The Wealth Formula with Saen Higgins: An EOFire Classic from 2022

0:01Boom! Shake the room, Fire Nation. JLD here and welcome to Entrepreneurs on Fire. brought to you by High Level, the all-in-one sales and marketing platform. On today's Class Cup, we'll be breaking down the wealth formula. And to drop these value bombs, I brought to Sean Higgins at the EO Fire Studios. Sean is a world-leading expert on investing in tax lien certificates, a passionate public speaker, philanthropist, and entrepreneur. He's also a professional photographer and taught over 500 ,000 clients to build wealth. He is the founder of Wealth Formula Academy and has over 30 years of experience in real estate.

0:33And today, for a nation, we talk about how don't do it to get the deal. Instead, do it to have the skill set. and how to put up a retirement plan and how that's one of the best strategies you can do and to owe so much more. And a big thank you for sponsoring today's episode goes to Sean and our sponsors. Are you ready for the ultimate all-in-one platform for entrepreneurs, marketers, coaches, and agencies? Build funnels, automate follow-ups, manage clients, and even white-label your own software. Say hello to our featured partner, High Level, and visit highlevelfire.com to start your free trial today.

1:10Here's something most of us don't think about until it's a problem, our phone service. Cape is a privacy-first mobile carrier built from the ground up with security as the priority. If you care about protecting your digital life without giving up your smartphone, Cape makes that possible. Visit cape.co to sign up today. Sean, say what's up to Fire Nation and share something that you believe about becoming successful that most people disagree with? Well, hello there. Listen, most people that disagree with this haven't been successful. So people that are successful know this is true. You have to have a morning routine.

1:48You have to. As small and as ridiculous as that sounds, it sets the stage for everything. It sets the stage for being able to do a reset, start over, do easy, whatever you want to say. You have to have a plan. And the plan is get up every morning, have the same routine and go from there. And, you know, and I don't say you stick with the same routine, John, forever and ever. I change my, depending on what's happening. I've got a seven-year-old daughter. My, my day starts at four 30 in the morning because I need my, my space in the morning before she wakes up. So, you know, it, that will change from time to time.

2:23I'm okay with that. Four 30, get up, work out at five, six AM. I'm getting her breakfast, lunch, getting her dressed at seven, you know, that type of a thing. I love morning routines and Sean, It does not surprise me that you're that kind of guy as well. I mean, Fire Nation, when you wake up and you win the morning and you really know what you're going to do, how are you going to do it, you do the right things. Like I go through even my mental process of this morning. You know, I got up, I immediately had a weight workout with my trainer. Then I did my red light therapy. Then I did my 12 minutes of yoga.

2:54Then I did my rebounder. Then I did my back stretching to make sure my back stays in good shape. Then I took my dog for a three mile walk to be out in the sun and the fresh air. And I do all of these things every single day. And oh, by the way, let me throw in my five minute cold plunge at 47 degrees. Like if that doesn't get you going in the morning, Sean, I don't know what does. No, I've got a, I've got a, I'm a cold plunge myself. No kidding. So yeah, absolutely. I'm big on that big on Wim Hof breathing. Totally. You know, all that stuff. I mean, a proud moment for me as a dad is when my daughter two weeks ago, I asked her what happened at school.

3:27She says, well, Turner hurt himself. I said, oh, I'm sorry. She goes, no, it's okay. I showed him how to breathe. He was better. Oh, that is adorable. I love that. Victory. So Fire Nation, as I mentioned in the intro, we'll be talking about the wealth formula today with a lot of topics around this. And you did create the Wealth Formula Academy, Sean. So if you could share with us some details about this academy and just your overall belief around building true wealth. Well, that's a great question. You know, what happened is this is, you know, I was actually speaking at a conference a while ago and it was a conference of, uh, of colleagues, um, training in real estate and what have you.

4:06I've been training people on investing in property tax liens and tax deeds for, for 30 years now. Um, you know, originally came from the stock market world, New York life, um, asset protection, planning, all that good stuff. And, you know, one of the things I thought was disingenuous is to say, you know, I am a flipper and I teach people how to flip and that's how I made my wealth. I am a multifamily. I'm a stockbroker. All of these things, when you look at the silo and say, this is how I became successful. I said, that's not totally true. What made me successful? Yeah, I got my foundational from tax liens and tax deeds, but I also learned how to set up a private retirement.

4:45I also learned how to do multifamily. I also learned that if somebody's in this situation, you can do all these different things. And so that's how I said, I really want to be able to do this. After 30 years, John, I have met some incredible people, as I'm sure you have just with this podcast. And I want to be able to say these are some of the best people I know out there because one of my successes has nothing to do with perceived, quote unquote, air quotes there with wealth financially. It's wealth health wise. We just talked about cold plunge, Wim Hof breathing, morning routines. You know, I've got, you know, some doctors outside the United States that I've worked with in the past helping people with different medical issues, you know, that I have had to go through my own journey in that.

5:32Well, that's success. So, you know, I've gathered all of this wealth of just incredible people in my life and have been privileged to meet these people because of my success. and so I thought to myself, why would I not have a place where people go, feel comfortable and saying, this is what I really want to do and aren't saying, well, it's not exactly what Sean did and then realizing, wait a second, he did this, he did this, he did that. So I go, this is who you need to talk to. This is why I like them, make it happen. Now within your Wealth Formula Academy, I just want to know some of your favorite results that you've seen.

6:09We don't get specific with names and with details because I like to keep things kind of anonymous on certain levels because it's people's own private business. But just kind of on a more aerial level, what have you seen maybe one success story or just a theme of overall success that you've seen from people who have really been able to apply what you've learned over these years, your experience? Go back to your original question is planning. So most people will say this is what I would say, this is what makes you successful. And most people would sit there and say, really? And I say this in my live conferences when I'm training people all the time.

6:45Those of you that spend more time planning your success are going to be my superstar students. And, you know, that was fun. I was in Los Angeles probably about six years ago, a couple hundred people. And one of my crew says, what's going on? I go, I don't know. I feel a weird vibe this first break, you know. And I get back up there and I said, you know, I'm going to stop for a second. I go, I feel like you guys are listening, but not hearing. And I said, you know, I don't know what it is. I says, it's like you guys. And I posed in the starter block position. It's like, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. When are we going to do a deal?

7:19Yeah, yeah, yeah. When are we going to do a deal? You guys relax. And everybody did. I mean, their shoulders dropped back. I go, you know, you can't get there unless you know the why. And so I said, if you're here to learn how to do a deal, you're in the wrong room. boom, I'm here to show you a skill set that'll enable you to do multiple deals. And part of that skill set is setting up the apparatus that supports that. So getting a deal is going to be the easiest part, believe it or not. One year from now, you come back, you're going to go, oh my gosh, you told me this, but I didn't believe it.

7:56It's afterwards is when the work starts. And it was funny, everybody relaxed and shoulders went down and we had a good time. And so it's really that whole, that, that, number one. My biggest, you know, when people come back, and this was a big, you know, kind of process with the whole Wealth Formula Academy idea, was people would come to me and go, you know, I really love what you trained and shared with me. And, you know, it has changed our life. But what really changed our life is understanding how we should have and manage our own customized retirement account. And I truly believe this, John.

8:30if a president, no matter what side of the aisle, just stood up on inaugural day and said, I'm going to make it a mandate, because we all like those words nowadays, that everybody has to learn how the retirement system works in this country before they can get their first job or go to school. And it's a two-week class. That's going to be mandated. Good day. You'll see me in four years. And that's the only thing they did. We'd be a better country because of it. Because once people understand how that works, it will change their lives dynamically. Dynamically, Fire Nation. And now I want to talk to us about something that seems almost too good to be true.

9:08And that's buying properties for 10 % of their fair market value. What exactly does this mean? And what's your strategy here? Great question. And I get that almost as a hook in some ways, but it's just what I do. And it's funny because we're going through this whole interest rate increase and we had the debacle back in 08, and we had the dot-com bubble, and we had the 9-11, and we had the pandemic and all that stuff. And this just chugs along. It's been around for over 200 years. And what a lot of people don't realize, and what I didn't, I mean, I started learning this in 1994. I did my first deal.

9:45And I was like, you know, kind of what you're saying here, how can this possible? So what happens is this real kind of 15 ,000 foot view. You know, everybody in the country has property taxes. And the county collects that money. That's how the county operates. Literally, 90 % of their revenue comes from property taxes, roads, streets, bridges, fire department. Number one, schools, 65, maybe 55 % of all property taxes go towards our school system. And so when somebody doesn't pay that, the county doesn't have the ability to print more money or They need that money. And so back in, you know, literally the 1700s, way before we even became a country, we kind of stole this concept from England with a little different twist, which has made it so unbelievable.

10:35If somebody fails to pay their property taxes, the county needs some kind of a mechanism to force that. And that's where property tax liens or deeds comes into play. So I come in and I pay the taxes for you, John, let's say. You don't even know this is going on, but I go to the county and go, here, here's the $1 ,000. Oh, thank you. And then they turn around and issue me a tax lien certificate. Now, that does two things. That allows you time. So you still have this debt. You still owe it to the county. You don't owe it to me. I did not cause anything to happen. I just gave it to the county. They're like, thank you.

11:14The lien comes in. When you come into the county to pay those taxes, there's going to be the taxes plus whatever the prevailing rate is for that jurisdiction. And it's mandated by law. And that's going to be anywhere from 16, 18, 20, 25 percent. So I'm guaranteed that rate of return. But here's the kicker. If you don't pay that tax bill and you get up to five years and I go, OK, enough's enough. I have the position of the county, so I go ahead and start the foreclosure process, which is another 90 to 120 days of sending out letters going, please, please come in and pay these taxes. But if you don't, I get the property free and clear.

11:54And I will eliminate mortgages. I have a superior position to everybody, including the IRS. So it's a mechanism that's been in place for literally over 200 years. And everybody wins because think about it. The property owner wins because I buy them time. The county wins because they can continue to operate. And I win because I get the prevailing rate. With a peace of mind is I don't care what happens to interest rates, the price of oil, conflicts around the world. I care on a personal basis, but not on a financial basis. Does that make sense? It does make sense. And is there kind of anything you want to round out on this topic to really make sure our listeners understand what this really means?

12:32What this really means is you're going in there in almost an unfair advantage. I'll give you a personal experience that I'm having right now. You know, I bought a property for$7 ,000. It's rough. No doubt about it. Deceased person. Nobody's been in the property for 10 years, but I got it for$7 ,000. Yeah. It's got a fair market value. I should say ARV after rehab value of 140. I just got a bill. I'm going to pay$48 ,000 to have this property fixed up. Not my money. I get soft money, what I call soft money, not hard money, soft money. They go in there. I fix the property up. I'll sell it at$140 ,000, back out real estate commissions.

13:14My hard costs are$7 ,000. I pay back the other money. I'll still make about$90 ,000 on that transaction. Wow. I mean, Fire Nation, that is an example of how Sean has done that exact thing we talked about, buying properties for 10 % of fair market value, and sometimes even less. I mean, that's a crazy thing. So Fire Nation, we're going to be talking about customized retirement plans. We'll be talking about the destroyers of wealth, a little hint, hint, and so much more when we get back from thanking our sponsors. Here's something most of us don't think about until it's a problem. Our phone service.

13:51The big carriers, AT &T, Verizon, and T-Mobile have made headlines over and over for data breaches, tracking, and selling customer data. And the wild part is, even if you use things like VPNs or encrypted apps, that doesn't protect you at the cellular level. Stuff like SIM swaps, call interception, and silent tracking can still happen behind the scenes. That's where CAPE comes in. CAPE is a privacy-first mobile carrier built from the ground up with security as the priority. It works like premium cell service you're already used to, but without collecting a bunch of personal data they don't need.

14:20In fact, CAPE doesn't even ask your name or address when you sign up. They can't sell what they don't collect. CAPE also protects you from SIM swap attacks, encrypts your voicemail, and even rotates the behind-the-scenes identifiers tied to your phone, making it much harder for anyone to track you over time. It's real network level privacy, something apps alone just can't do. If you care about protecting your digital life without giving up your smartphone, Cape makes that possible. Visit cape.co to sign up today. Okay, let's talk about a platform that's completely changing how entrepreneurs are running their business and they are also our featured partner, High Level.

14:56If you're an entrepreneur, coach, agency, or a course creator looking to grow faster and smarter, High Level is the all-in-one platform that replaces your entire tech stack. Seriously, think ClickFunnels, Calendly, MailChimp, Kajabi, and even your CRM all rolled up into one powerful white label solution. You can build funnels, send SMS and email campaigns, schedule appointments, manage pipelines, run memberships, and even launch your own branded mobile app. It's drag and drop simple, incredibly customizable, and built for serious growth. My favorite part? You can resell High Level under your own brand.

15:28That means recurring revenue, loyal clients in total control. So whether you're tired of duct taping tools together or ready to start offering high value services with ease, High Level is your unfair advantage. On top of it all, their support team is second to none and has your back every step of the way. Seriously, every question that pops up, they will have your answer waiting. And if you visit my special partnership link, you'll get a free trial. So visit highlevelfire.com to start your free trial and see why thousands of businesses are switching. That's highlevelfire.com, where marketing, sales, and automation finally come together.

16:05High level, join the revolution. So Sean, we're back and I want to talk about your thoughts around customized retirement plans. I mean, I think a lot of people in my audience are like, oh, I'm 24, I'm 36, or I'm 41. I mean, do I need to be thinking about retirement? And so I kind of want to have your thoughts around this specific topic. Yeah, I laugh because I get that a lot, especially from the younger kids. I'll give you a perfect example. There was a kid, he was probably about 28 years old. His wife, maybe he's 29. His wife is about 26. They came to my conference. They got involved and just went nuts.

16:43They did a really good job. One of these people, just a personality that just went at it. I said, dude, you need to set up a retirement account. You need to set up a customized retirement account. Now, what I mean by it, Let's just classify that. When I say custom retirement account, that's when this is key. These two things are key where you're the administrator and you're the trustee. And I'll get back to why that's important later. So, you know, they're going, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Well, they did like six,$700 ,000 in profits that year. And, you know, guess what happens when they do that?

17:16IRS here. You know what I mean? And he's like, you know, and everybody that's not making money thinks there's this Vulcan mind meld that rich people don't pay taxes. Oh no, they do. Cause all of those re-idops, you know, they've, they've exhausted everything. He's like, what do I do? I go, I told you, you've got to set up a retirement account. You should be doing these deals in your retirement account. If you were doing the deals in your retirement account, he goes, well, then how do I live? I go, do some out and do the rest in. That's it. And all of a sudden it'll just be like, you know, on steroids, your retirement account.

17:52And so we set that up and he and I are, you know, great friends, him and Christy and I are great friends. And I got a call a couple of years ago from Christy and she's just, you know, we're just chatting how the kids, all that good stuff. And, and she says, the reason I'm calling John is, you know, I want to thank you for this self-managed retirement account we're setting up. That's become our, like just mold, you know, huge snowball type of deal. And we just didn't get it back then. And they've got over seven figures in there now in six short years. And I'm going to tell you what that does for people, John.

18:25And I don't care what age you're at. Anybody listening to this right now, let's say you had $2 million in your retirement right now. You got$2 million in your retirement account. Would that change the decisions you make on a day-to-day basis? I would say absolutely. So you start doing things because you want to, not because you have to, because you've got yourself you know like my daughter and I love to go to the you know bouncy room she calls it the jump jump room that you know where you go the all the trampolines are there you can jump into that big pit with all the pads you know because you know when you fall you can get back up so you're you're not doing things because you have to you're doing them because it's the right thing and that's what's so important so that's why the custom retirement is so important in the dynamic of wealth building because it eliminates that three-letter word, I-R-S.

19:22I have two words that eliminate IRS. It's called Puerto Rico. And I've been living here for six years now. And Fire Nation, I will never leave. I love being a territory of the US. I love not being under federal jurisdiction, just having a 4 % total business tax and a 0 % capital gains tax. Talk about generational wealth creation at his next level. But hey, not everybody can do that. Not everybody can do that, which is why you're here today, Sean, to talk about these things. Because income taxes, they are destroyers of wealth. I mean, I do like to say the comment, which I believe is true, because I experienced this for five years, making seven figures a year in San Diego, California, is that you can make money anywhere in the world, but you can't build true wealth if you're effectively paying over 50 % a year in your earnings, in your taxes.

20:16I was experiencing that firsthand. So can you talk about different strategies around this topic? I mean, we talked about some of the things, but what exactly do you share with your clients, with people that learn from you? The one there, you've got it, is Puerto Rico. If you can do that, that's the key. If you can do that. The other thing is just take advantages of the different opportunities out there. You get 1031 exchanges. is not my favorite. My favorite is just putting them in your retirement account. You just can. You can do businesses in there. You can do all sorts of things that way. The reality is taxes take about 40 % of a decision-making process within an organization.

21:00You got to think about when you're doing... So let's just go back to my example with my deal earlier. Well, if that wasn't in my retirement account, the first thing I'm looking at is, oh, I've got, you know, probably net net$80 ,000 profit. That one deal just kicked me into another tax bracket. Wow. It just kicked me into a tax bracket. And so, you know, and I don't want to get political here, but you know, it's just, I think the pandemic really opened everybody's eyes that we are the United States of America. And there are differences where you live. Now, I'm not a big proponent to move somewhere because of certain things.

21:41I want to move there because it's right for my family. You know, and for those of you in Nevada, God bless you. I love it. But I wouldn't move there. That's not my cup of tea. I got to be near the water, John. You know, I've got a place down in in in panama i go surfing down there all the time oh nice that's fun i love it um puerto rico i've seriously considered that over the years going there i've got a lot of friends in crypto um that that enjoy the uh the benefits of the what you talked about earlier so it's again i want to get back to what i said in the very beginning my most successful clients are the ones that sit down there and don't do knee-jerk they go what's the plan what am i doing so you you know, look, if I'm making two, three,$400 ,000 a year, I'm not going to move to Puerto Rico.

22:25If I'm making a million or 2 million, that might be on the menu at a certain point. Does that make sense? Makes total sense to me. And Fire Nation, I hope you're realizing that there are options for anybody, anywhere, location-wise using these strategies that Sean's talking about. So, Sean, before we give you the mic for the kind of closed down chat, is there anything else you want to talk about around this topic of income taxes and strategies on this topic? Not necessarily. I think it's been very basic. The Congress has taken away a lot of the shelters, so to speak. One of the things I want to really stress with people that are just getting started building wealth is there is no secret door that people go into when they're making a bunch of money that avoids paying taxes.

23:11The culture conflict that the media tries to promote that rich people don't pay taxes is complete BS. They do. And they pay a lot. And you're going to pay a lot. So think about that. Because this conversation that you and I are having, John, I have all the times and have for 30 years of training doing conferences around the world. People come to me a year later and go, I just wasn't aware of how much it was. Well, it is. And be aware of that. So take advantage of the few opportunities that we're giving. One of them being exchanges. One of them is deferring with retirement and making sure that your corporations are set up correctly so that you can take full advantage of everything at your fingertips.

23:56Sean, take us home. What is the one thing you want to really make sure Fire Nation walks away with for our entire conversation here today? And then give us the best ways we can connect with you, any call to action you might have, and then we'll say goodbye. Absolutely. You know, the one thing I want to say to everybody, because I'm just I literally had a heart to heart conversation with somebody that was in a very large band. They won four Grammys. Good friend of mine. He's a drummer. They've since dissolved in the last few years. And, you know, again, a good friend. And we had a great conversation about what it is, where he's at.

24:33And he just goes, I feel like I'm just lost when I'm rambling along. And I said, you know what? you've had incredible success and you have to understand that that's duplicatable. What the challenge is, what I see a lot of people getting into something new is they get in it for the deal. I want to do a deal. It's kind of like what you and I were talking off mic, you know, don't do it to get the deal, get it to get the skillset. So find, know that you have to have the skill set and the deals, whatever, whether it's trading stocks, cryptocurrencies, multifamily, flipping houses, it doesn't matter.

25:12Understand that that's what it takes. Have a mindset of mastery when you go into that and all of the other peripheral things of making money will come into your world. Now I have conferences from time to time. We're actually launching a big campaign the latter part of this year. If anybody wants to, I'm being in Miami on June 22nd, 3rd and 4th. If anybody wants to come see me there, they're more than welcome to. And they can go to SAEN, yeah, John, I spelled that right. SAEN360.com. And there'll be a link to the conference. You can register there. John, and I'll get a discount code for everybody here.