Think Like a Family Office: Wealth Strategies Real Estate Investors Should Know

Dave Wolcott (00:00)
I think we covered some of really the key themes that we have. But one thing I’d like to point out to your audience specifically, I’ve been an entrepreneur for 25 years. I’ve launched several businesses, been a real estate investor. But what I find is one of the biggest mistakes that we make as entrepreneurs and real estate investors is we tend to have over-concentration risk. We believe so much in our baby.

Q Edmonds (02:01)
Hello everyone. Welcome to the Real Estate Pros Podcast. I’m your host Q Edmonds. And I’m glad we’re here today. ⁓ have a guest that has done a lot. And I’m sure we’re going to talk about a lot. One of the things we talk about here on the Podcast is mindset. So I believe we’ll probably get into a little bit of that. I’m knowing your why. We talk about that here, so we’ll probably get into a little bit of that. Of course, we’ll probably get into some strategies and different things like that.

I’m excited. I’m excited for us to get to learn from his experience. He’s done a lot. And so let’s sit back and just listen. And I would love to introduce you all to Mr. Dave Wolcott. Mr. Dave, how you doing today,

Dave Wolcott (02:45)
Hey Quentin, doing amazing and really grateful to connect with you and your audience.

Q Edmonds (02:50)
Absolutely, man. Well, I’m so glad you’re here and I am the type. I like to dive right in. So I would love for you to tell the people what’s your main focus these days. If you don’t mind, give us a little bit of an origin story, kind of how you got into the space that you’re in. And I know you’re traveling, but people are always up to know where people are geographically. So you don’t mind telling people kind of where you are, maybe where home base is. And so what you’re up to, what you’re up to, your origin story and where home base is. Mr. Dave, have the floor, sir.

Dave Wolcott (03:20)
Yeah, for sure. Appreciate that, Quentin. Yeah, I’m in Miami today. I’ve been at a big ⁓ energy and infrastructure conference down here, as well as meeting with some other family offices, and based in Sarasota, Florida, pretty much full time. And just a little bit about my background. I was raised in a middle class family in Connecticut. And frankly, we didn’t really talk about money much, right? It was kind of taboo.

and really lived in a scarcity type of mindset and framework, right? Money doesn’t grow on trees, things like that we’ve probably heard from our parents way too often. And so I was told that the recipe for success was go to school, get good grades, you’ll get a job and life would just really work out for you. So I kind of followed down that path and in fact, Quentin, I was right in your neighborhood, went to George Washington University for my undergrad and did the ROTC program.

got to serve my country and the Marines, which was a phenomenal experience and learn things they just don’t teach you anywhere else in the world. Things such as leadership, teamwork and integrity. And then shortly after I transitioned into the tech industry, my wife and I were raising kids. We started a family, we had an 18 month old. And then on October 24th, 2000.

We literally had triplets and quadrupled the size of our family, like overnight. So the first thing I did, Quentin, was I went to see my financial planner.

because at the time they’re saying, hey, it’s a million dollars to raise a kid. So that was four, now all of sudden, four million plus maybe retirement there someday.

And the financial planner is just saying, hey, max out your 401k and they have these great programs called 529s for the kids. And I looked at that math and the trajectory on that math and at like a 7.5 % return in the stock market, I knew that

was a better way. Right. So this literally launched me on this obsessive journey into figuring out how the top 1 % were building wealth. ⁓ So I started investing in all kinds of real estate back in 2000. Quentin, I got into single family, multifamily, ⁓ office, raw land, ⁓ oil and gas, I even started getting into alternatives back then.

Q Edmonds (06:12)
Mmm.

Dave Wolcott (06:37)
And keep in mind, this is like 2000. So Rich Dad Poor Dad had literally just come out. ⁓ And then I started to build a tech business a couple years later. And so fast forward over 20 years, ⁓ I literally had a phenomenal opportunity to build an amazing portfolio.

and really understand a lot of these advanced strategies, tax strategies, advanced strategies of how the ultra wealthy are truly investing. And so, today we created Pantheon, which is a family office, really a private equity firm, to help people invest in the private markets that are passive investments into.

commercial real estate, energy and infrastructure, and then also private credit. So we have good diversification there and we run a mastermind and then also a virtual family office as well for people who are really looking to build wealth outside of Wall Street.

Q Edmonds (07:37)
Love it. Love it. Thank you. Thank you so much. Thank you for taking us on a journey, telling us what you do now, kind of how you got there, where you landed at. And I love it. And as you was talking, I was actively listening, writing some things down as you talked. And so what I want to do, I want to kind of give a quick summary because I want to make a statement and ask you a question. so know, said you was raised in Connecticut. ⁓ Family didn’t talk about money much. ⁓ And so, you know,

wound up going to George Washington. He was a Marine. Thank you for your service. You got into the tech industry. And I believe I got the date right. You said October 24th, your family, I think you said quadrupled. Did I get that right? So quadrupled in size, went to a financial planner because it’s like, hey, we got to make sure we’re on the right path.

Dave Wolcott (08:21)
Yeah.

Q Edmonds (08:31)
And even then you still was like, there still has to be a better way once you started crunching the numbers. And this has kind of led you to start investing in 2000 and just multiple kind of industries and different assets. And now you have this, you built this amazing portfolio and you’re doing multiple different things. ⁓ Mastermind just, know, just this great success. is that a good kind of summary of summarizing everything up? All right.

Dave Wolcott (08:58)
Sure.

Q Edmonds (08:59)
And so Mr. Dave, probably say once every Podcast, I make this statement that destiny has no wasted moments. Right. I as we’re on the journey, we are borrowing from each part of the journey is reinforcing our mindset is growing us into the people that we are now.

It’s showing us the things to do, the things not to do. We learn it from the success. We learn it from the failures. We’re building momentum to the people that we are now and the things that we do now. And so I would love to know throughout your journey, as you’ve been building momentum, what has destiny, what has the moments taught you about yourself? Has they taught you discipline, resilience? Has it changed the way you think on an innovative level? Like what has the journey taught you about you?

Dave Wolcott (10:20)
Well, great question, Quentin. And actually, I wrote a book on exactly that, which is called The Holistic Wealth Strategy. And it’s basically a five-phased approach really to really kind of create a blueprint for you on your wealth journey, right? So many people get into real estate because they want to build wealth for themselves. But somewhere along the way, they might kind of lose a little bit of that focus. It starts to become a job.

⁓ There’s ups and downs and things like that, and you lose a little bit of that focus. So in this holistic wealth strategy, it all really becomes …

the main foundation to truly understand your vision. Where do you really wanna be in 10 years? And I literally have a 10 page document that describes emotionally how I feel. What do my relationships look like in that timeframe? What does my wealth really look like? Where am I spending time? Where do I live? Who are the people I surround myself with? What does actually abundance

look like for you? What does your health look like for you? All of these things that are so important because they truly understand the why for you. And when you understand that why, that helps you break down doors and get to that next level. Or it also can help you work through challenges that you’re gonna have. Maybe it’s a deal doesn’t go that well as you planned.

and you’ve really got to deal with some massive challenges. But if you’re really anchored in that vision for you, that’s how you’re going to get there.

Q Edmonds (12:06)
Thank you, sir. I mean, the holistic wealth strategy. I mean, that sounds like something everybody need to participate in. Everybody needs to get a good grip on that. And I love it. know, lot of different things that you said kind of line up with what we talk about here and kind of just how I live my life. You know, my word for 2026 is curiosity. Like, I’m curious. I’m curious about everything. Curious why I eat the way I do. I’m curious about…

⁓ What makes me upset? Why do I get angry? Like why, why, why did, why did that bother me so much? And I love like the holistic approach approach when it comes to wealth building. Because I often say, when you know who you are, you know what to do. And so I think what you have beautiful strategy that would help people out tremendously. And so what’s next for you? Like what’s the next real goal for you? What are you looking to solve a scale next?

Dave Wolcott (12:59)
So one of the biggest problems that we’ve been trying to ⁓ really accomplish, in fact, I’ve been working on it for 20 years myself, ⁓ which is really how to think like a family office, how to think like that centimillionaire or billionaire that you’re going to become, right? In terms of allocating capital, in terms of building your business. And so, ⁓ you know, I can remember back even to my early days investing,

and lots of different real estate assets. at any given time, I had 20 plus different spreadsheets about how to track all these alternative assets, my real estate, and of course, this is completely contrarian to anything on Wall Street, right? So we have actually just built a software platform.

that can take through AI can ingest any one of your different real estate assets. It can look at your stocks, bonds, mutual funds. It can look at your crypto investments. It could look at your syndications that you’re invested in and then put them all together and then do true portfolio balancing. You can actually simulate different investments on, what if I do this, right? How does it lower my taxes? How does it increase

you know, my my passive income and really a lot of it is focused on financial freedom, right? That’s how we get into this, right? As real estate investors. So do I have a clear trajectory towards achieving financial freedom? Right? Am I lowering my expenses? Do I keep growing that passive income? How quickly can I get there? So that’s one of the things that we’re really excited about building. And we just launched for people. And it’s all about really trying to help people.

you know get to their goals a lot faster.

Q Edmonds (14:51)
Yes, yes. All about trying to help people get to their goals a lot faster. I mean, that’s, I tell people, I believe that the foundation of any sustainable business is servitude. And so I love the fact that you’re talking about helping people get to their goals. And so with that in mind, I would love to get your perspective on this word, relationship. When you hear the word relationship, what comes to mind to you?

Dave Wolcott (15:17)
Yeah, so I’ll even bring that up to a 30,000 foot level first, Quentin, right? Which is, I believe that basically there’s six forms of capital and this is what true wealth is. And most people just identify with financial capital. That’s how they kind of think about it, you know, and they create their identity based upon their bank account, right?

Q Edmonds (15:28)
Hmm.

Dave Wolcott (16:20)
But if you have true holistic wealth and right, it’s actually means these six forms of capital, which is not only your financial capital, it’s your intellectual capital, right? It’s your social capital. It’s your physical capital and human capital. ⁓ It’s your emotional capital.

right? And your social capital. So all of these different things, like look at Steve Jobs, right? He had all the money in the world, but he didn’t have his health, right? And he couldn’t use that money to buy himself one more day, right? And I know you guys run a mastermind as well, right? We have something where we create, we invest in, you know, our social capital, right? And our intellectual capital by learning and being around like minded people, because you are your greatest asset, right?

Q Edmonds (16:49)
Yeah. Yeah.

Dave Wolcott (17:10)
Anytime I invest in myself, I get a 10X to 100X return out of that, better than any other investment. So how are you actually investing in yourself? Or take a look at your health as well, Quinton. If you could just think about for a second, if you could actually create 10 times more energy,

that you could bring to your business, that you could bring to your family, or the relationships that you have. I mean, what would that do for your world, right? It’d be completely exponential. So I think that there’s these other forms of capital that can truly move the needle for you ⁓ versus always thinking about it financially. And you’ll see that the people who really have it figured out have all of these dimensions covered.

Q Edmonds (18:02)
Man, I love it. So I often equate the word relationship to community, common unity. And I believe healing happens in communities. I love the word holistic that you keep saying, because to be made whole is just to be made well. Healing is to be made whole, to be made well. And so when you have a healthy community, everything gets supported. And I mean, you six points kind of hitting on it. You start getting healing mentally.

physically, financially. Like when you are in the ecosystem of people who are like-minded, people who are of common unity, everything gets supported. Your perspective changes on everything. And so I love everything you’re talking about with the holistic wealth ⁓ strategy, because I think, again, you so eloquently said that social community, like it…

It impacts everything that social wealth. And so I appreciate it. I appreciate your perspective when it comes to relationship. I appreciate the message that you’re sending. Mr. Dave, is there any topic that I have not brought up that you would like to speak on? Is there any other words of inspiration, education or motivation? Like maybe you came in with a message that you wanted to make sure our listeners got. I kind of want to create space just to make sure that you land that message for the listeners.

Dave Wolcott (19:29)
Appreciate that. I think we covered some of really the key themes that we have. But one thing I’d like to point out to your audience specifically, I’ve been an entrepreneur for 25 years. I’ve launched several businesses, been a real estate investor. But what I find is one of the biggest mistakes that we make as entrepreneurs and real estate investors is we tend to have over-concentration risk. We believe so much in our baby.

right, in our business, what we’re doing, or the real estate itself. So we tend to have like our entire wealth is tied up in either A, our business, or it’s tied up in real estate. So when you have like what we had recently with this rapid rise of interest rates, right, and if you were really exposed, you know, to interest rates, right, I mean, that’s a lot of risk, right, to take on.

So I would encourage people to really think about if your true goal is really to try to create wealth for yourself and your family, think about ways that you can diversify that risk. And that’s why our investment thesis actually focuses on three different asset classes. So we invest also in energy and infrastructure because it’s what we need, right? With the demand of an AI, you know, the future.

definitely needs energy, right? It’s also non-correlated to the stock market. There’s also some really great tax benefits ⁓ in investing in these assets. And then we also invest in private credit. So basically lending to small businesses that need capital so we can be the bank ⁓ and get some phenomenal returns.

So when you think about that, again, you can have more of a truly diversified portfolio in your wealth that’s not all tied up in the business or not subjected to all the potential risks that could come with real estate.

Q Edmonds (21:29)
Mr. Dave, sir, thank you, man. I really appreciate you coming on. I really appreciate your messaging. I really appreciate the seeds that you really shared on today. And 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,

Dave Wolcott (21:47)
Yeah, what I wanted to do for your audience, Quentin, is actually give a copy of my free book. So you could just go to holisticwealthstrategy.com and download a free copy of the book. And from there, happy to connect with you there on any channel.

Q Edmonds (22:04)
Absolutely. Well, listen, thank you, sir. Well, before I say that, let me say this. I’m going to sincerely say three things to you. So one, thank you for your time. I mean, you are where you want to be in the world, right? And you still spent some time with us today. So thank you. Thank you for your time. ⁓ Secondly, thank you for your story, for your narrative, because I believe stories have a way of planting seeds in people. We may not see the growth, but that growth can happen.

at any given time, two years from now, three years from now. They can look at look, see this Podcast, maybe five years from now and that growth happens. So thank you for coming on, really sharing seeds. And lastly, thank you for your mindset. Thank you for your perspective, the way you think and bringing that mindset to this platform. I greatly appreciate you being on today, Mr. Dave.

Dave Wolcott (22:54)
Appreciate you, Quentin. Thanks for the opportunity.

Q Edmonds (22:58)
Absolutely. So what I was going to say, cause he talked about the free book. What he mentioned is in the show notes, go get that free book. Let, let this holistic wealth strategy change your life, become whole in totality within your community and let this thing really impact you. So please get into the show notes, get in contact with him, get the book, but definitely make sure you are subscribed here because I promise you we’re going to continue to bring up amazing people.

just like Mr. Dave. So sir, I say thank you again. And everyone else, listen, y’all have a fantastic day.