This week, Gary Pinkerton takes an in-depth look at how to accurately figure out your return on investment when it comes to real estate. You can't simply look at your cash flow, you can't just look at appreciation, you have to look at all the factors that come into play. As he says, real estate is an I.D.E.A.L. investment (listen in to find out what that means). In the second half of the show, Gary spells out some advantages service members and veterans have available to them that other investors don't. This includes access to VA loans (although that's partially misunderstood and Gary is happy to correct the most common misconception of it), discounts at local businesses, military housing, and more. Key Takeaways: [3:02] The key to securing long-term wealth, particularly in real estate, is perspective [6:48] However you decide to keep track of your profit and loss with your real estate, you need to be sure you account for the multi-dimensional aspects of the investment [9:12] Real estate is an I.D.E.A.L. investment [12:07] How to turn inflation into a benefit [14:00] Using an example property that Gary found on JasonHartman.com/Properties, Gary breaks down how to use I.D.E.A.L. to find total ROI [20:35] Leverage is the largest part of your ROI [23:22] Some tools you need to take advantage of if you're investing in real estate as a veteran [24:09] The most powerful tool that veterans have as real estate investors is access to the VA loan [28:31] Two important notes about VA loans [30:02] USAA provides some perks when it comes to loans [30:37] Don't forget to take advantage of veterans discounts at places like Home Depot & Lowe's when you're doing repairs [31:36] Take advantage of the ability to market your rentals at the military housing office of your station Websites: www.PropertyTracker.com www.JasonHartman.com/Properties www.USAA.com "Cash flow is staying power"