10 Wallet-Building Lessons from 5 Wealth Titans
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You’ve probably heard this before:
“You’re the average of the 5 people you spend the most time around.”
But have you ever realized you can hand-pick those 5 people?
My wealth-building and real estate journeys have benefitted massively from learning from the experts.
But most of those experts don’t even know I exist.
I just “spend” as much time with them as possible through books, videos, and podcasts.
So today, I thought I’d share some of the best ideas from 5 of the people I spend a ton of time around.
Brandon Turner
(OK, I actually do know Brandon. I was on his podcast earlier this year.)
Lesson 1: Get yourself out of the way ASAP.
Brandon helped me reshape how I look at my businesses.
Essentially, if you were to remove yourself from your business for 30 days, would it function without you? If not, you haven’t really built anything other than a job you can’t ever escape from.
To build a business that leads to financial freedom, you need to get comfortable:
Surrendering control over every detail.
Creating efficient processes.
Delegating tasks.
This is one of the hardest lessons for entrepreneurs to implement. After all, you got to where you were because of your own hard work, right?
But if you can’t find the right people and trust the right people, you’ll never be free.
And at that point, you might as well just work a 9-5.
Lesson 2: Look beyond your first deal
Doing your first deal is great. You should be proud of yourself — celebrate for a minute.
But your first deal is not going to effectively change your life.
Instead, write down your long-term goal.
Do you want to retire early?
Do you want to buy your parents a house?
Do you want to send your kids to college without sweating?
Work backward from your long-term goal. This makes it easier to stay focused on bigger goals instead of getting stuck in the weeds of single deals.
Ray Dalio
Lesson 1: Embrace radical transparency and truth.
Dalio talks about this in his book Principles.
Lying to others — or yourself — about your goals, successes, or failures clouds your path and your ability to make effective decisions.
Radical transparency clears the way for making financial decisions that are based on real data and clear thinking as opposed to fabricated numbers or pie-in-the-sky ideals of what you want to be true.
Your decisions are only as good as your data — and your data is only valuable if it’s accurate.
Lesson 2: Actually understand the economy.
Sounds almost too simple, right? But I find a lot of newer investors I talk to skip over the basics of economics, the Fed, and the rate cycle.
What drives rates?
How does the debt cycle work?
What are the tail risks in different environments?
Here’s a great video from Ray to get you started: How the Economic Machine Works.
Sam Zell
Lesson 1: Dance on graves.
Zell was known as the “Grave Dancer”. He bought distressed assets at bargain-bin prices. When real estate went through down periods, Zell was buying.
This in itself isn’t groundbreaking advice. “Buy low, sell high. Duh, Marc.” But I think the concept is more important than specifically being greedy when others are fearful.
What can you do that others aren’t?
What areas are being overlooked?
What asset classes?
I do a lot of my construction, development, and investing in North Dakota and South Dakota. I’m not dancing on graves, but I am dancing in ballrooms that are almost empty.
Lesson 2: Create long-term value.
Again — not a crazy concept, but it’s still overlooked by most people relative to its impact.
In terms of real estate, you should be more focused on the sustainability and appreciation potential of your assets over time than you are on short-term gains.
If you want to do a flip or two to see what it’s like, that’s a fine strategy. But long-term wealth is built by playing long-term gains more often than not.
Robert Kiyosaki
I’ve written about how I recently read “Rich Dad Poor Dad for Teens” with my daughters. They’re not quite teenagers. I’m in my 30s. So it evens out.
Lesson 1: Buy assets over liabilities. (But actually do it.)
You’ve probably heard this before — but have you actually internalized it? Are you following this in your life?
Most people nod their heads like this is Common Knowledge 101, then check their Gmail accounts to see if their Gucci order has been delivered yet.
As Kiyosaki says, “The rich buy assets; the poor and middle class buy liabilities.”
Lesson 2: If you must buy luxuries, use assets to buy ‘em.
I don’t think the key to wealth is to never buy nice things. I own a Tesla. I could’ve afforded it years before I bought it, but I bought assets first, then waited until those assets were making me enough money to pay for the luxury I wanted.
It’s OK to enjoy your life. Don’t let other people tell you otherwise. But delay that gratification for luxury items. Buy them last — never first.
Ryan Pineda
(OK, I know Ryan, too. He’s one of my mentors. You can check out a podcast we did together in 2023 here.)
Lesson 1: Get on social media ASAP.
You’re probably here because you know me from LinkedIn, right? Ryan is one of the social media real estate OGs.
Social media is one of my best avenues for connecting with new partners, sourcing deals, and meeting new LP investors.
You don’t have to like it — but you do have to recognize its potential.
Lesson 2: Invest in mentors.
Ryan would love me saying this since I spent thousands to work with him. But guess what? It was worth it — and then some.
The most successful business owners I know are willing to invest real money into learning from industry experts. You’ll never be an expert in every field yourself. If you want to scale quickly, efficiently, and without wasting days and dollars, pay a mentor to help you cut the learning curve.
What lessons have you learned from other real estate titans?
Would love to read yours in the comments.
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