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Show Summary
In this episode of the Real Estate Pros podcast, host Q Edmonds interviews Tom Laune, a financial consultant who specializes in helping real estate investors create wealth through innovative strategies. Tom shares his journey from a successful career in the music industry to becoming a financial expert, emphasizing the importance of understanding how to leverage money effectively. He introduces his Bulletproof Wealth Strategy, which utilizes life insurance to create liquidity and growth for investors. The conversation also explores personal and business strategies for success, the mindset of real estate investors, and Tom’s future goals, including writing a book.
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Investor Fuel Show Transcript:
Tom Laune (00:00)
if you put a hundred thousand dollars in a bank and the bank pays you 3%, the bank is paying you $3,000 for the use of that hundred thousand. And then the bank is turning around and lending it out at 9%. Well, that’s the bank making 9,000. Okay.So they’re spending three to make nine and that is a 200 % return because they’re just using your money to lend out to somebody else and they’re making the spread.
Quentin Edmonds (02:01)
Hello, everyone. Welcome to the Real Estate Pros podcast. I am your host, Q Edmonds. Super excited to be here today. You guys know one of the great things about this and what we do is that I get to meet new incredible people and we get to peek through their lens. They are the expert at what they do. They have a unique perspective of what they do. They have unique things that brought them to where they are and why they do what they do.And today is no different. I have someone here, listen, he’s going to tell you how to put money and have money work for you in three different places. And so he’s going to tell you that, but also he’s probably going to tell you some of his origin story of how he got to where he is. But I’m so excited to introduce you guys to Mr. Laune Mr. Tom, how you doing today, sir?
Tom Laune (02:53)
I’m doing really well. Thank you so much for having me on your podcast today. I’m looking forward to this conversation for sure.Quentin Edmonds (02:59)
Absolutely, me too, sir. take us into your world. Tell people what your main focus is these days. If you want to give us an origin story, we love origin stories about maybe how you got into what you do. And then also tell them, if you don’t mind, what part of the world you’re in, like what markets and areas that you serve. And so Mr. Tom, sir, the floor is yours.Tom Laune (03:18)
Awesome. Well, listen, I, first of all, I live in Tennessee and I actually serve the entire United States. So I’m, I’m licensed to work in all 50 States and I really enjoy that option. And in the kind of virtual world we’re in today, I, know, it’s, it’s no problem because I meet people on zoom, you know, pretty much all day long and it’s, great.What I do is I help real estate investors primarily is my main people I work with create a line of credit using specially designed life insurance that allows them to use their money in three places at the same time. So it’s a really unique strategy and real estate investors absolutely love it ⁓ because there’s one thing that is unique that I found about real estate investors.
that other normal people don’t have. And that is that when they have access to their own money, they know what to do with it versus a traditional investor wants somebody else to manage it for them, right? So they want to put their money in the market. ⁓ Traditional investors want to put their money in the market, but real estate investors, they want to go out and buy another house. They want to get that next multifamily property or they want to do a self-storage facility.
Um, that’s personally what I do. I’m a partner in a self storage facility and really enjoy that, um, for my own real estate investing, but I’ve been working with real estate investors now since 2013. So it’s quite a while and it’s really been good for me to understand what their, um, you know, motivation is and what they’re really looking for in a, you know, in a place to put their money.
So a lot of times.
just having that safe place to store capital where you know it’s gonna grow, but the thing is it needs to be liquid. In other words, you need to have access to it when that really good deal comes along. So that is why my Bulletproof Wealth Strategy has been super, super helpful for these people. ⁓ So anyways, that’s kind of the gist of what I do and I’ll go into more details with you, but.
The unique thing about how I got started in this business is I was in the music business for 29 years and I was working as a professional mix engineer and producer. And I was able to work with just some amazing artists like Bruce Springsteen and REM. did their green album and that came out in the late eighties.
Quentin Edmonds (06:42)
ThankTom Laune (06:48)
I was doing this for 30 years. did a lot of contemporary Christian music. I co-produced an album with Michael W. Smith. was actually the largest selling album of his career. So I really had some great, I’d probably did 300 or so different artists in the Christian music industry as well. And it was just amazing run, but how that kind of came to an end was I…got a partial hearing loss, unfortunately, that prevented me from doing this. But one of the things that was cool, mean, really exciting honestly, was that I had a financial advisor recommend that I get a special disability policy just on my hearing. And so that thing paid off. And when I lost hearing and wasn’t able to continue working in music, I was able to go back to school.
And I wanted to figure out a way to help people not experience the same thing that I did, you know, or at least experience the good part, which is I didn’t lose my, ⁓ you know, house and I didn’t have to go work at Home Depot or whatever. Not that there’s anything wrong with that, but I’m just saying it was a very good opportunity for me to have five years to go back to school and start a new profession.
which is exactly what I did. I went back and got four financial designations. So I’m a Chartered Financial Consultant, a Chartered Life Underwriter, a Chartered Special Needs Consultant, and a Retirement Income Planning Specialist. So I have a lot of background, a lot of education in what I’ve been doing now since 2013. And I’m just super excited to be able to communicate this to people because there’s so many real estate investors out there.
Quentin Edmonds (08:14)
Hmm.Tom Laune (08:38)
That have never heard that you can save money inside of a life insurance policy, as long as it’s done right. And be able to access that capital when you need it and be able to ⁓ grow it at the same time. The thing that is really wild is, is that it’s continuing to grow even while you use it because you’re using it through collateralization. So anyways, that’s kind of the.the gist of it, but I love teaching people how banks make money. I love teaching people about what collateral capacity is. And it’s just been a real joy to be able to do this.
Quentin Edmonds (09:16)
Absolutely. Thank you for taking us down the trip to how, and the, know, the lane of how you got to where you are now. I love to hear where you’re, I’m loving to hear where your specialty is. If you would talk to my wife, my number one problem that I have with some albums is I say to her, I don’t like the mix on here. I just, I just do not like the mix. I tell her that all the time. And, you know, I’ve had the privilege of being a lyric writer. I’ve produced some, some stage plays and I’ve executive produced the album.Tom Laune (09:23)
Sure.Quentin Edmonds (09:45)
And so just hearing you talk about the mix, that’s always the issue. My sister has a song going on. I’m just like, I don’t like how they mix their voice. know, so just hearing you and Michael W. Smiths and know, one of my artists that we listen to a lot here in our home. And just to hear your extreme, you know, catalog of people that you work with. For me, that’s very, very exciting. And so thank you so much for mentioning that. I found great joy in listening to your story.Tom Laune (09:46)
Cool.Yeah.
That’s Sure.
Quentin Edmonds (10:14)
⁓ now, Mr. Tom, I want to talk to you about strategies, right? And I want, I want it in two different ways. I want to know some of the business strategies that you use that has helped you be successful. But Mr. Tom, I want to know about some personal strategies also that you’ve used over the years or even now, ⁓ to help you be successful. And when I say that I’m talking about, you know, meditation, I’m talking about, you know, ⁓ walking, exercising, like any kind of strategy personally.that you feel like is beneficial to you. I would love to hear about that as well.
Tom Laune (11:21)
Sure. Well, I’ll just start out by saying I’m a Christian, a believer, and my number one strategy is daily Bible reading. I just think that filling yourself up with truth is the most important thing. And that way you can spot a counterfeit, right? If you, you know, if you don’t have a really good structure or a really good base knowledge of what truth is, it’s, people are getting pushed around byQuentin Edmonds (11:35)
Hoo hoo!Tom Laune (11:50)
stuff that’s not real all the time. And it’s kind of getting scary, you know, and it just shows that there’s a lack of that foundation. And I don’t know any other book that is anywhere close to as many truth bombs as the Bible. So that’s, that’s number one. And, you know, one thing that is another thing is, is I love having a wonderful little dog that allows me towalk him three times a day because that’s one of the things that gets me great exercise. you know, just having that, that demand on you to do that makes you go, okay, this is a good, good way to get out and get fresh air and get exercise. So if you don’t have a good pet, I would recommend getting one as well. So that, that’s some personal stuff. And on, on the business front,
Quentin Edmonds (12:25)
⁓ huh.Absolutely.
Tom Laune (12:39)
The main thing that I look for is I look for ways to perform interest rate arbitrage. And what I mean by that is I look for ways to earn more money by putting my money to work than I’m having to pay an institution for the use of that money. So it took me a long time to come to this understanding, but the way banks make money is different than what most people think.So most people think that when you deposit money into a bank, that that deposit is an asset to the bank. Like if you were to take money, $100,000 for example, and throw it into a bank, you would think that the bank would be like, yeah, that’s $100,000. That’s an asset to me. In fact, the truth is, that banks look at those new deposits and they go, shoot, now we got to put this money to work.
Quentin Edmonds (13:35)
Mmm.Tom Laune (13:36)
Andin the meantime, before we can put it to work, we have to pay this guy interest. Well, anytime that they’re having to pay interest on a deposit, that is a liability because it’s taking money out of the bank’s pocket. Does that make sense? So when they’re, when they are ⁓ getting those deposits in, they’re immediately looking for ways to put that money to work. And how do they put money to work is through loans, right?
Quentin Edmonds (13:51)
Make sense?Tom Laune (14:03)
So if a bank is paying, for example, 3 % interest on a high yield savings account to somebody, but then they go out and make a 9 % loan, what rate of return is the bank making? Okay, I ask that to people all the time in different conferences and things I speak at, and I cannot tell you how many times people say, I know the answer to that, the bank’s making 6%.And I’m like, oh my goodness. One of my favorite things to help people understand is that that is not how money works. Okay. And what’s going on there is that
if you put a hundred thousand dollars in a bank and the bank pays you 3%, the bank is paying you $3,000 for the use of that hundred thousand. And then the bank is turning around and lending it out at 9%. Well, that’s the bank making 9,000. Okay.
So they’re spending three to make nine and that is a 200 % return because they’re just using your money to lend out to somebody else and they’re making the spread.
So the way that I really love getting fired up about teaching this to people is that you can do the same thing too. You guys have the ability to make money like banks do.
but the whole secret to it is positioning your capital in the first place to be able to borrow against it and then be able to put it into an investment earning a higher rate of return than the cost of your money is. So if you are putting $100,000 into, for example, a cash value line of credit using life insurance and you borrowed it at 6 % because you collateralized it,
and you put it into a real estate deal and made 18%. Now, what is your rate of return? And the answer is it’s not 12%, okay? So if you put money in at six and make 18, you’re making that same 200 % rate of return that the bank is making. So it’s just super exciting to see people’s, the light bulb go off in people’s minds of, my goodness, you mean I can put my money?
to work and have it make money like banks make money? And the answer is yes, if you position it properly. Does that make sense?
Quentin Edmonds (17:07)
Makes sense, makes sense to me. Mr. Tom, I don’t think I’ve had anybody on that has took me from a wide range of emotions. You had me just totally giddy talking ⁓ about your dog, talking about Jesus and the word, which I absolutely love, to talking about banks that got me totally furious and frustrated.Tom Laune (17:10)
That’s cool.Quentin Edmonds (17:32)
And then you gave me hope and said, but no, you can do the same thing too. So I was just on this pendulum, like this ride of emotions. so you’re a great storyteller, but no, what you said, thank you. I’m sure our viewers are getting a ton of value out of what you said. And I love how one of your primary things is to help the real estate investors. And I don’t know if you said it here or if you said it before.Tom Laune (17:57)
Yes.Quentin Edmonds (18:00)
But you might have said it here, you love the way real estate investors, the way they think because they know what to do with their money. You know, you love working with people like that, correct? Yeah. Yeah.Tom Laune (18:10)
Yes, a hundred percent. love it becausehonestly, the normal person really is trying to give their money to somebody and hope that that other person makes money with it, right? And I have a little funny saying for that. And that is, is I feel like that they’re smoking hopium. Just because they’re just hoping, but they don’t know, man. They don’t know.
Quentin Edmonds (18:23)
Yeah.Ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh,
Tom Laune (18:36)
If it’s going to, you know, if it’s going to do anything, but the real estate investor, theyQuentin Edmonds (18:38)
Yeah, yeah, hope you.Tom Laune (18:42)
know their market, right? I mean, the thing with real estate is that it’s, it’s a micro market, meaning that real estate could be doing great in Nashville and it could be doing terrible in California or vice versa. And you have to know your market. And if you understand what’s going on in your market, you can do well. It doesn’t matter what’s going on in the other parts of the country.Quentin Edmonds (19:05)
Yeah. Yeah.Tom Laune (19:06)
⁓ soanyways, that’s, that’s one of the things that I really appreciate about working with so many different real estate investors from all over the United States. It’s, it’s really cool.
Quentin Edmonds (19:15)
Yeah.Yeah. I’m going say this and I have to say it briefly and then I’ll ask you another question. But as you was talking, I really just started to think and I really believe it was the Holy Spirit because one of the things I wrote down that you said is that you love teaching. And I’m really looking at what you do kind of like as ministry. I’m thinking about the gifts of the talents when it was given talents and
Some of them buried it. Some of them, you know, they didn’t, you know, they didn’t go out and get into return on investment, you know, and the master was like, you know, if that’s what you really should have done, you should have invested in it and got a return on the investment. What you said and what you do, you teach people how to be good stores for their money. And like you said, Hopium, I can’t even say how you said it. I wrote it down, but I still can’t say it. Hopium. Hopium. Like,
Tom Laune (20:04)
It’s smoking hopium.Quentin Edmonds (20:10)
Some of us, we smoke hopium because we don’t know what to do. Like you said, we want to give money to people just hoping that they know what to do with it. And honestly, that’s really not being a good steward of your money. Like you need to know. And this is why I love the fact that you’re here, the fact that you said you love teaching, because to somebody who was in the same clan and had the same creed that we have when it comes to the word of God.is really helping us to know how to be good stewards of the money that we have. That way we don’t have to hope we can know what we’re doing and know that this can be the best return for the investment that the talent or the money or the resource that was given to us. Does that make sense, Mr. Tom?
Tom Laune (20:57)
Yeah, very much. That’s a wonderful way to put it. really, I really liked that for sure. Yeah, it is. It’s, it is really exciting when the light bulb turns off for people. Then they go, wait a minute now. Okay. I think that I can do this. Right. And you just have to have some self-confidence and look, I’m not saying that everything works out perfectly in the real estate world.Quentin Edmonds (21:03)
Yeah, yeah.Tom Laune (21:22)
But normally people are taking control of their own future as much as they can. Meaning like they’re, they’re researching the heck out of that area before they buy a house. They’re not going to buy a house in an area, for example, to flip. If they happen to be doing fix and flipping, they’re not going to do that. If they don’t feel like they can make a return on it. ⁓ and they’re in control in a lot of ways as to, you know,Quentin Edmonds (21:28)
Yeah.Tom Laune (21:49)
really how much return they’re gonna make. And a lot of that goes into, ⁓ you you make money on the buy side, meaning you get a good deal on the house, and then it’s not hard to get a return, you know?Quentin Edmonds (22:01)
Yeah.Yeah. Yeah. Nah, I, you know, being ignorant and willfully ignorant is two totally different things. Right. Some things you just, you just don’t know. Right. You just don’t know what you don’t know. But once the light bulb, once the light bulb go on, you can now you can be willfully ignorant if you want to be, but once the light bulb go on, if you know better, you can do better. And that’s why I’m so excited about having you on. Listen, Mr. Tom, what’s, what’s next for you? What’s the next real goal for you, sir?
Tom Laune (22:08)
Yeah. Yeah. Exactly.So my next goal is that I’ve started working on a book and I got about, yeah, I don’t know, a third of the way in, and then I fizzled out on it. And my, my goal for 2026 is to get that thing going again and get it done, you know? So I really am excited about that. And hopefully if, you know, a year from now or whatever, I’ll be back on your podcast and I’ll be talking about that.
Quentin Edmonds (22:52)
Listen, I love it and I cannot wait for it, man. I’m excited about it. And I’ll tell you more about my excitement later on. I want to squeeze everything we can out of our time here. So listen, listen, you have been phenomenal. You have dropped value and nuggets. If someone wanted to reach out to you, connect with you, collaborate with you, learn more about what you’re doing, what’s the best way for them to reach out to you,Tom Laune (22:53)
youOkay, so what I’ve done since 2014 or 15, when I started speaking at different real estate events is that I’ve had those events recorded. Since I was in the music industry, I was pretty big on, hey, you know what, you need to document stuff. So I have recorded a bunch of different ⁓ educational conferences that I’ve spoken at and the way that you guys can get access to all of those videos, it’s all in a private behind.
an access wall and the way you get access to it, it’s free by the way to get them is you just go to BulletproofWealth, which is the name of my strategy dot info. So that’s not dot com. Okay. Don’t do dot com. Do BulletproofWealth.info. I tried forever to buy the dot com and the guy just won’t sell it. So you know how that goes. But anyways, it’s BulletproofWealth.info. Put your name and email in and that gets you signed up to for my free videos. And then you can watch
Quentin Edmonds (24:03)
Yeah. Yeah. Yes, sir.Tom Laune (24:15)
half a dozen of those videos and it’ll really give you a clear picture of what exactly I’ve been talking about on this podcast. And then from there, you can click a button to book a call with me. If you like what you see on the videos, you can book a call with me and I’ll go over your personal situation and really create a plan that will work for you. That’s the best way to do it.Quentin Edmonds (24:38)
Yeah. Mr. Tom,man, sir, thank you so much. Listen, thank you for your time. Thank you for your stories. Thank you for your perspective. This has been refreshing. I know our viewers want to get great content and great value and nuggets out of this. So thank you so much for being here today.
Tom Laune (24:55)
You’re welcome. I’m excited to be here.Quentin Edmonds (24:57)
Absolutely. Well, listen, y’all heard Mr. Tom. He’s giving you the value. He’s giving you stories. He’s told you how you can put your money in three different places. I have a word for you. Get in contact with him, but definitely make sure you are subscribed. That way you can come back and just continue to get this amazing content from these amazing people, just like Mr. Tom. So sir, thank you again. And to everyone else, we’ll see you on the next time.
