Today, I welcome Jens Nielsen to the Investing Secrets Podcast. Jens came to the US from Denmark 30 years ago, built a career in telecom and IT, then walked away from his W2 in his mid-40s to chase real estate, scaling past 200 multifamily units before the market turned and taught him some hard lessons. Today he's pivoted into small bay industrial in Albuquerque and Santa Fe, New Mexico, betting on deep local market knowledge and blue-collar demand that isn't going anywhere. We kick things off with Jens's origin story and how a telecom lifer became a full-time real estate investor. From there, we dive into why small bay industrial is suddenly so coveted, the edge that comes from knowing one local market cold, buying well below replacement cost, the hard lessons from his 2019 to 2022 multifamily run, and why he says he'll never do a big partnership again. We close on his 2026 outlook for small bay industrial and why he believes physical, blue-collar space is one of the safest bets in real estate. If you're looking to understand how a focused operator builds durable cash flow away from the crowded deals everyone else is chasing, this episode is a clear look at a corner of the market that most investors overlook. Welcome, Jens, to The Investing Secrets Podcast…

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Website: https://jensnielsen.us

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Today, I welcome Mukarram Mawjood to the Investing Secrets Podcast. Mukarram spent two decades trading commodities, crude oil and then precious metals, before making a bet in 2012 that a weakening dollar would send hard assets soaring. Today he runs Bullionite Asset Group, helping investors pull money out of Wall Street and into physical gold, silver, and alternative assets most people don't even realize they can hold inside an IRA. We kick things off with Mukarram's origin story and how a career trading oil and metals shaped the way he reads risk. From there, we dive into the real mechanics of the space: why gold ran past $5,500 and then dropped more than 20%, why taking profits is its own form of risk management, and how a self-directed IRA lets you own physical metals. We close on why he's still bullish heading into the back half of 2026 and where he sees opportunity beyond the headlines. If you're looking to understand how physical metals actually work, and how to take back control from Wall Street, this episode delivers a clear look inside a corner of the market that most investors never touch. Welcome, Mukarram, to The Investing Secrets Podcast…

Follow Mukarram:

Website: https://www.bullioniteassetgroup.com

Email: info@bullioniteassetgroup.com

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Today, I welcome Ryan Hermansky to the Investing Secrets Podcast. Ryan got his start in the most unlikely place, the cannabis industry, before finding his real lane in private lending. Today he's President of Private Money Funding, stepping in where banks simply won't: funding midsize commercial deals the big institutions ignore, and closing in two weeks or less what many banks would take up to six months to do. We kick things off with Ryan's origin story and how he and his partners built a private lending fund from the ground up. From there, we dive into the real mechanics of the business: why perfectly qualified borrowers get turned down by banks, how he underwrites every deal assuming it fails, and how his fund pays investors a 9% return that compounds monthly with zero lockup. We close on why so many of his borrowers come to him burned out by the SBA, and where he sees the opportunity in private lending in 2026 and beyond. If you're looking to understand how private money works in commercial real estate, and how to generate hands-off returns without the headaches of owning property, this episode delivers a clear look inside a corner of the market that most investors never see. Welcome, Ryan, to The Investing Secrets Podcast…

Follow Ryan:
Website: https://www.privatemoneyfunding.com
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ryan-hermansky-a235248/

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Today, I welcome Joel Friedland to the Investing Secrets Podcast. Joel has spent 45 years buying single-tenant industrial buildings around Chicago. But in 2008, with 50 buildings, seven banks, and $70 million in personal guarantees, he nearly lost everything. He walked away from deals for a full decade and came back at 60 with one rule: buy all cash, zero debt, so his investors can never lose their money to a bank again. Today he runs Brit Properties, where he syndicates industrial buildings completely unlevered. Debt-free syndications. We kick things off with Joel's origin story and the brutal 2008 lesson that reshaped how he thinks about risk and leverage. From there, we dive into the mechanics and the math of debt-free investing. We close on why he trusts operators with battle scars over those who claim they've never lost investor capital, and the one investing secret he's built his entire career on. If you're serious about industrial real estate, downside-first investment strategies, and building durable wealth without betting the house on leverage, this one delivers hard-won wisdom from someone who has been through four downturns and learned from every single one. Welcome, Joel, to The Investing Secrets Podcast…

Follow Joel:
Website: https://www.britproperties.com
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/joel-friedland-5508a791/
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@investingwithjoel

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Today, I welcome Sequoya Borgman to the Investing Secrets Podcast. Sequoya’s path to running his own private equity firm spans two decades inside the industry. A CPA by training, he spent years at top PE firms working on M&A alongside the best in the business. He eventually made partner, but being one of a thousand partners meant he couldn’t drive the direction of the firm - so in 2017 he walked away from the W-2 and started fresh. Today, Sequoya is the founder of Borgman Capital, a lower-middle-market private equity firm that has acquired more than 20 businesses, buying older family-owned and founder-led companies in industrial manufacturing and food, where his team is often the first institutional investor. He’s also built an industrial sale-leaseback real estate arm and launched Pass the Hat, giving accredited investors direct access to his deals. We kick things off with Sequoya’s origin story - how walking away from a partnership, and surviving a first deal that collapsed, set the foundation for everything that followed. From there, we dive into the real mechanics of the business: how he structures leveraged buyouts, what actually drives the multiple you pay for a company, and the value-creation levers most people misunderstand about private equity. We close on where he sees the biggest opportunities heading into the second half of 2026 - the wave of aging baby-boomer owners who need to sell, why the best-performing funds were born in down markets, and the one investing secret he’s learned to live by. If you’re serious about understanding private equity, alternative investments, and how sophisticated investors buy and build real businesses for outsized, tax-efficient returns, this one delivers. Welcome, Sequoya, to The Investing Secrets Podcast…

Follow Sequoya:
Pass the Hat: https://www.passthehat.com
Borgman Capital: https://www.borgmancapital.com
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sequoya-borgman-8a6057a/

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LinkedIn: https://bit.ly/3L2sTc7
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Today, I welcome Adriel Hsu to the Investing Secrets Podcast. Adriel’s path into real estate started in the last place you’d expect - an oil and gas job. Fresh out of Georgia Tech with an environmental engineering degree, he was shipped off to a small Texas town in 2016, and within his first days on the job he knew he didn’t want to spend 40 years behind a desk. After cycling through e-commerce and drop shipping, he landed on real estate - then spent the next five and a half years grinding two full-time jobs at once (9 to 5 at the office, 5 to 9 on his own deals) before finally walking away from the W-2 in 2021 and never looking back. Today, Adriel runs a residential development business in Houston focused on land splits, entitlements, and ground-up luxury construction - the higher end of the market, where he believes the spreads are actually worth the effort. We kick things off with his origin story - how a guy who just wanted a brand-new house without paying market price taught himself to find land, split the lots, and build it himself. From there, Adriel breaks down the mechanics of his development model: how he sources off-market opportunities, why he abandoned thin-margin starter homes for the luxury market, and how he structures deals with private investors. We close on his read of the Houston market heading into the second half of 2026 - what’s really happening across office, multifamily, and self-storage, why staying flexible matters, and the one investing secret he’s lived by for the last decade. If you’re serious about off-market sourcing and building durable, conservative returns through every real estate cycle, this one delivers. Welcome, Adriel, to The Investing Secrets Podcast…

Follow Adriel:
Website: https://www.adrielhsu.co
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/adrielhsu
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@adrielhsu
TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@adrielhsu
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/adrielhsu

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Today, I welcome Zachary Levitt to The Investing Secrets Podcast. Zach's path into investing started early and moved fast - soaking up the strategies of the world's great hedge fund managers in high school, launching a derivatives trading club at university that put him in the room with some of the top portfolio managers alive, running a biotech alpha-capture strategy by 21, and becoming one of the youngest hedge fund managers you'll ever hear of by 25. Today he's the CIO and Founder of Sixth Turn Capital, a capacity-constrained multi-manager fund built for high-net-worth, ultra-high-net-worth, and family office investors - a stable of uncorrelated portfolio managers, each an expert in their own narrow strategy, engineered to deliver smooth, consistent, risk-adjusted returns.

We kick off with Zach's origin story and how a college trading club turned into managing real capital before most people finished their degree. From there we get into the architecture of a multi-manager fund - how he vets and underwrites portfolio managers, why he pays each one only on their own sleeve, and why true diversification comes from uncorrelated strategies rather than simply owning more stocks. We close on where he sees the biggest opportunities heading into the second half of 2026, why now may be an opportune moment to protect against a market crash, and the growing shift toward alternatives. Welcome, Zach, to The Investing Secrets Podcast…

Follow Zach:

Website: sixthturncapital.com

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/zach-levitt-428160144

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LinkedIn: https://bit.ly/3L2sTc7

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Today, I welcome Ryan Brown to The Investing Secrets Podcast. Ryan's path into real estate was anything but conventional. He grew up in a trailer park, became the first in his family to attend college, and trained as a nurse anesthesiologist at Rush in Chicago before landing a faculty role at USC's Keck School of Medicine. But between long shifts in the operating room and annual surgical mission trips to rural Kenya, Ryan realized he was wired to build something bigger than himself. Today he's the Principal and Co-Founder of Turnbull Equity, a vertically integrated self-storage platform with roughly $41 million in AUM across seven states - combining ownership, capital raising, and a nationwide third-party management arm all under one roof.

We kick things off with Ryan's origin story and the single beachfront building (financed at a 1.75% fixed mortgage) that pulled him out of the operating room and into full-time real estate. From there, we get into why self-storage rewards disciplined operators over passive owners, how Ryan runs one of the leanest expense loads in the business, why he treats NOI - not IRR - as his true north, and how his management arm quietly feeds his entire acquisition pipeline. We close on his outlook for self-storage in 2026, how he identifies durable markets in a post-COVID world, and the one investing principle he believes matters more than any return metric. Welcome, Ryan, to The Investing Secrets Podcast…

Follow Ryan:

Website: turnbullequity.com

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ryanbrownla/

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LinkedIn: https://bit.ly/3L2sTc7

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