Recap: Financial Freedom Through Real Estate Conference 2019

A few weeks ago we put on our very first conference Financial Freedom Through Real Estate 2019. otherwise known as PIMDCON19.

For those who weren't able to attend, thought I'd give you a quick recap as best as I can remember it. Keep in mind I was running around quite a bit and much of it was an awesome blur.

Warning, lots of pictures ahead!

The Night Before

There was a ton of nervous energy as the team got the conference room ready and dealt with last-minute preparations.

We knew that people would soon be coming from different parts of the country with all sorts of expectations and questions that they wanted to be answered.

We wanted to do everything we could to make sure the conference both met all those expectations and helped them answer those big questions!

The Big Day

Registration started bright and early at 730am and people started showing up. I had asked the speakers to come around that time and they showed up bright and early.

There were plenty of folks eager to get in the room and they were rewarded by being able to meet and spend some time with speakers they knew both in person and through online communities.

My Opening Talk

I went up there full of energy and wanted to let people know that this wouldn't be like their typical medical conference. Normally, you sit quietly and never even know the person you're sitting next to.

I wanted this experience to be different. If they were there to passively learn and not talk to anyone, I told them they didn't need to come in person.

Instead, I wanted people to actively engage and walk away with an idea or connection that might change their lives.

We spent some time defining our life goals and why we wanted to create a life of financial freedom. Which loved ones would that affect the most? What would that life look like?

Then they shared it with others around them and not surprisingly many people had the same hopes and desires. Tons of new friendships were formed.

Funny story, right in the middle of my talk, someone's phone in the front row began to ring and the gentleman struggled to turn it off. Sure, it was a major distraction and threw me off a bit. Turns out it was my own father and we still laugh about that moment.

Well, I asked everyone to commit to going all out and finding the way to create the most value out of the day, and everyone said they were “in.” That was a fantastic moment for me to see how determined people were to make the most of their time there.

Mindset Coaching

The first true talk of the day was given by Trevor McGregor, a globally renowned business coach. He brought 25 years of coaching experience and 20,000 coaching hours with him to the event. He's coached everyone from small business owners to Fortune 500 executives. He also happens to be my coach.

He spent the next hour teaching people that in business, mindset is significantly more important than strategy when it comes to creating success.

He taught people that your state matters – meaning the energy and focus you bring to a situation can change the actions you take as well as the outcome. Bring a great state and you'll find a way to create better outcomes.

He taught us the ladder of success and how important it is to bring the right amount of effort and energy to achieve extraordinary results, not just good results.

He also talked about the law of polarity and how to deal with limiting beliefs and negative thoughts like “This won't work” or “I can't do this.” If you're going to think these things, he stated that you need to give the same energy to think the opposite could also be true, “It could go amazingly well” or “I can do it and it could be wildly successful.”

In the past year, I've been participating in a ton of self-improvement type work so it was great reinforcement for me, but for many, I know it was their first time hearing things like this. But it brought up a ton of ideas that people had never thought about. Many people told me that they had never realized that they had been telling themselves a certain story about why they're not going to succeed and that's kept them from taking action.

With newly instilled positive beliefs, we kept the talks rolling.

Financial Freedom Through Rental Properties

We had an all-star panel of physicians who were successfully investing in rental properties.

We heard from the physician who had just bought his first rental property a year ago, Dr. Pranay Parikh.

The physician couple Drs. Kenji Asakura and Letizia Alto, from Semi-Retired MD, shared how they had created a life of financial freedom through acquiring real estate and how they were pushing to grow their portfolio. They also talked about some of the tax benefits they enjoyed using Real Estate Professional Status.

Rounding out the panel was Dr. Cory Fawcett who according to him, “was on the other side.” He and his wife were living out the ideal lives made possible by investing in real estate and no longer needed to grow the portfolio. He gave a snapshot of what life looked like after one had “enough” properties.

It was fantastic to hear the insight from each physician on what their initial goals were and how they were planning or achieving them through direct ownership of rental properties. We also got an insight into how they were able to balance owning those properties and managing them while working as physicians.

Passive Real Estate Investing Panel

Once again, we had an amazing panel of physicians who were utilizing passive real estate investing to achieve their goals.

Dr. Victor Mangona talked about how he had scaled his portfolio to thousands of units utilizing these passive investments.

Dr. Eric Tait, the founder of The Physician's Road, made one of my favorite statements of the entire conference when he let everyone know that “you will lose money.” He qualified it by saying that you can't let the fear of losing money keep you from achieving your goals. Whatever happens, it will be an amazing learning experience and it will prepare you to ultimately do well in the future.

Aaron Kaplan shared his experience of how he was able to learn and hustle to network and gain experience in the field of passive investing. It was amazing to see how much he had learned in such a short time and how well-connected he was.

Most importantly, they talked about the benefits of passive real estate investing and the importance of proper due diligence.

Real Estate Crowdfunding

This time I had the chance to be on a panel with two experts in the field of real estate crowdfunding, Adapia D'Errico of Alpha Investing and Charles Clinton, CEO of Equity Multiple.

They gave an extremely informative talk on what crowdfunding is and isn't and how physicians can benefit from utilizing these platforms to create passive income.

They let us know about the current state of crowdfunding. They also talked about how opportunities end up on their platforms and what you should be looking for as a passive investor especially when it comes to performing due diligence.

I was up there simply to talk about my experience investing in real estate crowdfunding as I was an early adopter and have seen the industry change quite a bit from the investor's perspective. In fact, my very first investment was through a real estate crowdfunding platform.

Tax Time

For those who were there, one of the most memorable talks of the day was by Toby Mathis, founding partner of Anderson Business & Tax Advisors. He unloaded on the crowd on multiple strategies that physicians can use to minimize their tax burdens, from purchasing real estate to being creative with the formation of non-profits.

He then talked about the importance of proper asset protection and gave a great illustration of internal vs external risk and protection (broken glasses anyone?).

Honestly, it felt like we were drinking from a firehose (so much amazing information!). I'll be asking Toby Mathis to give a FB live to our group Passive Income Docs to break down some of these strategies shortly. In fact, I heard someone say that some of the strategies he used to help pay for college just saved them at least $100,000.

The White Coat Investor

Jim Dahle, the White Coat Investor, was our keynote speaker and gave a fantastic talk about the 10 mistakes real estate investors make.

Often people like to present a completely rosy picture of real estate investing, so it's nice to hear some balance. And no one can bring the reality check like the White Coat Investor.

I was trying to take furious notes as he talked about how important it is to make the proper decisions when it comes to real estate investing and know how it might fit into your overall financial plan.

Active vs Passive Real Estate Investing Debate

Dr. Dahle moderated the big debate, Active vs Passive Real Estate Investing – Which is Better?

The two sides were Active Investing (Cory Fawcett and Letizia Alto) versus Passive Investing (Victor Mangona and Eric Tait)

Personally, this was my favorite segment of the day as I heard these experts go back and forth on topics such as control, hassle factor, tax benefits, experience necessary, diversification, fees, etc.

Each one had compelling arguments for why their side was better, and there were some poignant and entertaining rebuttals. I find I often learn better in formats like this.

Integration

Finally, we spent some time trying to digest everything we had heard throughout the day and distill it down to 3-5 points we'd take home with us. Then I asked everyone to come up with 1-2 actions that they would take immediately.

I was able to talk to many people afterward and some big commitments were made from investing in their first passive real estate investment deal to purchasing their first rental property within the year.

It was powerful to see the transformation from fear to belief and the full desire to take action by the end.

Cocktail Hour and VIP Reception

We rounded out the evening with an outdoor cocktail hour in beautiful SoCal weather. People were able to continue strengthening their newfound connections over a glass of wine and the best comment I heard was, “I just met this guy and after today, I feel like we've been friends forever.”

The VIP reception was for speakers as well as VIP ticket holders. We had it up in the Penthouse restaurant and had quite the feast. It was a chance for people to interact on a more personal and deep level with others and particularly the speakers.

People were getting specific questions answered and there was a ton of amazing information passed around. We were supposed to end the night at a certain point but most of us ended up staying 2 more hours and kept the party going until they literally turned the lights off on us.

Summary

All in all, it was an amazing day filled with all sorts of emotions. Before putting this on I had a ton of “what ifs” leading up to it. What if there isn't enough time to plan it? What if people don't show up? What if it's hard to find speakers? What if people don't get much out of it?