The Wealth Elevator

aloha, my name is lane!

After 12 years as a Licensed Professional (PE) Civil/Industrial Engineer, I fired the boss and began to focus 100% of my time on my investing and helping others in my Passive Investor Accelerator & Mastermind.

I began investing in 2009 in rainy Seattle, being a ramen-eating cheapo I was able to buy a property early right after college. After discovering the difference between ‘Cashflow Investing’ and ‘Appreciation Investing (i.e. gambling / speculating)’… I moved my portfolio into 11 single family rentals in Birmingham, Atlanta, Indianapolis, and Pennsylvania.

Today, I am investing in syndications, which invest in Class C & B Multi-Family Apartment, RV Parks, mobile homes, and assisted living facilities because of this Nation’s demand for affordable housing – not rich-people Class-A assets. My mission is to help regular people into good deals that were once only accessible to the rich.

The passive income from investing in stabilized rental properties made it possible for me to move back home to Hawaii where the cost of paradise is 10%+ cost of living and -30% less pay for comparable jobs in the US mainland. There I was able to live a lifestyle where I was able to bike to work. It did not take me long however to finally quit the day job, and ditch the e-bike for a Mercedes.

Annoyed by the bogus real estate education programs out there (that take money from people who don’t have it in the first place), I set out to make this free website to help other hard-working professionals, the shrinking middle-class. I hope to dispel the Wall-Street dogma of traditional wealth-building, and offer an alternative to “garbage” investments in the 401K/mutual funds that only make the insiders rich. We help the hard-working middle-class build real asset portfolios, by providing free investing education, podcasts, and networking, plus access to investment opportunities not offered to the general public.

The true meaning of wealth is having the freedom to do what you want, when you want, and with whom you want.
Building cash flow via real estate is the simple part. The difficult part occurs after you are free financially to find your calling and fulfillment.
But that’s a great problem to have ;)”

excerpt from The One Thing That Changed Everything

guest appearances on

my professional resume

BS Industrial Engineering  (University of Washington)

ㅤMS Civil Engineering  (University of Washington)

ㅤProfessional Engineer  (PE)


2007-2012  
Supervisor of 100% traveling Union Capital / Maintenance Crew
ㅤ– Rail grinding, undercutting, track geometry, tie replacement program, and steel replacement

2013-2015  Project Engineer
ㅤ– Design/Permit/Construct $250M WSDOT ARRA High Speed Rail, Seattle to Portland

2015 – 2017  City Engineer 
ㅤ– Sidewalk, Signal, Streets, Drainage, Erosion Control

2017 – 2018  Airfield Engineer
ㅤ– Capital work to upkeep State airport taxiway, runways, and navigational aids

2018 – 2019  Facilities Engineer (GS12) at Tripler Hospital in Honolulu, Hawaii

4/9/2019  Quit JOB and became Full-time investors and Real Estate Mentor

my motivations for creating this site

1) Begin with the end in mind and decide now what you want your obituary to read. We are only here on this earth for a finite period. I like this picture because this is what will probably be on the welcome table at my funeral. I hope you can make it!

Rich Cohen wrote that there are four rungs of being remembered after death: “Newly dead; Dead but remembered; Dead and all those who knew you dead; dead and all those who knew those who knew you dead.” In terms of YOU… All that matters is what happens when you’re alive. Your legacy will offer you no pleasure after you’ve passed so live how you dream but know that there are some unconventional paths that you have to take (like buying cashflowing rentals not in your home state).

And for myself… fame will do you no favors for me once I die, but at least people can use TheWealthElevator.com to get out of the rat race.


2) Create a repository of information 
where my children or others can reference with some context into what I was thinking. Plus, I got tired of telling my friends who never took action on the advice I gave. Creating a podcast has greatly impacted my life by allowing me to meet with so many people, and many of those I have built strong relationships with even outside of money and real estate.

“Why a Podcast?”

I jumped on the podcast band-wagon in 2007 while I was working on the road, when I did not have a friend near me. It got me into CrossFit in 2008, Paleo in 2009, Real Estate Investing in 2010, Intermittent Fasting in 2013, Internet Marketing in 2015, and led to meeting and creating friendships with a lot of you, because we are aligned on the same wavelength. Yes… The phrase “we met on the internet” is totally acceptable! Obviously, a few of these interests have come and gone but in the macro sense, podcasts have instilled a lifelong interest and ability to learn.

Vinney Chopra calls it “Automobile University.”


3)
 While I am alive I want to teach/empower others to fish for themselves. In real estate, we use leverage and by teaching others, I am leveraging other people to achieve their financial goals in hopes that they will pay it forward. I poke fun at MLMs a lot but I would like to create a pyramid scheme of philanthropy.

I’ll be honest when I almost got fired from my W2 job (for nothing that was my fault!) and saw how much Wall Street/mutual funds rob people, I get pissed. Which got me through the first six months of building this platform. As you know anger can only take you so far… As you will read in my book I realized the positive impact I was making which ultimately is a more sustainable fuel source for the mission that is TheWealthElevator.com.

What is the change that you want to make in the world even if its a 1% move in the needle?  Financial education – people have such struggle so much to make ends meet.

I was baptized on Easter 2016 and searched for a way to give back. I want to help others, but I struggle with giving money away, because I know I can grow my money much faster and I am much more frugal than any philanthropic organization. Bill Gates gave back only after he amassed a fortune. Tithing as you go along has a smaller cumulative impact.

My end game is to give away my wealth to rightful causes via a Charitable Remainder Trust. As I grow my local community in Hawaii, I try to surround myself with like-minded people who want to help other good people financially… (not like having some sort of lame for-profit coaching business based of referral fees). I don’t know how this is going to come together but I am conscious of running a non-profit entity the right way.


4)
 I hope my blog/podcast will help families realize the powerful wealth-building effects of real estate, so they can spend their time on more important things, instead of working long hours and worrying about their financial troubles. There are a lot of successful families with good jobs (teachers/engineers/programmers/finance), yet they struggle to make ends meet financially. It is their kiddos who ultimately get the short end of the stick. Being a Latch-Key Child growing up, both my parents had to work, and I was left home alone after school to fiddle with my thumbs.

With Real Estate you are able to grow your wealth exponentially faster than the conventional 401K’s and stock investing, therefore you are able to escape the dogma of working 50+ hour weeks at a job that is unfulfilling. And if you are one of the lucky ones who happen to do what you enjoy… well good for you 😛

Money is not everything, but it is important because it gives you the freedom to live life on your terms.

It is a great time in history to be alive, with general peace and technological convenience. But I see a silent war being waged upon the shrinking Middle Class. This is the Civil Rights movement of my time. In a way, people have a kind of Stockholm Syndrome, with Wall Street profiteers being the captors. Let’s work together to redirect money from the Wall-Street casinos and corrupt financial institutions… to help the endangered ‘Middle Class’ savers find safer, more profitable investments in Main Street opportunities, benefiting local communities!

I walked the linear path for much of my life. Raised as part of the disappearing “middle-class” programmed me to study hard in school, checking the boxes on extracurricular activities, cramming for the SATs, and getting a high GPA to get into college, all to live a “practical” life.
Growing up, we were told to “waste nothing” and turn off the lights every time you leave a room.
I still feel guilty to order a soft drink at a restaurant as opposed to tap water.

excerpt from The One Thing That Changed Everything