Investing Secrets: Invest like the Top 0.1%

Today, I welcome Ashley Romiti to the Investing Secrets Podcast. Ashley started as a commercial real estate agent before moving to the securities side, and today 95% of her business is one thing: the Delaware Statutory Trust. Based in San Clemente, she's spent 15 years helping retiring investors defer taxes and trade the toilets and tenants for passive, institutional-grade real estate, acting as an independent DST broker across a market of 50-plus sponsors and 100-plus offerings. We kick things off with Ashley breaking down the 1031 exchange and the DST from the ground up. From there, we dive into the real mechanics...

Today, I welcome Jens Nielsen to the Investing Secrets Podcast. Jens came to the US from Denmark 30 years ago, built a career in telecom and IT, then walked away from his W2 in his mid-40s to chase real estate, scaling past 200 multifamily units before the market turned and taught him some hard lessons. Today he's pivoted into small bay industrial in Albuquerque and Santa Fe, New Mexico, betting on deep local market knowledge and blue-collar demand that isn't going anywhere. We kick things off with Jens's origin story and how a telecom lifer became a full-time real estate...

Today, I welcome Mukarram Mawjood to the Investing Secrets Podcast. Mukarram spent two decades trading commodities, crude oil and then precious metals, before making a bet in 2012 that a weakening dollar would send hard assets soaring. Today he runs Bullionite Asset Group, helping investors pull money out of Wall Street and into physical gold, silver, and alternative assets most people don't even realize they can hold inside an IRA. We kick things off with Mukarram's origin story and how a career trading oil and metals shaped the way he reads risk. From there, we dive into the real mechanics...

Today, I welcome Ryan Hermansky to the Investing Secrets Podcast. Ryan got his start in the most unlikely place, the cannabis industry, before finding his real lane in private lending. Today he's President of Private Money Funding, stepping in where banks simply won't: funding midsize commercial deals the big institutions ignore, and closing in two weeks or less what many banks would take up to six months to do. We kick things off with Ryan's origin story and how he and his partners built a private lending fund from the ground up. From there, we dive into the real...

Today, I welcome Joel Friedland to the Investing Secrets Podcast. Joel has spent 45 years buying single-tenant industrial buildings around Chicago. But in 2008, with 50 buildings, seven banks, and $70 million in personal guarantees, he nearly lost everything. He walked away from deals for a full decade and came back at 60 with one rule: buy all cash, zero debt, so his investors can never lose their money to a bank again. Today he runs Brit Properties, where he syndicates industrial buildings completely unlevered. Debt-free syndications. We kick things off with Joel's origin story and the brutal 2008 lesson that reshaped how he thinks...

Today, I welcome Sequoya Borgman to the Investing Secrets Podcast. Sequoya’s path to running his own private equity firm spans two decades inside the industry. A CPA by training, he spent years at top PE firms working on M&A alongside the best in the business. He eventually made partner, but being one of a thousand partners meant he couldn’t drive the direction of the firm - so in 2017 he walked away from the W-2 and started fresh. Today, Sequoya is the founder of Borgman Capital, a lower-middle-market private equity firm that has acquired more than 20 businesses, buyi...

Today, I welcome Adriel Hsu to the Investing Secrets Podcast. Adriel’s path into real estate started in the last place you’d expect - an oil and gas job. Fresh out of Georgia Tech with an environmental engineering degree, he was shipped off to a small Texas town in 2016, and within his first days on the job he knew he didn’t want to spend 40 years behind a desk. After cycling through e-commerce and drop shipping, he landed on real estate - then spent the next five and a half years grinding two full-time jobs at once (9 to 5 at the...

Today, I welcome Zachary Levitt to The Investing Secrets Podcast. Zach's path into investing started early and moved fast - soaking up the strategies of the world's great hedge fund managers in high school, launching a derivatives trading club at university that put him in the room with some of the top portfolio managers alive, running a biotech alpha-capture strategy by 21, and becoming one of the youngest hedge fund managers you'll ever hear of by 25. Today he's the CIO and Founder of Sixth Turn Capital, a capacity-constrained multi-manager fund built for high-net-worth, ultra-high-net-worth, and family office investors - a...

Today, I welcome Ryan Brown to The Investing Secrets Podcast. Ryan's path into real estate was anything but conventional. He grew up in a trailer park, became the first in his family to attend college, and trained as a nurse anesthesiologist at Rush in Chicago before landing a faculty role at USC's Keck School of Medicine. But between long shifts in the operating room and annual surgical mission trips to rural Kenya, Ryan realized he was wired to build something bigger than himself. Today he's the Principal and Co-Founder of Turnbull Equity, a vertically integrated self-storage platform with roughly $41...

Today, I welcome back longtime friend of the program, Brian Bradley, to the Investing Secrets Podcast. Brian has spent years in the trenches of asset protection and legal structuring, working with high-net-worth individuals, business owners, and real estate investors to protect what they've built - not just during their lifetime, but across generations. In an environment where lawsuits are more aggressive, misinformation is at an all-time high, and outdated strategies are still being sold as solutions, Brian cuts through the noise with real case law and real structure. We kick things off with the biggest misconceptions in asset protection...

Today, I welcome Shifra Ansonoff to The Investing Secrets Podcast. Shifra is a leader at Preqin, now operating under the BlackRock umbrella within the Aladdin ecosystem, and today she shares how private markets data, AI, and institutional capital are reshaping the future of investing. She breaks down why alternatives have become a core allocation for institutional investors, how secondaries and private credit are rapidly growing, and why infrastructure is emerging as one of the biggest opportunities over the next decade. Shifra also dives into the impact of BlackRock’s acquisition of Preqin, the evolving role of AI across investing an...

Today, I welcome Josef Schachter to The Investing Secrets Podcast. Josef is the founder of the Schachter Energy Report and today he shares how decades on the buy and sell side of the energy markets shaped his view on the coming global energy supercycle. He breaks down why underinvestment in oil and natural gas, rising demand from emerging markets, and the explosive growth of AI infrastructure and data centers are creating long-term opportunities across the energy sector. Josef also dives into why he believes Canada is uniquely positioned for massive growth in natural gas exports, how geopolitical tensions are...

Today, I welcome Tene Williams to The Investing Secrets Podcast. Tene is the founder of The Buy Income Strategy and today she shares how getting her securities license at 19 led her into finance, real estate, lending, and eventually private equity. She walks through her journey from bird-dogging ugly houses and wholesaling deals to building lending businesses, surviving multiple real estate cycles, and learning why cash flow matters more than theory. Tene also breaks down how her fund invests across real estate and business acquisitions, why she focuses on buying income instead of chasing speculative upside, and how diversification across...

Today, I welcome Nick Stromwall to The Investing Secrets Podcast. Nick is part of the team at Rise48 Equity and today he shares how his path from mentoring college students and picking up electric scooters at night led him into real estate investing, multifamily syndications, and ultimately helping investors create passive income with purpose. He breaks down the lessons he learned from buying duplexes and short-term rentals, why he believes syndications offer a more scalable and truly passive path than owning smaller properties yourself, and how the right operator can help investors preserve capital while building long-term wealth. Nick...

Today, I welcome Jacob Winn to The Investing Secrets Podcast. Jacob is part of the team at Rex and today he shares how his background in hedge funds, derivatives, and quantitative risk management shaped the way he evaluates real estate opportunities in today’s market. He breaks down why he believes many investors misunderstand alternative investing, how real estate can offer meaningful diversification and tax advantages beyond traditional public market strategies, and why clarity around cash flow, equity growth, and overall portfolio goals is so important before making any allocation. Jacob also dives into Rex’s investment approach, explaining how...

Today, I welcome Jonathan Nurick to The Investing Secrets Podcast. Jonathan is the co-founder of DivGro and today he shares how he is building a long-term investment fund designed to compound capital through rapid dividend growth over a 30-year horizon. He breaks down why his team focuses on about 30 high-quality companies, how the Gordon Growth Model helped shape DivGro’s philosophy, and why dividend growth can offer a more grounded signal of business progress than day-to-day share price volatility. Jonathan also dives into the psychology of investing, explaining why mastering your mindset matters just as much as mastering the fi...

Today, I welcome Jeff Guberman to The Investing Secrets Podcast. Jeff is the founder of Ivy Capital and today he shares how he has built a real estate investment business focused primarily on student housing in secondary and tertiary markets. He highlights why he believes student housing offers a more definable business plan than traditional multifamily, how smaller ecosystems create fewer moving parts for investors to underwrite, and why creating community can be one of the biggest drivers of success in the asset class. Jeff also dives into his path from running multiple businesses into real estate syndication, how...

Today, I welcome Brian Ferguson to The Investing Secrets Podcast. Brian is the founder of Fergmar Capital and today he shares how he has built a 20-year real estate career spanning single-family investing, multifamily acquisitions, and shopping center ownership. He highlights the core principles that have stayed with him from the beginning, including responsiveness, creativity, and the ability to structure deals in ways that create opportunity even in changing markets. Brian also dives into why he expanded from multifamily into neighborhood retail, how he evaluates occupancy, lease terms, and value-add potential in shopping centers, and what he sees coming...

Today, I welcome Tom Dunkel to The Investing Secrets Podcast. Tom is the founder of Eagle Capital Investments and today he shares how his background in corporate finance, mergers and acquisitions, and entrepreneurial real estate investing helped shape his approach to building wealth through private markets. He highlights how years of operating in distressed mortgage notes, self-storage, and short-term rentals ultimately led him to create a fund-to-funds model that gives investors access to vetted operators, stronger deal economics, and more thoughtful diversification outside the public markets. Tom also dives into why he believes most investors have been conditioned to...

Today, I welcome Jordan Canino to The Investing Secrets Podcast. Jordan is the Senior Director of Investor Relations at Hearthfire and today he shares how his career took a winding path through private equity real estate, law school, a short stint chasing a career as a sports agent in New York, and brokerage roles at firms like JLL and Colliers, before ultimately finding his lane in the self-storage industry. He highlights how those experiences led him into acquisitions and capital markets roles where he helped scale storage portfolios and raise capital from both retail investors and institutional partners.
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Today, I welcome Trey Taylor to The Investing Secrets Podcast. Trey runs a multi-generation family office and today he shares how he was unexpectedly thrust into the CEO seat at just 31 years old after his father passed away - forcing him to learn leadership, decision-making, and capital allocation in real time. That baptism-by-fire ultimately shaped the frameworks he now teaches leaders and executives, and it became the foundation for his book built around a simple idea: a CEO only does three things - culture, people, and numbers.

Trey also breaks down how being a real operator gives...

Today, I welcome Ken Gee to The Investing Secrets Podcast. Ken is the founder of KRI Partners and today he shares how he walked away from the “do everything right” career path - banking, CPA work, and long nights at Deloitte - after realizing success on paper wasn’t worth missing his family’s life in real time. He highlights how buying three small multifamily deals on the side—and selling them three years later for half a million dollars - gave him the proof (and the confidence) that he could bet on himself and build real wealth through apartment...

Today, I welcome Heather Ewing to The Investing Secrets Podcast. Heather is the founder of Abstract Commercial Real Estate, a boutique advisory and brokerage firm focused on retail, restaurants, and mixed-use development. Today she shares why she chose to go independent instead of aligning with a major brand - and how staying in one highly specialized lane has helped her build deeper relationships, stronger deal flow, and cleaner execution for developers, landlords, and tenants.

Heather also breaks down what most investors miss when they evaluate retail and mixed-use projects: the real backbone isn’t the flashy projections...

Today, I welcome Denise Ford to The Investing Secrets Podcast. Denise is a land investor and today she shares how a sudden W2 layoff - with less than two hours’ notice - became the catalyst that pushed her to go all-in on building real wealth through vacant land deals. She highlights how she started with straightforward cash flips, then adapted fast when market conditions shifted - moving into seller financing, targeting smarter micro-markets, and adding value through everything from utilities to splits and even manufactured housing. Denise also dives into how getting burned by the wrong operator led her to...

Today, I welcome Wayne Courreges III to The Investing Secrets Podcast. Wayne is the Managing Principal of CRI Partners, where he has built and oversees a $50 million commercial real estate portfolio by focusing on disciplined operations and conservative underwriting. In this episode, Wayne breaks down why commercial real estate success isn’t about flashy acquisitions or door counts, but about executing the business plan after the deal closes. Drawing on his 16-year career at CBRE working with institutional owners like MetLife and JP Morgan, he shares how that operational foundation shaped his approach to multifamily investing and syndication. Wayne al...

Today, I welcome Jen Laurence to The Investing Secrets Podcast. Jen is the founder of Luxury Lifestyle Logistics and today she shares what she’s learned from spending over 25 years inside ultra-high-net-worth households, helping families turn chaos into calm without losing the soul of the home. She highlights why trust is the real currency in private service, why running an estate isn’t the same as running a company, and how many successful CEOs hit a wall the moment they try to “scale” family life the way they scale business. Jen also dives into the operational blind spots that show up...

Today, I welcome Joseph DaGrossa to The Investing Secrets Podcast. Joseph is the Chairman and CEO of Axxes Capital and today he shares how more than 30 years across private equity, real estate, insurance, and capital markets shaped his disciplined approach to investing and value creation. He highlights why most investors are dangerously overexposed to public markets, how decades of experience taught him when to walk away from deals, and why patience often matters more than activity. Joseph also dives into the massive shift underway as trillions of dollars move from public securities into private investments, explaining how interval funds...

Today, I welcome Mandy McAllister to The Investing Secrets Podcast. Mandy is a former top-ranked medical device sales professional who walked away from a high-income W2 to become a full-time real estate investor, multifamily operator, and small business owner with a portfolio spanning apartment buildings, motels, and cash-flowing local businesses. She shares how a single fourplex changed her life, why building a reliable cash flow floor gave her the confidence to leave corporate America, and how she approaches investing with a long-term mindset focused on “forever money” rather than one-time wins. Mandy also dives into her progression from house hack...

Today, I welcome Dave Holman to The Investing Secrets Podcast. Dave is a multifamily investor and developer focused on workforce housing, and today he shares how he’s built a resilient real estate portfolio by deliberately investing in unsexy Class B and Class C assets that serve working families and protect downside risk. He explains why he avoids flashy trends, how starting with limited capital pushed him into workforce housing, and why boring assets often perform best in both strong and weak economic cycles. Dave also dives into his slow, sequential path as an investor - from DIY single-family ho...

Today, I welcome Jay Young to The Investing Secrets Podcast. Jay is a fourth-generation oilman and the Founder & CEO of King Operating Corporation, a Dallas-based oil and gas firm specializing in what he calls the new school methodology of energy investing. In this episode, he breaks down how this modern approach differs from the traditional “drill-and-hope” model that has caused generations of investors to lose capital - and why scaling large acreage positions, proving out multiple well locations, and selling to institutional buyers has created far more consistent outcomes for investors.

Jay highlights how his team identifies mass...

Today, I welcome Joe Downs to The Investing Secrets Podcast. Joe is the Managing Partner of Belrose Self Storage Group, and today he shares how he built a rapidly growing national self-storage portfolio after a winding career that took him through broker-dealer equity raises, distressed debt, and multiple reinventions. He walks us through his unlikely path into self-storage, how he pivoted industries again and again, and why that resilience ultimately led him to one of the most profitable niches in commercial real estate.

Joe also breaks down the story of his very first storage deal - an...

Today, I welcome Brent Kesler to The Investing Secrets Podcast. Brent is the creator of The Money Multiplier System and has taught thousands of people how to leverage the Infinite Banking Concept to eliminate debt and build lasting wealth. In this episode, he shares how he used this very system to wipe out nearly $1 million of personal debt in just 39 months - without changing his cash flow, taking on additional risk, or losing control of his money.

Brent breaks down the mechanics of infinite banking, explaining how properly structured whole life insurance policies - designed for high...

Today, I welcome Daniel Linh and Ali Nasir to The Investing Secrets Podcast. Daniel and Ali are the co-founders of RiseComm, a real estate investment firm specializing in manufactured home communities, and today they share how they’re building a competitive edge in one of the most misunderstood yet profitable asset classes in commercial real estate. Ali brings over 40 years of experience in the mobile home park industry, having grown up in the business, while Daniel brings a modern investor’s perspective on scaling operations, raising capital, and creating vertically integrated efficiencies.

They break down how their team...

Today, I welcome Julie Holly to The Investing Secrets Podcast. Julie is a seasoned real estate investor, podcast host, and high-performance coach who began her career as a public school teacher before transitioning into residential and ultimately commercial real estate. Over more than a decade, she’s built a diverse portfolio spanning multifamily, assisted living, and development projects - while helping countless investors and entrepreneurs break through the mental barriers that hold them back from true freedom.

In this episode, Julie opens up about the highs and lows of her investing journey, including the painful experience of un...

Today, I welcome Jonathan Tuttle to The Investing Secrets Podcast. Jonathan is the COO of Land Play, a flex office space development fund focused on capitalizing on the undersupply of flex industrial assets across high-growth U.S. markets. He’s best known for his success and thought leadership in the mobile home park investment space - where he built a national following and reputation as one of the industry’s top voices - but today, he shares why he’s pivoting from manufactured housing into flex space development and data center conversions.

Jonathan breaks down the macro and mi...

Today, I welcome Gian Pazzia to The Investing Secrets Podcast. Gian is the Co-Founder of KBKG, one of the largest cost segregation firms in the United States, and today he breaks down how real estate investors use cost segregation and depreciation to dramatically reduce - and in many cases, eliminate - their taxable income. He explains how cost segregation works, why it’s one of the most powerful yet underutilized tools in real estate investing, and how high-net-worth investors and institutional funds leverage it to accelerate deductions and maximize cash flow.

Gian also dives into bonus depreciation, re...

Today, I welcome Dr. Nkem Ezeamama to The Investing Secrets Podcast. Dr. Ezeamama is an emergency physician by trade who discovered real estate syndications after years of practicing medicine. Starting as a limited partner, she eventually founded Phoenix Capital, a multifamily investment group focused on acquisitions in the Southeast. She highlights why so many doctors and medical professionals remain financially illiterate despite their high incomes, and how she broke free from that system to build a portfolio while educating her peers on alternative investments.

Dr. Ezeamama also shares her journey from LP to GP, explaining why she...

Today, I welcome Patrick Grimes to The Investing Secrets Podcast. Patrick is the founder of Passive Investing Mastery and has devoted his career to educating W2 professionals on alternative investment strategies outside of Wall Street. After losing it all during the 2008–2009 recession, Patrick rebuilt his portfolio from the ground up, eventually transitioning out of his full-time engineering career into a life of investing and educating others.

In this episode, Patrick shares the critical lessons he learned from his early mistakes and why he believes non-correlated, recession-resilient investments are the smartest way to build long-term wealth in 2025 and be...

Today, I welcome Louis Rogers to The Investing Secrets Podcast. Louis is the CEO and Founder of Capital Square, a leading real estate sponsor specializing in tax-advantaged investments. An attorney by trade, Louis brings decades of expertise in tax law and real estate strategy, and today he shares his deep knowledge of tax deferral mechanisms that have helped thousands of investors preserve and grow their wealth.

He begins by walking us through the history of the 1031 exchange and how it has evolved to become one of the most powerful tools in real estate investing. Louis then dives...

Today, I welcome Ben Reinberg to The Investing Secrets Podcast. 

Ben is the CEO of Alliance Consolidated Group of Companies and today he shares how he has overseen billions of dollars in commercial real estate transactions while building a portfolio of more than half a billion dollars in assets. He highlights how he’s navigating today’s uncertain commercial real estate market and why motivated sellers and trillions of dollars of debt coming due are creating once-in-a-generation opportunities. Ben also dives into his new book, Hard Assets and Hard Money for Hard Times, where he lays out a blu...