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We have a truly inspiring episode lined up today as we welcome back an 
exceptional guest, Whitney Sewell. Whitney is not just a real estate powerhouse but a beacon of philanthropy and family values. As the founder of LifeBridge Capital, Whitney’s journey from military service through law enforcement to becoming a real estate syndicator is nothing less than extraordinary.
Whitney’s story is strongly tied to his mission of helping families adopt children, underscored by the creation of the Omna Foundation. After adopting five children himself, Whitney shares how his family-first approach has shaped his personal and professional life. His journey illustrates the vital mindset shifts and strategic actions that led to his financial freedom, all while prioritizing mission and meaning.
In this compelling episode, Whitney offers a deep dive into the challenges and transformations of the past 24 months in the real estate market. Moreover, he shares his insights on leadership and the crucial role of intentional time with family. We explore the concept of true wealth and how to achieve it in ways that resonate beyond financial gains.
This episode is a must-listen for anyone looking to harmonize their financial goals with personal fulfillment and family legacy.
In This Episode
- Whitney’s inspiring journey from military and law enforcement to real estate success.
- The role of family and mission in shaping business decisions and financial strategies.
- Navigating the challenging real estate market of the past two years.
- The importance of leadership and intentional time for family legacy and true wealth.
Welcome to the wealth strategy secrets of the ultra wealthy podcast, where we help entrepreneurs like you exponentially build wealth through passive income to live a life of freedom and prosperity. Are you tired of paying too much in taxes, gambling your future on the stock market, and want to learn about hidden strategies for making your money work for you? And now your host, Dave Wolcott, serial entrepreneur and author of the best selling book, the holistic wealth strategy. Hey, everyone. Welcome back to another episode on wealth strategy secrets of the ultra wealthy.
Today’s episode is a powerful one, and not just because of the investing wisdom that gets dropped. My guest is someone I deeply respect, not just as an operator and entrepreneur, but as a husband, father, and mission driven. Whitney Sewell is back on the show, a repeat guest and a man whose journey from military service to law enforcement to real estate syndication is both inspiring and impactful. But what makes Whitney’s story truly extraordinary is how he’s built a business around a mission, helping families adopt children through Omnia Foundation, which he and his wife created after adopting five children themselves. In this episode, we dive deep into Whitney’s humble beginnings and the mindset shift that changed his financial future and how Rich Dad Poor Dad played a key role.
His transition from police officer to podcast host to raising capital and building life bridge capital, the challenges and hard lessons from the last twenty four months in real estate, and why he’s more optimistic than ever about the opportunities ahead. His family first approach to leadership, legacy, and what it really means to be wealthy. And lastly, how he’s built systems for intentional time with his kids and why compounding family capital matters just as much as financial returns. This isn’t just a conversation about money. It’s about mission, meaning, and life intentionally.
Whether you’re an investor, a parent, or someone seeking to build a life of impact, this episode will challenge and inspire you. And if you’ve been enjoying the show, please make sure to subscribe so you don’t miss another episode. And now onto the show. Whitney, welcome to the show.
Honored to connect with you again, Dave. Glad to be here.
Whitney, it’s always grateful to connect. I learn a lot from you. You’ve just really shown an amazing journey. You’ve inspired others and your philanthropic efforts and what you’ve done with orphans and adoption is just really, you know, truly amazing.
And I think people can learn a lot from that and actually, on this show, we can fully proclaim that you have beaten me with now five kids, and I’ve got four kids. So congratulations, on your fifth. That’s really amazing news and, you know, really grateful for you and your family.
Thank you so much. Yeah. The Lord had different plans than we did there, but, we have five now.
Yeah. That’s completely unexpected.
Yeah. That’s that was exactly that’s when when we had triplets. I mean, that’s exactly it. The Lord had different plans. I cannot imagine. It’s just like something you read about in the newspaper, you see on the TV, and it was like I mean, even to this day, it still seems just, you know, amazing that happened.
But congratulations. That’s really cool. And, you know, watching kids, like, I I actually got to become, a grandfather, just five months ago.
Congratulations to you. That’s awesome.
Yeah. Thanks. And watching your own child have a child is really amazing. It really makes me think—it puts legacy front and center, right?
A lot of times, we’re talking about legacy and how important that is. But when you really see that next generation coming up like that—wow. It’s really amazing. And then you can get more clarity in terms of structuring your investing, what’s meaningful for you and your family. I’m looking forward to the discussion today, as I know values and things are important to you.
You’re a repeat guest on the show as well, so congrats for that! For those who haven’t heard you on past episodes or your podcast, tell us a little bit about how you got into investing in real estate and the alternative side of things.
I’ll share a little more than I normally do, Dave, knowing what you’re after here. I’ll go back just a little further to share. I really had some of the worst financial examples growing up—we had no money. There was no one in my family who did any kind of investing, except for my grandfather, who was a World War II veteran. He passed away two years ago at 102 years old.
He came home from World War II and was hired by a chain grocery store that was just getting started. They’re actually really big now, but at the time, they were brand new. He worked there, retired, and then worked at the funeral home until his mid-90s. He was burying people who were younger than him for twenty years—amazing work ethic.
That man just saved, saved, saved. He was seen as someone wealthy in our small, one-stoplight community. But really, he knew nothing about investing—he didn’t do anything but save. They wouldn’t spend anything they didn’t have to. I learned a lot from him, but my immediate family—my father—gave me horrible financial examples growing up. I tended in that direction as a teenager.
I spent money I didn’t have, didn’t think about it, and focused more on the vehicle I was driving rather than long-term consequences. I wasn’t trained to think about marriage, financial planning, or providing for a family.
Years later, the Lord had a plan for my life that I couldn’t have imagined. In February, I signed up for the military, having no idea what was about to happen six months later.
Then 9/11 happened, and suddenly I found myself spending a year in Iraq. Unfortunately, not everyone in my squad made it home. It’s been twenty years now—hard to believe. Coming home from Iraq, the military helped me grow up in a big way. Exposure to situations where you can’t give up—where people rely on you to perform in the hardest moments—shaped my mindset significantly. It’s helped me as an entrepreneur, father, and more. But when I came home, I thought, “What in the world can I do?”
I had some money burning a hole in my pocket, not knowing what to do with it. It seemed like a lot at the time, but now I look back and realize it wasn’t much. Having never had money before, I blew most of it in ways I shouldn’t have—just wasted it. I tried to figure out what to do. I got hired by Kentucky State Police. I loved working as a police officer—being a first responder, wearing the uniform, the discipline, the structure.
Then I got married and realized supporting a family on $28,000 a year would be difficult. It had never crossed my mind before. My wife and I wanted her to be able to stay home when we had children, but that seemed nearly impossible on my salary. I started looking for ways to supplement our income because I really felt like this was all I was qualified to do. I hadn’t gone to college or received special training beyond wearing the uniform, so I felt helpless.
Then, I don’t know if I saw ads or something, but I finally read Rich Dad Poor Dad. It was eye-opening—people have built wealth in real estate! I realized I could do something. I still couldn’t imagine being a millionaire or having real wealth. But my thought was: If we could have just $200 extra a month, that would be game-changing.
So, we bought a couple of triplexes, made a ton of mistakes, and learned the hard way. Long story short, I became a federal agent, which moved us to Virginia, increasing my income. But even as a federal agent, I started training horses professionally—I was a federal agent during the day and a horse trainer at night.
Then, Dave, my wife and I were on the beach one fall, and we asked ourselves a crucial question: “Is what we’re doing right now going to get us where we want to be five, even ten years from now?” The answer hit us hard—it was no. We came home, sold the farm, and within two and a half months, we were moving out. I’ll never forget pulling down that driveway, my wife and I crying, thinking, Lord, is this the right thing? It just doesn’t feel like it.
You know, our church family—everybody thought we were crazy. Like, “What in the world are y’all doing?” I mean, because it didn’t look right from the outside, right? But we knew if we want to build wealth, we’re going to have to make decisions that other people are not willing to make, especially those in our tribe at the time.
Right? And so we said, “Hey, it’s now or never. Let’s do it.” If we want to build wealth, if we want to change the future for our family, if we want to give and be generous, we’ve got to do something different. And I knew real estate could do that. So we sold the farm. We moved into town, rented a little house. I started a daily podcast, which you’ve been on, I’m sure more than once as well, where I just started interviewing as many people as I could.
Actually, I started going to some conferences, Dave, where I met people who were building wealth in real estate. They were buying hundred-unit complexes and had only been in the business a year or so. And again, the blinders came off. Like, “Wait a minute. If they can do that, there’s no reason I can’t do that.” It was almost that simple. Then, I just went as hard as I could. We started the daily podcast. I started meeting people, increasing my network quickly. Every other Monday, I was off work from my federal agent position.
I would record 12 to 15 interviews a day, just back to back to back, as hard as I could go—absolute insanity. But our business started to grow. I mean, things started happening. It took a couple of years of just chaos before we actually did our first deal—syndicated our first deal—a $20 million project. I look back and think, “That’s just madness that we even tried that.” But it worked. The Lord blessed it.
But to back up, when we moved to Roanoke, Dave, we heard a pastor talk about adoption during our first weekend there. He spoke about how they had adopted and how there are 50 million orphans in the world. This was brand-new information for us. My new bride and I had never thought about adoption before. Growing up in a one-stoplight town, we didn’t know anybody who had anything to do with adoption. But on our way home, we thought, “Well, that just seems like a great opportunity to grow our family.”
It seemed that simple. I’m so thankful for our ignorance in the adoption process at that time. Within a week, we applied to adopt from Ethiopia. Two years later, our first son, Samuel, came home from Ethiopia. About ten months later, Elijah came to our family through adoption. A few years later—Haden, Joy, then Salah. And just a few months ago—Grace as well.
Now, five children through adoption. But what the Lord did was stir my wife and me to want to help other families adopt—families that can’t afford to. Unfortunately, it costs $50,000 to $75,000—or even more—to bring a child home through adoption. Most families who would be great parents say, “Whitney, that’s more than I make in a year. How can we even start?” And I kept hearing it—over and over—as I spoke about it more.
People would come up to me and say, “Whitney, we would love to adopt, but we just can’t.” So we started a foundation to help them do that. And that became the big mission behind LifeBridge Capital—to help fund adoptions.
Now, we’ve partnered with almost 50 families who have brought children home through adoption. So that’s our big mission. It’s called Omni Foundation—O-M-N-A-H. If you know a family that is trying to adopt but can’t afford to, we’d love for them to apply and see if we can help. So, yeah, that’s a lot of data.
Wow. Such an amazing journey, and it’s so interesting. Right? Because, you know, this is why I pointed this out in my book in The Holistic Wealth Journey—in the second phase of the journey, you need to focus on improving your financial IQ. This is really the root cause of the issue: none of us were taught financial education.
No matter whether you’re going to be a doctor, a lawyer, an engineer, or whatever—it’s just not taught anywhere. So I think we’re all a bit handicapped when it comes to this. It takes going down a particular path for so many years and then having that light bulb moment—like taking the purple pill or getting a good podcast and realizing, “Wow, there’s a different path here.” I can invest in real estate. And why is it called an “alternative asset” anyway? I mean, it’s probably one of the oldest asset classes that’s ever been around.
Right. Why is it called that?
Right? Why is it? Yeah. Because the financial services industry labeled it that way due to their agenda. It’s interesting, but it’s great that you were able to become empowered by getting educated—and then you actually took action, right? You saw results. It’s not always an easy path, but you made it work.
Yeah. I’ll clarify there. I think we took a lot of action before we were ever educated—just to be honest. Yeah. You know, we did. Like the podcast—people used to say, “You started a daily syndication show, and you never syndicated anything.” I’m like, “Well, call me crazy, but we’re pushing forward.” You know what I mean? So yeah—anyway, we’re thankful.
Think about it, though—the opposite is so many people get stuck in paralysis by analysis. Yeah. You know? They’re just caught in the weeds. “What deal is good? Which one is not?” In fact, I kind of started down that path too when I thought, “Hey, real estate would be good to invest in.” I started looking at some active opportunities—but, man, you start “what-if-ing” the heck out of everything, right? And you realize how much competition there is. So sometimes it’s not bad to just take action and not be afraid to make mistakes, you know?
Yeah. You have to remove the fear. There’s still going to be some, but you can’t be afraid of making mistakes. I tell my boys all the time: “You’re going to mess up. If you’re pushing yourself, you’re going to make mistakes.” No doubt about it. But you have to learn from it—you have to be able to move forward.
Whitney, what does wealth mean to you?
Wealth, to me, is being able to spend my time like I want. And when I say that, I mean—what is there? 84,600 seconds in a day? If you think of those like dollars, and they don’t roll over to the next day, it’s like, Okay, did you invest those today, or did you waste them? Having some financial wealth allows me to have a lot more choices in how I invest those seconds, right? And for me, it’s investing in my children, investing in my marriage, investing in our church.
Being able to do that—that’s wealth I never imagined having, Dave. Growing up, I wasn’t raised that way. I didn’t think that way. I wasn’t taught to think that way. I didn’t—it wasn’t an example for me. But from the examples I’ve seen—speaking on stages and meeting so many seemingly successful people—it’s like, “Man, you look wealthy, but I know what your home life is like.” Or I know enough to see that you don’t really have true wealth.
You know? There’s a massive cost they’ve paid or sacrificed to gain financial wealth. And it’s important—dollars are important. No doubt about it. Because those dollars allow me to invest my time the way I’m talking about. But, man—they’ve sacrificed so much true wealth for financial wealth.
Yeah.
So, for me, I want to be able to invest that time. I want to be able to grow the relationships that are most important. Dave, when you and I are 75 or 80 years old, sitting on a park bench, and you say, “Whitney, how was it?”—I want to be able to say, “Dave, it was perfect.” Obviously, it may not be perfect, but whatever those metrics are that would have made it perfect—I want to be focused on those things.
Yeah. No—that’s such a great definition. Because I think it’s tough for people, right? And especially as we teach our kids and other generations—they’ve got social media in their face every day, teaching them that “rich” means something different.
Rich is the fast sports car, the material things, going out all the time. Nowhere are they learning these important things about value. The way I think about it—it’s all about freedom, really. You know, we talk about financial freedom, but if I put a hundred million in your bank account tomorrow, how does that actually change your life? Right? It means what? You don’t have to work again?
So that means you have freedom of time—to spend your time as you choose—which means that today, you’re not spending that time wisely. You’re not investing those seconds the way you thought about. And what’s fascinating about doing the deep work and thinking this through is realizing that you can actually change your life and gain those freedoms today—without having to wait until you’re 65 or waiting until you reach 8-figure or 9-figure wealth.
Right? Because a lot of that could be intentional rewiring—like, “I want to spend more time with my kids.” It’s just that simple. Then go ahead and do it. Create some habits. Create some goals. Go do that.
Yeah. If you haven’t been consistent about building those relationships when they’re little, don’t expect it to just immediately turn on when they’re 18 or 25—right? So I want to be intentional now with that. I understand because it’s the daily, consistent actions that add up—it’s a compounding effect. Right? Just like dollars.
But in relationships—something we’ve been doing that my kids love—is having a quarterly one-on-one time with each of them, where there’s no phones. You know, there’s no electronics. We just go do something fun. It may be just a hike. It may be something simple—but something fun together that builds connection. Then we go have a meal together—where there’s conversation.
I try to be very intentional about asking some questions during those conversations. What I’ve noticed over time is—they know that when these questions about life come up, they’re going to have this time with Dad. Right? That time is coming up, and they get excited for it. “Hey, Dad, when is that?” So, it’s about building relationships on a consistent basis.
Even something as simple, Dave—I found my boys have been taking guitar lessons for a couple of years. When that started, my wife was too busy to take them to guitar, so I just put it in my calendar. My team knows I’m not available during that time—I’m going to do it. But what I found is—that time driving there and back has been life-changing—for them and for me—to have that intentional time.
We’re talking about how prepared they are for their guitar lesson, right? Afterward, I follow up. “Hey, how did that go?” I ask them to rate themselves. I rate them. “Hey, how could we be better prepared?” It’s just getting them to think through things like that. “Was I prepared?” “Did I come ready?” “Did I have everything I needed?” Something that simple.
But also—we might listen to a podcast or part of one I picked out on the way—then just talk about it. Right? We recently took the boys to the Dominican Republic, and before we went, we listened to some things to learn more about the country—me too. That led to great conversations—listening for five minutes, then they had questions. That time in the car allowed space for that.
So being intentional with that space—it doesn’t have to be sitting down somewhere, asking big questions. It can be as simple as car rides. Right? They know they’re going to have that time.
Yeah. Love it. Have you read the book by Jim Shields, The Boardroom, Family Boardroom?
So I did a series with him on the podcast, and I actually gave that book away to every listener that wanted it. Yeah. I would still do that. But, yeah, that’s where that initially came from. You know, he lays that out—the importance of that time with the kids. I love that.
Yeah. Great book for the listeners if you want to check it out. It’s called The Family Boardroom by Jim Shields. He was on a previous episode for us as well. But, yeah, a really good one there. Whitney, tell us about—I know you also have an important philosophy around leadership in the household, right? And especially as you think about legacy with your family and future generations.
Yeah. I love the question, Dave. I love this topic. We’re actually building a course to help men with this—right? Something that costs almost nothing, but I want to help men lead well in the home. I know that couples who share rituals report higher marital satisfaction, right?
It’s easy to see that CEOs typically have higher divorce rates—but it doesn’t have to be that way. For me, I personally—and I want other men—to be as famous at the dining room table as they are at the boardroom table. Right? I want them to think through that because it doesn’t have to be the opposite. People say, “Oh, we’ve got to have work-life balance.”
For me, there’s not much balance. They consume one another, right? It’s so easy to see your business consuming your entire life. And for me, it’s like, well, it’s not worth that. If it costs you your family—I will literally go flip burgers. I hope I would—even when I say I will—go flip burgers at McDonald’s if it meant my marriage or my relationship with my children.
We say we’re doing all this for them—but are you really? Does your calendar reflect that? If you handed me your calendar and I looked back at the last month, I’d see your priorities—really quickly. Right? It’s going to be so obvious where you’re committing your time and what your priorities are.
For me, I want those things on the calendar—time with the kids. No, I’ve not always done it perfectly, but I’m trying to be ultra-intentional with my kids and my spouse. Do I have a date night on the calendar? Am I talking to her about all these things? Because I’ll tell you—one of my best counselors, outside of the Lord, is my wife.
Over the years, even when business was really difficult, she was still my best advisor. Even though she’s not in business—even though she couldn’t care less about real estate—she had insight, intuition, and I believe guidance from the Holy Spirit. She would ask questions or say something, and I’d think, “Oh, you know, I haven’t thought about that.” But if we hadn’t set aside time—when I was just getting started in business—it was every morning from 5 to 6 a.m.
That was time for us to connect, pray together, talk about the kids, the schedule, travel—right? That consistent communication was so important. Another key thing for us is the mission—the mission to help more families adopt. Even when business wasn’t doing anything and we were just spending, spending, and spending to keep it going, that mission kept us going as a family.
Painting the picture for the kids—the best they could understand—was vital. We wanted to help more families adopt—even though we weren’t yet. That was the driving force for us together as a family. Even though my wife couldn’t care less about real estate—I could have been doing lots of things—she is 110% behind the mission to help more families adopt.
Having that common mission gives us a shared purpose behind, “Hey, all this time Dad is spending on business—there’s a bigger mission here.” It’s not just so we can have a fancier home or a vehicle or whatever. No. Especially once the foundation got going and we started seeing children come to these families—it was like, “Wow, Lord, thank you for using us in this little way to help these families.”
That became a big part of our entire family. One other thing I’ll leave with you—something that really helped me, and I love helping other men with—is thinking about five core areas of your life that you want to be intentional about. If you have more than five, it’s really difficult to manage any of them effectively, right? What are your five core areas? For me, they might be: Then, I want to lay out: One thing I’ve learned recently—something I didn’t do early on—is considering who is affected by each of these areas.
Instead of just thinking about my health and how it affects me personally—no. Think about the other people affected by your health—or if you’re not healthy. That adds an extra layer of accountability—reminding me that, “Hey, I need to be out there exercising in the morning,” or whatever the area might be. Spending the hard time sitting back and really thinking things through—figuring out what’s truly important—is key.
I used the earlier example of sitting on the park bench, imagining what our perfect life metrics would be. What are the things you’ll wish you had done? The areas you’ll wish you had focused on? Well—guess what? Now’s the time. To figure that out. To be intentional—even if it’s only thirty minutes a week to start. Start now. Figure out what those areas are.
Yeah. No. That’s a great way to frame it, really. And I think work life balance is a bit of a myth. Right?
I think a better way to describe it is more about harmony, because there’s ebbs and flows in some of those different, like, you know, some could be the five f’s, you know. Yeah. Those five important areas, whatever those might be for you.
But, yeah, figuring out how to work through the ups and downs of those and then I really love that concept really of investing and compounding. But just think about it even outside of your financial capital because really true wealth, right, we know that it’s more than financial capital. It’s spiritual capital. It’s intellectual capital.
It’s emotional capital. It’s physical capital. Right? These are all the important things that we wanna have in terms of a legacy. So, yes, how can we invest in those things?
And I like to think about it in terms of just 10 x. Right? Like, if you were to achieve 10 x health right now and you could bring 10 x health and energy to your game, what is that gonna do for the people around you, for your business, your work, your relationships, your kids, right? I mean, you know, it’s huge. So, you know, making those investments and kind of compounding those over time is really great.
Whitney, let’s transition a bit into, you know, what you’re seeing on the real estate side, because I know a lot of listeners are probably, you know, curious. It’s been such a challenging time really in the entire commercial real estate market, right, because of the unprecedented, moves by the Fed, really increasing interest rates kind of, I think, started this whole, you know, challenge and, you know, do you think we’ve hit the bottom? Are we kind of moving through that? Or where are we in the cycle right now?
True wealth is more than financial. It’s spiritual, intellectual, emotional, and physical capital.
Where are we in the cycle? Am I supposed to have an answer for that? I knew you would bring your crystal ball to you. You know, Dave, it is, it man, it’s been a very different, say, last twenty four months, you know, for for us and for LifeBridge. And, you know, let me go back twenty four months or so.
And, you know, right before that, man, we had just man, we had the busiest few years of our business. Right? And it just grown really fast. I mean, you know, some years I mean, just early on in our business where we’re buying hundred plus million a year, you know, in real estate, and I just never imagined that. And then all of a sudden, it’s like, almost like, you know, nothing.
And we couldn’t make anything work. And, you know, the first six months or so of that, we were really discouraged. Eight months, ten months, even twenty or, you know, even twelve months. We’re like, what is going on? You know, we see all these other people doing all these deals, and we couldn’t make it work.
Obviously, like you said, interest rates went up. And I mean, we’re just like, wow. You know, are we gonna have to lay people off? Or what what is going like, we can’t make that deal work. Or in deal flow just almost just cut off to nothing.
Right? However, you know, let’s go six more months, you know, into that, eighteen months into that process or so. The more that came out about actually what was happening to so many operators and obviously interest rates and and, their rate caps expiring, all these issues, you know, things that started to happen that are just collapsing a number of projects, financially. We’re like, Lord, thank you. Like, you have protected us in such a massive way that we didn’t do that deal or we didn’t do that deal or we did you know, I’m so grateful.
Right? Or we didn’t have more floating rate debt than we did. You know, like, so many so many, unfortunately, operators did have. So all that to say now, you know, over the last, I think, two to three months, I think we have seen more deal flow than we’ve seen in the last twenty four months. Probably in the last three months, we’ve seen more deals than we have combined the last twenty four before that.
And so that’s hopeful. In, you know, in a big regard like that that, you know, gives us some energy. We’re excited about that. We have had a couple good exits, you know, recently projects that we’ve sold that have done really well for us and our investors. But acquisitions, you know, we bought one, you know, one project recently, like a 50 unit with some retail on the bottom, brand new deal that but only because, you know, is that we don’t typically buy one that small, but it was right across the intersection from properties that we already owned.
So it made sense for us. But outside of that, well, it’s been really slim. However, you know, we’ve made a few we’ve sent out a few LOIs this past week. And when we were talking about yesterday, that seemed pretty promising. And it’s like, okay.
You know, like, we can start to see some things picking up. But it’s also changed the really our expectations for, returns for projects as well. You know, even our, you know, just like measuring investor sentiment as far as are they ready to invest and things like that because most seems like they’re still sitting on the sideline, you know, as far as like, you know, waiting to see what happens type of thing. You know, projects we changed our buy box, you know, as well where, you know, we really started with heavy value add older vintage type properties. And we still own a number of those.
And many of them have been really good to us. Some not as good, but mostly okay. And, you know, but now we’re we’re much more focused on newer assets, you know, more class a projects and and, you know, maybe some value add, but not near the lift to say mid late seventies vintage like we’ve had a number of. And so it’s caused us, I think, in in many ways, Dave, though, to improve our operations in so many ways that we maybe weren’t before. You know?
Like, it’s helped us to grow up corporately in a lot of ways. We’ve had time as well to, like, really focus on a number of those things where we weren’t doing deals. You know, where we’re buying when if we’re buying, like, four to six deals a year, it’s hard to focus on some of those corporate things that need to get done. You know, like like it was, especially early on when you’re you know, it’s hard to keep up with the growth almost. Right?
So it was a good pause for us, you know, looking back. And I think the Lord had many plans there because we did. We grew up, internally and corporately. And and just our skills on the team as well grew in a lot of ways. And so now we look at deals through a different lens through, you know, through the lessons learned.
And and, you know, our buy box has changed. Our our, you know, the way we’re working with investors have changed. And so it’s ultimately, it’s been good for us long term, you know, for this to happen. And so all I’d say, I I am very I feel very promising or encouraged by this next year. I I don’t expect let’s say, I don’t expect interest rates just to go back down to where they were probably this year.
But I do still expect there to be deals to be had. Or let’s say, you know, deals that are still producing a decent return. I I don’t expect, say, that 25, 30 percent IRR. That may still happen, but that’s not what I’m projecting, you know, anyway. But, hey, if we can hit a a 15 to 18 even IRR in a lot of these projects, you know, we feel like it’s still a really good market to buy into.
Yeah. The biggest growth always comes with the biggest challenges,
That’s for sure. So, and I and I think that the more, you know, cycles that, investors and operators go through, right, that just makes you more resilient. Like you said, you’ve kind of changed your underwriting criteria, your buy box, and things like that.
So it just really improves things. And I I would say that, you know, it’s the same thing on our side. Right? We’re seeing, you know, more deal flow and everything, harder to find those great nuggets out there that we wanna really go after. But I think there’s gonna definitely be some, you know, this year, and and getting some deals on the buy side.
The other thing I would comment on that I think that’s really interesting, you know, just my perspective. But I feel as if if you read between the tea leaves, alright, what’s going on with, you know, the broader markets right now, I think they’re trying to force the hand of the Fed to actually drop interest rates, you know, with tariffs, you know, what’s kind of going on economically. So if the market, you know, stocks continue to go down and then there’s a flight for safety into bonds, right, and the Fed’s got all of these, maturities kinda coming up, right, on treasuries that I mean, it’s a big nut for them to pay, right, at these rates. Right? So if they can bring the rates down, like, in a in a substantial way, I think that could be a massive opportunity for us on the commercial real estate side.
Right? Because Oh my goodness. Right? I mean Yeah. That is really gonna help all of those, like, crazy expensive rate caps. It’s gonna increase NOI, And then, you know, we’re gonna kinda get back into maybe a normalization, right, of rate caps.
It will change it drastically. Yeah. No doubt. I mean, people will go back into buying mode. I don’t like that and selling mode.
Yeah. Are you seeing that as well? Would you concur with that?
I do concur with that. I guess I want us to be able to produce a consistent, fair return almost no matter what the market’s doing. You know what I mean? I want us to be able to figure it out, find decent deals—not shiny, not excitable—I just want to be predictable for investors, right? The more I look back over the last few years, especially in talking to investors, I see they’ve learned some hard lessons as well.
Right? There are so many deals they’re in where—man—they’ve lost everything. They’re not getting distributions. And while they’ve learned from it, many got caught chasing that 25% IRR, thinking, “Oh, man! This is the deal!”—then they lost all their money. Right?
So now, when I talk to them about, “Hey—we’re not shooting for 25. We’re targeting 15 or maybe 18,” we just want to be consistent, reliable, and no surprises. More of them respond with, “Hey, that’s exactly what we want.” They just want to know it’s there. So, to answer your question, I agree with that—and I’m hopeful. You know? I’m hopeful. But even if things don’t work out as expected, I still want us to find solid deals that are producing.
Yeah. I mean, every family office that I talk to—their buy box is literally looking for a 14–16% IRR, and it’s not sexy. Right? It’s all about consistency. And if you can under-promise and then over-deliver—that’s how you create upside. But some of these deals look frothy—people swing for the fences—and it doesn’t work that way. Right?
You’re going to take on more inherent risk. And that’s why we have Angel investments and Venture capital—right? It’s an entire stack in terms of risk profile. But just make sure you track your own investor DNA and risk tolerance. Don’t throw everything at one deal. You don’t want to bet the farm, as they say. Right? And put all your eggs in one basket. Build out that base—steady and true performing real estate.
That stands out so much in a market like this. When you’re still paying out distributions, still performing—people quickly realize, “Hey, these guys know how to operate real estate.”
Whitney, if you could give just one piece of advice to the audience about accelerating their wealth trajectory, what would it be?
There are so many things that come to mind. But if I have to say one—Get in rooms with people you want to be like. You have to change your surroundings. That’s what I did—and it opened my eyes. I’ve had iterations of this over the years—getting into different rooms and meeting different people who elevate my thinking. Right?
I mean, I’m so many levels above where I was ten years ago—especially before that. It’s just about exposure—realizing, “Wait a minute—I didn’t even know that was possible!” Right? Or thinking, “If you can do that, I can figure it out. There’s no reason I can’t do that too.” So—get in the rooms with people you want to be like. Change the way you think.
Get in rooms with people you want to be like. It’ll elevate your thinking.
Yeah. I love it. I do that myself in masterminds—I spend six figures a year on them. That’s why we created our own mastermind—for people. But if you’re thinking about this as a cost, that’s the wrong mindset. The biggest asset you have is yourself. If you invest in yourself—you’re exactly right.
You could be one relationship away from the biggest opportunity of your lifetime—and you don’t even know it. But if you stay in the same circle of friends, consuming the same inputs, you won’t jump to new levels.
No doubt about it. It’s happened so many times to me, Dave. At first, my first mentor—I think he was $12,000. At the time—we didn’t have the money. I thought, “Man, is this the right decision? Should we figure this out?” Best decision I ever made.
Now—I’m like you—I’m spending so much more now. I spend more on masterminds and mentors than I used to make in a year at my W-2 job. Easy. Because I see the value—I know the value—of being in rooms with those people. Right? It’s changed my life—drastically—and many others too. Through the foundation, our family—it’s life-changing.
No doubt. Love it. Whitney—always great getting together. Really appreciate all your pearls of wisdom and insights today. If people want to learn more about LifeBridge—or connect with you on the adoption side—what’s the best way for them to reach you?
WhitneySewell.com That’s the best place—you can learn about everything there. But I’ll tell you what—I also have a free mini-course that helps every man lead his family in creating a family mission statement. A mission statement is so important for business—we hire by it, we fire by it, we make decisions by it. So—why wouldn’t you have one for your family?
It’s free—I encourage you to do it. I’d love to hear what your family mission statement is. Go there—you can learn everything about me.
Awesome. Thanks again, Whitney.
Thanks for listening to this episode of Wealth Strategy Secrets. If you’d like a free copy of the book, go to holisticwealthstrategy.com. That’s holisticwealthstrategy.com.
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