Speaker 1: Welcome to the BiggerPockets Money podcast where we interview Liz and Andressa from the real estate Invest her podcast and talk about why women should be investing in real estate.
Mindy: Hello, hello, hello. My name is Mindy Jensen and with me as always is my punny co-host Scott Trench.
Scott: Punny, I don’t know how to make a pun about punny, Mindy. That’s not, that’s not helpful.
Mindy: Wow, I finally stopped Scott. Woohoo. Well, Scott and I are here to make financial independence less scary, less just for somebody else. To introduce you to every money story because we truly believe financial freedom is attainable for everyone, no matter when or where you are starting.
Scott: That’s right. Whether you want to retire early and travel the world, go on to make big time investments and assets like real estate, start your own business or learn about massive multi-trillion dollar opportunities and challenges and problems in the market. We’ll help you reach your financial goals and get money out of the way so you can launch yourself towards those dreams.
Mindy: Scott, I’m super excited to bring in Liz and Andressa from our sister show. I our like truly sister show, the real estate invest her podcast. I love their name. I love them. I love their vision. I love their uh what is the word I’m looking for? They’re like business. They’re they really truly want to encourage women to start investing in real estate and you know, every time I think about women investing in real estate, I’m reminded of this like race car quote from this one of the first women race car drivers who was getting a lot of hassle about being a women race car driver and she’s like, what? I don’t carry the car around the track, I just drive it. And you know, women aren’t carrying the houses, they’re just buying them, they’re just investing in them. You can do anything a man can do. You can do, you know, it’s and and and I think that brings up a good point. Scott, we’re not here, the purpose of the show is not to like trash men as investors. It is to just encourage women to say you can do it too.
Scott: Yeah, I don’t think there’s anything in here that that uh, um, you know, speaks speaks, you know, speaks against men participating in the market. It’s just, I think the theme today is women um have a lot of wealth uh to invest and that is known to increase over time. And on average, women have very low confidence in their ability to invest that wealth. And that is I think the crux of the problem and I think Liz and Andressa have a great uh uh uh plan or great frameworks for how to combat that at large scale over the next, over the coming decade or two. So I think that’s the, that’s the major theme and and um I think it’s really interesting and really important and I think you’re gonna learn a lot uh today.
Mindy: Absolutely. We have a new segment of the Money Show called the Money Moments where we share a money hack tip or trick to help you on your financial journey. Today’s money moment is, do you know that you can negotiate your bills? While bill negotiation doesn’t have a 100% success rate, it’s a lot more common than you would think. Many people have been able to successfully lower their bills simply by calling and asking. And if you don’t have the time or energy to call yourself, you can even hire a bill negotiation service to do it for you. Some of the bills that are open for negotiation are credit card interest, internet, cell phone and insurance. I know I have personally been able to negotiate my insurance and my cable internet bill uh when the price jacked up after the initial uh teaser rate was over. So definitely a great tip. If you don’t like your bill, call them up and see if they’re willing to negotiate.
Scott: Great call Mindy. Great call.
Mindy: There you go. You you redeemed yourself from the beginning.
Scott: When I was CEO of Bigger Pockets, Upwork was the number one place that we went to hire freelancers to power our business. One of the biggest growth hacks is realizing that you don’t have to do it all yourself. Upwork made it easy to bring in the right freelancer when we needed them, so that we could stay focused on what we do best. Upwork is a one-stop platform to find, hire, and pay expert freelancers across web and software development, data and analytics, marketing, business operations, and more. It’s free to sign up and posting a job is easy. Thousands of growing businesses already trust Upwork to hire flexible, high-quality freelance talent for everything from one-off projects to ongoing support. Visit upwork.com right now and post your job for free. That’s upwork.com to connect with top talent ready to help your business grow. That’s u p w o r k.com. upwork.com.
Scott: I’m skeptical of a lot of financial products, but life insurance isn’t one of them. At least not term life. For the vast majority of you listening, term life is simply the right answer. And the smartest way to buy it isn’t one big policy, it’s a ladder. Your need for coverage isn’t flat. It declines over time. You’ve got a 30-year mortgage, a couple of young kids, maybe a spouse in mid career. In 15 years, the mortgage is going to be smaller, and the kids are almost launched. So, instead of buying one giant 30-year policy you will overpay for, you stack a few. Say a 10-year, a 20-year, and a 30-year layer. So your total coverage steps down as your actual obligations step down. You only pay for what you actually need when you need it. ethos is a platform that helps you find life insurance 100% online. You can get a quote in seconds and apply in minutes. There’s no medical exam. You just answer a few health questions online. You can get up to 3 million in coverage. Some policies are as low as $30 a month. That makes building a ladder genuinely fast. Get your free quote at ethos.com/bpmoney. That’s s.com/bpmoney. Application time they vary and rates may vary.
Scott: You know how the change in seasons hits and suddenly you just want to declutter the garage, clean out the closets, and get everything all organized. That same feeling hits me with my finances every spring. I used to have accounts scattered everywhere, making it hard to stay on track with my money goals. Let Monarch do your financial spring cleaning for you. One dashboard that gets your entire financial life organized. No more clutter, no more mess, no more scattered logins, just accounts, investments, property, and more, all in one place. One thing that really surprised me was pulling up the cash flow view and seeing what percentage of my income was quietly going to lifestyle creep, dining out and subscriptions I’ve barely noticed. It motivated me to make some quick adjustments. Get your first year of monarch for half off just 50 bucks with the promo code pockets. Use the code pockets at monarch.com to get your first year half off at just $50. That’s 50% off your first year at monarch.com with the code p o c k e t s.
Mindy: Liz Faircloth and Andressa Guidelli met in 2014 through biggerpockets.com. They started meeting to support each other’s businesses and eventually founded the real estate investor podcast, which supports women who are interested in getting into the world of investing. Liz and Andressa, welcome to the Bigger Pockets Money podcast. We are so excited to talk to you today.
Guest 1: Yes, we’re so excited to be here. Hey Scott, hey Mindy.
Guest 2: Thanks so much for having us. It’s a pleasure.
Mindy: It’s always fun to talk to you ladies. Let’s start off with a little bit of background. Liz, let’s look at you first. Can you tell us a little bit about yourself and what you are investing in?
Guest 1: Sure. Uh where in terms of just my background in real estate investing and how I got going? Uh, you know, 18 years ago when I was 10 years old, no. Um, Matt and I actually invested in our first deal a duplex. Uh I was going to school for social work. Matt was an engineer and we read Rich Dad, poor dad and it really shifted our thinking and our ways of just looking at the world quite honestly. So we got our start by going to the local re meetings for over a year. We we went to courses and workshops and boot camps at the time. That was well before Bigger Pockets was around. And uh we bought our first uh duplex. Um, my father loaned us 30 grand and got our start. We met a contractor through the local re meeting and and got going. Uh, we’s then let us to creating um really building a portfolio in New Jersey. And we got our start mostly in Trenton, New Jersey. Uh and uh start buying multis, getting involved in a lot of different focuses. And then, um, many years later, finally got that we had to get focused and really went all in on on multi-family and grew a multi-family business. So, we have properties in four states, about 2,000 units of a multi-family assets, mostly um large multi and uh in class C uh neighborhoods, up and coming neighborhoods. And that’s what we’re mostly focused on now. We’re doing some on the De Rosa side, we’re doing some uh pivots because of the multi-family space and and how just still overpriced multi-family is and so we’re actually pivoting. We’re still raising money, we’re still building a fund, but we’re going to be we’re going to be diversifying in what we’re putting that money into, uh, which is going to be more of like a lending arm where we’re lending that money out as like hard money loans versus multi-family because it’s just overpriced and it’s just it just physically doesn’t make sense um and and so we don’t want to ever put our investors in deals that don’t make sense. So anyway, that’s that’s one of the current projects we’re pivoting into in today’s market.
Scott: That’s awesome. We got we got to talk after this because I’m very interested in that space and I think that’s a very wise approach in the current market conditions. So Andressa, can you tell us a little bit about your background and what you invest in?
Guest 2: Yeah, absolutely. I am an immigrant from Brazil. I moved to the US without knowing what real estate the words real estate really meant. It was during a 101 meeting with my um manager. I was doing door-to-door sales for Verizon. One of the best things I’ve ever done in my life and one of the hardest. And um I asked him for a book that will support increase my sales and he gave me this purple book called Rich Dad for dad. I was like, what is this about? And he’s like, don’t worry, read it and we’ll come back to it. And then I was like, what’s happening here? Why I don’t know about this entire world about real estate? started getting a lot of knowledge, yeah got got started in 2011, uh rehab my first house was a primary, pull a helock out, um got a a lower appraisal. For those of you that are getting lower appraisal, appeal it, appeal it. I appeal already so many appraiser in my life. If I didn’t have the gut to appeal that appraisal report, I would not have got the money to invest on other deals that I started doing. Got to rehab properties, scale to doing 15 properties at the same time, met Liz, started doing new construction. Uh, I have experience in commercial development as well on the GP side of investing in apartment complexes and now uh for from the real estate best for uh company, we’re looking to Italy actually to invest overseas. That’s where where we are right now.
Scott: You know, one of the reasons why I was so excited to chat with both of you guys is you had shared in a previous conversation some really interesting stats about really um not the emergence but the growth, the scale, um a shift of capital in this country into the hands of women. Um, and how there’s a need there to develop uh uh uh women in in in many cases um as investors. Could you kind of share the magnitude of this of this um of this challenge, this opportunity, this this this transition that’s happening?
Guest 2: Yeah, right now, just in the US alone, we have 10 trillion of dollars of investable assets in the hands of women and the next seven years that’s going to triple according to Morgan Stanley, uh resource into 2021. So, just that alone, we know that that shift is going to happen. Right now, we have a confidence gap. The women are not as confident to make investments. Therefore, they’re going to have a lot of capital in their hands. But I think the most important thing for the audience, right? the audience, you your audience that is listening, they they might be women, they might not be women. So if they’re not, if they’re a man, like what, what do I have to do with this? I think there’s a potential for for uh really understanding what are the needs of of this demographic, what they’re looking to do, so you can partner up with…
Scott: we got $10 trillion in household wealth that are is controlled by women and invested by women today and that’s going to change dramatically over the next 10 years. What is driving that change? What is the shift that’s happening?
Guest 1: Well, one of one of the biggest things is that, you know, meant there’s gonna be, you know, aging men, men are dying, right? So, so statistically women outlive men by six to eight years. We know that already. So, the the the shift and we see this in our community in real in real life, right? And and I just want to speak to women are incredibly confident as like the CFO of their household, right? They they have this confidence where they are managing everything like a CFO would. And when it comes to investing that confidence goes from 69% to 19%. It’s like, boom, like down. So, so what is the difference, right? What is the difference? And so, I I just want to speak to that because women actually have the skills and knowledge. I think one of the reasons is obviously, um what we just said about, you know, there’s there’s actually a demographic, a men, you know, in terms of aging and and dying off. I also see, I also see this and again, I don’t have the statistic in front of me, but women are kind of coming into their own, meaning, you know, whether they’re in the 35, 45, 55, 65 age range, you’re seeing women not reliant on a partner anymore. They’re making decisions based on their own life and their own their own sort of goals. You see that shift happening and and some of that generational baggage of, you know, spouse or not being a spouse or I can be complete by myself. That’s that’s a shift and that’s that’s a recent shift. That’s not something that was 40 years ago. So I think that’s part of it, just this societal shift uh as well.
Scott: So we’ve got, we’re not saying that the wage gap or any of these other fundamental long-term problems have been solved here, but that men are dying and the wealth is transferring to women, um, is really a big catalyst for this 30 trillion dollar shift of household wealth into the hands of women who by and large feel incapable of investing it, um, or not comfortable investing it. 19% um are 68% are confident managing household budgets, but only 19% are comfortable investing um those things. What why do you think that that is? Why why do you think these folks are uncomfortable with investing?
Guest 1: I would personally say, I mean, there’s probably a lot of reasons for it. I think one of the biggest things is when you think of investor, what do you think of? You think of a white man on Wall Street. I mean, it is just it’s a stereotype, but it’s still what people think of when they think investor. So I think shifting that stereotype, shifting that gender role where the traditional what women do in a household and what men do in a household in a very traditional sense is still apparent. It’s not like that that that went away and that’s not in existence in our society today. So I think there’s like a generation I like to call it a baggage in a sense in in where women are really letting go of some of that Scott and I think that’s going to be opening up this this I don’t want to say freedom, but this sense of like I can do this. They they they have it in them, the skills, the experience, but it’s a matter of community. you know, whether they’re talking to their neighbors, they’re talking to women in the school board. not every woman’s investing in in in stocks or real estate or gold. We all know that because we all have neighborhoods. So how do we so surround ourselves with other like-minded women and there are a lot of them that are doing it. I think that’s the that’s the big difference, you know, I always like to say, women don’t go to the bathroom by themselves. They usually go with a friend. So, if we’re going to go and invest, they’re going to invest with a friend. They’re going to do it together. That’s just the nature of of a lot of a lot of women. They feel comfortable in community.
Guest 2: I’ll just I’ll just want to add that the the psychology behind it, right? We interviewed a woman this this this week. She’s a doctor in neuroscience and there’s a lot of thought patterns that have been passed from generation to generation. And when it comes down to safety, it’s it’s really crucial that we have a safe place for women to come, raise their hand, ask their questions and that goes from anything that we do, right? But I had a conversation this morning with a woman from Columbus, Ohio that is opening up a bank geared towards women. And and we have this this conversation and her thought process is not just for the service and products that they are building for women. It has to do even with the layout of the banking, on making sure the women don’t feel intimidated by going to a bank and having a simple conversation about a loan. It it it starts with like really one-on-one. So little by little, when other women start seeing themselves in others and being able to have a conversation and feel safe about it. I think that it is just going to grow the amount of women that confidently feel uh that they’re able to to invest in real estate and take control of their financial future.
Mindy: So, women, I I feel like we’re generalizing, but we’re not generalizing. I mean, we’re 75% of us on this show are women and I have experienced this, you know, talking to other women. I have seen them experience this as well. When they feel intimidated, they’re just not going to. They’re going to stand back, they’re going to, you know, sit back. I think education, information, you know, is so key. I don’t want to feel stupid. I don’t want somebody to think I’m stupid, so I’m not going to open my mouth. I don’t want somebody to to to, you know, judge me by the fact that I said something wrong or the fact that I, you know, got a fact incorrect. I mean, nobody listening to the show is like, Mindy’s not like that at all. I’ll jump in with both feet. But you know, how can we the you know, the confident, jump in with both feet people, help educate women and help encourage women to ask these questions? Because I have found for the most part, when I ask a question in a truly I don’t know and I want to know setting, I get a great answer. How can we help people get more comfortable asking these questions and women specifically?
Guest 1: Yeah, I I think I I wrote down the word perfectionism because I think in asking a question, you already feel like you’re less than. And I think that comes up for a lot of women. Again, I’m being I’m being general, but there are a lot of women who if I’m intimidated to ask the question, I have this level of like, I got to know the answer almost. And and it’s that feeling. So, it starts back even in school, Mindy. I mean, what are we, you know, when people women, women and men are getting trained in what? To know all the answers. They they get an A if they know all the answers. They can’t ask their friend because that’s called cheating, right? So there’s there’s a lot of societal pressure and even this a statistic in MBA programs when they say who raises their hand quicker, a man or a woman, there’s statistics that show men do versus women because they don’t want to say it until they’re right. So that has to get broken up even just the way we school our kid like our educate our children, that failure is is actually just, you know, you’re you’re fact finding. You’re not it’s not failure. you know, there’s a freedom in it. So I think it starts there and how we get actually get um accolades and and pats on the back because it’s creating this perfectionism in in in and especially for women. it could be men too but it’s certainly for women and that prevents us from asking the questions because we feel stupid. We feel like we need to have the answers. So I think it starts there and it also it also like for to your point, Mindy, us asking the questions and us being able to be, you know, to put ourselves out there when we don’t know the answers is helpful because then women see themselves, oh okay, yeah, she doesn’t even know the answer. She’s being vulnerable. Wow, she doesn’t have all her you know what together. Okay, I don’t either. that type of thing. and I can ask the question.
Mindy: Okay, so women tend to have less confidence, but are they actually worse than men at investing?
Guest 1: No. I love that leading question, Mindy. I love the question.
Mindy: Objection to leading the witness.
Guest 1: Not, exactly. No, there’s a lot of research that shows uh that women outperform men by 40, you know, uh basis points, meaning there there is a level of because there’s a level of conservative, if I’m gonna be conservative and I’m gonna be cautious and I’m gonna make sure I know what I’m doing, you’d better know I’m going to make the right call. So, I think there’s a level of of of of the cautiousness serves your decision-making and thus it’s usually in in steering in the in the right in the right way. So I think when women really, you know, act in their in their power, you know, the outcomes that you know, the outcomes can can actually you know, be there for them in terms of higher higher results.
Mindy: Yeah, I don’t think there’s anything wrong with being cautious. You can make great investments cautiously. And I would encourage you, especially if you’re just starting out, be cautious. Don’t aim for the home run, Grand Slam home run, aim for the base hit, aim for the break even, aim for the I’m learning because every I mean, you can read all the books you want, but you learn so much more by doing and even just breaking even, that is like a college level course in real estate investing just by breaking even.
Guest 2: But we have found also is that small action steps for men or for women or for whoever everybody that is listening, the more that you take action steps towards your goal, do you move you move the needle forward, more confident you are. So, when we talk about give an example, right? People say, oh, you need to call realtors and call one. Have the courage to call one person. That will you you will get that feeling. Your brain does not know how big or how small that action is. It doesn’t really matter. So, the more that you take small steps towards achieving your goal, more confident people get.
Guest 1: You guys heard our recent episode with David Jackson and I’ll be honest, even as somebody who lives and breathes this stuff, having a pro like David, pressure test my plan was a game changer. Domain money is different because they don’t try to take over your accounts. They provide a flat fee service where a dedicated CFP analyzes your entire financial life with no stones left unturned, no hidden fees, no commissions, just clear actionable strategy. Go to biggerpocketsmoney.com/CFP and book a free strategy session to see how they can help you reach fire faster.
Scott: This is a promotion for Domain money, a registered investment advisor with the SEC. Bigger Pockets money may receive compensation if you choose to work with Domain money as a client. I, Scott Trench, am a current client of Domain money and receive non-cash compensation related to this promotional activity. This is not personalized investment advice. For the full disclosures, visit biggerpocketsmoney.com/CFP.
Scott: When you’re ready to start your business, Northwest registered agent helps you do more than just file paperwork. You get all the tools to build a real business identity from day one, a business address, website, phone number, operating agreement, free guides and more at no extra cost. Northwest registered agent has been helping small business owners and entrepreneurs launch and grow businesses for nearly 30 years. They are the largest registered agent and LLC service in the US with over 1500 corporate guides. These are real people who know your local laws and can help you and your business every step of the way. With Northwest, your business is set up to stand on its own from day one. That means your home address, personal email, and phone number stay private. Don’t pay hundreds or thousands of dollars for what you can get from Northwest for free. Visit northwestregisteredagent.com/moneyfree and start using free resources to build something amazing. Get more with Northwest registered agent at northwestregisteredagent.com/moneyfree.
Scott: So you you know, we we talked about again this this market of $30 trillion and we talked about how women are very, you know, unconfident by and large, you lack of confidence in investing by and large. Um, just to kind of extrapolate this out, how much wealth, you know, do we think what are you think the impacts at a at a high level is going to happen here if women don’t become more confident and invest uh uh uh these assets on themselves. What does that mean for the women who control this wealth and what does it mean for the global economy um if we’re not able to solve this problem?
Guest 1: Yeah, absolutely, Scott. I mean, you know, what what ends up happening is that like, you think about this that by increasing, you know, the economic participation, right, women really going in and and not just managing the money but investing the money, this actually could add 12 trillion to global growth. You know, and this is probably by 2025 this is going to happen. So that’s enormous, right? And I want to back that up too that so many companies think women are a niche. And they’re not a niche. They’re not a niche at all. And uh when we got that just a quick story, we got that a lot from our um we had our investorcon in in May and we had 35 companies represented and the companies that were there came up to us and said, we have never gotten so many leads, qualified leads. And these women are following up with us quickly and they actually want to talk to us and do deals with us. That’s they said that’s very unique and most of the conferences they go to. So there’s this not only is it a, you know, again 12 trillion getting added to this global economy, but the seriousness, I think what’s backing that up is the seriousness of women, like when they’re ready to go, they’re ready to go. There’s no like, oh, I’m gonna think about this for 10 more years. We don’t have that kind of time. And we literally heard this from so many different sponsors saying, oh my gosh, I didn’t even know this could exist that people actu A want to talk to us, want to do deals with us and we actually generate the most amount of leads we ever have at any other conference. Like that’s that’s a testament, right, of the of the quality of what women are coming into.
Mindy: Okay, so besides the ready to hit the ground running, what mindset and skills do women have that benefit them as investors over their male counterparts?
Guest 2: Oh, how many how many minutes do we have?
Mindy: We’ve got all the time in the world.
Guest 2: I think women has an incredible ability to build rapport and that how you translate that to real estate, you talk to sellers, to buyers, you raise money for for your deals, it the the truthworthiness it’s it’s there and then can be back it up by by your your competence and how you’re presenting the numbers, the deals and your vision. I think what also good or bad, right? We know how to multitask. We are able to build multimillion dollar companies under the radar.
Mindy: Yeah, and I wasn’t, I wasn’t phrasing that like let’s rip men apart. This is more like let’s encourage women. What other skills do they have? Like women you think that you’re not ready, you are ready. Here are things that you have, you know, you are humble, but you’re also really good at saving or you’re more risk averse so you’re gonna make maybe a safer or more conscious decision about where you’re investing, you’re not gonna just jump in with both feet, you know, blindly and then, oh, now I’ve lost $20 billion dollars. you know, it’s it seems like there are a lot of a lot of the women that I know are really doing a lot of thoughtful consideration when they when they are contemplating an investment.
Scott: Other than, you know, I I I think these are awesome advantages, but other than, you know, the lack of confidence, are there some potentially real disadvantages that women face when when confronting investing? for example, I heard uh a story a while back about a woman was leading a real estate investing project and a contractor comes by and uh the contractor’s, you know, wanting to talk to the husband, um, you know, the decision-maker essentially, even though, of course, this this woman was was the decision maker in that case. Are what are there examples of that or or things that, you know, go beyond that or deeper for investors that women investors that make this a legitimate challenge that’s not just about confidence but about other things as well.
Guest 1: Yeah, I I think that’s that’s still happening, you know, Scott and it’s happening, I know just say you you experience that a number of times. I experience it not on a job site but in in other ways, right? And that’s something we really need to do a better job at speaking up about and not just, you know, laughing it, laughing, you know, uh laughing at it out. and I think people still whenever there’s any ism, whether it’s sexism or racism or any ism, people need to speak up and they need to speak out about those sort of things. To to assume that a contractor is talking to a man in the in the two as a man and a woman, you know, that’s sexist. It’s pretty simple. It’s not it’s not like, oh, they don’t know. No, it’s called sexism. And so I I think we as individuals, men and women can be part of the solution of really being able to speak up. Um I heard a couple of boys at the pool, uh with my daughter. I have a daughter and a son. We were at the pool. It was like a, you know, a few weeks ago, right when the pool opened. and he said, stop acting like a girl. And I’m just like, it’s interesting, right? That’s a bold bold statement and so the kid like ran away really quickly and I was like, I really I didn’t want to go up to him because he literally he said it and left. like it was like a a disappearing act. But I I’m like, would I’ve said something, how would I’ve said something to this eight-year-old boy? But it’s a real thing, right? It’s a real thing that we so I then I said, okay, I can’t speak to him, um but I’m going to speak to my kids. So I talked to them both and and Zach’s like, wow, what are you what is that mean, Mom? What do you think that means? Because he’s he he doesn’t he hasn’t heard that before. I’m just using it as an example of how we teach our kids and how we are speaking about things and when we see something not, you know, appropriate, we need to speak up or have a lesson in that. I don’t, you know, if that makes sense. But I did think that’s just a part of this.
Scott: It sounds like overcoming that challenge is really comes back to confidence. It’s, you know, Liz, you’re very confident and so if that were to happen to you, you would be like, what are you to either this relationship is over or no, I’m the one in charge here. We’re gonna we’re gonna proceed here as a professional, um, you’re you’re talking to the decision maker kind of. Is that kind of one of the ways to combat this uh from from is it really confidence it comes back to that as the rude issue or is there something more that women can do or should be doing around that uh…
Guest 2: I I would say that my confidence did not prevent me from from hearing this multiple and multiple times, right? And I joke around, I was like, no, I am not the one the realtor and not the architect, I’m the one that write your checks. and I think that what Liz is saying is that we can do our job, right? As women, we can do our job to get the knowledge, to get the confidence, but what what is really crucial is also for our allies, what can you do? Number one, you can invite every woman that you know to step up, right? Or your daughters, your your your wives, your your spouses or whatever that is. But the other thing that it’s crucial is that when there are conversations where we are not present to defend or to to shine the light, so those quote unquote many times locker room conversations, that’s when we need the allies to get uncomfortable.
Mindy: I think lack of confidence is a real disadvantage that can be easily overlooked by people who are confident. I have a lot of confidence sometimes misplaced, but I don’t, you know, let that stop me. But again, if you if I say something stupid or I say something uninformed, I’m okay with somebody correcting me because then I’m going to learn. And you know, hey Liz, you can get a a residential loan on a 40 unit apartment building. Did you know that? And Liz would say, actually you can’t, that’s a commercial product. You can only get a commercial loan for that. Oh, okay, I learned. That’s it’s okay to make a mistake like that. It is, you know, and that is how you learn, but some people will feel very slapped down and very corrected and oh my god, I’m so stupid, I’ll never ever ever say anything again. and you know, I don’t think that the majority of people are correcting in in, you know, harsh tones, but again, if somebody says, oh my god, you’re so stupid, how could you possibly think that then there’s a person that has shown you they are not somebody that you need to do business with. But I really like what you said, Andressa. Uh I’m the one who writes the checks. Do you want to get paid? You’re going to talk to me.
Guest 1: I think confidence is a really big topic in general because I think there are women who are very confident in their life and they may not be confident in investing or confident in an area. So I don’t think confidence is a blanket thing where I’m confident or I’m not confident. I don’t think it’s as as simple as that. So I think what’s interesting and people in general. I think the interesting part too in this is something we recommend to to women is like, how are you naturally confident? Like where have you had these confident moments? We’ve all as people have confident moments where you just shine and we’re like on top of the world. And then we forget those moments. And so really, really bringing people back like especially women because that’s who who we serve, bring them back into that power because you have women who are confident in other areas and have had confident moments. All of us have. So I don’t think it’s an if I’m confident or not. I don’t think it’s as linear as that. I think it’s actually much deeper and and it’s reconnected of of the um of the confidence.
Scott: So I think this is awesome. I think that, you know, there’s a whole bunch of problems that lead to or a bunch of contributing factors that lead to the problems that we just identified here in the market at a global sense, the $30 trillion dollar of wealth uh managed that will be managed by women who maybe are less confident. Um, but how do we take, how do we translate that into actionable next steps for some of the women who may be listening to this um this podcast. How do they go about uh addressing this and taking the first steps towards um increasing their confidence, directly making investments or moving down that road?
Guest 2: I think it starts with knowing oneself, right? Liz and I are have done the work. How does that look like? Really understand what are your natural abilities. So taking all different types of tests that you can possibly get in order for you to understand, I’m talking about predictive index, Colby test, different things. So so you can really understand what are your true natural abilities, your personality, your cognitive, how you make natural decisions and where are the gaps so you can focus on your strengths and not your your weaknesses.
Guest 1: I would also add, you know, we heard it on on a on a podcast we interviewed this this week about starting with, we always talk about our goals and you know, what’s our why and and and how important that is. I think for for women they have goals, but then they look at them and go, why do I have that goal? Was that goal handed to me? especially in our space of real estate, right? If if it’s not like 100 unit, no one wants it, right? There’s a lot of I think a lot of um you know, goals that have been given to us or or kind of, you know, in especially in our space. So the key is like what do I want, where do I want to be? You know, and now that that big picture, Scott like literally five years, paint that picture for yourself. What does that look like? It doesn’t have to be specific, but just what does that look like for me? What would bring joy and happiness and passion to my life from a financial abundant perspective? You know, what what I give me time, energy, what what that you know, provide me emotionally get connected to that. Then then then you start to and people I know the people who don’t like division or like, well, that’s, you know, BS, but it starts there. And and then the next step is, what’s one thing can I learn? And then the next step is once I start to learn something and I’ve read one book on short-term rentals, by every call, Bigger Pockets published. then what community can I join to ask them some some questions about the book that I just read or the podcast I just listened to. The problem is that people have a dream and then they ask very general random questions to people they haven’t built a relationship with. How do I find 19 private lenders tomorrow? You know, okay, I’m not sure how to answer that, right? I’m not sure how to help you. So the the key is get a little knowledge, figure out where you want to be, really get connected to it emotionally. Second, get some knowledge, whether it’s a book or a podcast, there’s so much tremendous resources between our communities. And then thirdly, don’t stop there and that’s why women, women stop there and they try to figure it out themselves. So get connected to a community. We’ve invest meetups across the country and and and there’s an online community, there’s there’s a lot of ways to get connected. You got to get connected to people doing it.
Scott: So it sounds it sounds like, you know, form form a plan, right? It’s the Cheshire cat quote, right? Which way should you go? How should you invest? Well, it depends on where you want to go. We have this problem over and over and over again in our finance Fridays here in Bigger Pockets Money, men and women, right? Uh, well well well, how should I invest? Well, what do you want, right? Uh Do you want the biggest pile of money a lot in 50 years? We got one approach. Do you want cash flow right now, got another approach. Do you want a hybrid? We got a third. How hands on do you want to be? These are all questions that, you know, your visioning exercise can can help with. And then it sounds like you guys have really emphasized the theme of community as being perhaps a stronger or more very even more important um uh piece of the puzzle for women than it might be even for men. Um, or or at least uh it’s maybe harder to access for women perhaps. Um, and maybe in addition to or or instead of that. Uh is that is that a good way to paraphrase kind of what you guys have said here?
Guest 2: Yeah, yeah, certainly. I think that what we’re looking to to really continue building is a board of directors. I’ll give a very a simple example. When I one of the members on the our community could not close on a deal two days before, right? So, she had the courage to come and share what was going on, what was happening. We connected, other women started saying, well, I have a lender in that area. Let’s connect it here and there. and it just was just really powerful. She was not alone in that situation any longer. So the the stress and the pressure for her to try to figure it out on her own was no longer there and she was able to close that quick because of the power of resources and other people’s experiences that were already there. So that’s the goal here. You do your due diligence, you do your homework and you tap into a community, Bigger Pockets community, the real state master community, your local people, you’ve got to be connected with them as a board of directors. You have to you won’t see your your blind spots and you will lose your hair and your health if you continue trying to figure out your challenges and how to achieve your goals by yourself. Why would you do that? Other people have done it. Tap into their experience so you can speed up, you get access and speed in one spot.
Guest 1: Yeah, I think the big thing too when you’re you’re in a community and the power of it is when you have like this goal, okay, should I invest, you know, what’s the what’s the investing landscape right now in today’s economy, right? You ask your uncle or your aunt who don’t invest in real estate, they’re going to probably have a strong opinion and maybe give you some good insight, but are they are they the right people to be asking, you know? And and so we need to constantly ask ourselves, if you want to run a marathon, ask someone who ran a marathon. I wouldn’t ask someone who doesn’t really run. I don’t really want their advice. maybe not to to do what not to do but not to actually complete a marathon. So I think we constantly are are are asking ourselves and you have to ask yourself, am I going to the source of who are going to be able to support me with what I need and how I need it? I think that’s the power of community, any community.
Mindy: Okay, with investing a team sport, do you have any recommendations for how women should be building their community uh or team and uh so that they can start investing today?
Guest 2: You know, many people say that that the partnerships is the way to go, right? And we we love that, but there’s always a but, right? We we have paid our our share of mistakes and we don’t want other people to do it. So, we can we have we have prepared what we call a partnership guide is a is a free PDF that we can put it on the show notes. You guys can go and and download which are questions that you should ask yourself in terms of your your goals, what do you want to do and the partner asks the same thing. The main goal here is for you to align with with other people that have the same values and diversify in experience, what you bring to the table, time. We always believe that not everybody will be a good match and better do those those call having those conversations, hard conversations now before you shake hands and get into into a deal. I think many people get into deals too quickly without considering what is this partnership all about.
Mindy: I love that you said that.
Guest 1: I would also add to it beyond skills and experience and obviously clarifying time availability, money availability, deal deal flow availability, right? There’s a lot of assets that people bring to the table. I think beyond that from a team perspective, it’s really, really helpful when you’re building something with someone, if you are more of like this relationship person and you love people and you like connecting with them, it’s really helpful to have somebody who’s not working closely with you, very task, very shrewd, very skeptical. You you take each other off, but you need each other and the other thing I’d say too from a personality perspective is risk and caution. If you are a cautious person, have an accountability partner who’s a risk taker, have somebody in your close circle who is a risk taker because they’re going to push you in a way that you aren’t going to push yourself. So I think that’s really critical. And and then the task and the people, I also see it with logical people and and very uh gut feel people. So when you want to make, because actually it helps you make decisions faster when you have a very different style helping you through the decision and that’s why community is so important. because if you’re going to surround yourself with a bunch of risk takers or a bunch of cautious people, you should be overanalyzing a deal and that deal’s gone. right, right literally and you’re still analyzing and talking about it, right? So you really need that diversity, accountability partners, small circle, local group that that can push you in a way that you just can’t push yourself because you’re not wired that way.
Scott: So can you guys tell us a little bit about a any a special or particular program um and platform that can help uh women find a lot of these solutions and any places that you suggest that they check out on that platform?
Guest 1: cannot help you with that at all. Sorry.
Scott: All right, thank you guys so much. We had a wonderful…
Guest 1: but it’s the real estate invest her community uh and our our podcast is proudly published and distributed by Bigger Pockets. We have uh Facebook community where women can really get and you know, get connected quickly where they’re just posting questions, getting support. We take spam down very quickly. We are very diligent. So it’s that safe environment online. In person, we have over 50 meetups where women can get plugged into their local community. We have a we have a number of them in growing in Canada as well. And so that’s all on our website as well and uh in terms of just getting connected in person, online and uh just to support them around their goals.
Guest 2: And once a year, we have investor con, which is our conference next year. We’re going to Austin, Texas and it’s all about taking control of your financial future. That’s going to be the theme for next year.
Mindy: And where can people find this uh partnership guideline document?
Guest 2: So, you’re going to go to the realestatingvesther.com/giveaway.
Scott: That’s the real estate invest h e r.com.
Guest 2: /giveaway. Yeah.
Scott: /giveaway. Yeah, so check that out. And uh um, um guys, thank you so much for sharing this um incredible overview of the market. And I don’t think a lot of people are aware of and then uh uh uh the problems that underlie that and thank you for forming a solution to those problems um for women to access. Really appreciate it. And um uh I really grateful for all you do for the Bigger Pockets community uh at large and and the and all of the women investors out there who have benefited from your programming. So thanks so much for joining us today and we hope you have a wonderful rest of your week.
Guest 1: Thank you, Scott. Thank you, Mindy.
Guest 2: Thank you.
Mindy: Thank you, Liz and Andressa. We’ll talk to you soon.
Mindy: All right, Scott. That is Liz and Andressa. I just love talking to them. Such a delight, such a wealth of information and so encouraging. If you are a woman and you’re listening to this episode and you are excited about real estate, head on over to the invest her group, talk to other women, see what they’re all about. It’s really a fantastic group. The podcast is amazing. I just love Liz and Andressa so much and everything that they’re doing.
Scott: Yeah. I mean these are just um world-class investors and it’s great to chat with them and they have a great word you know uh window into this enormous problem that has been, that has been and will continue to grow over the next couple couple of years and decades. Um and I hope they make a big dent in it and and really solve this and help um help provide resources that address that one critical component of this whole chain, which is the confidence level of women who have large amounts of wealth to invest.
Mindy: Yep. I I think that confidence is key and I I wish I had a magic, you know, fix to fix the confidence level. I think education and information is going to be a huge help in overcoming that hurdle.
Scott: All right, Scott, should we get out of here?
Mindy: Let’s do it.
Scott: That wraps up this episode of the Bigger Pockets Money podcast. He is Scott Trench and I am Mindy Jensen saying, can’t stay blue Jay.
Mindy: If you enjoyed today’s episode, please give us a five-star review on Spotify or Apple. And if you’re looking for even more money content, feel free to visit our YouTube channel at youtube.com/biggerpocketsmoney.
Speaker 1: Bigger Pockets money was created by Mindy Jensen and Scott Trench, produced by Calen Bennett, editing by Exodus Media, copywriting by Nate Weintrout. Lastly, a big thank you to the Bigger Pockets team for making this show possible.
