Edmund was a wealth manager for over 15 years and has a passion for focusing on the relationships behind wealth management. He has years of experience in working with families and advising people in risk-taking and finding great investments for capital growth and preservation. He is a devoted husband and retired Airborne Infantry after 15 years of service. He credits much of his leadership in the wealth management space to his experiences in the military.
Get to know more about Edmund through LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/in/edmundchien/. If you have questions about finances and his business, you may email him at echien@flowcapadvisory.com
If you really enjoyed this content and are looking for more, you can continue to learn more about us in several different places for free!
If you'd like to have a FREE copy of our 7 Ways Commercial Real Estate Syndications Protect and Build Wealth, simply click the link below. We are here and vested in your long-term success! elevateequity.org/7waysEbook
Unlock 3+1 degrees of freedom (time, location, financial + health) with our 5-Point Blueprint! https://elevateequity.org/podcastgift
If you really enjoyed this content and are looking for more, you can continue to learn more about us in several different places for free!
If you'd like to have a FREE copy of our 7 Ways Commercial Real Estate Syndications Protect and Build Wealth, simply click the link below. We are here and vested in your long-term success! elevateequity.org/7waysEbook
Edmund was a wealth manager for over 15 years and has a passion for focusing on the relationships behind wealth management. He has years of experience in working with families and advising people in risk-taking and finding great investments for capital growth and preservation. He is a devoted husband and retired Airborne Infantry after 15 years of service. He credits much of his leadership in the wealth management space to his experiences in the military.
Get to know more about Edmund through LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/in/edmundchien/. If you have questions about finances and his business, you may email him at echien@flowcapadvisory.com
If you really enjoyed this content and are looking for more, you can continue to learn more about us in several different places for free!
If you'd like to have a FREE copy of our 7 Ways Commercial Real Estate Syndications Protect and Build Wealth, simply click the link below. We are here and vested in your long-term success! elevateequity.org/7waysEbook
Unlock 3+1 degrees of freedom (time, location, financial + health) with our 5-Point Blueprint! https://elevateequity.org/podcastgift
If you really enjoyed this content and are looking for more, you can continue to learn more about us in several different places for free!
If you'd like to have a FREE copy of our 7 Ways Commercial Real Estate Syndications Protect and Build Wealth, simply click the link below. We are here and vested in your long-term success! elevateequity.org/7waysEbook
welcome to the elevator equity podcast where investors with a special emphasis on couples, begin continue and deepen their journey to financial freedom together, using the powerful vehicle of real estate investing to do it. Today we've got Edmund Chen on the call, how are you today, Edmond, doing great, great, it's, it's a pleasure to be here. Yeah, thank you so much. Well first let's start off with your story. So how did you get involved in real estate investing and tell us a little bit about yourself.
Unknown:Sure.
Edmund Chien:I guess, when I started in real estate investing. I started out very similar to a lot of folks that you've probably talked to, back in the late 90s. In fact I was serving in the military, and I was a airborne Paratrooper, and I was getting, I was getting some income, and I had a suspicion that learning about investing early had something to do with success, and if I was going to figure it out, it's better to learn it too early than too late, so I just kind of started reading everything I could read about investing, and of course I came across what many people call the purple Bible which is Rich Dad Poor Dad. And here I am in an army barracks reading Rich Dad Poor Dad and then starting to come to the conclusion you know what I wanted to get into cash flow investing in real estate and, you know I'm gonna, I'm gonna drill down even further, because it looks like one of the secrets to success and I started to, that's when it really started my journey to really educate myself and learn a lot about that and decide, You know what I want to head down that direction.
Derek Clifford:Fantastic. And what was so specific about real estate when you're reading that book that inspired you. If you don't mind us asking.
Edmund Chien:I think parts of it. I think what Robert does is he makes it sound like an idiot can do it in you like, took a look in the mirror is like well you know what, like, I'm probably pretty at at otic so if an idiot can do it, then maybe it's right up my alley. And I didn't, I didn't get into it like I wasn't a finance guy. That wasn't my degree and my, my girlfriend at the time now my wife she was in finance. So part of the journey is, what, what your podcast is talking about is the importance of couples in the journey to approach it with a couple, and I wanted to run it by my, my wife, to say that is this something that you think that you can really be into as well and I was kind of curious as well do you learn this in your Bachelor of Commerce, do they go through any of this stuff she said no. I said well maybe this is there's something here, and I was trying to encourage her to let's try to pursue this in our own investment strategy, what do you think and try to work it out
Derek Clifford:with her. That's fantastic, really cool. So, um, can you explain a little bit about those conversations how when you guys started in the journey, what what was the conversation like did you kind of come in with the juice and say hey you know this is, this is really cool stuff I just read this book, I'm really enthusiastic about this. Let's jump in or, you know, can you give us some background as to how that whole conversation happened.
Edmund Chien:Yeah, absolutely. So I'm a big advocate of really strong marriages and I think that's an important component of our society, and taking a look at the broader picture, you take a look, the odds are almost against you, it's like 5050 If not, if not higher. The success rate of marriages, and for me as we were entering into our relationship and into our marriage, I was kind of curious is like what significance as I was starting to read more. What significance does finance have in a strong marriage, and at the time there was a series called till death do us part. And what, what, I think it's Gail VAZ Oxley, and she has this reality show and she's talking about that the number one cause or she argues that the number one cause of marital breakdown or at least a big contributor to that is financial instability, one person had, they don't have they're not on the same page financially. So recognize you know what if I wanted to be the leader of a household or a strong position in the household, I really need to make sure that both my wife and I are on the same page. She's a lot better educated and if she's formerly educated in finance or as you know what, so maybe this would be an easy discussion we started working on and I was a salesperson, right, so it's just like the first person I gotta sell it's my wife if I can't sell my wife on my real estate, then how am I ever going to be able to sell it to anybody else before,
Sophie:so I know Derek wants to ask a follow up question but I I'm so intrigued and I'm so glad you brought that up admin because, yeah, you're so right like you know couples need to be on the same page, financially, and then also, you know, in terms of growth right and growth trajectory. So, I'm curious, like what do you guys do or you know, can you give our listeners. Any advice on on the couples who maybe are just starting out and they're not necessarily on the same page. But, you know they're interested in starting those conversations, what advice might you have for them.
Edmund Chien:Absolutely. So to sort of fast forward to the end of my story, my finance story. What I ended up doing is I became a licensed stockbroker or financial advisor for accredited investors or what we call wealthy ambassadors, all the way up to and including the family office. And one of the number one things I would start off with as a foundation for my clients is, marital stability, and I, I had taken a couple of clients through divorces, and it is financially devastating and I've also seen the emotional toll that it takes on the individual. So, one of the lessons that I teach people is they it's well worth your while to make sure that you guys are on the same page from the financial aspect, at least, and the emotional side that's kind of on you, but for me, I'm one of your advisors for the financial component. So, what I did is an offering, especially when you get to white glove service when you get to a family office. It's a lot of those components to say, if he, if somebody says, but my spouse doesn't do this or my spouse spends way too much money or I supposed to x x y z, and then I tell them, let me be the bad guy. So you've hired me as your financial planner, and I will go in and tell me all the things that you're worried about about your spouse. Tell it to me and then I will go and sit down with your spouse, both sides, right, and then I will go and talk to the other spouse and suppose well my husband or my wife doesn't do this, and I would translate and go back and forth, back and forth and try to help them see eye to eye. And that was a, one of the services that I felt that I was doing as a financial advisor for my clients, because what I tried to do is, as a money manager, it's my responsibility to have principal preservation and divorce is one of the most destructive things that can be for that for that couple, aside from the the moral aspects of things which I truly believe in which is I'm a big advocate of really strong marriages. So, if I could be in a vertical that has a significant impact on the effect of their marriage. Why wouldn't I participate that sort of differentiates me as a financial advisor.
Derek Clifford:So Edmund when you spent many years doing this with couples right or with just individuals. What was a common hang up that you would see, like, is there something that maybe our listeners can take away to watch out for as far as pitfalls go in, during this discussion from your years of experience.
Edmund Chien:Yeah, I would say that one of the biggest challenges I would come across as unequally yoked. People from a financial aspect. So the cliche would be somebody like a business owner, and he's been running his business for 20 years, a little overbearing because there's used to bringing like just really growing that business and being successful at it. But then he has a wife at home, and he just tells her, I'll pay the bills. I'll handle all the finances, and the wife just goes and looks after the kids. And that's it. And when I see that dynamic, I would explain to that husband, I would come in and I'd say, what happens when you're not around. Then, when, like when you're gone, she's completely at a loss, and it's going to be like drinking from a firehose and it's going to be incredibly overwhelming, and when that happens, that's putting your risk versus putting your financial legacy at risk, and all this effort that you're putting into it, wouldn't it be far better to train her over time and let her drink slowly, and it was like well I don't have the patience to do that so well I do as well why would you do that is because when you're gone. If I try to explain things to her, she becomes a nightmare client because I have to teach her 20 years or 10 years worth of financial planning making wise decisions in the course of a week, I would rather, it's in my best, best interest to do it over time as well. So it's a win win it's a win for me, because if you're gone. The your portfolio your family portfolio so it's a win for you because your legacy is still strong, you have kids, don't you want those kids to have a financially savvy person running the operation, and it's not always going to be you. Right, and those are some of the discussions I would have to sort of change the thinking of my clients and I think it's incredibly important.
Derek Clifford:Yeah, admin, now would when you see these conversations happening, how did you see a correlation between those couples that actually were on the same page, or at least you know the non involved spouse have some sort of education or some sort of interest, have used, did you see any kind of correlation between that communication, leading to financial performance or maybe harmonious marriages or, like, is there anything that you can draw from there in terms of indicators that our listeners can use for what a healthy marriage and a healthy foundation from a marital standpoint would be.
Edmund Chien:Absolutely. So, from the financial services perspective, as a money manager, we have risk profiles, and the less a client knows, and for me the client is the household. So the less a client knows the higher the risk profile goes, because that means that there's more fiduciary responsibility on me. So for instance, if there's a client that and I had a lottery winner for an example, right $25 million lottery winner, not financially savvy, and if they came in and they said Ed Here's the money. I don't know what, just do the best you can. That's a very high risk profile because that's vague, and they don't know what is possible, what they could be thinking do the best you can, they might be thinking, 20% return is probably what Ed could do, but that's not realistic, right, and it's it's way too. It's way too vague. Now, if somebody is incredibly financially, sophisticated, and that's what I used to tell my clients, it's in my best interest to educate you on finances, both of you, because the more educated you are, the, the wiser decisions you will make and the more realistic your expectations will become. And just realize you know what, in today's in today's environment posts post credit crisis, we're probably aiming for an average of anywhere between, you know, five or 6%. So if you want to get to 14, you're probably going to have to increase your investment risk right but at least you understand that if the person says, here's $25 million. Just give me 20% By the end of the year and we'll be happy we'll be good, you know, just, just the average. Like, that's a really high risk profile for me for a client.
Sophie:Yeah, thank you for sharing that and you know it's interesting to me because, like, we know a lot of financial planners, and I don't think any of them that we know act as marital counselors as well. And so I'm curious, you know, can you kind of give us a backstory on what got you really, really interested in that.
Edmund Chien:I mean, part of it is is that the higher net worth you get in the for me what I was trying to do as a financial planner and a lot of the training we have is we have like the quadrants different quadrants of your value, and I think even Robert talked with Robert Kiyosaki talks about this too, which is you have at the top northeast you have high cost, high value, but then you have like high cost low value and low cost, low value that type of stuff those quadrants, low cost, low value is anything at the dollar store the throwaway stuff, and the ideal for a client for an advisor is building a book of business, where I am high cost, but I am also high value. So that was sort of my aim to be there. Now, keep in mind my background, my Bachelor's is actually a Bachelor's of fine arts in theater, so I was a theater I went to theater school right in, I went to the top theatre school in Canada that's the Canadian Juilliard, and my specialty was creating the shows, so the technical side of things. And in that environment it's everything from Opera, all the very high end stuff, it is all black tie, it's all catering to ultra high net worth, and I didn't realize its value its perspective, until I got into financial services. I was in a room full of bunch of bachelor commerce so I hid the fact that I had a bachelor of fine arts, but didn't realize throughout my entire degree I was training essentially how to provide white glove service to ultra high net worth people, and how do you give them that experience like that five star experience. And I wanted to be that as an advisor to serve people well, more than just their money, because I think a lot of financial advisors, they just want to take a look at the numbers, how much money do you have. Thank you very much. Give it to me, I will go and crunch the numbers and stick it in the just look at candlesticks and different, different types of charts for me, it was more about the individual. It's more about it because money can be very emotional, what does this money mean to you, what you want me to do with it. I want to understand your values, because I'm a right brained creative thinker. It's more about the individual so tell me these values and if, if, if you could if you were me, and I had your values, how would you want me to invest this, what are the things that are important to you, because I want to give you that white glove service because I want to stand out from my competitors, and when I stand out, I become high value, high cost.
Derek Clifford:Yes, yes, I'm picking up everything you're putting down I've been this is great stuff. I wanted to ask you, let's let's start to back up a little bit here because now we're getting into something that you were doing and kind of the height of your career, but I want to really more focus on. You know how you were serving your customers and also how you got started. So I actually met you through a real estate meetup, online, and my question is, normally, for most financial planners that I see or at least the ones that I'm acquainted with, they end up going to financial planners, they don't offer real estate because they don't understand the service or they don't understand the investment, it's hard to gauge value, there's a lot of components very complicated there's people involved. It's not like you can use numbers crunch numbers and then pick a stock right it's it's much, much more different with real estate. So can you back up and maybe talk to us about how real estate plays into the you know the asset management or the you know the family office Wealth Management front here. Just curious. Right. Absolutely.
Edmund Chien:So my career in finance kind of goes backwards to everybody else. So I started out at the beginning, in private equity real estate for high net worth clients and a number of ultra high net worths and some family office, and we ended up there because I continue to talk to my wife about, you know Rich Dad Poor Dad, she had a finance degree so she could get in front of different people. So I tried to encourage her and I said well, what if we could go and find a group that was investing in real estate, like a private equity real estate firm, and the, lo and behold we came across one, and I said well why don't you go interview there, why don't you try that, because, you know, the bank the big brokerage firms, the big banks are always going to be there but I think there's an opportunity to hear, and we can learn because I was already starting to look at properties, trying to figure out and like everybody else I was nervous about taking my first shot. So I said well this would be a better opportunity to to see how other people do it. So instead of paying for mentorship, we just go and work there and they'll have to train you on how to do it and we'll be able to figure it out for free, and maybe they'll even pay you to do it So wouldn't that be like 10 times better. And this was like Yeah that doesn't, that sounds interesting, right, so we convinced her to go interview sure enough they really liked her and they want to hire her and she got the job there, then I kind of went in to talk to her boss, and what her boss said was we chatted with me. You wanted to get to know us and then he said, Well, you know, in order for you, for me to teach you this stuff you really have to be a client, and our minimum starting fee is $3,000, a year, right, and you have to have a million dollars in net worth, you have to be carded investor. So unless you're that I can't really teach you. So I said to him, I said, Well, can I come work here because I'm ex military or I'm in the military right now, and he said well I'm also ex military too, and I like, I can take a look at your resume, and I immediately know like if you're teaching boot camps, I know that you're teachable, you're disciplined, and you can teach other people, everything you've learned. So, I would love to have a person like you on staff, and you haven't been trained by a Bachelor of Commerce in stocks and all those types of, they have this fallacy of how the industry works because private equity is a completely different ballgame, so you don't have that bias. So I would love to have a clean slate like you with that discipline, if you're willing to come and work the phones and start off as a cold caller, then I'll be happy to, to, to bring on staff, and I figured you know what being most people don't want to be a cold caller, but for me, I was thinking more like, if all I have to do is push buttons on the phone, I get free advice where I'd normally have to pay $3,000 And I don't have to bring the a million dollars, and then I can just sit and listen, and what's going on so that's not that bad of a cost if I have to cold call so I accepted it and that's where I started.
Derek Clifford:So can you tell me I know you touched on this briefly during your story about the person that was looking to hire you was also ex military by the way, thank you for your service. We can't think our military, brothers, more and so thank you very much for everything you've done for the country. It's amazing that we get to enjoy all these freedoms to your service. Can you talk about some of the things that you took from either the army, or from your experience there or from your background before that, that got you into the real estate and also into the private equity world. I'd like to hear more about that. Absolutely.
Edmund Chien:Right. It was a real big benefit for me and I I enlisted in the military, really as a, as a job to do while I was going through university and there's all my, my classmates. Some of them go into the working at the mall folding T shirts and want to figure out you know I want something else that maybe I can learn something that would help me later on in life, and I went full service for a little bit when I was trying to figure out when I graduate, trying to figure out my next move. So it really became a really good safety net, but it's still traveled with me till today I still mentioned and it's been, it's almost been 15 years since I left the military but it still gives me not only credibility and an entrance into different rooms, but it also taught me some core skills that I started teaching other people in finance, and I used it a lot of my pitches well so when I first started out, I'm Asian right so everybody says you look 10 years younger than I actually am. Well it was worse when I was in my 20s, so I would go out trying to prospect and trying to bring in money, and then people would people would tell me it's like Ed You look younger than my kids and I don't even tell my kids, how much money we have, why would I interest you to manage money. So think of ways to make myself sound older, so I would tell them like well, I spent 10 years in the military, I spent 10 years in the Army, and as a military leader, let me tell you this, the things that you have to be able to accomplish or be able to do before they'll put you in front of troops or leading troops, which is you have to understand the gravity of the decisions that you make that, if I make a choice or I make a decision, it could put people in harm's way, it could, it could hurt them, or it could even kill them. So we take our decisions, very, very seriously. And I recognize that I have to be as sharp as I can and continually learn and get better and better and better, because I can never be too safe or I can never be too accurate things so it's always a continuous improvement. When I take a look at your portfolio, I see the same thing. This portfolio represents your life, the blood sweat and tears that got you this late nights time away from your family. That's what I see when I see this portfolio. So I take it with the same level of seriousness. And when I said stuff like that people was like, wow, it's like, I've never talked to somebody your age that had that kind of attitude when it came to money management is like yeah because, because it's lives it's people's lives here. And so we're not we're not fooling around and that's the level of series and I take it when you sign if you were to sign this and trusted over to me, it's like you're interesting my life or your life into me, and I was leading you through a patrol. There's a, there's a huge responsibility with that.
Sophie:Yeah, and when you're, you know when you're having these conversations with these potential clients, you know, are you in that moment, I'm sure, like, you know, they're like wow, all this wisdom coming from this, you know from this young 20 year old, how, you know, how are you able to translate that into like, you know, the conversations with your family, your marriage, and, and, you know, again, like being a true role model for, you know, in terms of legacy building.
Edmund Chien:Yeah, absolutely. So a lot of those discussions would turn into legacy. So, a lot of responses I got from things like that and of course like I was in my 30s but it just looked like I was in my 20s but they would come in, it's like, man, it's like people, as your age I wish more people would have that attitude like would you talk to my kids. Can you talk to my kids and I said, Absolutely, I would totally talk to your kids about finance, about, you know, proper health, like one of the things that we do in money management when it comes to family office, there's a, it's a corporate version of what we do for the individual. So, when you, when you take on an individual account we go through a no your client rule or investor statement IPs, it's an investor policy statement, and it basically sets out the, what, what the portfolio or the investment objectives are. Now when you get to family office, and wealth that is over, you know 10 million, or 100 million. The IPS turns into a corporate family constitution, and that requires a lot when you get to that level, it's a lot of psychology sales and money management at the high level just turns into psychology, right, and understanding that decisions are why people make decisions they do, especially under stress. That's the stuff I've learned in the military as well, how to make decisions under stress, and how to handle and lead people in a stressful environment to make the right decisions as well. I lived through 2008 I was managing money during 2008 I lost $35 million. In the course of a couple of weeks, that was a very stressful environment, and it's also leading people through those stressful environments, I couldn't have done it if I didn't have military experience. For me, there was a very heavy pillar to be able to lean on it that that time.
Derek Clifford:Thank you. Yes, that's great. I was actually just making notes here because this is something that I want to review again so this is this is gold here so thank you very much and now for a self serving reason I wanted to ask you a question about, you know, if you're working for family office right let's say that you're the advisor for a family office and so you have all these components to it you have rate of return you got personalities you have legacy at stake, you've got, you know, legal document you have everything right that you've got to consider as a real estate investor. What are you looking for, for, for private equity for acquisitions on properties, what type of criteria do you look for in real estates because this is high, hot, this is high stakes, and I know that investments, always require a match for the people that are investing in them. But what I'd like to hear your take on is what you look for in investments, basically for most of the offices that you work for, or what was some common threads, you saw when selecting investments for real estate.
Edmund Chien:Absolutely. In money management, The higher net worth you get, the more principal preservation becomes the primary objective. So when you get to family office all family office manager, the first question they're going to think of or ask is what's the worst case scenario, and if this completely falls apart, what do we end up with. So that's a reason why for me, the private equity real estate component of things is, is a higher percentage than the VC type of IP like just invest into the what's the next tech startup, because some family offices will want to have in their constitution, a little bit of that high growth, just for some. No, just a dabble in it but that percentage is going to be much smaller than the infrastructure or the PE side of things. So for me, the higher the network the Family God, the more it starts to look like money management of the large pension plan, and large pension plans, they'll not only have their equity portfolio, and their bond portfolio, but they'll also have infrastructure deals. So essentially their direct real estate, and some will have even a whole division based on real estate. So the bigger the family office, the more formal that vertical will get, but there also be some you know like let's just, let's just roll the dice on a couple of things but those are only small little components of that just to see what happens or to have some fun. Right. Some people or some family offices may want to dabble in Bitcoin, but it's probably because one of the younger sons or, or one of the younger kids are involved in it. A lot of the patriarchs would prefer to have like if you're the if there's a baby boomer, that's still running it, there's probably a big component of real estate involved in that. And that was very comforting for me when I was going and learning from these people and learning from this private equity firm, how to invest in real estate, and one of the things that I realized or I learned when I was working for them is, it's about percentages, it's about asset allocation, it's not about the entire portfolio in real estate, it's about how much do we put into real estate.
Sophie:Yeah, thank you. That was, yeah, that was such a clear. Yeah, just no. I'm so curious to ask you where but also what I really want to ask you too is you know, you mentioned your wife being very influential in this whole journey and I just, you know, I want to hear more about that and the role that she played and, and really, maybe you can like, you know, kind of give us a sneak peek of like what, what is your day to day look like.
Edmund Chien:Absolutely. So, as we start to advance in our finance career, and in our investment portfolio. She ended up going more back office, so she's, she's, she's more of an introvert, and she's great at execution, she's a She's an associate investment advisor so she's trained to give investment advice she just doesn't want to do it for me, I'm an investor relations guy I'm the capital raiser investor relations, and in fact when we were working we ended up working when we started at private equity, we're working with not only the same firm but my team also cleared some of our securities through her office and she was really servicing us as well so we work closely together, both in our day job, but then also in our investment strategy. So for me, one of my responsibilities as a, investment investor relations updating my clients is essentially like running the shareholder meeting. So, explaining to them that the strategies that we're employing or why we're making the decisions that we're doing. And I realized that in our own portfolio, or in our own lives. She's my number one shareholder, I got to get her buy in first, before everything else, and I'm highly trained at that and so once again it goes back to, if I can't sell my wife, then we shouldn't be in real estate. The next came into is that if I can't convince her on making the decision that we're making in investor relations and if I can't keep my number one shareholder happy. I've been the investor relations guy. And so I have to really keep her on on informed of what I'm doing, and then making sure that she agrees with the decisions that I'm making.
Derek Clifford:That's great. And what are the routines or what what practices do you do everyday, maybe even together or or apart like what's important to you guys to keep that rhythm.
Edmund Chien:And it we're, we're very used to working closely together, and COVID is really brought us back to that because now she's, she's she's been working from home for the last like 18 months. And before she was just going into her office right so we kept kept separate, but it was a habit that we picked up when we were working at the firm together. And what ended up happening is we started to blend our lives together so when we got married. A lot of our clients would say well that's a terrible idea like you don't want to work with your wife, and I kind of looked at them sideways is like well I don't know who you married but I just mirrored somebody that I don't mind spending time with, whether it's during work or at home so, but for me, like, Hey, I like you to marry whoever you want. But for me I don't mind spending a lot of time with her. So what we ended up doing is we ended up getting used to when we were young we blended our entire lives we would talk about personal things that work and work at home, and I thought it was a tremendous advantage for me, not only for me but also for my clients, because I would wake up like in the middle of the night on on Saturday when I was like oh, did I did I execute that trick can't remember if I executed that trade on Friday, and I just rolled over like hey, did we execute that trade for this comment is that I did it Friday before close, I'm gonna go great, and then I could, I could relax for the rest of the weekend, right, but if she would, if the person that they're servicing my team, I can't call her at 3am on a Saturday, the weekend I was stressing out all weekend, right, so for 10 years when we're working together, It was just, it worked so smoothly to the point now where even though when we left that firm we went to separate firms, right, and I kind of missed that because I really liked working with her as my back office. And when we're at home, though, is that we're just very used to talking about business and talking about personal and just blending it all together and we've just had developed that habit over 20 years after you've done something for 20 years, you don't even think about it anymore, it just becomes second nature right well, I'll have the same discussion about personal and financial at the same time.
Derek Clifford:Yeah, that's, that's awesome, I didn't. I was gonna say, 20 years, that doesn't look like you. I was gonna say, you know, maybe 10 tops but yeah that's a compliment.
Unknown:Yeah, thank you.
Derek Clifford:Yeah, so, good share, I think that's really really good information. What I wanted to do is I wanted to ask you to also, it let's just say that there's, there's some people out there that really admire what you're doing because we, we definitely do. We really love your perspective on how important it is that everything is done from a spousal or like from a family unit perspective, because we found that that's been the easiest way for success. Because, let's, let's put it this way, in real estate investing. Most people who get started, they do end up doing buying holds or something like that that's easy to do so they'll get into it. And if you don't have your spouse on board if things end up going really well. Let's say that you buy a property and ends up cash flowing well and then you end up selling it for a game right. If your spouse wasn't on board with you first that upset that you spent all that time to buy it. But secondly, once you get all that cash out, and let's say you locked it up into a 1031 exchange and your spouse is expecting to go Disneyland with it. That's a problem at success right, even during success, and then the clear downside is if things go wrong, you have to end up putting more money or time into this, then you really don't have your spouse on board with you that can be even worse, right. So it starts to put a strain on your overall lifestyle in the marriage. So that's why, like we're so in tune with you on the fact that whether it's wealth management, and the bigger picture with money and finances and budgeting, or making investing, or it's just living life in general, making decisions together, it all starts the family unit level. So anyway, I want to summarize. But what I want to ask anyway, long winded, you know statement for me, typical, but I would ask you, what is the first thing if people want it to be like you. What is one thing that you can do the, what, what's one phrase or what's one like idea that sums up the essence of you that people can kind of use is like their TrueNorth to, to get to follow your path.
Edmund Chien:Yeah and just quickly to comment on what you just said, I totally believe, I totally agree with you and one of the things I would like to mention to everybody listening is that when you get into a marriage. Did you like, I don't know about you but when I got into a marriage what I wanted to do is I want it to have somebody else to experience life with the good and the bad, and why Black somebody Oh, when it comes to the investment portfolio which is probably one of the most important decisions that you're making. And for you it's a journey, right. So, both my wife and I we went through some really hard financial times through 2008 We lived it together. But the thing is, that's what kept us going is because instead of my wife panicking, it's like oh no I got a handle, because I know so many Wall Street guys I was just like oh my wife has no idea what's going on. She thinks she's watching the news and she's freaking out, but she doesn't know when people do not know, they go immediately to the worst case scenario, and they just stress themselves out, and then both of you have tension and you're not on the same page, but for us it was 2008 was a time that was really strong, strengthening for us in our marriage, because we clung so closely together and said this is the only way we can go through the storm is by holding closely together. And those are some precious times like some, some times I would not choose to go through again. But there were also some precious times that we really brought us together. So I would encourage people, it's just like, walk the journey together and keep everybody informed the more informed people are, the less panic people get I've talked to couples where the wife will pull me aside like I have no idea what my husband is doing, I'm freaking out. Are we are we going to be okay, are we going to be safe is it, why doesn't your husband talk to you, so they had to I had to talk to them on Twitter on his behalf, to calm her down. It's like no, that the risk that we're taking is calculated here's the reasons why and then she would calm down and say, why don't you tell her those things because that's your wife. I'm not her husband, Okay, I'm not your husband. It should be your husband telling you these things, and then I would encourage them and get them to do that. And I think that to answer your question, the underlying thing that I have in my life is, is the core of that one of the core values I have is Zig Ziglar line, which is, you can have everything you want in life. If you help enough, just enough other people get what they want in life. And it's an important thing that I teach people in sales, which is, you have to have an empathetic attitude, it's not about I will need to pay my mortgage, I want to make, you know, I want to be able to make a commission this month. It's more about everybody's on a journey to somewhere. And if I help people and genuinely care about the journey that they're going to go on, then we all become successful together. So today I've left the industry as we mentioned at the beginning, I don't have a licenses anymore I don't manage money anymore. What I do is I manage our own portfolio now. And so I've essentially learned what I originally set out to learn 20 years later, so now I manage our own money, but on the side, what I do is I coach people on how to manage a real estate portfolio how to attract investors, how to do investor relations and how to find clients, that's what I do now.
Sophie:Great, thank you. Good stuff. Did you want to ask I was just, yeah, I, you know, I think you summed it up so well. What I heard is like when tough times come huddle closer, you know a lot of couples separated. This is you know, you don't have to answer this but how many marriages, do you think you save throughout your career question.
Edmund Chien:I don't know, because, because I think that starts to become, for me it's just like I can't take credit for that. But I think my intent is, I'd rather try to contribute to making marriages better, and then just forgetting about it and I'll get credit some other, some other way and in life but for me, at least I can sleep at night knowing that at least I tried to make things better. And I tried to encourage people to make them that's another reason why I'm here is because I truly believe that you know the 50 50% is a terrible number across America for success rates of marriages, and then I realize what's the number one cause it's the number one causes finance Well, I got 20 years experience in finance, why can't I throw my, you know, a couple of drops in the bucket to try to move that try to move that needle in the right direction.
Derek Clifford:Excellent. Well, Edmond, this has been a wealth of information, no pun intended for our audience for us, taken away a lot here and just gotten closer to the concept that money and wealth management is really more spiritual tool and relationship than we all think right it's very much that because, as you alluded to before, it's people's hard earned money right so it's someone that pour energy and sweat and blood and tears into, and they're trying to do the best they can to try to multiply that so that later on, they can preserve that for their generations and for their family. And I think that having that tie together to with, with, with relationships and wealth man I think it's just a perfect thing and I really enjoyed this conversation. This is great.
Sophie:Yeah, thank you so much just yeah I'm really excited to share all of your wisdom with.
Derek Clifford:Sure. Yeah, it's too bad that you're not doing, you're not in business anymore I guess we wouldn't be talking about it but because we'd love to canvass. So once again I have to throw
Edmund Chien:a huge disclaimer because there's gonna be all these lawyers and these regulators, I am not prospecting, I'm not representing any firm I don't have a license anymore and I don't manage money. I'm not looking for clients. The only thing I'm doing is like if people want to get coached on how to run a syndication sure I can do that, but it's nothing to do with license I'm not looking for investors, excellent. I can't make any investments.
Derek Clifford:Yeah, for sure. Definitely. Okay, I've been we're gonna head into what we call the Rapid Round part of the show, it's the, we ask everyone the same five questions, and so we're curious to rapidly throw them at you right now and get some rapid answers okay. All right. Are you ready to go. Right.
Sophie:Yeah, so first question is what book has had the biggest impact on you and why outside of Rich Dad. What has been the biggest impact. Whoa, that's a, that's a good one.
Edmund Chien:I guess one of the biggest impacts is just maybe the Bible. The Bible is really important and so it's having a moral, moral foundation.
Sophie:Cool, awesome and if people want to emulate your success. What is the first actionable thing that they can do.
Edmund Chien:The number one thing you can do is read so many people don't read and there's a really good quote by Earl Nightingale is if you spend an extra hour every day in the in the study of your trade, you will be a national expert within three things, three years or less.
Sophie:Gotcha. And what small thing do you most people not know about you.
Unknown:Most people don't know that I, my background is in theater, so I did some Broadway productions, I worked on a lot of workshops and some of them even went to win Tony Awards. So I'm a theatre guy.
Sophie:Oh cool. Wow, cool. How do you like to unwind and restore your creative juices individually.
Edmund Chien:I like to do a lot of creative things so I'm more on the creative side so right brain thinker, and that has really been, it's really been helpful for me in a very technical environment. So for me I do things like painting and take a look at any kind of things that are artistic.
Sophie:Nice. And what is your favorite family vacation spot, Hawaii. Which island
Edmund Chien:we honeymooned in lanai. And I like the other islands as well and I it's kind of, kind of great because it's less city, but the best part I like about Hawaii is that my wife and I, we both look local people thought we were locals, and it's a tropical area. That's what I like.
Derek Clifford:Yeah. All right, well, cool, thank you so much Edmund. It's been great having you on the show. What I would like to do is just give you the baton and see how people can reach out to you or how you know how you'd like your the listeners to interact with you, so I'll just give you an open mic right now to talk about you and how we can learn more about Edmund.
Edmund Chien:Thank you. So the best thing to do to reach out to me is reach out on LinkedIn. So it's EDM u n d ch ai n, and then you just find me there I do post quite a lot about different little nuggets of things that I've learned over time or things I'm continually learning. Interestingly enough, if you're if you're Asian my last name ch en. My last name is actually the Chinese character for money. So, if you take money in Chinese that's literally my last name so it's a vocational last name, and my ancestors were all financial professionals so I'm actually doing what my blood is
Derek Clifford:set out to do. That is interesting. That's very cool. Yeah that's awesome so when you brand yourself on your you know on social media or on website if you, if you wanted to get one. I think I know what your logo is going to be pretty. That's pretty Yeah. I don't push it that much. I don't push it that much but it's like an interesting thing to learn that is super cool. Yeah. Very, very cool. Well I've been thank you so much for coming on the show and for all the listeners who listened all the way to the end. We hope that you've taken a lot away from this and we really, in hope that you enjoyed everything that we've talked about today, there's a lot of stuff to cover and definitely admin brought the goods so please reach out to Edmund if you want to learn more, link, link up with him on LinkedIn. To learn more about what he does. And then also if you like the show, if you'd like to elevate your equity show please comment, like, subscribe, or wherever you're consuming this content just engage with us because we want to hear more about you guys get feedback and get even better. So, and we also want exposure to more individuals so that more people can get access to this incredible content that Edmund just just gave us so that is all. So, I think, unless you have anything else you want to mention No, this has been great. Yeah, great show. All right, cool. Well admin thank you for coming on. And this is Derek, and this is Sophie, we are signing off, Take care everyone.