Take Control of Your Investments Through the Power of Self-Directed IRAs
On this episode of Next Level American Dream, Sean is joined by Dan Kryzanowski. Dan is an avid passive investor having a wide range of investments. His career transitioned from Wall Street to Self-Directed IRAs when he saw the power of them in his own life. Today Dan walks us through that journey and shares some things you can use today to start yours.
Key Topics
Tell me about your background
How did you go from Wall Street to Self-directed IRAs?
What are the foundational steps for someone wanting to invest using a SDIRA?
What is your best advice for someone looking to start investing with a SDIRA?
What does the American Dream mean to you?
Connect with Dan Kryzanowski:
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Abigail: Welcome to the next level american dream podcast brought to you by Thomson multifamily group. Your hosts, Abigail, and Sean will discuss how you can take your American dream to the next. The real estate investing business practices and personal development. Join us. As we share our experiences as a father, daughter, duo, who are trying to accomplish their goal of financial freedom, we hope you learn more about how to define and achieve your American dream.
Here's another episode of Next Level American Dream. Welcome to the next level of American dream podcast. We have a great guest for you today, but first, please make sure you have subscribed. If you have not already. We also love getting your feedback through likes comments, ratings, and reviews. Today.
Abigail has a conversation with Dan Kryzanowski. Dan is an avid passive investor with a wide range of investments. His career transitioned from wall street to self-directed IRA's when he saw the power of them [00:01:00] in his own life. Today, Dan walks us through that journey and some of the things you can use today to start yours, if you found any value from today's episode, then please share it with a friend and help us grow.
For more information on our sponsor. Visit Thomsonmultifamilygroup.com to start taking your American dream to the next level through passive investing. Hi Dan, how are you?
[00:01:23] Dan Kryzanowski: I'm great, Abs. How are you?
[00:01:25] Abigail: I'm good. Welcome to Next Level American Dream. Thank you so much for joining me today. I'm really looking forward to talking to you and fun fact, we actually met at fin con 21, which was a blast.
I really enjoyed that conference and I got an amazing connection like you out of it. So I'm super excited to have you here with us.
[00:01:44] Dan Kryzanowski: Cool. Thank you. And likewise, and I'm staring out of the window in beautiful Austin, Texas, and yes, it's still fun, but yes, we still construction. So even with my ear pods, if you hear construction and vrrr-rrr behind me, that's just how it's been in the city for about the last five years downtown new buildings going up every day.
[00:01:59] Abigail: Oh my [00:02:00] gosh. Yeah. Austin is totally booming right now. It's crazy. Okay. Well, let's get started. I think the first thing I'd love to talk to you about is give us a quick overview of your past current experience. Career-wise give us some, some of your background.
[00:02:14] Dan Kryzanowski: Yeah. So originally from Scranton PA, so what I share many podcasts, and this will be the only political thing I say, actually, maybe one other thing that's been solved.
The conversation goes is that. I played on Biden's a little league field. And then I rode with Trump junior at U Penn. So, unique growing up in Scranton was big corporate for about 10 years. She real estate Merrill Lynch at some time at Wharton. Did my masters at Thunderbird, went to Mexico, came back with the wife and, you know, Austin seemed like a good little midpoint for us.
So a few long stories short I much earlier than many folks found myself as one of these quote unquote alternative invest and doing crowdfunding before was crowdfunding, passive investing in real estate, and then finding niche, asset classes, such as self storage to really tie my hand into. [00:03:00] So, this is really what got me into this world.
And, you know, one of my super powers I'd say is self directed accounts. You know, the ability to use your retirement dollars to invest or ask your investors to invest. And ultimately, after talking to 500 sponsors felt the, the guys and the team at BB capital, you know, here in Dallas, we're best of breed in terms of competency, character, and what they offered on the commercial real estate side.
So that's what brings us all together.
[00:03:24] Abigail: Wow. That is a ton to unpack. I love that you found your wife in Mexico. That's pretty incredible.
[00:03:31] Dan Kryzanowski: Yeah. At a cheesy bar called wall street. And it's one of these things. Even for my twenties, I probably needed a nap after a heavy party week at Guanajuato , which I still highly recommend for, especially in these single men or ladies out there, but I'm supposed to be better.
Five PS. So is my wife. She was a pre-K three kindergarten teacher in Mexico. And her roommate was going back to Germany, you know? I was doing what I do. And we met at a bar called wall street in north Guadalajara. And you know, her phone was in English. Mine was in Spanish. And mas o [00:04:00] manos, happily ever after. So here we are, you know, 15 plus years later, I will preface that tequila was not involved.
Although, you know, trying to tie back for when, you know, our son was a made, it was my birthday weekend. So I always joke that people say, how do we make babies? I said, tequila, you know, it's a good, it's a good, it's a good starter. So...
I'm surprised tequila wasn't involved in the first night.
I know, especially in Jalisco so fun fact tequila.
Like we have 50 states and Mexico, I believe there's 33 and tequila can only be from Jalisco. So if somebody says you got to in Mexico city or Monterey, it's basically moonshine. And the other thing, there's kind of two types. Here's my hook 'em horns, two types of tequila. 51% kind of the warm and the bottle that we all experienced in college, or you got the good stuff, which is a hundred percent agave.
And trust me, there is a big, big difference. And especially us once you're over 25. You know, it's a hundred percent or bust if you really want to, you know, enjoy the next week of your life. So
[00:04:59] Abigail: oh, [00:05:00] that's incredible. Okay. So now that we know a lot about tequila knowledge, which is really interesting actually,
[00:05:06] Dan Kryzanowski: Let's just talk about that for the next half hour.
[00:05:10] Abigail: I know. That should just be our entire interview. But I'd love to talk more about what you say your super power is, which is self-directed IRA. So I want to go back to a little bit more of your previous background, before you found IRAs. What did, what were you doing exactly in your career before you realized that self directed IRAs were a really great way of investing?
[00:05:31] Dan Kryzanowski: Yeah. So my big light bulb moment, I, so right after we moved to Austin, I had a really good friend back home. And we were co best men in the wedding, literally the shortest day of the year, the coldest day in Staten island, which has probably the best Italian food in the country and, you know, kind of shooting the shit with the other gentlemen.
And so what do you do? He says, I flip houses and like, okay, what does that mean? He says 15%. My ears perk up, which was the rate at the time. And then he says, do you know, you can use your retirement [00:06:00] dollars. And for me, you know, consciously and unconsciously as this big light bulb went off to be like, wow, this is pretty cool.
Cause I remember like many of us, especially as gen X-ers and older folks with gray hair out there, you check in you log into your fidelity or elsewhere and you have limited choices. And at the same time, your head and heart, and sometimes your personal pocket book has been investing with colleagues and private real estate, et cetera.
So let's just make it aware to say, Hey, you know, by the way, this has been around since the 1970s, this is legal, many folks have used it, but it really has not been what I would call country club cool. To kind of set up and manage one of these accounts, you know, since it has been an I can share some details on that, but that was the introduction for me, said, wow.
So I, you know, my first passive investments in real estate actually came through SD IRAs that said previously, You know, whether it was helping fellow entrepreneurs, bars, restaurants, a comedy tour for a tax write off, not as much for investment. These are my early investments prior to a self-directed IRA.
So, you know, [00:07:00] depending on how big my egotistical head was back then, I might've used a Roth IRA, you know, for some of these endeavors, which at times is good, but for your early investments, as particularly the startup world, you know, be a little cautious on that.
[00:07:12] Abigail: Yeah, absolutely. So you, in the very beginning were using your own.
IRA accounts to invest in other alternatives. Like, real estate and things like that.
[00:07:22] Dan Kryzanowski: Yeah, I mean, initially it was just my cash money for real light, small dollar investments. I think basically what crowdfunding is today. I was doing that before crowdfunding was formalized, that said once I learned about self directed IRAs immediately, I went pretty heavy of doing rollovers from my rollover IRA, with self-directed IRA to invest in private real estate.
And then over time I moved that into a checkbook control. Self-directed IRA and solo 401k. So I have access 24 7 to buy money to invest what I want when I want.
[00:07:53] Abigail: Wow. It was pretty incredible. And when did this happen? It was early in your career?
[00:07:57] Dan Kryzanowski: Yeah. So, I mean the, the [00:08:00] passive investing let's call it bar restaurants, et cetera.
That was well over a decade ago kind of cause it was prior to crowdfunding. And then in the early 2010s is when I opened my first self directed IRA. And then in terms of really getting to know how checkbook control and the solo 401k, that was all. Concurrently as I was an advisor investor in, stayed on as employee number one at rocket dollar, also here in Austin, that was about three and a half years ago.
And just for reference rocket dollar was voted at the top. FinTech startup in the world actually was second place. The VCs have photos first and then Shaquille O'Neal Shaq literally swatted us down to second place, but they're still doing fine, but I've learned kind of more of a. I'd say the streamlined processes and looking behind the curtain of other words were devised.
And I think once all that truth is out there, it gives you the opportunity to, you know, ideally hockey stick curve.
[00:08:48] Abigail: Yeah. Awesome. Wow. So what are some of the biggest things you learned throughout that whole journey?
[00:08:53] Dan Kryzanowski: You know, I think the biggest thing, and I'm sure you have folks of all walks of life and ages, and sometimes [00:09:00] when you kind of get booted out of your big company or choose to leave, that's not, it's not the path that you drew out.
So part of it was yes, leaving. I mean, I grew up, both of my parents were on pension, you know, very, very 20th century sort of lifestyle. And frankly, up to 2008, that was fine. And even after 08 , I was still fine plus financial crisis, but I think it was moving to Austin and just seeing the entrepreneurial bug and being part of it is what really opened up my eyes.
So over the past decade becoming more aware. And then as I said, I'm a small town person. I root for the underdog. And I, I do see, and you see in many studies, whether it's. You know, four X to seven X. If you put your dollar with a small business, how much it impacts the community as an investor, if you invest with a female entrepreneur, you are definitely going to get at least 30% more.
I mean, you see studies like crazy out there. So that was some of my interest. And then I would look to be like, well, do I want to be in the year 20/60 target bond fund? Like, what is that? Now, let me take that control of my retirement dollars, which I did. Now my retirement dollars that would have been stuck in some fund [00:10:00] somewhere is now here with colleagues that I know people that I trust local to the community.
So for me, I kind of feel if you, you know, as us as humans, what have we been doing the last thousand years minus the last call it 50 or post-World war two. It's been investing in our community with people we know, maybe somewhat selfishly somebody that you're going to get something back from our, his, or her community.
That's what the broad self-directed market empowers you to do.
[00:10:22] Abigail: Absolutely. And I could not agree more. And I really love how you mentioned that. I didn't even know this, that if you invest in smaller companies and you invest in women entrepreneurs in more of the minority spaces, that you're actually getting more from it, there's more impact.
There's more return. Maybe not necessarily in dollars, but in just general. And I think that's...
[00:10:45] Dan Kryzanowski: Well,it actually is in dollars. So that's the thing that you strip away, the black and white and. You know, folks that kind of look like me, demographically, you drop the ego. It's kind of like the taste test. That's like, which one looks better, which, which is bigger.[00:11:00]
Like, well, my five-year-olds can do well. Of course. I'm going to take the bigger piece of pizza. Yeah. That's the thing. I mean, so if you look at two spreadsheets minus the headline it's for me, it's just a no-brainer. I mean, that's that I'm diversified for the reasons across, but I've just found great experiences working with...
Especially on the loan side, I would say, and some of it could be, and I got it. It just could be reputation. And I get how the history has worked in the U S but I've done a fair amount of angel loans in before angel equity and other sort of real estate based loans. And, you know, knock on wood. Everything has gone well with when females were borrowers on with, with the dudes, you know, not so much.
So, yeah.
[00:11:37] Abigail: That is so interesting. I, and I like it as a woman,
but I had no idea that that's a fun little factoid of today. You know, every day it's amazing.
[00:11:52] Dan Kryzanowski: You know, I mean, you think about it too is just obviously you and I are different here, but I can, although I, you know, my dad's never shame the family name. So like [00:12:00] keeping your reputation first, but you have a little more leeway.
Let's just call it straight. You know, as a guy, as a white male, I, I think were female person of color. It's kind of a one and done, you know, particularly if you're a... I hate to say it, but you know, with your reputation, it's, it's a little bit tougher. So, you know, once again, if you're putting on your risk hat, this is just something else I think, to consider as part of the big picture, of course, but particularly with your retirement dollars, making an impact, kind of coming full circle here.
I, especially now, if I'm not saying, you know, somebody would not protect my money, but knowing like, Hey, in person, sometimes I ask. What do you really think about, or how is this deal? Should I use my pre-tax or post-tax meaning I use my post-tax Roth money. I already paid taxes on it. This puppy goes to zero.
This is a double whammy for me. It's a really kind of straight shooting and I've had, I've had very honest responses, a bit more, I'd say from female founders on that and the checks come in.
[00:12:51] Abigail: That's incredible. Wow. So you'd look for. A lot more diversity in the people that you work with when it comes to investing.
[00:12:58] Dan Kryzanowski: Yeah. I mean, for me, it's natural [00:13:00] actually. You can't see behind here with my, sorry, if I'm bleeding, anybody's eyes with my Tila screen behind, but I'm here at capital factory, the hardware I mentor over 50 companies a year here in Austin. It's a wide variety of founders, different asset classes, but you know, they come to me for some of my super powers on the operating cost side.
And yeah, it is a good introduction at some of these companies, usually more on the real estate side or FinTech side, all of that.
[00:13:24] Abigail: That's incredible. Okay. So now that we've kind of dove into what you do, what are some, like your biggest advice for someone who's wanting to go down a similar path that you did and start taking control of their retirement?
[00:13:36] Dan Kryzanowski: Yeah, I think the biggest thing, and I think hopefully this is an easy analogy for folks, then call it the Facebook, Instagram world is that there's a big difference between like and trust. I mean, I can sit here, you know, pick your hour in the morning or afternoon and like, like, like, like, like that's great.
That's nice. That's sweet, but I'm not really trusting you until money moves and vice versa. It's great that [00:14:00] everybody likes me or, and loves me or smileys me or whatever. But if we're talking straight and particularly if there's a commitment I'm expecting kind of mutual trust from money to move, if I'm raising money.
So it really gets, I think to, I would say the character in a person, it does in some ways, but also. It kind of cuts, you know, who, who's your trusted friends. It always comes back to, you know, how many true best friends do you have? It's only a handful. It's a similar sort of concept here. And it's totally fine.
I mean, it's great to like a lot of people, you're not gonna be cutting a hundred checks, but who are you ultimately gonna trust? And that goes also outside of your IRA bucket. I think also when it comes to investment.
[00:14:34] Abigail: Yeah, that's amazing. So your biggest advice is to really trust the person that you're working with for sure.
[00:14:39] Dan Kryzanowski: I think that's part of it, but I would also say as an investor and for some folks listen, and there's probably some folks on the call that are easily worth a few million, make six figures, which I know you have a great audience and great group of followers, you know, will their life material impact. If they write a check for a 100k in a real estate deal, it'll be nice.
But that said it's like anything until you do the action until you do that, [00:15:00] kind of the first lap around the track, as they say, it's tough to kind of dream big, you know, and I would say, come in relatively small with the check, but set up one of these accounts or frankly, even go online and set up a crowdfunding, put in five grand or learn how some of these other streets or some of these other sites work
from a real estate fund, but I find it much more impactful to go to somebody directly, because particularly I'd say if that founder or that real estate sponsor knows, this is your first deal, you might get a little more TLC, you know, in terms of, Hey, let's do coffee every six weeks. So let's hear it. Let's get to know each other.
I'll introduce you more to my process, how I look at it once again, the liking the trust. Once you show that trust with it establishes that relationship. So I would even say, cut a check from your personal account or open an IRA. You know, a certain percentage over and invest in a deal and, you know, kind of see how the real world works.
[00:15:48] Abigail: Yeah, that's amazing. So what are some of the steps, or are some of the things that you look for in a person that you want to work with and party with that allows you to kind of identify quickly that you're going to potentially trust that person or [00:16:00] even like them down the road?
[00:16:02] Dan Kryzanowski: Particularly. I would say probably I'll end up talking to them three times.
And particularly, I know it's more real estate here, but on the startup side, two of the times we won't even talk shop, but one of the times he might just walk around the block or I'll be in his or her world or vice versa, just kind of doing stuff. And that's where, you know much like a marriage, that's where you get to see the true person.
And so. That's what I've done. And then, you know, see if you do it. And I seen this, I've been on both sides of the coin where you write a check, but you say for 50 K and then somebody throws a zero at the end of it. That's fantastic. Why did they do that? They get to know you, they get to see you, you know, at the conference in Vegas, in front of other people.
But how did you act, you know, as they always say, the person that is clearing your plate versus somebody that's, you know, the billion dollar CEO. And so from a character perspective, plus there is natural to, do you want to be around? I mean, no surprise. I sync very well with folks from the Northeast. I grew up in a coal mining town in Pennsylvania.
I lived in New York. I lived overseas. There's certain [00:17:00] folks where there's just a natural sink, you know, and other places, not as much. And that's totally fine, but I think just kind of getting into that, but not to get to the extent where it's group think and everybody's the same or things are a little too excessive.
So there's things to look for. And at the same time, I think there's certain levels of empathy. You know, recognizing life situations. And that's one great thing to say about working in a startup are working in different startup communities. You really realize like nobody's perfect. No, relationship's perfect.
So I think also from the investor side, some folks just go to the nth degree and I'm like, dude, you're putting in 20. You want to put in 25 K in our minimums, you know, a hundred, sorry. I mean, like you're asking a thousand questions. Before we even invested before shook hands or had some sort of cordial relationship, it's just, it's just not fair for everybody else.
So, you know, kind of a, as Nancy Reagan said, just say no. So that's where my that's where my oldest folks out there listening. Thanks.
[00:17:55] Abigail: So it's really all about like that click for you initially. Maybe not [00:18:00] so much as you get to into that person, but you're really looking for someone that shares mutual values, experiences, things like them.
Didn't you have a good idea of how that's going to play out, long term.
[00:18:11] Dan Kryzanowski: Yeah. And even, you know, when we first met, there was a few and I always sent everybody's 110%. Right. Which has gotten me to over commit, gotten me in trouble sometimes. But even from here, there's a few folks that for one reason, other, we're just not going to deeply sink even to do a one-off call or maybe after courtesy coffee in person.
And that's okay. You know, we're all big kids and I'm totally fine if they're, I think they're great folks. They're going to find their group where it's going to resonate more. And you know, I think it's a net benefit for all parties.
[00:18:38] Abigail: Okay. So that was amazing information.
So our entire show is about using real estate entrepreneurship and mindset and personal development to create your version of the American dream. So I have a quick question. The American dream mean to you.
[00:18:55] Dan Kryzanowski: Ah, it's it's still [00:19:00] Community married two kids and the ability for my kids to safely play in their environment.
And then I would also say, secondly, It's the ability to have a global mindset and see different cultures experience, different things, and the exposure to that. So those I think is kind of my two sided, that sort of dream where I understand just by default with economics, the first can't be for everybody.
And I trust me, I hear that for whether it's physical reasons on the child's side, whether it's economic or just your natural ownership versus renting, you're never going to get anybody a hundred percent. I get that. So that said, you know, what is, I don't want to say the replacement, but the other thing is, I would say a third part too, is just having emotional intelligence, being a top thing to learn.
That's something from a big old history book. So I said, that's the first, I'd say the second and third thing, no matter what your situation is, you can definitely. Prioritize EQ, you know, emotional balance empathy in your environment. And fortunately here [00:20:00] in the us you know, yes, something as simple as you can go to an Ethiopian restaurant, you can try to learn a little bit of Haitian and talk to somebody.
I mean, it's really not that hard. We're very fortunate, especially in the larger cities here. So I'd say especially the latter two, I think now as part of this broad... And I get it. These were not Americans in the finals, but the women's final of the U S open for tennis. I just thought was awesome. I thought that was a real, like, this is where the world is going and I really hope everybody could embrace it, even though if you're not deeply comfortable because of your multiple reasons with that, I just say, Hey, this is where things are moving and isn't a beautiful if you embrace it.
So that's, that's very natural for me. And that's part of my dream.
[00:20:41] Abigail: That's amazing. That's a great response. I haven't had a response. That's very, a lot more traditional because we get so many entrepreneurs on here. So it's nice to hear there are still people who are making their dreams come true, even if it does align with the more traditional definition of the American dream.
But on top of that, you are creating those [00:21:00] dreams and making them happen. And you're taking your life to that next level. How are some of the ways you're doing that in your life right now that is creating those dreams and making them a reality?
[00:21:11] Dan Kryzanowski: Yeah, I think part of it, I mean, my little guy is only five and a half, but kind of talking straight to him and it'd be very open.
What do you think about this offering choices? You know, he's already a language up on me. He's learning Mandarin for his third language now. So it's pretty cool having a little bilingual bro, you know, talk smack to you and everything, but it's yeah. I mean that's, that's definitely part of it and. Yeah, this is, you know, we just been fortunate to be exposed to other cultures, everything.
I, I definitely don't whitewash history. I mean if he asks questions. I tell it straight. I'm not trying to influence him what to think, but I feel here's, you know, being a data guy too, you know, sometimes it's like, here's the raw data. And then here's also what two sides might think and feel. So, you know, that's obviously, that's part of my main focus at the moment is kind of just how do, what is the appropriate tone and what to share.
But I, you know, we never did [00:22:00] baby talk. I don't think we have to hold back on too much. But this is just a proper way in terms of those tonality of how to share it.
[00:22:06] Abigail: Wow. That's incredible. Well, you shared with us so many amazing pieces and information. I feel like there's a lot, a ton of golden nuggets in here and your journey to finding self directed IRAs and taking back that power of your retirement dollars and your investing power is pretty incredible.
And I hope it inspires a lot of our audience to do the same and hopefully reaches more people who don't even know that it's an option to them, but. Since you are such a wealth of knowledge, how can more people find out what you're doing and get in touch with you?
[00:22:37] Dan Kryzanowski: Sure. So LinkedIn is great. And like, please mention that you, you know, we heard it here on the podcast.
Secondly, I used to joke. If you can spell it, you can get it. But you know, D. Kryzanowski, it'll be in the show notes. If I spell it out loud, we'll be here for two hours. So, you know, if you ever do want to check book control, SD IRA, which we haven't talked about in much detail, but if it comes to that, I'm happy to.
You know, share the [00:23:00] largest discounted code. I said just like anything that could easier for folks, I removed the barriers to sign up and such and for my fellow sponsors out there too. Cause I, I appreciate how kind of sharing we are in this community. I'm happy to do everything from the, you know, a pretty deep dive, call it a nerd out session on what these SD IRA's are and why it's good to the flip side, just offering a one sentence.
And I kicked off something today to say, Hey folks, did you know, you can use your retirement dollars to invest in real estate. So that's kind of it, I mean that tagline alone, I guess it'd be one thing to make yourself aware about and I of course can fill in more details with folks offline.
[00:23:40] Abigail: Absolutely. Well, thank you so much, Dan.
It was a pleasure having you today, and I absolutely loved getting to learn more about your life and your knowledge about tequila, which was amazing. And it was great to have you. I hope you have a great rest of your day.
[00:23:53] Dan Kryzanowski: Likewise. Thanks so much.
[00:23:54] Abigail: Thanks for joining us for another episode of next level American dream.
If you would like to learn more [00:24:00] about what we talked about today, want to contact the team directly or interested in passively investing and being a part of our deal room, head over to our website at www.thomsonmultifamilygroup.com. Before you go, please leave a review. Your comments, help us create more episodes for you to enjoy.