Leaving a Legacy of Love

As you know, I strongly believe in investing in real estate in a manner that is honest and ethical. This means being fair in our dealings, but it also can mean using our financial success to give back to the communities in which we live and invest.

Not long ago, I had a conversation with my friend Ken Wimberly. Ken is an entrepreneur, business leader, real estate investor, husband and father. Ken has used his success and his businesses as a way to better the lives of others, both through his Laundry Luv chain of laundromats and through his Legacy of Love digital journaling platform. 

Ken is also a living example of one of the recurring themes that has appeared throughout the Real Estate Investing for Professional Men and Women podcast; that is, Ken has used his real estate investing success as a platform upon which he has been able to pursue his business interests and build up his chain of laundromats. For Ken, real estate isn’t the endgame, rather it is a wealth creation tool that allows Ken to use his wealth for other pursuits.

In our episode of Real Estate Investing for Professional Men and Women, I talk with Ken about his pre-real estate career, how he got into real estate in the first place, and how he has been able to use his real estate investing as the financial cornerstone of his other business pursuits.

Not all deals are created equal. And just because a deal looks great on paper and will benefit your profitability, that doesn’t mean it’s a good deal. In fact, monetary concerns aren’t even the most important thing to look for when evaluating a deal. Focusing solely on the money is a great way to have a deal sour partway through the process, or worse, blow up in your face completely after the ink is dry.

Using Real Estate as a Stepping Stone

For some investors, real estate is its own goal. For them, real estate investing serves as their primary business and sole income generator. Often, these are the investors who are big into the fix-and-flip business or get started using one of those “no money down” strategies that you’ve no doubt heard of before.

That isn’t the case for many of us, however. Many investors are professionals who already have a primary business or career, and they are looking to real estate as a way to grow their wealth to be able to pursue other interests. For Ken Wimberly, real estate allowed him the ability to launch his Laundry Luv business. He is an active real estate investor who invests small amounts into many projects, allowing him to focus the majority of his attention on his primary businesses. This flexibility is exactly what makes real estate such an ideal investment strategy for professionals.

Pursuing Dreams and Sharing Love

Ken Wimberly has used his real estate investments as a financial springboard to fuel his Laundry Luv chain of laundromats, as well as his Legacy of Love digital journaling platform. In both cases, Ken wants his work to have deeper meaning and to touch lives. For his laundromat business, this means creating clean, welcoming locations with children’s play areas and picnic tables that will double as classrooms to teach people financial independence, assist them with taxes, and even tutor their children.

Ken created his Legacy of Love platform as a remarkable way for parents, grandparents and others to be able to create a lasting digital journal to share with the children in their lives. Legacy of Love allows these parents and grandparents a simple way to record notes, messages and memories that can be enjoyed across generations. Ken is using real estate as a way to fund these incredible efforts, showing that real estate doesn’t have to be its own pursuit and can instead be a wonderful companion to your other interests.

Want to hear more? Listen to this podcast here.