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Today’s episode features a powerhouse in the world of tax
strategy and wealth building—Brett Swarts, CEO of Capital Gains Tax Solutions. As one of the nation’s leading experts in advanced exit planning, Brett Swarts brings a wealth of knowledge on how entrepreneurs, business owners, and investors can dramatically reduce their tax burden during major liquidity events. If you’re tired of feeling like the IRS is your largest beneficiary when selling highly appreciated assets, this episode is a must-listen.
With a background in real estate, business brokerage, and a deep understanding of the tax code, Brett Swarts specializes in unveiling strategies that most advisors aren’t even aware exist. He goes beyond traditional approaches like the 1031 exchange, introducing listeners to the Deferred Sales Trust—a game-changing tool that can preserve 20% to 50% more of your net proceeds.
In this episode, Brett Swarts and the host break down exactly how the Deferred Sales Trust works, who it’s best suited for, and how its flexible team-based approach makes it the “Netflix” to the traditional 1031 “Blockbuster.” Whether you’re planning to sell a business, real estate, crypto, or even collectibles, this conversation will open your eyes to tax-saving strategies that could shape your family’s wealth for generations.
In This Episode
- The mechanics and benefits of the Deferred Sales Trust
- How to offset capital gains tax and retain more wealth at exit
- Key differences between DSTs, 1031 exchanges, and other strategies
- Building the right team and mindset for generational wealth preservation
We exist to unlock the capital gains to multiply freedom and impact. So once people see how flexible this is, the legality of it, our team approach, it becomes the Netflix of the old Blockbuster 1031. That’s the best way we can say it. 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 bestselling book, The Holistic Wealth Strategy.
How’s it going, everyone? And welcome back to Wealth Strategy Secrets of the Ultra Wealthy. Today, we’re diving into one of the most overlooked, misunderstood, and financially life-changing levers in the entire game of wealth: capital gains tax strategy. My guest is Brett Swarts, CEO of Capital Gains Tax Solutions, national speaker, and one of the leading experts in advanced exit planning. Brett specializes in helping entrepreneurs, business owners, and real estate investors unlock massive tax savings at the exact moment it matters most: the liquidity event. His flagship tool, the deferred sales trust, is a strategy most people never hear about until it’s too late, and it can change the trajectory of your wealth for generations. If you spent years, maybe decades, building a business, scaling a portfolio, or stacking high appreciation assets, the moment you sell shouldn’t be the moment the IRS becomes your largest beneficiary.
And yet, for most people, that’s exactly what happens. Why? Because they didn’t plan early enough. They relied on advisors who only knew traditional options, or they assumed there wasn’t a better way. Today, Brett breaks down the mechanics behind the deferred sales trust, the origin of the strategy, who qualifies for it, and why. This approach can preserve 20 to 50% more of your net proceeds, capital you can direct right into new deals, passive income, and true generational wealth. We also unpack how the DST compares to 1031 exchanges, Delaware statutory trusts, bonus depreciation plays, and other advanced tax strategies you can use before the end of the year.
If you’re a founder, an investor, or you’ll ever have a liquidity event in your future, this conversation is non-negotiable. This is the kind of strategy that separates people who build wealth from people who keep wealth. And now, onto my conversation with Brett. Brett, welcome to the show.
Dave, grateful to be here. Thanks so much. Good to see you again.
Awesome to connect, as always. And you know, I think this is going to be a great time of year to really reflect and really review your unique solution, how business owners and investors can look at a different way to really offset capital gains tax if they have some type of liquidity event. And you have such a unique solution. This really hits home for me because, as a business owner that’s actually been through a full exit, what I find is if you can be proactive in these types of big events, you can just save an inordinate amount in taxes. Have the right team in place and really have a strategy versus trying to do this on the back end. Typically, what happens is you’re working with M&A advisors or attorneys that could be recommended through your business or through the transaction, and they have no idea about these advanced strategies. So I appreciate you coming in right before Thanksgiving here. Why don’t we tell everyone a little bit about how you got into this business and how you arrived where you are today, Brett?
Absolutely. And also, real fast, 10,000 hours you’ve spent building the business, real estate, all the blood, sweat, and tears. If you spend five hours, you’re going to have an extra 20 to 50% more working for you. You just have to do the math. A lot of these M&A advisers or even folks, they don’t have a vested interest in your tax planning for a number of reasons. That’s unfortunate because they’re focused on closing the deal to get paid, which is understandable. They want to get you a high price, but you have to make sure you’re looking out for your best long-term compounding effect for your wealth.
I grew up in Taxifornia, originally from the Bay Area—Mission, San Jose, Fremont, and mostly Sacramento. I played basketball in college, football in high school, and basketball in high school. I fell in love with real estate at a young age because my parents developed real estate, and I had a chance to develop it with them. Build houses, room additions, have rentals—they had them. I was whatever they needed me to do.
Fast forward, I studied and practiced multifamily brokerage at Marcus & Millichap. This was right around 2006 when I started there. The market crashed in 2008–09, and we learned a lot. We got humbled real fast when it came to focusing on cash flow not always being the answer. That’s when we learned about capital gains tax solutions and opportunities for people to exit when it makes sense, so they can enhance their probability of cash flow and the compounding effects of money. You can strategically get out of debt, get into things that are cash flowing, or even sit on the sidelines. That’s really what I think our discussion will serve well today: helping people have a mindset of cash flow, tax flow, and debt flow, specifically for exit plans.
Real quick, personally, my wife and I have been married over 16 years. We have five children. I’m a huge 49ers fan, and I’ll never leave that from California. Recently, we moved to Florida and live in Jacksonville now. We have team members on the West Coast and in Texas, and we serve clients across the country. I’m grateful to be here and looking forward to diving in.
Awesome. I didn’t realize you moved. So one more Californian in Florida.
What are the odds?
For sure. Now that’s awesome. So why don’t we break this down for people, right? Because this does take a little bit to get your head around. First, let’s pinpoint who this is for.
The problem that people are solving, the person we’re serving, is the purpose-driven entrepreneur or investor that has massive capital gains tax on highly, highly appreciated assets. A business, Bitcoin, real estate are the main three, right? It could be stock, artwork, collectibles, music rights. I’m working on a deal right now that has music rights, but it could be a high-end luxury primary home. All of these assets are highly appreciated. If they are at least $1 million net proceeds, a million-dollar gain, this is a great solution. It can be for those who want to compound their wealth invested at their own timing, diversify, do different things than just not sell, pay the tax, or do the traditional 1031 exchange.
This is also for those listening who are in the real estate world, the private equity world, or who are financial advisors or CPAs and are looking for a solution beyond the 1031 exchange, which is pretty limited. That’s who this is for. What we’re solving for is capital gains tax mainly. The second thing we’re solving for is estate tax. But the last part of this is that those are the problems, but what people really want is what’s called truly passive income. We believe truly passive income is to your freedom and impact what compounding interest is to your money.
We’ve found that most people read the Rich Dad, Poor Dad book, but they never actually get to the fourth quadrant. They get stuck in quadrant two and quadrant three, where they’re still trading their time, their energy, and their risk for cash flow that’s really more active. It’s not really passive. We say truly passive because you can be asset-protected. It could be in a trust that’s 100% invested in passive deals. You can also be active if you want to be an entrepreneur, which is nice. It just depends on what each individual family, entrepreneur, or investor wants to accomplish. Then we customize this strategy with our team to help them achieve that.
So let’s talk about the structure of a deferred sales trust. What is it? Talk to us about the origin of how this came about and the framework you guys operate within.
I like to bring this to life with an actual deal we closed recently, a business sale on the West Coast. Massive business, about a $40 million exit, zero basis, huge tax. Prior to the close of escrow, we set this up. There were a couple of partners. Each partner had a trust, and we set up a trust that basically became another buyer in the transaction. Instead of the seller selling directly to the buyer and taking all the constructive receipt of the capital and paying the tax, the seller first sold it to the trust, and the trust sold it to the ultimate buyer. When we do it in that order, you’re able to defer the capital gains taxes because we’re using what’s called an installment sale treatment, known as IRC 453.
There’s IRC 401(k), there are IRAs, there’s IRC 1031. These are specific tax codes. We’re using a 453 installment sale method and reporting to execute this. Funds hit at Schwab, and then the funds are invested based upon the risk tolerance of who, at this point, is the creditor. There’s an interest rate assigned to the trust because the trust owes them back the money. Think of it as a loan, because that’s exactly what it is. You’ve sold it to the trust, and you finance the trust on the purchase of your property, business, or Bitcoin.
The trust ultimately sells it for cash from the buyer on the other side. Once the smoke clears, because the trust bought and sold for the same price, there’s no gain at the trust level. You only pay tax as you receive payments back from the trust. That’s the structure.
The origin goes back over 29 years at this point. Thousands of transactions. A CPA tax attorney, one of my business partners, is the creator of this. He’s a genius when it comes to this. He’s been through over two dozen audits, all with no change and no findings. The original tax code goes back over 100 years. We know seller carryback, Dave. It’s pretty common. The nuance is a third-party, unrelated trustee. That’s our role, and that’s part of the framework, making sure each team member is in place.
Then folks might want to work with you, Dave, to invest or do different deals. The trust can go into those deals, whether passive investments, active investments, or different funds. You can diversify. That’s the structure, the origin, and the framework.
Okay, let’s rewind that a little bit so everyone is clear. How did you offset the taxes? Let’s talk about that specific part.
So let’s do it. It’s kind of like an IRA. How do you offset taxes on an IRA? You follow the rules, first of all. You fund this IRA, right? Let’s say you fund it with X amount of money in 2025. The government says if you fund an IRA, to the extent you do that, that’s a tax-deferred move. Same thing with the 1031 exchange.
How do you do that? You follow the rules. We send the funds to a qualified intermediary, and then you buy another property within 45 to 180 days. You do all that, you execute on it, you follow the rules, and then you report it. You say, “I did a 1031,” or “I did an IRA,” and they go, “Okay, great. Check.”
The check is your tax return, and you’re allowed to defer the tax. Same thing here. We’re going to report an installment sale, a seller carryback, and use the same form you would use if you were to do a regular seller carryback. You report it. You say, “I sold my business, I sold my real estate, I sold my Bitcoin, but I took no money in the year of sale. I’m reporting it as an installment sale. I’m invoking IRC 453,” which in your tax code states that if I don’t take constructive receipt in a given year, I don’t owe any tax on it. I only pay taxes as I receive payments, installments.
This is why it’s so beautiful, right? Because it’s something we know: seller carryback. If you go back to the Great Depression, part of the reason this came out is because they said the banks can’t basically be owned by the government or the whole economy would collapse. In other words, we need to give the private citizen the ability to be a bank for somebody. If Dave is 75 years old and has a $100 million company, and if he sells it, he’s just going to get crushed with tax. He may not sell. He might just let the business go, and then all the jobs are lost. That’s not great.
But if he says, “No, I want to sell. I want to step out. I’ll sell it to this young buck who wants to build this into a billion-dollar company. Let me sell it on an installment sale,” that preserves jobs and creates more tax revenue. That’s a good thing. They want that ability. The young buck may not have the money to buy the business outright. So if Dave finances him, he’s incentivized tax-wise. But Dave can’t pay tax on what he hasn’t received.
It’s a win-win for the government, a win-win for the economy, a win-win for Dave, and a win-win for the buyer. The difference is we say, “Mr. Buyer, go get financing from someone else. We’re not going to finance you. We’re going to finance the trust.” We’re using the ingredients already in the tax code, but we’re applying one additional nuance.
A trust and a trustee, a third-party trustee. That’s really the secret sauce for how to organize this and make it happen.
That’s a great insight, Brett, and I’m really glad you brought that up. We’ve been trying to educate our audience about making that paradigm shift and understanding that when you actually partner with the government, taxes are really a series of incentives for business owners and investors who know how to use them. Most people don’t understand some of these advanced strategies. They might think they’re loopholes or that you’re trying not to pay your fair share of taxes, but it’s actually the complete opposite. It’s understanding how the tax code was written, what it was intended for, and how business owners and investors have the best opportunity to take advantage of it. If you’re W-2, you typically have fewer advantages, similar to your point about the cash flow quadrant. More of these strategies really open up for people on the right-hand side of the quadrant.
That being said, we’re really partnering with the government. Let’s continue this example because I think this is a good breakdown. I want this to sink in for people because it’s a bit to chew on. Whether you have a liquidity event pending or not, this is a great educational way to learn about a strategy that could apply to your future at some point. So we have this example of a business owner who sold his business for $40 million.
You’re going to set up this installment trust, this installment sale, that goes to the trust. The owner is not paying any taxes in that first year, and now the funds are in the trust. Is that correct? Is that where we are?
Precisely. To the extent they haven’t received any payment in the given year, they don’t pay any tax until they receive payment.
Okay. So it’s really an installment to the owner or to the trust?
To the owner. The owner becomes the bank. They sold to the trust in exchange for a promissory note, so they became the creditor. Until they receive a payment, they can’t pay tax on what they haven’t received.
Now let’s talk about it from the trust perspective. The trust needs an administrator. Talk about that, and then let’s talk about the options to put that to work.
Great question and good insight. So who are the roles and who is the team with the deferred sales trust? There’s a third-party, unrelated trustee. That’s our company, Capital Gains Tax Solutions. We love to serve as that. Then we look at other roles as well, finding folks like Dave to work with, or other advisors to level up your team. You might already have A-plus players: CPAs, tax attorneys, financial advisors, private equity, private debt, all of that.
We either plug and play into what you already have, or we help build it all or level it up. We talk through that. Sometimes we’re the cheerleader, sometimes we’re the quarterback, sometimes we’re the offensive coordinator. That’s kind of our role. We’re right at that inflection point, that momentum point of either getting crushed by tax or compounding impact and freedom. That’s why we exist at Capital Gains Tax Solutions: to multiply freedom and impact on the sale of highly appreciated assets.
There’s the trustee. There’s the tax attorney. There’s all the legal work and lifetime audit defense. That’s more the transactional side. The trustee is on the ongoing side. Then you might partner with the trust and do your own deals, or do a mix. Think of it like forming many family offices around this trust. This trust is asset-protected, meaning if someone sues you, they cannot get to the trust because the trust is outside of you. It has its own EIN. It’s not another trust you already have. You have 24/7 access to view the funds online. Nothing moves without your approval or signature.
We’ve built it out to give you controls, but you do have to give up some control because I’m the trustee, and that’s part of what keeps it legitimate. If Dave has investment ideas and things he wants to do, great. Let’s look at those, evaluate them, get a feel for what that’s going to be, and move forward. That’s the rhythm. We work as a team to say Dave is owed $10 million, $20 million-plus, plus an interest rate, maybe 6, 7, 8, 9, or 10%. Our goal is to get the money back plus the interest rate over a period of time. Most people structure the note with partial interest payments starting around year two, letting the rest accrue, build, and compound. Your kids can step into your shoes for the 1.0 version. This can go on for generations.
Then you can do a 2.0 version. This is typically reserved for $20 million-plus deals and people above $30 million net worth for a married couple or $15 million single, because we’re eliminating the estate tax. This is important because the stepped-up basis doesn’t solve for estate tax. We sometimes confuse the “swap until you drop” 1031 exchange with no tax. That’s true if your net worth is below $30 million married or $15 million single. Above that, you have a 40% estate tax.
You have to know the game you’re playing. You need a tax-flow mindset and to understand capital gains up to that threshold, and anything above that must be outside the taxable estate. Our second version eliminates estate tax at the sale, with no charity, life insurance, or gifting required. We’re able to place it into an irrevocable trust outside the taxable estate. Your children can be the beneficiaries. I know that’s a long answer, but it really depends on what you’re trying to accomplish. We use one or two trusts to do that. The cool thing is this strategy has been done thousands of times, gone through all the audits, and never had a change.
It’s legal. You do have to give up some control. I’ll quickly touch on fees. Fees are about 1.5% to set it up as a one-time fee from the tax attorney, and about 1.5% to 2% on a recurring basis on AUM with the trustee and financial advisor team involved. That’s the general rhythm. Another deal we did was a $13 million deal in San Diego with a $4 million basis. They sold a car wash business, and we deferred all of their tax. There were three partners, and each had their own trust. Partners can separate. They don’t have to stay in the same entity, unlike a 1031 where you must keep the same entity.
Our structure works for any asset of any kind, whereas a 1031 only works for investment real estate. Ours works for businesses, Bitcoin—we were the first to ever do it with Bitcoin—public or private primary homes, artwork, collectibles, any asset, as long as it’s $1 million or greater in value and gain. It’s especially powerful in states like New York, California, Minnesota, New Jersey, and Illinois. These high-tax states make it even more compelling because the tax burden is so high, though it applies in other states as well.
Talk to us about control from the perspective of the trust. How much control do you have versus the owner in terms of making investment decisions?
Great question. Control is the number two objection. Let’s call it number two. There are three major objections. One is, “Hey, I have to give up all this control. Can I do that? I’m an entrepreneur. I’m used to running my own deals. I don’t like being put in a box. What does this mean?”
First, I’d say you’ve probably already given up control in the past. You just don’t realize it or haven’t put two and two together. If you’ve ever done a 1031 exchange, you gave up control for at least 45 days, if not up to 180 days.
If you work with an IRA or a 401(k), there’s a custodian, a third party. There are controls and rules you have to follow. If you work with a financial advisor and they’re running the money, you’re giving up some control because it’s their discretion. They’re running the money.
The second thing is, you are the lender. You are the bank. Is the bank concerned that they have a loan on your house but don’t have ownership or unilateral control of the house? No. The reason is because if you don’t pay, they foreclose and take the house.
Right.
You have all the rights and protections of a lender. That’s powerful control, the ability to take back unilateral control. But the government says, “Dave, you’re selling a $10 million business or real estate in New York. You’re going to pay 40% tax. Tell you what, you can have 100% control of 60%, meaning you get $6 million, or you can have partial control with compliance through the trustee at 100%.” You have to ask yourself, do you want $10 million with partial controls, or $6 million with full control? It’s your answer. Different people have different pain tolerances.
I don’t think it’s painful. I think we add value as a friendly trustee. We want to get the money back. Funds don’t move without your approval or signature. People think control means making sure everything is protected. Funds go to Charles Schwab. You have 24/7 online access. We work with some of the top financial advisors in the country. You may already have your own. You can bring them in. They can manage the capital.
We work with firms like Raymond James, JP Morgan, Morgan Stanley. There are controls there. We also have transparency and accountability. We have profit and loss statements from a third-party accounting firm. We have tax returns from a third-party accounting firm. These groups are separate, not all under one roof, which creates accountability and transparency. There’s a third-party tax attorney handling the legal work and a third-party trustee.
If you’re a real estate business guy and you want to do your next deal, great. The trust can partner with you. We had a client who did a massive exit in Alabama and wanted to build townhomes in Tennessee. The trust joint-ventured with him. The trust became a silent partner, and the funds went into an LLC where he was the managing member. He had majority ownership, the trust put up the capital, and he built the townhomes.
The trust looks for the P&Ls and the K-1 from that LLC. You really have to define what you mean by control. Once people understand these examples, it clicks. They realize they just have to follow the rules, and in return, they get the ability to compound their wealth.
You mentioned that you pay taxes on the interest income from the trust. Let’s say he builds the townhomes, they generate cash flow, and he starts taking distributions personally. Is that the component you’re paying tax on at the current rate?
Yes. It’s based on the state you reside in for the interest portion you receive in that year and your tax bracket. Interest always comes out first, then principal. Here’s an example. $10 million goes into the trust. You would have paid $4 million in tax, but now instead of $6 million, you have $10 million. We put a 9% interest rate on the note.
That’s $900,000 in year one. You take no payments, so it accrues, and it’s worth $10.9 million, net of fees. Year two, you take $300,000. You had $900,000 accrued, so now $600,000 continues to accrue. You receive a 1099 for $300,000. Every year you take a payment, interest comes out first and is taxed. If you dip into principal, that’s capital gains.
Most of our clients want truly passive income. They dial it in at $10,000, $20,000, $30,000, $40,000, or $50,000 a month. Depending on the size of the deal, we may never touch principal. We usually wait six to twelve months to get the plane to cruising altitude, producing enough cash flow to pay itself and pay you. Then you can sit back and say, “This is great.” I call it the Kenny Chesney lifestyle.
You’re on the beach, playing guitar. No shoes, no shirt, no problem. Durable, consistent income shows up.
And what is that note invested in?
Whatever you want. We start with what you’ve had success with. For someone like you, Dave, who runs their own deals, we might say 80% is a good amount. If it’s $10 million, put $8 million to work and keep $2 million liquid or semi-liquid in short-term debt or diversified assets. Then go build the deal or business.
It’s usually a mix: private equity, private debt, securities, businesses, new startups. It’s wide open.
Talk about some of the other value-add things you do as the custodian.
As the trustee, our unique advantage is real estate investment advisory. It’s been in my blood since growing up on construction sites, driving Bobcats, hammering nails, putting up drywall, moving bricks, doing whatever my parents needed. Then I studied and practiced at the number one commercial real estate brokerage firm in the country, Marcus & Millichap.
Most people focus on their financial advisor, who’s usually centered on stocks, bonds, mutual funds, securities, and insurance. They’re often not great at real estate. You need both. You need a team. Especially with taxes and the ability to get depreciation through the trust by joint-venturing with you.
That’s powerful, especially combined with new legislation and bonus depreciation. There are multiple layers to this. It’s not just saving or deferring 20%, 30%, or 40% in year one. It’s deferring income tax every year and compounding the effect.
The rule of 72 shows that earning 10% compounded doubles your money in about seven years. That’s the beauty of this. We compound wealth, then move to impact. We can address the housing crisis if we unlock a portion of the $124 trillion transferring over the next five to fifteen years.
People want to harvest gains, but if the capital gains tax plan isn’t flexible, they sit on their hands. They wait for a stepped-up basis, don’t sell the business or Bitcoin, or move somewhere else. Capital doesn’t move.
We exist to unlock capital gains and multiply freedom and impact. Once people see the flexibility, legality, and team approach, it becomes the Netflix of the old Blockbuster 1031. That’s the best way to describe it.
Brett, what other tax strategies do you like, especially before a big liquidity event? A lot of people may be gearing up for that. Since it’s year-end, what are some strategies people can think about to offset taxes today?
Right, and hopes to get to that bigger event in the future.
So first of all, it all depends on your unique fact pattern and everything we’re talking about here. Please bring in your CPA, and let’s sit down and go through it all. David, we aren’t providing individual tax or legal advice, but we want to look at your situation. So let’s give you a couple of them.
So, of course, the 1031 exchange. By the way, I love a 1031 when you find the deal that you would have already bought anyway, right? I would have bought that deal no matter what. I already bought it, I happen to be selling something, and I can 1031 into it. Man, high five. Lower-cost, commodity 1031s are easy when you have it lined up. Don’t force it. It’s a mess.
By the way, we have a best 1031 plan that gives you a regular 1031, a Deferred Sales Trust, and a Delaware Statutory Trust, which leads into my next one that you should consider. Not to be confused with the Deferred Sales Trust, there are two different DSTs.
We’ll call it a Delaware 1031. I only like a Delaware 1031 when it solves my specific problem, which is a debt-over-basis issue. Okay? Debt in my name is not great, especially when the market has shifted. That’s hard to find, and it’s higher than the cap rates. You know, it’s negative arbitrage situations.
So I want to get out of debt. I want to get out of debt when it’s high. The problem with a regular 1031 is that you have to replace that debt if you’re doing it yourself. Whereas with a Delaware, you can get the debt out of your name. That’s amazing.
Now, I also don’t do Delawares because you have no liquidity, no diversification, no control, no nothing. It’s typically a seven- to ten-year lockup, around 5%, with huge fees for the financial advisors that put them together. Unless I have a debt-over-basis issue. Then they’re my best friend. I don’t really care about the other stuff because the value outweighs all of those challenges.
I’ll give you an example. We did a $6 million exit for a client out of Texas. He did a partial Delaware for about $1.5 million because he had debt over basis. Then he bought two other properties in Oklahoma and South Carolina in a 1031. The remainder went into the Deferred Sales Trust. So we basically did four transactions for the $6 million. That’s cool, right? You can do multiple strategies to solve multiple problems.
So hear me. I’m not saying the Deferred Sales Trust is a one-size-fits-all solution for everything. But for your specific fact pattern, it’s amazing and often the best solution if you want truly passive income and all the other advantages I talked about. Sometimes we combine it with a Delaware, sometimes with a regular 1031.
We also have cost segregation and bonus depreciation, with the big beautiful bill bringing back 100% bonus. That’s awesome. We have some clients who find us too late, meaning they’ve already closed escrow and the funds are already in their account. They’re thinking, “I’ve got a couple million of liability.” Within the calendar year, we can invest into a passive multifamily, self-storage, or industrial property, and that bonus can offset a big chunk of that, depending on deal size and leverage.
So we like bonus depreciation and cost segregation. Again, back to this: you would have bought the deal anyway. Don’t do it just because of the tax. Don’t let the tax tail wag the investment dog. Those are a couple of strategies. That’s really it.
A lot of people approach me with different ideas, and I always ask: how long have you been doing it? How many transactions have closed? How many audits have been done? What was the outcome of the audits? Who defended the audit? A lot of these strategies haven’t been around very long, haven’t been through audits, and don’t have a strong track record. I don’t want to guess. I want something that’s been down that road, that’s paved, not just bumpy and questionable. That’s why we stay right down the fairway on these.
Yeah, absolutely. And I think it all really starts with education. It’s understanding how taxes really work. It’s such a complete paradigm shift for most people. But once you start to understand that the tax code can be used in your favor with some of these strategies, then you can really take advantage of them.
As we head into the holidays, any thoughts you’d like to share with us in terms of gratitude or reflection from this past year?
Learn to work harder on yourself than you do on your job. If you work hard on your job, you make a living. Work harder on yourself , you make a fortune.
I believe we’ve all been given a certain gift in this life, and that gift is meant to be a blessing to others. I believe these are God-given gifts, and we each have a unique work to do. It’s an honor and a privilege to do that work.
I’d start with writing things down. Don’t forget the exercises you may have done on strengths, personality types, or your unique calling. My calling is stewarding capital for high-capacity families to multiply their freedom. I do that by building capital gains tax exit plans and partnering with people like Dave to execute through a team approach.
You never want to take that for granted. Each day is an opportunity. One practice I have is writing down three gratitudes for the day, three things I learned, and what would make today great. I also think about ways to add value to others. When you’re others-focused and grounded in gratitude, things go a long way.
We’re still in the greatest country in the world, with incredible opportunities to build wealth and make an impact. Focusing on that helps me keep moving forward.
Love it. And if you could give one piece of advice to listeners about accelerating their wealth trajectory, what would it be?
Learn to work harder on yourself than you do on your job. If you work hard on your job, you make a living. If you work hard on yourself, you make a fortune.
Focus on the major areas of life: faith, family, fitness, friends, personal development, leadership, and character. When you build those, the rest tends to follow, in this life or the next.
As a believer in Jesus Christ, my faith guides everything I do. Knowing that He’s in control brings true financial peace. It makes it easier to give and to act without fear. There’s a song I’ve been listening to all year called The Lord Will Provide. It reminds me that everything I need is already in His hands.
When your focus is on faith instead of fear, it’s easier to move forward. Every day we get to step out in faith is an incredible gift.
Very well said, Brett. I really appreciate your thoughts there. There’s so much perception involved, and perception really becomes your reality. It’s all about how you think about things. We live in such a tough world where it’s all about hustle and grind culture, and we wear it like a badge of honor. Yet abundance really flows to those people who stop chasing it. So I appreciate you sharing those thoughts and the wisdom you provided today.
This is a super powerful solution, and I know Brett and his team have been very successful. We’ve known each other for quite a number of years, so it’s great to be able to have solutions like this that allow people to take capital instead of putting it into taxes and really optimize it for their families. As you said, it’s all about creating greater impact. So where can folks find you, and what’s the best place for them to learn more?
We live in such a tough world where it’s all about hustle and grind culture, but abundance really flows to those people who stop chasing it.
Thanks, Dave. You can go to capitalgainstaxsolutions.com and apply for a no-cost consultation with one of my team members, one of our strategists, and we’ll walk you through it. We promise not to push anything we don’t think is a good fit, and we’ll let you know if we believe it is a really good fit. There’s no cost or obligation.
You can also check out our bestselling book on Amazon called Building a Capital Gains Tax Exit Plan. We have Kevin Harrington from Shark Tank in the book, along with a couple of other smart folks who wrote chapters, which is pretty cool.
Awesome. Thanks so much, Brett. I really appreciate it. And thanks to everyone for listening to this episode of Wealth Strategy Secrets. If you’d like to get a free copy of the book, go to holisticwealthstrategy.com. That’s holisticwealthstrategy.com. If you’d like to learn more about upcoming opportunities at Pantheon, please visit pantheoninvest.com. That’s pantheoninvest.com.