Dan Kryzanowski is an active real estate investor and fundraiser, leveraging Self-Directed accounts - SDIRA and Solo 401(k) - to create a diversified real estate portfolio yielding double-digit returns. He specializes in self-storage investments, multi-family and hard money residential property loans. Dan has personally raised millions of dollars from family offices and individuals, and empowered his partners to raise seven-figures on multiple occasions.  Dan serves as Executive Vice President at Rocket Dollar, unlocking the $10T pool of untapped retirement assets for the real estate community. He is also a Capital Partner for Pinnacle Storage Properties and Corporate Board President for Hugh O'Brian Youth Central Texas. Dan, a Wharton graduate, previously led commercial real estate initiatives for GE Capital in Mexico and South America.  Podcast Highlights Who is Dan Kryzanowski?  Dan attributes his business success to his magic afro and his early basketball success. Dan had a very blessed life for his first 30 years, he followed what would be considered a pretty normal path that most people in his generation would follow, right up until the crash of 2008. That made him rethink things a bit and Dan found that he wasn’t particularly interested in working for General Electric for the next 30 years of his life. He and his wife moved back to Texas and started looking at alternative investment. There were a few signs that GE wasn’t going to be a great place to spend the rest of his career at. Ultimately it was a personal decision to change the path from following everyone else and being led by fear or having the confidence to do things on his own. Why Real Estate and self directed retirement accounts? While working his traditional career Dan had always been interested in things he could do with his 401(k). When he had a fateful conversation with a guy that flipped houses at a wedding, Dan was exposed to the world of self directed retirement accounts. Once he realized that there were a number of benefits using your retirement funds to invest in real estate, it all just made sense. Instead of making 2%-3% with a traditional bond or fund, he can earn double digit returns working with someone he trusts and can look at the real estate and see the asset. Using self directed retirement account was the key that unlocked everything. The idea has been around since the 70’s. Self directed retirement accounts are where you take full control of where your retirement dollars go. There are an infinite number of investments you can access and there are no fees or early withdrawal penalties. Rocket Dollar has completely eliminated the friction involved in using self directed retirement accounts to invest. Dan’s company is very focused on education and informing people the options that are available to them. You have full control of your money at all times for a low monthly fee. If you’re self employed, you are eligible for the Solo 401(k). Not only can you contribute ten times as much as an IRA, you also get full checkbook control by default.  What if my HR department said my 401(k) is already self directed? By one definition your 401(k) at work is self directed, but it wouldn’t count as Self Directed. You get a handful of choices in what you invest in but you don’t have true freedom in where your money goes. You won’t be able to invest in a private real estate deal or something exotic like cryptocurrency.  People want to be on the same footing from an education standpoint. They want to know what the rules and opportunities are, which is what Rocket Dollar is aiming to provide. It’s been a rule of thumb that you can’t touch your company’s 401(k) until you are 59 and a half and sadly there isn’t a real responsibility on the company to offer all the options. Most middle age high earners have a few IRA’s or 401(k)’s from past employers hanging around, and once they are made aware of this they can roll that money into a self directed retirement