Welcome to this episode of 20/20 Money! My guest on today’s show is Mike Jorgenson with Carr Healthcare Realty. Mike joins me back on the show to give us an update on what he and his team around the country are seeing in the commercial real estate market. We also dive into some of the considerations, mistakes, and blind spots that both buyers and s…

How Return on Investment Changes Based on Credit Score With PMI Does your credit score really matter when you're buying rental properties? Sure, your credit score impacts the mortgage interest rate you can get with traditional mortgages. And yes, your credit score affects how much private mortgage insurance (PMI) will cost. Your credit score can al…

Welcome to this episode of 20/20 Money! My guest on today’s show is Eugene Shatsman, Managing Partner of National Strategic Group and new host of The Power Hour Podcast. In this wide-reaching marketing conversation, Eugene shares a variety of “low hanging marketing fruit” mistakes and misconceptions that practice owners nationwide have about how ma…

So, are you stressing out over higher mortgage interest rates and properties not cash flowing as well as they used to, or in some markets, not having positive cash flow at all... even with 25% down? What's a real estate investor seeking financial independence to do? In this class, we will compare two strategies. In both strategies, you first buy an…

Welcome to this episode of 20/20 Money! My guest on today’s show is Amber Morgan, CPA with Mohr CPAs. In the wake of tax season, Amber and I run through some of the easy and conspicuous action items that you can take proactively over the year that not only will have a positive impact on your overall tax planning, but also make for a happy and produ…

So, you're considering Nomading™. Excellent! But as you dig into the details, you may wonder what the impact would be if you chose to buy a more desirable, higher quality, but maybe less optimal property at full price (without a discount), versus focusing on finding a slightly less desirable, slightly lower quality, but slightly more optimized rent…

Welcome to this episode of 20/20 Money! My guest on today’s show is Amanda Bennett. Amanda joins me on the show to talk about a topic that we’ve discussed directly and indirectly on this show—human capital. Specifically, Amanda talks about a gap that she saw in the hiring process over the years and how she developed a platform to help automate part…

Deal Alchemy™ - Black Box Cash Flow Deal Alchemy™ is all about manipulating returns to get the returns you desire most. One variation of Deal Alchemy™ has you think about your rental property investment as a black box. You put money into the black box, some magical things happen over the next few years and out pops profit which you can spend like c…

Welcome to this episode of 20/20 Money! My guest on today’s show is Dr. Ryan Gustus, OD. Ryan joins me on the show live from Vision Expo East to discuss something that is very timely given the recording location: how practice owners can think about the implementation of various pieces of equipment in your practice to ensure that it's done with inte…

Warning - Risks of Rental Demand Declining When Investing in Real Estate Risk, risk, risk... Life is full of risks. To a limited degree, we get to choose which risks we voluntarily take on. For example, if you choose to invest in real estate, you choose to take on some additional risks that you might not—directly—face if you opt to invest in someth…

As a reminder, you can get all the information discussed in today’s conversation by visiting our website at integratedpwm.com and clicking on the Learning Center. While there, be sure to subscribe to our monthly “planning life on purpose” newsletter that’s filled with tips and ideas to help you plan life on purpose. You can also set up a Triage con…

Private Mortgage Insurance Myths Reputation can be a challenging thing. I have found, through many conversations with clients over the years, that Private Mortgage Insurance (PMI) has a questionable reputation with home buyers in general and investors in particular. However, much of its reputation is based on half-truths, bad information, lies, and…

Welcome to this episode of 20/20 Money! My guest on today’s show is Dr. Adam Ramsey, OD. Adam joins me back on the show to continue the conversation that we teased at the end of our first conversation which was how Adam evaluated the decision to go out of network with a variety of VCPs that he was taking in his practice. He shares how he came to th…

Warning - Risks of Neighborhood Decline When Investing in Real Estate Everything in life has risks. Not investing adds certain types of risks, while investing adds other risks. One risk that some real estate investors face is the possibility that the neighborhood they're investing in will decline, causing values and/or rents to drop. So, how do we …

Welcome to this episode of 20/20 Money! My guest on today’s show is Nathan Hayes with IDOC. Nathan joins me back on the show and we put a quantitative spin on our conversation today. We talk all things benchmarks and margins in an optometry practice. We discuss how to use benchmarks to make smart practice decisions and ways in which benchmarks can …

How to Analyze a Duplex Some real estate investors are sensitive to their ability to get ten 30-year fixed rate financing loans and would prefer to fill those loan spots with larger purchases than just single family rental homes. One way to do that is to buy more expensive properties like duplexes, triplexes or fourplexes. In this class, James will…

In the spirit of managing information overload, I wanted to take a week to pause on new information and rather share a process or organizing and prioritizing your thoughts, goals, and actions that can often stem from listening to shows like 20/20 Money and the consumption of other content. Resources: 20/20 Money Community Information reMarkable 2 T…

How to Calculate PMI If you're a house hacker, Nomad™, investor buying properties with less than 20% down, or buying creatively where the seller has PMI, you'll want to make sure you know how to analyze deals that have Private Mortgage Insurance. In this mini-class, James will cover how to analyze deals that have PMI, with an emphasis on doing it u…

Welcome to this episode of 20/20 Money! My guests on today’s show are Dr. Todd Cohan and Sadie Blair. Todd & Sadie join me on the show today to talk about the successful dynamic that exists between both of them as owner and practice operations manager. Todd shares how impactful it’s been to have a great team member and integrator like Sadie in the …

In many cases—not all, but many cases—real estate investors can speed up the time it takes to become financially independent by choosing to pay off the mortgages on their properties early. Sometimes it makes sense to take every extra dollar beyond a healthy amount of reserves and aggressively pay off properties as quickly as possible. Other times, …

Welcome to this episode of 20/20 Money! My guest on today’s show is Bethany Fishbein, OD. Bethany joins me on the show live from Vision Expo East to talk about one of the most important relationships in an optometric practice: the relationship between the practice manager and the owner/OD. In this conversation, she talks about the evolution of the …

Deal Alchemy™ - Residential vs Commercial Property Deal Alchemy™ is all about manipulating the returns you're earning on your investments. Often, this is done through the choices we make when selecting the investment property and the strategies we choose to implement. For example, you could choose to invest in residential properties where your tena…

Welcome to this episode of 20/20 Money! My guest on today’s show is Dr. Jennifer Stewart, OD. Jen joins me on the show today to talk through her journey launching her tepid start practice, Look New Canaan. I’ve had Jen on the show multiple times in the past, and this was admittedly one of my more enjoyable conversations with a podcast guest. Maybe …

Warning - Risks of Loan Called Due When Investing in Real Estate Investing in real estate adds some risk to an already risk-filled life. However, certain activities and strategies when investing in real estate create additional risks that other strategies and activities do not have. For example, choosing to utilize strategies where the lender has t…

Welcome to this episode of 20/20 Money! My guest on today’s show is Kayla Ashlee from Spexy. Kayla joins me live on location at IDOC Connection 2024 to talk all things optical. Optical is admittedly an area of practice management that has always been intriguing because of the retail component—I feel like there are a lot of “retail 101” lessons that…

How to Analyze Buying a Rental Property at a Discount in Eugene Some real estate investors insist on only buying properties where they can purchase them at a significant discount. While not mutually exclusive, other investors insist on buying quality properties at a fair price as long as it gets them their desired returns and will stand the test of…

Welcome to this episode of 20/20 Money! My guest on today’s show is Dr. Adam Ramsey, OD, representing VA Healthcare. In this episode, we talk about the role that a virtual medical assistant can play in your practice’s patient flow and how to think about the changes that you’d have to make in your practice for this to be a viable option. Adam provid…

How to Calculate PMI If you're planning to buy a property and put less than 20% down, you're likely to be required to pay Private Mortgage Insurance. Lenders prefer that you put at least 20% down, but if you insist on putting less than 20% down, they may still make the loan. However, they will usually do so at a slightly higher mortgage interest ra…

Welcome to this episode of 20/20 Money! My guest on today’s show is Nathan Hayes from IDOC. Nathan joins me back on the show to discuss and dialogue about the two basic ways practice owners can think about the way in which they hire associates for their practice: easing into it by bringing them into the practice gradually or proactively planning ah…

There are a large number of investing strategies you could pursue as a real estate investor: Nomad™, house hacking, fix and flip, buying 20% down rentals, buying 25% down rentals, saving up to buy free and clear rentals and many, many more options. Which is the best? Which gets you to financial independence fastest? Which gives you the highest net …

Welcome to this episode of 20/20 Money! My guest on today’s show is Dr. Kurt Steele, OD. Kurt joins me back on the show to talk in further detail how he and his partners have structured their compensation structure in a way that works for everyone in the practice while also ensuring that there is parity in comp based on the amount of revenue that e…

Deal Alchemy™ - Increasing Down Payment There are four primary returns from investing in rental properties: appreciation, cash flow, debt paydown, and the tax benefits of depreciation. Additionally, there is a secondary return in the form of the interest earned on the reserves required to make the investment in the first place. Many real estate inv…

Welcome to this episode of 20/20 Money! My guest on today’s show is Dr. Mike Neal, OD. Mike is the founder of a number of different businesses, include a primary care practice in PA called Lakeside Vision and Build My Team, an effective outsourced hiring system for eyecare that does not use resumes. Mike joins me back on the show to provide additio…

Warning - Risks of Rental Property Expenses When Investing in Real Estate Risk is all around us. When we choose to invest in anything, we’re choosing to take on the additional risk characteristics of that investment. For example, when we choose to invest in real estate, we choose to take on the risk characteristics of the specific real estate inves…

Welcome to this episode of 20/20 Money! My guest on today’s show is Dr. Kurt Steele, OD. Kurt is one of the owners of Precision Eyecare, a member of the Vision Source Network, in Newport, TN and also the founder of Legit Vision, a consulting firm to help ODs unlock the potential in their practice. Kurt joins me on the show today to talk through the…

How to Analyze a New Construction Single-Family Home Property in Eugene Your ability to analyze deals is arguably the most important skill as a real estate investor. It allows you to make smart investment decisions and helps you avoid making career-ending bad decisions, such as buying cash-flowing-sucking vampire properties. In this class, James wi…

Welcome to this episode of 20/20 Money! My guest on today’s show is Charlie Steingas, founder and chief actuary at Cash Balance Actuaries, a firm that specializes in the design, implementation, and ongoing monitoring of cash balance plans. In this episode, we define what a cash balance plan is and how it’s different from a defined benefit plan (hin…

The 3 Strategies to Pay Private Mortgage Insurance (PMI) Whether they're putting 15% down and buying a non-owner-occupied property or utilizing an owner-occupied loan with 0%, 3%, 3.5%, or 5% down for Nomading™ or house hacking, some real estate investors will choose to put less than 20% down. With the decision to put less than 20% down comes the c…

Welcome to this episode of 20/20 Money! My guest on today’s show is Dr. Michael Neal, OD and this is another episode in which I experimented a bit with the format of 20/20 Money: we recorded this episode at 8,000 feet, flying from Indianapolis to Chicago! As you’ll hear in the beginning of the episode, Mike was in town meeting up with other success…

Investing in real estate is full of truthy-sounding falsehoods: it is always better to do X than Y. However, if you were crazy enough to sit down and do the math, you'd find the truth to be much more nuanced. For example, should you take all your extra cash flow and savings and apply it to your mortgages each month to pay off rental properties fast…

Welcome to this episode of 20/20 Money! My guests on today’s show are Drs. Eric Baas and Bob Steinmetz, co-founders of iCare advisors, a consulting firm dedicated to the success of cold start practices nationwide. With close to 350 successful cold starts nationwide and 11 practice starts between them, I was really excited to have them back on the s…

Deal Alchemy™ - Cash Flow to Debt Paydown There are four primary returns from investing in rental properties: appreciation, cash flow, debt paydown, and the tax benefits of depreciation. Additionally, there is a secondary return in the form of the interest earned on the reserves required to make the investment in the first place. Many real estate i…

Welcome to this episode of 20/20 Money! My guest on today’s show is Kevin Wills. Kevin is Sr. Vice President, Healthcare Business Banking with PNC Bank and I wanted to have Kevin on the show to discuss the state of lending, specifically in the healthcare space, from a nationwide perspective. In this episode, Kevin and talk about steps borrowers can…

Warning - The Risk of Down Payment Size When Investing in Real Estate Life is full of risks. When we choose to invest, we choose to take on additional risks. If we invest in stocks, we choose to take on certain risks. When we choose to invest in bonds, we take on different risks. When we choose to invest in real estate, we choose to take on additio…

Welcome to this episode of 20/20 Money! My guests on today’s show are two more of my favorite people in the optometry space: Drs. Chris Wolfe and Kyle Klute. Although, this is a bit of a different episode in that they’re not only guests on the show…they’re guest hosting the show! This is another 20/20 Money Takeover and basically a response to the …

How to Analyze a 5% Down Single-Family Nomad™ Property in Eugene Using the latest version of The World's Greatest Real Estate Deal Analysis Spreadsheet™, we will walk through how to analyze a single-family home Nomad™ property with a 5% down payment. Learn how to analyze deals correctly and avoid buying cash flow vampires. Only buy the best deals t…

Welcome to this episode of 20/20 Money! My guest on today’s show is Dr. Ted McElroy. This is part two of our conversation that we teased on last week’s episode, and today Ted and I talk about the importance of resilience as a trait and quality that we should all embrace. He shares what resilience has meant to him in his life and how it was demonstr…

What Affects Your PMI Rate Lenders prefer that you put at least 20% down, but if you push hard enough, many will allow you to put less than 20% down if you're willing to purchase insurance to protect them in case you default. This insurance is called Private Mortgage Insurance. The cost of this insurance depends on several factors. Some are primary…

Welcome to this episode of 20/20 Money! My guest on today’s show is Dr. Ted McElroy. This is part one of our conversation where we talk about the importance of vulnerability as a leader, and why the two traits (vulnerability from today’s episode and resilience from next’s week’s episode) are intertwined. That is to say you can’t have one without th…

You're a real estate investor looking to acquire properties by saving up and putting 25% down. Should you buy an owner-occupied property first? What if that's more expensive than renting? Should you still do it? What if it means you'll be saving less for acquiring rentals by buying an owner-occupied property first? In this comparison class, we will…