Can You Use Retirement Funds to Buy Real Estate? Self-Directed IRA Tips with Collin Taylor

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Show Summary

In this episode of the Real Estate Pros Podcast, host Quentin Edmonds interviews Collin Taylor, CISP, a Houston-based financial professional specializing in alternative investments and real estate. Collin shares his journey from growing up in a family of real estate investors to working in holistic financial planning, interning at Quest Trust Company, and eventually joining Inspira Financial after Quest’s acquisition. He discusses challenges faced during the company transition, the importance of adaptability in business, and his focus on helping real estate investors and sponsors grow their enterprises. The conversation also highlights Collin’s philosophy on relationships, mentorship, and community as keys to long-term success.

Resources and Links from this show:

• • • Investor Fuel Real Estate Mastermind
    • Investor Machine Real Estate Lead Generation
    • Mike on Facebook
    • Mike on Instagram
    • Mike on LinkedIn
    • Inspira Financial’s Website
    • Collin Taylor on LinkedIn
    • Collin Taylor’s Email: [email protected]
    • Collin Taylor’s Phone Number: (630)288-6755

  Listen to the Audio Version of this Episode

  Investor Fuel Show Transcript:

  Collin Taylor, CISP (00:00)
  So essentially, we are connecting people using 401k money, IRA money, any type of qualified or retirement funds, and allowing those folks to go through a custodian like ourselves and invest it into the private market.

  hedge funds, equities, private stock, real estate is especially a big one, private lending, any kind of promissory notes, things like that.

  Quentin (01:56)
  Hello everyone. Welcome to the Real Estate Pros podcast. I am your host, Edmonds, and I’m excited to be here today. I have another fantastic guest and I have a gentleman. I appreciate his perseverance. I appreciate his patience and I’m glad that we finally are connecting and we’re here today. And I believe you’re going to find some great, great nuggets about what it is that he wants to talk about. And I’m not going to do too much leeway because I want to dive in. I want you to hear from his mouth.

  Collin Taylor, CISP (01:58)
  Thank you.

  Quentin (02:26)
  what it is that he do. And so I just want to introduce you all to Mr. Collin Taylor. Mr. Collin, how you doing today,

  Collin Taylor, CISP (02:33)
  I’m doing great man, it’s a pleasure to be here and yeah, like you said, I’m glad we finally put it all together.

  Quentin (02:40)
  Yes,

  same man. And I appreciate you, man. I appreciate the time. I tell people, you literally could be anywhere else in the world. You can be doing whatever you want to do, but you’re spending time with us. So we appreciate that. And so I want to dive in. I would love for you to tell the people what your main focus is these days, like what you’re into. Collin, people give us a little bit of a gorgeous story, kind of how you got to where you are and kind how you got to ball rolling and knowing what you do. We love that. And then Jay Grefley, man, they love to know where you are in the world.

  something that people like so you can just sell them where you are they love that too and so Collin sir you got the floor man

  Collin Taylor, CISP (03:15)
  Yeah, yeah, absolutely. I appreciate it.

  So yeah, my name is Collin Taylor. I was born and raised in Houston, Texas. That’s where I’m still located now. Certainly, I mean, Houston is probably a big part of my growth and like trajectory getting into the real estate space. So from a young age, I would say probably when I was nine or 10, my parents got into real estate investing themselves. My dad worked his whole career in oil and gas.

  which is kind of what brought us to Houston ⁓ or rather brought him to Houston. But they got into real estate investing when I was young. So I got to learn from a pretty young age. You the impact that had on our family, they started doing fix and flips on different properties around the area. And now they invest in mobile home parks. So they actually run and own and manage a park that’s not too far outside of Houston, but they’ve had a lot of success with that.

  I’ve got to see firsthand the value that that’s brought to my parents. so growing up and even going through high school and then eventually going to college, ⁓ I wanted to do something that kind of surrounded that. I was really interested in financial planning at first. So that was sort of the career path I took after I graduated from TechSignM here, kind of local.

  ⁓ I went into doing holistic financial planning. we were doing tax planning, estate planning, risk management, portfolio allocation, everything that would kind of intertwine in a financial plan, right? Wealth managing. ⁓ So I did that first in time. I actually interned with a group by the name of Quest Trust Company for any Texas locals, maybe more familiar with. So Quest,

  was a group that did ⁓ alternative assets through retirement accounts, self-directed IRAs for those that are familiar.

  So essentially, we are connecting people using 401k money, IRA money, any type of qualified or retirement funds, and allowing those folks to go through a custodian like ourselves and invest it into the private market.

  hedge funds, equities, private stock, real estate is especially a big one, private lending, any kind of promissory notes, things like that.

  So we really handle it all. But going back to my days with Quest, I interned with that group while I was in school. They gave me an opportunity to come back. So that’s what I did. That’s kind how I got more into the alternative investment space and particularly in real estate. Quest was acquired about a year and a half ago now.

  And so now we are under the the brand of Inspire Financial and that’s how I find myself here today

  You know, for the last several months, I’ve been doing a lot of business development with the company. And I kind of started off in more of a more of like a planning role, ⁓ sort of, you know, retirement specialist related, and that’s grown into doing more business development with the group trying to focus on other

  you know, investment sponsors, capital raisers, maybe people that are just kind of breaking out into the space and looking to grow their real estate business.

  Quentin (07:24)
  Yeah, I love it, man. Thank you for walking

  us through your journey, letting us know where you are now. And as you was talking, I was just, know, just writing things down, know, born and raised in Houston. Your parents was in real estate. I’m an intern with Quest who now, you know, now you’re about to inspire. And man, just, I love, I love your story and I love how you walk us up and so it, and Collin, I have a saying where I say destiny has no wasted moments, right? Man, and no matter what you go through in life, these moments kind of make us who we are today.

  And so when I just listened to your journey and just going through just different destination and just different moments in your life, would love to know, leading up to this real estate space, what has these moments taught you about yourself? Has it taught you discipline, resilience, stick to it if this was one of my favorite words. just like saying it. What has these moments taught you about yourself, Collin?

  Collin Taylor, CISP (08:17)
  you know, I think, that’s a really great question. I think I tend to be ⁓ a very competitive person, you know, naturally have always been that way. think kind of growing in the financial space and even more particularly in the real estate, I’ve learned how to harness that, you know, and turn it into something that can be

  valuable for a lot of people. found that I’m well, I was knew I was a very big people person, but I found that I really like not only working with people, but helping people. So I’ve tried to harness that competitiveness into something that is very eccentric and expanding and helping the people around me grow. That is something that I find, you know,

  very exciting, obviously other people find valuable and it’s just a big part of who I am and who I’ve become.

  Quentin (09:19)
  Yeah. Thank

  you, man. Thank you for answering that. You know, one of the big things that we do here, we want people to have clarity and recognition about themselves, right? Because we know who you are, but you can harness your power because you know, as we keep going on in life and in business, we’re going to run into some obstacles, right? We’re going to run into some, some, ⁓ I can’t even think of the word, ⁓ Lord, I’m drawing a blank, but we’re going to run into some obstacles, right? And

  Collin Taylor, CISP (09:27)
  Yeah.

  Quentin (09:46)
  When you know who you are, you know what to do. When you know how to harness your power, you know how to say like, we may hit this road bump here, but we’re going to get past this because this is who I am. I know exactly who I am. So have you come up adversity? That’s the word I was looking for, Collin. Have you come up against any adversity as you was building, as you was on your way to success? Has adversity found you? And if it has, how did it look and how did you overcome it?

  Collin Taylor, CISP (10:01)
  Yeah, yeah.

  Yeah, absolutely. I think one point in my career that I would speak to was, you know, I already mentioned it, just about a year and a half ago when our company was acquired. I mean, I’ll tell you a little bit about Quest just to kind of set the foundation for this because Quest was, you know, we weren’t the smallest custodian in the industry, but we prioritized our local market a lot. And we were, you know,

  more of a nationally recognized brand to an extent. Houston was home based, Texas was a major priority for us. So ⁓ we did a lot of business with the folks around us, as everybody tends to do and is more comfortable with. ⁓ moving to a group that’s now, I’m still in Houston, but the company is based in Chicago. So a lot of us work remotely.

  We went from a company size of about 100 in our heyday about 130 employees to over 3000. ⁓ So we have, you know, things have changed ⁓ a lot and in some ways for the better.

  So, I think that’s a great question. And actually the first thing that comes to mind is something that I sort of already alluded to, but just about a year and a half ago when Quest was acquired by Inspira, that was certainly a big point of contention in my career. And to kind of the foundation a little bit more on Quest, ⁓ we were, so obviously Houston based, right? But we were certainly ⁓ more,

  locally focused, if you will. We like to plan our backyard. We had somewhat of a national brand, but we were really focused on the people around us, as people tend to be. That’s a comfortable thing. ⁓ going from that to a company like Quest that was a hundred and

  Quentin (12:45)
  This is

  crazy.

  Collin Taylor, CISP (12:46)
  30

  people at our best to a group under Inspira that is 3,000 employees. It’s a big, big difference. And that brought a lot of challenges to not only our group, but our investors, our clientele.

  Collin Taylor, CISP (13:04)
  So Quest in the heyday was probably about 130 employees or so and transitioning to Inspira who has over 3000 employees, it’s just a, it’s a different animal. It’s a much bigger world, The market has increased exponentially.

  And you just kind of have to learn to be adaptable, right? And overcoming, I think, challenges and adversity, adaptability is a huge part of that. So, ⁓ you know, our clients had to learn to, you know, interact a little bit differently. We obviously had to overcome a lot ⁓ with the transition and people changing, you know, errors and things going wrong, not exactly as planned.

  That was certainly a big point of, like I said, contention in my career that, ⁓ you know, something admittedly we’re still going through. You know, there are some issues not totally resolved yet. ⁓ But, you know, it’s something that I think Inspira has really stepped up to the challenge of completing and has been going well up to this point where I think we’re almost there.

  Quentin (14:14)
  Yeah, love it, man. Love it. Now tell me this. What is

  the next real goal for Inspira? What are you guys looking to solve at scale next?

  Collin Taylor, CISP (14:23)
  So Inspira has really been in acquisition mode for several years now. So Quest was just a piece of that puzzle. ⁓ And we are trying to position ourselves more as a holistic financial services company. So doing not only like the alternative investment piece, but we also have another side of the business that handles health and benefits, doing corporate health plans.

  We have a group that does 1031 exchanges. know that’s a big one for real estate investors, right? Alternative asset cut. So, so there’s a lot, right? All that to say, ⁓ you know, growth is a big priority of ours right now. It’s something that we’re obviously capable of taking on a lot of. And specifically for my group, my enterprise within Inspira.

  ⁓ We’re really looking to expand, ⁓ know what I mentioned earlier expanding ⁓ with a more institutional focus trying to really have the individual investor side down those people that are just you know trying to invest in fix and flips and individual properties and all that so that that part is built out where we’re really looking to expand is Like I said with with groups ⁓ investment sponsors people people that all you know have ⁓

  maybe starting a business or have a real estate ⁓ investment business that they’re looking to grow. That is, I think, where we have the biggest opportunity to impact.

  Quentin (16:31)
  Love it,

  love it. Let me ask you this one last question, man. I want to talk to you a little bit about relationships. I would love to know what is your philosophy with building healthy business relationships, especially within the space that you’re in. Like, is relationships a premium for you? Talk to me a little bit about relationships and your philosophy on

  Collin Taylor, CISP (16:51)
  Relationships, I think, is the biggest thing. ⁓ It’s the common factor that transcends all industries, right? ⁓ A lot of people like to say your network is your net worth, and I’m a huge, huge believer in that. think the relationships are the most important part. It is one of the most important parts of what we do, right? So that’s incredibly important to me. I’ve had a lot of mentors.

  ⁓ Growing up, I mentioned I learned a lot from my parents, but also kind of breaking out into the space myself from the financial side to the real estate side and everywhere in between. ⁓ I’ve learned a lot from a lot of different people and maintaining those relationships, the people who got you to where you are today and the people who are gonna help you get where you’re going. That’s kind of cliche, but I just think, yeah, that’s very valuable.

  Quentin (17:46)
  Yeah, I hear

  you. it is, you know, community is so much healing happens in community and healing means like just to be made whole, right? And so when you are surrounded by people like minded people that’s in common unity, you are made whole. Like you are, it helps your mentality, it helps your finances. It helps just you be rooted in a place of knowing that you have help if you need it. So I think community and relationship is a huge thing. And I love the way you said it.

  Collin Taylor, CISP (17:50)
  Hahaha!

  Quentin (18:14)
  I’m like, we on this journey. just got people that we just want to help us out. And so I love it. ⁓ man, this is her, if someone wanted to reach out to you, connect with you, collaborate with you, learn more about what you’re doing, how can they get in contact with you,

  Collin Taylor, CISP (18:20)
  Yep.

  Yeah, you can you can check out our website, which is Inspirafinancial , I n s p IRA financial. Feel free to reach me. You can email me call me my number is 630 288 6755. Email is just first name dot last name [email protected].

  Connect with me, I’ll get you happy to have a conversation with anybody, happy to route you to my team who can also help more in the way of individual investors. But anybody, please feel free to come through. Yeah, happy to help.

  Quentin (19:07)
  So Collin, man, I want to say three things to you, sir. First, thank you for your time. I appreciate your time. I appreciate your patience. I appreciate you sticking with us. Thank you so much for your time. You could have been anywhere in the world, man, but you was here. Thank you so much. Secondly, man, thank you for your story. I believe our stories have a way of planting seeds in people. We may never see the growth.

  But it planted a seed and sometimes it’s like course correction. Sometimes it’s like this aha moment. And so I thank you for coming and sharing your narrative. And lastly, man, thank you for your perspective, for your mindset and bringing that mindset to this platform. I greatly appreciate you coming through today,

  Collin Taylor, CISP (19:37)
  Yeah.

  Quentin it’s been a pleasure to be here. that’s the only thing I gotta say. I appreciate you having me on.

  Quentin (19:53)
  Absolutely. Well, listen, y’all heard Mr. Collin check the show notes, check him out, get collaborate with him, get in contact with him because he’s going to help you out. But definitely make sure you’re subscribed here because I promise you we’re going to continue to bring up amazing people just like Mr. Collin. So sir, I say thank you again, man. And everyone else listen, you’ll have a fantastic day.