The Passive Investing Lifestyle
IT’S NOT ABOUT MONEY, IT’S ABOUT HAVING MORE CHOICES
by Travis Watts
THE REAL ESTATE BUG I had read an investing book years ago called Rich Dad’s Prophesy by Robert Kiyosaki. The only thing I remember about the book was to “stay out of the stock market” and “invest for cash flow”. Real estate was going to be the ticket to freedom. A couple years later, I ditched my college career and accepted an oilfield job that required 100 hours a week swinging sledgehammers in sub-zero temperatures. I was finally going to make some money, and I knew exactly what to do with that money… I was going to get into real estate. JUMPING INTO REAL ESTATE I first went down the rabbit hole of flipping houses. Who was I fool - ing? I had no connections, I wasn’t a handyman, and I was already growing tired of manual labor. I later switched to vacation rentals because I thought it would be less involved; boy was I wrong. There is nothing inherently wrong with flipping homes or short-term rentals; the problem was, I never stopped to ask myself WHY I was doing any of this. I can tell you first hand; I didn’t enjoy any part of working in the business as a land- lord. Nor was I good at it. BURNING OUT It took several years before I ran out of steam and burned out. It was at this point that I finally asked
myself a very important question that all investors should ask them- selves… “What are my goals and what investment strategy can help me get there?” This was the moment I discovered that my real interest was to be an investor; not a landlord. I was seeking was cash flow and financial independence, so I could live a life on my own terms. I didn’t enjoy managing tenants or rehabbing houses, and I didn’t have much spare time. My single-family rentals had become a second job, rather than an investment.
up to closings, manage contractors, or rehab properties? Sign me up! Between 2015-2016, I decided to sell off all my single-family rentals. Over the next year, I began investing in multifamily private placements AKA “syndications” one after the next until I transitioned my entire real estate portfolio into a hands-off cash flow machine. In early 2016, something incredi- ble happened. I sat down to crunch some numbers, and I found out that I could leave my job. I had more cashflow from my multifamily real estate investments than I had life- style expenses. Leaving my busy W-2 job single-handedly gave me my life back and allowed for a “work-op- tional” lifestyle. I wasn’t ready to move into retirement in the tradi- tional sense, so instead, I decided to pursue what truly interest me, real estate investing and educat- ing others with my free time. This lifestyle change also allowed me to spend more time with the people I care about and start a new chapter with my girlfriend, who later became my wife, and will soon be a mother to our firstborn in January 2022. “It is in yourmoments of decision that your destiny is shaped”
T HE PASSIVE INVESTING LIFESTYLE
Around 2015, I was introduced to two gentlemen at a local real estate investing group who had sold their businesses decades ago and became full-time investors; mostly in mul- tifamily syndications. They were “passive” investors in the sense that they did not “actively” participate in the business of real estate. They had simply invested in hundreds of real estate projects at this point, where they let the General Partners handle the heavy lifting and day-to- day operations. They were hands-off Limited Partners. This was a game-changer in my life. You’re telling me I can invest in real estate, collect monthly cash flow, reap the tax advantages and I don’t have to manage tenants, show
— Tony Robbins
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