Real estate investing can provide a path to financial freedom, offering both active and passive investment opportunities. In this episode, Susan and Annie talk with Jim Pfeifer, founder of Left Field Investors, about his journey from being a financial advisor to becoming a successful real estate investor and community builder. Jim candidly shares how he unintentionally became a landlord and how his investment portfolio eventually grew to owning multiple properties. He stresses the need for investors to have a supportive network and advocates for younger generations to think beyond traditional employment and retirement options, encouraging them to savor the wealth-building adventure as it unfolds.
Advice for Aspiring Investors
Seek out a community that provides support, shared knowledge, and confidence to help you navigate real estate investing.
Take the time to understand each investment and ensure it aligns with your financial goals and risk tolerance.
Remember real estate investing is a long-term journey with a goal of achieving financial independence and living life on your own terms.
Share your knowledge with your family and friends, reminding them they don’t have to follow the conventional path.
Navigating Real Estate Investing
[00:22:37] If you want to be an effective real estate investor in passive syndications, you need a community... so you have other people you can talk to, share information with. And that's really the core of real estate investing for me.
[00:35:28] You really need to do your own due diligence. You need to check and make sure you're comfortable. You can't invest based on someone else's recommendations, but the community is there to help you make that decision.
[00:40:13] I want to encourage the kids to enjoy themselves along the way, not to save it all for old age and retirement. Enjoy the journey while continually trying to grow your wealth to support that journey.
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Jim Pfeifer [0:02 - 0:13]: If you want to be an effective real estate investor in passive syndications, you need a community so you have other people you can talk to, share information with. And that's really the core of real estate investing for me now.
Annie [0:15 - 0:42]: Hey there. I'm Annie Dickerson and I wanted to welcome you to this episode of the Life and Money show brought to you by Goodag Investments. This is the show where we talk about everything from investing to financial freedom to parenting, traveling, creating a life by design and everything in between. I'm here with my amazing co host, Susan Elliott. Susan, share with the listener a few highlights from the conversation today with Jim Pfeiffer that they should be sure to listen in for.
Susan [0:42 - 2:16]: Yeah, this was great because I think it's like the wake up call kind of episode that if you're not into real estate yet, but you kind of have the inkling you're a seeker. I liked how you brought that out, that us real estate investors, we're seekers, there's something else out there that could be better. And Jim today really highlighted how he's been able to help those seekers be able to have the confidence to learn about real estate investing, the types of real estate investing that might fit more into their life, in other words, not the like active hustle of being a landlord. We heard his story. It's such a common story, but he's actually gone the next step to create a community for people to be able to learn to connect with other investors. And he highlighted one of my favorite parts of this conversation that I really want you to listen for is the value. And community isn't just learning the nitty gritty details or the technical aspects of how to go about being a passive real estate investor in syndications or just a real estate investor at all, or just not even, you know, something beyond what you know and is the default in our society. And it's that like the parallel thing that you need to be developing along the way so that you enjoy the process of investing because building wealth is a long term journey. So I really want listeners to stick around for that because we can get so focused on what are the returns, what are, what is the structure, what is the distributions, what is the nitty gritty technical. But if we don't also help ourselves learn and understand and build the confidence in our decisions, and this is where the community comes in, then it's going to be a hard journey. And so he really kind of dives into that today.
Annie [2:17 - 3:58]: What I love about what he talks about is not only his journey and how he got to passive investing in syndications, but really how the community has supported him through that and now how he fosters the community. And we talked about all sorts of things related to community, not only the good side, but also the potential traps that you could fall into with community, but how important it is for something as siloed as investing in a syndication where you may never meet the sponsors, you may never meet the investors, you may never meet anybody in person before you wire your 10,000, 25,000, 50,000, 10,0000. It can be really nerve wracking. And so having that community around you can make all the difference. And so if you're listening to this and you are in that place where you're considering, maybe you are a seeker, as we are, and you're thinking about investing in real estate too, and whether you have rental properties or you're dabbling with syndications and curious about passive investing, just like Jim and his community left field investors, which you're going to hear all about, we have a strong, robust community of seekers and real estate investors, passive investors here at good investments as well. It's called our good egg investor club. And if you're listening to this, you're invited to join. We would love to have you, regardless of where you are in your investing journey, whether you're an accredited investor or non accredited or you don't even know what that means, that's okay. You're invited to join in. And to join the good Egg Investor club, you can go to Goodeg Investments.com invest.
Susan [3:58 - 4:50]: Annie, just yesterday on our weekly popover call where we just like get to chat with other investors and other investors get to chat with each other, we had such a moment where it was like, oh, look it, we're all in real life here. This isn't a recording. This isn't a blog, this isn't a YouTube video, which are all helpful in learning and growing along the way. But when you can actually speak to a person who is also investing and who is the one that put the deal together potentially or is going through the same questions that you have. For instance, today in our interview with Jim, I talk about how he almost caught me into thinking, yeah, I need to grow a portfolio of rental properties. That sounds great. Until he then reminded me the hassle that happened after he did that. And I was like, oh, right, right, right, right, right, right. So there's lots of different ways to connect, but it is so meaningful to connect with investors. So I'm excited for everyone to remember that in the conversation with Jim today.
Annie [4:50 - 5:03]: Indeed. Well, with that, let's dive into our conversation with Jim Pfeiffer, founder of left field Investors. Jim, welcome to the show. How are you?
Jim Pfeifer [5:03 - 5:05]: I'm great. Thank you for having me. Happy to be here.
Annie [5:06 - 5:42]: Well, Jim, we are so excited to dive in with you because not only have you done a lot for yourself in terms of investing in real estate, but you've created an entire community for others to learn and build wealth for themselves as well. Something that we're very passionate about. So we're excited to talk about that. But first, I want to laser Zoom in on the moment, that moment that shifted everything for you. And I know there was a time in your life you were teaching and you were kind of working as a financial advisor on the side, because all teachers. I've been a teacher. You always have a side hustle on the side, right?
Jim Pfeifer [5:42 - 5:42]: Yes.
Annie [5:42 - 5:52]: And so you were doing financial advising, a self proclaimed financial geek, which I can consider myself now as well. And you were helping other people in the room.
Susan [5:52 - 5:53]: Everyone in the room.
Annie [5:53 - 6:12]: That's right. And you were helping others to learn about finances and investing. But there was a moment when you realized that what you were telling them to do and what you were advising them to do maybe wasn't the full version of the truth. And so take us to that moment. Tell us a little bit about what happened there. Yeah.
Jim Pfeifer [6:12 - 6:56]: So when you become a financial advisor, regardless of where you are, I think in your career. I was on, I think that was my third or fourth career by that time. And I was always a finance geek like we talked about. And I loved digging in, you know, as soon as I got my first job, I was begging him to let me put money in my four hundred one k. I was investing in mutual funds. I was a finance major in college, so I was really into it. So when I became a financial advisor, I thought it would be easy and I thought I would know everything there is to know about money. And they started educating me, and it was really eye opening because at the same time, I was an accidental landlord. So I just kind of dipped my toe into real estate, and I didn't really like it because I didn't understand it. I was self managing. I had a fantastic tenant. But I mean, it's ridiculous, but it bothered me that he made me take my shoes off to go into my own house. But he was very meticulous and clean.
Annie [6:56 - 7:04]: How did that happen? For somebody who's listening, who may not know what is an accidental landlord? How did you become an accidental landlord?
Jim Pfeifer [7:04 - 7:29]: Yeah, so in 2008, we built a house because our family was growing, we needed more space. And then 2008 happened, and that's when real estate markets just kind of tanked. We couldn't sell our old house, and so we decided to rent it out rather than sell it. So I was accidental then that it wasn't intentional. We were hoping to sell it, but I'm really thankful that we didn't, because that led to everything that's followed after that.
Annie [7:30 - 7:46]: Yeah, isn't it amazing? One little thing. And, you know, it wasn't what you intended, but the universe was like, hey, Jim, we're going to make you do this thing. And you're like, oh, but I don't really want to. You're going to do it. And then it shifted everything for you.
Jim Pfeifer [7:46 - 10:14]: It really did. And so as a financial advisor, they were teaching me about money and the products that we were selling, and that's where I realized that I was tending more and more towards real estate, in fact, when the markets improved, and again, accidental landlord. We tried to sell that house because I still, like I said I didn't like being a landlord. I saw the money coming in, but I didn't really realize what it was doing because it comes in in small amounts, a few hundred dollars a month, and you're like, that's not very much money. And so I went to a realtor and I said, hey, I want to sell this house. And he said, but it's paid off and you have a tenant in it. How about this? How about you get a mortgage on the house, because the equity in your home earns nothing, right? 0% return on that equity. So why don't you buy two more? I'll sell you two more. I'll manage them for you. You'll have three. And so what I did was I turned one cash flowing asset that wasn't earning anything on the equity into three cash flowing assets by financing the property. And then that's just when all the bells and whistles, just like, everything kind of hit. I'm like, oh, this is great. At the same time, again, I'm learning about finance, and I keep finding out that I'm putting money into real estate, and I was prided myself as a financial advisor that I'm going to invest in everything the clients did. There was a new product or new something, I would put my money into it before I put any of my clients money into it. I wanted to be in the same boat as they were. And then I found that I was putting more and more of my money into real estate. So I couldn't ride on that same boat with my clients. And there's reasons why your financial advisor's not going to recommend real estate for you. One is because every dollar you put into real estate's a dollar you're not giving them. And then they miss out on their commissions, and they need to make money, too. Another reason, a better reason, is they're not licensed for it, so they don't have the expertise, they don't have the knowledge. Scary. They don't know what it is, and they don't make money on it, so they're not incentivized for that. So now, an aside, when I deal with a financial advisor, I make sure they're the kind of person that is also into real estate, so they're okay that I take some money from them and put it in real estate, because I think it's still important to have someone to advise you. But that's where, when I really started getting the real estate, that's when the two merged, where I was learning about finance from smart people in finance. They happened to do paper assets, but I was applying that knowledge to real assets, and that's when everything changed. And I realized I can't be a financial advisor anymore because I am not doing the same thing as my clients, and I need to be aligned with them.
Annie [10:15 - 12:19]: What I wanted to pick out of that thread there was. It was always a mystery to me early on when I was trying to learn about finances and building wealth was why financial advisors wouldn't tell me about real estate. And so that's a really valuable insight there, that they're not set up for it and they're not incentivized for it. Not mean, though, that real estate is not a good way to build wealth. And this is where I think, and this is my theory, is that I think that real estate investors are seekers. There are people who have dared to go beyond the conventional wisdom and to say, wait a second, there's something that I'm not being told here, there's something that doesn't add up here, and they're the ones who dare to venture off the well worn path and try something that maybe, you know, a financial advisor seems safe, right? Because they're part of this big organization. They've been trained. They're telling you about all these conventional products that you're probably hearing about from friends and family, too. So, you know, you're like, okay, this makes sense, but it takes a certain kind of person and a certain kind of courage to then say, wait a second, I'm going to take that with a grain of salt, but I'm also going to look over here, or in your case, fell into it unintentionally, but tried it out, and you saw that there was all this potential there. And so tell us about that. So you took the one property. Sounds like you had a great realtor who kind of understood the potential there, which is also a key in the hero's journey. I guess he was kind of like your guide, right? Your helper person, your yoda. And so he was like, wait a second, there's more potential here. And you said, okay, let me give that a try. And so you took action. You turned the one into three. So then at that point, then you knew that this was working. Did that change what you were telling your clients as a financial advisor? And did you continue on down that path as a financial advisor?
Jim Pfeifer [12:19 - 13:19]: I slowly exited the business as I got more and more into real estate. And what I did was I talked to this real estate agent who had gotten me into rentals, and he was only houses in the suburbs. Everything else in real estate is terrible. Was kind of his attitude, you know, it's the one thing he knew. So he was also kind of pigeonholing me, and I was starting to go to meetups and got on bigger pockets and started doing some research. And one door is great, but, man, four doors is four times that, right? So I tried to talk him into getting me in the multifamily, and he said, no, no, that's crazy. You're going to lose all your money. And so he was doing a great job. He's actually the only property manager I've ever had that was just fantastic and baked me money and nothing but money. But you don't make as good a returns on the, you know, class A type suburban properties. So I went in and went to look for a fourplex and found another realtor. And, yeah, after a week or two of looking for a fourplex, I bought a 22 unit, which was.
Susan [13:19 - 13:19]: Whoa.
Jim Pfeifer [13:19 - 13:32]: Yeah, exactly. Not what I meant to do, but I was going for cash flow, and I thought, this is how I turn it all on and just go all in on real estate. So in a couple of months, I bought a 22, then an eight, then.
Annie [13:32 - 13:34]: A four, and in what market?
Jim Pfeifer [13:34 - 13:35]: Columbus, Ohio.
Annie [13:35 - 14:16]: Columbus, Ohio. Okay, so I want to pull this out for the listener, because first is just to go from zero to one. I think that's probably the hardest thing, is to not have any real estate, and then to go to that first property. So for you, that was kind of an accidental landlord situation. But you had that one. You turned the one into three, and then you said, wait a second, but one is good, three is better. Four is even better. And so you jumped in and went all the way to 22, then eight additional on top of that. It sounds like you quickly amassed 30, 40 units. And so then I want to hear, was it as easy and as good as you thought it was going to be, or were there hiccups along the way?
Jim Pfeifer [14:16 - 14:41]: Oh, there was nothing but hiccups. It was not good at all because I'm a excel guy, I'm a finance guy. I had it all planned out. I knew that 22 units. I knew how much money was going to make. I talked to the property manager and found out how much it would cost to turn a unit. And I mean, I did all the research, I thought, and then I got in it. And really what it ended up being is me arguing constantly with the property manager for not evicting people.
Annie [14:41 - 14:42]: Oh, no.
Jim Pfeifer [14:42 - 16:48]: Because I didn't realize at the time I was still early on, right. I didn't realize that, you know, if I have to spend five or six grand on turning a unit, I didn't realize that the new rents that I would get would change the value of the property. I was just looking at cash flow. Nothing ever cash flowed. We had all kinds of problems with tenants. It was a c class property. It never, ever cash flowed. And it was just frustrating from the moment. And the eight unit was around the corner and the four unit was somewhere else close by. And it was all just a struggle for the two or three years that I owned those properties. But I was rescued by the market. I was a terrible asset manager, which when I got into syndication investing, thats where I realized im going to hire an asset manager. That asset manager, that is their full time job. Thats what they do for a living. And they deal with property managers because as I was doing all these multifamily, I was also doing single family tournickys in Memphis and Indianapolis on the side. And I was constantly struggling with property manager. So none of my properties cash flowed almost at all, except for those original three. And eventually I got around to selling them. Fortunately made a lot of money. Right, because anyone can make money in those days. The market saved me, but they never cash flow and they just didn't work out for me. But the 22 unit, for example, I sold it to a friend of mine who had a business of renovating apartments and doing all that stuff knowing, like, I had doubled the value in a couple of years just by sitting there not knowing what I was doing. And I knew he would double it again in a year if I sold it to him. And so I was fine to do that because I made my money and I did not have the capacity to evict everybody, redo all the units and keep going. I was just exhausted. So I sold it to him, knowing that he would make a killing on it, and he did. But that was the best move for me. And that's part of the reason I like real estate. Right? It was. That's truly a win win. And I don't feel like I missed out on anything because I couldn't go through the work and all the stuff it would take to do what he was doing, because he did it for a living. He was better at it than I was. So you got to recognize your strengths.
Susan [16:49 - 17:07]: And that is the true core that these are appreciating. The appreciation factor is that it just becomes win, win, win down the road. As long as you maintain there's not like, massive deferred maintenance, but people can take it and run with it in a way that isn't like most other types of investing.
Jim Pfeifer [17:07 - 17:07]: Right.
Susan [17:08 - 18:06]: That's a great example of that. You know, you even caught me right there because I have a rental property, and only one I flipped into a duplex. It was a single family home. And then I basically got into syndications as well as a passive investor because I two young kids, I just don't have time. We already managed. My husband worked on the yard for like two weeks straight just this past spring over there, and I hate it. But you caught me because I was like, oh, maybe I should pull that equity out and buy a few more rental homes, and then I'll be able to put it into syndication. So. And then, of course, I just had to wait a few moments to hear the reasons why maybe I don't have to do that. So what do you help people now who maybe they do have a rental property, or they're ready to scale. They've sought out real estate, they get it, and now they're ready to scale their portfolio. And having gone through what you just went through with your 22 units and no cash flowing and needing an asset manager, what do you like to talk to people about now with being able to make the jump into syndications, you.
Jim Pfeifer [18:06 - 20:51]: Really have to recognize where your strengths are. If you are great at swinging a hammer, then maybe active real estate is for you. Or if you know a certain market in Columbus, Ohio, and you know that better than anyone else, then perhaps you have an advantage. But if you don't have any of those skills, which I didn't, then you have to go with your strength. And my strength, I think, is evaluating properties, vetting operators, and understanding kind of how to select asset managers. So if someone is, they have different strengths that maybe go more towards active. I would say, yeah, try out active. But if you're a professional who has a job or has kids or has all these other things, and you don't have the skills or the time or the desire to do active real estate, then syndication investing is for you. Definitely. And I think most of people end up in the place where syndication investing could be for you. The challenge is not really transitioning from active real estate to passive real estate. For most people, it's switching from Wall street. What, at left field investors, we call the right field right people that are in paper assets into real assets to produce cash flow. And that's our passion. I know that's your passion as well. But at left field investors, we wanted to show people, hey, you can do this, you can do real estate. And we call it community personal finance. Right? There's three kinds of finance in our world. One is kind of the Wall street stuff. It's easy, everyone does it. It's not scary. You just put money in your four hundred one k and off you go. But the problem with that is it's highly taxed and the returns aren't as good as real estate. Real estate is alternative investing, and that's scary and that's hard. As you know, many of the investments are hidden. You have to send wire transfers, which are scary. There's just a lot there that you don't understand. And so community personal finance is kind of the third part that what left field investors talks about is you take a community and then you invest in alternatives. So now we're working together to vet operators, to analyze deals. And you have people you can talk to about this, because if you walk out your front door right now and talk to your neighbors about finance, they're going to talk 401K, Ira, interest rate on the mortgage, right? And then you're going to say, well, what about the real estate syndications that I just invested in a 200 unit apartment complex? And then you're going to turn around and everyone's gone because you're the weirdo talking about syndications. So that's kind of how I look at it, is that's why you need a community if you want to be an effective real estate investor in passive syndications. You need a community left field investors or good egg or whoever, and maybe both or all so you have other people you can talk to, share information with. And that's really the core of real estate investing for me.
Annie [20:51 - 21:15]: Now, tell us a little bit about what left field means. I'm not a, I loved playing baseball, you know, in gym class when I was a little kid, but not enough to really understand right field, left field, outfield, all the. So tell us, what is the meaning behind left field? And maybe tell us a little bit, because I know you have some partners that you started this together. So tell us a little bit about that origin story.
Jim Pfeifer [21:15 - 23:24]: Yeah, the funny thing is, we are not baseball fans either. In fact, I felt really bad. One of the first guests I had on my podcast was a former professional baseball player. And one of the last questions I was asked is, what's your favorite podcast you listen to? And he was like, oh, you guys are going to love this, since you're such big baseball fans. And he started talking about all these baseball podcasts, I didn't have the heart to tell him. The way we got the name was, I'm a former financial advisor and all of my former colleagues, when I started talking about real estate while I was working, there was a Jim, you're way out there in left field, and that's where the name came from. But when we talk about it now, it's kind of like left field. We think about that as alternatives. Real estate and all the stuff that we do now. Right field, we call that. That's where you're doing the Wall street stuff, paper assets. And then most of our people, and most people probably should be somewhere in center field. That's where you do a little bit of both. And I think I swung way too far the left field. I put all my money in syndications. Then I realized, oh, wait, liquidity. And that's where I use the right field type investments for, is in liquidity. But to get back to the question you actually asked, sorry, I do go off on tangents. Left field investors, we're just a community of people that want to help everybody understand what syndications are. So we provide education in this space. We provide a community, so a network where you can talk to other people. And then we provide some deal flow by having operators come on and present deals to our community. So that's what we're about. And we started for a pandemic, baby, because we started in 2020. Our first meeting was supposed to be March 18, which is when the world shut down and we were just going to be a twelve person dinner club in Columbus. Selfishly, I just wanted to talk to other people about syndication investing, and we had to go online. We did this new thing called Zoom, and I watched our first meeting the other day and it was crazy because everyone's trying to figure out how to use Zoom, but that turned into now we're a 2000 plus person community all working together, and it's very collaborative, right, which is what I love. Everyone kind of trying to help each other out. There's no competitors there. We're just all trying to lift everybody up.
Susan [23:24 - 24:39]: What a great other call to go bigger and to bring this to more people. Like, oh, no, you thought this was a dinner party. Lots more people can use this if you go off and put it in the virtual sphere. So, and I think that the deep down, like just the root in community and you understanding that we can all go further, faster together if we help each other along the way. It's like you could see that probably as just you wanting to become a teacher and then wanting to become a financial advisor, but always kind of questioning, is this the best past for me and my family and the people I know and love? And not only did you just say, well, like, I'm going to do real estate on the side here, I'm going to continue my financial advising career because it's lucrative and blah, blah, blah, but you're like, this isn't aligned, and I'm going to find a way to help more people. And you could have just gone off into real estate and never advised anyone ever again or never brought people together again, but you just kept on, like following that path forward, like, to start a community these days, because it's real hot topic these days to have a community, have an online space, a forum, sell courses, do all these things. Yours is very rooted in, like, this is something that changes lives and these are the things that we can do together to make it all happen easier for everyone. It's really rare. Jim, I appreciate that this is what.
Jim Pfeifer [24:39 - 26:09]: You'Ve built well, and I can't take credit for it because it was accidental. I spent most of the first year shooing people away and saying, no, I want this small mastermind for myself. But once we got to 50 people, I was like, man, there is a real need for this. And we didn't do it to start a business. But eventually we realized, okay, I'm spending all of my time on this and so are a couple other people. So we need to turn it into a business, we have to make money at it, because if we don't, we can't sustain it. And so that's been a challenge, right? Because we want it to be the pure place that it is. So we've always said that if there's something that comes up, that it's just a money making opportunity for left field investors, but it doesn't benefit the community. We're going to say no to that. And that's been difficult, but we have stuck to our guns on that because we really believe in this community. And it's so important, as we talked about, to have other people who are going through the same experience as you. And it really helps, especially, I mean, it was fun in the good times. And now when things are a little bit more volatile and difficult, it's even more important because we can commiserate together. We have a forum where people right now are panicking because one of the operators that many of us invested with has disappeared or not been communicating. And so everyone's panicking. But then one of us got in touch with the operator, was able to talk to them and get some information, then we can share that and everybody can understand that. Okay, maybe it's not as bad, exactly. Not as bad as we thought. So there's so many benefits to being part of the community, I believe.
Annie [26:09 - 26:56]: Yeah. You know, I wish I could say I have no idea what that's like, but I have invested in syndications where the sponsor has just disappeared and nobody can get in touch with them. And that community makes all the difference, because when you're investing in a syndication, often it's a very siloed experience. You're by yourself, you look at something on your computer screen and you make a decision, but then you gotta maybe go to your bank or you gotta initiate the wire online and you're like sitting here on the edge of your seat. You don't know if you've made the right decision. And when you have that community, even one other person, oh, yeah. Who knows what you're going through and who may be investing in the same deals or similar deals, or who even knows what a syndication is, that can make a huge, huge difference.
Jim Pfeifer [26:56 - 27:29]: Oh, yeah. I remember the first one of our other founders, Steve sue, when I met him and we were talking about syndications. He's the first person I've ever met who knew what it was. And then I found out he invested in the same operator as me, and then even the same deal and the sense of relief. I mean, I remember just, oh, big exhale. Because he's a doctor, he's a smart guy. And, oh, he did this because I kind of did it, as, you know, fingers crossed. I hope I'm doing the right thing. And so it was just so validating to have a smart, knowledgeable person be like, yeah, you're on the right track.
Annie [27:30 - 27:54]: I'm curious, you know, you mentioned in the good times, right. People have certain types of conversations, and now as the financial landscape is shifting a bit, the conversations may change. So I'm curious, what are some of the top things that maybe people are talking about or bringing to the community? Maybe some things that people are struggling with or even education wise, what are some of the hurdles that you see people struggling with?
Jim Pfeifer [27:55 - 30:57]: I think right now it's dealing with capital calls and pause distributions because they're two separate things. And I think initially people get really upset or did when they first start, people started pausing distributions. Right. And I've talked to Brian Burke, who's an operator, he's very knowledgeable, guy, wrote a great book. And what he has always said is distributions are, you're just distributing cash flow from the operations. Right. It's profit. So it's not going to be the same amount every month. And it shouldn't be because profit differs every month. And so people have gotten used to the operator sending the exact same amount every month, and that's not how it's air quote supposed to be. So when they stop distributions, people freak out. But what I try to share with them is, no, it's a good thing because if they are comfortable stopping distributions, that might prevent a capital call later because they're building up their reserves. So that's the first one. It's kind of everyone. We're talking each other off the ledge. It's okay if they pause distributions. It might even be good. And then the next big topic is, okay, now I'm getting a capital call. What do I do? Because a lot of people aren't participating. And if some do and some don't, that causes some issues. So how do you decide if you're going to participate in a capital call? I had, I've had a couple operators with capital calls, and the difference between the communication is incredible. The one was great said, hey, we've been talking to you for a long time about the possibility that's coming up. We are doing a capital call. Here's a three page email outlining every single detail. Why, what the problem is, what the solutions are, where this can go, what we're thinking, how much money. We're going to put in all of that as opposed to someone who says, yeah, everything's fine, and then comes out, well, we have a couple of deals that are capital calls, but only a couple. And then two months later, oh, here's some more, and then a month later, here's a bunch, and some have already foreclosed and we didn't tell you about it. Well, if you have both of those situations, the first scenario, that operator, someone that I trust, I might invest with them again, even though they have a capital call, because the capital call was because of interest rates, not because they're high, but because of the pace that they rose. And that's an issue. Right. That's a problem. A lot of people got caught by that. But the other operator, it exposed operational failures. They hadn't done everything that they said they were going to do. And so you really have to be able to look at them and analyze them separately. And the second company, I'll never invest with them again because they let us on. They weren't transparent. They didn't share information. If you're going to give me bad information, give it to me straight and give it to me quickly. And that's what they didn't do. So I think that's really one of the struggles right now, is how do you deal with capital calls and do you put more money? You don't want to throw good money in after bad, right. But you also don't want to just give up on a deal. So it's a very difficult situation. You really have to re underwrite the deal as if it's new coming to you right now. Would you invest again? And if the answer is yes, then maybe you participate in the capital call.
Annie [30:57 - 31:45]: Yeah, I can imagine that something like that, you know, you get that email, whether it's that three page email that outlines everything, or it's that very short, curt email that doesn't give you a lot of information, but either way, you get some news that you weren't expecting. And again, to deal with it in a silo is really, really challenging because you assume, oh, my gosh, I'm the only one. I am the idiot who made this investment. I cannot believe I did this thing. I made this mistake. You feel so bad. All the guilt and the shame comes rolling in and you're like, I can never do this again. But to go to a community like left field investors and to see, oh, I'm not the only one, oh, my goodness, other people, even if they didn't invest in the same deal that I invested in. They're going through similar things. Okay. It's not just me. Okay.
Jim Pfeifer [31:45 - 31:45]: Yes.
Annie [31:45 - 32:37]: And then you start to be able to process and you see how other people are talking about it. And so here's one question I'm curious about, because every coin has two sides, right? So there's the good part of community, which is you get to talk through it and you get to learn from others. The tricky part about community, at least for me personally, is sometimes I have the inclination, well, two things. One is I get stuck in analysis paralysis. I'm like, oh, my gosh, I got to read everything that everybody's saying before I can make a decision. Or second is I'm not going to read everything. I'm just going to go with what the majority of people are going through. Okay. Most people are doing this deal. Okay. I'm just going to jump into this deal. Doesn't matter that I know all the specifics, but you know, these other people who have done lots of deals, they're jumping into this one. So I'm going to jump into this one, too. And so how do you help people kind of navigate those elements of community?
Jim Pfeifer [32:38 - 34:22]: That's a great question because it's a struggle, right. And what we try to tell people is you need to do your own due diligence. You need to check and make sure you're comfortable. You can't invest based on someone else's recommendations, but the community is there to help you make that decision. So rather than saying, oh, well, Annie and Susan are investing in this. So I'm going to then reach out and say, annie, Susan, why are you investing? What is this deal for you? Because it might be, I'm a cash flow investor, but you may be an appreciation investor. So I'm not just going to follow you blindly. We might have different goals, but I can still use your knowledge. So, Andy, why are you investing in this? Can you please give me the three reasons, the three best reasons, then ill look at those. Okay. That matches up with me. Or maybe, hey, Andy, what do you think about this? Whats the discussions? If youre just following along and investing because somebody else does, thats a mistake. You might as well go over and do that in Wall street and invest in the stock market. But its hard. I understand that because there are certain people that if I see them invest in something, I think, well, that persons smart, I know theyre successful. I know they know more about this or that than I do. So maybe I'll just jump in and then I have to stop myself. Okay. No, I'm going to use that as a recommendation. I'm still going to dig in, make sure it's comfortable for me, and then I'll invest. And maybe what that results in is I just have a little bit more confidence. Right. But I'm trying not to just follow people blindly. And I think that's what we tell everybody in our community. We say, you know, here's the deal, please do your own due diligence, and that's really all you can do. But it certainly does happen where people are just following. But I think especially since we're going through the rocky patch now, I think most people in our community are making their own decisions, but they're using help from others in the community.
Annie [34:22 - 34:59]: Yeah. And I think that's so important because what we all aspire to do is help investors to not only get educated, but also to think for themselves, to have this community around them, to help them to find the right resources, but also to build up their own knowledge base so that they can make decisions on their own. Because just as you said, something that works for you, while it might be a great deal, might not be right for me and my own investing goals and my appetite for risk. And so that sort of trust, but verify and thinking on your feet, is definitely something that savvy investors do.
Jim Pfeifer [34:59 - 34:59]: Yes.
Susan [34:59 - 36:02]: And you really spoke to a little bit of the journey, too, of an investor. And I think that as you begin investing out there, know that your goal is to build wealth, long term wealth, have this financial freedom, but you really don't want to sacrifice your sanity along the way. And you focus on how can I not just understand the basics of what wealth building is happening, but, like, how to have confidence and peace of mind and sanity as I go? Because this is a long term game. So if you're questioning yourself every distribution, every year, did I make the right decision? That's going to cause a lot of stress along this journey, and this is a long journey. So I like that you pulled those, you teased them apart for the investors that are listening, because it's worth it to spend that extra time. Do your due diligence, the financial, understand your goals, but then by connecting with the community, it's like you're doing your heart, the due diligence, you're doing your, like, peace of mind, your emotions, the due diligence, to be able to have the confidence to just rest easy with your decisions and enjoy your life along the way.
Jim Pfeifer [36:03 - 36:04]: Absolutely.
Annie [36:04 - 36:18]: All right. Well, with that, we've covered a lot in this conversation. But we're not done yet because we're going to move into one of my favorite parts, parts of the show, the life and money show spotlight round. Jim, we're going to ask you three questions. We ask all our guests. Are you ready?
Jim Pfeifer [36:18 - 36:19]: I'm ready.
Annie [36:19 - 36:29]: Fantastic. All right, question number one is around your life and money. So share with us one thing that you're doing to live a meaningful and intentional life by design.
Jim Pfeifer [36:29 - 38:06]: What I'm trying to do is, you know, as I progress on my journey to financial freedom, that's the goal. And that means different things to different people, obviously, but I want to also pass that along to my family and educate them as well. I don't think we need to follow the conventional path, and that's what I'm trying to get across to especially the kids. You don't have to, you know, finish school, go to college, get a job, get another job, retire, travel and die. That does not have to be your path. But there's so much pressure to do that, right? To get there. I want to encourage the kids to enjoy themselves along the way, not to save it all for old age and retirement. Enjoy the journey while continually trying to grow your wealth to support that journey rather than spending your life accumulating wealth and then hoping to enjoy it when you get old. Right? Let's enjoy it along the way. And you don't have to get into real estate, syndications or real estate like I am. You can go, I tell them you don't want to trade time for money, right? You don't want to just be an employee, but maybe you do. But if you have real estate, if you have syndications, then that gives you options, then maybe you can take a few years off of trading time for money because you have this other bucket of wealth that you're building. And it's all about, for me, freedom. Freedom of time, of location, of employment, of all the things. So you can do what you want to do because we get one chance at this, right? So let's not just work for 30 years and then retire and be like, yes, now I can go have fun. What were you doing for 30 years, right, when your body was young and able to do all the fun stuff? So that's kind of what I'm trying to share with my community, share with my kids, share with my family.
Annie [38:06 - 38:47]: And that must make such a difference for your kids. I wish I had somebody when I was growing up who showed me or gave me the permission to even look beyond that conventional path that you mentioned. You know, I was never given that leeway. It was very like, blinders on. This is what you will do. I had to fight tooth and nail to go beyond that. But to have from such an early age, to have their father, their advocate, say, hey, by the way, you don't need these blinders. I know other people are telling you this, but it's important to think on your own, think on your feet, and to figure out what you really want out of this life. What a huge, huge difference that must make for your kids and your community.
Jim Pfeifer [38:47 - 39:08]: Yeah. The challenge though is those blinders were put on them by somebody else and they're so hard to remove. The kids are still, you don't have to go to college, take a year off, go do something, I don't care. We'll support it. You know, let's go do something different if you want to. No, no, I got to go to college. And it's interesting how just drilled in them it is already.
Annie [39:08 - 39:08]: Yeah.
Jim Pfeifer [39:08 - 39:11]: And you just got to try to overcome that.
Annie [39:11 - 39:14]: Yeah, absolutely. Fighting the good fight.
Jim Pfeifer [39:14 - 39:14]: Yep.
Annie [39:15 - 39:30]: All right, question number two is around others life and money. So share with us one life for money hack. And by hack, we mean a tip, a tool, a resource, something that has really helped you along your path, that you think might help the listener as well.
Jim Pfeifer [39:30 - 40:31]: Well, I think we've talked about it, so I won't go deep into it, but community. Join a community. You just, you have to. But the one thing I'd like to talk about separate from community, which I think is number one, is understand how to mitigate your taxes. Taxes are the largest eroder of wealth in your financial life. And decreasing your tax burden will have a much greater impact on your overall wealth than finding, you know, an investment that has a percentage or two higher return than the one you did last time. Because if you can reduce your taxes, right, that's 2030, 40% more money you will end up with. So legally, of course, but find ways to reduce, eliminate and just mitigate in every way your taxes, even if it just means putting them off and paying them later because you're deferring through, again, legal means defer your taxes. That also helps. So anything you can do on the tax side, because if you're working this hard to find these investments and do all of this stuff and you're ignoring taxes, then you're going to lose. Right. And so taxes are super important item to look at and understand.
Annie [40:31 - 40:54]: Well, I'm so glad you brought that up. Taxes is not the most sexy topic, but it does make such a huge difference in terms of long term wealth building. And it's easy to just chase those returns and to just go after more and more, bigger, better returns. But if you're not taking care of the back of the house with the taxes, you're not going to be able to keep as much as you could.
Jim Pfeifer [40:54 - 40:54]: Yes.
Annie [40:54 - 41:05]: So that's a great, great insight. Okay, final question is around life and money in the world. So share with us one thing you're doing to help make the world a better place, whatever that means for you.
Jim Pfeifer [41:05 - 42:20]: Well, I'm doing the same thing you guys are doing, right? I'm spreading the word about passive investing. It is available to anyone. It is not just for wealthy people. There are ways to invest as little as $10,000 in a deal. I realize that's a lot of money, but if you have a regular job and you're, you're putting money in your 401K, it's likely that you're putting $10,000 a year in there. So you can do it. It is accessible. And so our goal at left field investors is to share with people that it can be done. You can start small. And it is amazing how fast that little snowball turns into the base of a snowman. It just keeps rolling downhill. It's really amazing. And then you will see the results. You'll get dollar 100 a month, dollar 200 a month, and pretty soon you'll be seeing $1,000, $2,000 a month, and you'll have no idea how that snowball got so big. And so, as I said before, that's what we're going for, is financial freedom. Whatever it means to you. To me, it's freedom of my time, it's freedom of my space to go where I want to go, when I want to go there and do what I want to do. And that is what this type of investing can get you. And so that's why I'm so passionate about telling people, hey, you don't have to stay in right field. You can slowly move some of your stuff into left field and live in center field, and you will have a much more financially abundant life.
Annie [42:21 - 43:33]: I love that. And I'll just stack on top of that one thing, which is, and again, we talked about this earlier in the conversation, going from zero to one is the hardest. And so making that first investment, not only will it start to generate that separate stream of income, that passive income for you, but it does this funny thing in your brain where all of a sudden it unlocks a hidden compartment that you didn't even know was there. And, and none of us knows what will happen when you unlock that hidden compartment. But most likely, and what we've seen with a lot of our investors is they start to think just like you're talking about with your kids, Jim, what else is out there? And they start to question all these other things that they've taken for granted. And so if you're listening to this, and maybe you're on the cusp of considering investing in your first, whether it's a rental property or a syndication, go and join left field investors. Go and learn about how this works. See if this will work for you and if it aligns with your investing goals and be a part of that community. So, Jim, last thing I want to ask you is if people do want to join the left field investors community, where can they go? What's the best place that they can do that?
Jim Pfeifer [43:33 - 44:08]: You can just go to leftfieldmesters.com. there's a community button you can subscribe. We just instituted a free trial. There's a free part subscription with the paid. Now you can get a seven day free trial and check it out and see if it's for you. And you know, what I recommend really is, I always say, find a community. And you need to find a community where the culture of that community matches your personality. If Leftfield investors isn't for you, then go find a different one. But just find a community, maybe find several. And that's really the way to go. So they can go to leftfieldinvestor.com or if they want to email me directly. My email address is jimffieldinvestors.com and we talk to investors all the time. Would love to connect.
Annie [44:08 - 44:18]: Jim Pfeiffer, founder and CEO of Leftfield Investors. Jim, thank you so much for being here with us and sharing your story and your wisdom with us and our listener.
Jim Pfeifer [44:18 - 44:31]: Thanks for having me on. This is funny.