J. Darrin Gross

Mark Myers, what is the biggest risk?

Mark Myers  

Thank you for that question. And it's a good one. And I'm glad that you opened up the box to not make it have to be an insurance Specific because that's a, as you know, very well. Risk is is huge and mitigation and transfer of risk is really important. But I would say in my context, in the in the way that I help business owners or the way that I help individuals that are, you know, transferring assets or selling appreciated assets, it's the risk that you take for not slowing down. And looking at how to keep more of your profit is huge. Because if you think about every single year, you're earning income as a business owner, if you're overpaying your taxes, if you're really if you're paying retail, on your taxes, and you have no legal obligation to pay retail tax, you can pay wholesale tax, you know, Judge Learned Hand said it best he said, You know, there are two tax systems in America, one for the informed, one for the uninformed, both are legal. So I think the biggest risk is to not take the time to get help and understand the and the informed area of tax law, because every single day, every single week, every single year that you're earning income, you could be paying 2030 40% more than you should to the IRS when you don't have to. So I think that's the biggest risk is overlooking profit that you you're, you know, you don't even realize is there money that you really should be keeping that you don't realize it's there, because you're not taking the time to spin and focus on that risk. Right. So that's really I think the most important risk that people that business owner should look at is where can they mitigate taxes? And where can they keep more of their profit in their in their pocket?

Today my guest is Dave Spooner. Dave Spooner is the co founder of Innago, a property management software designed to simplify life for small to mid sized landlords. He's been involved in the real estate technology space since 2013. Working to enhance the way landlords and tenants communicate. And in just a minute, we're going to speak with Dave about property management software and how it can make your life better.

J. Darrin Gross:

I'd like to ask you, Dave Spooner, what is the BIGGEST RISK?

Dave Spooner 

It's a great question. It's something we think and talk about a lot, you know, especially as a small company. We were founded four and a half years ago now a little over four and a half years ago now. And we're at an inflection point, kind of an extended inflection point where we've grown really Really quickly and we're continuing to grow. And it's really accelerating more and more people are finding us, more and more landlords are giving us great reviews online, we're the word is out that Innago is a premier product for small to midsize landlords. And we're growing faster than we've ever gone before by exponential figures, right, which is great. It's very exciting. But the risk that comes with that is in growing the team, right and building our team internally, in finding great employees, it's easier to have quality control on your team when it's just you and five other people 10 other people 15 other people, but as it grows beyond that, it becomes harder and harder. And that's where we are right now where we're growing pretty rapidly. And we're expanding our team and trying to find good talent and making sure that that talent is acclimated effectively, so that they're happy so that they enjoy working here, so that they feel fulfilled, but they're also providing great value to the to the rest of the team and to our clients. That's our that's our biggest risk right now. It's just continuing to find good team now team members. And to relate that back to real estate. I think that's ultimately a place that landlords and real estate investors get to right, if you're purchasing your first property, your first couple properties, it's easy to control a lot of that stuff, it's easy to do quality control, but as you grow bigger, you have to have a great team, right? You got to have a good broker, you got to have a good a good insurance guy, of course, right? You got to have a good lawyer on your team, maybe a tax guy, a CPA, maybe you hire internally, right? You hire your own property manager, it's the same risk that other folks have. We're experiencing it on a bigger scale right now. And that's, that's our biggest risk, something we think about a lot, something we talk about a lot. So we're gonna make sure to mitigate as much as possible.

Today, my guest is Yoel Mayerfeld. Yoel is the CO CEO with Chase Properties, where he oversees the company's asset management and financing. Mr. Mayerfeld joined Chase Properties as the Director of Finance in 2005. And in just a minute, we're going to speak with Yoel about a winning investment in retail. While others have been quick to move away from the asset class Chase has been thriving in retail.

J. Darrin Gross

If you're willing, I'd like to ask you, Yoel Mayerfeld, what is the BIGGEST RISK?

Yoel Mayerfeld  

Sure. Well answer in a couple of ways. And risk, as I mentioned, from, you know, how I was trained in in my professional life is really what I'm always first focused on, you know, whenever we're looking at an opportunity. I'm always spending a lot more time on what can go wrong than what can go right. Because capital preservation is our sort of number one goal. From a you know, I would I was looking at my calendar yesterday and saw that we had this podcast and Robbie, who set this up with you wrote in the notes that one question you like to ask is about risk. I should be I should be repair at night, and I happen to be talking to a friend of mine. It's a CEO of a large real estate company public read, and I said, Oh, you know, I, I'm interested in what I'm going to say about what my largest, what I think the biggest risk in this industry is what do you think the biggest risk is? And he said, Well, for sure, the biggest risk is capital markets, freezing up, because whenever that happens, it really puts us in, in a bind. And to be able to, to borrow, which we saw, you know, certainly after the oh eight recession and during COVID. But for me, that isn't at all, what I think has the biggest risk and I think part of that is our strategy, which one thing I didn't get into is that we are low leverage borrowers, which I think differentiates us. So a even when capital markets are tight, for our lower loan to value needs. Usually there's more room for us than for others. Our bankers always tell us they can sleep at night with us better than they can sleep at night with many of their other real estate borrowers. So I just thought that was interesting. I think that would be what a lot of Retail real estate or real estate investors in general would say it's the biggest risk. But for us, we're so focused on the real estate, and it performing with or without debt, we're really not about the financial engineering part of real estate, which, at these low cap rates, I think every real estate investor has had to become somewhat more of a financial engineering, trade than a real estate is a real estate great trade, which is where we really try to stick with. So. So for us, that wouldn't be it for us really on our answer on the retail side, which has been the bulk of our experience and our, in our investment. The biggest risk is the, you know, we can't perform well, for attendance don't perform well. So our biggest risk is, is is these retailers, not figuring it out. And and right now they've been, you know, our portfolio, the sales that tenants report to us are stronger than they've been even pre COVID. They're figuring out their integration of bricks and mortar and online. So they're doing that well. But the day that they don't, the day that they they let you know, competition like Amazon, innovate quicker, you know, figure it out in a way that that puts them at a disadvantage. That's a big risk to us, we need our our tenants to do well. So that's on a more micro to the retail aspect for for more of a macro perspective, as real estate investors generally, which is what we are, I would say it's the risk of the unknown. After living through COVID, you know, you mentioned insurance, you know, we have what we feel is, you know, really good insurance for our portfolio and thought of every scenario. You know, we weren't covered for lack of rent during COVID, when your retailers couldn't pay. So I think the unknown is the biggest risk. So the mitigant, I would say, has has been, our diverse diversification is sort of like the answer for all kinds of risk for investing. And adding multifamily and industrial was a huge help now, for COVID. Because our retailers couldn't pay rent during COVID, because their stores were closed. Our industrial properties all paid rent, our multifamily properties all paid rent. So that diversification was huge for for during that three month period of COVID, that helped us sleep better at night. 

Now, even the retail properties it was it was very temporary, and it was a stressful few months when those stores were closed, but we defer the rents for most of our retailers, because our lenders allowed us to defer our loan payments. So all worked out fine. But having that diversification was really a mitigate for, for us, globally. And then the diversification even in within our retail portfolio of mixed geographies, mixed tenants for different credits, so that when, you know, the Siena brands struggled and dress barn closed, it was such a tiny percentage of all of our tenancy that it was very easy to to move beyond that fill, fill some of those dress barns and most of our portfolio continue to thrive. So we were Okay, so the answer to mitigating some of these risks that I think about it continues to be diversification, which has really helped us.

Today, my guest is Dr. Hank, Dr. Hank is a mental scientist and a wealth maker who helps people become their greatest possibility. And in just a minute, we're gonna speak with Dr. Hank about the power of your thoughts and how they affect your outcome.

J. Darrin Gross

But take a look and identify what what you consider to be the BIGGEST RISK? Yeah, again, for clarification, I'm not necessarily looking for an insurance related answer. Yeah, yeah. If you're 

Dr Hank  

Don't worry, you're not gonna get one. 

J Darrin Gross  

Yeah. Well, that's, that's we're now looking for one second. That's good. 

Dr Hank  

Yeah, we're in alignment my friend. Yeah, that actually, so so what you explain, for example, as risks, that those are very practical steps, and, you know, very good steps on to avoid risk insurance, it's an excellent way. And I have insurance. And again, it is the name of the game. You know, there's health insurances ways to insure your money, and, you know, all kinds of wonderful, wonderful thing. So I'm all for insurance. However, an answer to your question, the biggest risks that any of us can take, is to get disconnected with our higher power. When we fully disconnected, you actually never can fully disconnect. But when you disconnect enough, away from your higher power, that that's where you commit suicide. So the greatest risk is being disconnected because then you you don't have to worry about insurance, you're not here anymore. But more importantly, I'm what we want, is when you're connected, that you will be guided to, for example, this show, Derek, you're amazing Joe, and how to help people whether it's, you know, in this particular show on mindset, now powerful and important it is, you know, or on insurance that you know, if you don't have so you will be led to people circumstances, events, and thoughts, your own thoughts, that will lead you to the perfect light, the light that you're looking forward to have. So the biggest risk is to rely on just your analytical mind. And the and the opposite of that I want you to do that is to get connected. And you do that through breathing your breath. Deep breaths is a great way to get connected through meditation to get connected, to quiet your mind to do things such as the joy shop, that will get you connected, and you will literally be given all the answers to where there won't be any risk in your life at all. I love it. That's great.

Today, my guest is Brett Swartz. Brad is considered one of the most well rounded capital gains tax deferral experts and informative speakers on the west coast. His audiences are challenged to create and develop a tax deferred transformational exit wealth plan using the Deferred Sales Trust, DST so they can create and preserve more wealth. Brett is the founder of the Capital Gains Tax Solutions, and the host of the Capital Gains Tax Solutions Podcast. Each year he equips hundreds of high net worth business professionals with the DST tool to help their high net worth clients solve capital gains tax deferral limitations. And in just a minute, we're gonna speak with Brett about Deferred Sales Trust.

J. Darrin Gross

'd like to ask you, Brett Swarts, what is the BIGGEST RISK?

Brett Swarts  

Sure, so I'm gonna apply it to the Deferred Sales Trust cuz we didn't actually touch on this, but I think this is really important. So it has to do with asset protection, right? So the more you own and the more you own in your own name and or that's not an LLC or that doesn't have proper insurance, the more you could be liable and have higher risk of somebody suing you and taking that asset okay. So by essence, owner's ownership, and Rockefeller said it well he said own nothing control Everything right? And and the idea was asset protection. So how do you lower risk? Well, on the deferred sales trust, guess what, you become the lender. You don't own the trust. So what you don't own, they can't take from you. Right by default. Now, could a creditor, you know, if they get a judgment against you? And could they potentially get the income off of the trust? Yeah, that's that's common. Right. But could they force the the the ownership, that's not the person that they got the judgment against? to do anything there? No, because they don't own it. So we do love that about the deferred sales trust, who does take and mitigate some of the risk? So I think part of the answer is the risk of just lots of ownership. Instructors are better not insured in a proper way that could be subject to judgments. If there's a way to mitigate that, I think that's that's really good. And I think that's probably the biggest risk I can think for this conversation here. That makes sense Darrin?