089: Taking Control of your Retirement with Damion Lupo

Damion Lupo started off as a real estate investor before the housing crash in the mid 2000’s. He was able to by 150 houses while he was in his early 20’s and was smart enough to sell many of them before prices dropped. However, Damion decided to take his capital and invest it heavily in more real estate, which caused him to lose everything he had and then some. Damion came back strong after his collapse, but decided on a new path. He started Fintech Total Control Financial to help people retire better and faster. His company focuses on qualified retirement plans which are much more flexible than IRA’s or 401k’s. You can hear all about Damion’s rise, fall, and development of a new company on this episode of the InvestFourMore Real Estate Podcast.

How did Damion start buying houses in his early 20’s?

Damion was introduced to real estate when a friend asked him to partner on a subject-to deal. They were going to buy the house from a motivated seller, but keep the seller’s mortgage in place. Damion used his credit cards to come up with the cash needed to buy the house. He also did much of the work himself on the home causing a flood, electrocuting himself, and finding out how much paint fumes can affect your judgement.

Damion did not take it slow in the beginning of his real estate career. He bought more houses while he was working on the first house. He was not very careful with his finances and realized he was about a month away from bankruptcy if he did not change things. He focused on lease options to bring cash into his business and stabilize his finances. Damion ended up with 20 houses in his name very quickly, but he was doing the work himself and they were scattered all over. He realized he did not have a sustainable business.

How did Damion lose his real estate empire

Damion actually sold most of his 150 houses in 2005. Instead of sitting on the sidelines and enjoying his spoils, he decided to double down on huge flips, and multifamily projects. At one point he had 7 projects going at once that he assumed would make him over $1 million in profits each. That was when the market crashed and his huge profit projections turned into losses. He figured he owned $20 million worth of property when the market collapsed and had $5 million in net worth.

Damion tried to ignore the collapse and hope everything would turn around, but after a year he realized he could not pay back everyone he owed money to. He had lost everything and had to start over from scratch.

How did Damion bounce back from his real estate collapse?

Damion changed his attitude and fortunes when he realized everything that happened was his fault. He over-leveraged himself, took on too many risks and paid the price. He decided to take action and bounce back, not mope around wondering why the world had been so mean to him. He started a new company that would help others invest in real estate and other investments. He became an expert on qualified retirement plans (QRPs) and started his company to help others retire better.

How can a qualified retirement plan work better for retirement?

Damion created Fintech Total Control Financial to help people retire better. A QRP is much like an IRA or a 401k, except you have more flexibility with what you can invest in. You can buy houses, gold, or even businesses. When you buy gold with a QRP you can even keep the gold in your house. You can also borrow money from the QRP like you can with a 401k. To find out more on how QRPs work you can get a free book from Damion here.