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In today’s episode, we had the honor of having Bronson Hill, the Managing Member of Bronson Equity. With an impressive portfolio boasting 2000 multifamily units valued at over $200 million, Bronson is a powerhouse in real estate investment.
He’s also the co-leader of the thriving in-person multifamily meetup, Investor to Investor (ITI), based in Glendale, CA. Bronson shared insights gleaned from his extensive experience, having engaged personally with over 1500 investors, raising an astounding $40 million for real estate ventures and his innovative ATM Machine Fund deals.
One of the highlights of our conversation was Bronson’s exclusive mastermind for affluent passive investors. Within this community, members are offered unparalleled investment opportunities in a growth-oriented environment. Bronson’s commitment to providing value and fostering growth within his community is truly commendable.
Bronson’s deep understanding of the investor mindset is evident not just in his achievements but also in his dedication to education. As the host of the Mailbox Money Show, he’s committed to empowering others on their journey to financial freedom. His book, “Fire Yourself; Replace Your Working Income with Passive Income in 3 Years or Less,” serves as a blueprint for those looking to break free from the chains of traditional employment.
Tune in to this episode as we delve deep into the strategies and principles behind Bronson Hill’s remarkable success and uncover the secrets to achieving financial independence through strategic investing.
In This Episode
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Insights from his book Fire Yourself; Replace Your Working Income with Passive Income in 3 Years or Less
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His expert insight and perspective about passive investing vs growth
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Bronson’s personal investment thesis and stand with the current market economic cycle
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The importance of mindset, vision and having long term goals
How’s it going, everyone? Welcome to today’s show on Wealth Strategy Secrets. Our next guest is Bronson Hill. Bronson is the managing member of Bronson Equity and is a key player in the Real Estate industry, having over 2,000 multifamily units. You may have heard Bronson on the Mailbox Money Show or even read his latest book, Fire Yourself. Bronson, welcome to the show.
Dave, I’m excited to be here. I know I just had you on my show recently and I’m excited to return the favor and enjoy our conversations.
Likewise, Bronson. It’s always great to connect with like-minded people and try to extract some insights that we’ve learned through our journeys and try to impart that to our listeners so that they can learn and grow as well, wherever they might be in their journey.
Tell us about your book. Let’s jump into your book first, Fire Yourself. What does that mean to you? How are you inspired to write the book? And what are some of the core concepts?
It takes me back to my journey. I was a high-paid medical sales professional. I was wearing scrubs going into heart surgery and making over 200,000 a year, working 30 hours a week. And a lot of people in the medical field; I worked with a couple of physicians who made $3 million a year each, but they didn’t have what everybody wanted. People save financial freedom, but what we want is time freedom. The ability to make money while you sleep, as Warren Buffett says.
It took me on a quest over time. This was years ago and learned if I had four or five rental houses, it wouldn’t get me to a place where I was making money without a lot of effort. If I was doing Stock trading or Options trading, I had some big losses. I realized I’m not a good office trader, but also, it wasn’t passive.
The idea of being able to scale up investments, being able to grow; I learned about syndication and it’s my journey. But in the book, Fire Yourself, I talked about being a registered investment advisor for a few years. I now call myself a ‘Recovering Investment Advisor’ because sometimes Wall Street doesn’t always have an alignment of interest. Learning about things in Main Street versus Wall Street can help you grow your wealth consistently over time without taking up more of your time.
We give some strategies on how to identify and find deals. Also how to vet any deal of any market – vetting the specific market, vetting those operators, and vetting the specific deal. It’s a how-to; I’ve had over 2000 calls, one-on-one calls with high net-worth investors worth over 2 million on average. A lot of times they come up and say, “How do I get started doing this? How do I feel comfortable to pull the trigger and do it?” That’s why this is a guide for those that are getting started.
That’s awesome. Tell us about being an RIA. We’ve had several guests on the show with people who’ve come from that background. It’s fascinating to unpack this because you’ve gotten to see it from both sides of the coin. You have a unique perspective to create clarity for people because let’s face it, 90% of Americans still have substantial holdings in 401(k)s, IRAs, some type of stock bonds, mutual funds, and they still have a traditional advisor. What are some of the key things that you learned from being an advisor that’s different about now?
No one cares about your investments as much as you do.
There’s a lot, it’s almost like the Wizard of Oz. When you see the Wizard of Oz as this grandiose person, and then they realize it’s this guy behind a curtain, and they say, “Pay no attention to the man behind the curtain.” You can look at something and look away, but once you see it, you can’t unsee it.
There’s a study that came out that showed on those managing in Wall Street – over $100 million in a fund, over 50% of those had zero dollars invested along with their investors. There’s a misalignment of interest. One thing we look for is for our interests aligned. If your portfolio goes down by 50%, your Wall Street advisor still gets paid. A lot of what they do is manage your psychology to prevent you from selling.
Sometimes we need that. We do need the ability to help to save, but that’s one-on-one. One-on-one is to pay off credit card debt. Don’t spend more than what you have. And as you start to invest and you start to learn, you realize the volatility that comes with investing in the stock market. I’m not anti-stocks. I own stocks. I own different things. I own some crypto. But believing that managing money is not like being a brain surgeon. It’s not like you have to have the highest-level person in the world doing it.
Then one thing I’ve learned about investing is no one cares about your investments the way that you do. As you’re trusting somebody else, when you’re trained as a registered investment advisor, they use this word called ‘suitability’. Suitability is simply saying, that if you’re an 80-year-old male, you shouldn’t probably go into startup ventures because you could die in the next five or ten years. You may not even see the benefit of that versus if you’re somebody with a certain net worth or certain investments make more sense.
Even with the word suitability, we don’t use that. I wouldn’t want a suitable spouse, a suitable investment, or a suitable vacation. Those are like, “Let’s get you into the suitable thing.” I’ve met some great advisors. If these people are wealthy, they do not get their wealth by using these strategies. That’s where I find it’s almost a bit hypocritical to advise people to do the most conservative things.
If you have a bunch of money, and you don’t want to lose it, it can be okay. But even then, there are a lot of fees that are not disclosed. Tony Robbins said that the average mutual fund will say their fees are 1.2%, but it’s more like 3.2%. There are all these hidden fees. They legally do not have to disclose. There are a lot of things about Wall Street that I find are not what they seem and I find Main Street is a much better place to be.
Be careful who you listen to when it comes to your finances.
I couldn’t agree more with that. I started asking questions when I started this journey. That was one of the things that turned me off from traditional financial planning is that they say things like dollar cost average, and you’re going to make 7%. The market’s always going up over time. Let’s look at that over the next 35 years.
You have to go up over time. That tells me that they don’t have a good answer. They’re averaging because they don’t know what to focus on. Then there are other things like deferring your taxes, which they think is a good idea. In actuality, you’re kicking the can further down the road, and you’re going to pay a hefty bill when it comes time to withdraw those funds at ordinary income tax rates, which are going up in the future as well versus getting into some tax-efficient things.
Another interesting thing is the 99%. If you’re in the 1%, the listeners on our podcast, they’re in the 1%. Why are you taking advice from a 99%? You need a different type of advisor and a different type of plan. That’s the retail plan.
I don’t know if we were talking on my show about this, but like Robert Kiyosaki, he gets passionate when he speaks. I read the book, Rich Dad, Poor Dad, the purple book that hanged a lot of people’s lives. He said, “Don’t listen to poor people’s ideas.” Warren Buffett talks about whether the person who arrived on Wall Street in a limo years ago should take advice from someone who took the subway.
It’s the idea of, who are you listening here? You have to be careful who you listen to because, when I talk to people who are worth a hundred million dollars or more, they do the exact opposite of what the conventional wisdom of what you’re advised to do. They did not diversify crazy, or put stuff in index funds. They found one business or idea, they put everything into it, and they worked hard.
They grew their wealth. That’s how people become wealthy generally. There are different ways people do it and some diversity can be good. But in general, if you follow these safe and secure strategies that they say, there are many reasons why I can find polls in that. You have to be careful who you listen to when it comes to your finances.
That was insightful. We had a couple of months ago, Michael Sonnenfeldt on our show from TIGER21, He shared their portfolio allocation model. What’s fascinating is you would think that one-tenth of the 1% of the best investors in the world would have a different model, and they only had 20% to 22% exposure to public equities. What does that tell you? It’s skewed in favor of this 60-40 approach, which is completely broken.
The other thing too is an interesting concept, the more money you have the better your network. We were talking about this before we started recording, you get access to private deals that no one has access to. My friend, Justin Donald calls these invisible deals. If you’re simply trading as a retail investor, you think of it this way.
When Facebook went public or if X (Formerly Twitter) went public. Some people were in the room and got a chance to invest in a much earlier round. And those are the people that sometimes made a hundred X or a thousand X on their money because they were in there. They had those networks to be able to do that versus a retail investor that went in with a public.
You’re getting it at the last kind of available thing. For liquidity and for being public, there’s a huge premium you’re paying to be able to have that opportunity versus if you get a private deal, you offer your investor or we offer our investors. It can be something that no one else has.
I’ve had a few completely exclusive deals. Because of a relationship, because of the size of what we’re bringing in, it allows for something unique. If you simply follow traditional wisdom, it will leave you in the best middle class with some savings and a bit of income. At the worst, you’ll be poor. You’ll continue to stay poor. Unfortunately, this is what our financial system, even the financial education, or the investment world has become. Things have to be private for them for these opportunities that are out there.
How have you been able to help newer investors who’ve gotten into passive investing explore alternative assets? How have you been able to help them to understand in terms of a risk perspective, getting into something new like this? What are some of the strategies that you’ve done to help them with that?
I realize the number one pitfall of a new investor who only; I think of conversations I’ve had multiple times is with physicians worth $5 million who have only done stocks & bonds and have a money person that is their advisor. It’s hard to get the idea of investing in something. If you have a net worth of $5 million, putting fifty or a hundred thousand into a deal is not a lot of money compared to your net worth.
For some people, that’s a lot of money. Every situation is different. But the biggest thing that I find is the Analysis paralysis, that you’re the one who’s pulling the trigger and saying, “I’m going to do this.” When you make the decision that you’re going to invest in this deal, this is one that I talk about in my book – give yourself a timeline, whether it’s 30 or 60 days, and say, “I’m going to find people through podcasts and online, I’m going to find some different sources, network, or meetups. Within the next 60 days, I’m going to look at five to ten different deals, and I’m going to invest in at least one.”
What you’ve done is you’ve given yourself a timeline, and you are going to make a decision. It will go fine with the deal you invest in. It will be okay, but you’re going to learn a ton. For me, if you’re playing, if you go to Las Vegas and you watch people all the time playing and say, “That’s great.” But if you have money in a Poker game, you’re going to pay attention, you’re going to learn.
I’m not saying investing is like gambling, it’s you’re investing in a stock and you have money in there, you’re going to pay attention. For a lot of people, this is an interesting idea. This is a concept. This is something that could be interesting to where I’ve invested now.
I’m seeing cash flow, I’m seeing this deal work. This is great, I can put more money over here so that I can sell my business and I have a way to generate income. A lot of people haven’t figured out how to solve that. I’ve sold my business for five million dollars. I’ve got kids that need to go to college, and I’ve got to pay for expenses. How do I do that? Some of the stuff that’s out there right now, there are some income things, but what happens when rates drop again and some of those income things go away, you need to be able to have ways that you can generate cash flow or appreciation in your life. That helps those kind of people.
It also helps people like the doctors that I mentioned who have a net worth of three million or more. If they started putting money into this other bucket that I call the ‘passive income’ or the investment side, they would start to generate income. Then they could decide, “Do I want to fire myself and stop working? Or even if I keep working, I can do it on my terms.” That’s a great feeling for people when you don’t have to go to work.
You need to find ways to generate cash flow or appreciation in your life.
Your passive income covers your living expenses. Maybe not your income yet, but it covers your living expenses. You are free. You can say, “Do I want to go part-time? But I want to keep doing this, do I need to choose?” A lot of people cannot quit their jobs. Even high earners cannot quit their jobs because they haven’t figured out a way to generate income outside of their jobs.
What do you think is your philosophy around passive investing versus growth?
I might need some clarity on that.
Meaning, income. I know some proponents on the passive income side are focused on creating as much passive income as fast as possible so that you can have your passive exceed your expenses and claim yourself financially free versus another scenario which would be growth. Building up your balance sheet.
I got it now. Passive, the income side of cash flow versus appreciation. This is a question I ask every investor when I get them on the phone, “What’s more important to you, cash flow or long-term capital growth?” They’re both important. Having growth is as good as income.
I’ve become much more one-sided on this and cash flow is number one. In general, once you have enough cash flow or if you have a super high net worth, you can say, “I don’t need cash flow because I’ve got other sources coming in.” But I even look at that and say, “You probably have some cash flow coming in somewhere. Because at the end of the day, that is the first form of financial freedom.” For me, it wasn’t that much.
I realized I was spending 60,000 to 70,000 a year. If I covered that number, then I had enough to be able to choose whether I wanted to go to work or not. I had enough where I was able to choose how I wanted to go about things. Again, everybody’s situation is different. Somebody who’s super high net worth; if you’re a 10 million or more net worth or a 5 million or more net worth, you have enough net worth that will be fine with whatever you do unless you’re buying fancy houses and flying on jets all the time, then you’re going to be okay.
If you simply follow traditional wisdom, you’ll end up in the middle class with some savings and a bit of income.
The first step is to find a way to generate enough cashflow to cover your living expenses. If anybody’s played, I have it on the shelf behind me or the cashflow one-on-one game that Robert Kiyosaki also created. The whole point of the game is to get out of the rat race, get out of the race that you have; if you can cover that. If you’re a doctor, maybe your expenses or your income are higher. Or if you’re a mechanic, maybe you had a different ratio.
I’m a big cashflow person and we do have some deals where it’s making a lot of money someday and it’s good, especially these days where it’s hard to find Real estate with the cash flows. That’s why we’ve shifted. I know you guys are doing a lot of alternatives to Real estate such as oil and gas. We’re doing business stuff such as ATMs and other things that are more cash flow related. But I’m a much stronger proponent of the idea that cash flow is the most important thing for most people.
Interesting. I’ll play devil’s advocate for a moment. I’ve had extensive conversations with Tom Wheelwright about this, and it’s fascinating. Because on the surface, I’ve got to keep growing that passive income. If I take $1, then I can convert that to a return of 5% or 10%.
Let’s play out a simple scenario for people to drive home the point. You have 100 thousand to invest and you put that into a Real estate that’s producing a 10% return, which would be nice. But for round numbers, you’re getting a 10% return, it’s got a five-year hold to it. You’re making 10 thousand and passive income over the next five years. At the end of five years, you would have made 50 thousand passive income, and get back your principal of 100 thousand.
Let’s juxtapose that with putting that 100 thousand into a growth-based opportunity that doubles your equity in two years. You have 200 thousand in the second year, then you put it into that Real estate. Now you have 20,000 and then 20,000s over the next five years – you’ve just made a hundred. You’ve doubled what you’ve done in a shorter amount of time.
It depends on what someone’s goals are. Your point is correct. Most capital growth strategies I see are typically longer term; they’re typically five to ten-year type of things. If I had a two-year, I’m going to double my money in two years. I would look at that as an unusual type of deal. They are out there, they do exist, they are. Some people do that, it depends on someone’s goals.
If somebody is looking to continue working, “Am I looking to retire?” There is a conversation around, it’s not one-size-fits-all for everyone. The goal of that example If I understood it correctly was to get to a place where you are getting cash flow. You’re going to get it now or you’re going to get it later. But what the cash flow enables you to do is to be able to live the life that you want.
People seek financial freedom, but what we really want is time freedom.
And if you already have a high net worth, it doesn’t matter as much. But if somebody is a professional, they’re making 100,000 to a million a year, and their expenses are higher to be able to put more money into something that generates income for them; I have a choice here.
There’s a powerful thing that can happen. Not everybody’s goal is that, and people where they’re in their life.
If you have a high net worth, it’s not as big of an issue. If you have a high net worth and you’re looking at total return, that’s fine. But I know a lot of people that are trying to figure it out and they’re not quite there yet to try to sort that part out.
Good points, Bronson. The takeaway is it’s all individualized based on your goals and what you want. Then try to do that thorough analysis of what kind of opportunities are available, what your time horizon looks like, and what your risk tolerance looks like. Do you have a particular investment thesis?
My thesis, there are a few things that become core values in whatever you invest in. A lot of Warren Buffett’s sayings are key to me, but we have three things that we look for in any investment that we do. One is making sure that whoever we invest with; whether people invest with us as passive investors or we invest in other deals. I’m a passive investor as well. Make sure the values are aligned.
I used to think everybody had the same goals and the same vision. I found a lot of people want to raise money from investors and they don’t want to do communication. They don’t want to hear it from investors. They feel like investors are annoying. We look at investors as partners and that’s another kind of core value. Investors are long-term partners.
In our projects and also the partners we work with different assets, such as ATMs, car washes, oil, and gas, we look at those as long-term partners with us as well. Then the other thing is being transparent in our communication. So we try communicating transparently, making sure our partners have access to everything they want when it comes to what we’re doing. It’s trying to find the best possible return for investors while minimizing risk.
There are different elements of that. We’ve done VC (Venture Capital) deals that have a potential of a hundred X return, and that’s a different type. That goes against the cash flow thing that I was saying earlier. We’ve got stuff in Season Senior Housing, which is more of a longer-term appreciation play. We’ve got ones that are like the ATMs or oil and gas that are more cashflow related.
What cash flow enables you to do is live the life you want.
We have provided a variety of things for investors and it comes down to making sure that it’s a fit with what this investor is trying to do – whether it’s a tax reduction, a cash flow, appreciation strategy, that it matches up with the investment that they’re in. When I’ve had a call and this has happened before, where somebody says, “I’m looking for a hundred percent return in one year.” I say, “That’s not what we do. We don’t have those types of deals.” We’ve had traditional multifamily stuff. We have a recessionary income fund, which is like a debt fund.
We’ve got some other things that we’re doing that provide cash flow, appreciation, or other high-upside types of things. It varies based on the kind of what people are looking for. Warren Buffett said, “Better to buy a wonderful business at a fair price than a fair business at a wonderful price.” Things that are great business opportunities, great investment opportunities that we find are conservative, that are not lofty assumptions. Trying to shoot for the moon in general and making sure that we have good partnerships with people that can be for the long term. Those are a few of our values.
That’s great. Slow and steady wins the race. Too often we’re all looking for that silver bullet. It’s amazing to see the people play the lottery and the powerball. It shows you the psychology behind all of this investing. It does take some real foresight and some discipline to invest in the right assets and start looking at this in the long term.
Family Offices invest for 25 years at a clip, not the next month, or the next quarter. Speaking of the market, you follow a lot of market economic cycles and track that. Any thoughts from your perspective on where we are in the cycle, and what you’re foreseeing for 2024?
My crystal ball is broken. I don’t know what’s going to happen. We forecasted several rate cuts. It’s hard to say what is going to happen because we’re now seeing a lot. I had a panel recently with a few experts and it’s hard to get good information. I still think inflation is much higher than what it’s being reported as.
While the Federal Reserve is patting itself on the back saying inflation is down to 3%, we’re still much higher than that, substantially higher. There’s the incentive, it almost feels like a sideshow even though it dramatically affects every market, what the cost of money is, what rates are, and where they are regardless.
One thing we’ve tried to gear ourselves toward is that if rates stay high, we have investments that work for that. If rates come down, it’s hard to time a market. As an investor, this is a valuable skill that I didn’t realize. A lot of investors are one-trick ponies. I do Multifamily investing I do Crypto, I do businesses, or I only do one thing. There may be a time when it’s a great time to own precious metals as well.
The first wealth is health.
It’s a great time to buy businesses. It’s a great time to buy Real estate. Real estate is a challenging cause of higher rates. There’s not a lot of cash flow there. I do own a lot of precious metals, which I’m pretty bullish on in general, because of all the creation of currency that’s happened. That’s less of a cash-flowing investment, but a store of wealth and insurance.
There are other things like businesses, oil, and gas; there are commodities. There are other things that we were like as well. In any market, there’s always a transfer of wealth going on. And it’s trying to get ahead of that and figuring out what makes the most sense. I talk about this in my book where we look at historical valuations for different asset classes. When you look at a price-earnings ratio in the stock market, how are stocks valued? Right now they’re still fairly high.
If you look at a valuation of Real estate versus income, we’re still relatively high. If we look at other things, some things are not as good of a deal versus other assets can be a great deal. Looking at different assets and being open to that can be valuable as well.
I appreciate that. Bronson, what is your top personal productivity hack?
My top hack is going to sound simple. I know you’re a big mindset guy as well, but I have my sheets right here. This is a shorter day than usual, but I’ll have four different kinds of quadrants I’ll put on one corner. I’ll put my schedule for the day. I’ll put the kind of things related to work, or what I need to get done. I’m a big cross-off-the-list guy. This is low-tech here. I’m not giving a high tech.
I also have my other personal stuff I need to get done and the stuff that carries over to the next day. It’s amazing. I use a Google Calendar, but being able to put stuff on there the night before gets me visualizing my day. “What’s going to happen? What are the gaps in my schedule where I can get certain things done? What are the things that are scheduled?”
High performers, they’re good at schedule. So I have an assistant who helps with my schedule and I could ask, “What am I going to work on this day?” I know you’ve been a part of a strategic coach, a part of a group that we’re a part of where they talk about having different types of days; Your focus day, your buffer day, or your free day, and understanding what you’re going to do for that specific day. It feels so rewarding to cross things off a list or to be able to feel organized when I start a day. I know exactly what I’m doing that day—it’s the concept of planning your work and working on your plan.
Cool. I know there’s something about the brain. When you put pen to paper, it reacts differently in the brain versus typing it. That’s good. I know you’re a big runner, Bronson, so what types of running are you into and do you have any events coming up that you’re training for?
The first step is to generate enough cash flow to cover your living expenses.
I agree, thanks. I do what’s called Spartan Races, which is a Tough Mudder race. They have obstacles, you carry a 60-pound bag up a hill for half a mile, or you climb something heavy, and you submerge underwater, or muddy. People ask you to pay to do this. Why would you pay to do this? It’s to pay to get beat up.
It feels great when you finish it and when you have another race on the calendar; it keeps you motivated. For my next race, I have a half marathon trail run with some hills coming up in a couple of weeks from Saturday. I find when there’s something on the calendar, it keeps me in shape. I’m 43 now. As I get older, it’s harder to stay motivated. I find that pushing myself and competing in something is rewarding, especially when I see progress.
Cool. If you keep doing the Spartan races, I’m going to have to give you my Stem cell lead so you can keep those joints fresh.
Exactly. I’ll be regenerated. I can do this until I’m 85 because I do Stem cells every month.
My latest thing is I’m trying to be the six-million-dollar man. If I can put six million into my body over my lifetime, can that generate?
That’s awesome. Is that what today’s dollars would be in 20 years? Six million gets less.
Over my lifetime with everything that you do. It’s making constant, upgrades to everything.
That’s great. I was going to say with inflation, six million is not as that six million is calculated.
Exactly. The stakes get bigger as we go, but there are many amazing technological advances that people aren’t aware of. It’s investing. You have to look under rocks to find this whole new space. Once you start getting into it and see what’s available, you’ll begin to understand more. We’ve seen people like Steve Jobs, he had all the money in the world, but he couldn’t buy another day. What is that investment worth to you, in your body?
It’s huge. That’s why I’m active and why I enjoy, the first wealth is health. If you can live, and I saw this in the medical field, people would be in their 50s or 60s and be a death store. I was thinking, if you could have made some different choices, lost a little weight, not smoked, and been generally active.
Without vision, people will perish.
These people could have 20 more years and a good quality of life years. Who does that benefit? It benefits their kids, their grandkids, their neighbors, and the world. For good people living longer, it’s a huge benefit for people to take care of themselves. That’s a huge thing, that’s important. I love that you do a lot of that as well. We’ll have to talk more about that.
Do you have a number that you’re focused on? longevity number?
A number as far as how long I want to live. Dan Sullivan has a book where it says, “My goal is to live to 165.” His idea is that when people reach their 60s, they often start winding down their lives, and then, about 10 to 20 years later, they pass away. The idea is to remain productive throughout your life as long as you have goals and things to look forward to.
I don’t have a specific number because sometimes it’s out of your control. I’d love to live to be 100; I have to say my number is 125. Some of it is the quality of life that you do live. You can control what you can control, but make the most of every moment. I’ll be around as long as I can and making a difference in whatever way I can for as many years as I have and I’m going to make choices that give myself the best chance of doing that.
That’s awesome. I’ve been living that. The first time I went through that exercise, I came up with 116, and since then, I’ve expanded it to 146.
Nice.
A lot of people will say, “That’s crazy. Why are you thinking like that? Do you want to live that long?” What I can tell you is that’s amazing after having that type of mindset for seven years now as it provides freedom of your time and not thinking because you start seeing; I’m 54 now, and you start seeing peers, all they’re talking about is retiring.
I sadly lost one of my best friends from college recently who had a heart attack. Different health things popped up. What it does is transform you from this conventional thinking of, “At 65, my life needs to slow down. I’m going to do less. I’m going to have fewer capabilities.” My world starts shrinking. I feel that I haven’t even hit middle age, and it expands my present moment, which is powerful.
It’s a huge mind shift. Because if I think I’ve got my best days out ahead of me, you’re going to make different choices. If you realize that many people don’t have a plan, eat poorly, don’t exercise, and make other choices without a clear vision, it becomes apparent why they struggle. In your life, that future vision is important where, in the Bible, says, “Without vision, people perish.”
If I don’t have some sort of vision for my life, I might end up like many people who are depressed or unhappy with their jobs. However, if you have a long-term vision for yourself, it will lead you to make different decisions. You’ll start planning with the mindset of living to 100, 140, or even 160 years old.
It could be possible with technology. It’s people who made choices to live well and have good cardiovascular health and strength and maybe didn’t smoke. There may be other options that they were getting. They’re able to print organs out of 3D printing. Some of the things are coming out, we don’t know over the next 30, 40, or 50 years. I’ve watched people and I’ve seen them at death store. I wish I had made different choices.
It’s valuable. I look at life as stewardship. We steward, you and I – we manage money for people in the sense we manage deals. With our time, we’re stewards of what we have. Time is the most valuable thing. It’s cliche to say that, “What are we investing with our time?” We’re investing in making a difference in people’s lives, we’re investing in our families, in our health, and we’re doing this so that we can continue to impact. It’s valuable. I love that conversation.
You’ll be the same person five years from now, except for the books you read and the people you meet.
Awesome, I appreciate that. If you could give one piece of advice to the audience about how they can accelerate their wealth trajectory, what would it be?
I’d say, shave your head as soon as possible. No, I’m kidding.
I have a solution to that. Peptides.
That’s awesome. We’ll talk more about that. One piece of advice that would change your life, there are two parts to this. There’s a quote that I love that says, “You’ll be the same person five years from now, except for the books you read and the people you meet.”
It’s not about reading books. It’s about education, learning, and growth. Part of that is the people that you meet, the people that you connect with. You and I, Dave, were introduced by a mutual friend. My life is better because we are connected.
I’ve learned even in the conversations we’ve had, I’ve learned some valuable things. We may do some deals together. There’s a lot of value there and a lot of other things in my life, networks, and growth has happened through meeting people or by learning something. If you want to change your life, make a goal, commit to reading books, learn, grow, meet new people, and put yourself in new rooms. Those are my two-sided pieces of advice.
I love it. It’s been such a pleasure talking about our favorite topics. We could go on for a couple of hours here and look forward to doing that in person the next time. If people want to learn more about you or what you’re doing with Bronson Equity, what’s the best place people can connect?
Thanks, Dave. I appreciate being here. I have so much respect for you, what you’re doing, and how you’ve built value for your network. I would love to continue to work together and find more ways to work together.
The best way to reach out is through social media. You can also go to my website – I have my Amazon bestselling book. You can get the first couple of chapters for free there. You can also join our Investor Club. We have our podcast which is called, ‘The Mailbox Money Show’. It’s on YouTube. It’s on anywhere you get your podcasts.
Thanks again, David. It’s been a lot of fun.
Awesome, thanks. I appreciate it, Bronson.
Thanks, brother.
Important Links
Connect with Bronson Hill
Connect with Pantheon Investments
Book Mentioned
People
Further Resources
Your 10-Step Actionable Checklist From This Episode
✅ Explore private deals and investments that are not available to the general public but offer higher returns.
✅ Determine whether your priority is generating immediate cash flow or focusing on long-term capital growth, and invest accordingly.
✅ Develop a strategy to build a passive income stream that covers your living expenses, enabling you to make career choices based on preference rather than necessity.
✅ Choose investments and partners that align with your core values, such as transparency, communication, and long-term partnership.
✅ Explore a range of asset classes (e.g., real estate, businesses, precious metals) and adjust your investment strategy based on market conditions and personal financial goals.
✅ Utilize effective productivity techniques, such as detailed daily planning and prioritization, to enhance personal efficiency and focus on high-impact activities.
✅ Establish personal longevity goals and make lifestyle choices that contribute to a longer, healthier life. Focus on maintaining a high quality of life and staying productive throughout your years.
✅ Actively connect with new people and expand your network. Build relationships that can offer valuable insights, opportunities, and collaborations.
✅ Establish clear goals for both short-term and long-term achievements. Regularly track your progress and adjust your strategies as needed.
✅ Connect with experts and resources such as Bronson Equity that can support your journey. Explore platforms like social media, podcasts, and books to stay informed and engaged with relevant content and communities.
About Bronson Hill
As a Managing Member of Bronson Equity, Bronson partners in 2,000 multifamily units worth over $200M. He co-leads the Investor to Investor meetup in Glendale, CA, hosts The Mailbox Money Show, and has spoken with over 1,500 investors. Having raised over $40M for real estate and ATM deals, Bronson authored Fire Yourself and contributes regularly to YouTube and his blog. He also leads a mastermind for affluent passive investors, offering exclusive growth-oriented opportunities.