All Forum Posts by: Austin Duncan

If you can't find any solution on this platform, you should definitely check out Pace Morby's groups. He's the Creative Finance guy and those individuals in those fb groups know exactly what you're trying to accomplish. 

Hope this helps.

hey @Daniel Murphy,

First off, thank you for recognizing the work I’ve put in over the years—it really means a lot to me, especially coming from someone with your background as a Financial Advisor. I truly admire professionals in that field, as well as Asset Managers, so I really appreciate your thoughtful response!

To answer your questions, my release date is in the summer of 2031 (roughly 6 years from now). I’m 33 years old, and as you might expect, I currently have no income due to my incarceration, which is part of the challenge. I’m not sure what opportunities are available to me for generating even a modest cash flow for my expenses, while also letting this $100k appreciate until I get out.

You mentioned a CD, and I do think it sounds more appealing than the 2.25% APY my savings is offering, so I’m definitely considering it. In terms of my timeline, I’m focusing on the next 4 years for a couple of reasons: 1) I want to be as liquid as possible when I get home, and 2) since I’m not earning income, I’m looking to take advantage of the low tax bracket while I’m incarcerated. As far as I know, the lowest tax bracket for long-term capital gains is up to $48,350, and since I’m well below that threshold, I plan to sell my investments a year or so before I am released and pay 0% in long-term capital taxes.

I also wanted to mention that I fully understand the strategy you suggested about selling stocks at a loss to offset gains. I believe that’s called tax-loss harvesting. It’s a smart way to capture those paper losses and use them to reduce taxable gains, which is definitely something I’ll keep in mind as I look to manage my portfolio.

And, yes, I’m mentally okay with seeing the $100k drop to $90k if that happens, knowing I have a long time horizon (given my age). I really believe in the long-term potential of low-cost S&P ETFs like VOO, so I’m not too worried about short-term fluctuations.

lol....Nothing you said sounded like gobbledygook, though—honestly, I love this stuff, so I’m just soaking it all in! I’d love to hear any more thoughts you might have, and again, I really appreciate the advice. Looking forward to hearing from you!

Best,
Austin

Hey Ying Tang,

Thanks for the response, I really appreciate the insights! I do have a couple of questions regarding your suggestion:

Why would I pay for the flexibility of Robinhood's 4% APR, especially when my savings account is already earning 2.25% APY without any fees or potential losses (since it's not tied to the stock market)? The 4% APR seems nice, but I'm curious if it's worth the tradeoff compared to a simple CD, which I believe might offer similar safety, plus no risk of fluctuating market performance.

Also, I’d love to hear more about your friend's experience helping incarcerated individuals acquire properties. What kind of team and paperwork were involved? How did they manage to handle the "boots on the ground" part, considering the logistical challenges? I’m very interested in learning more about how that process worked!

Thanks again, and I look forward to hearing more from you.

Best,
Austin

Thank you for the advice @Denise Supplee,

I'm actually really interested in investing into syndications for non-accredited investors. Given my timeline, I feel like I can put this capital to use in syndications. I have some questions, however.

1. What types of projects and in what area does your company invest in? How often do you pay out investor distributions – monthly, quarterly?

2. Who is on your investment team and what are their roles and qualifications?

3. What is your projected equity multiple?

4. Is there a preferred return for investors, what does it entail and how is it structured?

5. What are the fees associated with doing business with your company? (e.g., acquisition, asset management, financing, etc.) and how do they align with your investors interests? Also, how is it calculated?

6. What is the expected annual Cash on Cash return on your investors' invested cash?​ And how is it Calculated?

7. What are the (DSCR) metrics your company likes to follow?

8. What is the projected (IRR), accounting for the time value of money? how is it determined?

9. What’s the projected hold time for a given project?

Business Plan and Exit Strategy

• What is your value-add strategy to improve the property and increase its value?

• What is the typical projected Hold period for your company and how flexible is the exit strategy?

• What is your typical exit strategy for a given investment (e.g., sale, refinance, etc.), and what is the expected timeline for exit?

• What contingencies or alternative plans are in place if market conditions change?

• I would love to talk more. Maybe we can schedule a call?...

I had a great opportunity to invest most of my cash into an index fund during the Bear market at the end of 2022 and the start of 2023. But at the time, I was nervous about losing my inheritance, so I decided to only invest a portion of it. I was still new to the market and didn’t want to take on too much risk. Now, after being in the market for about two years, I feel more comfortable and am considering investing more heavily in an index fund like VOO or VTI. 

Hey Biggerpockets family!

My name is Austin, and I’m super excited to be here! I’ve been passionate about real estate, stocks, investing, and business for as long as I can remember, and I’ve been self-educating in real estate for a while now. To be honest, it’s a bit funny—I've spent so much time learning, I should have already done a deal by now! But there's a reason I haven’t pulled the trigger yet: I’m currently incarcerated, with about six years left to go before my release.

Despite that, I’ve been following Biggerpockets for years, Youtubing, reading books etc. I truly believe that the knowledge I’ve gained here will play a huge part in turning my life around when I get out. The goal is real estate, and I’m determined to use my time to prepare for that future.

One of the things I’ve been struggling with is what to do with my finances in the meantime. I inherited roughly $160K from my beloved mother in January 2023, and I’ve put about $56K of that into the stock market that same year—mostly in index funds like VOO and QQQ, along with a few individual stocks like NVDA before the split. Since I got in during the bear market, I'm happy with my stock portfolio's 37% gain, despite market uncertainty. However, I still have $100K in a savings account earning just 2.25% APY.

Recently, I’ve been thinking a lot about inflation, opportunity cost, and time value of money (TVM). I’m not sure if I should move the savings into a CD, put it into an index fund, or explore something like private lending or gator lending. My ultimate goal is to use this money as seed capital for my real estate ventures when I get home, so it’s important that this capital stays safe as possible until then. That’s why I’ve kept it in the savings account, but I’m open to suggestions.

I’ve been wrestling with this dilemma for a while, and finally, I’ve found the courage to reach out to you all—the best forum on the planet! I can’t wait to network and learn from everyone here.

Thank you for your time, and I look forward to connecting with you all soon!

Ps. I’ll be looking to invest in the Philadelphia metro area, Wilmington, DE, and Tulsa Ok.

Best,

Austin