Latest / Coffee Playdate Podcast with Dr. Olga Deengar / The ski trip injury Ep 49: That forced Dr. Jeff Anzalone rethink retirement
Transcript
- Dr. Olga Deengar: Welcome to the Coffee Playdate Podcast. I'm your host, Dr. Olga Deengar and today I have a very special guest with me, Dr. Jeff Anzalone. Welcome. Jeff Anzalone: Thank you. Looking forward to it. Dr. Olga Deengar: It's great to have you here. I always start off by asking, do you drink coffee? Jeff Anzalone: I do not drink coffee. My wife is a big coffee drinker. I drink iced tea, being from the south. Dr. Olga Deengar: do you like to add any sugar to the iced tea? Jeff Anzalone: No sugar, the only thing that I add to it, I have to drink it with a couple of lemon slices. Dr. Olga Deengar: Hmm, that sounds delicious. Great. So we're gonna get started with our first game. It's a Rapid Fire questions game. I'm gonna present you with one answer and another answer, and you just choose the one that you like more. You don't need to explain yourself, just go with your gut instinct. Ready? Jeff Anzalone: Got Dr. Olga Deengar: First question: Early morning surgical cases or late afternoon consults? Jeff Anzalone: Early morning surgical cases. Dr. Olga Deengar: Great. How about a patient who flosses religiously or a patient who never misses a cleaning? Jeff Anzalone: A patient who never misses a cleaning. Dr. Olga Deengar: Great. The next one is one high-value investment property or several smaller cash-flowing assets? Jeff Anzalone: Several smaller cash flowing assets. Dr. Olga Deengar: Great. And the last one here, mobile home parks or RV parks? Jeff Anzalone: Mobile home Parks. Dr. Olga Deengar: Beautiful. The next game is called Take a Sip. It's a similar concept, but here we both answer, and if our answers match, we take a sip from our cups. Jeff Anzalone: All right. Dr. Olga Deengar: First question, outsourcing early or learning to do it yourself first? Jeff Anzalone: Learning to do it yourself first. Dr. Olga Deengar: Me too. Cheers to that. Next question, investing close to home or investing wherever the numbers make sense. Jeff Anzalone: Investing wherever the numbers make sense. Dr. Olga Deengar: Yes, me too. Cheers. Now this one is creating content consistently or networking strategically. Jeff Anzalone: Ooh, that's a tough one. Dr. Olga Deengar: Hehehehe. Jeff Anzalone: I'm gonna go with networking. Yeah. Yep. Absolutely. Dr. Olga Deengar: Yes, me too. There is so much value in networking, absolutely. And the last one here, it's a fun one. Floss picks or traditional floss? Jeff Anzalone: Traditional floss for sure. Dr. Olga Deengar: Traditional floss Yeah. Me too. Cheers. We got four for four. Jeff Anzalone: All right. Dr. Olga Deengar: All right, so I'd love for our listeners to get to know you a little bit better, Jeff. Can you tell us about yourself and the incredible work that you're doing? Jeff Anzalone: I'm a dentist in Louisiana and got to the point that work was optional a couple of years ago, in my early 50s. And things changed about 12 years ago, I was on a family ski trip, hurt my wrist, and that's where I went down the rabbit hole of you know, I was really scared. Like what at the time I was debt free, but you know, I still had to go to work because you still have to pay the bills, right? And that was my wake up call that if I wanted to provide to my family and I couldn't practice dentistry, what would I do? And I had to relearn, literally relearn because I was just the typical go to work, put money in a 401k, save a little more on the side till you're in your 60s. But if that path was derailed, which the ski trip at least showed me it could very quickly, what would I do? And It eventually led me getting into real estate, invested in all types of asset classes, and eventually fell in with networking, as we just talked about. Networking, found my current business partner, and we owned several mobile home parks. I think we're up to 18 now here in Louisiana. And the journey's been pretty incredible. But but along the whole way, I was blogging and making YouTube videos about what I was learning. So lots of highs, lots of lows, lost some money, gained some money, but in the in the end it was worth it. Dr. Olga Deengar: what a journey. And I'm sorry about the accident, but it it sounds like it really opened up a whole other world of opportunity for you. Jeff Anzalone: Yeah, absolutely. Because if you're you go to school for a long time, you did, and you don't ever think about getting a sickness or an injury or anything where you can't work anymore because you're just thinking, I just put all this time, energy, and money into getting this degree, and you don't think about what could happen if you don't do it. And that that was very quickly I thought about it. So yeah, it definitely Change the way I thought about we're we're taught as a society typically focusing on how much money we make. you're always hearing about people changing jobs, they'll they'll pick up their kids and family and move across the country to get a higher paying job. And that's just what we're focused on. But the books and the education that that I learned was how much money you make is Yeah, that's important, but how you make your money is just as important. And Dr. Olga Deengar: Mm. Jeff Anzalone: and I never thought about that. But once you think about how are you people watching this right now, how are you making money? More than likely you're trading time for money. And if that went away, what what would you do? And that that's what I thought about. So now I had to go out and invest in assets that paid me whether I worked or not. doesn't really matter if you make more or less. It's just getting other streams of income that don't require your time. And it could be different for everybody. It could be real estate, it could be buying other businesses, it could just be s buying stocks that pay dividends, which is very easy to do. You could just convert some of your investments or funds now. so it it doesn't really matter what you do, it's just that you do something to to take. charge and take control of of your financial life. Dr. Olga Deengar: it is so important for physicians and professionals to start thinking about different streams of revenue because you may not always have your primary job and you do need to make the right types of investments to really support your family to have a backup plan. Jeff Anzalone: Yep, exactly. Dr. Olga Deengar: So what sparked your interest specifically in real estate? Jeff Anzalone: When I was doing my research, I noticed that the majority of the people that were very, very wealthy going back to the 1800s, they all owned real estate and they all had multiple streams of income. And at the time I didn't own any real estate. I only had one stream of income. So that's what I was like, okay, that that's what I'm gonna focus on. If that's what the wealthy people do. And then When once you get into it and you see the tax advantages of it, and that's that's really probably the real reason that these people are doing it. It's the tax advantages are just unbelievable. Because, again, we're so used to thinking about how much money we make, not even considering that we're just getting hammered with taxes, versus you can have all these other streams of income from real estate and pay sometimes no taxes on it. So my point is you don't need near as much money as you think because you're not getting taxed on a lot of it. If if you have a smart CPA and you and you do it correctly. Dr. Olga Deengar: Right. Yeah, there are a lot of tax advantages Jeff Anzalone: Yeah. Dr. Olga Deengar: for sure. I mean, I only have one real estate investment property. It's a long term rental. but it's it does save you a lot of a big chunk of your taxes for sure. Jeff Anzalone: Yeah. And people I I think for me what what eventually led to my success is I had a big enough why, the book Simon Sinek, start with why. Because if I failed and I and I lost a lot of money, but I would have probably just quit if I didn't have a strong enough why. So unless somebody has a strong enough why, then most of the time they won't go through with it. But if you have a strong enough why, it you'll you'll eventually go through it and learn as you go. like I did or I do every day, and then you'll eventually find success. Dr. Olga Deengar: Yes, you have to know what your purpose is, what your vision Jeff Anzalone: Mm-hmm. Dr. Olga Deengar: is, and really keep hammering at it. Really keep going for the outcome that you're looking for. Jeff Anzalone: Yeah. if you're in medical school or dental school and you you fail a test or maybe you fail a class. your why is I gotta get through this. I I've spent all this time and effort to get here. I've I've I have to graduate. So that's similar to that, which is that's a pretty strong why. But most people are very content. They just go to their job and it's they just exist and they just don't and I hate to see this because they just kinda let society or just let their life just peter out at the end for retirement. for dentists I see most of the time, they physically give out and they work until their 70s or 80s and they're so tired or they're so physically unhealthy, they can't even enjoy retirement. It's like, well, what's the point of going through your whole career, putting off all the trips you want to go to and playing with your grandkids and all that? You can't even do it. And and if I could catch somebody younger in their career getting them to start thinking about these things versus what the advisors get us to do, just work until you reach your sixties or seventies, that's that's what you're gonna do. And unfortunately, most people are just gonna do that because they don't take financial matters in their own hands. But I can tell you this, nobody is gonna care more about your money than you do. That's for anybody, Dr. Olga Deengar: That's very true. So you've mentioned the why, but is there another mindset technique or tool that has really helped you throughout your entrepreneurial journey? Jeff Anzalone: I would say to to kind of, I guess, go together with the why is knowing that no matter what you're gonna do, you're you're gonna have failures, you're gonna have adversities, you're gonna have difficulties. And I had to change my mindset shift from because we're taught, failing a test is bad, failing a you shouldn't fail a grade, instead of now, and I teach my kids this and they're both in college. You're you're gonna fail. You're gonna fail at different things, but immediately think about not, man, I just I just failed this, whatever. Instead think about, well, what did I learn from this? What can I learn from this? And turn it around. You know, when I lost fifty thousand dollars early on in a real estate deal, I could have quit, but I immediately turned it around and said, What did I learn from this? That would keep me from doing this and then keep other people from doing this. And I wrote a blog article about it and I still reference it and a lot of the things I learned from it. And then, I would fail again and fail again. But when you look back at all these failures, they all add to where you're trying to go. And so look so my point is like right now I've had so many failures that knowing what I know now, I could take somebody getting out of dental school or medical school and sit them down and go, it took me twenty one year to get to the point the work is optional. Knowing what I know now, I could sit you down if you do this. You could get to the point in seven to ten years. Half the time, just because of all the failures I've had and what I've learned along the way. So that I think most people can can do that looking back at what they've learned from their failures and use that positive to move forward. Dr. Olga Deengar: it's so important to be able to have mentors and look at how others have done things and what mistakes they've made and what they've learned from it and be able to avoid those, especially as someone who is new to real estate investing. Can you tell me about a challenge that you faced earlier on and how did you overcome that challenge? Jeff Anzalone: Yep. I think one of the biggest ones was what I just mentioned. I lost fifty thousand dollars in something called a crowdfunding deal, which when I started that was in twenty seventeen. That's when you go to a website, you find an apartment or something, people are putting different things up and different investments, and then you can just go and click on it and invest your money. I mean you can invest, you know, very small amounts, five hundred dollars or thousand dollars. And I did a few of those and it worked out pretty well. And then when I went to to get the larger one, that's the one that failed. And the the thing that I learned about that, well, you would immediately say, well, you just shouldn't invest your money online. Well, yes and no, because I learned that on those websites, you're not able to talk to the people you're actually investing your money with. Like if I was investing my money with you, I could do a Zoom call, I could call you up, I could come visit you. Well, you don't know a lot of times who you're investing with. So I learned very quickly moving forward that I was only going to invest with people that I could find out who they were, their track record, I could talk to them, I could visit them and that sort of thing. And that just by doing that, that's kept me out of a lot of trouble. Moving forward. Now have I still lost money after that? Yeah, but but not near the amount of had I kept just doing the crowdfunding thing and just things online. Yeah. Dr. Olga Deengar: That is so interesting. I've actually never heard of a crowd investing, so that's good to learn about that. Jeff Anzalone: Mm-hmm. Yeah. Dr. Olga Deengar: I do have a question. I'm curious to know what kind of drew you to mobile home investing rather than other types of real estate investing. Jeff Anzalone: When I met my current business partner, who at the time owned, I think, five or six mobile home parks, I had already invested in pretty much everything up until that point. Self-storage, Airbnbs, apartments, that thing, RV parks. And he started showing me the numbers and what he was accomplishing. And I said, Man, I've I've got to try this myself. So him and I bought five parks on our own. Just we would split the down payment. And then I had something I could compare it to. I could look at the the amount of depreciation we were getting. I was looking at the amount of cash flow monthly compared to the others. And it just there's really no comparison. it was it's like a no-brainer. And I mean, it's almost like somebody using AI now versus when you didn't even have the internet. I mean, it was that big of a difference that that what I was seeing. And then Once I saw how good it was, we started allowing some investors to come in and invest. And it's really taken off from there. But I I've met my business partner through networking, which you'd asked about earlier. and I'm really big on teaching my kids while they're in college. I said, really now, the only really reason that I feel that you should go to college is for networking. Unless, of course, you have to do it for a stepping stone to get into law school or medical school or dental school. But other than that, networking is so important because that's who you're gonna be doing business with in the future or you may do business with them now. Dr. Olga Deengar: Yeah, you never know where those connections could lead you. Maybe you have a partnership or collaboration or even create or build a new company from scratch. This is huge. Jeff Anzalone: Absolutely. Dr. Olga Deengar: It's great. What type of advice would you give someone who is just starting out in the space? Jeff Anzalone: in the real estate space. I I think trying to again, if you want to be successful, you to figure out why are you doing it. start with your why, really get if you're married, really sit down with your spouse and figure out what's the reason you're doing this. And are you willing to lose money because you might, but really network, find people who are already, I mean that that's the cheat code of life. Find Whoever is either has what you want or is doing what you want, and get them to mentor you. work for free if you have to. pay them if you have to. Work and pay them. You know what, because I'm telling you, that's gonna save you so much not only money mistakes, but time. So think about what it may it may take you three years to learn something versus it may take you three months. with some of the think about now that you can take all that knowledge in three months and then do it and then keep going, going instead of waiting three years. So think about it from that aspect as well. But I think networking connections and then having a really a strong why to keep you going whenever you make mistakes. Dr. Olga Deengar: I absolutely agree. You have to have your why. You have to make sure you have a community that you're part of people who are thinking like you. So like-minded thinkers and those who really want to expand their entrepreneurial journey. Maybe they want to start more businesses or more projects or other things to grow and evolve. Because I think it's all about making progress and having that. improvement in your life, that constant growth, that constant learning that really drives people a lot. Jeff Anzalone: Yeah, I agree. Dr. Olga Deengar: And I do have to ask, what is one book recommendation that you have for our listeners today? Jeff Anzalone: The I think the book that really changed my mindset, it's it's called well it goes by the Purple Bible, but it's probably most people have heard Rich Dad, Poor Dad by Robert Kiyosaki. And that's where I've learned about investing in assets, focusing on how you make your money versus how much you make. A lot of those concepts came from him. Now, some people say that the whole story in there is not true. it He really didn't go through that. It really doesn't matter. It a lot of teaching elements in there, a lot of a lot of good principles. I I would I always tell people to start with that book and then go from there. Dr. Olga Deengar: Have you recommended that book to your kids? Jeff Anzalone: they they've read it. They read the Rich Dad Poor Dad for teens when they were younger, and then they had to read the main book and then they had to give me a book report too. Because if they're going to get any of our investments whenever we pass and they can't prove to me that they can handle it, then they know they're not gonna get it. Because I mean you could you could Dr. Olga Deengar: that's a great lesson. Jeff Anzalone: really you could really destroy people as you know. I mean, look at lottery winners. Look what happens to them. they become bankrupt because they don't understand how to, it's it's what's it called? They're calling it sudden wealth syndrome now. Dr. Olga Deengar: Okay. Jeff Anzalone: They get all this money and they don't know how to handle it, you know. So unless you know how to handle it, like it says in the Bible, too much is given, much is required. So you give somebody a lot and they don't know how to handle it. That's like if somebody made me Amazon CEO tomorrow. Well, then I would start selling your Amazon stock because that company would fail. Because I don't know how to do it. So you're you just I think that you're setting your kids up for failure if you're not teaching them, if you're gonna be giving them different things down the road, you I think you're doing them a disservice if you don't. Dr. Olga Deengar: you have to build that foundation and those skills that will help them carry the wealth through and grow the wealth, actually. Jeff Anzalone: Yep, that's for sure. Dr. Olga Deengar: So if any of our listeners want to connect with you, what's the best way for them to do that? Jeff Anzalone: I spend most of my time on YouTube. if you can just put in debt free doctor and then my name, Jeff Anzalone. I have a channel, or you can go to debtfreedr.com dot com. it's it's all education, it's blogs and videos. And then if you want to learn more about mobile home park investing, I have another site, Perdidocapital.com dot com as well. Dr. Olga Deengar: Perfect. We'll plug those into the show notes. And thank you so much, Jeff, for being with us here today. It's been a pleasure. Hope you have a great weekend. Jeff Anzalone: All right, you too. Thanks for having me.