Several months ago a cryptic email came my way that read, “Do you only work with doctors?”
That was it. There was nothing in the subject line and it was not signed. There was no introduction – not even some small talk. Nothing!
Was this a test? Maybe it was spam.
Perhaps I’m old fashioned, but I prefer a little, “Hey how are you doing?” to start out with. I guess that makes me a dinner and movie first kind of guy. Not this fella (it wasn’t until later that I found out that the author was male). He was direct and to the point. He was all business.
Normally, I wouldn’t have responded to that type of an email out of fear that it was some sort of internet scam. However, I knew it was real because this wasn’t the first time that I had been asked this question.
“Would you be willing to talk with my brother, John?”
“Can my friend Mike invest?”
“I’m interested in learning more but I’m not a doctor, is that O.K.?”
Let me set the record straight:
I’m not some uppity guy with a secret password and a special handshake that bestows special privilege to physicians only. In fact, I think everybody should have the opportunity to invest in commercial multifamily real estate.
After all, why shouldn’t the best investments be available to all? I think they should be.
Unfortunately, that ddecision isn’tup to me and I have to abide by the rules. Private real estate investments fall under the umbrella of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). They’re the boss and what they say goes.
As per their mandate, to be eligible to invest in these types of offerings, one must be either accredited or sophisticated.
ACCREDITED INVESTORS
The definition of an accredited investor is someone with an annual income of $200,000 or more for the last two years and a reasonable expectation of continuing to make that much going forward. A couple can qualify as accredited investors if they make $300,000 or more combined.
If an investor doesn’t have enough annual income to qualify, he or she can still qualify by having a net worth over $1,000,000 excluding his or her personal residence.
SOPHISTICATED INVESTORS
Sophisticated investors may not have the income level to qualify, but they can still participate if they have sufficient knowledge and experience to weigh the risks and the merits of a particular investment.
I realize that this definition is vague, but I take it to mean that they have previous experience with a particular type of investment.
If you think about it, the definition of sophisticated is spot-on. After all, shouldn’t everyone have sufficient knowledge before they invest in something? This is the information age and knowledge is a powerful thing. That is why I started NestEggRx in the first place.
It all started with me looking for safer investments than stocks, bonds, mutual funds, and residential real estate that also had better returns.
My success didn’t go unnoticed by my colleagues who were working more shifts than they wanted to. They wondered how I could afford to work part-time and still support a young family. They began to ask questions and seek advice.
I shared all that I could, but I began to notice a common theme. Many doctors are in distress. The golden age of medicine is over. The day in which the patient-physician relationship was sacrosanct has come to an end. Doctors can no longer act unencumbered in the best interest of their patients.
Instead, they have to ask for permission from insurance companies, navigate crushing regulation, and endure declining reimbursements.
Many of my colleagues were in great need. They were where I was a few years before – trapped trading time for money. I was developing passive streams of income outside of medicine and many of my colleagues wanted to do the same.
That was the impetus for NestEggRx.
Over the years, I’ve helped a lot of physicians all over the country learn more about commercial multifamily real estate. Turns out, that I’ve also had the privilege of helping non-physicians too.
I’ve helped small business owners, engineers, active real estate investors longing to get out of the landlord business, and numerous other high income and or high net worth individuals.
In fact, at the risk of being voted off the island and permanently exiled from the doctor?s lounge, I must confess that I’ve even helped a few attorneys.
Attorneys??!!! Blasphemy! I know. However, it turns out that they aren’t all ambulance chasers. Who knew?
At the end of the day, NestEggRx is a free 100% educational website primarily intended to help physicians learn more about commercial multifamily real estate investing.
However, I do not discriminate.
Commercial multifamily real estate is my passion. I eat, drink, and sleep this stuff. Whether you are a doctor or not, accredited, sophisticated, or not, or even a lawyer. I’m here to help.
To Your Wealth!
Dennis Bethel, M.D.
P.S. If you have questions or if I can help you in some way, feel free to contact me by clicking on this link. Also, share my posts on social media using the social share feature at the bottom right of each post.
