Be the Bank: A Beginner's Guide to Mortgage Note Investing
Mortgage note investing is buying a loan below its unpaid balance. Underwrite to foreclosure, cap ITV at 60–70%, and hire a licensed servicer.
#alternative-assets
Alternative Assets
Investing in real estate, private equity, precious metals, and other non-traditional assets
How Real Estate Syndication Waterfalls Actually Pay You: Preferred Returns, Capital Calls, and Reading the K-1
A real estate syndication waterfall pays limited partners in four tiers — return of capital, a 6–10% preferred return, a sponsor catch-up, then a 70/30 or 80/20 residual split. This guide works the math on a $100,000 investment, explains capital-call dilution, why a K-1 can show a loss while you received cash, and lists ten questions to confirm before wiring money.
How Sports Card and Collectibles Reselling Is Taxed: The 28% Rate, Cost Basis, and the IRS's Three Buckets
Sports cards are taxed as collectibles at up to 28% long-term capital gains, higher than stocks.
The DOL's Fiduciary Rule Just Died Again: What Small Employers Running a 401(k) Need to Know Now
Texas federal courts vacated the DOL's Retirement Security Rule in March 2026, reverting fiduciary status for retirement advice to the 1975 five-part test — the second such rule struck down since 2018. Here's what 401(k) plan sponsors should check now: advisor fiduciary status in writing, compensation disclosures, and a documentation checklist, plus what the DOL's new alternative-assets safe harbor proposal means for small plans.
Section 4975 Prohibited Transactions: How Self-Directed IRA and Solo 401(k) Owners Avoid the Disqualified Person Trap
Section 4975 of the Internal Revenue Code defines disqualified persons and the six categories of forbidden transactions with self-directed IRAs and Solo 401(k)s. Violations trigger a 15 percent annual excise tax — and, for IRAs, deemed distribution of the entire account back to January 1.
Self-Directed IRAs for Real Estate and Alternative Assets: A Practical Compliance Guide
A practical guide to Self-Directed IRAs (SDIRAs) — what you can hold, the disqualified-person rules under IRC §4975, UBIT and UDFI on leveraged real estate, the McNulty checkbook-control warning, and the recordkeeping disciplines that prevent a deemed distribution.