online presence. It's your children.   Many people regularly post videos on social media, and today's AI only needs about three seconds of someone's voice to create a convincing clone. Once scammers have that sample, they can make it sound like your son or daughter is saying almost anything.   So how do you protect yourself? If you receive an emergency call asking for money, don't panic. Before sending anything, ask a question that only you and your child would know the answer to. Make it something that has never been shared publicly.   For example, ask about a funny childhood memory that only the two of you remember. Don't use information like birthdays, graduation dates, wedding dates, or other facts that could be found online or in public records. Remember with all these data centers there is so much information that is being obtained and saved but used for the wrong purposes.   Even better, establish a family safe word or passphrase today. Choose something simple that everyone can remember but that would never appear online.   If you ever receive one of these calls, ask for the safe word. If they can't provide it, assume it's a scam until you can verify the situation by calling your child directly or contacting another trusted family member.   As AI continues to improve, these scams will only become more convincing. The same technology powering innovation is also giving criminals new tools to exploit unsuspecting families. Stay alert. Verify before you trust. A few extra minutes could save you thousands of dollars and a great deal of heartache.   Is It Boom or Bust for Micron? It is hard to argue with Micron's incredible stock performance. Through July 2, the shares were up 242% year to date and an astonishing 701% over the previous 12 months. Even after recently falling about 22% from their peak, investors are still debating whether the company has much more room to run.   The good news is that Micron has locked in 15 new customers under long-term supply agreements, with some contracts extending as long as five years. Many of these agreements include customer deposits, giving the company excellent revenue visibility and reducing uncertainty over future sales. For investors, that is exactly the kind of stability they like to see.   But every smart investor should also ask: What is the downside?   While those contracts provide a strong foundation, they do not guarantee that demand will remain as strong over the long term. Unless a customer goes bankrupt, the contracts are largely locked in, but technology changes quickly. High prices and limited supply often encourage innovation, and the AI memory market is no exception.   Several companies are developing new architectures that reduce or even eliminate the need for high-bandwidth memory (HBM), which has been one of Micron's biggest growth drivers. As companies search for lower-cost and more efficient alternatives, demand for HBM could eventually soften.   Nvidia also signaled in June that it is redesigning portions of its upcoming Vera Rubin AI platform to use memory more efficiently. While Nvidia remains a major customer for HBM, improvements in memory efficiency could reduce the amount of HBM required per AI system over time.   Meanwhile, newly public chipmaker Cerebras has taken an entirely different approach. CEO Andrew Feldman has said the company's wafer-scale AI chips do not use HBM at all, arguing that it is too expensive and supply constrained. If other AI hardware companies pursue similar designs, it could create additional competition for HBM.   None of this means Micron's growth story is over. The company's long-term contracts provide meaningful protection, and AI demand remains exceptionally strong today. However, investors should remember that today's shortages and premium pricing often inspire tomorrow's technological breakthroughs.   The question for Micron investors is whether HBM remains the industry standard for years to come or whether innovation eventually reduces the need for it. If demand for HBM begins to slow, Micron's remarkable growth could also begin to moderate.   Companies Discussed: Caterpillar Inc. (Ticker: CAT)

Keith breaks down five major mortgage myths, including the belief that today's mortgage rates are unusually high, that the Fed directly sets them, and that rising rates automatically push home prices down.  Drawing on historical patterns, he explains why mortgage rates and home prices often move together, and why waiting on the sidelines for "better" rates can quietly erode your long-term wealth.  Keith also explains how inflation can benefit borrowers by shrinking the real burden of fixed-rate debt and shows how leveraged real estate can outperform traditional stock investing.  He ties these insights into today's K-shaped economy and the growing role of AI, and explains how strategic action and the right guidance can help position investors on the winning side of these trends. Episode Page: GetRichEducation.com/613 For access to properties or free help with a GRE Investment Coach, start here: GREmarketplace.com GRE Free Investment Coaching: GREinvestmentcoach.com Get mortgage loans for investment property: RidgeLendingGroup.com or call 855-74-RIDGE  or e-mail: info@RidgeLendingGroup.com Invest with Freedom Family Investments.  For predictable 10-12% quarterly returns, visit FreedomFamilyInvestments.com/GRE or text  FAMILY to 66866  Unlock truly passive real estate income—visit flockhomes.com/GRE today to see if your properties qualify for a 721 exchange with Flock Homes. To get in the best physical, mental, and professional shape of your life, go to DanielThomasHind.com and apply for Daniel's intensive 1-on-1 coaching for burnt-out entrepreneurs and executives. Will you please leave a review for the show? I'd be grateful. Search "how to leave an Apple Podcasts review"  For advertising inquiries, visit: GetRichEducation.com/ad Best Financial Education: GetRichEducation.com Get our wealth-building newsletter free— GREletter.com  Our YouTube Channel: www.youtube.com/c/GetRichEducation Follow us on Instagram: @getricheducation Complete episode transcript:   Keith Weinhold  0:01   Welcome to GRE. I'm your host, Keith Weinhold. There are myriad misunderstandings about mortgages. I dispel the myths and discuss the expected mortgage rate level in 2030 You will know more about mortgages than 99% of people today on Get Rich education, you know, Mid South Home Buyers, that top Memphis turnkey provider. I learned that a secret weapon behind their explosive growth is more than just you buying their properties, it's an executive coach. For nine years now, their CEO, Terry Kerr, and his COO, Pat Nix, have worked privately with a coach who I've now learned from too, and he doesn't market himself online anywhere. After 12 years behind the scenes, that coach is now making himself available exclusively for GRE listeners. His name is Daniel Thomas Hind. If you're a hard-charging business owner or investor who wants to get in the best shape of your life, physically, mentally, and professionally. You can fill out an application for a free consult. This is private one on one coaching for those willing to go to uncommon lengths to achieve uncommon results. Thanks to Daniel, we've all become better leaders, better operators, and better men. It started by showing up for ourselves. Now it's your turn. Go to danielthomashind.com H I N D, that's Daniel Thomas hind.com and sign up before Spotsville. What if you got your mortgage loans the same place I get mine? You sure can at Ridge Lending Group, NMLS 42056 they provided GRE listeners with more loans than anyone, because Ridge specializes in investment property. They'll help you build a long-term plan for growing your real estate empire with leverage. Start your pre-qual, and even chat directly with President Caeli Ridge, while it's on your mind, start at ridgelendinggroup.com that's ridgelendinggroup.com   Keith Weinhold  2:07   Flock Homes helps multifamily owners exit the operator grind, whether it's your six plex or a 50 unit apartment, through a 721 exchange. This defers your capital gains tax. It's a strategy long used by institutions. Now you can swap tenants and toilets for passive income and zero management. Request your initial valuations. See if your property qualifies at flockhomes.com/gre That's F L O C K homes.com/G R E.   Speaker 1  2:40   You're listening to the show that has created more financial freedom than nearly any show in the world. This is Get Rich Education.   Keith Weinhold  2:56   Welcome to GRE, from Keene, New Hampshire, to Kenai, Alaska, and across 188 nations worldwide, I'm Keith Weinholding. You're listening to Get Rich Education. Everybody knows that a mortgage rate is the interest rate that a borrower pays on a property loan. Okay, sure, that part is easy. And then, oh boy, the misunderstandings begin about eight seconds later, where will mortgage rates be in 2030 I want to tell you about this and more, because mortgage rates are one of the most talked about parts of real estate, and people discuss them with this confidence and bravado of a guy at a semi quincentennial barbecue that's explaining crypto and nutrition between bites of potato salad, yet he's probably got a lot of things wrong. In the next few minutes, though, you're gonna know more about mortgages than 99% of Americans. Let me tell you about five Goliath mortgage myths that throw a lot of people off, and this includes what mortgage rates are going to be, both next year and in 2030 The first myth is that mortgage rates are high today. I almost can't believe the number of people that say this in the world that I'm in. I hear it almost every day. The reality is that mortgage rates have normalized. The 30 year rate is currently normal to low. Now, I shared with you before that the long term average is 7.7% per Freddie Mac. They have the best, most respected stat set on historic mortgage rates, and theirs go back to 1971 Well, today's rate is between six and 7% They just don't feel low after the freakishly low era about five years ago. Now, after I tell you about mortgage rates in 2030 I'll tell you also about whether we're ever going to go back to the. 3% mortgage times. Understand, it's not just mortgages, but most other interest rate types are also on the low side today. A lot of rate types are based on the effective federal funds rate. What's based off of that are rates for credit cards, HELOCs, some business loans and personal loans, they are all based on the prime rate, which is based off of the federal funds rate. Well, the federal funds rate's long-term average is 4.6% Do you know where they're at today? 3.6% So, the fed rate is fully 1% below the long run average. The second myth, gosh, and this is such a pervasive one too, is that when mortgage rates rise, home prices fall. This is such a myth, and because I've talked about this premise before, let me bring some fresh angles to it for you today, with some historical accounts too, because the reality is that when mortgage rates rise, home prices usually rise right along with them, but sharply rising rates can slow appreciation, and before we move on, one of the most famous, I suppose, American real estate investors ever. He spoke about mortgage rates recently. Let's see what he says. This is under a minute in length. Oh, and he also happens to be the current White House occupant.   Donald Trump  6:34   I made billions of dollars with housing. I know housing better than anybody, maybe anywhere. It's all about the interest rate. Lower the interest rates. You can have all the housing you want, but you have to understand, I don't want to have - I don't want to hurt people that own houses, too. These people, for the first time in their lives, they have valuable houses, they become rich. I don't want to hurt them either. What you want to do is what's good for everyone? Get the interest rates down. We have this num skull that was the head of the Fed before, and he's a stupid person, and we call him too late because he was too late with the interest rates all the time. We need low interest rates. Low interest rates will solve everything, will solve that.   Keith Weinhold  7:18   Well, lower interest rates don't solve the main problem, though. We need to build more housing no other than the fact that low rates could make it a little easier for builders to finance their operations. Lower mortgage rates do nothing to increase the housing supply, and, contrary to what most people think, rates have exceedingly little to do with home prices. When mortgage rates blew past 18% in 1981 they were between 18 and a half and 19% Then, what do you think that home prices did? Well, they kept on rising right through it since 1994 Mortgage rates rose 1% or more six different times, and home prices went up all six times. Even when mortgage rates tripled three years ago, home prices still climbed on a nominal basis. How do they do that? Well, the short version here is that we've got to think about what's happening in the larger economy when rates rise. What does that mean? What does that signal? What is that a symptom of rates rise to keep a hot economy from overheating, and when the economy is hot like this, that usually means people are employed and they're confident and they're financially flush, so then what do they want to do? They want to buy a home, and therefore there are more bidders. That's why higher rates usually lead to higher home prices, and they're talking about raising rates again, because employment has been resilient, and inflation is more than double the Fed target. All right, well, if higher rates usually correlate with higher home prices, then do lower rates mean lower home prices, no, because nominally home prices rarely fall at all. Now, what then did rates do when real estate prices had a rare national fall in those years around the 2008 global financial crisis? Do you know? Do you know what mortgage rates did then? Do you think that mortgage rates were up or down during the global financial crisis? And this is a definitive answer. There's no gray area. They were clearly either boldly up or boldly down. What do you think during the global financial crisis? Mortgage rates plummet. Did more than 2% so the only time since the Great Depression that national home prices fell substantially, mortgage rates also fell substantially.    Keith Weinhold  8:05   The problem in that era, around 2008 is that you often could not get a loan, banks were barely lending, man. People overlook this. You can't just assume that you can get a loan whenever you want it, even if you qualify. But yeah, it's just amazing how many people believe this. I guess second myth. I mean, it is one of real estate's most persistent fairy tales that when mortgage rates rise, home prices fall, that just doesn't happen. And gosh, it feels like I explain this to somebody every week, that when mortgage rates rise, home prices usually do too. If you explain this phenomenon to somebody, I think what you can tell them is that history shows, and as I like to say, take history over hunches. History shows that mortgage rates don't have much to do with home prices. The, I guess, third mortgage myth out of five is that the Fed sets mortgage rates. The reality is that they don't, and you probably already knew about this one, because you're unusually sharp, and you're listening to this. Mortgage rates are more closely tied to the 10 year treasury yield, and inflation expectations, and bond market demand, and lender spreads, and the appetite from investors for mortgage-backed securities, and even your credit score, that's what mortgage rates are tied to. The fourth one here is that you should wait for mortgage rates to fall before buying, and the reality is that maybe you should, but usually not. And again, we can look at history here almost every time you look back at when you purchase property and how much property you owned when you added it into your portfolio, there you know. Do you ever think, oh gosh, I sure would have been better off had I waited two years. Now, if you do wait two years, what happens? Prices will almost certainly be higher, and you don't know where mortgage rates are going to be. Run the numbers, and you'll probably see that waiting is not the free lunch that some people think it is.   Keith Weinhold  9:13   The main problem with waiting is that it delays how the real wealth gets created from the five ways real estate pays, and to my earlier point, if you do wait, you're probably still going to be able to get a loan, but mortgage markets can seize up in times of distress, and you might not be able to get a loan at all. A lot of people just assume that credit is always going to be available. We don't know that for sure. Now, let's take a look at my most ill-timed real estate purchase ever, since we're talking about timing, and this is when I bought a green fourplex building in May of 2007 right on the precipice, just as we were about to tilt in to the global financial crisis. I paid $530,000 for this property. It was pretty nice, like not a beautiful building, but just a good setup where every tenant had their own attached one car garage in that building. Okay, so I did not wait, and by the way, this was a big purchase for me at the time. I mean, 530k perhaps that's about a million dollar purchase in today's inflation-adjusted terms. Back at that time, that was my biggest property yet, until I got into larger apartment buildings and other single-family homes and things like that. But what happened just after I bought this in 2007 Well, that green fourplexes value temporarily went down, and during this time I was paid the other four ways that real estate pays. Rates fell during the global financial crisis, so I had a refinance opportunity, and then that green fourplexes value had fully recovered by about 2012 or 2013 and it paid me positive cash flow every single month that entire time, and that's it. That was actually my worst timed purchase ever. That scenario, the worst mortgage conditions in anyone's lifetime, and it still wasn't so bad. Well, here's what else happens with the strategy of waiting for rates to fall. When rates fall, more buyers tend to rush in, and because you've got more buyers that qualify for a. Mortgage that didn't qualify previously, that means more competition. There are fewer seller concessions, if any, and there are higher prices. It might even create bidding wars, somewhat like we had in 2021.    Keith Weinhold  9:13   The last of the mortgage myths is that mortgage rates can be predicted, so you had better pay close attention to forecasts. Oh no, the reality is that trying to predict mortgage rates is about as predictable as to whether your contractor is actually coming on Tuesday. Let me tell you, all right, what the prominent analysts and agencies have to say about the future of mortgage rates, amalgamating forecasts from Fannie Mae, Wells Fargo, the Mortgage Bankers Association, a Reuters poll of economists, and more. By the end of next year, okay, so about 18 months away, they all cluster in a range of 6.2 to 6.5% This is for the 30 year fixed rate mortgage by the end of next year, and for 2030 it is about 5.8% That's what we're looking at for crystal balls of all these agencies, if you average them together, and you know what I have to say about these numbers, don't count on these at all. These people do not know, nobody does, they'll probably even tell you that they don't know. Okay, they are your forecasts right there. And what about us here? GRE does not make mortgage rate forecasts. We only make a home price appreciation forecast annually, and we are not about to make mortgage rate forecasts here. That is because they're just really hard to predict, and therefore that would not serve you. It's really just a form of entertainment that's a poor use of your time. It doesn't serve you. Making a bold mortgage rate prediction is exactly how economists audition for humiliation.   Keith Weinhold  17:14   Mortgage rates, future direction, that's based on so many factors, like inflation, jobs, treasury yields, deficits, geopolitics, oil prices, and wars, and the future direction of mortgage rates has to do with investor sentiment, which often changes and often doesn't make sense, and whatever new fresh economic surprise is going to wander in tomorrow, and you know, I'll tell you, when I was a pretty new real estate investor, and I had a property under contract, I remember sometimes asking my mortgage loan officer over the phone, now, do you think that mortgage rates are going to be lower next week, because maybe then I should wait and lock in. I mean, that's a question I asked a number of times. I mean, sheesh, it would have been just as useful if they answered by reading me their horoscope. Now, that is not a knock on mortgage loan officers in any way. They're smart people, but they just know the borrowers do want some insight, but it's just so hard to forecast now that you know that most forecasts base around 5% mortgage rates in 2030 which is useless information. Will rates ever be 3% again like they were about five years ago? There is no forecast by any of these agencies that predicts a 3% mortgage rate at all in the next five years, but you know, really, you have to ask, Who saw that there would be such low home loan rates on the horizon back in 2007 and things like the Great Recession and a global pandemic, you know, those sort of black swan events, they're just rarely, if ever, on the radar, and see drastic events like that are what it takes to move mortgage rates down into the seller, but a couple things are for sure, 3% mortgage rates anytime soon are extremely unlikely, and if that does happen, it probably means that there has been a real world calamity. Okay, that's what I can tell you.    Keith Weinhold  19:31   I've got more to tell you here, but to summarize what you've learned so far today, in this era, rates of all types are historically a little low, contrary to popular belief, mortgage rates have little to do with home prices. Waiting for rates to fall rarely works, and mortgage rates are nearly impossible to predict. And my favorite way to make it easy for you to remember how interest rates move in an account. Economy is that they are like walls. A high interest rate is like a high wall. It's an impediment to the movement of money, because people are less likely to borrow and more likely to save, since savings accounts yield more. And then a low interest rate is like a low wall that you can easily just step over it facilitates the movement of money, making you more likely to borrow and less likely to save. And if you want to understand more about how interest rates move economies and affect real estate, and you like analogies like that, I discuss more about how interest rates are like money walls in the latter portion of GRE episode 573 I've got so much more for you today. Straight ahead, I'm Keith Weinhold. You're listening to Get Rich Education.    Keith Weinhold  20:53   Flock Homes helps you retire from real estate and land learning, whether it's one problem property or your whole portfolio through a 721 exchange, deferring your capital gains tax and depreciation recapture. It's a strategy long used by the ultra wealthy. Now, mom and pop landlords can 721 through residential real estate. Request your initial valuation, see if your properties qualify at flockhomes.com/gre that's F L O C K homes.com/G R E. Let me ask you something. If you've worked hard to build wealth, is your money positioned to actually support your goals? A lot of accredited investors leave capital sitting in cash because it feels safe, but inflation and missed income opportunities can quietly erode its value. Freedom Family Investments offers freedom notes for investors seeking structured income backed by real estate. It's a straightforward approach built on real assets, not speculation. In full disclosure, I'm an investor myself. What I like is that their team walks you through how it all works, so you can decide if it aligns with your portfolio and income goals. Every investment carries risk, and nothing is guaranteed, but with a track record of consistent on-time investor payouts, they built real credibility.   Keith Weinhold  22:14   Go to Freedom Family investments.com to book a clarity call, or text family to 668 66 That's that's family 266866 This is Rich Dad Advisor Tong Wheelwright. Listen to Get Rich Education with Keith Weinhold, and don't quit your daydream. Keith, welcome back to Get Rich Education. I'm your host, Keith Weinhold, and let me help you with a couple questions that some of you have had, and when listeners or followers like you engage with us, whether that's through our general inbox or our investment coaching, or even my face-to-face interactions with people. Sometimes I hear something like, "Hey, well, I am waiting for the crash until I build my real estate portfolio. Now, I don't know how to take this always. Sometimes I think people are joking. Other times I actually think that they are serious, and see what happens is that an awful lot of media creators, they will produce a video or a blog or a podcast, and they like to talk about how a housing crash is imminent because that type of material really gets attention, words like crash and collapse, they're hype words, and these hype words like crash and collapse, they really play on people's very real primordial survival instincts that are produced in your brain's amygdala, that's why people keep consuming them, and it's also why fear-producing media gets lots of attention. I mean, it's the if it bleeds it leads phenomenon, you know. In fact, I have one real estate pro friend, and he's told me that if instead of talking about real estate logically and with an education bent in the way that I do here at GRE, well, instead if I flip that and I talk about doom and all the improbably bad things that could happen that could make my material so interesting that it would create a following so big that would transcend real estate circles, and I'd be a regular on whatever CNBC and The Joe Rogan Show. This friend somewhat jokingly suggested that with the way I use the pre. Frontal cortex to discuss real estate. I should speak from the amygdala instead. I could become a doomer, a crashaholic, an appreciation denier. And by the way, the prefrontal cortex is the sort of executive brain. It helps you think things through, compare options, solve problems, make plans. Ask yourself the question, is this actually a good idea? Logically, it's the logical part of the brain.    Keith Weinhold  25:33   Oppositely, the amygdala, that's what tells you something feels dangerous, I better react now. And your prefrontal cortex tells you, hold on, let's think this through. It's what's logical, and you know, though, this is what we've always done here, the logical, because scaring you is not serving you, it's only entertaining you. In fact, lately, there are even some people that were calling for a home price decline that no longer are doing so, and the NAR just revised their home price appreciation forecast this year up to 4% and then the other piece is that I've received more feedback recently from listeners about something that you're trying to grasp, and that is the concept of inflation profiting on your debt, which I've always presented as the fifth of five ways that you're simultaneously paid through real estate, and really the feedback it goes something like this: I don't see where I'm profiting at all if I borrow 100k on a mortgage, and then 10 years later I still owe 100k because I still owe 100k So, how is this getting me ahead, even if the tenant pays all the interest? Really, that's the question. And before I answer that, you can always reach out to us at our general inbox at Get Rich education.com/contact How do you contact us? Get rich education.com/contact where we have a real human being here at GRE monitoring the inbox for you, and oftentimes we also get comments on our videos at the Get Rich Education YouTube channel, so that's a less formal feedback mechanism, but if you're trying to grasp inflation profiting, think of it through the opposite lens. What if you put 100k in cash under the mattress, you slid it under there, and you left it there for 10 years, and then you unearthed it. Well, you probably wouldn't want to do that. Why not?   Keith Weinhold  27:49   It's still 100k We all know full well that, because at 3% inflation over 10 years, it will get worn down to about 74k of purchasing power since prices and rents and everything else is now higher. Well, in a similar way, 100k in debt after 10 years is still 100k same name, but it will only have 74k in real value. That is the way to think of it. The saver lost purchasing power, the borrower gained repayment power. Hopefully, those two persistent questions about a housing crash and about inflation profiting gave you some satisfying answers. And you know any more, so much of what we've discussed with you here every week since 2014 it is now in view, or actually it's not even in view as much as you are living inside it, that hollowing out of the middle class represented by the K-shaped economy, we are living in it, and when I told you about it, perhaps a decade ago, I was not using that term, K-shaped economy. However, that term was born in 2020 and it was popularized on Twitter back then. When we had our big wave of inflation five years ago, the asset owners recovered, if they ever suffered at all, they're the ones on the upper branch of the K, and the middle class and lower class that do not own assets. They were not able to recover, and inflation makes their standard of living sink lower. Where we're at today is that the top 10% of US earners now account for fully half of all US spending. Well, how much time do you have if you haven't yet? How much time do you have left to build your portfolio to make sure your trajectory has you on the upper branch of the K, not the lower branch? Rich, five years, you only have five years left to get rich, all right. Now that's not my answer, but that's what Andre G says, and I like some of his material, and I don't know if I'm saying Andre's name correctly, but according to him, the reason that you only have five years left to move economic lines trajectories to move from the K's lower branch to the upper branch is because of AI. You've got five years to learn a skill, start a business, or invest in real estate. The reason why is that upward mobility comes from finding efficiencies where you can make things better, but artificial intelligence makes things so much faster and more efficient, so that gap between the way things are right now and the way they will be in the future is going to close.    Keith Weinhold  30:56   AI compresses that gap to almost zero, because when everyone can use AI to build websites, write code, analyze markets, automate workflows, whatever it is, is because it becomes really easy for anyone to do anything, and it becomes a lot harder to move from the bottom of the K to the top, so for those at the bottom, there are fewer inefficiencies to solve and get ahead, and this is why the saying "the rich get richer and the poor get poorer" has the propensity to speed up. So, what can you do? I've described elsewhere about how stocks are not a wealth building tool, they're a wealth preservation tool. If you already have wealth, stock price to earnings ratios are bloated. It's good to select an asset or business that's hard to be replaced by AI, and then get good at that thing, like HVAC, plumbing, pest control, electrical, roofing, masonry, or investing in real estate be in a niche that AI is going to have a hard time replacing. Just buy some rental houses, and here at GRE, we talk about optimizing the five ways that you're paid all the time. Buyers who are waiting for 5% mortgage rates, you know, they're a little like people who refuse to buy gas at $4 because they remember $2. Okay, those days are not coming back. The market rewards action, not nostalgia. Actually, you can get 5% mortgage rates today through our GRE investment coaches, because we know the builders that are buying them down to that level for you.   Keith Weinhold  32:54   Now, do you realize that even with zero appreciation and zero cash flow on a property, you're probably still going to win bigger than stocks in their average returns of 10% That's right, even if you get zero appreciation and zero cash flow on a property, because with a historic average from your ROA, from your tax benefits, and inflation profiting alone, that's a 14% total return, just using today's mortgage and inflation rates. A 14% return, even with zero appreciation or cash flow, you're probably going to have more than zero from those. This is why we do what we do here, and you're owning your own deal, your own rental property, and you don't have to be the manager. I'm talking about your own and emphasizing that because a lot of investors got burnt recently because they said, "Oh, I'm going to invest in this influencer's deal, he's pooling all this money together for a deal. Instead of that, you can invest in and control your own deal without having to be the day-to-day manager. Those that bought property through our GRE marketplace with our coaching a few years ago, they are rich today. We had a number of those listeners come right here on the show last year, and joined me for an episode, and you heard some of them say, "Here is what my life is like now. They got on the upper branch of the K, they turned get rich education into got rich education, and it's not just for beginners, you know, we also have listeners that booked a free coaching session with us, and they gave real estate another shot after their first attempt at real estate investing failed, and that's because here they got a coherent strategy from a GRE investment coach, and then they got the outcome. It's actually pretty straightforward. Here's how it works. Our coaching actually understands this business because they work with investors like you every single day, and we are investors ourselves. What they do is they sit down with you, probably virtually, understand your situation, your goals, your timeline, where you're at financially, what your preferences are, what your concerns are, and they ask you the right questions. They listen, and then they show you what's actually possible, given your specific situation. A big difference between what we do and what a lot of others in the business do is that we are focused on your big picture strategy.    Keith Weinhold  35:44   See, we're not attached to any one market. Take local agents and local operators. Now, those people can be helpful, but they're clearly incentivized to have you buy whatever their product in their geographic market is well, RGRE investment coaching doesn't have that conflict of interest, and that's why, for free, our followers have such a good success rate in making sure they occupy the upper branch of that K. To find what's best for you, we'll walk you through different markets, different property types, and different strategies, depending on what makes sense for your situation. And it's truly free. There's no weird pleading to have you do something else. We don't try to sell you some paid coaching program or anything else like that. In fact, if you want to buy something from GRE, you simply cannot do it, because we don't even have anything for sale in almost any other industry. You would have to pay to talk to someone this knowledgeable, but you'll know more when you hang up than when you called. So, if you're ready to add real income-producing property to your portfolio, that's exactly where we can help, but it's more than that. If you want, come away with a plan to retire in five to 10 years, because it's about a total strategy. You are cordially invited. You can book a free coaching call at GRE Investment coach.com Until next week. I'm your host, Keith Weinhold. Don't quit True Daydream.   Speaker 1  37:28   Nothing on this show should be considered specific personal or professional advice. Please consult an appropriate tax, legal, real estate, financial, or business professional for individualized advice. Opinions of guests are their own. Information is not guaranteed. All investment strategies have the potential for profit or loss. The host is operating on behalf of Get Rich Education LLC exclusively.   Keith Weinhold  37:56   The preceding program was brought to you by Your Home for Wealth Building Get Rich education.com.  

Most investors know about cash-out refinances. Far fewer know about HELOCs on rental properties. Stan and Ben Stef explore creative financing strategies, investment property lending, DSCR loans, and ways investors are using existing equity to grow their portfolios faster.Ben Stef | Funding Freedom

Many people feel like real estate is “off limits” right now, prices are high, rates are confusing, and media headlines scream doom and gloom. Buyers are scared to make a mistake, investors think they've missed their window, and homeowners who are locked in low rates are stuck wondering how to tap their equity without blowing up their finances. Today's guest, Elysia Stobbe, has closed over $300 million in residential mortgages and helped first-time buyers, veterans, and investors navigate exactly these challenges with confidence, clarity, and calm. In this episode of Marketer of the Day, Elysia breaks down how ordinary people can still build intergenerational wealth through real estate, even in a volatile market. She explains why so many deals fall apart over just $2,500, how emotions, not math, kill good opportunities, and why thinking like an investor means focusing on cash flow, numbers, and realistic exit strategies. Elysia demystifies powerful tools like DSCR (Debt Service Coverage Ratio) loans, which qualify properties based on rental income rather than just W2 income, making investing more accessible than most people realize. Elysia's guidance isn't theory; it's the same practical approach she shares in her bestselling book “How to Get Approved for the Best Mortgage Without Sticking a Fork in Your Eye,” along with her other titles for mortgage loan officers and success habits. She walks listeners through comparing rent vs. mortgage payments, deciding when it makes sense to buy or stay put, and choosing between cash-out refinances and HELOCs by calculating the true blended interest rate. Whether you're a first-time homebuyer, a veteran, or a seasoned investor, you'll come away with actionable strategies to move forward instead of freezing up. https://youtu.be/8GpTAGr3WH8?si=aF148vkHfI0MFi4r Beyond the numbers, Elysia opens up about her journey from shy, bullied military kid to confident speaker, author, and coach, and shares how focusing on gratitude, service, and mindset can help you find “calm in the storm” both financially and personally. She even dives into her work with balancing harmonics and remote healing, showing how the same curiosity and openness that drive her real estate success also fuel her passion for helping people heal. If you've been feeling overwhelmed by the market, stuck on the sidelines, or unsure of your next move, this conversation with Elysia may be exactly the perspective shift and playbook you need. Quotes: “I do believe buying your first home is the first step to intergenerational wealth. It's not the only asset you should have, but it's a really powerful starting point.” “People think they can't get into real estate, and it's like; actually, you can. You can, and it's pretty easy when you know the right tools, like DSCR loans.” “Trying to copy somebody else is a compliment to that person, but you'll never be them. Just focus on being the best you you can be, and on how you can add value to your clients.” Contact Details: Visit Elysia Stobbe's Facebook Page Connect with Elysia Stobbe on LinkedIn Explore Elysia Stobbe's Official Website Dive into the YouTube Channel of Elysia Stobbe Get a Copy of How to Get Approved for the Best Mortgage Without Sticking a Fork in Your Eye on Amazon

Americans are sitting on more home equity than ever -- and more of them are tapping it. Not because they're struggling, but because they locked in ultra-low mortgage rates and they're not giving those up. So instead of refinancing, they're turning to HELOCs and home equity loans. Joe and OG walk through the math, the psychology, the questions most people never think to ask, and the specific situations where borrowing against your home equity actually makes sense -- and the ones where it quietly destroys a plan that was working.What You'll Walk Away WithWhy home equity borrowing is surging right now -- and why keeping a 3% mortgage while opening a HELOC at 7.5% might still be the smarter moveThe Oreo problem: why having a HELOC open "just in case" is the financial equivalent of leaving a sleeve of Oreos on the counter and expecting not to eat themOG's CEO versus CFO framework: how to separate the decision of whether to do the project from the decision of how to finance itThe rate math you should actually run before choosing between a HELOC, a home equity loan, and a full refinance -- including current Bankrate benchmarksHome improvements, credit card consolidation, college costs, business startup, and investing: OG's honest take on each use case, including the ones that are just bad ideasThe questions nobody asks before getting a HELOC -- including when the rate adjusts (spoiler: faster in one direction), what happens to the draw period, and whether the bank can pull the line at any timeWhy using home equity as a third-tier emergency fund sounds clever but has a fatal flawWhat happens if home prices fall and you've borrowed heavily against the equity -- and why Texas has the 80% ruleOG and Anna wrap up season two of the financial basics series -- including why financial planning is an ongoing activity, not a document, and what's coming in season threeThe one open question OG wants Stackers to send him before season three beginsWhy This Matters NowHome prices are up. Mortgage rates are still elevated. The people most tempted to tap their equity are often the ones who built it most carefully -- and that's exactly when the guardrails matter most.From the BasementJoe and OG dig into the HELOC decision with specifics: math, psychology, use cases, and the questions banks don't volunteer. OG and Anna close out season two of the financial basics series with a reflection on why everything in a financial plan connects to everything else -- and a preview of what's coming in season three. Doug arrives with Bernie Madoff trivia. The guides get a Scout upgrade and the college planning guide gets a refresh just in time for back to school.Resources MentionedStacking Benjamins Guides -- workplace benefits, tax planning, and college planning with Scout AI; stackingbenjamins.com/guidesStacking Benjamins Field Kit -- stackingbenjamins.com/fieldkitStacking Benjamins Basics Guide -- season one and season two; stackingbenjamins.com/basicsguideStacking Benjamins voicemail -- stackingbenjamins.com/yelldownstairs; leave a question for the next Q&A episode with AnnaOG financial planning calendar -- stackingbenjamins.com/ogStacking Benjamins Newsletter (The 201) -- stackingbenjamins.com/201Stacking Benjamins Community -- stackingbenjamins.com/basementSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Ryan Pineda and cohost Brian Davila interview Tyler Hennessee about using first-position HELOCs to accelerate mortgage payoff, leverage home equity more efficiently, build long-term wealth, and protect family finances through smarter investing and estate planning.⁣⁣Connect with Tyler - ⁣https://hardmakesyoubetter.com⁣https://tylerhennessee.com⁣https://www.instagram.com/tylerhennessee/⁣__________⁣If you'd like my team to run your marketing & sales department to scale your business apply here https://www.pinedapartners.com⁣⁣Join our private mastermind for elite business leaders who golf. https://www.mastermind19.com⁣⁣Want to be featured on the Wealthy Way Podcast? Apply here https://www.wealthyway.com⁣⁣If you want to start your real estate investing business, we'll give you 1:1 coaching, seller leads, software, & everything you need. https://www.wealthyinvestor.com⁣⁣Tired of paying so much in taxes every year? We'll give you strategy, tax prep, and accounting all in one place. https://www.taylor-tax.com⁣⁣Join free Bible studies and workshops for Christian business leaders. https://www.tentmakers.us⁣__________⁣Chapters:⁣0:00 - First Position HELOC Explained⁣9:09 - Using HELOC Like Checking⁣18:21 - Who This Strategy Fits⁣27:16 - Rental Property Comparison⁣39:34 - Why Banks Don't Teach It⁣47:57 - Hard Makes You Better⁣48:41 - Protecting Family Wealth⁣54:35 - Wealth Building Beyond Real Estate⁣58:47 - How Family Offices Invest⁣1:04:04 - Investment Risk And Losses

Joel Cabusao shares insights on velocity banking, real estate investing, and strategic financing to help investors build wealth efficiently. Discover practical tips and real-world examples to optimize your investment strategy.   Professional Real Estate Investors - How we can help you: Investor Fuel Mastermind:  Learn more about the Investor Fuel Mastermind, including 100% deal financing, massive discounts from vendors and sponsors you're already using, our world class community of over 150 members, and SO much more here: http://www.investorfuel.com/apply   Investor Machine Marketing Partnership:  Are you looking for consistent, high quality lead generation? Investor Machine is America's #1 lead generation service professional investors. Investor Machine provides true 'white glove' support to help you build the perfect marketing plan, then we'll execute it for you…talking and working together on an ongoing basis to help you hit YOUR goals! Learn more here: http://www.investormachine.com   Coaching with Mike Hambright:  Interested in 1 on 1 coaching with Mike Hambright? Mike coaches entrepreneurs looking to level up, build coaching or service based businesses (Mike runs multiple 7 and 8 figure a year businesses), building a coaching program and more. Learn more here: https://investorfuel.com/coachingwithmike   Attend a Vacation/Mastermind Retreat with Mike Hambright: Interested in joining a "mini-mastermind" with Mike and his private clients on an upcoming "Retreat", either at locations like Cabo San Lucas, Napa, Park City ski trip, Yellowstone, or even at Mike's East Texas "Big H Ranch"? Learn more here: http://www.investorfuel.com/retreat   Property Insurance: Join the largest and most investor friendly property insurance provider in 2 minutes. Free to join, and insure all your flips and rentals within minutes! There is NO easier insurance provider on the planet (turn insurance on or off in 1 minute without talking to anyone!), and there's no 15-30% agent mark up through this platform!  Register here: https://myinvestorinsurance.com/   New Real Estate Investors - How we can work together: Investor Fuel Club (Coaching and Deal Partner Community): Looking to kickstart your real estate investing career? Join our one of a kind Coaching Community, Investor Fuel Club, where you'll get trained by some of the best real estate investors in America, and partner with them on deals! You don't need $ for deals…we'll partner with you and hold your hand along the way! Learn More here: http://www.investorfuel.com/club   —--------------------

A lot of real estate investors think the biggest hurdle to buying more rentals is saving enough money for down payments. Nick Disney has taken a different approach.Instead of waiting years to build up cash, Nick uses HELOCs and private lenders as short-term financing tools to acquire and renovate properties. Once the property is stabilized, he refinances into long-term financing, pays back the HELOC or private lender, and frees up that capital to do it all over again.On this episode, Nick breaks down his strategy for scaling a rental portfolio without constantly saving for the next down payment. He explains how he finds private lenders, the types of people most likely to become funding partners, and how paying off a few rental properties created new opportunities through HELOCs.Nick also walks us through a recent deal, sharing the actual numbers and showing exactly how he used private money to make the purchase work.Plus, we discuss the biggest expense in his rental business and the strategies he uses to keep tenants longer and reduce turnover.If you've ever wondered how investors continue buying properties without piles of cash sitting in the bank, this episode is packed with practical strategies you can put to work right away.https://rentalincomepodcast.com/episode578Thanks To Our Sponsors:MidSouth HomeBuyers – Turnkey Rentals In Memphis, Little Rock, and Dallas. Instant cash flow on day 1.Ridge Lending Group - Ask about the All-In-One loan. A first-position HELOC on rentals.Rentec Direct - Automate the day-to-day work and make property management easy. Use promo code RIP to get 10% off your first 6 months.

In this episode, Lauren Goché, a Portland-based realtor and renovation expert, joins us to reshape how we think about homeownership, equity, and breaking out of survival mode. Drawing from her personal background of growing up poor and overcoming $65,000 in credit card debt, Lauren shares how she utilized her first home to completely shift her financial trajectory. She dives deep into the mind shift required to move from the anxiety of renting to leveraging "wise debt" like mortgages and home equity lines of credit (HELOCs). Lauren emphasizes why marginalized communities are systematically gatekept from these financial tools and how getting "house-ready" requires big-picture planning with the right team. From practical home maintenance tips to the genius bi-weekly mortgage payment strategy that shaves years off your loan, Lauren drops unfiltered truth bombs designed to turn a home into your ultimate financial nest egg. LEARN MORE AND CONNECT WITH LAUREN GOCHÉ Website: https://www.laurengoche.com/ Email: laurengoche@gmail.com Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/laurengoche/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/laurengocherealtor

Anthony Rushing was this week's guest on Success Profiles Radio. He is an experienced Loan Originator specializing in advocacy, education, and implementation of the First Lien HELOC product and strategy. We discussed what a First Lien HELOC is and how is differs from a traditional mortgage, how people are using them to pay off their homes faster, how to qualify for it, and how you can use it to pay of other debts or fund your lifestyle. In addition, we talked about how it can be used to significantly reduce the amount of interest you pay for your home loan, how to evaluate if this is a fit for your current financial situation, and his favorite client stories of how people have paid their mortgages fast. You can follow and listen to the show on Apple Podcasts, iTunes, Spotify, Audible, Amazon, iHeart Radio, and at https://toginet.com/shows/successprofilesradio/ Watch a free 20-minute webinar to dive deeper into the First Lien HELOC concept: https://tinyurl.com/bdham2re Use the free First Lien HELOC calculator to see if this is right for your situation: https://tinyurl.com/4eyjapxv Book a call with Anthony's team to discuss YOUR situation: https://tinyurl.com/4pthfc5x

In this episode, Jacob Haddan, a seasoned mortgage strategist, shares insights on innovative financing options like DSCR loans, digital HELOCs, and blockchain technology that are transforming real estate investing. Discover how these tools can help investors close deals faster and smarter.   Professional Real Estate Investors - How we can help you: Investor Fuel Mastermind:  Learn more about the Investor Fuel Mastermind, including 100% deal financing, massive discounts from vendors and sponsors you're already using, our world class community of over 150 members, and SO much more here: http://www.investorfuel.com/apply   Investor Machine Marketing Partnership:  Are you looking for consistent, high quality lead generation? Investor Machine is America's #1 lead generation service professional investors. Investor Machine provides true 'white glove' support to help you build the perfect marketing plan, then we'll execute it for you…talking and working together on an ongoing basis to help you hit YOUR goals! Learn more here: http://www.investormachine.com   Coaching with Mike Hambright:  Interested in 1 on 1 coaching with Mike Hambright? Mike coaches entrepreneurs looking to level up, build coaching or service based businesses (Mike runs multiple 7 and 8 figure a year businesses), building a coaching program and more. Learn more here: https://investorfuel.com/coachingwithmike   Attend a Vacation/Mastermind Retreat with Mike Hambright: Interested in joining a "mini-mastermind" with Mike and his private clients on an upcoming "Retreat", either at locations like Cabo San Lucas, Napa, Park City ski trip, Yellowstone, or even at Mike's East Texas "Big H Ranch"? Learn more here: http://www.investorfuel.com/retreat   Property Insurance: Join the largest and most investor friendly property insurance provider in 2 minutes. Free to join, and insure all your flips and rentals within minutes! There is NO easier insurance provider on the planet (turn insurance on or off in 1 minute without talking to anyone!), and there's no 15-30% agent mark up through this platform!  Register here: https://myinvestorinsurance.com/   New Real Estate Investors - How we can work together: Investor Fuel Club (Coaching and Deal Partner Community): Looking to kickstart your real estate investing career? Join our one of a kind Coaching Community, Investor Fuel Club, where you'll get trained by some of the best real estate investors in America, and partner with them on deals! You don't need $ for deals…we'll partner with you and hold your hand along the way! Learn More here: http://www.investorfuel.com/club   —--------------------

Interest rate and monthly payment? We all know those numbers.But what about the total interest you could pay over the full life of the loan?One investor recently looked at that number across 14 mortgages, and the results were hard to ignore. Some loans showed total interest percentages as high as 133%!That's why this week on the Not Your Average Investor Show, host Pablo Gonzalez is sitting down with Leslie Wilson, known in the community as The Real Estate Maven, to talk about what she found, why it changed how she looks at her mortgages, and the financing strategy she is now researching.You'll learn:- where to find the total interest percentage on your mortgage paperwork- what Leslie discovered after reviewing 14 mortgages- exploring HELOCs and lines of credit to pay down mortgage debt faster- what to consider before changing the way you use debt and equity in your portfolioSometimes one small number on a loan statement can change how you think about your whole portfolio.Listen NOW!Chapters:00:00 Meet The Maven02:26 From Plan B to Plan A04:25 Early Rentals and Hard Lessons06:01 Crash Opportunity in Denver09:06 Finding JWB and Scaling Up12:51 Why Jacksonville Now14:27 Funding Deals with Refinances17:46 Appraisals and Investor Mindset21:24 Bundle to Ten and DSCR Loans24:22 Asset Protection and LLC Setup27:35 Infinite Banking Explained33:47 Using Policy Loans for Down Payments36:58 Audience Q and Tax Treatment37:27 Mutual vs Stock Insurers38:12 Tax Free Policy Loans39:20 Replace Your Mortgage41:48 HELOC Cashflow Method45:34 Snowball vs Avalanche Payoff48:18 Why Keep Optimizing52:00 Portfolio Pac Man Breakdown55:06 Why Jacksonville Works58:03 Tactical Q and A01:00:16 Termites and Repairs01:03:49 Plant the Tree Today01:05:32 Final Send OffStay connected to us! Join our real estate investor community LIVE: https://jwbrealestatecapital.com/nyai/Schedule a Turnkey strategy call: https://jwbrealestatecapital.com/turnkey/ *Get social with us:*Subscribe to our channel  @notyouraverageinvestor  Subscribe to  @JWBRealEstateCompanies  

Artificial intelligence is changing the way executives work—but not in the way many people think. According to discussions across LinkedIn and the executive assistant community, the most effective approach is often a hybrid one: using AI to handle repetitive administrative and data-heavy tasks while allowing Executive Assistants to focus on strategic organization, judgment, communication, and relationship management. The goal isn't replacing people—it's helping them operate at a higher level. (LinkedIn) This week, I sat down with Harley Green, CEO of InvestAway and Workergenix, to explore how business owners, investors, and executives can use leverage—both technological and financial—to create more freedom and better results. Harley brings a unique perspective because he's lived every side of the investment journey. A former computer engineer turned real estate entrepreneur, he built his experience through house flipping, BRRRR strategies, private lending, and creative capital deployment. From utilizing HELOCs and infinite banking concepts to strategically selling properties and redeploying capital into lending opportunities, Harley understands how money can be put to work efficiently and effectively. Today, through InvestAway, he helps investors generate returns through short-term, real estate-backed lending opportunities. At the same time, through Workergenix, he helps overwhelmed business owners reclaim between 15 and 30 hours each week by pairing them with AI-powered Executive Assistants who manage inboxes, scheduling, reporting, follow-ups, coordination, and other critical operational tasks. As Harley explains, many executives don't suffer from a lack of ambition—they suffer from a lack of bandwidth. Too often, leaders spend their days trapped in execution rather than focused on vision, growth, and leadership. Workergenix was built to solve that problem by providing dedicated support that operates inside existing business systems while ensuring accountability and follow-through. During our conversation, we discuss: • Why AI works best as an enhancement rather than a replacement for human judgment • How Executive Assistants are evolving into strategic business partners • The biggest operational bottlenecks holding leaders back • Creative strategies for raising and deploying capital • Lessons learned from real estate investing, private lending, and entrepreneurship • How delegation creates freedom, scalability, and growth • What it takes to successfully run multiple businesses while traveling internationally and raising a family Whether you're an entrepreneur looking to buy back your time, an executive searching for operational efficiency, or an investor seeking new ways to grow your capital, this conversation offers practical insights on building systems that create both income and freedom. Join us for an engaging discussion on the intersection of AI, organizational efficiency, real estate investing, leadership, and wealth creation with Harley Green.   For more information: https://www.investaway.co/ Discover More: https://workergenix.com/ LinkedIn: @HarleyGreen Listen: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/scale-smart-grow-fast/id1770366237 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

https://youtu.be/gS7aHfIiXjQ Preetha Pulusani, CEO of DeepTarget, is passionate about helping people realize their potential and leveraging technology to create meaningful business growth. After spending 25 years in corporate America and learning hard lessons from an early entrepreneurial failure, Preetha built DeepTarget into a bootstrapped fintech growth company that helps banks and credit unions acquire, engage, cross-sell, and retain account holders through advanced data analytics and intelligent marketing. In this conversation, Preetha shares the DeepTarget Bootstrap Framework, a leadership and innovation model built around five principles: Combine Pros with Fresh Graduates, Think Big but Start Small, Be Agile with a Flat Structure, Fail Quickly, and Keep a Tight Customer Feedback Loop. She explains how blending experienced professionals with emerging talent creates powerful teams, why rapid experimentation outperforms large-scale product launches, and how customer feedback should guide innovation. Preetha also discusses using data to drive growth, selling outcomes instead of technology, and building a successful SaaS company without outside funding. — Pull 5 Levers to Bootstrap Your Firm with Preetha Pulusani  Good day. Steve Preda here with the Management Blueprint, and my guest today is Preetha Pulusani, the CEO of DeepTarget, a company that helps hundreds of financial institutions increase loan demand, promote product adoption, and support intelligent marketing through advanced data mining and analytics. Preetha, welcome to the show.  Thank you, Steve. Thank you for having me. Thank you for inviting me. I’m looking forward to it.  Yeah. You have a very interesting business and very interesting profile, so I can’t wait to jump in. But let me ask you my favorite question. What is your personal ‘Why’, and how are you manifesting it in your business?  I guess you could say that my personal ‘Why’ has evolved over several years. I spent 25 years in corporate America, and that was the best business education I could have ever received. My first failure as an entrepreneur, though, added to that significantly, and that was right before I started DeepTarget. Luckily, it was a quick failure, but that doesn’t mean it was not a difficult one. And in every way, the lessons learned have come in handy today. So I believe that I’m in my final chapter of my career, so I can speak from years of experience. And my personal ‘Why’ is—it’s always been about people for me. I’ve never believed in the lone genius.  I believe that every person has some spark of genius in a different way. And I have always been inspired by pulling out that spark and weaving a tapestry of people.Share on X And that happened even in my job in corporate America, but it happens even more with my team today as an entrepreneur at DeepTarget. So it’s about empowering people to use that spark rather than focusing on something that they may not be as good at. It’s pulling out that strength and making it the collective strength of a solution, of how we serve customers, and of the business itself. Does that make sense?  Oh, yeah. This is great. I love that. My experience is that nearly none of the companies I talk to—or basically none of them, literally none of them—capitalize on the maximum talent of their team. Because it’s impossible to maximize it completely, but you can work on it, and that is wonderful.  Yeah.  So do you have a process for how you do that? Is there a mental process? Is it just an awareness? Is it a curiosity? Is it a natural thing that you do, or do you actually have a way of doing this?  So I have found that I think I read people. I think I’m intuitive in that way. And so I see myself as being the orchestrator of whatever it is, whether I’m working on today’s problem or whether I’m working on the big vision. I don’t know that it’s a process so much, but I have used it over and over again. It’s become a very natural thing for me.  So you talk about the big vision. What is that big vision?  So as a company, my focus is on making our clients successful. What that means is helping them grow their financial institutions.Share on X We work with credit unions and banks, and it’s all about growth. And we use innovation to leverage that growth for them. How do you acquire new account holders? How do you cross-sell to them? How do you communicate with them? How do you retain them? I’m a techie at heart, so it’s been about how do I leverage data? How do I leverage—today, of course—AI, kind of a combination of data and AI, to make sure that they are able to see the growth they need for their financial institutions? And that’s kind of become the mission that we have adopted for the company.  Yeah. I noticed that on your website you have this map of, I think, seven or eight different ways that you’re driving adoption and contact with people and—  It’s highly data-driven. It’s not wishy-washy. We’ve evolved from being a marketing company to a growth company. And when you take anything that’s data-driven into marketing, yeah, it’s something that people like to do. But what we like to do is use the technology to get to the human—to get to the individual. So we are helping our credit unions and banks reach individuals, understand each account holder, and understand what their financial needs are. And the only way you can do that at scale is by using technology and data. So we’ve built a platform that enables them to do that. That’s why the front end is all data, right? We can accept as much data as they want to give us so that we can do the right things to help them grow and engage their account holders.  Yeah. I like that you’re very techy, as you say—techy and data-driven. So I wonder, what is your mental model when you think about the end customers of your financial institution clients? What’s your mental model for how you innovate this process? So what are the major elements? If you had to synthesize it down to maybe three to five elements—your levers that you can pull—what are those?  Great question. So I’m going to start with the people because, for me, everything revolves around people. What I’ve been able to do is combine very seasoned pros with fresh graduates from local universities, and that has been a potent combination. Okay? That’s number one. Whether I’m talking about development, customer success, or sales, that’s been the combination that has worked for me. And as a bootstrapper, that has also helped me financially. You have a very seasoned pro that I’ve worked with for years, and you know exactly what their strengths are.  And then you put some fresh graduates under them. I’m telling you, there’s nothing better. That combination is second to none. The second thing is, I believe in thinking big, but starting small and scaling quickly. I learned that over time. There was a time when we used to have the big-bang theory of creating products.Share on X We have moved so far away from that. So think big, start small, and be agile. And as a small company, that’s a big advantage for me. We have a very flat structure. And so we’re able to have the agility we need to move markets, frankly. If you’re going to fail, fail quickly.  Have a tight customer feedback loop. And if something isn’t going to work for your customer, just abandon it. Abandon it quickly. I can’t say, in all honesty, that I’ve done that every time, but it’s always on my mind: “Should we really even pursue this?” I know we’ve had projects that we thought would be very successful, but they weren’t. But when you’ve only made a small investment, it’s easier to set it aside. “Okay, it’s not working. This is not what we need to do. Let’s move on.”  Yeah, I love that. Can you give an example where you invested in a process and really believed in it, and it turned out not to work, and then you had to pivot from it?  So the way we help banks and credit unions engage and cross-sell to their account holders is primarily through digital banking. We put up very personalized offers using data in the digital banking environment and use that real estate very effectively. It works like a charm. That’s what we do today. We did get a little sidetracked by expanding that into email, and we didn’t see the kind of growth we expected. So we tried to understand that. We did kind of an autopsy. And the difference is that when you log into digital banking, you’re being served something. The difference with email is that you’re pushing something out. It has its uses, for sure, but the particular aspect of what we had done in the product didn’t take off like we expected. So we just said, “Okay, let’s do more of what we can do within the digital banking environment.”  But that works for farming existing customers of the banks, right? Do you also help banks acquire new customers?  Yes. And that’s where email works, by the way. And so does direct mail, and so do digital ads. When you’re cross-selling to existing account holders, you have a lot of information about them. For example, if they rent a home, you would never give them a HELOC offer, right? But on the other hand, what we’re doing for new account acquisition is still using data. We’re looking at who the most profitable customers are that your credit union or bank has, and using that as the model to find more likely customers within a particular radius of their branches. So we are still using data, but in a different way and using different channels to reach them versus digital banking.  That’s fascinating. So what drives growth in your business?  Well, if you had asked me that question 10 years ago, I would have said innovation drives growth. But what we have found and learned over time is that innovation is an engine.Share on X Innovation, in a way, actually causes friction because when you innovate, you’re creating something new. So you first have to go out and educate the market. You have to make them understand that there’s a new way of doing things, and not everybody is open to change.  So if I go talk to a marketing professional and say, “Hey, here’s a new way of doing things. We’re using data.” I put myself in the place of that marketing person who is already constrained by bandwidth, who is already doing so many things, saying, “You’re bringing another new tool for me to learn and use? For what purpose?” While innovation is the engine, what we have learned is not to focus on the innovation, but to focus on the impact. And we do that by really working hard to get into the C-suite. So we are talking to the CEO, the COO, the Chief Digital Officer, or the Chief Technology Officer of these banks and credit unions, helping them understand the outcomes. What is it we do? We acquire new customers. We cross-sell to existing customers. We help you retain them. I receive these direct-mail solicitations from mega banks like Chase and Wells Fargo.  They’re paying me $900, $1,500 to open a checking account. It’s expensive to acquire new accounts. That’s just an example, right? So we are helping you grow through new account acquisition, but we also have a whole playbook for how you retain those new accounts that you acquire. So when you talk at the C-suite level, all of a sudden they’re not seeing a tool. What they’re seeing is an outcome. “How soon can we see results?” is the question we get asked. So we grow through a different way of selling what we do to these institutions.  So people don’t care how you achieve the result. They just want you to talk about the result?  Exactly. Especially the CEO. I mean, they don’t really care. They do care about things like data privacy, and we’ve addressed all of that. We’ve been doing this business for so long that data security is table stakes. But they care less about how you do it and more about why. So we have to talk to the individuals who care about the why rather than the how, although the how plays such a big part in building a business, right? But that’s what we focus on.  That’s behind the wall. That’s your problem, basically.  That’s right. That’s the secret sauce. We used to take great pains to explain the secret sauce at one point in time, but not anymore.  That’s interesting. So why do they listen to you? I mean, why do they believe that you can get these results? Do you show them testimonials, or how do you prove it?  We have over 200 customers now—customer contracts. It’s actually closer to 300. So we have a lot of testimonials and references that we can show them. We also let them know that there are barriers to using software like ours, such as, “Do I need to have somebody operate the software?” No, because part of what we offer is a managed service. We will operate the software for you using your branding and everything else that you have. So we’ve kind of removed all of the barriers. The biggest barrier today is creating awareness in the broader market, because this is a huge market.  And on my bootstrapping budget, I have to make sure people know that such a solution exists. What we find is that once we reach the decision-maker, it’s a fairly straightforward sale. I would say that if I’m constrained by anything when it comes to growth, it’s because I’m a bootstrapper. I watch every penny carefully, and I have built the company funded entirely by revenue. And one of these days that’s not going to be enough. But so far, so good. Yeah. Okay. So basically you create broader awareness of your products. You have all these testimonials and references. When you get in front of these decision-makers, you talk about the outcome and show them the results you can get.  And we have direct sales, right? I mean, we do call on, we have a couple of people. All they do is work the phones, emails, and LinkedIn to get us meetings in front of the right people. You know, also, Steve, in this day and age of everything digital, what we have found with banks and credit unions is that first important meeting with the CEO—we’re finding that doing it in person makes a huge difference. So that’s another thing that we do.  That’s interesting. So does that limit you geographically?  We’re having so much success with that model that it only helps us. More revenue means I can invest more in sales. So we are limited to the United States. We have customers on both coasts, a pretty good map of customers on both coasts, and in the Midwest. And there are some blank spaces, and we’re trying to address those blank spaces.  So you actually have people fly all over the country to meet with CEOs?  Yes. And it’s making a big difference. This is a change that we made not too far back. I would say maybe about 18 months ago or so, and it’s made a big difference for growth.  That is so interesting because after the pandemic, a lot of companies kept doing video sales calls.  As did we. As did we.  As probably you did as well. But the assumption was that there’s no point in traveling. It’s an extra expense and doesn’t make a huge difference. But you’re saying it’s the opposite—that it does.  Yes, it makes a huge difference. You’re talking to the CEO of a bank. Banks still have a more traditional generation of leaders. Even I didn’t believe it when I was first sold on this whole concept, but I’ve become a believer now. That meeting—the CEO not only is in the room with you, but brings in his or her key executives to talk to you. When you’ve made the trip all the way to Sacramento, they’re going to do that, right? So it’s made a difference.  So there’s a reciprocity involved. They see that you’re making the trip. Okay, then we might as well put more into it. And it’s kind of a self-fulfilling process.  And by the way, when you have more people in the room, you get more objections, but you’re able to address those in person. Yeah. Even if you have a video call with the CEO, if the CEO goes and talks to the CTO and brings up the objection, “You really need to worry about these guys and their data security,” we never hear about that. We just hear silence. We don’t know what’s going on behind the scenes. So you get that opportunity to address all of that kind of in person. And I think it actually works out more cost-effectively, surprisingly. Yeah, as long as those are resulting in deals.  Yes. So maybe that’s an inside thing, but I’m just wondering, what is the upside of something like that? If you convert one of the CEOs and they start using the system—maybe that’s a business secret—but what is the value of that conversion? Let’s say the 12-month value of that conversion that makes you want to do that trip.  So let me give you an example. We sell annual subscriptions with five-year terms. That’s a big deal, right? And when we sell five-year terms, it can become very significant. So we price based on the asset size of the financial institution because that kind of determines how large they are, how many branches they have, and how many account holders they have. So let’s take an institution that’s, say, a billion dollars. I’m just going to give you some rough numbers, right? For a five-year contract, you’re talking about $300,000 or so.  Okay. That makes sense. It’s definitely worth the trip.  Yes, it’s worth the trip.  Yeah.  The other way to have that personal interaction, which we have found to be very effective, is conferences—focused conferences. Many of these banks and credit unions have state leagues, regional leagues, or certain technology-focused groups that meet. And those are kind of the best venues to do our prospecting.  And then do you sponsor these conferences?  Well, we do. We’re very selective, but we have booths, and in addition to that, we may do some other sponsorships. Yeah.  Yeah. That’s great. So switching gears here, I’m really curious. What is something that you’re actively trying to figure out in your business? So if you had a magic wand and you could wave it, what would you want to fix in the next 12 months?  I’ve kind of told you that I’ve been a bootstrapper, and I’ve been a bootstrapper very intentionally. Because one of the things that I said I would do is that I wouldn’t be so stubborn as to never take any outside capital. But the thing that I wanted to figure out before taking external capital was what would give me a multiplier effect. So if I took a dollar in, how would I be able to multiply that? And I’m getting very close to figuring that out on the sales and marketing side. So if I had more dollars, and if I have a sales formula that I know works—that I’m confident works—then I should be able to take that formula, add those dollars, and simply add salespeople, right, to grow.  Scale it up, yeah.  So that’s kind of been the biggest issue I’ve had for the past, say, five years. But I would say that over the past 12 to 18 months, a lot of that has become clearer to me. And so I think I’m getting close to having that solved—to having that formula where I can say, “Okay, if I put in more dollars, I’m going to get X return.”  Yeah. Some people call this the coin-operated marketing and sales system. You keep dropping the coin and—  Yeah. Yeah. It’s taken me years to figure it out. I spent a lot of my early years at the company building a very robust technology platform because without that, everything else becomes secondary. And then I had this focus on, how do I get sales and marketing? And I’ve tried many things, and they haven’t necessarily worked, right? I’ve built up a customer base by slogging over time, but then you want that formula if you want to throw money at it.  Yeah. And that’s where I think I’m getting closer to getting there.  Yeah. And then marketing media is changing all the time. Different platforms come and go. Then you have different advertising formulas, and they burn out. So it’s actually difficult to stabilize it and make something that’s permanently coin-operated, so to speak. Yeah. And when we say everything is data-driven, it’s not just on the front end that everything is data-driven. We are able to tell the credit union or bank how many products we actually sold. What loans did you sell? How many auto loans? How many mortgages? How many HELOCs? How many credit cards? How many deposit accounts did you open each month that were influenced by our campaigns? We’re able to go back and tell them that. And what are the new balances you generated as a result of that? So it’s not about impressions and clicks. On the back end, we actually give them very deep data analytics so they can see, “This is the revenue I generated last month, and these are the new balances I generated last month.” And so that makes a difference, too.  Yeah. I saw on your website that many customers get a 500% ROI on their investment.  Yeah. Which only says that I’m charging them too little.  Yeah. Yeah.  No, but I mean, if you look at the balances and how they measure, we’re almost afraid to put the actual numbers out there. But we show them a growth grid that shows, month by month, here’s what you made using these campaigns. We can even show them what happens when they turn off the campaigns and what the impact is.  So in terms of bootstrapping, is that a strategy? Let’s say you figure out your scalable sales formula. Would you then go raise money, or would you still want to bootstrap?  If the revenue that I’m generating can be used toward growth, I won’t have to go raise money. But I won’t be so stubborn and silly that I wouldn’t take outside capital. I get calls all the time from investment bankers and capital firms. In fact, I was talking to one just yesterday, and I said, “I’m probably getting a bit closer to being open to capital. Give me another six months. By the end of the year, I should know.” So yes,  I would raise money if I had that sales formula, if I knew for sure. And I think part of this, Steve, is because I talked about my first failure as an entrepreneur. It was a very quick failure, but it was a hard one because I had taken money from friends and family, and it was used up, and they didn’t get much in return. When I had to shut down that company, I actually gave them shares in this company. I guess I got a bit burned, so I’m more resistant to taking outside capital until I’ve figured out what the solution is. But I think I’m getting very close. You get to a point where it’s silly not to take capital.  Yeah, because someone might copy it. You figure out a formula, and someone might copy it. Then they put more money behind it, they dominate the market, and you lose. Yeah. So that’s the only concern.  Yeah.  Yeah. If there are listeners who hear this and say, “Wow, I’d like to learn more because I’m involved with a financial institution, and we need to improve our sales, get more customers, and upsell more customers,” where can they find out more, and how can they reach you?  So our website has, I think, a wealth of information. So certainly they can go to our website just to learn more about the solution. They can contact us at success@deeptarget.com. That’s probably the easiest way to get a deeper dive into what we do and have that one-on-one meeting. And I think that’s the best way to learn more. Whether you’re interested in going forward or not, that’s the best way to learn.  Yeah. Okay. Well, definitely. I checked out the website, and it’s pretty informative. You get good visuals of what Preetha’s team is doing, and it’s pretty complex, I would say. There’s a lot of nuance to it, so I found it fascinating. So definitely check out deeptarget.com if you’d like to learn more. Preetha is also on LinkedIn, and you can email them at success@deeptarget.com. Any famous last words for the audience? Something that would help an entrepreneur who wants to bootstrap their business? What would you recommend they do?  I think starting a business is no easy feat, and I don’t believe in overnight success. It’s a journey. It’s been one of the most inspiring and interesting journeys, and probably the greatest learning journey, that I’ve been through. So I think you shouldn’t focus just on the end result or overnight success. Instead, come for the journey.  Yeah. You have to love the journey in order to reach the destination, right?  It’s tough, right? Yeah. It can be tough at times, but then you reach a point where it’s just the best thing.  Yeah. Well, that’s great inspiration for the founders listening to this. And if you enjoyed the podcast, then definitely follow us on LinkedIn, subscribe on YouTube, and give us a review on Apple Podcasts. And Preetha, thanks for coming. That was an eye-opening discussion. I don’t recall having many bootstrapper tech companies on the show, so this is definitely a new element for us and a really good perspective. So thanks for coming, and thank you for listening. Important Links: Preetha's LinkedIn Preetha's website Preetha's email: success@deeptarget.com

One out of every four loans in 2026 will be non-agency. Are you positioned to compete for all of them — or just three out of four? In this episode of Connect, California MBA CEO Paul Gigliotti sits down with Tom Davis, Chief Sales Officer at Deephaven Mortgage, for a data-heavy, no-fluff conversation on where the non-QM and non-agency markets are headed, why the equity opportunity is generational, and what loan officers need to do right now to stay relevant. Tom brings a front-row view of what's actually happening across borrower demand, product innovation, and liquidity — and he doesn't sugarcoat what originators are leaving on the table by not having a full suite of non-agency products. In this episode: • Why non-QM is on pace to hit $150–180B in 2026 — an all-time record The $400–500B total non-agency market and why missing it means only accessing 75% of your opportunity • Who the non-QM borrower really is: self-employed, investor, credit event, foreign national — and why they're actually lower risk than you think • Why 30% of all 2025 transactions were investor deals — and what a full investor product suite looks like • The home equity opportunity: $35 trillion in equity, 80% of homeowners locked into sub-5% rates, and $600B in renovation originations projected for 2026 • HELOCs, closed-end seconds, and how Deephaven built a Jumbo HELOC up to $1M with alt-doc features • Why waiting for rates to drop is a losing strategy — and what LOs should be doing instead • How servicers are stealing your past clients at a 90% retention rate — and how equity products stop the bleed Connect is the California MBA's podcast where strategy, innovation, and leadership come together to shape the future of mortgage finance. Subscribe for new episodes featuring the voices driving the industry forward.

You've spent years building equity in your home — but when does it make sense to actually put that equity to work?In this episode of The Agent of Wealth Podcast, co-host John Williams breaks down the three most common ways homeowners access their home equity: Home Equity Lines of Credit (HELOCs), Home Equity Loans, and Cash-Out Refinancing. He explains how each strategy works, where each one may fit, and the advantages and risks homeowners should consider before borrowing against their home.In this episode, you will learn:The key differences between HELOCs, Home Equity Loans, and Cash-Out Refinancing.When each home equity strategy may make sense.The potential benefits and risks of borrowing against your home.How home equity decisions fit into a broader financial plan.And more!Tune in for a practical framework that can help you determine which home equity option best aligns with your cash flow needs, borrowing goals, and overall financial plan.Resources:Episode Transcript & Blog | Common Home Equity Options (Cheat Sheet) | Bautis Financial: 8 Hillside Ave, Suite LL1 Montclair, New Jersey 07042 (862) 205-5000 | Schedule an Introductory CallWant to be a guest on The Agent of Wealth? Send Marc Bautis a message on PodMatch, here: https://tinyurl.com/mt4z6ywc

On today's episode of The American Land Man Podcast, we are back in the studio with Jeremy Lopez. We discuss:Jeremy bought his first house around age 21 or 22.Military service helped shape his discipline and goals.VA loans became a major financial tool for him.Rental properties helped create cash flow.He used a HELOC to help buy duplexes.His first hunting property was 40 acres in northern Wisconsin.He focused on affordable areas with better margins.He improved trails, food plots, blinds, water, and access.Strong video marketing helped sell the property fast.He expects a check around $57,000–$58,000 before taxes.And So Much More!Connect:-https://bit.ly/NeilHaugerWhitetailProperties-https://bit.ly/NeilHaugerFacebook-https://bit.ly/NeilHaugerYouTube-https://bit.ly/NeilHaugerInstagram

Ben Stef reveals how DSCR loans, HELOCs, cash reserves, and radical focus can help investors scale smarter while protecting marriage, family, and the deeper purpose behind building long-term financial freedom.See article: https://www.unitedstatesrealestateinvestor.com/to-possess-the-ultimate-freedom-to-scale-without-fear-with-ben-stef/(00:00) - Introduction to Ben Stef and Funding Freedom(05:00) - Ben's Construction Roots and Why Lending Became His Lane(10:00) - House Hacking, BRRRR, HELOCs, and Scaling Through Investor Financing(15:00) - Breaking Past the 10-Property Wall with DSCR Loans(20:00) - Dave Ramsey, Debt Payoff, and the Discipline That Built the Foundation(25:00) - Marriage, Trust, Fast Decisions, and Real Estate Deal Pressure(30:00) - Work Seasons, Family Rhythms, and the Cost of Chasing Deals(35:00) - Golden Nuggets, Sacrifice, Focus, and Doing the Work Unseen(40:00) - Funding Freedom, Where to Find Ben Stef, and Final Closing(41:06) - Episode Disclaimer and Wrap-UpContact Ben Stefhttps://www.fundingfreedom.net/https://www.facebook.com/benjamin.stef.5https://www.instagram.com/benj.stef/https://www.threads.com/@benj.stefhttps://www.linkedin.com/in/benjamin-stef-b0b741275/https://youtube.com/@fundingfreedomwithben Ben Stef's message is clear: freedom is not built by chasing every shiny strategy, avoiding hard conversations, or waiting for the perfect time. It is built by understanding the numbers, protecting your reserves, using financing wisely, staying focused, and taking ownership when things get hard. If this episode helped you see investing, lending, or life with more clarity, keep learning, keep growing, and keep building the life you actually want to live. For more powerful conversations like this, visit https://reiagent.comIs success destroying your peace? Most pros grind until they break. Download The Investor's Life Balance Sheet: A Holistic Wealth Audit to see if you are building a legacy or heading for burnout. Presented by The REI Agent Podcast & United States Real Estate Investor® https://sendfox.com/lp/m4jrl

Thinking about tapping into your home's equity? In this episode, we're breaking down HELOCs—what they are, when you can actually get one, and why (or why not) you might use it. We keep it simple, real, and practical so you can make smart financial decisions for your family.⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠www.sistertipsters.com⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠**Follow⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Sister Tipsters on Instagram⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠***Shop ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Our Favorites⁠⁠

I sit down with Velocity Banking Expert, Anthony Rushing, to discuss using 1st lien HELOCs to pay off debt. Anthony answers the questions of when this concept does and doesn't make sense, and responds to the most common objections against the strategy.Watch the Interview on Youtube for Visuals -https://youtu.be/JIdrn74opF4Want to See If Whole Life Insurance Can Improve Your Financial Plan? Schedule Your Clarity Call Here: https://bttr.ly/bw-yt-aa-clarityWant Us To Review Your Permanent Life Insurance Policy? Click Here: https://bttr.ly/yt-policy-reviewWant Free Whole Life Insurance Resources & Education? Go Here: https://bttr.ly/yt-bw-vaultLearn More About BetterWealth: https://betterwealth.comChapters:00:00 - Interview Teaser01:30 - Disclaimer02:20 - Mechanics of First-Lien HELOCs*First-Lien Position*Interest Calculation*Rate Types*Bank Retention Barrier to Entry13:53 - First-Lien vs. Second-Lien HELOCs16:12 - Velocity Banking Concepts*Line of Credits*HELOC as a Checking Account*Positive Cash Flow31:13 - Behavioral Advantages and Motivational Theory*Liquidity and Control *Motivational Theory*Automation44:40 - Misconceptions and Complexities*Simple Interest *Math vs. Reality01:27:36 - Risks and Contractual Structure*Draw Period (Open-ended)*Repayment Period (Closed-ended)01:49:52 - Who is the First-Lien HELOC For?*The Debt-Motivated*Investor-MindedDISCLAIMER: https://bttr.ly/aapolicy*This video is for entertainment purposes only and is not financial or legal advice. Financial Advice Disclaimer: All content on this channel is for education, discussion, and illustrative purposes only and should not be construed as professional financial advice or recommendation. Should you need such advice, consult a licensed financial or tax advisor. No guarantee is given regarding the accuracy of the information on this channel. Neither host nor guests can be held responsible for any direct or incidental loss incurred by applying any of the information offered.

I sit down with Zach Oehlman, a former velocity banking and 1st lien HELOC advocate turned whistleblower—who's now calling out major figures like Michael Lush and the Kwak Brothers. After years as a top affiliate with Renatus, Zach breaks down the flawed math behind velocity banking, explains why the strategy doesn't outperform simply paying down your mortgage, and shares details of his lawsuit against Renatus. If you've heard claims of paying off your home in a few years using HELOC “chunking,” this is a direct, numbers-driven breakdown—and an open challenge to anyone defending the strategy.Watch the Interview on Youtube for Visuals - https://youtu.be/OJcLugBokeEWant Us To Review Your Permanent Life Insurance Policy? Click Here: https://bttr.ly/yt-policy-reviewBuy Your Tickets to the Life Insurance Summit! Click Here: https://betterwealth.com/summitLearn More About BetterWealth: https://betterwealth.comChapters:00:00 - Interview Teaser 01:36 - Guest Introduction, Velocity Banking, Lines of Credit 04:24 - The Legal Battle with Renatus *12-Year History with Renatus *Why is he suing the company? 11:40 - Attempts at Dialogue and Professional Audits 18:51 - What is Renatus and What Do They Sell? 24:57 - Understanding the Velocity Banking Pitch 27:31 - Debunking "Amortized Interest" Myths 29:22 - The Host's Own Correction on Amortization 33:59 - Flaw in Comparative Analysis 34:34 - Liquidity, HELOCs, and Second Leans 45:51 - Step-by-Step Math: Mortgage Acceleration Logic 47:23 - How to Pay Less in Interest? 48:02 - How to Pay Off $100k in 3 Years 48:45 - Correct Analysis 57:17 - Mortgage Calculator 01:02:17 - Goal of the Lawsuit 01:10:12 - Final ThoughtsDISCLAIMER: https://bttr.ly/aapolicy*This video is for entertainment purposes only and is not financial or legal advice. Financial Advice Disclaimer: All content on this channel is for education, discussion, and illustrative purposes only and should not be construed as professional financial advice or recommendation. Should you need such advice, consult a licensed financial or tax advisor. No guarantee is given regarding the accuracy of the information on this channel. Neither host nor guests can be held responsible for any direct or incidental loss incurred by applying any of the information offered.

On this episode of The Real Wealth Show, Kathy Fettke sits down with mortgage expert Caeli Ridge for a 2026 lending update built for real estate investors. They break down today's investor mortgage rates, HELOCs, cash-out refinances, DSCR loans, paying points, and why experienced investors are still buying in today's market. If you're waiting for rates to drop or sitting on equity, this episode will help you think like an investor—and do the math.

In today's episode, we look at figures associated with Hispanic lending in America. Plus, Robbie sits down with Figure's Anthony Stratis (for a discussion on the home equity lending space) and Verus' Dane Smith (for a discussion on innovative loan products). And we close by examining what it would take for oil prices to return to normal levels.Welcome to The Chrisman Commentary, your go-to daily mortgage news podcast, where industry insights meet expert analysis. Hosted by Robbie Chrisman, this podcast delivers the latest updates on mortgage rates, capital markets, and the forces shaping the housing finance landscape. Whether you're a seasoned professional or just looking to stay informed, you'll get clear, concise breakdowns of market trends and economic shifts that impact the mortgage world.Thank you to FirstClose, which provides fintech solutions to HELOC and mortgage lenders nationwide. Their home equity lending platform accelerates the home equity lending process, reducing application to closing times from 45 days to less than ten. 

Send us Fan MailCredit card debt feels normal… until you run the numbers.In this episode, we break down the “money math” that determines whether you build wealth or stay stuck paying interest. From 22% APR and compounding debt to balance transfers, HELOCs, and paying off high-interest debt first, this is a practical conversation about how money actually works.We also touch on assets vs liabilities, investing, and how understanding your numbers changes everything.If you've ever felt lost when it comes to money, this one will hit.Subscribe, share, and let me know your biggest takeaway.Support the showLearn More at: www.Redefine-Fitness.com

Tune in as the team discusses: Why most struggles in land investing are mindset-driven, not tactical How “land therapy” helps sellers release emotional attachments to property Overcoming fear of talking to sellers by using blind offers with built-in pricing Common beginner challenges like hesitation, self-doubt, and inconsistency Why pushing through discomfort leads to confidence and momentum How to raise capital using debt instead of giving up equity Creative funding strategies including friends, family, HELOCs, and credit lines The power of land arbitrage to start with minimal capital Wholesale vs. note-selling strategies for generating quick cash How to improve closing rates by asking better questions and handling objections Reframing “lack of cash” into owning a valuable land portfolio Why consistency in mailing is critical—even when cash feels tight   TIP OF THE WEEKMark: When raising capital, ask for advice—not money. It naturally leads to funding conversations with people who trust you. Scott: Get on the phone to close deals—real conversations uncover objections and dramatically improve your success rate. Mike: Focus on alignment, not selling. Ask questions to confirm the property fits the buyer's needs before presenting the offer. Jon: Don't stop mailing when cash is tight—keep the machine running and use wholesale deals for quick psychological wins.WANT MORE? Enjoyed this episode? Dive into more episodes of AOPI to discover how to build real passive income through land investing. UNLOCK MORE FREE RESOURCES: Get instant access to my free training, a free copy of my Bestseller Dirt Rich Book, and exclusive bonuses to accelerate your land investing journey—it's all here: https://thelandgeek.ac-page.com/Podcast-Linktree. "Isn't it time to create passive income so you can work where you want when you want, and with whomever you want?"

Welcome to our monthly feature Learn With A Lender with Austin Clarence. In this episode, Austin and D.J. discuss the new Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac rules that will push condo HOAs to increase reserve funds from 10% to 15% and what that means. Next, they discuss how real estate agents can turn these changes into opportunities by educating condo owners and HOA boards, positioning themselves as trusted experts. Austin also explains how bridge loans and HELOCs let homeowners tap into their equity to buy before they sell, and how to navigate today's higher-rate environment shaped by global conflicts, inflation, and oil prices. Subscribe to Austin's newsletter by sending an email to aclarence@nexalending.com. If you'd prefer to watch this interview, click here to view on YouTube! Austin Clarence can be reached at +1 650-906-2376 and aclarence@nexalending.com. This episode is brought to you by Real Geeks and Courted.io.

In this engaging episode of the Loan Officer Podcast, host Dustin Owen welcomes Tom Pollock from Symmetry Lending for an in-depth conversation recorded live at the Florida Association of Mortgage Professionals trade show in Orlando. Together, they dive into the evolving landscape of home equity lines of credit (HELOCs), with Tom offering a comprehensive overview of how HELOCs can be leveraged as a flexible and powerful financial tool for both homeowners and mortgage professionals. He breaks down practical strategies, such as utilizing piggyback loans to help clients avoid exceeding jumbo loan limits, and shares insights into Symmetry Lending's innovative approach to condo financing—including their unique policy that eliminates the need for a traditional condo review, streamlining the process for borrowers and brokers alike. Tom goes on to highlight Symmetry's commitment to efficiency and service, emphasizing their broker-exclusive platform that delivers rapid approvals within just 3-5 business days, setting them apart in a competitive market. The discussion also touches on the importance of financial responsibility, with Tom and Dustin exchanging personal stories and professional advice on managing finances wisely in today's economic climate. To round out the episode, Tom offers a few of his favorite book recommendations for personal and professional growth, providing listeners with valuable resources to continue their own education. Whether you're a seasoned loan officer or new to the industry, this episode is packed with actionable insights and expert perspectives.   Loan officer looking for a new place to call home?

Don't think you have the money to buy a rental property? Maybe you're just looking in the wrong place! Today, we're talking about different ways to invest in real estate using your existing home equity. Whether you're buying your second, third, or fourth property, this simple strategy could help you build your real estate portfolio much faster!   Welcome to another Rookie Reply! We're back with three questions from the BiggerPockets Forums, the first of which is all about home equity lines of credit (HELOCs). What are they, and how do they work? Meanwhile, another investor is considering not just a HELOC but multiple options for tapping into their equity. Should they do a cash-out refinance? What about selling the property altogether? We cover the pros and cons of each strategy so YOU can make the right choice!   Finally, do you really need a property manager? What about when investing out of state? Stick around until the end, as we share our favorite software, systems, and resources for hands-on landlords—no matter the distance! Looking to invest? Need answers? Ask your question here! In This Episode We Cover Home equity lines of credit (HELOCs) explained (and how to use them) Three ways to access the home equity in your investment property How to “recycle” the same funds to buy multiple rental properties Self-managing versus hiring property management when investing from afar The one time you absolutely should hire a property manager for your rental And So Much More! Check out more resources from this show on ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠BiggerPockets.com⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ and ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.biggerpockets.com/blog/rookie-700 Interested in learning more about today's sponsors or becoming a BiggerPockets partner yourself? Email ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠advertise@biggerpockets.com⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In this Ask KT & Suze Anything episode, Suze answers your questions about margin accounts, emergency funds, and HELOCs. Plus, paying your taxes now and so much more! Check out Suze’s NEW website: SuzeOrman.com Watch Suze’s YouTube Channel Jumpstart financial wellness for your employees: https://bit.ly/SecureSave Protect your financial future with the Must Have Docs: https://bit.ly/3Vq1V3GGet your savings going with Alliant Credit Union: https://bit.ly/3rg0YioGet Suze’s special offers for podcast listeners at suzeorman.com/offerJoin Suze’s Women & Money Community for FREE and ASK SUZE your questions which may just end up on the podcast. Download the app by following one of these links: CLICK HERE FOR APPLE: https://apple.co/2KcAHbHCLICK HERE FOR GOOGLE PLAY: https://bit.ly/3curfMI See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

In this Ask KT & Suze Anything episode, Suze answers your questions about HELOCs, trusts, mortgages and so and more! Check out Suze’s NEW website: SuzeOrman.com Watch Suze’s YouTube Channel Jumpstart financial wellness for your employees: https://bit.ly/SecureSave Protect your financial future with the Must Have Docs: https://bit.ly/3Vq1V3GGet your savings going with Alliant Credit Union: https://bit.ly/3rg0YioGet Suze’s special offers for podcast listeners at suzeorman.com/offerJoin Suze’s Women & Money Community for FREE and ASK SUZE your questions which may just end up on the podcast. Download the app by following one of these links: CLICK HERE FOR APPLE: https://apple.co/2KcAHbHCLICK HERE FOR GOOGLE PLAY: https://bit.ly/3curfMISee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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Just three years ago, Joanna Caldera was working as a nurse, raising four children while her husband was gone most of the month in the oil fields. She wanted time with her kids and her husband to come home, but all of that required money. Now, just three years later, she has four rental units, has made $130K in profit from her first two house flips, has replaced her nurse's salary with real estate income, and has her dream home. Anyone can do the same, using the strategies she shares today, even if you have no experience, even if you've got very little cash to play with. Joanna even overpaid for her first property by $20,000—a mistake almost every rookie investor is scared to make, but it paid off. She's done everything—cosmetic flips, BRRRRs (buy, rehab, rent, refinance, repeat), added floors and rooms, dealt with hoarder houses, and did it all in between picking up her kids from school, taking them to practice, and oftentimes while working a nurse's shift. Joanna proves real estate investing is possible for everyone, and within just a few years, your life can completely change because of it.  In This Episode We Cover How to invest in real estate when you have very little time or cash  Why “overpaying” for a property is not a bad idea (if your situation is like Joanna's)  Using your home equity to invest and why HELOCs are an investor's secret weapon  Pulling off the “perfect BRRRR” and getting a renovated house for very little money  Raising private money from your friends and family when starting to invest (and how to protect their principal)  Making six figures to renovate your dream home? Joanna did it, you can, too  And So Much More! Check out more resources from this show on ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠BiggerPockets.com⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ and ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠h⁠ttps://www.biggerpockets.com/blog/real-estate-1252 Interested in learning more about today's sponsors or becoming a BiggerPockets partner yourself? Email ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠advertise@biggerpockets.com⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices