Any thoughts on the zero to freedom financial course?

[saildawg]

Hmm... a course on how to go from a high paying physician's salary to a highly leveraged real estate investor/speculator: perhaps the course would be more aptly named Financial Freedom to Possibly Zero?

In fairness to them, they state that real estate investments that rely on appreciation are speculative and they don’t recommend. They focus on cash flow long term buy and hold properties. They do mention leverage as a tool for rapid wealth growth without mentioning all the downside of leverage.

I agree that it would be foolish to give up a good salary to become a full time real estate investor. But there is an opportunity for those High income professionals with non working spouses to receive amazing tax benefits from real estate investing if they can claim Real estate professional status. So very niche to say the least, but could be a worthwhile pursuit if you fit the niche.

[Tim]

In fairness to them, they state that real estate investments that rely on appreciation are speculative and they don’t recommend. They focus on cash flow long term buy and hold properties. They do mention leverage as a tool for rapid wealth growth without mentioning all the downside of leverage.

I agree that it would be foolish to give up a good salary to become a full time real estate investor. But there is an opportunity for those High income professionals with non working spouses to receive amazing tax benefits from real estate investing if they can claim Real estate professional status. So very niche to say the least, but could be a worthwhile pursuit if you fit the niche.

Would it not be better for the non working spouse to be taking the class? I mean, the spouse needs the knowledge to become a “real estate professional “.
So tell me again why a high income professional needs the training? I missed that part. That’s where the wheels fall off. Training the wrong professional.

[saildawg]

Would it not be better for the non working spouse to be taking the class? I mean, the spouse needs the knowledge to become a “real estate professional “.
So tell me again why a high income professional needs the training? I missed that part. That’s where the wheels fall off. Training the wrong professional.

Yes to get full tax benefits your spouse would need to be the professional. So it is geared to even smaller niche of those with a spouse that isn’t working that has the desire and time to do this. Or it is geared to dual physician couple where one wants to cut back or stop their clinical job. For instance they are both hospitalist so they can shield their W2 income by having one partner be the REP (real estate professional) and the other make a hospitalist salary. The REP can also still work part time as long as it is less than their time as an REP.
I can see the value of shielding taxes and using that money to buy assets that appreciate and provide cash flow, however I am not sure how you get off the merry go round.

[saildawg]

So I finished the 4 part mini course, and did not sign up for the main course. Basically the value of the course would be to curate information about real estate investing to save you time searching for the sources. They also make a pitch on the value of the team they can create for you by getting you contact info for trusted CPA with knowledge in this tax strategy and Real Estate Agents that specialize in finding investable properties. I am sure there is a value to that but have no idea if it is worth $2,300.
Things I liked:
1) Seem to have a directed path in real estate (not focusing on many different aspects) and direct plan for tax arbitrage
2)Video content was good quality and easy to follow
Things I did not like
1)They were both dressed in black like Steve Jobs, seems like a play out of Theranos (Elizabeth Holmes) playbook. My mistrust begins
2)No exit plan, to be fair this may be included in the real course
3)So much mention about mindset and the fact that they pay Tony Robins $200,000 a year. It is great that it works for them, but I would need a lobotomy to agree to that.
4)The signup tactics/pressured sale

So where to now? I am going to start researching on bigger pockets forum/website. Yes they also want me to buy books and subscribe to professional status down the road etc, but this is more of a knowledge journey for me in preparation if I ever decide to pivot (which is unlikely). And the cost of books is much more reasonable. I hope we hear from someone who took the course in the future.

[Lithium]

So I finished the 4 part mini course, and did not sign up for the main course. Basically the value of the course would be to curate information about real estate investing to save you time searching for the sources. They also make a pitch on the value of the team they can create for you by getting you contact info for trusted CPA with knowledge in this tax strategy and Real Estate Agents that specialize in finding investable properties. I am sure there is a value to that but have no idea if it is worth $2,300.
Things I liked:
1) Seem to have a directed path in real estate (not focusing on many different aspects) and direct plan for tax arbitrage
2)Video content was good quality and easy to follow
Things I did not like
1)They were both dressed in black like Steve Jobs, seems like a play out of Theranos (Elizabeth Holmes) playbook. My mistrust begins
2)No exit plan, to be fair this may be included in the real course
3)So much mention about mindset and the fact that they pay Tony Robins $200,000 a year. It is great that it works for them, but I would need a lobotomy to agree to that.
4)The signup tactics/pressured sale

So where to now? I am going to start researching on bigger pockets forum/website. Yes they also want me to buy books and subscribe to professional status down the road etc, but this is more of a knowledge journey for me in preparation if I ever decide to pivot (which is unlikely). And the cost of books is much more reasonable. I hope we hear from someone who took the course in the future.

Thanks for the balanced review.
Surprisingly there was a thread on FB where this was getting almost uniformly positive reviews. I know it's the FB group but even still I thought at least a few people would suspect they were getting hustled.
I've put holds in for all of the Bigger Pockets books available at my library. But I live in an area where it's hard to find good deals on rental property. I am starting to lean more towards syndications and funds but despite reading about them for hours online, I still feel pretty much lost about how to vet these deals. Considering taking the Passive Income course on this, which opens in July.
I think it's kind of ridiculous that these courses include 5 hours of CME just so they can jack up the price. I don't have a CME allowance, and I'm not even sure if the IRS would agree that the whole cost is tax deductible.

[Tim]

https://www.whitecoatinvestor.com/evaluate-real-estate-syndication/

Light reading. Check out the references at the bottom. Might be “old news”.

[saildawg]

Thanks for the balanced review.
Surprisingly there was a thread on FB where this was getting almost uniformly positive reviews. I know it's the FB group but even still I thought at least a few people would suspect they were getting hustled.
I've put holds in for all of the Bigger Pockets books available at my library. But I live in an area where it's hard to find good deals on rental property. I am starting to lean more towards syndications and funds but despite reading about them for hours online, I still feel pretty much lost about how to vet these deals. Considering taking the Passive Income course on this, which opens in July.
I think it's kind of ridiculous that these courses include 5 hours of CME just so they can jack up the price. I don't have a CME allowance, and I'm not even sure if the IRS would agree that the whole cost is tax deductible.

Yes I do not follow anything facebook related, I am sure there are positive reviews as I think they probably do a good job. I decided a few years ago when I looked into real estate investing that I was much better served trying to focus my efforts on making my practice more profitable and decreasing unnecessary spending in order to increase my savings rate to invest in index funds (3 fund portfolio). I still believe that this is the only true passive income (takes a few mouse clicks of work). The only play I can see me being interested in real estate is if I am going to be active investor (not passive/syndication), thus a new job/career pivot. REI does align somewhat with my skill set of investing and skills in carpentry/woodworking/ and previous small renovations . Given I have a physician spouse (high income earner) the ability to claim REPS would seem like a safeguard to know that minimum, we can defer more taxes. I like to learn about different strategies of tax arbitrage. Seems like real estate has some nice loopholes for the right situation. Not interested enough to come out of pocket that much for just knowledge at this point.

[fatlittlepig]

they pay Tony Robins $200,000 a year. It is great that it works for them, but I would need a lobotomy to agree to that.

?

[saildawg]

?

https://semiretiredmd.com/part-1-why-to-attend-tony-robbins-unleash-the-power-within/

https://semiretiredmd.com/the-fast-fire-system/

"See the Money is all about getting your mind right before you start investing.

That’s why Kenji and I have done so much work on our own mindset over the years. It’s what led us to spend $200,000+ on an exclusive one-year membership to a program called the Tony Robbins Platinum Partnership."

I am sure FLP approves

[fatlittlepig]

https://semiretiredmd.com/part-1-why-to-attend-tony-robbins-unleash-the-power-within/

https://semiretiredmd.com/the-fast-fire-system/

"See the Money is all about getting your mind right before you start investing.

That’s why Kenji and I have done so much work on our own mindset over the years. It’s what led us to spend $200,000+ on an exclusive one-year membership to a program called the Tony Robbins Platinum Partnership."

I am sure FLP approves

I don't think you need to know anything else after reading that.

[fatlittlepig]

wow, to quote George Bush after hearing the Trump Inaugural: “That was some weird s---”

[saildawg]

I don't think you need to know anything else after reading that.

I agree somewhat, thus didn't sign up for the course and listed as things I didn't like. I am not willing to blanket this sentiment to the idea of real estate investing to arbitrage tax benefits if you fit a very small niche (spouse that is high income earner). Of course with the understanding that you are basically taking on a new full time job that would require you to pivot careers if you are a high income earner in addition to your spouse. So you would have to have a passion for REI and all that comes with it.

[Yamjam]

Following with interest.

[IR Doctor]

The whole shtick with their course is overselling the RE professional status and how they wiped their taxes to 0. Great for them but not something most physicians or dual physician couples can replicate. This will not be doable for any working physician unless you are working less than 0.5 FTE or more safely <0.25 FTE or you have a non working spouse that will be willing to put in the work for documentation/audit. This doesnt make sense for most people professionally or financially unless you are low paid specialty or doing shift work.

They were also bragging how they scored CARES stimulus checks meant for people making less than 75k because they basically pulled a Jared Kushner. Seems kind of distasteful .

As far as info, I can't see what they offer is going to be more than what you can find out in Bigger Pockets (search for BRRR method), books or a more structured program like Lifestyles unlimited. If you need to pay >2k for "mindset" and coaching/support, then I guess that's more of a individual thing.

[fatlittlepig]

For a good laugh: https://semiretiredmd.com/part-five-our-10x-challenge/
One is born every minute