Podcast
Wealth Formula by Buck Joffrey
Hosted by Buck Joffrey · EN
Financial Education and Entrepreneurship for Professionals
22episodes
Episodes
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522: What is a Dynasty Trust?
Aug 3100:37:54Tap to summarizeOne of the realities of building wealth is that the more you have, the more you have to lose. Asset protection and estate planning aren’t just legal technicalities—they’re essential parts of safeguarding everything you’ve worked for. The worst time to plan is when you actually need it. If you wait until you’re facing a lawsuit, a creditor, or a sudden death in the family, it’s already too late. Think of asset protection like insurance. Most of us wouldn’t drive without auto insurance or own a home without homeowners’ insurance. Yet many wealthy people operate businesses, hold investments, and build family wealth without putting legal structures in place to shield those assets. One lawsuit or one major life event can undo decades of hard work. On the estate side, not having a proper plan doesn’t just cost money—it creates stress and hardship for your loved ones. Without a solid estate plan, your family could end up tied up in probate courts, fighting over assets, and losing valuable time and resources. We’ve talked on this show before about basic steps everyone should take—like forming entities to protect your business or making sure you have not only a will, but also a living trust. Those are the starting points. But as your wealth continues to grow, your planning needs to grow with it. High-net-worth families have to think about more robust strategies—things like dynasty trusts, asset protection trusts, and the best jurisdictions to set them up. These aren’t just technical details. They’re the difference between wealth that gets preserved and multiplies across generations and wealth that gets chipped away by taxes, lawsuits, and poor planning. To help us understand these tools at the highest level, I’ve invited perhaps the most respected attorney in this space—someone who is seen by other attorneys as the thought leader in asset protection and estate planning—Steve Oshins. Steve has pioneered strategies that are now industry standards, and his work has shaped how families across the country protect and grow their wealth. You’re going to want to pay attention this conversation closely.
Transcribe →521: How to Buy Stock in Companies Before They Go Public
Aug 2400:27:49Tap to summarizeI’m not a big stock guy. However, there are some companies out there that you know are just going to change the world, and it would be nice to be able to own part of them—especially before they go public. That’s why this week on Wealth Formula Podcast we’re diving into a topic that’s been on my mind for quite some time: the world of pre-IPO investing. If you’ve ever felt like by the time a company finally hits the public market it’s already ballooned in value and you’re basically buying in at a premium, you’re not alone. I personally had my eye on a company called Circle, which deals in stablecoins. As I’ve talked about on the show before, I think it’s going to be huge globally. But as soon as Circle went public, the valuation shot up to a point where I felt like it was way too expensive to jump in. If I had access to those shares before the IPO, I would have definitely taken the plunge. Now, this isn’t just about one company. We’ve seen this story play out with others, and right now there are some major game-changers like SpaceX on the horizon. SpaceX, one of Elon Musk’s ventures, is one of those companies you just know is going to have a massive impact. But how do you get access to those deals? If you’re an accredited investor, I have good news. Getting a piece of the action before these companies go public isn’t just for the ultra-wealthy insiders anymore. It’s becoming more accessible to accredited investors who want to get in earlier and potentially see greater upside. That’s the topic of this week’s Wealth Formula Podcast. Transcript Disclaimer: This transcript was generated by AI and may not be 100% accurate. If you notice any errors or corrections, please email us at phil@wealthformula.com. If you are purely investing in the public markets, in many cases, you’ve missed the majority of a company’s growth cycle. Welcome everybody. This is Buck Joffrey Wealth Formula Podcast, coming to you from Montecito, California today. Before we begin, as I always do, I will suggest you visit wealthformula.com, which is the, um. Primary Home of Wealth Formula podcast, and it’s also where you can get some resources outside of the podcast, including access to our accredited investor club, otherwise known as investor Club. Uh, that is where you can get, if, if you aren’t an accredited investor, you can get access to opportunities that you would not otherwise see because they are not available to the general public. Um, speaking of. That kind of investment that’s not typically, uh, available to the general public. Uh, that takes us sort of to the topic of today’s show. That is, um, well, you see, I’m not a big stock guy, as you probably know, if you’ve listened to this show before, I’m not, you know, listen, I’m not anti stock. It’s just not, you know. Generally what I’ve invested in my life. However, there are some companies out there that you just know are going to change the world, and because of that, it’d be nice to potentially be able to own part of them, you know, especially if they, if before they go public. That’s why this week on Wealth Formula Podcast, we’re gonna dive into a topic that’s sort of been on my mind for some time. The world of what’s called pre IPO investing. Basically investing before a stock goes public. Now, if you’ve ever felt like by the time a company finally hits the public market, it’s already ballooned in value and you’re basically buying at a premium, you’re not alone. Again, this is not something I do often, but I had, um, as you know from my previous shows, I believe heavily that this whole world of stable coins is going to be enormous. And I had my eye on a company called Circle and then trades with CR Cl, uh, which deals in stable coins, uh, which is a, a really big player in stable coins. I think this is gonna be huge. Uh, but as soon as Circle went public, the valuation shot up, like just took off where it was kind of ridiculous and. At that point, basically it was just too expensive to jump in. It just didn’t make any sense. Now, if I’d had access to those shares before the IPO, and if it, you know, started where it actually started, I definitely would’ve taken the plunge and I actually would’ve made a lot of money. But that didn’t happen. Now, this isn’t just about one company. We’ve, you know, seen this happen several times, uh, before people know there’s this big private company that, you know, all the. Insiders are gonna make a bunch of money on IPO comes bang, they all cash in, right? But there are some out there that are in that pre IPO phase right now, such as SpaceX, um, you know, Elon’s, uh, one of Elon Musk’s companies. Um, you know, they are out there traveling space. They also own starlink, uh, all that kind of stuff. So, you know, that company’s gonna have a huge impact, at least. I mean, you know, I guess you don’t know for sure, but. Shown us one thing before he, he can, uh, he can build extraordinary companies. So that’s something I would be interested in. But how do you get access to those deals, right? If you’re an accredited investor, as it turns out, I have good news on this show. Getting a piece of the action before these companies go public isn’t actually just for the ultra wealthy Silicon Valley insiders anymore. It’s actually becoming more accessible to accredited investors who want to get in early. Potentially see greater upside. So that is a topic of this week’s show, and we will have, uh, that conversation right after these messages. Wealth formula banking is an ingenious concept powered by whole life insurance, but instead of acting just as a safety net, the strategy supercharges your investment. First, you create a personal financial reservoir that grows at a compounding interest rate much higher than any bank savings account. As your money accumulates, you borrow from your own bank to invest in other cash flowing investments. Here’s the key, even though you’ve borrowed money at a simple interest rate. Your insurance company keeps paying you compound interest on that money even though you’ve borrowed it. Net result, you make money in two places at the same time. That’s why your investments get supercharged. This isn’t a new technique. It’s a refined strategy used by some of the wealthiest families in history, and it uses century old rock solid insurance companies as its backbone. Turbocharge your investments visit. Wealth Formula banking.com. Again, that’s wealth formula banking.com. Welcome back to the show, everyone. Today my guest, uh, on Wealth Formula podcast. Christine Healey, she’s founder of Healy Pre IPO. Which is a, uh, boutique brokerage firm that gives high net worth investors access to some of the world’s most exclusive pre IPO opportunities. Companies like SpaceX, open AI and Stripe long before they hit the public markets. Uh, she’s closed over 600 million in private market deals. Previously held leadership roles at firms like Destiny Tech 100 and Forge Global. She’s built a white glove concierge level service for investors who want insider access to vetted late stage private companies without the corporate red tape. Welcome to the program, Christine. Thank you, buck. Great to be here. Well, um, let’s, let’s kind of start with, so we have a lot of, you know, retail investors, accredited investors. This may not be something, uh, that, that they know much about. So for investors who only know about public markets, uh, those types of stocks, what exactly is the pre IPO market? How does it work? So I see a lot of high net worth investors that may hold, um, very skilled professional jobs. They might be doctors or lawyers or small business owners, and they see companies like SpaceX constantly in the news with these amazing milestones. Or they might use open AI’s product chat GBT every day in some cases. But they’re seeing these amazing technological innovations as a bystander. A lot of them are saying, um, I’ve worked hard to build an amass some wealth. I’ve got a high income. I wish there was a way to actually financially participate in these stocks. Sure. So investing pre IPO is essentially a way to invest in these companies while they’re still private companies in a bespoke privately. Brokered transaction where you might be matched with a private seller, like an early employee, or you might be matched with an early VC that’s looking for liquidity and you can actually get in before the IPO. So we’ve seen a lot of IPOs recently be very choppy, very volatile. Mm-hmm. In many cases, um, a lot of value in a technology company’s lifecycle is accruing purely on the private markets. Since these tech companies are waiting longer and longer to IPO in a lot of cases. So if you are purely investing in the public markets, in many cases, you’ve missed the majority of a company’s growth cycle. So what I do is help investors, um, that are accredited to get into some of their favorite companies that, that they love, that they believe in. Mm-hmm. That they’re inspired by. And to navigate the private market, which is very tricky, in some cases, messy and requires a lot of bespoke, um, process. Yeah. And, and I think, um, one of the things that I have noticed sort of, kind of sniffing around this pre IPO space, there’s obviously a few companies who, who do this and um, you know, one of the questions I always have when I’m looking at ...
Transcribe →520: Twin Brothers Gary and Grant Cardone are ALL IN on Bitcoin
Aug 17, 202501:05:42Tap to summarizeBitcoin may be breaking records again, but this time it’s not because of retail frenzy. Search trends, social media chatter, and small-investor activity are all far quieter than they were in 2017 or 2021. The people driving this move aren’t hobby traders—they’re the biggest institutions and the wealthiest investors on the planet. Look at BlackRock. Larry Fink once dismissed Bitcoin as an “index of money laundering.” Now he’s calling it “digital gold,” and his firm’s iShares Bitcoin Trust (IBIT) has become the fastest-growing ETF in history. It’s pulled in nearly $90 billion, representing more than 3% of all the Bitcoin that will ever exist. Those billions aren’t coming from TikTok influencers—they’re coming from pensions, hedge funds, and the kind of family offices that have multi-generational plans for capital preservation and growth. Even Harvard University has made the leap. Back in 2018, its star economist Kenneth Rogoff said Bitcoin was more likely to hit $100 than $100,000. Today, Harvard’s endowment owns more of BlackRock’s IBIT than it does Apple stock in its U.S. equity portfolio. That’s not just a change of heart—it’s a complete reversal in worldview. And of course, there’s Michael Saylor, whose MicroStrategy now holds close to 3% of the total future Bitcoin supply, turning a business software company into a corporate Bitcoin vault. This is institutional FOMO. The biggest asset manager on Earth is selling it, elite universities are holding it, corporate treasuries are betting their future on it, and family offices are adding it to the same portfolios that hold their blue-chip stocks and trophy real estate. But institutions aren’t the only ones making this move. There’s another wave—quieter but just as significant—coming from the ultra-high-net-worth crowd. The centimillionaires. The people who can wire $10 million into a position without blinking. I’ve always said: never take financial advice from someone with less money than you. Well, Gary Cardone has a lot more than me—and he’s all in on Bitcoin. Gary is part of what they call “smart money.” He’s in the same camp as the other ultra-wealthy who aren’t just dabbling in crypto—they’re making conviction bets. And when you see people with that kind of capital and that kind of access all moving in the same direction, it’s worth listening to why. That’s exactly why I sat down with him—to hear, straight from someone in that rarefied circle, why Bitcoin has gone from a curiosity to a core holding.
Transcribe →519: Why the Wealthy Never Stop Buying Real Estate
Aug 10, 202500:47:17Tap to summarizeHey everyone, If you’ve been following me for any length of time, you already know that I believe real estate is the single greatest wealth-building tool available to everyday investors like you and me. (Although, I’ll admit, Bitcoin is making a strong case to be in that conversation.) But every once in a while, it’s worth stepping back and asking: Why has real estate created more millionaires than any other asset class—and why do the ultra-wealthy keep buying it, decade after decade? It comes down to a unique stack of advantages that you simply can’t replicate anywhere else: Leverage: Real estate is one of the few investments where banks are eager to give you money to buy an appreciating asset. You put down a fraction of the purchase price and control 100% of the property—and 100% of the upside. Leverage can be a double-edged sword in down markets, but it remains the most powerful tool in the arsenal of the rich. Other People’s Money: Every month, your tenants pay rent that covers your mortgage and builds your equity. Essentially, they’re buying the property for you. Appreciation (Natural and Forced): Over time, rents and property values generally trend upward. But here’s the thing—you can force appreciation by raising rents, cutting costs, and improving operations. On properties over four units, these improvements increase net operating income (NOI), which directly determines the property’s market value. That’s how sophisticated investors manufacture wealth on demand. Tax Advantages (The Secret Weapon): The IRS lets you deduct a portion of your property’s value each year—depreciation—even while the property itself often climbs in value. Now, here’s where things get truly magical: cost segregation combined with 100% bonus depreciation. These strategies let you front-load those tax deductions, often allowing you to write off a massive portion of your investment in the first year. For example, let’s say you buy a property for $1 million and put down $300K. With a proper cost segregation study and bonus depreciation, you might receive a K-1 showing a $300K loss that same year. That’s a paper loss offsetting your taxable income—meaning money that would’ve gone to the IRS is now working to build your wealth instead. And with Congress reinstating 100% bonus depreciation, this playbook for savvy investors is back at full strength. If you think about it, upfront tax savings alone can turbocharge your returns before you’ve even collected your first rent check. This week on Wealth Formula Podcast, I sit down with Gian Pazzia, chairman and chief strategy officer at KBKG, to pull back the curtain on cost segregation and bonus depreciation. We’ll dig into: How cost segregation really works—and when to use it. How passive investors and short-term rental owners can take advantage of it. What to know about recapture taxes, 1031 exchanges, and long-term planning. If you’ve ever wondered how sophisticated investors legally shelter huge amounts of income while building massive wealth, this episode gives you the inside track. P.S. If you want access to the “Do it Yourself” Cost Segregation tool mentioned in this podcast, you can access it HERE. Use the code FORMULAPROMO to get 10% off.
Transcribe →518: Side Gigs and Digital Real Estate – Is the Website Rental Model Still Viable?
Aug 3, 202500:26:25Tap to summarizeLast week, we talked about side gigs—smart ways to earn extra income outside your day job. One of the options we touched on was affiliate marketing, a tried-and-true method still relevant today. But here’s another strategy I’ve personally dabbled in: building websites designed to generate leads. These sites are created with specific search terms in mind—mine were focused on cosmetic surgery—but the model can be applied to nearly any industry. Once your site is ranking on Google and generating traffic, you rent out that digital space to businesses who want the leads. I had a friend who made millions using this model with smartlipo.com back in the day. It was like owning valuable digital real estate. But that was then. The landscape has shifted. With the rise of tools like ChatGPT and Perplexity, fewer people are relying on traditional search engines. So the question is: Is this still a viable side hustle in 2025? And if it is, how does it work now—and how can you get started? That’s exactly what we’re diving into on this week’s Wealth Formula Podcast.
Transcribe →517: Do You Need a Side Hustle?
Jul 27, 202500:26:54Tap to summarizeMy financial journey started after I accidentally picked up one of Robert Kiyosaki’s books. It was the end of my honeymoon in Puerto Vallarta, and my wife (at the time) and I were waiting for our plane back home. I decided to grab a book from one of the little airport shops, but there weren’t many choices. In fact, I believe there were four, and three of them were romance novels with pictures of muscular men with long blonde hair on them. The only other option was Robert Kiyosaki’s Cashflow Quadrant. I had no idea who Robert Kiyosaki was, nor did I really care that much about investing and personal finance. But it sounded like a better read than the others, so I bought it. At the time, I had just finished residency training and was focused on my career ahead. I never really thought much about money beyond the fact that I was finally going to make some after years of indentured servitude as a surgical resident. But on the flight back from Mexico, everything changed. Reading that book felt like a bolt of lightning, and it changed my mindset forever. This experience, I later found out, has happened to countless people I’ve met since then. I call it taking the pill (the book is purple). A world of possibilities suddenly opened up to me. I know it may sound strange, but the idea that I could ever not have a job and, instead, become an entrepreneur had never before occurred to me. In hindsight, I understand why. I was a very good student. “A students” get addicted to the educational system. When you get As, you are rewarded. You get accolades. Your teachers love you. What’s not to love? That makes you try even harder. That feeling of success is addictive, and you want more of it. So you aspire to do the things that the smart kids are supposed to do, like going to a fancy college and becoming a lawyer or doctor. If you succeed in a system, you don’t doubt the system. You don’t look for alternatives. The system I bought into was an educational system created by industrialists a century ago. They didn’t want to train entrepreneurs; they wanted to train a workforce. And I was winning in that system. C students, on the other hand, have nothing to lose. They search for success in other ways and often end up more successful than those who did better in school. That’s why A students rarely become entrepreneurs. They never have a reason to look outside the system. The purple book I read on that plane helped me break away from that world. I saw life differently after reading it. Even though I was already a surgeon who had completed residency, I never wanted to work for anyone ever again. I started my own cosmetic surgery practice, then another medical business, and had a lot of success. I also tried my hand at other businesses that were less successful. I made lots of money and lost lots of money. Living the life of an entrepreneur is not for the faint of heart. I also believe, to a certain extent, that you are either born an entrepreneur or you are not. I was born an entrepreneur, despite the fact that it took me over 30 years to discover it. Because of that, I never push anyone to quit their job and go out on their own. That kind of risk is not for everyone. That said, there are certainly ways to dabble in entrepreneurship without risking everything. People call them side hustles. Side hustles are ways to make a little extra money that you can use to make an extra investment or simply go on a nicer vacation. One of those side hustles I have engaged in is affiliate marketing. Ten or fifteen years ago, I had websites designed to sell products to people by providing links to things they might be interested in—even Amazon links. If someone decided to buy something after clicking my link, I would get a small commission from the seller. It was not a huge money maker for me, so eventually I decided to focus on other things. However, opportunities like this still exist. And these days, it doesn’t really take any technical savvy to participate. On this week’s episode of Wealth Formula Podcast, we learn about one option that may be of interest to you. This one may or may not be a good fit for you, but it will get you thinking. There are a million ways to make money out there. All you have to do is look for them. You can start by listening to this week’s episode of Wealth Formula Podcast. P.S. I have not used the platform we talked about on the show, nor do I stand to benefit from it financially. It’s purely educational.
Transcribe →516: Why the Rich Don’t Hoard Cash
Jul 20, 202500:39:24Tap to summarizeThere’s no shortage of doom-and-gloom in the podcast world—especially in the gold and silver crowd. You know the type. The ones who spend half their airtime warning you that the dollar is about to collapse, the grid will go down, and that only silver coins will save you. I used to buy into that narrative too. I was a card-carrying member of the Zombie Apocalypse school of personal finance. I even listened to Peter Schiff religiously. But as time passed and I realized that zombies would not rule the world, I gradually became an optimist. I believe in the resilience of the U.S. economy. I don’t think society is going to crumble, and I’m not prepping for Armageddon. That said, there is one warning from the doom crowd that’s absolutely true—and it’s not a matter of opinion. It’s a fact. The U.S. dollar is losing value. Fast. That might not feel dramatic. But it should. Because it means that if you’re sitting on cash—thinking you’re being conservative—you’re actually guaranteeing yourself a loss. Robert Kiyosaki said it best: “Savers are losers.”It’s a clever phrase, but it’s not a joke. It’s reality. Inflation isn’t a glitch in the system—it is the system. In a country running record-breaking deficits and drowning in debt, the only viable solution is to devalue the currency. In other words, print more money. And whether that inflation comes in at a “modest” 2% like the Fed wants, or 7–9% like we saw in recent years, the outcome is the same: your money loses purchasing power. A dollar in 1970 had the buying power of nearly $8 today. So if your dad tucked away $10,000 in a shoebox thinking he was doing you a favor, that money is now worth a little over $1,200. Even the money you saved in the year 2000 has lost nearly half its value. Inflation is the background noise of our economy. It’s always there, always working, always eroding. Slowly when things are “normal.” Fast when they’re not. So what do you do? Well, if you’re keeping large chunks of money in a savings account paying less than 1% interest while inflation clips along at 3–6%, you are, without exaggeration, bleeding wealth every single day. It feels safe. It looks safe. But it’s not.It’s a bucket with a hole in the bottom. And you don’t even notice until it’s almost empty. That’s why the wealthy don’t hoard cash. They own assets that inflate with inflation. They buy things that grow in value as the dollar shrinks—because they understand the system. They don’t fight it. They ride it. Real estate is one of the best tools in the game. Home prices tend to rise over time. Rents go up. But if you lock in a 30-year fixed mortgage, your payment never changes. So while the cost of everything else is climbing, your loan stays frozen. Meanwhile, inflation is silently reducing the real value of the debt you owe. You’re paying it back in cheaper dollars every single year. Then you’ve got ownership in productive businesses. Sure, stock prices can swing in the short term. But long-term? Equities in companies with pricing power—companies that can raise prices when costs go up—often outpace inflation. And as an owner, you benefit directly. And finally, there are the scarce assets. Bitcoin. Gold. Precious metals. In a world where central banks can conjure trillions out of nowhere, things that can’t be printed tend to hold real value—or even multiply it. This is how the wealthy play the game.While most people are watching their savings accounts decay quietly, the wealthy are stacking assets that appreciate. They are playing offense in a very predictable system. So those are the basics. But let me give you one more ninja tip from the wealthiest real estate investors in the world: You can print your own money by using debt. Think about it. Let’s say you buy a $250,000 property this year using a 30-year fixed mortgage. You put 20% down, so you’re financing $200,000. Now fast forward three decades. Even if you paid zero principal and still owed $200,000 in nominal terms, you eroded the value of that debt. With just 3% annual inflation, the real value of that debt has been cut in half. You’re effectively repaying $100,000 in today’s dollars. That’s how you print your own dollars. That’s not just hedging inflation. That’s weaponizing it. Now if you take nothing else from this rant, remember that currency debasement is not theoretical. It’s happening in real time. This week’s episode of Wealth Formula Podcast dives deep on this topic and what you can do to prepare yourself for the ever-shrinking buying power of the U.S. dollar.
Transcribe →515: Accelerate Your Wealth AND Protect Your Family
Jul 13, 202500:40:58Tap to summarizeI want to share a story you may have heard before—but it’s worth telling again. When I finished surgical training and joined a practice in 2008, we were in the middle of the Great Recession. But for me, the recession didn’t mean anything. My net worth was below zero. I’d made less than $50K a year for seven years. I wasn’t worried about losing money—I didn’t have any. What I did have was a new six-figure salary and a baby on the way. Suddenly, I had to start thinking like a grown-up. I needed to protect my family. I needed life insurance. But I had no idea what that really meant. I started asking around. One of the younger surgeons told me to “buy term and invest the difference.” That’s what Dave Ramsey and Suze Orman were preaching on TV too. But an older surgeon—close to retirement—told me something very different. He’d been financially wrecked by the market crash and said permanent life insurance was one of the only things keeping him afloat. Here’s the thing: they were both kind of right. The young guy was right that most permanent life insurance is designed in such a way that it is a terrible investment. But the older guy had discovered something the hard way—permanent life insurance can offer unmatched financial stability when everything else is falling apart. Still, neither of them understood what I would come to learn just a few years later from some of my wealthiest friends. You see, permanent life insurance isn’t one thing. It’s a flexible tool. In the right hands, it can be optimized for estate planning, tax-free growth, or even used as a powerful retirement income strategy—especially for those of us who started making money later in life. That’s when I took a deep dive, even getting a life insurance license so I could fully understand the mechanics myself. What I found became the foundation for Wealth Formula Banking, Wealth Accelerator, and now, Wealth Accelerator Plus. In fact, some of these strategies are so effective that they’ve already helped people like me “catch up” on retirement income planning—even if we didn’t start earning real money until our 30s. On this week’s show, I talk with one of my new partners at Wealth Formula Banking, Brandon Preece. We unpack common misconceptions about life insurance, discuss mainstream strategies, and then go further—exploring new protocols that could be game-changers for your financial future. If you haven’t learned about this stuff yet, it’s time. And if you have, it’s time to revisit all of these strategies. These strategies have played a major role in my financial life—and in the lives of many in our Wealth Formula community. And I can honestly say that I don’t know of a single person who ever regretted setting up a plan!
Transcribe →514: Currency Wars, Capital Flows, and Bitcoin
Jul 6, 202500:36:08Tap to summarizeI know some of you are tired of hearing about Bitcoin and digital currencies. That’s not what this week’s show is about. This week’s podcast conversation is broader—it touches the entire global economy. But…you just can’t talk about macroeconomic trends anymore without talking about digital dollars and Bitcoin. Leaving them out today would be like ignoring gold when discussing commodities. There’s a section this week in my interview with Ian Reynolds that dives deep into the bond market and the growing influence of stablecoins. And I realized—it might be helpful to give you a bit of context up front. If you’re already familiar, consider this a refresher. If not, this will make the second half of our conversation a lot more useful. Let’s start with the 10-year U.S. Treasury—arguably the most important interest rate in the world. This one number influences everything from mortgage rates to stock valuations to how much it costs the government to borrow money. Historically, when inflation drops, yields on the 10-year tend to fall as well. That’s the standard relationship: lower inflation usually leads to lower yields. But that’s not what’s happening right now. Despite a year of cooling inflation, the 10-year Treasury yield has stayed surprisingly high. Why? The answer boils down to supply and demand. On the supply side, the U.S. government is flooding the market with Treasuries—over a trillion dollars’ worth every quarter—to finance its growing deficits. That’s a lot of new bonds entering the market. At the same time, demand isn’t keeping up. Foreign central banks like China and Japan, which used to be some of the biggest buyers of our debt, are pulling back. Some are dealing with their own domestic issues. Others are deliberately reducing their exposure to the dollar as a reaction to U.S. foreign policy over the past year. So: more supply, less demand—what happens? Bond prices go down, resulting in higher yields for bond investors. That, in turn, means higher borrowing costs for everyone—including the U.S. government, businesses, and consumers. That’s why, even with inflation falling, the 10-year hasn’t followed the script. But here’s where things get interesting. A new kind of buyer has started stepping in: stablecoin issuers. Stablecoins—like USDC and Tether—are digital tokens pegged to the U.S. dollar. They’ve become essential plumbing for the crypto economy, but their growth is increasingly relevant to the broader financial system. Why? Because in order to maintain their dollar peg, these companies need to back their coins with something stable—and that “something” is often short-term U.S. Treasuries. It turns out, that’s a great business to be in. These stablecoin issuers collect real dollars, turn around, and invest them in T-bills yielding 5% or more. That spread—between what they earn and what they pay out—is pure profit. It’s essentially a 21st-century version of a money market fund, just running on blockchain. And it’s growing fast. Tether now holds more Treasuries than countries like Australia or Mexico. BlackRock has launched a tokenized Treasury fund that already has nearly $3 billion under management. And just this week, Mastercard announced that it’s integrating USDC and other stablecoins for cross-border settlement. In other words, this isn’t fringe anymore. It’s moved into the mainstream, and it’s growing quickly. Even lawmakers are catching up. Just this month, the U.S. Senate passed the GENIUS Act, a bipartisan bill that sets clear regulatory guidelines for stablecoins. It requires full backing by liquid assets—like Treasuries—and regular public disclosures. It’s now headed to the House, and while not law yet, the momentum is clearly there. The takeaway? Regulatory clarity is coming, and that opens the door for large institutions, payment processors, and even governments to scale up stablecoin usage with confidence. So why does this matter for bond yields? Because if this growth continues—and all signs suggest it will—stablecoin issuers could become a major new class of permanent Treasury buyers. That consistent demand could help reduce or at least stabilize borrowing costs for the U.S. government over time, especially at the short end of the yield curve. It’s not a magic fix, but it’s one of the few credible tailwinds for demand in an otherwise stretched bond market. And it’s coming from a place most economists didn’t expect: crypto. So with that context, let’s jump into the conversation with Ian Reynolds. On this week’s episode of Wealth Formula Podcast, we talk about macro trends, currencies, Bitcoin, and yes—the bond market. But now you’ll see how it all fits together.
Transcribe →513: How to Sell Your Business Without Selling Out – The ESOP Strategy
Jun 29, 202500:30:41Tap to summarizeMy mission at Wealth Formula Podcast is to provide you with real financial education. You may have heard of something called the Dunning-Kruger curve. In short, when you start learning something new, you know that you don’t know anything. That’s the safe zone. The dangerous part is what I call the red zone—when you’ve learned just enough to think you know a lot, but really… you don’t. Then, eventually, if you keep learning, you get to the point where you finally realize how little you actually know—and how much more there is to understand. That’s kind of where I am now. And so, the only thing I can do—and the only thing I encourage you to do—is to keep learning more than we knew yesterday. Take this week’s episode. We’re talking about Employee Stock Ownership Plans, or ESOPs. Until recently, I didn’t fully understand how they worked. And I’d bet most business owners don’t either. Which is exactly why this episode matters. Even if you don’t currently own a business or a practice, I still think it’s important to learn about strategies like this—because someday you might. And in the meantime, you’re expanding your financial vocabulary, which is always a good investment. So, what is an ESOP? At its core, an ESOP is a legal structure that allows you to sell your business to a trust set up for your employees—usually over time. It’s a way to cash out, preserve your legacy, stay involved if you want to, and unlock some massive tax advantages in the process. But before we talk about all the bells and whistles, let’s address the number one question that confuses almost everyone—including me: Where does the money come from? If you’re selling your company to a trust, and your employees aren’t writing you a check… how the hell are you getting paid? Here’s the answer: You’re selling your business to an ESOP trust, which is a qualified retirement trust for the benefit of your employees. That trust becomes the buyer. But like any buyer, it needs money. So how does it pay you? There are two main sources: Bank financing – Sometimes, the ESOP trust can borrow part of the purchase price from a lender. Seller financing – And this is the big one. You finance your own sale by carrying a note. That means you get paid over time, through scheduled payments—funded by the company’s future profits. The company continues to generate cash flow, and instead of paying it out to you as the owner, it pays off the loan owed to you as the seller. So yes—it’s a structured, tax-advantaged way to convert your equity into liquidity using your company’s own future earnings. You’re not walking away with a check on Day 1—but you are pulling money out of the business steadily and predictably, often with interest that beats what a bank would offer. And here’s the kicker: If your company is an S-corp and becomes 100% ESOP-owned, it likely pays no federal income tax, and often no state income tax either. That means a lot more money stays in the business—available to fund your buyout faster. If you’re a C-corp, you might even qualify for a 1042 exchange, which can defer or eliminate capital gains taxes entirely if you reinvest the proceeds in U.S. securities. And here’s something the experts probably won’t say out loud—but I will: This isn’t always about selling your business. Sometimes, it’s just a very clever way to get money out of your business and pay less tax. You’ll hear ESOP consultants talk about legacy and succession planning—and that’s all true and valuable. But in reality, some owners use ESOPs as a pure tax play. They stay in control, they keep running the business, and they simply create a legal structure that lets them pull money out tax-efficiently while rewarding employees along the way. Think of it less like a sale and more like a smart internal liquidity strategy. You still own the culture. You still drive the direction. But you’re also getting paid—often better than private equity would pay you—and doing it on your terms, with serious tax savings. Now, what if you actually do want to exit and walk away? That works too. If you’ve built a solid leadership team, you can sell the company to the ESOP, step back, and let them run it. Or the ESOP trust can sell the company later to a third party. In fact, ESOP-owned companies often become more attractive to buyers because they tend to be profitable and well-run. So ESOPs don’t limit your exit—they give you more ways to exit. On your terms. Today on the show, I speak with Matt Middendorp, Director of ESOP Consulting at Vision Point Capital. He works with business owners across the country to help them figure out whether an ESOP is the right move—and walks us through how the whole thing actually works. This is complex stuff. That’s why it’s so important to hear it from someone who does this every day.
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