Of all the Purposeful Plans I’ve engineered and executed, a significant chunk were with folks who’d come to me with a pretty nice portfolio.
They’d done well, many enviably so. Or did they? Remember when we were kids and argued about who made the best ‘burger? When you added in homemade, the debates would get intense.
Then it happened. You had your first really good steak. It was cooked perfectly. For a month you couldn’t make yourself think of hamburgers, cuz all your mind could picture was another plate-sized steak with your name on it.
Right up ’til that day, you didn’t know steaks were even on your menu. I vaguely remember wondering why it took so long for Mom ‘n Dad to let me in on the secret. 
The last 10 years or so I’ve done who knows how many after-the-fact analyses in order to learn what I’d of done differently if they’d called me sooner, rather than later. One of my clients called ‘em post transaction autopsies. The modifications I suggested often would’ve produced far better results.
In most instances the investor has been easily able to perceive, in hindsight, that the changes woulda been reasonably doable. Sometimes it’s merely utilizing different techniques to get to the same Point B. Much of the time, however, it’s real value is in demonstrating to the investor their options menu had pages of which they were unaware. This opens up a new world to the typical investor, even when they’re very experienced.
BawldGuy Axiom: It’s not the answers to the questions we have that hinder us from ultimate real estate investment success. It’s almost always the answers to the questions we never knew to ask.
If you’re unaware of the existence of three different investment strategies, their benefits aren’t available to ya. Duh. That’s not the whole story though, not by a long shot. It’s one thing to learn three previously unknown strategies. It’s quite another to discover their power when combined synergistically. At the restaurant how would you feel if you’d been ordering from the same list of various ‘burgers for years, only to learn there were two other rooms where folks were ordering from a far more robust — and productive — menu?
Long term real estate investors have pages on their currently available menus they’ve never seen, cuz they’ve never been told they exist. We can’t execute a strategy(s) about which we know nothing. I know, Captain Obvious rides again. But on a serious note, this is how do-it-yourselfers apparently do so amazingly well, then arrive at retirement having followed a Plan that generated less than half the income reasonably possible. What makes it even more galling to some is that many of the strategies were known to them. They just didn’t have the expertise or experience to use them at the proper time, or in concert with appropriate additional strategies. Truth is, most of ‘em never find out what could have been.
The real life difference.
I can tell you now, and with complete confidence that there are investors out there, maybe you included, who possess twice the capital/equity as the other guy, but to no avail. Due to the other guy’s thicker menu — and his ability to ‘order’ from it — he’ll hit retirement with as much income as you, very possibly more. A LOT more. The investor with the biggest menu and most options wins. It’s as simple as that. Outside of blind luck, which most of us have seen or experienced, the menu/options factor is the key to predicting your ultimate retirement income — or lack thereof, as Grandma used to say.
The difference can literally be six figures annually. Most investors simply don’t know what’s on their menu cuz they’ve never been able to see all the missing pages. Ordering that juicy, perfectly prepared filet mignon off your two page menu is literally impossible if it’s located on page three. How many years are ya gonna be building what will end up being a hamburger retirement, when steak had been on your menu from Day 1? Don’t build your retirement based on an incomplete menu. ‘Burgers are a nice change of pace, but I wouldn’t want a steady diet of ‘em at retirement.
The power contained in the capacity to utilize all the options on all the pages on your own menu is there for you to harness.
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