REI Capital Guys

06/11/2026

The psychological cost of having your retirement in the stock market is worth paying attention to.

If you're like most people, every time the market has a big drop, you check your balance, especially if you're close to retirement.

Every time there's a recession, you wonder if this is the one that pushes your retirement date back.

Every time there's a headline about inflation or interest rates or a war somewhere, you do a quick mental calculation about what it means for you.

That chronic, low-grade anxiety that most people just learn to live with because they don't see another option.

And the worst part is that the 401k was sold to people as empowerment.

You're in control.
You pick your funds.
You make the decisions.

What they didn't tell you is that being in control of something you don't fully understand, inside a system designed by people who get paid regardless of how you do, isn't the best option for most people.

Real financial security is about being able to sleep at night knowing that your retirement is secure.

The best way to do that is diversification.

It feels like knowing what your income is going to be next month. And the month after that.

It feels like a return that isn't dependent on the collective mood of global financial markets on any given day.

It feels like your capital being secured by something you can drive past. Something with real, tangible value that doesn't disappear because investors are nervous.

That's why I and our investor community members love private lending so much.

~ Zach
C0-Founder, REI Capital Guys
visit:reicapitalguyscommunity.com

06/04/2026

06/03/2026

Case study time!

This one wrapped up at the end of February.

Repeat client.

Someone we've worked with multiple times and will continue to work with again.

She knows how to execute.
She knows how to get the deal done.
She knows how to solve problems and deal with unexpected issues that come up.
Every single time.

She purchased this property just outside Boston last year. We funded most of the purchase price and all of the repairs. Our loan amount was $617,000 total.

And like always, she knocked the renovation out of the park.

The property was finished up right before winter. If you know New England real estate, you know what that means, the seasonal market slows down, and you wait a bit.

It sat on the market for a couple of months.

Unfortunately it reduced her profit by a bit but unfortunately that's what happens sometimes.

Then it sold.
Deal closed.
Loan repaid.

I like to talk a lot about the complex stuff. The commercial projects. The big multimillion-dollar loans. They're fun.

But this? This is our bread and butter.

I love these deals too.

Single family flips like this one are what we do every day. They're straightforward, the math is clean, and the transformation speaks for itself.

Price points just outside Boston are high. That works in everyone's favor, our borrower client has room to make money, and our investors have a well-secured loan with strong collateral behind it.

For our investor community, deals like this are exactly what they're here for.

Steady cash flow, secured by real estate, with a trustworthy, repeat client who knows what they're doing.

~Zach
Co-Founder, REI Capital Guys

P.S: Whether you need funding for your next flip or want to invest alongside the pros, we’ve got you covered. Join the network at REICapitalguyscommunity.com

06/02/2026

If you have a pension, this math is important.

I spoke with one of our investors this morning.

She worked at the city fire department for years. Left earlier this year.

Now she's deciding what to do with her pension.

Here's the situation: $100,000 sitting with the city. If she leaves it there, she gets $2,000 a month for the rest of her life starting at retirement.

Sounds like a great deal.

$2,000 a month is $24,000 a year. On $100,000, that's a 24% annual return.

Except that math is completely wrong.

It ignores the most important variable: she's 35 years away from retirement.

That $100,000 still has 35 years to compound.

If you take that same $100,000 and compound it at 9% for 35 years, you end up with $2,041,397.

Over two million dollars.

Now live off 9% of that.

That's $183,726 a year.

$15,310 a month.

Not $2,000 a month. $15,310 a month.

And the thing about a pension, when you die, it's gone.

The city keeps it. Your kids get nothing. Everything you spent decades building just stops.

Instead:

If you invest that money and live off the income, you never touch the principal. You've lived well your whole retirement, and when you pass away, you still have $2,000,000+ sitting there to leave behind.

That's generational wealth.

I'm not saying pensions are bad. Not at all. And if you've been somewhere long enough, if the benefit is high enough, if the numbers genuinely work in your favor, by all means, keep it. There are situations where a pension absolutely makes sense.

But this is the math you need to run before you decide.

"Guaranteed" and "best option" are not the same thing.

Disclaimer: This is not financial advice. Consult a qualified financial advisor before making any decisions about your retirement accounts or pension.

~ Zach
Co-Founder, REI Capital Guys

P.S: Ready to turn a disappearing pension into permanent, generational wealth? Join us at REICapitalguyscommunity.com

06/01/2026

Inflation is destroying your savings.

And it's evil.

It's how the government taxes you without ever calling it a tax.

Inflation runs at 4%. Your savings account pays 2%.

You didn't earn 2%. You lost 2%.

And then you paid income tax on the 2% you "earned."

You went backwards. And got a tax bill for it.

You paid taxes on money you lost.

Here's why this keeps happening.

The US has $36 trillion in debt. Growing by about a trillion dollars every hundred days.

There are two ways to deal with debt that size.

Pay it off. Or inflate it away.

The government isn't paying it off.

What they're doing instead is letting inflation run, then paying back that debt with cheaper dollars later. A dollar borrowed today gets paid back with a dollar that buys less. The debt shrinks in real terms without ever officially being paid down.

It worked after World War II. They held rates below inflation for two decades. The debt-to-GDP ratio collapsed. Savers funded it. Nobody sent them a thank you note.

Same thing is happening right now.

Your savings account is on the wrong side of it.

The people who figured this out stopped holding cash and started buying assets and investing in things that outpace inflation.

Real estate.
Businesses.
Private lending.

Inflation shrinks what you owe. It grows what you own.

Same inflation. Two completely different outcomes depending on what side of the game you're playing

~ Zach
Co-Founder, REI Capital Guys

05/31/2026

I was on a safari in Kenya in 2022
At one of the lodges I was sitting next to a woman who was about my age
I gave her a little of my background and
She asked me why I was still working

I tried to explain it
The chase
The deal
The game of it

She shook her head and said

"That's just sad"

And I understood why she said it
Because from where she was sitting, she thought I was still grinding for a number in a bank account
She couldn't process that the money isn't the point

I hear it all the time
In the media
At social events

"Why does he keep working, he doesn't need the money"
"Why does she keep building, she already has enough"
"I don't understand why people with money keep chasing more"

What they don't understand is they're misreading what they're seeing

Here's what I know after almost 40 years in business

If you fall in love with the money, you're screwed

Because the money comes and goes
Markets shift
Deals fall apart
Some years are better than others

But if you fall in love with the game
The problem solving
The building
The chase itself
Nothing can take that from you

It not about the money
It's about the game

And science backs this up

Neuroscientist Kent Berridge proved in 1998 that dopamine
The chemical your brain releases when you feel motivated and alive
Isn't triggered by getting what you want
It's triggered by chasing it

The wanting is the reward
Not the having

This is why people who retire and stop chasing anything often fall apart within two years
It's why getting everything handed to you doesn't make you happy
It's why the most driven people you know never seem to stop

They're not chasing money
They're chasing the feeling that comes from being in pursuit of something

The goal is just a finish line
The chase is the whole race

The woman in Kenya thought what I was doing was sad

I thought what she was describing was sadder

Humble suggestion for those starting out
Humble suggestion for those chasing money

Fall in love with the game
The money will follow

Berridge, K. C., & Robinson, T. E. (1998). "What is the role of dopamine in reward: Hedonic impact, reward learning, or incentive salience?" Brain Research Reviews, 28, 309–369.

~ Mike
Co-Founder, REI Capital Guys
Visit: REICapitkalGuysCommunity.com

05/30/2026

There's a lot of money sitting idle right now

Self-directed IRAs
Savings accounts
CDs earning next to nothing

And there are a lot of people teaching others to put that money to work by lending it to real estate investors

The concept is sound
The ex*****on is where people get hurt

Here's the part that doesn't always get enough attention

Property valuation

Every borrower believes in their deal
That's not a criticism, that's what makes them an entrepreneur
They see the upside and they price accordingly

As a lender, my job is the opposite
I have to see worst case
What is this property worth if everything goes sideways and I have to take it back

In my experience, I almost never value a property as high as the borrower does
I genuinely cannot remember the last time I did

So if you're lending your own money, here's what you need to know

Do not accept the borrower's numbers
That's not a starting point, that's a sales pitch

And do not use Zillow
It is a consumer tool, not a lending tool

We determine property value with three separate reputable valuation services
If they're all in the same range, you have something to stand on
If they're not, that tells me something

The people who lose their life savings in private lending don't lose it because real estate is bad
They lose it because they trusted numbers they shouldn't have

Protect your capital first
The return comes second

Underwrite like a bank
Not like a partner

Remember, if you want to be like bank
Then be like the bank

~ Mike
Co-Founder, REI Capital Guys

P.S: Protect your capital first. Learn the exact frameworks we use to evaluate deals securely at REICapitalGuyscommunity.com

05/29/2026

Two clocks start running

One is counting down your money
One is counting down your life

Which one runs out first

That's the reality of the 401k model

Wall Street's teaches the 4% rule
Withdraw no more than 4% a year and your money should last about 30 years

On a million dollars that's $40,000 a year
$3,333 a month
Buy, every month the balance goes down
So your money's running out

He was a wrench in the Wall Street plan

If the market drops 30% the year you retire
Your million becomes $700,000
Now your 4% is $28,000 a year

Both clocks still running
And you're watching the money clock lose ground

The alternative

That same million dollars generating 10% annual income
Without touching the principal

$100,000 a year
$8,333 a month
Every month
Balance stays intact
Market crash doesn't cut your income in half
No 30-year countdown

And when you're gone your life savings is still there
Still producing
For the people you leave it

Same million dollars
One model drains it

The other doesn't

It's how private lending works

The return is real

~ Mike
Co-Founder, REI Capital Guys

P.S: Stop watching the clock tick down on your retirement. Learn how to transition from the draining 401k model to predictable passive income. Join the movement at REICapitalGuyscommunity.com.

05/28/2026

Wall Street's favorite sales pitch is the power of compounding.

Put your money in early. Leave it alone. Watch it grow.

And the math does work.

A dollar invested at 7% for 40 years turns into almost $15.

But heres the downside.

Compounding works just as powerfully in reverse.

If the market drops 50%, you don't need a 50% gain to get back to even.

You need 100%.

Think about that for a second.

Your $100,000 portfolio drops to $50,000.

To get back to $100,000, that $50,000 has to double.

That's not a 50% recovery.

That's a 100% gain just to break even.

And if that drop happens the year you retire, or the year before, or the year after, you don't have 40 years for compounding to bail you out.

You have whatever time is left.

The 2008 crash wiped out nearly 50% of the S&P 500.

People who retired that year or were close to it never fully recovered.

The market did eventually come back.

But they were already drawing down a smaller pile.

Every withdrawal from a depleted account is money that never gets to compound back.

Wall Street spent 40 years selling you on the upside math.

They just neglected to mention the downside math is exactly the same.

Same compounding.

Same math.

Working against you instead of for you.

~ Zach
Co-Founder REI Capital Guys
visit: REICapitalGuysCommunity.com

05/27/2026

People always ask what we look for when we take on a new borrower client.

Most people expect me to say credit score, net worth, experience.

Yes, all of that does matter.

But some of the most important things I look for have nothing to do with the numbers.

They're the soft skills.

How does someone communicate?

When I send an email, do they respond reasonably quickly or do I have to follow up three times?

If we schedule a call, do they show up on time?

If they say they're going to send me a document, does it show up when they said it would?

If I ask for five things, do they send me all five together in one organized email, or do I get them one at a time over the course of a week?

These things tell me everything.

The way someone handles the loan process is the same way they're going to handle a problem on the job site.

If they can't get me a simple document on time, what happens when the contractor is three weeks behind and they need to make a decision?

If they can't keep track of what I asked for, how are they managing a construction budget?

The numbers tell me if the deal works.

The soft skills tell me if the person works.

Both are important.

~Zach
Co-Founder, REI Capital Guys
visit: REICapitalGuysCommunity.com