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In this 10X Investor Journey episode, we had the pleasure of sitting down with Andrea Barnes, a seasoned real estate investor with an impressive national portfolio that spans single-family homes and multifamily projects.
Alongside her husband, Kevin, Andrea manages a multi-million-dollar portfolio that has expanded to include diverse passive investment vehicles such as energy, debt notes, real estate funds, and three ground-up developments.
Listeners gain valuable insights into her passion for continuous learning, particularly in tax and legal strategies, which she has successfully applied to boost her financial growth trajectory. She has dedicated over 7000 hours to master the art of passive investment, creating a financial legacy for her family.
With the support of a coach and The Pantheon Mastermind and Virtual Family Office, Andrea crafted an investment philosophy to expand her wealth, focusing on a balanced mix of monthly income and long-term growth opportunities.
This episode is a must-listen for those seeking a comprehensive understanding of real estate investment, financial growth, and the profound impact of strategic wealth management.
In This Episode
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How she achieves financial stability through strategic property investment
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Leveraging equity growth for acquiring new properties
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The importance of curiosity, knowledge, and community support
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Gaining insights and deal flow from a mastermind group and cultivating an investment philosophy through collective expertise
Welcome to today’s show on Wealth Strategy Secrets. We’re joined by Andrea Barnes on the 10x Investor Spotlight. Andrea is a seasoned real estate investor with a thriving portfolio. Together with her husband, Kevin, she manages a multimillion-dollar portfolio that includes single-family homes, multifamily projects, and various syndications.
But Andrea’s success doesn’t stop there. Before her real estate journey, she spent over three decades making a difference in the nonprofit and corporate philanthropy world. Her passion for helping others has led her to raise over $50 million for worthy causes.
Beyond her impressive professional achievements, Andrea deeply values her family life. With over 40 years of marriage, she and Kevin enjoy the blessings of two daughters and four grandchildren. Andrea, welcome to the show.
I’m so happy to be here. Thank you for the invitation.
We’re excited to have you on, Andrea, and to share your journey with our listeners. It’s been quite a journey, and I love how passionate and motivated you are about wealth building. You’ve explored many avenues, gathered numerous resources, and come a long way. I’m sure our listeners will gain a lot of value from your experience. So, let’s start by hearing a little bit about your background. How did you get interested in wealth building?
Thank you for the opportunity. I have a background similar to many people. I grew up in a middle-class family, and my husband did too. I may have started with even fewer financial resources. My mom raised five children on her own in the 1960s, so we didn’t have much financially, but she was a wonderful mother, and we lived a rich life in so many other ways. Somehow, she instilled in us a strong work ethic. If we wanted something, we had to be scrappy to get it.
I became independent fairly early when it came to finances. I had my first job at 14, and my siblings and I all went to college, which set us up for success. I started working in the nonprofit field, where I spent 35 years as an executive. My husband was a manufacturing engineer, so we both worked regular W-2 jobs. But being in the nonprofit sector, there weren’t many opportunities to save money. Only two of my jobs offered a 401(k) plan, so during those times, I saved diligently, but it wasn’t for the long term.
In 2008, just before I turned 50, the stock market and real estate market crashed. I lost a third of the savings in my 401(k), which was devastating. I was really disillusioned with the stock market. Around that time, my niece and nephew—both newly graduated with MBAs—came over for dinner. They told me they had been investing in single-family homes and were looking for a money partner for their third home.
After they left, I turned to my husband and said, “Maybe we could be a money partner. It wouldn’t be that hard.” My nephew introduced me to a group that coached people on how to transact real estate, and that experience profoundly changed our lives.
At age 50, instead of just investing as a money partner in my nephew’s one house, we decided to go all in. We got a game plan that showed what single-family homes could do if we reallocated our money. I converted what was left of my 401(k), and that’s where our journey into real estate truly began.
We took out a loan against our mortgage. I’m not saying this is the path for everyone, but it’s what we ended up doing. It was the scariest financial decision we’ve ever made. A lot of people told us we were wrong, saying, “You should never do this. You’re crazy.” And if you weren’t crazy, then you weren’t doing it right. That’s the kind of advice we got.
But we ended up buying six houses, and it turned out that with my background in nonprofit work—where there aren’t many people, so you have to be a jack of all trades—I had a lot of experience. I was raising money, developing websites, organizing events, managing boards of trustees, and more. I have a broad range of skills in strategic planning and program implementation.
It turns out I had a knack for project managing our houses. With the coaching we received, we grew our portfolio from the original six houses to a total of 18 within ten years. We did this largely through a sale here and there, and we took advantage of 1031 exchanges, which allow you to sell a property and reinvest in another without paying taxes.
I didn’t fully understand what that meant at first, but what it ended up meaning was that we went from being in a difficult position—feeling behind the eight ball financially, without a clear path to retirement—to growing our wealth to the point where we were in the 90th percentile for people our age. We successfully retired together last January, which was incredibly exciting!
Super exciting, indeed! I can’t imagine what you were going through. Actually, I can relate to that. For me, it was in 2000, during the tech bubble, when I became disillusioned with the market. But it takes a lot of courage to make that shift, and you mentioned something important that I think a lot of people struggle with going against the grain.
We’re naturally social creatures. We tend to follow the herd. The conventional advice is to put everything in your 401(k), but you and Kevin dared to step away from that and invest in real estate. What was going through your mind at the time? Did you have a specific goal or something pushing you to help you make that decision? Was it more of an incremental process, or did you purchase all those homes at once?
What got us started was when we first met with this coaching group. I told my husband, Kevin, that I wanted to be completely open about our financial situation. I didn’t want to hold anything back—I wanted to show them exactly where we stood and what we had available. The group did a back-of-the-napkin game plan to show us what we could potentially do over time with single-family homes.
Once I saw that and understood what it could look like, we decided to go for it. The first hurdle was paying to join the group, but once we did, they provided us with a coach. Our coach was very straightforward—no-nonsense, unemotional—and walked us through every step. That kind of guidance gave me the courage to keep going.
They also provided a lot of training, which helped me understand how to do this safely. I understood the markets and the investment much better than I ever understood stocks and bonds. I never really understood what made the stock market go up or down, and I certainly understood that I had no control over it. Real estate felt like something I could control, and that made all the difference.
I was at the mercy of the public market, but I could understand going into neighborhoods where people had lost their homes, and these houses were sitting vacant. I could see how I could buy a home, repair it, and make it a safe, valuable place for someone to live. That’s how you create value, change neighborhoods, and change lives. And that could change our lives too. I understood that part. I could wrap my head around it.
With some training, I also understood how we could generate equity growth. We happened to buy in neighborhoods where so many homeowners had lost their properties, so the home values were very low compared to what they had sold for previously. I understood that we were buying at a very safe price point, with a lot of upside potential over time, which is exactly what happened.
It was my coach who helped me through this. I was still working full-time, and my husband was still working as well. Real estate became something we could do passively—not fully passive, but mostly passive—maybe 5 to 10 hours a month. We worked on real estate, and then we had property managers and other team members, like insurance agents and mortgage brokers, to help us accomplish our goals.
What gave me confidence was having someone hold my hand and guide us through the process. I was good at getting things done to make sure we stayed on top of everything, did the right accounting, and filed our taxes properly. My superpower was project management.
“What gave me confidence was having someone hold my hand and guide us through the process.”
That’s one of Warren Buffett’s top investing rules. “Don’t invest in something you don’t understand.” It’s much easier, in my opinion, to understand real estate and tangible assets. As you said, you can walk into a neighborhood, see the asset, and look at data like market trends and comp statistics. There’s so much data available. And it’s not as volatile, so you can make an educated decision.
In contrast, with stocks, something can happen in another part of the world, like Asia, that impacts the entire market, and your position could drop by 5% in one day. It’s hard to explain that kind of volatility.
When you start your 401(k) at your company at 25, you check a few boxes that you don’t fully understand, and then you turn it over to someone else to manage it. It’s automated. But after I got actively involved in managing our money through our real estate portfolio, our wealth took off. We were making decisions every single day. Of course, sometimes we put it on the back burner, but we were actively engaged with our money.
At the time, we had aging parents and were facing our mortality. We had beautiful children, and soon grandchildren. We wanted to make sure we could live our lives fully as we entered our sixties. So, we started looking for ways to convert our portfolio into a more active contributor to our monthly income.
I was thrilled to discover that we had enough income to cover not only our basic expenses but also our lifestyle expenses. And on top of that, we would have money that could grow over the next 20 to 30 years, securing our future and providing something substantial for our family and future generations. We’re incredibly blessed, and we feel so grateful for the steps we took.
One of the ways I educated myself was by listening to podcasts. I’ve probably put in 7,000 to 10,000 hours of study, research, and active work since we started investing in houses. I’m not a bystander. I also listen to retirement podcasts, where people submit their profiles with details about their ages, resources when they want to retire, and their budgets. The experts then give them feedback, often saying, “You’ll have to work a few more years,” “You need to save more money,” or “With a 3% or 4% distribution, this is what your situation will look like.”
But when someone calls in with rental income or pension income or other streams of cash flow, they’ll often say, “You’re doing fantastic! You’ve got a great situation. Your money’s going to last you. The Monte Carlo simulation looks fantastic. You’re going to do great!”
That’s my philosophy: curiosity and interest. What’s possible? We’ve accomplished so much in just 10 years. It’s been a huge blessing, and we’ve been fortunate to do it as part of a community.
It’s such an inspirational journey, Andrea. I love how you’ve pulled up your sleeves and dug in from the very beginning, making steady progress. That’s so great for people to see because a lot of people might be earlier in their journey.
They see the promise and are educating themselves about passive investing, but they’re not quite there yet. Maybe they have a couple of different syndications under their belt, but they’re not at the point you’re at. It’s great to see how everything has come together for you, and how you’ve experienced that snowball effect.
With multiple streams of income, you also have tax efficiency. One scenario I like to paint for people—especially when I was struggling in my journey with traditional financial planning—is this: Let’s say you reach retirement age at 65 and have $4,000,000 in your portfolio. Using the Monte Carlo simulation, advisors would suggest you take out 4%, which, is even lower these days, but let’s go with 4%. That’s $160,000 a year. You’ve amassed $4 million, but that’s before taxes, fees, and inflation. In reality, it’s probably closer to $110,000 that you’re living on.
You probably wouldn’t expect that after getting to $4,000,000, you’d only be living on $110,000. Now, compare that with what you’ve done—investing in real estate and other assets that are tax-efficient and producing income. Using an average 8% cash flow return, that same $4,000,000 could yield you $320,000.
That’s double the amount you would get from the traditional model. And ideally, this would be tax-free because you’ve structured it properly. But the biggest advantage is that your money keeps growing over time. The $4,000,000 is still appreciating, while in the traditional model, they’re advising you to take out 4% annually, which depletes your golden goose.
That’s how I look at it too. Philosophically, I love the kind of investing we do—not in public markets, but in private markets. There were a lot of laws I didn’t know were in play when we started buying houses. When the Jobs Act was created, it allowed public investors like me to get involved in private developments, such as apartment complexes, without needing a personal relationship or being an institution like a bank or an insurance company. In the past, these types of deals were reserved for institutions and high-net-worth individuals.
As I built my single-family portfolio, we eventually became what’s considered an accredited investor or a sophisticated investor simply by the size of our portfolio. Suddenly, all kinds of opportunities were available to us that wouldn’t have been even 15 years ago. That’s another reason why I think my story can help people who are in a position like mine. We weren’t corporate executives with exorbitant salaries. We were just a middle-class family, making decent money, but not anything extraordinary. I believe the sky’s the limit. We have to be smart, of course—making sure we allocate our money prudently—but I’m very optimistic.
A big part of that optimism comes from taking responsibility for our family’s financial future. My husband is now retired, so he’s in the mix with me. But I also attend tax and legal conferences, and I’m in your mastermind, working with a group of people to tackle issues together and enjoy the collective wisdom of the group. Networking is essential, too, because you want to be ready for the next investment opportunity. It’s important to understand your options, potential issues, and the tax implications of different investments—whether they’re in your IRA, Roth, or outside of those accounts. I’m a lifelong learner, and I enjoy it. I’m having a blast!
What do you think led to your mindset transformation over the years?
Curiosity, for sure. Transitions have always intrigued me. Even the challenging ones, because they signal that something new is just around the corner. Instead of being upset about a good or bad transition, I just approach it with curiosity. I’m super curious—what’s next? What’s going to happen? Honestly, real estate was one of those transitions that turned out far better than I could have imagined.
“Real estate was one of those transitions that turned out far better than I could have imagined.”
I think it came at a time when my kids were moving out of the house. They had grown up and moved on, which opened up some intellectual space in my mind. I wasn’t actively raising kids anymore, and I needed something new, a fresh way to grow and learn.
That’s probably a big part of what pushed me down this path. I was also in a group I felt was skilled at helping with single-family homes, so that felt comfortable. Moving into passive income, though, was scarier because I didn’t have a coach, and I had never done it before. I didn’t know exactly where to start or what my resources were. There was a big learning curve, which made it harder. But I knew it was the next step if we wanted to scale our efforts.
What would you say is the difference in your mindset today compared to 15 years ago?
Confidence is a big one. Both my husband and I have developed significant expertise in single-family home investments, but now I feel much more confident in passive investments and wealth-building.
With experience comes wisdom—the highs, the lows, the good, the bad. There’s a lot to manage with single-family homes, and it’s taught us resilience. Now, I can see the big picture and the potential if we make smart decisions, and that motivates me a lot. How much do you think mindset plays a role in investing?
In many ways, it’s everything. You may not have all the resources, but you first have to decide you’re going to do this and commit to acquiring what you need. You also need to build a relationship with your money—no one else is going to manage it for you. So, you have to do the homework, understand how investments work, get comfortable with financial language, and take action. There are resources out there—like your coaching—and people who can help shortcut the learning curve.
You have to be in a relationship with your money, nobody else is going to do this for you. You have to do your homework, and you have to be comfortable with the financial language.
It’s essential to be proactive. You need to engage with others who are on a similar journey. I’ve heard you say that wealth is directly related to your relationships, and it’s true. Connections help you learn about opportunities. When you start listening and connecting, you hear things you wouldn’t have otherwise. Suddenly, you’ll recognize the right opportunity that fits your goals.
Ultimately, it’s about making a decision, building relationships, and taking consistent steps forward. Save money, increase productivity, perhaps get a better job or a side hustle, and set yourself up to invest and keep reinvesting.
Absolutely. Knowledge is power, but it’s knowledge plus action that brings results. Many people sit on the sidelines too long, but part of learning is taking that first step forward—even if it’s risky. Our culture fears failure, but not every investment will go perfectly.
There’s risk in any asset class, yet you’ll learn faster by failing faster, or just treating it as a learning experiment. Andrea, could you tell us a bit about your current portfolio? It’s fascinating how you’ve transitioned from single-family homes to focusing more on passive income and tax efficiency.
At our peak, we had 18 single-family homes. We realized we needed to change that mix. My husband’s investments were in the stock market due to his position with a large defense firm, so we decided to sell some houses. Now, we’re down to 13, and we’ve used the profits to diversify.
And we were able to take 50% of his funds and put it into a self-directed 401(k). This allowed us to start putting his money to work in passive investments even before he retired. Now, we have 13 houses and are involved in 13 passive investments, having started with one investment before retirement.
These investments are diverse. We’re in three multifamily apartment complexes, a few debt funds, and four ground-up developments, which is exciting. We also have a couple of income funds that generate monthly income. It’s a mix of assets, all part of an investment strategy we developed with our mastermind group. Our approach allocates one-third of our portfolio specifically to monthly income to cover basic and lifestyle expenses, which we hope to grow over time.
Since we’re in our “go-go” years, we want to enjoy life as much as possible. We ski, bike, golf, and travel a lot, and our kids and grandkids live both near and far, so we bring them along on our adventures. The other two-thirds of our portfolio is dedicated to long-term growth, invested in opportunities that are less accessible but offer a higher upside. We hold funds both inside and outside of qualified retirement plans, focusing on tax-advantaged investing.
It’s great how you’ve allocated capital to meet your needs. I always encourage investors to consider their overall portfolio allocation and the specific purpose each part serves, as it varies by stage in life. Some may prioritize income, others tax efficiency, depending on where they are in their journey.
Breaking it down allows for more portfolio velocity overall. Andrea, you mentioned the mastermind group. Could you share any thoughts on how the Pantheon Mastermind has provided insights, relationships, or opportunities?
Absolutely. Having a coach helped us build our single-family home portfolio and gave me the confidence to move forward. If my coach suggested a move, I could trust their expertise. When I was just starting, I knew I needed a mastermind to help me navigate this new path.
Being a mastermind accelerates the learning curve; you gain wisdom from the group, seeing what strategies they use, which investments they favor, and sharing common goals. For example, some of us are working on converting our 401(k)s to Roths and can exchange notes on the process.
A ground-up development is very different from investing in a real estate fund that pays monthly. The mastermind gives us a forum to discuss the pros and cons, challenges, and how to vet sponsors. The deal flow you provide is incredible, and we can review these opportunities together, discussing how they fit into our portfolios, what they bring, and if they align with our income or growth goals. You also realize you have wisdom to share, gained from lived experience, that can impact others’ trajectories, which makes the exchange even more rewarding.
Andrea, if you could give listeners one piece of advice on accelerating their wealth trajectory, what would it be?
For me, it’s about taking charge of your financial situation. Don’t leave it solely to a public market advisor; instead, build a relationship with your money, identify your goals, and figure out the best steps to achieve them. Consider how your financial picture aligns with your family goals. We’ve even brought our adult daughters into our company as advisors to shape the future over the next 20 years, preparing them for the eventual transition.
Surround yourself with an expert team. We have what we call our “family office” with asset protection, insurance, estate planning, and a CPA acting as our CFO. Our mastermind is a key part of our investment advisory. We’re intentional about surrounding ourselves with people who support our success.
That’s so powerful, Andrea. So much wisdom in what you’ve shared. Thank you for your time today. Where can people connect with you if they have questions?
I’m on LinkedIn under Andrea H. Barnes, and I’d be happy to connect and share any insights.
Thanks, Andrea. Appreciate it.
Thank you.