Time is far more valuable than money. So that's the first thing that I, because it's almost like

they start off like defeated, like, well, I'm behind the eight ball already, right? Like I don't have a hundred grand to invest or I don't have 200 grand like some other people. But you've got 20 years. You've got 15 years where somebody comes to me and says, well, I need to retire in three years. And here I am, Houdini,

trying to pull a rabbit out of a hat, you know, make that happen. It's a lot harder than when

you've got the ability to let the money compound and let time do its magic, right? Real estate

is a long-term asset by definition.

Welcome to the podcast, Real Estate Investing with Coach Carson.

I'm your host, Chad Carson.

You can also call me Coach, and this is a show to help you build a profitable and passive rental property business so you can get out of the financial grind and do more of what

matters. Whether you're a brand new listener or a long-time listener, thank you for being back

for another episode. The title of today's episode is an early retirement blueprint with Arian

Shihai. This week and the next two weeks are going to be greatest hits episodes where I

republish some of the most popular episodes from the past. And I'm doing this for a couple reasons. One, we're almost to 300 episodes of the podcast. And there's a lot of great content that people haven't heard or haven't heard for a long time. And this is one of those, one of the most popular episodes of all time. The second reason is I'm hiking on the Camino de Santiago with my family, and it was a little difficult to bring the

podcasting equipment and get some podcasts done while I was there, even if I wanted to. So we're going to take a break from new content. But let me tell you more about Arian and why you want to listen to this episode. Arian is a real estate broker, an investor, and an entrepreneur in Houston, Texas. He's also a thought leader, writes a blog at

investing architect.com, which I'll put a link to in the show notes today with some of my

favorite articles and videos that he's put out. Arien also has an incredible personal story. In

1999, he left his home in the Mediterranean and a formerly communist country of Albania

since southern Europe Europe right north of

Greece. And he did this with a high school exchange program and went to Houston, Texas. And then he

stayed there and graduated from college as well, Magna Cum Laude, which is a very high distinction.

It means you're very smart and you've done very well in class. And he got degrees in accounting

and finance. He's a good friend of mine. He's also one of the smartest and most grounded people I know. He's somebody I call when I need advice or just want to bounce ideas around, and I've enjoyed many conversations with him about real estate, finance, life. And I knew this interview would be great because I talked to Arian about his approach to building financial independence. He calls it the blueprint.

And we dig deep in this interview on his wealth building strategies on how do you actually

...