What West Point Didn’t Teach Us About Wealth Building | Real Estate, Leverage & Privatized Banking

for new people here. This is Bajyo. This is my friend. He was my West Point classmate, and then also my local Jujitsu teammate over here in Phoenix. But for the people that don't know of Bajyo, please tell me a little bit about yourself. What got you into real estate and what's your specialty inside of the scene? - Yeah. I like to say kind of like a lot of other people with things you stumble upon it. I never saw myself as like getting into the, especially the, you know, sales side, realtor side of real estate, but I basically started as I was getting out of the Army at JBLM. So I actually see all the stuff behind you too. That's why I laugh when you see the strikers behind 'cause I was on like the maintenance side for that, for my PL time, and I'm like, I hated those things. It was just, I was part of, you know, one of the BCTs up there, and then, I went over to first group, same base, as I was getting out, it's when we had our daughter, so second kid, two kids. And then, yeah, actually another one of our classmates, Jujitsu, that's, he was my realtor when we were doing a sell and buy up there, to get a bigger house for the family. And then, honestly, I can't even remember. I can't even remember the actual conversation of how that came about, but I just remembered he was expanding his team, and I was in that point of like, what do I do next? And I, you know, him and I come out of the hung, and I know that we had a mutual trust, whether it's a West Point or not, or just obviously me already being his client, and he was a football player, I was a baseball player, and like, so, one thing that's another, I was taking the test, got my test, got my license and everything, as like I said, I was still active, there's about like a seven, eight month period where I was transitioning out of the military, but also doing real estate already, so. And then that was just when the market was hot, so it was just like hit the ground running, and it was going, so helping his guys out, helping his team out. And yeah, that's how real estate started. Just fell in love with the process of just, like I said, it's like, at that point, I knew, okay, maybe I don't know if I could ever go back to, let's just say, a W2 job, or like, knowing my nine to five is going to be pretty much the same, you know? I couldn't go back to that. I think that's what I liked about it too, was it real estate? It was like every deal, every transaction, every, every single one can be different, good or bad. There's ways where I can go sideways, but I liked that mix up and just kind of working through problem solving for people, finding ways for people, because honestly, that's ultimately where you show your value on my side, is, can I get the job done in a different way? So, yeah, I know that was a long way to answer, but long story short then too, last thing is move from Washington to Arizona, and that's how we met, right? So, yeah. - And I got to send us to Javon, but I don't have many regrets in life, but one of my regrets was not getting started when I was at JBLM, so he reached out to me too when I was just getting started, but I was so deep inside of Sapper School and like wanting to go all the schools and stuff that I cut it off. I was like, no way, man, I don't wanna get into this. I'm too busy. I got an FDX coming up, and then three days, or three years later, all my friends had $100,000 back with you in their house, and I'm just like, "Dumb it!" Should've got started. - And that's how it happened. That's actually how I fell in love with it more too though. Like, that's what my wife brought out of me, maybe, I guess, because it's funny, 'cause she'll say it. She, her side where she came from, was always renovating, doing stuff around the house. Her dad did a lot of that, taught me a lot of it. My side, we didn't really do that. I mean, we really never saw a house that way, and our first house was right there outside of base, and we basically did a living flip. We lit it for both houses that we had. Quickly saw just like the value in that, not just financially, but even just, "Hey, you can create the life you want, in a way, even as simple as your house, like I can change and renovate my house. It doesn't have to be perfect when I buy it." - Yeah. - And same thing even as going from on, for you as an investor at the end point, you have to start having those visions of, that's the beauty of it, of taking something that someone might just glance over, that doesn't know what they're doing or doesn't see it, but then you create something out of it, and that is the value you're creating, and then guess what, you get financially compensated towards the end, right? If you choose, right? That's the beauty of real estate is making something out of nothing, in a way, sometimes. - Yeah. - Great. I think that's why you're gonna laugh. My son was watching, I don't know if you remember this Disney Channel movie, Eddie's Million Dollar Cook Off. Yeah, I don't know if you're watching. I was watching, it was where a kid, is a baseball player, his dad's all harder than him, he's the coach, like he's a star stud baseball player, but then he finds a love for cooking. - Okay. - And like, it's like high school musical type, right? It's like that era of like, oh, but I want to be a chef, right? - Yeah, yeah, yeah, I like it, okay. - But that's what he says in there, and I'm like, you don't want to, that's a good, that's a good way to put it out of you. He's like, I don't know why I like it. I just, I like to make something out of nothing. I like to, new this, I'm like, okay, so real estate is kind of like, you know, chef, I guess, in this little Disney movie. - Yeah. - Like, and because of the curiosity, curiosity, something's always different. It's just breaking, it's, again, there's struggles and risk, that's the thing is risk reward. People that are, you know, taking more risk are the ones that are getting rewarded more at the end too, right? So, yeah, I don't know. There's, I laugh because what do they say? Time in the market beats time in the market. And so like your thoughts with your Von, that query you're like, - Yeah, you know, what you would have started or the year, what you would have started earlier, just like your Jitsie man. - Everyone starts thinking like, it's like, all right, well, that was the best time. The second best time is now. - Hey, what was your experience when you were at JBLM with mentorship inside of the army and relating to finance because I talked about this a little bit before, but I brought all my plans to, you know, Patelink Manor, Vardeg Manor and I was like, "Yo, like, what should I do?" And they helped me shape a lot of my initial guidance, which was just dollar cost average, that's some people I don't. And like, they did have some initial, like, okay, guidance for traditional paths. But, you know, I spent a really interesting, because I talked to a few lieutenant colonels, you know, retire with lieutenant colonels. And they had full on businesses, while there were still a full on Patelink Manor, which I found incredibly interesting, mostly on the real estate side. But what was your experience when you were getting started in real estate? Were you shaped at all by military mentors or was this all AFK, if you will? - And I never really thought of that, I'll be honest with you a bit, but I, I guess I didn't really seek it out from there side as much. - Yeah. So I didn't have as much guidance, honestly, per se. I mean, I do think I was very influenced over, just being around those circles, and like hearing what other people are investing in and doing. - Sure. - I will credit it back, honestly, more to, like the West Point network. - Okay. Yeah, I know a lot of people have started, like right out the grip, they're doing like different syndication circles, getting things together. I was actually part of one of those, and over in Tennessee, so that ended up working great. But yeah, I'd go back to, this is not an excuse on my end, but I was so deep and like, okay, I gotta go, learn how to be Lieutenant, gotta get into these different schools. So it's just not something I was, I was ignorant, I was ignorant at the time, and I didn't comprehend. - Yeah, no, I, I mean, me too, I'm an extra one, right? Dude, I don't know. (laughs) Like sometimes, like I have to be the first one to say, like I don't have it, anything figured out in a way. Like, you know, I'll space out sometimes and think of us being on a rock in the middle of space, literally, right? - True. (laughs) - Like, is this all made up? I don't know, are we in a simulation? (laughs) I think I go down through those, dude, but, no, I will say, I mean, I'll just start, like, I think back to my childhood, my upbringing, you know, loves the family to death, but like, I never, there was no talking or nobody around me, that's thing. Like, so when I went to West Point, that's what I'm saying, he's like, oh, I see this whole other side. - Yeah. - Like, I didn't grow up, like, you know, my parents, you know, bus to the rest of this provide everything they could, I'm doing their best, but like my no means that I come from a wealthy family, right? Like, you know, people were not around me that had rental properties doing all this and all that. So I didn't know. The first time that was happening was okay, I get around other West Point cadets that had family members or friends already doing that. So speaking to you guys and then seeing ahead, I mean, that's why I like the cow loan, right? The thing like, oh, take it. For me in my head, I had to even break out of that being like, well, I thought a loan was bad, right? Yeah, yeah, learning like what that was at that time. Yeah, yeah, and being like, oh, wait, but that interest is good. You know what I mean? Just, that was the first step and then next thing you know, you get out and then that's why that's why I ended up buying my first house with other. I don't know, I just heard people said it's good just buy your house when you get to your first duty station, right? So that's how real estate started. Just like, and it's crazy. That's just why I take such pride in, auditing your circle, like that's something everyone talks about, right? And getting around and getting around the right people, because yeah, I don't think I would be where I'm at if I didn't just like go around these circles more, you know, being around these different people more, people that are just like way ahead in other ways of life that I didn't even know about. So that's West Point one. I mean, as far as military, I, I guess there was some here there, but I would always lean back to the West Point. Yeah, I don't have the car facts in the study for this one, but it was something along the lines of between your closest friend group, right? Like your six closest friends, your income, like it's going to be within 10% of that next person, which is really, really interesting. And this goes to show like the people you surround your with are going to be pretty adjacent to who you are as a person, especially from a wealth point of view, which is pretty interesting. But okay, so you mentioned, you got started in real estate when you first got to your duty station. Did you use the VA loan, or did you use a combination of your cow loan too? Now it was VA loan. I think I used, I still have like some of the cow loan, you know, in the same, he's gone or something to it. Like I think that helped me cover closing costs for half a liter or something. I think I might have gotten like half of them covered by the seller. Yeah. Yeah, that was like the only thing I used that aside from that was just VA loan. I mean, and even then, you know, I, I hope a lot of first time home buyers too and a lot of families moving up. I just remember too, I was like, this is scary because I think my mortgage was coming out to like five, six hundred dollars more than my BAH was. And I was like, but you know, again, I'm not, I have to break out of these in my head. I was like, I, the whole time, I have to be within my BAH because that's my housing allowance. Yeah. You know, that was like breaking out of that first mindset of like it's okay to extend and just be better disciplined financially to make this work and it's going to be worth it. You know, so yeah, that was VA loan, second was VA loan. But again, it's just so much of finance, money is so mental, man, like it's so mindset driven. I mean, you, your story, that's I think why we connect because like, we're all just doing a best. We're trying. We're figuring it out, right? Try one error. Like you only, as long as you're learning and you, you know, you're refining your sword. Like that's because again, it's like we don't know what we don't know. Yeah, it sounds really a way in but like I hit saying it, but like mindset is a large part of wealth. Potentially one of my favorite books, They can grow rich by the point hill is is really all about that. Like what are you putting out there? How well do you know yourself and that is going to be indicative of where you're going to go? You know, and that starts wealth starts in the mind of I'm worthy of this. I am able to do this and then a lot of times will that will come into alignment. But yeah, who going back to the Cal loan for those of you guys that don't know the Cal loan is like a career start alone that we get out of West Point. I think it's around $38,000 at like less than 1% interest. So it's a it's a crazy deal to get started. But going back in time, Bajyo, if you had that loan, a pop interior lap right now, what would you do with it? I'm going to try to think what I'd use it for. I honestly didn't like blow through it crazy or nothing like that. I would have definitely taken a step back on how much I probably would have put in like I put a decent chunk into like a Ross and into like a brokerage account. Okay. Probably would have like reversed a little bit of what I did there and looked for some other avenue. Maybe even kept a little more liquid, you know what I mean? To deploy somewhere else. So that would have probably been one thing. I don't regret like I put a couple grand tours like a trip after we graduated. But it's because it's like I didn't have any money. I didn't expect me to like that was the only money I had. So like, yeah, I was like, like 500 bucks at the end or something like that. I didn't have any money and like I'm like, there's nothing to ask from like my parents to try to like help me. I was like, no, I can't. So, well, my own there and did pay for the else. You know, we had to pay for our uniforms, all of mandatory stuff. So I thought I probably, you know what the only other thing was I probably would have gone like a little. I would have probably got an even more of a like, Peter first car. Like I would have probably gone as cheap as possible looking back at it. That probably would have only changed. And like I said, it would really just have kept a little more to deploy in a better way. And I missed not. I wouldn't have jumped as quickly on the traditional route. So that's where I ended up too. Because I talk to a lot of people, you know, VPs that companies, presidents and everything, I'm like, okay, what should I do with the slow and I'm really what sure what to do it. And they all came from the Dave Ramsey point of you know, like all debt is bad. You shouldn't use this very thing. So I only took what I needed for an expense. I just bought my car. I think it was around 14, $15,000 cash. So that's all I took because you don't have to take the full thing. So I just use that. And hindsight, looking back at five opportunities from the 40k liquid, I would have just, you know, brought four or five friends together and said, Hey, we're going to go on bigger pockets and pick whatever deal up. And we're all going to win. Or I would have put it in a private letting know too. And this played arbitrage because when else are you going to have a less than one percent cost of capital, which is, which is nuts. But I was like asking that question. Like, yeah, yeah, exactly. And we wish or we're freaking 10 years removing. Yeah. Like, of course, we have so many more things now, you know, it's, but, you know, this should be top. And it should be taught like this should be a junior senior level course. Like, we do get a little education. I remember that's what I fell in love like with compounding interest. And like, I went so, so deep into it. And I thought I was doing the right things like, and, you know, my strategy showed that, you know, saving 50 to 70% of my income per year. So I'm from 17 all the way to now. And just like looking at those excels when you make the compounding interest calculator, I was like, hang, no way. This is crazy. But then, you know, segue into when I found IBC, it was that on a scale of like 100, you know, so transitioning into that, let's talk about how we got into this space together. So tell me a little bit more about your insurance background. And where you were before and now you where you are now with your with your insight and understanding of everything. Yeah, I mean, I, so I've gotten my insurance license too. Some great people that were like, setting me up on that route. I think a lot of it had to do with again, we're trying to do better. You're trying to find other ways. You're hearing about this infinite banking. You're hearing about like, oh, yeah, that makes sense, right? I'm trying to leverage one thing for another arbitrage. What I will say is like, I was hitting it hard for a while as far as going on the insurance side. Well, and then I'll backstep one too. It also started because I had started our family, we started our family young. So, you know, I was already going through my head of like, hey, if I'm the provider from the dad and something happens to me, where do I go about that? So it's sorted with that, right? Because I was like, okay, where's my insurance? I need to make sure Maddie and the kids are covered. Because unfortunately, like, I lost my dad like two months after my first was born. Oh, damn it. No, okay. Yeah. Yeah. So like, boom. And that, that is what, that's what triggered the whole thing. That makes a lot of sense. Yeah. My dad died when he was like 47. It wasn't old. So I, you know, always out of my head, I have a young dad. He's going to be around a long time, you know, and then boom, life changing, right? So right after I become a dad, he's gone. And now I'm in here like, okay, I need to make sure like anything can happen, right? Obviously, and then being in the military too, you just see shit happens like, unfortunately. We're faced with that reality too, right? Like, death is a part of what we do. It's integrated into the concept. Like we fight and destroy the enemy. So like, - That's what's going to happen in part of that truly. - Yeah, I was hand in hand, but like you still didn't, I didn't really still, I guess fully embrace it until I became a dad, unfortunately. Like, you know, I kind of kind of had that kick to the face like, hey, no dude, now you are fully responsible for somebody else. - True. - So, you know, what do we have? Was it like half a million, like 500 cans of a life insurance or four? - Oh, what was that? SGLI, it's like 450, I think, 450 if I'm not mistaken. - That's like the, I can never. - 400, 450, really cheap life insurance, like cool. Yeah, but it's funny, 'cause now you look and again, that's why I sat down with those people who are like, realistically, you need more than that to give to, you know, your wife and kids is something happening, right? So, that's how that started and then of course, it was like, hey, I'm already going in real estate having like the sales background, entrepreneurial background, get your insurance license too. It can go hand in hand because, again, it comes from me trying to also be a good, like servant, because I do, I'm in the shoes of, I'm helping a family get the, probably the biggest asset, right? Again, if I'm helping a family or four of my family and get to the big house, great house, but I don't at least tell them, hey, like, if you're not covered, dad, like husband, like, wife, whoever, you know, you guys, what if something happens, right? Like, I don't want to just be the realtor that just hands the key and just say, see you guys later. That's where this came from. I want to be like, hey, I want to be a resource in other ways, you know, 'cause I wouldn't want to do that. I would hate to hear, you know, at least I didn't at least try to connect them with something. So, all that being said with insurance, that's then lended to the internet banking because I'm like, wait, this is, if I can also help a real estate investor. - Yeah. - In another way too, other than like, okay, here's your hard money guy, here's, you know, we can go create a finance in this route or that route, it's like, it's just another tool in the tool kit, right? - Yeah. - And so, the one thing I ran into, it was like, obviously before you and I started meeting and talking more, it was like, honestly, I was spreading everything. - Yeah. - And it was almost like, I'm trying to build three different businesses at once, and I'm only going like one foot deep versus just going all the way in on one. So, I was like, nothing was really growing at a rate that I felt was sustainable or good because I was like, my brain was just so, just scattered. So, and so, you and I really talked about that insurance, I was a little more on the back burner, I didn't do that much on it. But then once we connected and stuff, I was like, oh wow, I could really tackle this. And then I was in a better spot, real estate-wise too, family-wise too, you know, kids, this is now a good time, right? A lot of it has to do with timing. - Yep. And so, now that we're partnered up and like, I feel like there's a great balance on what we can, you know, help with each other and other people. - Yeah, they're very, very complimentary. Like long story short on mine, like I used to only be able to do one property per year, but now I could do three properties, even four properties per year based on what I shifted to. And, you know, that's how our businesses are mutually beneficial. But hey, man, that's all we have time for today. We'll pick up next time and talk about the shift of IBC and really get into the weeds on some details you could do combining the world of real estate and combining the world of insurance. So, I appreciate your time, man, and I'll catch you at the next one, okay? - Yeah, man.