Retirement Has Been Heavy On My Mind Lately

Retirement has been a hot topic for me recently. Not because I’m retiring today but because retirement is a big deal. I realized that I had not spent enough time thinking and planning for it in my earlier years. In real estate, it’s also a topic that does not come up at traditional office meetings or brokerage training events. Retirement should be a forward-facing conversation at any age. As I have gotten older, I’ve become obsessed with the topic. I’m pushing myself to ask how each financial decision I make today will impact my freedom in the future.

💡Building for retirement, to me, means building freedom.

⏱️Time is something they are just not making any more of! I want to use my time wisely. I want retirement time to stop and smell all the roses!

🪙When I think about retirement, I think about financial freedom and being untethered whenever and wherever I want.

As entrepreneurs, we have a personal responsibility to plan for our future. In the property sphere, of course, we know there are opportunities to build wealth through real estate purchases, but as agents, we also pay into a “system”… a brokerage where retirement rewards likely don’t exist.

There are three primary categories of income: earned or active, passive, and portfolio.

Most Realtors’ business models revolve around earned or active income because let’s face it—real estate is a full-contact sport. All too often, an agent’s business dies as soon as they stop selling. Companies are often built on the tails of a few top-producing agents or an owner/producer. That model yields a similar result. When those agents stop selling, the company dies.

❌This is problematic for so many reasons.

What if there was a better way for agents, teams, and brokerages? When I hear the CEO of REAL talk about wanting to help agents build long-term financial wealth from active, passive, and portfolio income, I’m in awe. After 32 years in the business, I’ve finally experienced a brokerage model I could wholeheartedly align with! It’s no surprise that REAL is the fastest-growing publicly traded real estate company in the world right now. It was built differently, and I’m super proud to be a part of it, but this conversation isn’t about REAL as much as it’s about prompting agents to seek out opportunity and alignment in their brokerage. It’s about creating a clear path to retirement. If done right, this business should provide a producing agent with a healthy retirement.

Traditional real estate models have long focused solely on the transactional nature of buying and selling properties, volume, GCI, commission splits— income generated by agents to fund services and overhead, leaving little to no consideration for agents' retirement. The pressure to consistently close deals to maintain a steady income often leads to burnout and a lack of sustainable financial planning. This model is fundamentally flawed when it comes to providing a path to retirement for real estate professionals.

In contrast, new brokerage models like REAL are revolutionizing the industry by offering innovative ways for agents to build wealth during production years and beyond. These models incorporate stock options and revenue sharing, allowing agents to benefit not only from their own sales but also from the overall success of the brokerage. This shift enables agents to generate passive income streams, which can significantly contribute to their retirement savings.

Stock options provide agents with an ownership stake in the company, aligning their interests with the long-term success of the brokerage. As the company grows, so does the value of their stock, creating a substantial nest egg for the future. Revenue sharing, on the other hand, allows agents to earn a percentage of commission on each agent, team or company that they attract to the brokerage, providing opportunity for steady passive income. This model promotes a culture of collaboration and support among agents, as their success is intertwined with the success of their peers and the brokerage as a whole. New brokerage models recognize the importance of financial independence and offer tangible ways for agents to achieve it.

💡What does retirement look like for you? How are you planning for it?

If you enjoy our newsletter, please share with your network. Looking for more help mapping a retirement or exit strategy, here are 3 ways that we can help.

👉Schedule a 1:1 strategy call https://rebeccagreenco.as.me/schedule.php

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👉For real estate agents interested in learning more about REAL, click here OR click hereto book a 15-minute REAL discovery call.