When You’re Thrown Out of Alignment

Alignment

In the first few years of learning about real estate, Bigger Pockets was an incredible resource for me to get my investing off the ground. Former BP podcast host, Brandon Turner, had a coach named Jason Drees, who would occasionally get mentioned on the podcast. I went to a virtual event hosted by Jason, and he kept using one word over and over again as he was talking. Alignment. As I was watching, I remember saying out loud, I have no idea what you are talking about. I got frustrated and left the call. Though I still don't totally connect with Jason, I now understand what he was talking about. Alignment. I just had to experience it to understand it.

Alignment is when your actions match up with your goals, vision, and beliefs. It's a feeling. Likewise, being out of alignment is a feeling. Being out of alignment is easy to spot in others, but difficult to spot in ourselves. We can feel it, though. When we're out of alignment personally, we could feel stressed, anxious, unfulfilled, or simply unhappy.

Being out of alignment is

• saying I value quality time with family but spend any free moment staring at a screen
• believing giving and generosity is a key to life but acting selfishly
• teaching my kids the importance of being kind to others but not living it myself

I'm guilty of all of these things. Maybe you are too. We're all out of alignment in some areas of life all the time.

Alignment with Investments

Similarly, we can be out of alignment with our investing. It's also a feeling, and in my experience, it's a feeling of THIS IS NOT WORKING!

• a cash-flow investor buying Bitcoin.
• a busy, full-time W-2 worker flipping houses
• a conservative, risk-averse investor buying individual stocks

What would alignment look like for these investors?

• a cash-flow investor buying cash-flowing real estate
• a busy, full-time W-2 worker investing passively in real estate or a retirement account
• a conservative, risk-averse investor buying stabilized real estate, index funds, or bonds

Crucial to being aligned is something I've talked a lot about: vision. Where do I want to go? Combine this with the most valuable characteristic a human can have: self-awareness. Who am I and what do I want? When I started in real estate, I was bootstrappin' it. No kids, lots of time, and willing to work hard. I could self-manage properties, tile showers, bid on properties, work nights and weekends. Gradually, the details and my vision for my life changed, but my investing tactics didn't. I grew to be out of alignment.

Flipping houses and self-managing small multifamily rental properties does not align with having young kids, living out of state, and supporting my wife in her small business. My investing tactics had to change.

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