June 9, 2025 • 38 mins
What If You Could Be Work Optional ?
In this episode, Keith Blackborg, a CPA turned investor, shares how he retired at age 32—not to stop working, but to start living intentionally. Through his company, Financial Journey, Keith now helps high-net-worth individuals and entrepreneurs achieve financial independence and reclaim control of their time, purpose, and legacy.
Keith introduces a new paradigm: "work optional" living—where wealth is a tool for freedom, not just accumulation. He dives deep into the financial strategies and identity shifts required to move beyond success and into significance.
What you'll learn:
- How Keith scaled from single-family rentals to hotels and apartment complexes
- Why he exited his businesses when he realized more money wasn't making him happier
- The hidden emotional challenges of retirement and life after business ownership
- How to optimize your existing assets to become work optional faster
- Why having a clear post-exit vision is as important as a financial strategy
- How a curated community of accredited investors is unlocking uncommon opportunities
- Little-known tax strategies that often save members five figures annually
- How to prepare the next generation for wealth stewardship and purpose
- Details on his annual Passive Investor Event in Dallas
🎧 Whether you're building, exiting, or reinventing—this episode offers a powerful roadmap to wealth with intention.
👉 Learn more at FinancialJourneyLife.com
🎟️ Attend the next event at PassiveInvestorEvent.com
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Keith Blackborg (00:19):
One of the biggest things people say is I
don't know what I'm going to donext and so I'm not going to
retire.
They can't imagine what thatfuture is.
And there's some things that wecan do, whether it's through me
or through a coach or acounselor.
You've got to really thinkabout next.
So some of that might even betied into religious beliefs.
(00:42):
If you're a Christian, youmight think one way or about it.
If you're more secular, theremight be other vision exercises
you might use.
But whatever that pathway is,it starts with getting clear on
that vision and really imaginingwhat would life work like if I
didn't have to work.
Work optional is now I can pickand choose what I'm going to do
(01:03):
, where I'm going to do it.
It allows you to be moreintentional and have some buffer
in life and it opens up a wholenew realm of possibilities.
John Hauber (01:15):
Welcome to the Senior Housing Investors Podcast
.
If you are an owner operator,investor, developer or buyer of
senior housing, you've come tothe right place.
The best way to stay connectedwith us is to sign up for our
weekly newsletter athavenseniorinvestmentscom.
This podcast doesn't existwithout you, our community.
(01:38):
Thank you for listening andreach out to us anytime.
And reach out to us anytime.
Kelsie Heermans (01:46):
Welcome back everyone.
Today's episode is extraspecial as we welcome our guest,
Keith Blackborg.
Founder of Financial Journey,Keith brings deep insight into
retirement planning andfinancial wellness.
With our host, John Hauber'sexperience in the senior housing
market, this conversation issure to bring valuable
perspectives for investors andoperators alike.
(02:07):
Let's dive in, John.
John Hauber (02:10):
Kelsey.
Thank you so much and welcometo the show, keith.
Thanks for having me, john.
Yeah, no problem, and it's apleasure having you on.
I've known you for many, manymonths and what you're doing is
incredible, so we wanted to makesure we got you on.
I've known you for many, manymonths and what you're doing is
incredible, so we wanted to makesure we got you on the show so
(02:31):
that you can describe to ouraudience how to create wealth in
their life.
So this is going to be anawesome show.
Stick with us through it, and Iwill start off by understanding
a little bit more about Keith.
And how did you retire at 32years old?
Keith Blackborg (02:45):
Yeah, and just respond to something you said
about creating wealth in yourlife.
I think it's important torecognize it's not just about
the money.
There's other types of wealthtoo that really live out, and
that's been something that'sreally I've learned along in my
journey.
So my background, in a nutshell, started off as a CPA at
(03:08):
Deloitte, ended up starting myown CPA firm focused on high net
worth real estate investors.
Along the way, we startedbuying rental houses.
We've heard Robert Kiyosakispeak.
I know he's a popular guy andso I'd like to think I was
brilliant, but I think I wasreally lucky to also start
buying houses in 2010.
(03:29):
So we started doing flips andwholesaling and owner finance
and all the rentals and alongthe way, we transitioned to
hotels and apartments in 2013.
And that ran its course, hadsome growth, raised money from
investors Along the way.
As part of that, my wife wasrunning our real estate business
(03:52):
.
I was more focused on the CPAfirm and then we'd collaborated
on some things.
I also served as director ofacquisitions for hedge fund,
bought 875 houses for them.
So in many ways, we were a tearlike going for that success.
And then 2015, 2016, I was.
We were both so caught up inwork.
(04:12):
We were working, traveling etcetera, and we kind of lost
sight of ourselves in thebusyness.
And divorce was considered I.
It was a really big eye opener,for for me it was either I
could continue on this path ofsuccess, but I knew more money
wasn't necessarily going to makeme happy, and so we had a shift
(04:32):
in what we thought ourpriorities were.
So we had an exit.
I thought that, well, a coupleof things.
One I thought the real estatemarket was going to crash.
Hillary Clinton was going toget elected in 2016.
I was wrong.
Hillary Clinton was going toget elected in 2016.
I was wrong.
Apparently, the real estatemarket went on for like another
six, seven years after that andI missed out on some of that.
(04:52):
But the flip side of that waswe spent three years traveling
the world and I got the bestsouvenir possible my firstborn
son.
So now we've got boys agesthree and six.
And so, all that to say, we hadsome early success that really
set us up.
We started when we were 25,really buying and growing, and
some of it was recognizing theopportunity and then also just
(05:15):
being lucky and having the bestrun up in the real estate market
ever in history and beingpositioned to take advantage of
that.
John Hauber (05:24):
Yeah, that's an incredible journey and I wish I
had that mentorship at 25 to youknow to say, hey, you know,
assets are where where wealth iscreated.
I mean and didn't have thatmentorship when I was a little
bit older than you, but when wewere going through school, we
(05:44):
had to go through, you know,college and then go get a job, a
W-2 job, and work, and work,and work, and work and save and
save.
You got your 401k and such.
And so no one ever came to me,Keith, and said do you know, you
can live your life in a workoptional mode in three to five
years?
And if someone would have cometo me and said that, I would
(06:07):
have been like how?
And so I'm asking you now thatyou consult with individuals
high net worth individuals, W-2employees how does someone
become work optional in two tofive years?
Keith Blackborg (06:20):
So my favorite people to work with are those
that already have some assets.
If you're just getting started,I would suggest focus on your
net worth, grow that business,explore entrepreneurship.
But our typical client avataris somebody who's already grown
and is now trying to optimizethose existing assets.
And so one of the calculationswe will do is what is your
(06:44):
lifestyle expense?
What is your expected rate ofreturn?
8%, 12%, whatever that numberis and we can do the math of
what is the net worth needed tolive off to, based on a certain
rate of return, to produce thedesired amount of cash flow to
cover your lifestyle expense.
And if you're there, often we'rejust repositioning existing
(07:07):
assets.
Or if you're possibly close tothat, often within just a few
years you can get into a fewequity growing investments.
That allows for a quickturnaround and boost your net
worth as a result of that.
And so once you've made itacross that finish line, or if
you've got those assets likeyou're a business owner looking
(07:27):
for a sale, you're a real estateinvestor, you've got existing
assets now we're shifting someof that equity into relying,
cash flowing investments in allsorts of asset classes out there
.
That can really make adifference.
John Hauber (07:41):
That's great, keith , and so, as a business owner
myself, not ready to retire butowning multiple businesses it's
always what's my exit strategygoing to be Now?
As our audience knows, we helpindividual business owners that
own assisted living, memory care, independent living communities
(08:03):
many of them mom and pops andthey're saying to themselves
well, I want to retire, I wantto sell my business, but I don't
know what the next steps areassociated with it.
So many of these individualshave all of their wealth tied up
in their businesses.
How about you address that, notonly as a CPA, but running
(08:25):
financial journey?
Keith Blackborg (08:27):
Yeah, so a few things.
One there's the hard numbersside of things, but there's also
the softer, the emotional side,the identity side that comes
with that.
That is often overlooked.
And so, while the CPA allows meto talk all about the numbers
how to sell, how to optimize forsale, tax efficiency, how to
(08:49):
optimize a business for sale,for operations Part of it is, if
you look at people who've gonethrough recent exits, there's a
lot of people that haveregretted selling their business
afterwards.
And part of that what needs tobe addressed is your identity.
So often people, even when Isold the CPA firm, my identity
was tied up in the.
(09:09):
In the CPA firm I had four to500 high net worth clients with
tons of tax returns and I feltreally valued and important.
When that went away, it was atough thing.
It's like what am I doing next?
And so some of it is juststopping from, just focused on
running away from something.
You may be exhausted or tiredin your business, but you really
(09:32):
got your, set your eyes on whatdo you want, get clear on that
future vision and once you'vegot clarity there, we can
reverse engineer the wealth andall the tax and legal and wealth
stuff that helps get you there.
But you really got to addressthe personal side of this and
think through the relationshipsand other elements that will
(09:52):
shift if you sell a business.
John Hauber (09:54):
So tell me the top two things that come up with
someone on that side of thefence, the emotional side, when
they come to you.
What are some of the languagethat they're using in terms of
feeling language when they're?
Keith Blackborg (10:09):
One of the biggest things people say is I
don't know what I'm going to donext and so I'm not going to
retire.
They can't imagine what thatfuture is.
And there's some things that wecan do, whether it's through me
or through a.
You're a Christian, you mightthink one way or about it.
If you're more secular, theremight be other vision exercises
(10:38):
you might use.
But whatever that pathway is,it starts with getting clear on
that vision and really imaginingwhat would life work like if I
didn't have to work, workoptional, work optional.
That's why it's not calledretirement, because trying to
tell one a bunch of businessowners that they're, or
entrepreneurs, that they have toretire and do nothing, sounds
(11:00):
terrible.
The people who are running fullforce.
I know.
For me there was a.
There was a time when I wastraveling around the world and
people like, what are you doing?
I'm like I'm retired and I'mearly thirties, and they're like
no, that doesn't make sense andthere was a big time frame and
that's why it really shifted towork optional is now I can pick
and choose what I'm going to do,where I'm going to do it.
(11:20):
It allows you to be moreintentional and have some buffer
in life, and it opens up awhole new realm of possibilities
.
John Hauber (11:27):
It's interesting is that what pops into my mind is
remember that book, the purposedriven life, yes, okay.
And so I wake up every morninglike really full of purpose,
because I know what a crisis wehave for in the senior living
space.
We don't have enough housingfor our most vulnerable
(11:48):
populations and it's gettingworse and worse and worse.
So that's a purpose for me.
I wake up it's not like work tome, it's I'm building these and
worse, so that's a purpose forme.
I waked up it's not like workto me, it's I'm building these
businesses, but there's apurpose behind those businesses
and I can't imagine if thatpurpose went away without
something to replace thatpurpose.
When someone is says, okay,we're going to sell our business
(12:10):
, ultimately, what do they cometo do?
They come to a realization ofwhat their purpose is going to
sell our business.
Ultimately, what do they cometo?
Do they come to a realizationof what their purpose is going
to be after they sell theirbusinesses?
Keith Blackborg (12:18):
Usually there's some exploration of or
understanding of what thosepurposes are.
Sometimes they're so exhaustedthat they don't, and they do
that process afterwards.
I have one of our members solda business, kind of freaked out
on what income he was going todo.
I really encourage you.
You should ideally not buysomething.
You should take a break for atleast one to three months and,
(12:41):
if you can like, 12 months, andhe jumped in straight into
another business after sellingone and I think he really
deprived himself of a personalgrowth opportunity.
But where you can get vision andthink about the future and
really, for me, being in acommunity of other people who
have been through this, there isno single answer that's going
(13:01):
to fit everybody.
But by being around otherpeople that have been through
this and sometimes having acoach that has personally been
through this and seen lots ofothers, it's that combination of
a strong coach or consultant,depending on how you look at it,
and a community, you start tosee how other people have
handled it and you can pick andchoose the elements that really
(13:22):
make sense for you.
John Hauber (13:24):
We call that the tribe.
Right, the tribe actually getsyou instead of isolating
yourself after selling yourbusiness, what tribe can you get
into that will then take you toyour next purpose?
And so one of the things Ialways thought about okay, I
sell my businesses andeverything else and I've got
this wealth.
Okay, and I've done all the taxstrategies which we'll talk
(13:47):
about later in this conversation, but all of a sudden I've got
this wealth that's producingincome for me, and now can I
become a CEO of my own wealth?
I mean, is that what we'retrying to get to when we talk
about financial journeys?
Keith Blackborg (14:15):
the business.
There's your work, whether it'sa business you own or you're a
high income earner or employee,whatever it is.
You've got your income side Ithink about it as like financial
statements and then you've alsogot the wealth side, which is
more like your balance sheet,where you've got your assets,
maybe some liabilities, and ofcourse, that hopefully produces
some income as well.
And then you've got yourexpenses, like your lifetime
expenses, maybe your giving, thefun stuff you get to do.
(14:41):
Those are all.
I see those as differentdivisions that roll up into
wealth as a business.
And when you start viewing itthat way, you start thinking
okay, my wealth is a business.
Do I need to grow up, build upmy assets?
Do I need to simply keep doingwhat I'm doing, with some work
to have more income, to buy someassets?
But, as you said earlier, it'sreally the assets that create
the wealth, that make thebiggest difference.
And then just realizing thatyour lifestyle not that
(15:02):
orientation of wealth businessat the top just recognizes that
all those divisions have animpact on that together and if
you think from a financial sense, your goal is an optimal wealth
business that covers yourlifestyle expense there's a
reorienting of your thinking.
I'm no longer thinking about oh,I need my next promotion or I
just this much of a net worth.
I don't need to focus ongrowing my career so much.
(15:24):
I really need to focus more onhow do I optimize my rate of
return on my investments.
Grow that element, because a10% return on $50,000 is only
(15:48):
$5,000 in income.
But if you've got 5 million inassets, that's five hundred
thousand dollars a year.
So there's a bigger prioritythe more your net worth goes on
really optimizing your assets.
And so there's this.
Really you start shifting intolike a small family office where
you're managing your own wealthand what we do is is a little
different than like a financialadvisor where they're going to
(16:09):
try and take your money and doit all for you.
There's a time and place forthat.
We really like to teach peoplehow to fish rather than just
catch the fish, so you learn howto manage wealth as the
business.
John Hauber (16:20):
That's extremely important because you know we're
dealing with high net worthindividuals and registered
investment advisors and trustedCPA advisors every day, right,
and they keep telling meindividuals come to them and are
afraid of risk what do I put mymoney into?
So they're really relying onothers, and what I hear you
(16:43):
saying, keith, is that youactually, through Financial
Journey, actually teach them howto do it themselves, and you're
a guide and a coach andeverything else.
And so how does an individualthat maybe is W-2 and is a high
income earner or is relying onothers to help them through
(17:03):
their process, how do they lookat risk and how can they
minimize risk when it comes toinvestments?
Because it's really scary.
If I own a business and that'sall my life, my whole life is
running that business, I'mmaximizing the value of that
business, but I'm not eventhinking about stocks, I'm not
thinking about passiveinvestments in other things.
So tell me how we transitionsomeone in that mode from either
(17:28):
owning their own business orbeing a W-2 employee to what
you're describing as a CEO oftheir own wealth.
Keith Blackborg (17:34):
Now, to be clear.
There are certain personalitiesthat are always going to want
somebody else to do it for them.
They don't want to understandthis and that's fine.
They're going to pay theirpercentage, their cost, to a
financial advisor.
That makes sense.
But we can also work withfinancial advisors.
The way we view the world isreally we look at what are the
billionaire family offices doingand we're adapting those
(17:57):
strategies for millionaires.
So often financial advisors,especially with traditional
assets, have a tremendous placein all that, especially in the
traditional assets.
But usually when it comes toalternative assets, they don't
have much of an understanding.
They don't have that risk.
Sometimes there's a duediligence.
They often have a due diligenceprocess through their brokerage
(18:19):
, but there's usually less fees.
They're not incentivized tosell those and so they don't.
You're stuck in stocks andbonds and you get mediocre
results and for many people thatfeel safe For all alternatives,
it's almost like stepping inthe Wild West.
In some cases you can startgetting pitches from anybody and
(18:41):
there's also risk with that.
So there's you got to payattention.
So the way that billionairefamily offices do it is they
have a due diligence counselor,an investment committee that
will review all those assets indetail.
So, for example, in ourcommunity we do something
similar.
We've got volunteer communitymembers who have background
experience in different assetclasses.
(19:02):
So our doctors and lawyers inthe group know nothing about
vetting an oil and gasinvestment.
We've got the chief drillofficer of a publicly traded
company that does, and so whenwe're vetting an oil and gas
investment, that gentleman willcome in.
It's a company that most of youwould recognize.
He doesn't advertise it buthe's able to go many layers deep
into the technical analysis.
(19:23):
Plus, if we bring in a coupleother outside oil and gas
engineers, you've got multipleeyes on things that are
reviewing the assets, the team,the documents, and that really
helps reduce our risk.
We eliminate 80% of the deals wesee because we don't like
something about them.
But even real estate, like yoursenior living investment, we
(19:43):
kind of put you through theringer for a few weeks while we
reviewed things, but then weultimately reviewed and passed.
We referred your deal to ourmembers, so a lot of people.
We really funnel it down to afew high quality investments.
That helps eliminate the riskof due diligence.
And I'm not getting paid on alleverybody's investments, it's
(20:04):
really we want the truly thebest investments for our members
.
So often our deals we've gotstuff in all different asset
classes, from senior deliveringto oil and gas to different
startups where it helpseliminate the downside.
We often have betterinvestments than even financial
advisors who are kind of pickingand choosing because those guys
(20:25):
are having to pay people tobring them money.
Most of our deals people findout about it and it's all
referral.
Everybody loves the deals andit just kind of grows itself.
John Hauber (20:36):
All right.
So what I hear you saying,keith, is that you have a tribe
currently financially.
Yes, may I ask you how big thattribe is?
Yeah, we've been around 80, 90people.
Okay, so you have 80 and 90high net worth individuals, or
maybe they're still in their jobor they're out of their job and
they're managing their CEOs oftheir wealth.
(20:57):
Tell me about that ecosystem.
Is there like phone calls thatyou have?
Is there like trips you go ontogether?
Or tell me about that ecosystemon how everyone works together.
Now, as a caveat, I've been toone of them, so I just want I
don't want to describe it I wantyou to describe what that
(21:17):
ecosystem looks like and howeveryone kind of works with each
other, learns from each otherto increase wealth.
So you're not doing it on yourown as CEO of your own wealth.
You actually are part of atribe that is all doing it
itself.
Keith Blackborg (21:32):
Yeah, absolutely.
So there's a few key thingsthat we really help people do.
So we help people find superiorinvestments, we help with the
tax strategy.
We connect them with acommunity of genuine, generous
people like you that are helpingeach other out.
So that ends up looking like amixture of some one-on-one ones
(21:53):
with me, my team, who have deepexperience in things, and then
sometimes it's also more in thecommunity.
I have only had one lifetime tolearn, and while I think I've
learned a bit, I've learned oiland gas.
I can't have three decades ofexperience in commercial real
estate, oil and gas and allthese things, and so sometimes
(22:14):
it's just connecting you to theright person at the right time.
Whether you're buying a business, selling a business,
transitioning, there's somebodyas a result, and so we protect
our community, we try to havethe right people in there and
that makes a difference.
And then we'll meet one-on-one,we'll meet weekly as a
community.
We've got our monthly familymeetings where we really go more
(22:37):
deep with each other.
We'll do portfolio mentoring,where somebody stands up and
says, hey, this is my $5 millionportfolio, whatever it is, how
would you guys adjust this?
And people can really weigh inwhen your tax returns get filed,
I get to meet with you.
If you desire, review the draft.
I'm often saving members fivefigures on their tax savings.
And then we do our events.
(22:57):
And that's probably the mostexciting thing is at least twice
a year we get together as acommunity.
We'll do speakers, but we'llalso do dinner the fun stuff.
They're always someplace neat.
So you joined us at our WestPalm Beach event, which I hope
you had an amazing time.
It was great.
It's tough to promise this, butoften there are organic things
that happen where somebody stoodup and says, hey, I'm going to
(23:20):
Turks and Caicos, I've got ahouse on the beach, I've got
space for 10 more.
Who wants to join me?
And so it can feel lonely atthe top, and so some of these
folks with money would like tobe around other people like them
and they're often willing toshare some of their experiences
or resources and enjoy it witheach other.
And so there's enough justorganic things that happen that
(23:43):
it's way beyond the officialstructured stuff.
Then that's truly the reasonwhy people join.
They come for the results ofespecially the one-on-one and
they stay for the powerfulcommunity.
John Hauber (23:59):
That's what I experienced coming down to West
Palm Beach to your event is thateveryone is there to help each
other, and everyone's sharingwhat the you know how they
succeeded and how they failedalso Right, and coming together
as a group.
It was just quite amazing.
I haven't seen that since thedot-com phase, where, for a
table for dinner, there was 65people at that table spending
four hours together justspeaking and talking with each
(24:19):
other and really enjoying eachother's company.
So I really appreciate thatinvite, keith.
It was really a fantastic thingto see.
And the other thing I noticedis that you know those who are
standing up to teach others.
It's a wide class of assetclasses.
Okay, so you know someone cameup and talked about platinum.
(24:39):
I'd never heard of platinumbefore.
You know mining platinum is.
You know.
Others talked about Bitcoin.
We talked about the seniorhousing space.
Others you know spoke aboutjust really get a 10% return on
storage.
Others you know spoke aboutjust really get a 10% return on
storage.
Right, it was really abeautiful event in a beautiful
area, so thank you very much forcontinuing to do that Now.
(25:01):
Where you and I met was at yourmain event.
So tell me about this mainevent that is coming up here
fairly shortly.
Keith Blackborg (25:10):
So if you go to PassiveInvestorEventcom, we do
one large event per year that'sopen to the public, so October
23rd it's for accreditedinvestors.
It's a great way.
Two things One, I want to havea big impact on a lot of people,
and so for some people it makessense to be in financial
journey or private community.
(25:30):
For others, you can come once ayear see, get your own private
wealth plan done.
Meet some other greatinvestments.
Like yourself, I don't reallywant to tell everybody that I
vet everything, but there's acertain amount of.
We really want to put people.
Connect people with solidinvestments that we've had some
relationships with, gotten toknow, and you get a one-stop
(25:52):
shop to meet your professionalservices.
Connect with other investors webreak everybody up into many
masterminds.
There's a ton that goes into itand it's really unlike anything
you've ever done before, and wesell our tickets about at cost.
So right now I think thosetickets are around $250 for a
day.
We feed you good, we do allthat and it's really meant to
(26:14):
make a difference.
John Hauber (26:15):
Now this is in Dallas, correct, it's in Dallas.
Ok, dallas, texas.
And so you know, as a guest Iwent last year and it's
wonderful, I mean you know.
I just want to let our audienceknow well worth the time.
If you're outside of Texas, flyin the time.
(26:37):
If you're outside of Texas, flyin.
This is absolutely fantasticbecause Keith and his team
actually come at coaching andconsulting with the servant part
, a loving part, one of the fewpeople I've ever encountered
that actually loves on.
And he even gave me a hug right, I mean, I'm a huggy kind of
person and man Keith was all in.
He gave me a big old hug.
So great group of people thatare part of his team.
So let's switch gears here realquick and get into tax
(27:02):
strategies.
Okay, if someone can't come toyour event here in Dallas, give
us like three really awesome taxstrategies that their CPA or
their wealth advisor probablywouldn't give them.
Keith Blackborg (27:17):
So each of these are for different niches,
and so let's start withdiscounted rollovers.
I own discountedrolloversgetcom and we're
rolling out a nationwide servicethat we've previously just done
for our private community.
And let's say you were to put$100,000 and we were to invest
with you and maybe you'reoriginally buying a hotel that
(27:41):
happened to be structured in away that could be in a senior
living facility.
So if we were to buy a hotel,shut it down day two.
What's a shutdown hotel worth?
A whole lot less than you paidfor it.
If you had done that investmentfrom a traditional
self-directed retirement accountIRA 401k then we get a new
(28:02):
valuation down as a shutdownhotel independent third-party
appraiser.
Maybe it comes back at beingworth $50,000, your portion of
that.
We do a rollover of the asset,not the cash.
Your portion of that we do arollover of the asset, not the
cash.
We pay taxes on the $50,000,but then it rolls over to being
(28:24):
within a Roth account.
You reopen that facility as asenior living facility.
You benefit from a muchstronger multiple and maybe it's
now worth $200,000 within aRoth and never taxed again.
So just kind of backing uplogistically you've got $100,000
tax deduction putting thatmoney into your retirement
account.
You had to pay $50,000 in taxesto do the rollover, but you're
still $50,000 ahead in immediatesavings and now you've got
(28:48):
$200,000 that's never taxedagain and all the growth that
comes with it.
It's a really smart way to movemoney over as you go.
Number two Number two If you'rea business owner.
Here's two.
So if you're earning a net$50,000 or more in a business,
do an S corporation.
That's a simple one that youshould be doing.
(29:09):
You'll save a ton on theself-employment tax.
Now here's the more advancedone.
If you're a business owner,especially if you're making at
least a half million dollars ayear in net income, there's
probably some things you doreally well, like some sales
processes, some standardoperating procedures.
Maybe you've got the methodthat allows you to drive sales.
(29:30):
If you follow this method, thenyou get this result that can be
documented as intellectualproperty.
So let's say you're making amillion dollars a year in net
income and we go out and wevalue all these assets as
intellectual property, similarto what, like Google and the
other big players do.
Maybe we come up with a $15million intangible intellectual
(29:52):
property asset Once that'srecognized.
Now we can amortize that over15 years, which creates 15
million.
Divided by 15 years is amillion dollars a year in a tax
deduction and now we've reallywiped out your income.
For the year your net incomewas was a million.
Your tax deduction is a million.
You can see how this could havesome big results.
(30:14):
It's kind of like a lot ofpeople have heard depreciation
for real estate.
Many people aren't taking thenext step and actually
recognizing the intellectualproperty assets they have in
their business.
Step three for real estateinvestors, I'm guessing a lot of
your audience has heard of costsegregation studies to
accelerate the depreciation.
(30:35):
The second half of that thatthey're often missing is special
allocation of the sales price.
What do I mean by that?
Let's say we were to invest inan apartment complex for you,
buying it a million dollars.
A few years in we are replacinga dishwasher for 500 bucks.
(30:55):
Well, years later when we sellthat maybe five years later you
double the sales price at $2million.
Most CPAs are going to takethat doubling and spread it
across all your asset, meaningthat $500 dishwasher that's been
used for five years is nowworth $1,000.
You and I both know that a useddishwasher doesn't truly double
(31:17):
in value.
It loses value.
So maybe it's worth 50 bucks onthe open market.
So we're going in andespecially assigning that, that,
that sales price, to $50.
And the net effect is itreduces your depreciation
recapture from a high of 37%down to a capital gains rate of
15 to 20%.
(31:38):
So that has a 20%-ishdifference on your tax rate by
simply employing that taxstrategy.
So there's a lot of overlookedthings that people just aren't
aware of and most CPAs aren'tpaying attention to the details.
And this is where we like tocome behind, provide another set
of eyes and 65% of the timewe're saving our members five
(31:59):
figures or more in taxes.
John Hauber (32:00):
That's huge, and so you know what's coming up next.
Right, and that is the bigbeautiful tax bill.
Right, it's being discussed inthe Senate, and so part of this
big beautiful tax bill isdepreciation and 100% deduction
on depreciation in the firstyear.
(32:22):
So discuss what this means toreal estate investors.
Keith Blackborg (32:28):
It allows for a more immediate write-off of
your investment.
When you invest in a realestate deal like a senior living
facility, having that immediatewrite-off can yield significant
results and really make adifference.
So you're not only making moneyfrom a great investment, but
you're also getting a taxwrite-off as a result.
John Hauber (32:50):
That's huge.
Now it hasn't been that way.
Tell us how it's been for thelast four years or five years.
Keith Blackborg (32:56):
We had 100 percent bonus depreciation, like
up through I want to say, 2020,2021.
And then at some point in thatrange, it phased out and it's
been going down, lowering as aresult, and so this new bill is
going to put it back up to the100% and allow for a more
(33:17):
immediate write-off of all thoseexpenses.
There's a lot of things he'sconsidering.
Truthfully, I really starttalking about it once it's
passed and I like certainty, andso I expect it to come out
before the end of this year andit'll be a big boost, especially
for the real estate investors.
John Hauber (33:38):
Excellent.
And so when you mentioned costsegregation, I just want to let
our audience know that we didhave on our show a CEO of a cost
segregation company.
That speaks about that aspect,so we don't want to get into
cost segregation.
Speaks about that aspect, so wedon't want to get we don't want
to get into cost segregation.
But is there anything I haven'tasked you so far, keith, that
(33:59):
you absolutely we need toaddress with our audience?
Keith Blackborg (34:02):
Just one thing I wanted to speak to.
If I want to make as much moneyas possible, I go back to
commercial real estate andsyndication.
The reason I'm doing this, thereason I started this business,
is I truly enjoy having animpact on people and I would
love the opportunity to connect,even if it's for a quick call,
just to get to know you or seeyou at our passive investor
(34:24):
events passiveinvestoreventcom.
Or even if the discountedrollover strategy is interesting
, look us up atdiscountedrolloverscom.
We're really looking forsynergistic services that are
going to make a big differenceon people's lives.
And then, beyond that, it's notjust about we talk strategy,
but what do you want to do withthat?
Having a higher investmentreturn, having lower taxes
(34:48):
legally, helps you be a bettersteward.
Think about the people you canimpact, whether it's family, it
could be a charity.
That's the part that reallygets me excited.
I never want to tell you how tospend your money, but I do want
you to be intentional with it.
And so many people are justgoing through their motions that
they don't think about what'spossible.
They don't think about workoptional, because they don't
(35:11):
think about what they would dowith their time, like it just
feels like this big thing Ifthey didn't have time.
Believe me, if you have the time, you'll fill it with something,
and I want you to beintentional with that.
I would rather give you thelife.
It's almost like I don't want amillion dollars because I
wouldn't know how to spend it.
Well, if I give you a milliondollars, but a million dollars
worth of time and now you canhave a bigger impact, you get
(35:32):
more time with yourrelationships, it's just a huge
opportunity for you in your lifeand I would love hope your
audience, whether they work withme or just take something from
this and implement it.
I hope, I really hope thismakes a difference for them.
John Hauber (35:46):
Awesome, so it's also financialjourneylife.
Life is my primary website,you're right.
Yeah, that's where you're tofind out all about what we spoke
about, and I do want to endthis with you getting more
personal with our audience Todayonwards.
What's your intention?
What's your purpose?
Keith Blackborg (36:10):
And where do you see your life in five years?
So I'll take this out evenfurther.
So I plan to be doing financialjourney until I can't Maybe 75,
80, 85.
I don't know.
Warren Buffett seemed to have areally good run going up
through his ears.
If I could do that, I wouldlove to do that.
This I see my life purposeright now is there is the wealth
and the tax side of things thatI am good at technically.
There's the other side ofthings, of really wanting people
(36:33):
to have a better life, to havea better impact, to have a
better impact for this life andthe next, and that is my purpose
is really to help people havefreedom in this life and the
next.
And there's all sorts of waysto get there, but it starts with
me listening to you,understanding where you want to
go, understanding your purposeand maybe even helping you draw
(36:56):
that out.
On a personal note, my kids myboys are three and six.
I am loving this season.
It is so much fun.
Every night, every weekend,we're in the Dallas area, we get
to have another adventure, justour family.
This has just been a beautifulseason.
I've done the big traveling andnow I really want to be present
(37:18):
with them, and one of thesofter sides of things in our
community is the kids.
So if we have, especially whenwe get 10, 15 kids there, we'll
do private breakouts and thingsabout just for the kids.
And we're often talking abouthow do we grow entrepreneurship
or set up our kids while nobodywants a spoiled child and
(37:39):
there's all sorts of ways to doit wrong but we're really
mindful about what we're doingfor the next generation and
that's where my heart is, isreally with my kids.
Right now, I have somethingmost people never achieve and
that's enough and I have enough,and so now I want to share
abundantly with everyone I can.
John Hauber (37:58):
Well, thank you, my friend.
It's been a pleasure getting toknow you over the last year.
Thank you for coming on theSenior Housing Investors Podcast
and once again reach out toKeith full endorsement of what
he and his team are doing overthere at Financial Journey.
So thank you very much.
Have a wonderful end of theweek and look forward to seeing
you again soon.
Keith Blackborg (38:18):
Thank you, it's been a pleasure.
One of the biggest things people say is I
don't know what I'm going to donext and so I'm not going to
retire.
They can't imagine what thatfuture is.
And there's some things that wecan do, whether it's through me
or through a coach or acounselor.
You've got to really thinkabout next.
So some of that might even betied into religious beliefs.
(00:42):
If you're a Christian, youmight think one way or about it.
If you're more secular, theremight be other vision exercises
you might use.
But whatever that pathway is,it starts with getting clear on
that vision and really imaginingwhat would life work like if I
didn't have to work.
Work optional is now I can pickand choose what I'm going to do
(01:03):
, where I'm going to do it.
It allows you to be moreintentional and have some buffer
in life and it opens up a wholenew realm of possibilities.
John Hauber (01:15):
Welcome to the Senior Housing Investors Podcast
.
If you are an owner operator,investor, developer or buyer of
senior housing, you've come tothe right place.
The best way to stay connectedwith us is to sign up for our
weekly newsletter athavenseniorinvestmentscom.
This podcast doesn't existwithout you, our community.
(01:38):
Thank you for listening andreach out to us anytime.
And reach out to us anytime.
Kelsie Heermans (01:46):
Welcome back everyone.
Today's episode is extraspecial as we welcome our guest,
Keith Blackborg.
Founder of Financial Journey,Keith brings deep insight into
retirement planning andfinancial wellness.
With our host, John Hauber'sexperience in the senior housing
market, this conversation issure to bring valuable
perspectives for investors andoperators alike.
(02:07):
Let's dive in, John.
John Hauber (02:10):
Kelsey.
Thank you so much and welcometo the show, keith.
Thanks for having me, john.
Yeah, no problem, and it's apleasure having you on.
I've known you for many, manymonths and what you're doing is
incredible, so we wanted to makesure we got you on.
I've known you for many, manymonths and what you're doing is
incredible, so we wanted to makesure we got you on the show so
(02:31):
that you can describe to ouraudience how to create wealth in
their life.
So this is going to be anawesome show.
Stick with us through it, and Iwill start off by understanding
a little bit more about Keith.
And how did you retire at 32years old?
Keith Blackborg (02:45):
Yeah, and just respond to something you said
about creating wealth in yourlife.
I think it's important torecognize it's not just about
the money.
There's other types of wealthtoo that really live out, and
that's been something that'sreally I've learned along in my
journey.
So my background, in a nutshell, started off as a CPA at
(03:08):
Deloitte, ended up starting myown CPA firm focused on high net
worth real estate investors.
Along the way, we startedbuying rental houses.
We've heard Robert Kiyosakispeak.
I know he's a popular guy andso I'd like to think I was
brilliant, but I think I wasreally lucky to also start
buying houses in 2010.
(03:29):
So we started doing flips andwholesaling and owner finance
and all the rentals and alongthe way, we transitioned to
hotels and apartments in 2013.
And that ran its course, hadsome growth, raised money from
investors Along the way.
As part of that, my wife wasrunning our real estate business
(03:52):
.
I was more focused on the CPAfirm and then we'd collaborated
on some things.
I also served as director ofacquisitions for hedge fund,
bought 875 houses for them.
So in many ways, we were a tearlike going for that success.
And then 2015, 2016, I was.
We were both so caught up inwork.
(04:12):
We were working, traveling etcetera, and we kind of lost
sight of ourselves in thebusyness.
And divorce was considered I.
It was a really big eye opener,for for me it was either I
could continue on this path ofsuccess, but I knew more money
wasn't necessarily going to makeme happy, and so we had a shift
(04:32):
in what we thought ourpriorities were.
So we had an exit.
I thought that, well, a coupleof things.
One I thought the real estatemarket was going to crash.
Hillary Clinton was going toget elected in 2016.
I was wrong.
Hillary Clinton was going toget elected in 2016.
I was wrong.
Apparently, the real estatemarket went on for like another
six, seven years after that andI missed out on some of that.
(04:52):
But the flip side of that waswe spent three years traveling
the world and I got the bestsouvenir possible my firstborn
son.
So now we've got boys agesthree and six.
And so, all that to say, we hadsome early success that really
set us up.
We started when we were 25,really buying and growing, and
some of it was recognizing theopportunity and then also just
(05:15):
being lucky and having the bestrun up in the real estate market
ever in history and beingpositioned to take advantage of
that.
John Hauber (05:24):
Yeah, that's an incredible journey and I wish I
had that mentorship at 25 to youknow to say, hey, you know,
assets are where where wealth iscreated.
I mean and didn't have thatmentorship when I was a little
bit older than you, but when wewere going through school, we
(05:44):
had to go through, you know,college and then go get a job, a
W-2 job, and work, and work,and work, and work and save and
save.
You got your 401k and such.
And so no one ever came to me,Keith, and said do you know, you
can live your life in a workoptional mode in three to five
years?
And if someone would have cometo me and said that, I would
(06:07):
have been like how?
And so I'm asking you now thatyou consult with individuals
high net worth individuals, W-2employees how does someone
become work optional in two tofive years?
Keith Blackborg (06:20):
So my favorite people to work with are those
that already have some assets.
If you're just getting started,I would suggest focus on your
net worth, grow that business,explore entrepreneurship.
But our typical client avataris somebody who's already grown
and is now trying to optimizethose existing assets.
And so one of the calculationswe will do is what is your
(06:44):
lifestyle expense?
What is your expected rate ofreturn?
8%, 12%, whatever that numberis and we can do the math of
what is the net worth needed tolive off to, based on a certain
rate of return, to produce thedesired amount of cash flow to
cover your lifestyle expense.
And if you're there, often we'rejust repositioning existing
(07:07):
assets.
Or if you're possibly close tothat, often within just a few
years you can get into a fewequity growing investments.
That allows for a quickturnaround and boost your net
worth as a result of that.
And so once you've made itacross that finish line, or if
you've got those assets likeyou're a business owner looking
(07:27):
for a sale, you're a real estateinvestor, you've got existing
assets now we're shifting someof that equity into relying,
cash flowing investments in allsorts of asset classes out there
.
That can really make adifference.
John Hauber (07:41):
That's great, keith , and so, as a business owner
myself, not ready to retire butowning multiple businesses it's
always what's my exit strategygoing to be Now?
As our audience knows, we helpindividual business owners that
own assisted living, memory care, independent living communities
(08:03):
many of them mom and pops andthey're saying to themselves
well, I want to retire, I wantto sell my business, but I don't
know what the next steps areassociated with it.
So many of these individualshave all of their wealth tied up
in their businesses.
How about you address that, notonly as a CPA, but running
(08:25):
financial journey?
Keith Blackborg (08:27):
Yeah, so a few things.
One there's the hard numbersside of things, but there's also
the softer, the emotional side,the identity side that comes
with that.
That is often overlooked.
And so, while the CPA allows meto talk all about the numbers
how to sell, how to optimize forsale, tax efficiency, how to
(08:49):
optimize a business for sale,for operations Part of it is, if
you look at people who've gonethrough recent exits, there's a
lot of people that haveregretted selling their business
afterwards.
And part of that what needs tobe addressed is your identity.
So often people, even when Isold the CPA firm, my identity
was tied up in the.
(09:09):
In the CPA firm I had four to500 high net worth clients with
tons of tax returns and I feltreally valued and important.
When that went away, it was atough thing.
It's like what am I doing next?
And so some of it is juststopping from, just focused on
running away from something.
You may be exhausted or tiredin your business, but you really
(09:32):
got your, set your eyes on whatdo you want, get clear on that
future vision and once you'vegot clarity there, we can
reverse engineer the wealth andall the tax and legal and wealth
stuff that helps get you there.
But you really got to addressthe personal side of this and
think through the relationshipsand other elements that will
(09:52):
shift if you sell a business.
John Hauber (09:54):
So tell me the top two things that come up with
someone on that side of thefence, the emotional side, when
they come to you.
What are some of the languagethat they're using in terms of
feeling language when they're?
Keith Blackborg (10:09):
One of the biggest things people say is I
don't know what I'm going to donext and so I'm not going to
retire.
They can't imagine what thatfuture is.
And there's some things that wecan do, whether it's through me
or through a.
You're a Christian, you mightthink one way or about it.
If you're more secular, theremight be other vision exercises
(10:38):
you might use.
But whatever that pathway is,it starts with getting clear on
that vision and really imaginingwhat would life work like if I
didn't have to work, workoptional, work optional.
That's why it's not calledretirement, because trying to
tell one a bunch of businessowners that they're, or
entrepreneurs, that they have toretire and do nothing, sounds
(11:00):
terrible.
The people who are running fullforce.
I know.
For me there was a.
There was a time when I wastraveling around the world and
people like, what are you doing?
I'm like I'm retired and I'mearly thirties, and they're like
no, that doesn't make sense andthere was a big time frame and
that's why it really shifted towork optional is now I can pick
and choose what I'm going to do,where I'm going to do it.
(11:20):
It allows you to be moreintentional and have some buffer
in life, and it opens up awhole new realm of possibilities
.
John Hauber (11:27):
It's interesting is that what pops into my mind is
remember that book, the purposedriven life, yes, okay.
And so I wake up every morninglike really full of purpose,
because I know what a crisis wehave for in the senior living
space.
We don't have enough housingfor our most vulnerable
(11:48):
populations and it's gettingworse and worse and worse.
So that's a purpose for me.
I wake up it's not like work tome, it's I'm building these and
worse, so that's a purpose forme.
I waked up it's not like workto me, it's I'm building these
businesses, but there's apurpose behind those businesses
and I can't imagine if thatpurpose went away without
something to replace thatpurpose.
When someone is says, okay,we're going to sell our business
(12:10):
, ultimately, what do they cometo do?
They come to a realization ofwhat their purpose is going to
sell our business.
Ultimately, what do they cometo?
Do they come to a realizationof what their purpose is going
to be after they sell theirbusinesses?
Keith Blackborg (12:18):
Usually there's some exploration of or
understanding of what thosepurposes are.
Sometimes they're so exhaustedthat they don't, and they do
that process afterwards.
I have one of our members solda business, kind of freaked out
on what income he was going todo.
I really encourage you.
You should ideally not buysomething.
You should take a break for atleast one to three months and,
(12:41):
if you can like, 12 months, andhe jumped in straight into
another business after sellingone and I think he really
deprived himself of a personalgrowth opportunity.
But where you can get vision andthink about the future and
really, for me, being in acommunity of other people who
have been through this, there isno single answer that's going
(13:01):
to fit everybody.
But by being around otherpeople that have been through
this and sometimes having acoach that has personally been
through this and seen lots ofothers, it's that combination of
a strong coach or consultant,depending on how you look at it,
and a community, you start tosee how other people have
handled it and you can pick andchoose the elements that really
(13:22):
make sense for you.
John Hauber (13:24):
We call that the tribe.
Right, the tribe actually getsyou instead of isolating
yourself after selling yourbusiness, what tribe can you get
into that will then take you toyour next purpose?
And so one of the things Ialways thought about okay, I
sell my businesses andeverything else and I've got
this wealth.
Okay, and I've done all the taxstrategies which we'll talk
(13:47):
about later in this conversation, but all of a sudden I've got
this wealth that's producingincome for me, and now can I
become a CEO of my own wealth?
I mean, is that what we'retrying to get to when we talk
about financial journeys?
Keith Blackborg (14:15):
the business.
There's your work, whether it'sa business you own or you're a
high income earner or employee,whatever it is.
You've got your income side Ithink about it as like financial
statements and then you've alsogot the wealth side, which is
more like your balance sheet,where you've got your assets,
maybe some liabilities, and ofcourse, that hopefully produces
some income as well.
And then you've got yourexpenses, like your lifetime
expenses, maybe your giving, thefun stuff you get to do.
(14:41):
Those are all.
I see those as differentdivisions that roll up into
wealth as a business.
And when you start viewing itthat way, you start thinking
okay, my wealth is a business.
Do I need to grow up, build upmy assets?
Do I need to simply keep doingwhat I'm doing, with some work
to have more income, to buy someassets?
But, as you said earlier, it'sreally the assets that create
the wealth, that make thebiggest difference.
And then just realizing thatyour lifestyle not that
(15:02):
orientation of wealth businessat the top just recognizes that
all those divisions have animpact on that together and if
you think from a financial sense, your goal is an optimal wealth
business that covers yourlifestyle expense there's a
reorienting of your thinking.
I'm no longer thinking about oh,I need my next promotion or I
just this much of a net worth.
I don't need to focus ongrowing my career so much.
(15:24):
I really need to focus more onhow do I optimize my rate of
return on my investments.
Grow that element, because a10% return on $50,000 is only
(15:48):
$5,000 in income.
But if you've got 5 million inassets, that's five hundred
thousand dollars a year.
So there's a bigger prioritythe more your net worth goes on
really optimizing your assets.
And so there's this.
Really you start shifting intolike a small family office where
you're managing your own wealthand what we do is is a little
different than like a financialadvisor where they're going to
(16:09):
try and take your money and doit all for you.
There's a time and place forthat.
We really like to teach peoplehow to fish rather than just
catch the fish, so you learn howto manage wealth as the
business.
John Hauber (16:20):
That's extremely important because you know we're
dealing with high net worthindividuals and registered
investment advisors and trustedCPA advisors every day, right,
and they keep telling meindividuals come to them and are
afraid of risk what do I put mymoney into?
So they're really relying onothers, and what I hear you
(16:43):
saying, keith, is that youactually, through Financial
Journey, actually teach them howto do it themselves, and you're
a guide and a coach andeverything else.
And so how does an individualthat maybe is W-2 and is a high
income earner or is relying onothers to help them through
(17:03):
their process, how do they lookat risk and how can they
minimize risk when it comes toinvestments?
Because it's really scary.
If I own a business and that'sall my life, my whole life is
running that business, I'mmaximizing the value of that
business, but I'm not eventhinking about stocks, I'm not
thinking about passiveinvestments in other things.
So tell me how we transitionsomeone in that mode from either
(17:28):
owning their own business orbeing a W-2 employee to what
you're describing as a CEO oftheir own wealth.
Keith Blackborg (17:34):
Now, to be clear.
There are certain personalitiesthat are always going to want
somebody else to do it for them.
They don't want to understandthis and that's fine.
They're going to pay theirpercentage, their cost, to a
financial advisor.
That makes sense.
But we can also work withfinancial advisors.
The way we view the world isreally we look at what are the
billionaire family offices doingand we're adapting those
(17:57):
strategies for millionaires.
So often financial advisors,especially with traditional
assets, have a tremendous placein all that, especially in the
traditional assets.
But usually when it comes toalternative assets, they don't
have much of an understanding.
They don't have that risk.
Sometimes there's a duediligence.
They often have a due diligenceprocess through their brokerage
(18:19):
, but there's usually less fees.
They're not incentivized tosell those and so they don't.
You're stuck in stocks andbonds and you get mediocre
results and for many people thatfeel safe For all alternatives,
it's almost like stepping inthe Wild West.
In some cases you can startgetting pitches from anybody and
(18:41):
there's also risk with that.
So there's you got to payattention.
So the way that billionairefamily offices do it is they
have a due diligence counselor,an investment committee that
will review all those assets indetail.
So, for example, in ourcommunity we do something
similar.
We've got volunteer communitymembers who have background
experience in different assetclasses.
(19:02):
So our doctors and lawyers inthe group know nothing about
vetting an oil and gasinvestment.
We've got the chief drillofficer of a publicly traded
company that does, and so whenwe're vetting an oil and gas
investment, that gentleman willcome in.
It's a company that most of youwould recognize.
He doesn't advertise it buthe's able to go many layers deep
into the technical analysis.
(19:23):
Plus, if we bring in a coupleother outside oil and gas
engineers, you've got multipleeyes on things that are
reviewing the assets, the team,the documents, and that really
helps reduce our risk.
We eliminate 80% of the deals wesee because we don't like
something about them.
But even real estate, like yoursenior living investment, we
(19:43):
kind of put you through theringer for a few weeks while we
reviewed things, but then weultimately reviewed and passed.
We referred your deal to ourmembers, so a lot of people.
We really funnel it down to afew high quality investments.
That helps eliminate the riskof due diligence.
And I'm not getting paid on alleverybody's investments, it's
(20:04):
really we want the truly thebest investments for our members
.
So often our deals we've gotstuff in all different asset
classes, from senior deliveringto oil and gas to different
startups where it helpseliminate the downside.
We often have betterinvestments than even financial
advisors who are kind of pickingand choosing because those guys
(20:25):
are having to pay people tobring them money.
Most of our deals people findout about it and it's all
referral.
Everybody loves the deals andit just kind of grows itself.
John Hauber (20:36):
All right.
So what I hear you saying,keith, is that you have a tribe
currently financially.
Yes, may I ask you how big thattribe is?
Yeah, we've been around 80, 90people.
Okay, so you have 80 and 90high net worth individuals, or
maybe they're still in their jobor they're out of their job and
they're managing their CEOs oftheir wealth.
(20:57):
Tell me about that ecosystem.
Is there like phone calls thatyou have?
Is there like trips you go ontogether?
Or tell me about that ecosystemon how everyone works together.
Now, as a caveat, I've been toone of them, so I just want I
don't want to describe it I wantyou to describe what that
(21:17):
ecosystem looks like and howeveryone kind of works with each
other, learns from each otherto increase wealth.
So you're not doing it on yourown as CEO of your own wealth.
You actually are part of atribe that is all doing it
itself.
Keith Blackborg (21:32):
Yeah, absolutely.
So there's a few key thingsthat we really help people do.
So we help people find superiorinvestments, we help with the
tax strategy.
We connect them with acommunity of genuine, generous
people like you that are helpingeach other out.
So that ends up looking like amixture of some one-on-one ones
(21:53):
with me, my team, who have deepexperience in things, and then
sometimes it's also more in thecommunity.
I have only had one lifetime tolearn, and while I think I've
learned a bit, I've learned oiland gas.
I can't have three decades ofexperience in commercial real
estate, oil and gas and allthese things, and so sometimes
(22:14):
it's just connecting you to theright person at the right time.
Whether you're buying a business, selling a business,
transitioning, there's somebodyas a result, and so we protect
our community, we try to havethe right people in there and
that makes a difference.
And then we'll meet one-on-one,we'll meet weekly as a
community.
We've got our monthly familymeetings where we really go more
(22:37):
deep with each other.
We'll do portfolio mentoring,where somebody stands up and
says, hey, this is my $5 millionportfolio, whatever it is, how
would you guys adjust this?
And people can really weigh inwhen your tax returns get filed,
I get to meet with you.
If you desire, review the draft.
I'm often saving members fivefigures on their tax savings.
And then we do our events.
(22:57):
And that's probably the mostexciting thing is at least twice
a year we get together as acommunity.
We'll do speakers, but we'llalso do dinner the fun stuff.
They're always someplace neat.
So you joined us at our WestPalm Beach event, which I hope
you had an amazing time.
It was great.
It's tough to promise this, butoften there are organic things
that happen where somebody stoodup and says, hey, I'm going to
(23:20):
Turks and Caicos, I've got ahouse on the beach, I've got
space for 10 more.
Who wants to join me?
And so it can feel lonely atthe top, and so some of these
folks with money would like tobe around other people like them
and they're often willing toshare some of their experiences
or resources and enjoy it witheach other.
And so there's enough justorganic things that happen that
(23:43):
it's way beyond the officialstructured stuff.
Then that's truly the reasonwhy people join.
They come for the results ofespecially the one-on-one and
they stay for the powerfulcommunity.
John Hauber (23:59):
That's what I experienced coming down to West
Palm Beach to your event is thateveryone is there to help each
other, and everyone's sharingwhat the you know how they
succeeded and how they failedalso Right, and coming together
as a group.
It was just quite amazing.
I haven't seen that since thedot-com phase, where, for a
table for dinner, there was 65people at that table spending
four hours together justspeaking and talking with each
(24:19):
other and really enjoying eachother's company.
So I really appreciate thatinvite, keith.
It was really a fantastic thingto see.
And the other thing I noticedis that you know those who are
standing up to teach others.
It's a wide class of assetclasses.
Okay, so you know someone cameup and talked about platinum.
(24:39):
I'd never heard of platinumbefore.
You know mining platinum is.
You know.
Others talked about Bitcoin.
We talked about the seniorhousing space.
Others you know spoke aboutjust really get a 10% return on
storage.
Others you know spoke aboutjust really get a 10% return on
storage.
Right, it was really abeautiful event in a beautiful
area, so thank you very much forcontinuing to do that Now.
(25:01):
Where you and I met was at yourmain event.
So tell me about this mainevent that is coming up here
fairly shortly.
Keith Blackborg (25:10):
So if you go to PassiveInvestorEventcom, we do
one large event per year that'sopen to the public, so October
23rd it's for accreditedinvestors.
It's a great way.
Two things One, I want to havea big impact on a lot of people,
and so for some people it makessense to be in financial
journey or private community.
(25:30):
For others, you can come once ayear see, get your own private
wealth plan done.
Meet some other greatinvestments.
Like yourself, I don't reallywant to tell everybody that I
vet everything, but there's acertain amount of.
We really want to put people.
Connect people with solidinvestments that we've had some
relationships with, gotten toknow, and you get a one-stop
(25:52):
shop to meet your professionalservices.
Connect with other investors webreak everybody up into many
masterminds.
There's a ton that goes into itand it's really unlike anything
you've ever done before, and wesell our tickets about at cost.
So right now I think thosetickets are around $250 for a
day.
We feed you good, we do allthat and it's really meant to
(26:14):
make a difference.
John Hauber (26:15):
Now this is in Dallas, correct, it's in Dallas.
Ok, dallas, texas.
And so you know, as a guest Iwent last year and it's
wonderful, I mean you know.
I just want to let our audienceknow well worth the time.
If you're outside of Texas, flyin the time.
(26:37):
If you're outside of Texas, flyin.
This is absolutely fantasticbecause Keith and his team
actually come at coaching andconsulting with the servant part
, a loving part, one of the fewpeople I've ever encountered
that actually loves on.
And he even gave me a hug right, I mean, I'm a huggy kind of
person and man Keith was all in.
He gave me a big old hug.
So great group of people thatare part of his team.
So let's switch gears here realquick and get into tax
(27:02):
strategies.
Okay, if someone can't come toyour event here in Dallas, give
us like three really awesome taxstrategies that their CPA or
their wealth advisor probablywouldn't give them.
Keith Blackborg (27:17):
So each of these are for different niches,
and so let's start withdiscounted rollovers.
I own discountedrolloversgetcom and we're
rolling out a nationwide servicethat we've previously just done
for our private community.
And let's say you were to put$100,000 and we were to invest
with you and maybe you'reoriginally buying a hotel that
(27:41):
happened to be structured in away that could be in a senior
living facility.
So if we were to buy a hotel,shut it down day two.
What's a shutdown hotel worth?
A whole lot less than you paidfor it.
If you had done that investmentfrom a traditional
self-directed retirement accountIRA 401k then we get a new
(28:02):
valuation down as a shutdownhotel independent third-party
appraiser.
Maybe it comes back at beingworth $50,000, your portion of
that.
We do a rollover of the asset,not the cash.
Your portion of that we do arollover of the asset, not the
cash.
We pay taxes on the $50,000,but then it rolls over to being
(28:24):
within a Roth account.
You reopen that facility as asenior living facility.
You benefit from a muchstronger multiple and maybe it's
now worth $200,000 within aRoth and never taxed again.
So just kind of backing uplogistically you've got $100,000
tax deduction putting thatmoney into your retirement
account.
You had to pay $50,000 in taxesto do the rollover, but you're
still $50,000 ahead in immediatesavings and now you've got
(28:48):
$200,000 that's never taxedagain and all the growth that
comes with it.
It's a really smart way to movemoney over as you go.
Number two Number two If you'rea business owner.
Here's two.
So if you're earning a net$50,000 or more in a business,
do an S corporation.
That's a simple one that youshould be doing.
(29:09):
You'll save a ton on theself-employment tax.
Now here's the more advancedone.
If you're a business owner,especially if you're making at
least a half million dollars ayear in net income, there's
probably some things you doreally well, like some sales
processes, some standardoperating procedures.
Maybe you've got the methodthat allows you to drive sales.
(29:30):
If you follow this method, thenyou get this result that can be
documented as intellectualproperty.
So let's say you're making amillion dollars a year in net
income and we go out and wevalue all these assets as
intellectual property, similarto what, like Google and the
other big players do.
Maybe we come up with a $15million intangible intellectual
(29:52):
property asset Once that'srecognized.
Now we can amortize that over15 years, which creates 15
million.
Divided by 15 years is amillion dollars a year in a tax
deduction and now we've reallywiped out your income.
For the year your net incomewas was a million.
Your tax deduction is a million.
You can see how this could havesome big results.
(30:14):
It's kind of like a lot ofpeople have heard depreciation
for real estate.
Many people aren't taking thenext step and actually
recognizing the intellectualproperty assets they have in
their business.
Step three for real estateinvestors, I'm guessing a lot of
your audience has heard of costsegregation studies to
accelerate the depreciation.
(30:35):
The second half of that thatthey're often missing is special
allocation of the sales price.
What do I mean by that?
Let's say we were to invest inan apartment complex for you,
buying it a million dollars.
A few years in we are replacinga dishwasher for 500 bucks.
(30:55):
Well, years later when we sellthat maybe five years later you
double the sales price at $2million.
Most CPAs are going to takethat doubling and spread it
across all your asset, meaningthat $500 dishwasher that's been
used for five years is nowworth $1,000.
You and I both know that a useddishwasher doesn't truly double
(31:17):
in value.
It loses value.
So maybe it's worth 50 bucks onthe open market.
So we're going in andespecially assigning that, that,
that sales price, to $50.
And the net effect is itreduces your depreciation
recapture from a high of 37%down to a capital gains rate of
15 to 20%.
(31:38):
So that has a 20%-ishdifference on your tax rate by
simply employing that taxstrategy.
So there's a lot of overlookedthings that people just aren't
aware of and most CPAs aren'tpaying attention to the details.
And this is where we like tocome behind, provide another set
of eyes and 65% of the timewe're saving our members five
(31:59):
figures or more in taxes.
John Hauber (32:00):
That's huge, and so you know what's coming up next.
Right, and that is the bigbeautiful tax bill.
Right, it's being discussed inthe Senate, and so part of this
big beautiful tax bill isdepreciation and 100% deduction
on depreciation in the firstyear.
(32:22):
So discuss what this means toreal estate investors.
Keith Blackborg (32:28):
It allows for a more immediate write-off of
your investment.
When you invest in a realestate deal like a senior living
facility, having that immediatewrite-off can yield significant
results and really make adifference.
So you're not only making moneyfrom a great investment, but
you're also getting a taxwrite-off as a result.
John Hauber (32:50):
That's huge.
Now it hasn't been that way.
Tell us how it's been for thelast four years or five years.
Keith Blackborg (32:56):
We had 100 percent bonus depreciation, like
up through I want to say, 2020,2021.
And then at some point in thatrange, it phased out and it's
been going down, lowering as aresult, and so this new bill is
going to put it back up to the100% and allow for a more
(33:17):
immediate write-off of all thoseexpenses.
There's a lot of things he'sconsidering.
Truthfully, I really starttalking about it once it's
passed and I like certainty, andso I expect it to come out
before the end of this year andit'll be a big boost, especially
for the real estate investors.
John Hauber (33:38):
Excellent.
And so when you mentioned costsegregation, I just want to let
our audience know that we didhave on our show a CEO of a cost
segregation company.
That speaks about that aspect,so we don't want to get into
cost segregation.
Speaks about that aspect, so wedon't want to get we don't want
to get into cost segregation.
But is there anything I haven'tasked you so far, keith, that
(33:59):
you absolutely we need toaddress with our audience?
Keith Blackborg (34:02):
Just one thing I wanted to speak to.
If I want to make as much moneyas possible, I go back to
commercial real estate andsyndication.
The reason I'm doing this, thereason I started this business,
is I truly enjoy having animpact on people and I would
love the opportunity to connect,even if it's for a quick call,
just to get to know you or seeyou at our passive investor
(34:24):
events passiveinvestoreventcom.
Or even if the discountedrollover strategy is interesting
, look us up atdiscountedrolloverscom.
We're really looking forsynergistic services that are
going to make a big differenceon people's lives.
And then, beyond that, it's notjust about we talk strategy,
but what do you want to do withthat?
Having a higher investmentreturn, having lower taxes
(34:48):
legally, helps you be a bettersteward.
Think about the people you canimpact, whether it's family, it
could be a charity.
That's the part that reallygets me excited.
I never want to tell you how tospend your money, but I do want
you to be intentional with it.
And so many people are justgoing through their motions that
they don't think about what'spossible.
They don't think about workoptional, because they don't
(35:11):
think about what they would dowith their time, like it just
feels like this big thing Ifthey didn't have time.
Believe me, if you have the time, you'll fill it with something,
and I want you to beintentional with that.
I would rather give you thelife.
It's almost like I don't want amillion dollars because I
wouldn't know how to spend it.
Well, if I give you a milliondollars, but a million dollars
worth of time and now you canhave a bigger impact, you get
(35:32):
more time with yourrelationships, it's just a huge
opportunity for you in your lifeand I would love hope your
audience, whether they work withme or just take something from
this and implement it.
I hope, I really hope thismakes a difference for them.
John Hauber (35:46):
Awesome, so it's also financialjourneylife.
Life is my primary website,you're right.
Yeah, that's where you're tofind out all about what we spoke
about, and I do want to endthis with you getting more
personal with our audience Todayonwards.
What's your intention?
What's your purpose?
Keith Blackborg (36:10):
And where do you see your life in five years?
So I'll take this out evenfurther.
So I plan to be doing financialjourney until I can't Maybe 75,
80, 85.
I don't know.
Warren Buffett seemed to have areally good run going up
through his ears.
If I could do that, I wouldlove to do that.
This I see my life purposeright now is there is the wealth
and the tax side of things thatI am good at technically.
There's the other side ofthings, of really wanting people
(36:33):
to have a better life, to havea better impact, to have a
better impact for this life andthe next, and that is my purpose
is really to help people havefreedom in this life and the
next.
And there's all sorts of waysto get there, but it starts with
me listening to you,understanding where you want to
go, understanding your purposeand maybe even helping you draw
(36:56):
that out.
On a personal note, my kids myboys are three and six.
I am loving this season.
It is so much fun.
Every night, every weekend,we're in the Dallas area, we get
to have another adventure, justour family.
This has just been a beautifulseason.
I've done the big traveling andnow I really want to be present
(37:18):
with them, and one of thesofter sides of things in our
community is the kids.
So if we have, especially whenwe get 10, 15 kids there, we'll
do private breakouts and thingsabout just for the kids.
And we're often talking abouthow do we grow entrepreneurship
or set up our kids while nobodywants a spoiled child and
(37:39):
there's all sorts of ways to doit wrong but we're really
mindful about what we're doingfor the next generation and
that's where my heart is, isreally with my kids.
Right now, I have somethingmost people never achieve and
that's enough and I have enough,and so now I want to share
abundantly with everyone I can.
John Hauber (37:58):
Well, thank you, my friend.
It's been a pleasure getting toknow you over the last year.
Thank you for coming on theSenior Housing Investors Podcast
and once again reach out toKeith full endorsement of what
he and his team are doing overthere at Financial Journey.
So thank you very much.
Have a wonderful end of theweek and look forward to seeing
you again soon.
Keith Blackborg (38:18):
Thank you, it's been a pleasure.
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