How To Pay Off $386K In Student Loans And Start Building Real Wealth With Dr. Yasser Rodriguez

🎙️ 𝗪𝗲𝗹𝗰𝗼𝗺𝗲 𝗯𝗮𝗰𝗸 𝘁𝗼 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗣𝗵𝘆𝘀𝗶𝗰𝗶𝗮𝗻𝘀 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗣𝗿𝗼𝗽𝗲𝗿𝘁𝗶𝗲𝘀 𝗣𝗼𝗱𝗰𝗮𝘀𝘁 𝘄𝗶𝘁𝗵 𝗵𝗼𝘀𝘁 𝗗𝗿. 𝗔𝗹𝗲𝘅 𝗦𝗰𝗵𝗹𝗼𝗲.

💡 What if the “best” way to start investing in real estate isn’t buying a rental… but becoming a passive partner first—so you can learn the game, reduce risk, and still build real wealth?

In today’s episode, I’m joined by Dr. Yasser Rodriguez—a Harvard-trained cardiac electrophysiologist and founder of Cardia Real Estate Investments, where he helps physicians build passive, tax-efficient wealth through commercial real estate.

Yasser shares his story of being $386,000 in student loan debt, paying it off in ~25 months, and realizing that even a strong W-2 isn’t enough if you want true agency over your time. We go deep into why physicians get stuck (fear + lack of financial education), how to break through analysis paralysis, and why commercial real estate syndications can be one of the most powerful wealth vehicles when you focus on the operator, the underwriting, and the downside protection.

This episode is a blueprint for physicians who want financial freedom—not to quit medicine… but to practice it because they WANT to.

🔥 𝗪𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝘆𝗼𝘂’𝗹𝗹 𝗹𝗲𝗮𝗿𝗻:
 ✔️ Why physicians often get shamed for investing—and how to tune out the noise
 ✔️ How Yasser paid off $386K of student loans fast (and why “raw horsepower” + strategy matters)
✔️ The real reason W-2 income is a trap at high tax brackets—and how real estate flips the tax equation
✔️ First steps for new physician investors: education → community → first LP deal
✔️ Why becoming a passive investor (LP) can be the best “training wheels” in real estate
✔️ How to avoid shiny object syndrome: sample asset classes first, then pick your lane
✔️ Commercial real estate basics: how value is created through NOI + cap rates (not comps)
✔️ Depreciation + cost segregation: why “paper losses” can supercharge passive investing
✔️ The importance of conservative underwriting + sensitivity analysis (“punch in the face” planning)
✔️ Med tech investing: what to look for (track record, FDA experience, execution, team) and why returns can be asymmetric

🔥 𝗞𝗲𝘆 𝗧𝗮𝗸𝗲𝗮𝘄𝗮𝘆𝘀:
 ✅ Your financial education is your responsibility—this stuff is easier than boards, but you must start.
 ✅ You don’t need to pick the “perfect” asset class on day one—take a sample, then commit.
 ✅ Passive investing isn’t “lazy”—it can be the smartest way to learn and build wealth while staying focused on your career.
 ✅ The deal should survive rough seas: conservative assumptions + downside planning matters more than hype.
 ✅ Your WHY is the fuel—agency, family time, and freedom are the real reasons we do this.
 ✅ There’s something for everyone: multifamily, assisted living, STRs, RV parks, med tech—pick the lane that fits your goals.

🎧 𝗟𝗶𝘀𝘁𝗲𝗻 𝘁𝗼 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗲𝗽𝗶𝘀𝗼𝗱𝗲 𝗻𝗼𝘄.

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Transcript

Dr. Yasser Rodriguez: Find a group that looks like they know what they're doing and start educating yourself, you know, and that's a good start. And then you could take it from there. How involved do you wanna be? There's nothing wrong with remaining a passive partner. That's perfectly fine. You can make a lot of wealth like that.

Or that can turn your fire on and then that's gonna like, motivate you to go seek out what do I really like? Do I like multifamily? Do I like assisted living facilities? Do I like, I mean, you can do anything like RV parks, you know, like you name it, you know, there's something for everyone.

Dr. Alex Schloe: Welcome to the Physicians and Properties Podcast, the show where we teach you how investing in real estate can give you the freedom to practice medicine and live life how you want. Doctor, doctor, doctor, doctor, doctor. Now here's your host, Dr. Alex Schloe.

Hello everyone. Welcome to another episode of the Physicians and Properties podcast. As always, I'm your host, Dr. Alex Schloe, and I am so excited today to be joined by Yasser Rodriguez. Dr. Rodriguez is a Harvard trained cardiac electrophysiologist, so he is way smarter than me, and he's founder of cardio real estate investments where he helps physicians build passive tax efficient wealth through commercial real estate.

Dr. Rodriguez, thanks for joining us on the podcast today. How are things going?

Dr. Yasser Rodriguez: Yeah. No, thanks for having me, Alex. Uh, things are, are busy man. good, but very busy. Uh, you know, I was just talking to Alex there. He has two kids. We have three young kids herself. So balancing everything is always, uh, you know, challenging to say the least.

Dr. Alex Schloe: Oh, absolutely. Especially, uh, my oldest, uh, my 5-year-old Jack, he's realized like when I have a podcast, so he'll always ask me, Hey, do you have a podcast tonight? Because then he'll try and sneak out of bed and he knows that dad's not watching or or gonna take bed upstairs. So I, I bet when I get up, I'll see his little feet take off around the corner, run back.

Dr. Yasser Rodriguez: He's clever man.

Dr. Alex Schloe: Yeah, he is man. He is a smart kid. But, uh, but it is fun. Yeah. Balance is, it's a, it's a tough thing, man. For sure. And I'm sure we'll dive a little bit more into that, but before we do, I'd love to just kind of hear your story of how you got started in medicine. What did that journey look like for you?

Dr. Yasser Rodriguez: Yeah, yeah, yeah. So, you know, I'm a cardiac electrophysiologist. Um, it was a long journey. My parents both are immigrants. You know, my mom didn't finish high school. My dad, you know, did some college and. In Cuba. But you know, they immigrated in the late seventies, so I was definitely the first in my family to go to s you know, to college, much less med school and so on, so forth.

So it was, you know, it was a long journey. Um, always interested, you know, in the science aspect and the, you know, like the technical aspects and all that. And it was actually, my grandma was my first patient that got me interested in electrophysiology. Like I didn't know what it was, as a first year med student, but she actually had, dilated cardiomyopathy. So my, uh, who would then become my mentor down at the University of Miami, he, he allowed me to scrub in and help put like a defibrillator in her. So I always liked car engines and stuff, and merging equipment with, you know, hearts and stuff was kind of really cool, you know, at that, at that age.

And then, you know, just kind of went down the rabbit. Oh man, really, really like EP. It's awesome, you know, it's rewarding, and many different levels, you know, but, but it was really as an attending, I've been out for about six years or so that I started pivoting also to real estate, you know, uh, not to substitute 'cause I love ep, I love, you know, what I do on a day-to-day basis, but just to kind of compliment and give you options.

Dr. Alex Schloe: That's awesome. Yeah. You're, you're a perfect example of, you know, someone who loves the job, still wants to be a doctor, but maybe wants the freedom to practice medicine how they want to, and, you know, it was, it was funny, I I, I posted in a physician group not too long ago and I was getting a bunch of flack.

They were like, why, why would you, why would you want to invest in real estate? Why? Like, why even be a doctor? Like just do real estate? And I'm like. You can have multiple passions, right? And I'm a firm believer of, you know, having some degree of passive income or alternative income is gonna make you a better doctor and give you that freedom, give you that flexibility to practice medicine how you want.

And there's different stages of life and, maybe when the kids are young, you want more time with them. And so it was, uh, it was really funny, man. Sometimes I feel like other physicians are like the worst critics when it comes to, financial, you know, strategy and the fire movement and all those sorts of things.

So anyways, really, really.

Dr. Yasser Rodriguez: Me started. Yeah, don't even get me started. It's, it's, it's weird, uh, because you don't see this in other fields, right? Like dentists are a good parallel, right? Dentists from my simple experience are very entrepreneurial, like it's built into their DNA because when they come out, the usual pathway was you make your own practice that forces you to number one, manage.

Human beings, you know, number two, manage a business. And then, you know, they practice medicine, of course. You know, so dentists are very entrepreneurial, but unfortunately, you know, like, dos MDs and all that, they're trained, you know, to kind of. Think in a very, a little more rigid manner. And you know, a lot of our colleagues will go ahead and open own businesses and stuff like that, and they're just natural entrepreneurs.

But a lot will kind of like shame one another in a way, especially the more quote unquote academic they are. They're like, oh, no, no, no. It should be okay to get paid a fraction of, you know, what you would normally get paid like in private practice or like in any other model. And then, you know, it's weird because they work just as hard.

But they're expected to like, you know, write research grants and do research on weekends and at nights during the week. And it's, it's odd. So then the minute that you mention, oh, you know, real estate, it's like this dirty concept, like, oh, how dare you even mention the word investment and passive wealth like.

You know, it is just like, it's, it's something that has dawned on me over the years. And you say, you know, that's been your experience as well. I have a lot of my colleagues and, that's why I really celebrate that you created, you know, the Facebook group that you did. It's, it's almost like, uh, you know, like

taking the shame out of it. It's like, Hey guys, it's okay to absolutely love what you do. It doesn't make you less of a doctor in any way, but you know, if, if anything it frees up you, you govern your own time, you know, and you're your own boss in a way, you know? Yep.

Dr. Alex Schloe: Right. Yeah, I completely agree. I feel like, you know, as physicians we've gone through like such rigorous training and so many difficult things. Like really we should be trying to figure out collectively as physicians, how can we make like the, the career in like physician life as great as possible and optimize for some of those other things, uh, that exist.

And I think we're heading in the right direction by and large, but I, I think a lot of people. You know, maybe got preyed upon. And, and that's really, you know, sad and frustrating 'cause we don't get a lot of financial education and literacy. And so I think there is that stigma that like, doctors are dumb and rich when it, you know, when it comes to, financial opportunities.

And so I think that's part of it. I think the other thing, and I might get some flack for this, is I think it's just the fear of the unknown. You know, and, and like, which blows my mind. 'cause we're all lifelong learners and like the physician brain is the most. Incredible thing, but for some reason it's like, hey, when it comes to like, hey, investments, entrepreneurship, like, I would just much rather rip you and build and tear you down than help build you up and or just be like, Hey, can you, can you tell me a little bit more about that?

So, anyways, a little tangent there. But, for folks that are listening, we're really glad you're here and glad that you, uh, you probably don't feel that way if you're listening to the podcast and just know that like, genuinely. We're here to help make physicians' lives better and, and practices better and get you more time with your family if that's what you wanna do, or, you know, more time doing the things that you love.

So, I, I appreciate that little, that little sidebar there 'cause it's just something Yeah, I've been thinking about a good bit as well going forward, especially as we're going into the new year. , But let's, let's, let's go ahead and talk about that. So you mentioned, you know, EP First off, how long did it take you to go all the way through med school training and to be an attending in, in electrophysiology?

Dr. Yasser Rodriguez: Yeah. Um, so the usual path is, you know, after med school you do three years of internal medicine, then three years of cardiology fellowship, and then two years of EP. So usually it's about eight years cumulative. You know, after you're, you're done. The. It's a great field. You know, it's a, it's, it's, it's a great field in, in many different ways.

You know, like, I love doing procedures, you know, so it's a good balance of like the human interaction. Like in clinic, I, I like talking to people and meeting people and all that stuff. So it, it preserves those like internal medicine elements, you know, that. You know, you like when you go down that route. But it also throws in procedure elements in a more controlled fashion.

So like, , ep you know, some people jokingly say like, elective procedures only, you know, like ep. But, uh, it, it usually is more predictable. As opposed to, you know, all the respect in the world to like my interventional colleagues, but they don't have the luxury of people don't, you know, choose when to have a heart attack or something, you know?

So, so usually EP is a little more predictable. , You got procedure days, you got clinic days, and you kind of divvy up your, your schedule there.

Dr. Alex Schloe: That's awesome. Yeah, it sounds like a, a pretty great blend, , as a whole of clinic and, and procedures kind of mix things up, keep it fun, I'm sure from that perspective. Well, what did coming out of, of residency, what did money look like or feel like for you at the end of training? Did you have any medical school debt or anything like that?

Dr. Yasser Rodriguez: Yeah, a lot of it. So, uh, so being the, you know, kind of first in my family, I remember, so I married my now wife, she's a physician assistant in urgent care, which is way more practical, let me tell you, day to day than an EP. It's like, I could tell my kids in sinus rhythm, but it's my wife that's really helping out with the, you know, problem solving there.

But anyways, yeah, no, I had, you know, unfortunately. 386 grand in student loans. Yeah. So, you know, right towards the beginning of attending Hood, that's what I was looking at, you know, and that's a pretty daunting number. You know, I paid that off in two years flat, you know, so I, you know, in various ways.

I, I'm a big fan. My financial education really started with the White Coat Investor, which I'm sure a lot of your viewers, you know, have come across that. It's like one of the Bibles, if you will, you know, so it's a great start. It gives you a fantastic foundation, and I was completely financially illiterate before the year of 2014 when the white coat investor, he was actually.

I was a first year cardiology fellow and it was a medical intern that introduced me to, so you never know where the wisdom is coming from. You know, say you gotta be humble and kind of have your ears open. But, , but yeah, no, it, it was pretty daunting. So I, my first focus really was paying off all that student loan.

'cause you just felt like owned by. Someone else or something else, you know, when you have that amount of, you know, student loans, , but that, you know, that achieved, uh, you know, 25 months to the day, you know, that I graduated as an attending and that was like my major focus. So I used, , since I went into private practice, you know, originally, I just had refinanced my loans using SoFi, which is one of the more common kind of, you know, carriers or whatever.

Back then they had some really good interest rates, , better than what the government was kind of giving. And then it was just raw horsepower, you know, just making huge lump payments, uh, you know, every month. And, . You know, at that time, you know, so I had joined the private practice knowing that they were gonna get bought by private equity at some point.

So I had worked in my contract, a little clause that should they get purchased, I would become a partner. And then, you know, because, you know, a lot of these private practices, they'll try to screw over their, like young recruits and when they get purchased by private equity. You know, if you're not a partner, well, so, sorry.

Too bad, you know, boohoo, but I, I kind of saw the writing on the wall. That's, I had started prac, I trained in Boston, but I, I, I went back to Miami, which is my hometown, which is the wah Wall West almost in healthcare in a lot of regards. But to say the least. But anyways, , I saw the writing on the wall and I figured they were telegraphing their move anyways, so I put that in my contract and that gave me a nice boost to pay off my student loans.

Mm-hmm. And then segue over to home ownership or whatever, you know, so, uh, so it was like a lot of raw horsepower and then a nice little boost. And then I, you know, went on to my next job after that. So. Kind of did that, but it was around the time that my now oldest, I also have a 5-year-old just about, you know, as a girl.

But anyways, when she was born, that's when it really dawned on me that I gotta figure this out. You know? Uh, meaning that just having a W2 is not gonna cut it, you know? You can do the white co investor stuff and that's a good nucleus, like a good start. But you have to do something else. You gotta figure it out, you know, and what that is.

I ended up in real estate for many, many different reasons, you know, but, . I think usually something within real estate, real estate is like medicine almost. It's so varied that you could subspecialize like you yourself, do assisted living facilities, which is a fantastic field, you know? You know, I, I personally do more like commercial syndications, you know?

And then med tech is, you know, what I've kind of focused more in on, but, whichever. You know, you kind of have to start grabbing that W2 income and, you know, living still, you know, modestly not comfortable, but modestly grab that cash and funnel it over to growing alternate revenues of, of income, you know, and, um.

I think that a master concept is the tax treatment between the two is night and day. You know, the W2 worker is who makes this country run, you know, but very tax disadvantaged, big time. You know, I mean, at the higher tax brackets, you're looking at like 37%. You know, 37% of every dollar you earn after a certain, you know, threshold.

And you compare that to things such as like, you know, a long-term capital gains, which is already way favorable, right? Or the things that you can do with real estate. You can even postpone taxes. You can do so many different things, that. That's what really kind of burns me inside. And it's just kinda like once you kind of, the light bulb goes off, then you sound like one of these, like religious zealots trying to convert others.

And you know, some people are ready to kind of hear that message and some people just kind of have a blank face because it's very disconcerting not knowing something. It's very scary and uncomfortable and we're not as physicians used to that necessarily, you know, um, in the grand scheme.

Dr. Alex Schloe: Yeah, I completely agree. There's so many, so many benefits to real estate and, and as I've gotten older and really kind of understood the tax benefits, I mean, you're, you're talking about massive, massive advantages and. A lot of times that tax benefit is not, you know, it's a little bit harder to like calculate that and explain that in the proforma in a way that's understood.

Um, but that can be like a, a, a massive cherry on top on some of these opportunities. What do you think, early on, you know, what do you think physicians misunderstand about wealth building or maybe a plan of action to attack massive student loan debt? What do you think kinda the misunderstanding is there?

Why do you feel like a lot of physicians may fail or kind of flounder.

Dr. Yasser Rodriguez: You know, I think it's, it's financial education, you know, it's very scary, because. As an 18-year-old or a 22-year-old, depending if you're talking college or med school, you're making enormous financial decisions that. At least myself, again, in full transparency, illiterate didn't know, uh, simply did not know, you know?

And I imagine many other physicians are similar, you know, some are very pri privileged and maybe their parents are supremely savvy and they kind of, you know, educate their kids. But I would argue probably most aren't, you know, and then by the time you blink an eye and the power of compound interest and all that stuff, suddenly.

You're like, oh Jesus. You know? And it's a very stressful thing. I remember my guide, uh, during my training, watching that number kick up, kind of like the US national debt. You know, it's just like the counter. And I'm like, oh, Jesus Christ, this is pretty scary. You know? But you know, at some point you kind of just have to, man or woman up and say, enough's enough.

I'm not gonna be scared. I'm, you know, if you're smart enough to freaking pass. Step one, two, and three and whatever. I promise you this is way easier than memorizing first aid or, you know, all of these, you know, difficult board exams. It's not that hard, but you just kind of have to start somewhere, you know?

And I think. You're gonna get a natural reaction of fear and you're gonna feel uncomfortable and you just have to accept that that's okay. You know? So are you, I'm sure. And and so was I, certainly, you know, but at some point you start somewhere. So a good place is the white coat investor. You know, it's very easy, you know, it's 280 pages.

You can read it on a weekend and on vacation or whatever, and figure it out. You know, it's a good little start. And if you only did that, you're at least gonna stay outta trouble and you're gonna live a comfortable kind of middle class life, you know? But to take the next level and to liberate yourself to like hang out with your kids, assuming you love your kids, you know, uh, and your family and stuff, you're gonna have to figure it out, you know, because you'll see a lot of our colleagues.

Start whining about how the RV U went down by 0.5 and this and that and whatever. And while that is, you know, not fair in a lot of different ways and, and stressful, you kind of, again, you have to create these alternate things in order to free up, you know, your life. You know, imagine if you had so many alternate streams of income that.

You could, you know, if you really didn't like your job, well then, you know, you can take some time off of working and go figure out something that you like, you know, or, or whatever, you know. But it's just nice having that mental peace and stability, you know? And you know, once you kind of, you know, pay off all debts and then you have these alternate income streams, you're not worried about your kids' college education anymore.

You know, you have. Um, real estate assets that will pay, you know, one for each kid. You know, it will appreciate, it'll pay for your kid's education so you're not perseverating on a 5, 2, 9 as much. I mean, you're still gonna do it. You should. But you're not stressed. You know you're gonna take care of that when the time comes.

And so it's like you start somewhere, you know? I think everyone, you hear the terms, I wish I would've coined it. Analysis paralysis, you know? You get overwhelmed 'cause it's a scary world. Well just start somewhere. You know, for me it was White Coat Investor, which then eventually turned into an something called bigger pockets.

You know, which is a very big real estate kind of online forum. It's not just for doctors, it's for everybody. And they're, you know, they have a wealth of, you know, information and data and, and, uh, and a very nice community at that. And then from there you can kind of just branch off, you know, both you and I have, you know, created little, little groups and stuff.

You know, for physicians, well, well, because we are physicians, but we understand physicians, you know. But, um. But something that promotes education with the bias of being a physician, you know?

Dr. Alex Schloe: Yeah, absolutely. That's a great answer. And I, I think the other thing that trips people up a lot is, um, is kind of that lifestyle creep. Once you go from resident to attending and, and you're like, Hey, I've worked so hard to now get this attending paycheck, and you have, and you really did, but the more you can kind of delay that lifestyle creep and put those into that alternative, income streams or paying off your student debt, the better it's gonna set you up down the road and it's, it's certainly worth it.

You know, I, I. Speaking from a place of privilege because I was in the military and they paid off my student loans. However, I was also in the military. So, uh, trust me, I paid it. I paid it off in some other ways. Yeah, exactly. And so, but anyways, it's just, you know, it's, it's, if you can delay if. If you can educate yourself, you can delay that lifestyle creep, you can really kind of tackle a student loan burden, and set yourself up for success going forward.

It's, it's gonna be massive. And, you know, a really easy way to do it that I tell people all the time is like, think about how you can house hack as a resident, right?

Dr. Yasser Rodriguez: Oh yeah.

Dr. Alex Schloe: get a physician loan, no money down by a single family house. Four or five bedrooms, rent out all the bedrooms to your buddies, cash flow while you're in residency, living for free and cash flowing on top of that.

And what a great foundation to start you up for success. And so that, I think, is the best way to like really get started as a resident. But uh, yeah man. That's awesome. Well, let's talk about your real estate journey. So how did you initially get started, investing in real estate?

Dr. Yasser Rodriguez: Yeah. So, you know, after I paid off, uh, my student loans, and it was really at that time also that my daughter, you know, had been born and all that stuff, I started looking around. You know, so at that point, you know, we freed ourselves with the student loans. As you said, we were avoiding that lifestyle creep.

Back then we were living in Miami, which is a very high cost of living area,

Dr. Alex Schloe: Mm-hmm.

Dr. Yasser Rodriguez: to say the least. Which, you know, makes things a little more challenging 'cause your velocity of wealth generations is well lower 'cause your overhead is higher, you know? But despite that, it's, it's still a, a doable thing. But then I started, you know, looking around, you know, so then you have to look around and educate yourself, you know, so you had been doing the whole white coat investors shuffle solid, that's like, you know, power eye football, nice conservative, you know, play whatever.

But now for the more kind of pushing the needle forward, you're gonna have to figure something else out, you know? So then I kinda looked around and at that point. With the use of BiggerPockets and then, uh, looking around as well. You know, I came upon different asset classes and their pros and cons, you know, so we did, the first thing that everyone gravitates to is long-term rentals.

Okay? And it's like, you know, you, you, and maybe your wife had a condo and then you got married. Now you have a house and you rent out. You know, her former condo, most people kind of bumble their way into their first property or whatever, and they become the, you know, landlord, you know, without kind of really jocking for that.

With long-term rentals, everything in life has its pros and cons, you know, so with long-term rentals, you know, it's the long game, you know, pretty much, you know, you're not gonna, you know, with long-term rentals, depending on the property, maybe you'll make a couple hundred bucks of cash flow if you're doing right.

Maybe a thousand, maybe two thousands. But that's a fart. Far cry of replacing your physician income, you know? So it's like, it's like watching paint dry essentially, you know? And to acquire these properties, usually you're gonna be anywhere from five to 20% down, depending on what your financing vehicle is or whatever.

So. Your economies of scale or your ability to scale are there, but they're slower, you know? Um, and more risk. If you're pumping in 200 grand into a property as a down payment, you're more, you know, you're, you're exposing yourself. It's just the, the, the name of the game. So then this was after the COVID era and all that.

I was briefly looking at Airbnbs, you know, and Airbnbs. Have their own pros and cons. You know, they have really cool tax benefits, really if like your spouse were, you know, to manage them and all that, that could conceivably offset even some W2 income, you know, if you're filing married or whatever under certain circumstances.

But that's trading one job for another one, you know? So it's like, yeah, congratulations. You're not. You know, you're a physician or, or, or whatever in healthcare. And now you're also managing, you know, an Airbnb. So with that, you can argue there's automations, there's CRMs and all this stuff. And yes, but the real money comes if you manage it yourself.

If you're gonna outsource it, you know, uh, short term rental managements are gonna be like 20%, you know, or 10 to 15 to 20, which really carves in once again to your profit margins. So it's like a lot of work. And it, the, the Airbnb era was kind of cooling a little bit, and it all, the, the pretenders were kind of, you know, getting, outta the market essentially.

And the people that knew what they were doing are the ones that stayed. You know, so didn't really look at that. And then finally came across commercial real estate. Which is something that's kind of scary a little bit because you know nothing about it. We sure as heck didn't get any education in medical school, school about anything financial, much less commercial real estate.

But, at first, in a passive role as a something called limited partner, you know, so this is where, you know, you have. Usually two to four managing partners or operators, whatever you wanna call 'em, that are putting together a deal. And it's when people pull together, you know, their resources, purchase a property, and usually you have a business plan.

So the one that was a little more approachable were multifamily properties. 'cause you know, you know what an apartment is, you just put a lot of 'em together and the concept is not like rocket science, you know? So kind of got started there and it was really looking around. There was a Dr. Raya. Vikram Raya was kind of like my proof of concept.

He's a cardiologist like I am, you know, and he started in 2015 where I live now, which is Georgia. And, um, he, he crushed it. You know, he's been crushing, he is doing, doing, you know, very well, you know, very, very well, and just kinda looking time invested and potential, you know, outcome. It's hard to beat a well executed commercial deal.

I mean, you have built-in economies of scale. You have some built-in risk mitigation and it really falls on the operating team. Like do they know what they're doing? Is it a good market? You know, what's the business plan look like? So that's kind of how I got my start. And usually these syndications are gonna be something like $50,000, you know?

So $50,000 is enough for you to care for sure, and it's enough to see a nice return on investment. Okay. You turn that 50 and then maybe a handful of years later. You're walking away maybe with a hundred grand or something like that. That's nice. And that moves the needle and that has tax advantages. But that gets, you know, once you put skin in the game, now you're paying attention.

And that will be your best education. You're gonna be, no, you know, you're gonna be reading top to bottom. Okay, what is a syndication? Okay, what's the concept? Uh, what am I looking at? You know, and all that. When, when you have something invested, now you care. You, you should care. You know, and that's how I got started, on my first deal as a limited partner that made me care.

And then I devoured like on audible, physical books, you know, the, driving to work, driving from work, you know, and just educating myself as much as possible. And then I hired coaches, you know, a good coach will collapse that timescale and you can learn from their errors. You know, you grab 'em and they just kind of instruct you, you know, you get to look at things through their eyes.

So I invested in one coach and then a second one, you know? Um. They have been phenomenal. Like, you know, they're like enzymes essentially. They catalyze your development and a velocity that, you know, our company has been around for like a year and a little bit and you know, we've already done, you know, two, you know, deals.

And now we're about to announce actually, . On my birthday, which is a week from today, uh, we're about to announce our third, you know, deal, which is actually med tech, you know? So that only is possible because you seek out, you know, coaching and you kind of have to just be open to that, you know. But I think to get started, , definitely looking at the limited partner role.

Just, you know, find a group that looks like they know what they're doing and start educating yourself, you know, and that's a good start. And then you could take it from there. How involved do you wanna be? There's nothing wrong with remaining a passive partner. That's perfectly fine. You can make a lot of wealth like that.

Or that can turn your fire on and then that's gonna like, motivate you to go seek out what do I really like? Do I like multifamily? Do I like assisted living facilities? Do I like, I mean, you can do anything like RV parks, you know, like you name it, you know, there's something for everyone. So,

Dr. Alex Schloe: Yeah. That is awesome. Yeah. Commercial real estate, you know, is, is, is a huge wealth generator and, and an incredible opportunity and it's, and it's completely different, right? Those economies of scale are massive. The tax benefits are massive. It's, it's valued so much. Differently, right? We're not looking at single family comps.

We're looking at what's the net operating income of the property, what's the cap rate? Like the, the amount of value you can generate just by doing little things is, is enormous. And so it is a really, really cool opportunity. Um, Dr. Rodriguez, what does, what does a good deal look like for you? You know, in terms of like maybe cashflow or downside protection or tax benefits of the team?

What does a good deal look like for you?

Dr. Yasser Rodriguez: Yeah, I mean, you know, so if you think about deals, you're looking at a couple different parameters, right? It kind of depends on what you want out of the deal. 'cause they're all gonna behave differently, you know? So for example, if you're looking at like a med tech opportunity, med tech is. It's sexy in a lot of ways, but it's also, if you don't know what you're looking at, it could be a problem.

You know, there's risk built into anywhere now. Med techs, you know, all sound fantastic in the beginning, you know, but, uh, it's a long, you know, process, you know, so it's like something like med tech, for example, can have massive tax benefits and you could have multiples. Of your initial investment, you know, it is not unheard of, of, you know, you can invest a 50 K block, for example, and five years later walk away with like 10 times your initial investment.

You know, that is, you know, not an unheard of and not as in common as you would think. And by the way, usually in those scenarios, federal tax privilege because of the qualified Small Business Act or whatever. So you can literally, you would be hard pressed to name another. Asset class that can claim that, you know, however, you have to be very choosy and selective about who you're dabbling with because with Med Tech, for example, you're looking at people who know what they're doing.

You know, that have a track record of, uh, you know, getting things through the FDA of a well executed thought out business plan and a clear vision. This is the deliverables, this is what we're gonna do, this is the timetable, you know, so on and so forth. So I only got involved in MedTech because of the group that I've been associated with.

Like the deal that we're launching in about a week. You know, mid-January or whatever, the guy, you know, created one of my favorite tools that I use in my field, actually, and he sold that company for $150 million. You know, so that was a ridiculous return on investment for initial investment. So his record, I mean, when he introduced himself to me, that was one of the first things that he said, rightfully so, and that got my attention.

I'm like, okay, yeah, no, this guy has. Been there, done that, but usually with commercial real estate, you're looking for a couple different things. So. As a physician, I tend to focus more on the capital component and I get to, uh, as such, I get to be very choosy about what operators I work with, you know? So, how that works is that when a deal's put together, usually you're gonna have, you know, some capital specialists and some operators and they marry together and they're pushing this deal forward.

You know, with your operators, you're looking at a, a track record of success. You know, we're looking for an IRR at least 20% or more. You know, a time horizon on average in these syndications about five years or so is the average. If it's a little shorter, that's a, that's a plus, but your, your investment would be illiquid in that.

And then you're looking for tax benefits. So something that you like to see is something called depreciation. You know, depreciation is a paper loss that the IRS allows you to declare, you know, and all that. Now there's something called bonus depreciation, meaning that when you acquire one of these massive properties, you know, like let's say 200 apartment units or whatever it is, um, the operators and the team usually.

Little to no exception should run something called a cost segregation analysis. That's just a fancy thing where an engineer comes out and they tell you, okay, of this purchase price, this is how much you know you're allowed to depreciate and accelerate that to the beginning of the deal. So why that matters is because you grab those tax benefits and they flow through to all investors, whether you're limited or a general partner or whatever, and you could carry those paper losses.

When you're filing your taxes. So that really helps offset, any passive income that you may have. You know, so usually there are exceptions, but usually not your W2 income directly. But if you have passive income streams and all that, these tax benefits really supercharge that, you know, and that capital can be deployed once again to make you more and more wealth.

It's kind of like an animal that just feeds on itself. But, but yeah, it is, I mean, it's exciting, man. Once you get started talking about this stuff, you can talk about it all day.

Dr. Alex Schloe: Yeah, absolutely man. Well, it's, it's, it's. Definitely evident that you're super passionate and knowledgeable on the space. And, and you're right man, that, that snowball, once it starts rolling, once you get that first like, direct deposit and you're like, man, this money, I made this money while I was sleeping.

Then you're like, I gotta get more of it, you know? And it's, uh, it's a fantastic, fantastic opportunity. Well, let's talk, you know, this, this has been really tactical. Let's talk a little bit more about kind of that. The doc that's listening and they're sitting here and they're thinking like, well, I got $50,000, a hundred thousand dollars I want to get started in the next 30 days or so.

What, what are the, the kind of top three actions that you'd tell them If it's a doctor sitting on the sidelines, they're, they're thinking, they're ready to invest, what would you tell 'em? Any, any three things that stick out for you?

Dr. Yasser Rodriguez: Yeah, I mean, I think that, um, you know, well, number one is education, you know, so, congratulations. You know, amassing $50,000 is challenging. Like it's not, you know, it, it takes savings and all that stuff, but you gotta educate yourself. You know, there's no substitute for that. You know, doctors, were very trusting, you know, individuals usually, but you really gotta protect yourself by educating yourself, you know?

So I think that's, , and to do so, you know, you, you could join you, you know, like, Dr. Schloe here, group is fantastic. It's a lot of free education. These podcasts are fantastic. Certainly I did not have access to any podcast like this when I was in training. You know, I sound like an old

Dr. Alex Schloe: Thanks. Yeah,

Dr. Yasser Rodriguez: uh, but anyways,

Dr. Alex Schloe: I didn't either. Yeah.

Dr. Yasser Rodriguez: exactly right.

So, you know, joining like, you know, Facebook group, like ours, you know, or these podcasts or whatever is free education. Just digest that, you know, just, you know, go all in, read as much as you can and educate yourself. Then I would say. You know, to begin, as a limited partner, you know, I think that is the best education is by doing.

You know, so once you kind of have at least some education. You can kind of assess a little bit, you know, uh, differently and all that stuff. You can become a part of a group like mine, like yours, you know, there's good groups out there, where you know, you're provided more education and then you go through, you know, these opportunities, you know, these opportunities.

Any good group should educate their potential investors. So you really wanna have webinars, you know, you kind of want to go through PowerPoints, you want to go through. You know, the, something called a sensitivity analysis. So everyone when they're trying to pitch something is gonna paint a picture of rainbows and leprechauns and unicorns and stuff, but reality punches you in the face, you know, so you got, there's always that quote, like, everyone has a plan until they get punched in the face.

You know, I think, Tyson said that before any fight, but anyways, um, you gotta prepare for the worst also, you know, so any good business plan. Is not, should have conservative underwriting, you know, meaning that their, that their assumptions, you know, should not be overly optimistic. You know, they should prepare for rough waters and stuff.

And, and a good deal should always float even in rough seas, you know, of course if there's lucky balances that go your way, that's great, you know, but the deal should still do well under tense, you know, stress, you know, and I think. Starting off there, once you have a plan for your student debt, if that's even applicable.

And once you kind of have your automated, like, you know, your employer match, you know, you're, you put in, you know, the five two nines or the backdoor Roth or whatever, that should all be in place. This is not a substitute for that, you know, but once you're starting to branch out, educate yourself, align yourself with like-minded, you know, groups and, and, and all that.

And it's okay not to know. Everyone starts at some point. You know, I, I find myself learning every day and so do you Alex, you know, but I think starting there and then honestly starting as a limited partner, you know, I think that's the best education for something that vibes with you. Uh, it can be an asset class that makes sense financially.

But that you also find kind of interesting, you know, and kind of just take it from there. You'll declare yourself where you're most interested in, and then you'll spark a passion there. And then you'll just kind of really, you know, go down the rabbit hole and start devouring information. And before you know it, you know, two or three years down the road, you know, you're, you've completely expanded your fund of knowledge there, you know.

Dr. Alex Schloe: Yeah, that's, that's a fantastic answer. I, I completely agree. And I think a lot of times you get stuck in that, um, shiny object syndrome and analysis paralysis. And, you know, I, I tell folks all the time, I don't think shiny object syndrome is like. A bad thing, right? Like I, I look at it kind of as you're getting start.

When you're getting started, you're, you're going to the ice cream shop and there's a bunch of different flavors and each of those flavors are a different asset class. And it's okay to ask for a free sample, and maybe that's making a small investment in one of those asset classes. Then once you figure out what you really like, like that's what you're getting the, the couple scoops of ice cream, right?

So, I think that's a great way to do it. I mean, for me, like, I mean, I think I went through almost every asset class before I landed on assisted living and absolutely love it, right? And so it is okay to, to, to do some sampling and, and see what fits and what fits. You know, your goals too, right? Like some of these asset classes are gonna cash flow way more.

Some are gonna appreciate more, some are gonna have more tax benefits. And so figure out what your. Man, figure out what your, what your game plan is, what your strategy is, what are your goals, right? If you're like, Hey, I just wanna, I just want to keep working my W2 and I just want all the tax benefits that might change what you want to invest in.

If you're like, Hey, I really want cash flow, that's gonna change it as well. And so figure out what your, you know, one year, three year, five year. Vision is and really spend some time to like really nail that down and then work backwards and you'll see like it's really not that difficult if you can get through med school board exams, residency, like you can totally do this.

Um, and so just get started.

Dr. Yasser Rodriguez: I think that's a great message. Like you can totally do that. There's nothing, you know, like both Alex and myself, it just starts with, you know, finding a why, you know? And I think both of us, we both have, well, just about five year olds, we both kind of have a similar timetable by coincidence, you know?

But. For me, it, it's not so much that I'm chasing material objects, like, oh, I want a shiny car parked in my garage. Like, don't get me wrong. Yeah, sure. That's nice and all, but my personal why is just, I want just agency. Like I want empowerment, like I wanna choose how I wanna spend my time. You know, and, and where to spend my time.

You know, family is very important to me and that's really my why and that's what lights the fire. 'cause you're going to need something to keep that fire going. And you know, maybe some people do like shiny objects and that's fine, you know, uh, to each his own or whatever. But when, you know, it's, it's, it's.

There's always ups and downs to anything, you know, and especially during the down moments and stuff, your why is what's gonna guide you through, you know, you're always gonna remind yourself of why you're doing this in the first place, you know?

Dr. Alex Schloe: Yeah. The, the entrepreneurial journey is, is also very difficult. And, uh, yeah, you have to have, you gotta have that. Why else you're gonna be like, man, why am I, why am I doing this? What's this all worth? You know? Why am I up at eight 14 Mountain time, 10 14, I think for you in Miami doing a podcast, right?

It's like, hey, well we want to give back, to other physicians and help them, you know, really grow and excel and have a lot more opportunity than we had when we were in medical school. And so, um, yeah, it's just, you gotta figure out what that is, what you're passionate about, and just get after it. I love that.

Well, I wanna be respectful of your time. What's, uh, what's something you're working on and it sounds like it's this upcoming deal. What's something that you're working on right now that you're really passionate about?

Dr. Yasser Rodriguez: Yeah. So, yeah, so what I mentioned a little bit ago was, , later this month, uh, well this is gonna air in a little bit, but in, at the end of January, , we're gonna have a formal, webinar about a med tech opportunity. So, the group that I mentioned, they are a fantastic group. Collectively, they've already cleared 21 FDA products, which to clear one is challenging.

These guys have done it 21 times. And, it is a who's who their CFO is from, you know, former striker, you know, which is a big, medical supply company. And, and these guys are really seasoned successful. So they designed a, um, creatively called a Corona blade. But anyways, it's a glass coated, plasma blade, which is a finesse, it's almost like a replacement to the Bovie.

Which is like a universal surgical tool. Well, anyways, , he designed this from the ground up, and it's a fantastic piece of equipment. And then, , it's coupled with, , a surgical lens which could see blood flow and bacteria. Actually, and lastly, that's coupled with an AI copilot. So during a surgery, open surgery, uh, you're gonna have a little lens.

And it's all cost effective. You know, it's disposables only, there's not like capital expenditures or anything like that with machine learning to kind of help surgeons make better decisions. You know, targeting first my field, which is electrophysiology and surgical oncology, but also looking at wound debridement and stuff like that, you know, which has a.

29% failure rate, you know, in those surgeries. So these, this device is well under its way, you know, so in, at the end of January, it's actually, uh, the first full, I've been approached many times for med tech, but this is the first one and I'm like, okay, these guys are legitimate, you know? So we're going, we're going in with that one.

Um, and we're gonna do, you know, we're already soft commence, well exceeded our million dollar raise. But on paper it's a $1 million raise, but we've already exceeded that on soft commits. But we'll be announcing that one at the end of , January. And like I said, you know, that has a potential for. Many multiples, like his last project did, of a return and more importantly tax advantage, because it is a small business and therefore could, avoid, you know, any, federal taxes, not state, but federal taxes, which is huge, you know, so, so that's something that, I have been working on in December and getting ready here in January.

Uh, so it's been great. It's been great to see how med tech is developed, like from the idea to the prototypes to the animal testing and then the funding and the investment component, which is like ironic 'cause us being in healthcare, we have like no exposure to that aspect and we're the ones that are best positioned to make decisions about what is good and what isn't in medicine 'cause we use it.

So it's been a fantastic experience so far. Yeah. That's our, our project to start 2026 in.

Dr. Alex Schloe: That's awesome, man. Very, very cool. Yeah, and it's just a perfect example of like, there's, there's a million ways to make a million bucks and, uh, med tech ano another way that you can do it, you know, multifamily, you know, short-term rentals, long-term rentals, boutique hotels. I mean, there's so many different opportunities out there.

So figure out what you're passionate about and, and get after it and, and be willing to take a little bit of risk. 'cause the reward can, can certainly be worth it. And obviously. Do all your financial due diligence and talk to, you know, your tax professionals and your attorney and all those sorts of things, but figure out if it's a good opportunity for you.

So that's really cool. I'd love to learn more about that. It's, it's fascinating. I, I try and think about all the time, like, how can I come up with something, that, could be used like that? You know, the thing that always comes up in my mind that I'm like. Why did I not think of that as the nose Frida, right?

Dr. Yasser Rodriguez: Oh, I

Dr. Alex Schloe: family medicine doc and pediatrician, and now every parent in the world has a nose freedom. I'm like, dude, it's just a snot sucker. Like how do we not come up with that? And so, uh. Yeah. If anybody knows the doc that started that, I'd love to have her on the podcast. Yeah. 'cause she

Dr. Yasser Rodriguez: Our personal hero.

Dr. Alex Schloe: Uh, yeah. So cool. So I'm like, man, what's the nose Frida that I can come up with

Dr. Yasser Rodriguez: Uh, I know, man.

Dr. Alex Schloe: But I'm an idea man. I'm not, I, I struggle with the implementation. So if, if someone's a implementer, I have a, I got a bunch of ideas. But, yeah man. Well, this has been awesome. Well, before, before we wrap things up, do you mind sharing how folks can reach out to you if they wanna learn more about this opportunity or they want to connect with you?

Dr. Yasser Rodriguez: Yeah, sure. I think, um, , two main ways I think you'll be sharing, links wise, but our website is www dot cardia with a c. REI, which stands for realestate investments.com. So cardia, RE i.com. And we also have a Facebook group, you know, facebook.com/groups/cardia partners, you know, so that's like a, you know, private little group, where it's mainly physicians and healthcare professionals.

And again, we just kind of just share, you know, resources. You know, tax resources, education, and then, you know, webinars, case studies, so on, so forth. You know, Alex has a fantastic group. If you're listening to this, you should. Be part of it. I mean, come on. But, um, these are the groups with like-minded, it's kinda like small little groups of survivors, you know, these like-minded physicians.

It's like refreshing, like you're not gonna get shamed or anything by talking about finances, you know? Or no Scarlet letter, you know, you're amongst friends, you know? So,

Dr. Alex Schloe: Yeah,

Dr. Yasser Rodriguez: I think those are the two ways. Those are the two ways.

Dr. Alex Schloe: Yeah, we'll include those links for sure in the show notes. And oh, man, this has been really fun. A long time coming, and I really appreciate, appreciate your time. Happy early birthday. As of the recording, by the time this comes out, it'll probably be after your birthday. So everyone reach out to, to Dr.

Rodriguez, give him happy birthday and, check out that webinar. But, uh, with that we'll go ahead and wrap things up. It's been Dr. Yasser Rodriguez and Dr. Alex Schloe with another episode of the Physicians and Properties Podcast, signing off.

Hey, real quick, if you're still listening to this, I'm assuming you got value from it, so I need your help. Specifically, my two year vision with this podcast is to help 100,000 physicians learn how investing in real estate can give you the freedom to practice medicine and live life how you want. There are two main ways that a podcast grows.

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