BiggerPockets Real Estate Podcast

Episode: How to Build Your 2026 Plan (Retire with Rentals Faster)
Host: Dave Meyer
Date: December 5, 2025

Episode Overview

Dave Meyer dives deep into the essential but often overlooked foundation of real estate investing: clear, actionable financial goal setting. The episode is designed to walk listeners step-by-step through building their own 2026 plan, starting from a long-term vision and breaking it down into practical, immediate actions. Dave’s central assertion is that without specific, time-bound goals, all talk of strategy, deals, and markets is meaningless—clarity of purpose is the true accelerant for financial freedom with real estate.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. The Missing Ingredient: Clear Financial Goals

• Challenge to the listeners: Most investors have vague desires for "financial freedom," but few set concrete, time-bound financial goals.
  • "How many of you actually have a specific financial goal? ... I'm talking specifically, like, 'I want $10,000 a month in cash flow by 2035.'" (01:04 - Dave Meyer)
• Personal anecdote: Dave shares it took him eight years in investing before realizing the power of clear financial targets.
• Importance: You can’t determine strategy or tactics without knowing your destination.

2. The Three-Part Planning Framework

Dave guides listeners through:

• Long-term Goal: Define your 'why' and your number—how much money you want and by when.
• One-Year Goal: Translate the vision into actionable steps you’ll take in the next year.
• Three-Year Vision: A mid-term checkpoint ensuring your direction is still correct.

"Even though very few people have actually done this, it's really not hard. By the end of this podcast episode, you're going to have these three numbers." (02:33)

3. Step One: Setting Your Long-Term Financial Goal (03:15–14:22)

• Key questions:
  • How much after-tax income do you realistically want/need to support your lifestyle?
  • By when do you want to achieve this?
• How to find your number:
  • Start with your current budget/spending, then adjust upward if you plan lifestyle increases.
  • Account for inflation: "The value of your dollar on average gets cut in half every 30 years." (09:23)
    • Example: Want $7,500/mo today? Set your goal to $10,000/mo in future dollars.
• Equity vs. Cash Flow:
  • Target a net equity number (not just property value; your true stake).
  • Use the anticipated cash-on-cash return (typically 5–8%) to calculate how much equity you need for your cash flow target.

    "Once you have equity, once you have money, cash flow is super easy." (10:36)

  • Calculation Example: Need $120,000 a year, expect a 6% cash-on-cash return ➔ $2 million in equity needed.

Notable Quote

"You want to be a little bit uncomfortable. You don't want to be, 'Oh, for sure I'm going to be able to hit that number.' But you want to feel like if I execute my plan well... I'm going to be able to hit that number. That's sort of the magic balance." (03:00)

[TIMESTAMP SUMMARY]

• 00:00–11:52: Core concepts—why, how much, and when; the impact of inflation and approach to equity/cash flow targets.

4. Step Two: Determining Your Time Horizon (14:22–19:52)

• Time horizon is critical—it shapes your investing strategy.
  • Most investors (not flipping or highly leveraged) should expect 8–15 years to achieve full financial freedom.
  • Faster outcomes demand higher starting capital, extra income sources, or more aggressive/active strategies (e.g., BRRRR, flipping, wholesaling).

"I'm sorry that people on the Internet lie and say they do this in three to five years...the average person, it takes 10 to 15 years." (15:50)

• Realistic example:
  • Start with $75k, want $2M in equity in 12 years.
  • Annual compounding assumptions matter (see rule of thumb: 10–25% returns for rental investments depending on strategy and effort).

[TIMESTAMP SUMMARY]

• 14:22–19:52: Calculating your time frame and ensuring your goals are achievable given starting capital and chosen approach.

5. Step Three: Your One-Year Goal & The Resource Audit (19:52–33:47)

• Resource Audit:
  • How much capital can you responsibly invest this year (after emergency reserves)?
  • How much time can you genuinely allocate each week?
• The Four Quadrants Framework: (24:14)
  • Low Time, High Money: Buy rental properties with low leverage, perhaps some cosmetic rehab—aim for steady, not aggressive, growth.
  • High Time, High Money: Go aggressive—BRRRR method, value-add deals—maximize equity growth.
  • High Time, Low Money: Partner on flips, wholesale, focus on increasing income; goal may be to save toward first deal.
  • Low Time, Low Money: Real estate isn’t likely feasible immediately—focus should be on saving capital and freeing time.

    "If you don't have time and you don't have money, real estate investing is going to be very difficult for you... But making a real estate investment is probably not the next step in your journey." (27:40)

• Actionable Goal-Setting for Year One:
  • Set targets (e.g., number of deals, target returns) that match your quadrant and honest resource assessment.
  • Example: With $75k and 10 hours/week, try for 2 BRRRRs targeting a 40% annualized return on first deal.
  • "If you save 50 grand next year, you're going to be able to do a great deal and it's going to accelerate your career probably faster than… a really risky flip." (28:46)

[TIMESTAMP SUMMARY]

• 19:52–33:47: Resource audit, strategic quadrant, specific one-year action items for each scenario.

6. Midterm Goal and Extrapolation (33:54–40:50)

• The Rule of 72:
  • (Rule of 72 explained)
  • At 10% annual return, money doubles approx. every 7 years; at 30%, doubles every ~2.4 years.
• Extrapolating from example:
  • $75k → $150k in 3 years → $300k in 6 years → $1.2M in 12 years (assuming 30% returns; adding new capital accelerates further).

  "Just by knowing these numbers, there's so many great ways to make money in real estate, but I know my goals, so I know I'm going to do brrrrs and cosmetic rehabs." (38:55)

• Your 'Buy Box':
  • Numeric goals dictate buy criteria (price range, market, deal type).
  • For the example plan: target $250k properties in the Midwest/Southeast with $50k cosmetic rehabs, using $75k as your capital per deal.

[TIMESTAMP SUMMARY]

• 33:54–40:50: How the three-number plan shapes your investing buy box and next moves.

Memorable Quotes

• Dave Meyer:
  • "If you can't answer that question with a clear vision of where you want to go, nothing else really matters." (00:10)
  • "The value of your dollar on average gets cut in half every 30 years. Just think about that for a second." (09:25)
  • "Once you have equity, once you have money, cash flow is super easy." (10:36)
  • "You want to be a little bit uncomfortable... that's sort of the magic balance that you're looking for here." (03:00)
  • "If you don't have time and you don't have money, real estate investing is going to be very difficult for you." (27:40)
  • "Just by knowing these numbers, there's so many great ways to make money in real estate, but I know my goals, so I know I'm going to do brrrrs and cosmetic rehabs." (38:55)

Structure Summary: Key Timestamps

| Segment | Start | End | Main Focus | |----------------------------------|----------|----------|--------------------------------------------------------------| | Why goals matter | 00:00 | 03:00 | The importance of setting real financial targets | | Three-part framework intro | 03:00 | 04:00 | Long-term, 1-year, 3-year plan overview | | Deep-dive: Long-term goal | 04:00 | 14:22 | After-tax income, inflation, cash-on-cash calculation | | How long will it take? | 14:22 | 19:52 | Time horizon, realistic expectations by capital/effort | | One-year resource audit & actions| 19:52 | 33:47 | Four quadrants, 1-year plan for different circumstances | | Compounding/extrapolating returns| 33:54 | 40:50 | Rule of 72, projecting equity growth, refining your buy box |

Action Items for Listeners

• Set your own three numbers:
  • Long-term goal (total equity & cash flow target, with a realistic timeline)
  • One-year goal (what you can actually achieve this year with your real resources)
  • Three-year checkpoint (double your money? Save up your first $50k? Etc.)
• Honest resource audit:
  • Inventory cash on hand (after reserves), plus real, available hours per week.
• Choose strategies and deals matching your quadrant:
  • Don’t pick projects mismatched to your personal time and resources.
• Let the numbers dictate your strategy—not just what’s popular or promising online.

Overall Tone

Dave maintains a practical, candid, and encouraging style, busting myths and unrealistic expectations. He repeatedly emphasizes honesty and realism over “get-rich-quick” hype, and provides actionable tools and real-world examples.

For more, check out Dave Meyer’s book, Start With Strategy, or visit BiggerPockets.com for deeper resources and tools.

End of Summary