Epic Real Estate Investing - He Said... Don’t Save the Dollar—Do THIS (Off the record) | 1484

Episode Date: May 8, 2025

In this episode, Matt recounts a transformative conversation with a billionaire friend, Mike, about exploiting debt to build wealth amidst rampant inflation. Mike reveals that instead of saving dollars, strategic investment in long-term fixed-rate debt and income-producing assets like real estate can protect and grow wealth. Matt explains the critical role of debt in current financial systems and shares actionable steps on leveraging creative financing, even in uncertain economic times. The episode serves as a guide for listeners to understand and apply these principles, with an invitation to a detailed training session in Las Vegas. About that thing we are doing in Vegas: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1WCsH9-05vQzgZf9MAGBpUahyTqBcu9VgVqQ8pcACMT8/edit?tab=t.0 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This is Terio Media. Hey, strap in. It's time for the epic real estate investing show. We'll be your guides as we navigate the housing market, the landscape of creative financing strategies, and everything you need to swap that office chair for a beach chair. If you're looking for some one-on-one help, meet us at rei-aise.com. Let's go, let's go, let's go, let's go, let's go, let's go.

Let's go. After dinner, Mike leaned in and said, Don't save the dollar, exploit it. And I thought he was joking. He wasn't. What he showed me next flipped everything I thought I knew about inflation, debt, and getting rich. You see, the last dollar is burning,

and no one's coming to save it. While Washington prints like there's no tomorrow, smart investors are quietly jumping ship. So what do they know that you don't? You know, when I first shared a few weeks ago what my billionaire friend Mike told me over dinner, I held back the most important part, because after dinner, he grabbed a bar napkin,

and he dropped his voice and he said, this next part doesn't leave this table. And he wasn't talking about AI or chips or quantum computing. He was talking about something most investors ignore until it's too late. In the morning, he had acknowledged that he had won too many beers, and then he gave me the green light to go ahead and share what he said. And he said, everyone's staring at the tech bubble, but the real transfer of wealth is happening in plain sight through debt.

And he called it the quiet collapse. And it starts with the U.S. dollar. So on that napkin, he drew three boxes, government, households, corporations. And he said, they're all drowning in debt. But here's what the general public doesn't realize. Some of them are getting rich from it. And the numbers back up exactly what Mike was saying. The U.S. national debt just crossed $36 trillion.

It hit $34 trillion, then $35, then $36, all in a matter of months. That's not growth. That's financial erosion. In just the first four months of 2025, the government overspent by $838 billion. That's $306 billion more than the same time last year. Government debt is rising by $5.6 billion a day. Household debt just topped $18 trillion, corporate debts over $12 trillion, and the government's on track to hit $37 trillion in just a few months,

maybe weeks depending on when you're watching this. That's all three legs of the economy, households, companies, and the government maxed out. just like Mike drew on that napkin. And while the middle class scrambles, Mike's friends are loading up on long-term fixed-rate debt on purpose. Mike said, debt isn't the danger.

It's the people who don't know how to use it. And he's right. Every time tax revenue falls short, the government borrows. They sell treasuries to cover overspending. And the interest on that debt, that's your tax bill. Or worse, your inflation bill.

In 2025, interest on the national debt is expected to hit $952 billion. By next year, it'll be over a trillion. That's more than we spend on defense or Medicare, and it's growing fast. The government can't stop borrowing. The interest alone is projected to be the biggest item in the federal budget by 2035. The dollar has dropped 7% from its peak this year. Treasury yields are spiking. Gold has jumped 60% since 24. Now over $3,200 dollars an ounce. Americans can feel it. Groceries are up 3%. Gas is over three bucks. And rent just climbed to an average of $1,576 a month. This is how inflation becomes the invisible thief. It's not just higher prices. It's a silent pay cut for anyone earning dollars. So how do you survive that?

Well, Mike said, you don't save dollars. You own things that inflate while the dollar deflates. And that's when he dropped the bombshell. He said, I borrowed $25,000. million dollars at three and a half percent fixed. Inflation just turned that into a gift. And he broke it down simply like this. He said, cash is trash unless it buys control. And he's not alone. The wealthy, they're not saving. They're borrowing on purpose. And they're buying income with what they borrow. As 1031 crowdfunding explains it, fixed rate mortgage holders are insulated from rate hikes and benefit from debt devaluation. Bank of America points to a shift towards real assets. There's talking about real estate. Mike buys real estate using long-term fixed debt. Every year inflation

rises, his rent goes up, but his payment stays the same. It's a simple play. You take long-term fixed-rate debt, buy property that cash flows, and then let inflation erode the real value of that debt. Your payment stays the same, your rent goes up, your income grows. And it's his tenants. They pay the interest. The system, it eats the principal, and Mike, he gets wealthier every month. You know, Warren Buffett once said, the best businesses during inflation are the ones you buy once and don't have to reinvest in. That's real estate in a nutshell, stable, income producing, and inflation fighting. And Mike went on to say, where the middle class is really missing the mark, he said, most people think gold is the answer. But gold doesn't send you checks. Gold becomes the panic move.

It's what people buy when they feel like the system is broken. But remember, gold has no cash flow. It doesn't pay your rent. It's not. a plan, it's just a pause. Now, Mike owns some gold, about 2% of his portfolio, but 70% is real estate. And he shared his reasoning, because while gold protects, real estate produces. Gold is fear insurance. Real estate is financial freedom. Fidelity warns against holding too much in savings or CDs. And Forbes shows that your real return could be negative 17% per year, even when your bank says you're earning interest. And most people are afraid of debt. Mike sees it as a weapon. The key is knowing how to use it only on assets that produce cash flow. So if you're relying

on cash to preserve wealth, it's already too late. But if you understand how the system works, you don't just survive, you profit. And here's the wild part. Mike's not waiting on market crashes. He's buying now because sellers are scared and flexible. So he wrote these three steps down on the back of that napkin for me. And I'll share them with you. Step one, act now. Don't wait for some magical crash. The market already adjusted, just not in the way the headlines told you. It adjusted with flexible sellers and creative terms. He's getting properties with lowdown to no down payments, deferred interest, even zero percent financing. The deals today are better than 2009, he says, because nobody's looking. There's no competition. And that's when Mike surprised me. He turned and said,

actually, you've been doing this longer than most people I know. Creative financing has been your superpower from day one, hasn't it? And he was right. While everyone else was wholesaling and flipping and chasing bank loans and doing traditional deals, I've been using seller financing and creative structures and flexible terms since my very first property. It always worked. But right now, in this exact environment, it's more powerful than ever. Yeah, and Mike nodded. He said, your skill set is perfectly timed for what's coming. The next wave of wealth transfer will go to people who understand creative financing. Most investors are still playing. by old rules that don't work anymore.

Then step two, leverage fixed rate long-term debt. Use inflation against the system that created it. Then step three, prioritize cash flow. Forget trying to time the bottom. Your job isn't to guess. It's to collect. Rent checks beat price swings every time. This is exactly what I've been teaching my clients for years.

Fine terms, not discounts. Control the asset. Don't chase a price. Because with today's market conditions, creative financing isn't just an advantage. It's the only game that makes sense. And I've got an idea of the type of questions you might be asking yourself right now, because I've been doing this for a while. But, you know, what if real estate crashes you might be asking? Well, 2008 proved it. Property values dropped, but rents held. In many cities, they spiked. Yeah, but I'm broke. Perfect. That's why you use

OPM other people's money. Use seller financing, private capital, wraparound loans. The whole system is designed for leverage if you know how to play. Yeah, but debt, it's so risky. Only when it's tied to liabilities. With cash flowing assets, debt becomes a superpower, your superpower. You know, so as we left dinner, Mike looked at me and he said, you don't need to predict the future. Just position for it. And that's what I'm sharing with you. It's not a prediction. It's a position. So you've got two choices. You can watch the dollar burn or build something that outlives it. If you want to play the game like Mike and me, if you want to build wealth while the dollar burns, we're doing this thing in Vegas.

I think you'll probably like it a lot if this has sparked your interest in any way. So I'm going to show you exactly what we're doing, how we're using seller financing, creative structures, and fixed debt to ride this next wave. I put a document in the link below for you with all of the details. And if you qualify, I'm going to cover your flight and your hotel as well. So just bring your mindset, a positive one, and be ready to get to work. You know, Mike and I were playing the long game. I always have.

I haven't known any other way. And now you can too. And I'll show you how to make some money in the short term without losing focus or burning extra calories. I'll see you next time. Take care. And that wraps up the epic show. If you found this episode valuable, who else do you know that might too?

There's a really good chance you know someone else who would. And when their name comes to mind, please share it with them and ask them to click the subscribe button when they get here and I'll take great care of them. God loves you and so do I. health, peace, blessings, and success to you. I'm Matt Terrio. Living the dream.