Be the Bank: Mortgage-Note Investing, AI, and Human-Centered Leadership with Fred Moskowitz

You're listening to One Sharp Sword, cutting through to what matters most with Outfluencer, Dr. Wayne Pernell. Welcome to One Sharp Sword, cutting through to what matters most. I'm Dr. P, Dr. Wayne Pernell, your host, your guide, and your coach on this journey. Today, we're welcoming back a gentleman who first joined us 3 years ago, maybe a little more. It's— a lot has changed since then in the economy, in the investment landscape, and especially in how technology is transforming financial work. Fred Moskowitz has built a fascinating career combining his experience in engineering, entrepreneurship, education, And alternative investing. He's a fund manager, speaker, and bestselling author who helps people understand how mortgage note investing can generate passive income without the responsibilities of being a landlord. Today, we'll explore Fred's journey from engineering and technology leadership into alternative investing, how his business has evolved, And how artificial intelligence is making mortgage note processing faster and more efficient. We'll look at the leadership lessons along the way and what that means to you. Where does automation add value? Where does human judgment remain essential? And how can leaders adopt new technology without compromising trust? Or accountability. Let's dive in. Fred Moskowitz, welcome back to One Sharp Sword.

Thank you, Dr. Wayne. It's great to be back again.

It's great to have you. This is really good. It's been more than 3 years since our first conversation. And so I will invite you to do a few things like catch us up on what's happened, who— when you look at who you were and what you were building back then, what's changed most, what's changed most for your business and for you personally. And if you want to bring our audience up to speed on kind of who you were and how you got here, that'd be, you know, you can do that briefly as well, please.

Great. Thank you. Yeah, I can share a little bit about my background. I started out in life with a career, long successful career working as a computer engineer in the tech industry. And I spent a lot of time working at different startup companies, different tech companies. And it was during a very exciting time. It was during the dot-com boom years. And so, as you can imagine, that was a wild roller coaster ride. We had the dot-com boom, and then that was immediately followed by the bursting of the dot-com bubble and all of the turmoil. Yeah.

Yes.

In the world, September 11th terrorist attacks as well. The result of all of that, it put our industry, our economy into a downward spiral very quickly. Many, uh, people who were in the industry at that time remember what that was like.

Yes.

And so through all of that, Dr. Wayne, Through all of that, I realized that I was taking on a very huge risk by relying on my paycheck from my job as my only source of income. And even though I loved the work I was doing, it didn't matter how talented an engineer I was, how valuable of an employee I was. If things were not going well at the company or in the industry overall, That I could quickly lose my job through no fault of my own. And so this inspired me to take action, to hold myself accountable and say, what can I do to generate and start putting into place other sources of income for myself? Diversifying. People always talk about diversifying your investments, but what about diversifying your income? And that's what I was after. And so this is what attracted me. to getting started in alternative investments. Eventually, um, was doing projects in real estate and then investing in mortgage notes, which is a— it's a sector, it's a niche area of real estate investing, but very niche, right?

Yeah, very niche.

Yeah, we're focusing on investing in the debt, the loans, the mortgages instead of owning the property. So it's almost Like stepping into the shoes of the bank, essentially. And over time, that has grown and expanded. And I'm so passionate about sharing this message and teaching others about how to diversify your income, building cash flow, and taking a look at, hey, how risky is your paycheck? Right? And for anyone in the tech industry today in 2026, Um, we're going through that right now again at this time. It's a very cyclical industry like many others. And so taking some action, implementing steps to build other sources of income can really do a world of good in advancing your financial position and your financial resiliency.

And, and you don't even need to be worried about a Paycheck to want to look into investing in alternative avenues. I hadn't really thought about— I'm, you know, for me personally, it was like, oh yeah, mortgage notes. I know they're out there. I guess there are big companies that are taking them on. So, you know, that's their, that's their business. I had never considered it as an individual. That's something that I could even look at. And I guess the way I'm thinking about it, and Fred, you know, this is your world now. So to me, it's sort of like, okay, if I invest in mortgage notes, I'm one of many investors in a giant pool, sort of like a mutual fund. Is that— am I close, or is it—

That can be a good analogy. Yeah, absolutely. The main thing to consider Is that, um, it's another way to invest in real estate where you don't have to own and manage rental properties and deal with repairs and tenants. It's real estate— owning rental real estate is a great business, but it's very hands-on. It's labor-intensive. It's a lot of work. And frankly, it's not for everyone. Not everyone has the time. to dedicate to that. And so this is another way to invest in real estate without having to own and manage properties. What I found is that it's a great way to build, build up a portfolio and scale. And you are exactly right. There are large hedge funds, different Firms that own very large portfolios of mortgage notes, and there, there are also smaller players in the industry as well. And there's also individuals that just own a couple of mortgage notes on their own, and that's fine too. There's a place for everyone. And that's a big part of my message, is sharing about that, teaching about that. And I really enjoy sharing that message. That really ultimately is what inspired me to write my book about mortgage note investing.

What's the name of your book? Might as well, you know, shout it out.

Thank you. The name of the book is called The Little Green Book of Note Investing, and it's available on Amazon. And it provides a great high-level overview and introductory introduction to the business of mortgage note investing, what it is, how it works, how to get started, the different ways that you can get involved, because you can get involved as an active investor or as a passive investor depending on how much time you have available to do that. That's what it's all about.

That's great. And does it take as much time as, you know, there are people that are, that consider themselves day traders on the stock market and other people are like, yeah, you know, I've heard this thing about this company, Maybe I'll put a little money there. What's the, what's the time investment? What, how much do you actually need to know in terms of, like, what are the considerations that go into note investing?

Yeah, that's a, that's a great question. The main consideration for anyone getting started or exploring is exactly that. How much time do you have? available. If, if— and there's 2 approaches to note investing. You can be an active investor where you buy notes, you find them, you buy them, you manage a portfolio. That's hands-on. That's the active side. And it does take work for sure. I would say the hardest part of that is finding notes to buy because it's all about personal relationships and building and maintaining those. Now, for some investors, they may not have a lot of time, or they may not want to spend time on that because they're focused on their career, on their work.

Right.

Maybe they're a business owner, or maybe they're looking to simplify their life and scale back on things that take away their attention. So for someone that doesn't have a lot of time, you can be a passive investor in a note fund. And how that works, what a note fund is, is where the fund managers raise capital, they pool it together, and then they'll go out and buy notes in bulk quantity and manage the portfolio and then pay a passive return to the investors. And so these are the 2 approaches, and neither way is right or wrong. It just depends on your own personal situation. I've, I've had this conversation hundreds and hundreds of times with different investors, but whenever someone Ask me about mortgage note investing, this is always the place to start, is to determine how much time you want to determine. And then from there you can say, oh, it sounds to me like passive investing is the right approach for me. Great. And then you can go ahead and do that. Or someone else may say, hey, I want to be active. I want to get in this industry, roll up my sleeves and do the work. Well, that's great too. That's the active approach.

What's a typical amount? Like, if I, if I said, you know what, Fred, I'm interested, I would probably be one of the passive investors.

Mm-hmm.

You know, I would come to you and you'd say, cool, use my fund, or you'd send me somewhere else, probably you since I came to you. And, and how much would I need to come to you with And what are you seeing as an average return? And I know you're not making promises. I just want to put that out as a disclaimer on your behalf. It's not a promise of return, but I'm just curious.

Yeah.

What are you seeing now? Is it beating the market in general, or is it just like it's so stable? This is— it's better than a CD, but it's not quite as, as much as the market because it's— that market is up and down. What, yeah, what are the things I should know? How much, what's the minimum I come with? What's a typical amount that people invest in? And if you want to be super investor, what does that look like?

Yeah, that couple, couple of distinctions. So with note funds, if you're considering a note fund and looking at some different ones, you look at what is— each one has their own minimum. Minimum investment required, and it's going to depend on what their business model is as well. So part of this comes down to your risk tolerance, your timing, what's going to work with you. Are there any liquidity restrictions to consider? As far as minimum amounts, I've seen a very large spectrum of that. Each fund is, is different. Typical, most typical that I see in the marketplace is around $50,000 minimum. There are some funds that have a lower minimum than that. And there, that may be $25,000 or $30,000 as a minimum. And then there's other funds that go up higher, $100,000. Um, I Was speaking with someone recently. They were telling me about a fund that has a $250,000 minimum, much larger fund. They're involved in some different types of loans that require larger amounts of capital. And so there's that broad spectrum. And again, it's, it's about finding a good fit for you.

Yeah.

And as far as returns, Also, there's a spectrum. I'll give you some ranges. What I typically see, if you want low, low risk, it really does come down to what's your risk tolerance. If you want low risk, then you're maybe seeing 6% or 8% return. If you're willing to take on more risk and more comfortable with that, then it can go higher. 8, 9, 10, getting into the double digits and more. And it's what, what you're comfortable with. And so there's— I feel like there's different options and different places for everyone. And having conversations is the best way to, to get knowledgeable, understand what your options are, and then you can proceed from there and make a decision that's appropriate for you. And the other thing I want to mention is over time, Your needs may change, your comfort level may change as well. And frankly, that goes for any investor in any asset class. As you have more experience, your comfort level changes, your risk profile changes.

Right.

I've seen a lot of, a lot of investors that are younger, in their 20s and 30s, they have a very high risk tolerance, as opposed to maybe someone that's getting closer to retirement age where they're starting to focus more on conservation of capital rather than growth of capital. Now, that's a different, different risk profile. And so this changes. It's dynamic.

It is dynamic. And again, I mean, to me, that sounds very much like investing in any mutual fund or other, any other kind of stock.

Are you—

how, how risk open are you? How risk-averse are you? And that does change over time based on your, your personal need, your family's needs, where you are. This is interesting, you know, $50K minimum buy-in, sometimes as low as $25K, up to $250K. How long do people stay in?

Yeah. The note?

Note business and, and, or the note fund, how long do people typically stay in it before they withdraw everything? Or do they just use it as sort of, hey, I'm getting my, you know, 6% to 8% back. I'm comfortable. You know, that's, it's, it's nice. Do they actually take draws or do they let it build? And those, I guess, are all the, all the questions I'd have along the way too.

Yeah, those are great questions, and I've seen all of those scenarios, all those scenarios. Some people may— it comes down to what do you need the capital for something else, and whether it's a different project, or you're maybe you're purchasing a property or doing some other investment. It comes down to, do you need the capital for a specific, specific reason? A lot of people, if they don't, they're going to leave it invested so that it's continuing to grow and compound. Um, I, I, I like the idea about having your money working for you at all times, as much as possible, unless there's a specific person— but purpose for it, right? Um, and so that, that's what I, I've seen. But certainly some people have a particular goal, particular purpose for their capital, and so they'll withdraw it at a certain time, whenever that is. And so I've seen it all. I have.

Okay. All right.

Many people become— many people think that, hey, I'm gonna try this out and see how it is, and then after a year or 2 or 3 say, hey, I really liked how this is going. This is actually performing better than other investments I have. And so I see no reason to make a change. And that's fine too.

What's the— just for the sake of drama, right? What's the worst crash and burn you've seen in this kind of investing? It's like, oh my gosh, you know, I put my last pennies into this and I really thought it was going to save me. You know, then the bottom fell out.

Yeah.

What does that look like?

Absolutely. So there's definitely risk in every type of investment, and you have to be comfortable with that and understand that. Now, what I will say, my, my opinion, you should not be— node investing can be illiquid, and You should not be investing the last of your money, the last of your capital into mortgage notes. If this is your emergency fund, it's not a good fit. If that— if it's your emergency fund that you need, you need to be able to withdraw it in a liquid way immediately when you need it. There's other options for investments that are going to be more suitable for you. So I always caution that this is— I consider this a medium to longer-term investment, and you should go into it with that in mind.

What does that mean, Fred, in terms of actual years? Is that 4 years, 10 years? What's long? What's medium? What's long-term?

I consider medium 2 to 5 years and longer-term 5 to 10. Okay, that's my opinion. Someone else's may be different. But, um, I'm, I'm a long-term— I have a long-term perspective myself. I like that. That's what I'm comfortable with. And so that's what I seek for my own investments. But everyone's different.

Yeah.

Everyone's different. And, um, I love the idea about having an emergency fund. I recommend it for everyone. And if you have one, This is not the place for it. Node investing is great for retirement account money that you may have that you're not going to touch for a while, or extra cash that you have sitting in an account earning 0.5% interest in the bank that you don't have a need for, but you have it. And so this, this can be a great option to consider.

Amazing. All right. So let's talk about you for a little bit. You've become an investor, you've become an educator, you've become an author and a fund manager. Before all of that, you spent years in engineering and technology. So how did that background in engineering and technology prepare you for The way you're seeing AI being used in note investing?

Yeah, a couple, couple things. So my background in engineering and technology requires that I'm always learning, learning new technologies, learning new trends, learning new hardware, software. Systems. Why is that? Because the world is constantly evolving, especially in technology, and it's fascinating to me. I love that. I consider myself a person that's a lifelong learner, and so I embrace the change. I love it, and it's vital for the career, for this role. And so that's something that really shaped who I am. It shaped my nature in that I'm a lifelong learner. I love learning about technology and engineering, but other things as well. And that's wonderful. And so that's part of the mindset, really. Now, going beyond that, some of the facets of engineering, building systems, repeatable systems and processes and workflows, All of those areas really carried over into, into my work. Investing in mortgage notes, analyzing large pools of assets, of loans requires systems and processes that are repeatable and that are going to be statistically successful. And I found that leveraging technology to do that is really powerful. And certainly we're always looking at ways to incorporate AI into our different workflows. And it doesn't replace what we're doing, but it's tools. It's just an— it's another tool in the tool belt, and it adds leverage because now we can leverage technology to do things faster, better, more accurate. more statistically successful, and that can be really powerful. And I think that these concepts, these distinctions apply to a lot of what we do in life.

I agree. It's— I was just thinking, I'm taking notes as you're talking, and, and I was thinking that there are leadership lessons out of, out of this piece. You know, we opened with teach us about, you know, note investing and Uh, it was a very, uh, that was a, that was a great intro to this world that I didn't know really anything about. So that's, that's fascinating. Here, as we talk about your transition, we're also looking at, wow, there's this leader in you that's showing up and, right, being a lifelong learner and leveraging your own background. And I think that those are Those are key skills that, that we need to be thinking about no matter what area we are in, you know. And I, I have audience members from all industries at all levels in the organization. So it's huge. I loved what you said about, about becoming statistically successful. That was a great phrase. And, and it's really about how do we show success at anything we do?

Yeah.

And then what you said was, we can leverage technology, right? That it doesn't replace people necessarily. It doesn't. But it's a tool, right? We need to— we use it to inform our decision-making, right?

Absolutely.

And our creativity. So, so that's great.

Absolutely.

And you're not one of these stereotypical engineering types who's like, well, you know, and you, you, you, everything has to be in a line. It all has to be just so.

But sometimes the lines, the lines can flex and bend, and it really helps to be adaptable.

Yes.

And Embrace change. It's great to— yes, absolutely, it's important to have a plan and structure. However, what do you do when we have to adapt?

I love this.

Life is full of uncertainties and surprises. And so how do we do when we deal with that?

I call that the pivot. Right? It's like, okay, you're partway in and now you have to change course and it's, you gotta pivot, right? And it's like, well, one foot is nailed to the floor. So if I move, I'm just changing direction and looking a different way. Fantastic. Really great. So, all right, let's just say I wanna blend a couple of concepts and have you explain them. So someone new to the field, that includes me. You talked about, as we first opened this conversation, you talked about being the bank. And so what does it mean to do that, to be the bank?

Yeah.

And from there, how does AI actually come into the mortgage note process? Like, Okay, so I'm investing money and I'm holding a note, right? Somebody now owes me money based on the money I've invested. I'm assuming that's the be the bank part.

Yes.

But if you could explain that, and then where does AI come into all of this?

So buying a note, as we know, banks, lending institutions often sell mortgages on the secondary market. There's a huge secondary market that exists where mortgage loans and all kinds of debt are bought and sold every day. And so investors purchase those loans, and now that those are assets, and so, um, that's going to have an associated payment stream with that. Which is whatever was agreed to in the loan documents between the original lender and the borrower. Now, with mortgage notes and residential mortgage notes specifically, those loans are secured by collateral, which is the powerful part of mortgage note investing. Each loan is backed by real estate, backed by collateral. It's a tangible asset with value. And so Uh, that offers a lot of downside protection, right?

Yeah.

Um, if anything ever goes wrong for any reason, there's always a lien against the property. It's recorded in the county courthouse, and anytime that property is sold, reconveyed, or refinanced, all those liens will get addressed and paid off. And so that's the security portion of it. And you may recognize certain things if you are, you are a borrower on a mortgage for your own home, or deed of trust as they call it out in the western states. You'll see certain things like the lender requires that there's an escrow for taxes and homeowner's insurance that they're paid. That's written into the loan documents. Why is that? It's all to protect the interests of the lender because of different risks, different threats to the lien that could potentially be like if the taxes were delinquent and the property were to get sold at tax sale. So the lender will make sure that that doesn't happen by collecting escrow payments each month and then paying the taxes on behalf of the homeowner.

And that's like a traditional mortgage, right?

Yeah, you, you see that everyone is— many people are familiar with that, and that's the reason why. It's because the lender is protecting their interests in the property. And so there's, there's a lot of security around that for the lender so that their investment is protected. And this is the unique aspect And distinction with mortgage note investing and the protection it offers.

So with, with AI now coming on the scene, and it's not— it's coming, it's already here, obviously, and you were among the first to bring that into this field. So what, what are you doing now more efficiently that you couldn't do before? How are you using AI? And yeah, how— what would have been either really hard or really impractical even a few years ago, 3 years ago, that you're doing now?

Yeah, it allows us to move a lot faster. What does that mean? Performing analysis and due diligence, which is a repeatable process on each loan. Performing modeling and financial analysis on a cash flow analysis to look at what's the rate of return on a particular asset and what it's projected to be into the future and different scenarios. Other areas, accounting and bookkeeping, really streamline a lot with that, as well as Marketing. Marketing is a great, a great way for leveraging AI. And so these are some of the main realms that we've incorporated and have had a lot of success with that. But one of the biggest things is if we get a spreadsheet with 100 loans from a seller, we can analyze it a lot faster than it used to take.

Mm-hmm.

And there's still a human in the loop for sure. We're still doing that work. However, we can leverage AI to do checking our work, to run certain things that can be automated and speed the process up, which is wonderful. And so, so if we have an opportunity to purchase loans, we can get an answer back to the seller. A lot faster than we used to in the past.

Great. Amazing. And I get a sense, like, it's not for everybody. I get a sense that you actually kind of geek out about it. You, you love this.

Yes. Yes, I do. Um, some people— well, I'll tell you, a lot of investors love it. They don't need to know the intricate details of all the gears intermeshing and behind the scenes, but they love it. They love the, the cash flow. They love the idea of that their investment is secured by real estate. And, um, frankly, these are homes just like the homes that you and I live in all over the US. Yeah.

So yeah, when, um, When you introduced AI to the organization, what changed for your team? What changed in terms of— because I think this is a very— this is actually broadly applicable to all of us. When we introduce AI, things change.

Yes.

So, and I see it, you know, when I consult in the corporate arena, You know, I was speaking with somebody just this morning who's, they've got a human resources officer who's a little afraid of bringing AI on in terms of what it will do to the workforce, what it will do to workforce planning. And it's like, well, blending AI with people is actually the best way.

Yeah.

What changed for you and your team? What, what was seen as an opportunity that actually blossomed into an opportunity? Were there any threats? Were there any places where it sort of slowed things down? And personally, for me, I want to know what happened to the culture.

Yeah. So a couple, couple things. One thing we learned, a lesson we learned very quickly was that The different AI platforms change and evolve very fast. It seems like every 2 or 3 months the capacity doubles, which is an amazing acceleration of change. And being adaptable is so important because if you build out a tool or workflow married to one AI platform that could quickly become replaced by a different one, maybe a year from now or less. And so what— thinking about what would need to be true in order to pull this workflow or this tool out and replicate it into and reimplement it into a new AI environment. And are things set up to facilitate that? That's very important. So it's almost like when Henry Ford came up with the idea of interchangeable parts for his assembly line.

Right.

We want to think about AI in the same manner that we may have to move this tool to a different platform for any number of reasons and don't be married to it. Don't be married to a platform. They're all good at different functions, different realms, and they have their pluses and minuses. And at some future point, it may make sense to change things to a different platform. And so can you do that easily? That's one of the biggest lessons we've learned. With, with AI, that what we're doing today can be completely different 6 months from now.

And probably will be, right? It's not how it can be. It's like things are changing really fast. We're in such a data flood, so different than a decade ago, so different than 2, 3, 4, 5 decades ago, which isn't that long ago. It's like, wow, okay. AI depends heavily on the kind of data and the quality of data that is brought to it. And that's, it's all about the assumptions around the data behind each of the models. What, in terms of investing and in AI world in general, What safeguards do you use to detect errors, bias, false assumptions, false confidence before actually making a decision? What's the human side of that, or what's the counter-AI side of that?

Yeah, this is a great question. Some of the strategies— this comes from traditional engineering. It's in getting involved in testing, can you intentionally create a failure situation in your data and feed that in and see what, see what happens, right? One of the, one of the lessons I learned when I was studying in college in engineering was the best way to find out about a system— let's say we have a system, it's a black box, you put in your inputs and you get your outputs— and you don't know anything else. Well, one of the best ways to find out what it does is to introduce a perturbation, a disruption.

Yeah.

Put in data, put in false data that's not right, and see how it handles it. And you can spot-check things. Also, beyond that, it's a standard quality assurance process. Manually double-checking things, manually run your calculations, then run it with the AI tools and look for any variances between the two. Maybe it did something better than than you have, or maybe it missed something, and that's that's what you want to look for. And so this is like we were talking about earlier, those engineering concepts and strategies. This is some of Some of that coming through. But I remember that lesson very well. I remember sitting in a lecture hall with the professor talking about the black box and introducing perturbation. He used that exact word into the system to see what it's going to do, how it will behave.

I love that. It's not a word you hear very often. It's like perturbation, right? So how do you deliberately disrupt a system?

Yeah, it's smacking it upside the head.

Right? Or giving it, giving it like itching powder or something. It's like, okay, how do you get it to respond? And what are you looking for? It's great. That's really great. How does AI build investor confidence and trust? Right? How do you, how do you do that? without overstating, like, we have AI, it's the best in the world, you know, how do you, how do you provide a grounded conversation, I guess, with potential investors?

A grounded conversation around that is really to think of AI as another tool in your toolbox and utilize it that way. It's not a replacement. It's a tool, just like a plumber is going to use a wrench and a soldering torch as their tools, or an electrician has a voltmeter to measure their voltage and do their checks. AI is a tool that allows us to do our, do our jobs better. A doctor uses a stethoscope to listen to your heart and hear what's going on. Um, this is the idea. And so, uh, considering it as a tool, as leverage for what you're doing, is the way to go.

Awesome, awesome. Um, all right, let's talk about leadership for a second.

Yeah, I love leadership.

Excellent. So AI is going to continue to reshape investing. As it does that, there will be different traits that distinguish the strongest leaders and firms from those that are simply like the newest technology. So leaders as humans, leaders as leaders of the field, I'm using that term in 2 different ways, and I'm just curious about what you're seeing. What do you think the traits of a good leader are, and what do you think will distinguish an organization as the leader in the field?

When it comes to leadership, one distinction that I feel is so important is relationships and focusing on that. That's something that cannot be replaced. It's something that takes constant work and effort to build relationships, nurture the ones you have, the same way you and I have stayed in touch over several years.

Yes.

That can't be replaced by Right. AI or, or anything. And it's something that in today's times is maybe missing. I've seen it over and over again. And so when you as a leader show up focusing on building relationships and nurturing relationships and connection, that's going to set you head and shoulders apart from everyone else in the industry. I see it. I see it with, with investments, talking to investors. I speak with so many investors. I'm an investor. I've invested in other deals as a passive investor. And I've had so many examples and experiences of how not to do business, how not to treat your customers. I see it all the time in my, in my That's what I go through life. And so there's plenty of examples. You don't have to look very hard, whether it's in customer service or investing in something where you send your money in and now you've become an account number. And, um, you know, it's like, hey, do you even know anyone that works there that you could call them and talk to them by name if you had a question? Right? Like, think about that. So we always seek to provide a different experience when it comes to that. And I think that that sets us apart. And so with any business, you start changing some of those approaches, that can be really powerful, really impactful, and it will get noticed with this world we're in where you go to a retail place and now you're faced with a kiosk to handle your payment, your transaction. If you have an issue, there's no one there to help you with that. That can be very frustrating, right?

Yes.

And so I really like the idea about seeking to be different. Be different. Keep things more at a human level, building relationships. I hate seeing investment scenarios where you sign on as an investor and now you're nothing more than an account number without a name, without a face. That's horrible.

You know, the horrible thing from my perspective is that you're saying be different, think about relationships. And it's like, to me, it's That's so sad that that has become the difference. You know, if you think back, if you think back to before computers, how did people make their transactions happen? You know, it wasn't just show up, I've got something, you pay me, ta-da, we're done. Transactions were done based on relationships first, especially the bigger transactions.

And the smaller ones too.

Yes.

And the smaller ones, right? How much effort does it take if you are a regular at your local coffee place and you see the barista there when you go get your coffee? How much effort does it take to introduce yourself, ask them your name and their name, have a little conversation, get to, get to know them? If you're a regular there, why not? Like, go there, put a smile, give them a smile, a friendly gesture, a compliment that doesn't cost you anything, right? And whether you're the customer or the, the provider.

Yeah.

Or the business working at the business, it doesn't cost anything. And the bar is set so low that it doesn't take much effort. To notice, to get noticed. And people love it. People respond in a very, very positive way.

Because we're not used to the connection. That's the sad part to me is like, oh, you know, let's bring the connection back. It's so great. Well, there's a new restaurant in my town. It's a small town and it's relatively small and it's a small restaurant. You know, it doesn't hold that many people, and new owners just took it over. And we visited, and I asked, you know, the waiter his name, and he was like— he smiled when he said it, you know, when he told me what his name was. He was like, oh, it's, you know— and I'd been there once before, and so he had, you know, a small restaurant. He had recognized me, but I didn't know his name. And it's like, now I want to call him by name when I go in.

Absolutely.

And, uh, yeah, it's— it makes a difference. You know, he's got hundreds of customers, but has anybody stopped to find out who he is, what he likes? And, you know, we're human.

Now you'll stand out, right?

And the same— yeah, the same is going to be true in, in the mortgage note business, right? It's like If you know who you're dealing with and you make it a personal— it's like, oh, based on your risk tolerance, based on what I know about you and your family and where you are in your life, you're going to make very human assumptions that are— again, you're talking about using AI as a tool. They're aided by AI.

Yeah.

So I love that. I love that we're bringing the conversation back to just be a good human. Like, just, right, look at some—

one of the most valuable lessons. I, I would say if you, you've taken nothing else away from this podcast interview, that's one of the top ones.

It is.

Get back to the basics of being—

right, right. Leadership lesson. Um, get back to the basics of being a good human. Look someone in the eye, smile, call them by name, find out what they want before you impose what you want. Um, see if you can help, right? Be a helper first. I mean, that's, that's part of what kept us to, uh, in our connection too, is like, hey, what are you working on? What's, you know, how can I help you in what you're working on? And we're in very different fields. We are. It's like, it's really good. It's really good. Um, cool. Talk about, uh, a couple of things. We, you know, is there anything that I haven't asked you on, on this on this one that you were thinking we'd talk more about? And, uh, and then parts 2 and 3 of this question are, how do people reach you? Do you want them to reach you via LinkedIn or somewhere else? And, um, once again, where do people find the Little Green Book of Note Investing? So all of those things.

Oh, thank you. Thank you so much. Um, yeah, I love We, we talked, touched on this a little bit, but I love building relationships. It's one of the most important things that I do. And so I want to invite everyone, all you listeners, connect with me. We don't have a lot of time to talk today on this podcast, but I do when you, when you reach out to me, when you come to me. And so you can do that by visiting my website Which is fredmoskowitz.com, and you can send me a message. You can learn more, read some of the articles we have. I also have a free gift available that is a guide to mortgage note investing. Happy to send that out, that anyone wants to request it, you can do that right at the website.

It's fredmoskowitz.com.

And if you prefer a little bit of an easier spelling, you can go to giftfromfred.com and it'll take you right there. And I love connecting. I love building relationships.

Great.

And learning about what you do. Investment is such a broad area and people just do so many different things. It's fascinating to me. And, uh, my book is called The Little Green Book of Note Investing. It's available on Amazon. If you go to my website, there'll be a link to it there, but you can certainly go on Amazon and look it up and find it there either by title or by my name. And, uh, thank you so much, Dr. Wayne. This has been a wonderful conversation. It's been great. Reconnecting and revisiting with you again here. And love, love the conversation. Thank you.

Yeah, thank you. This is awesome, Fred. Okay, so Fred Moskowitz, I'm going to spell it. I'll spell his last name just so you can find him. And then I'll give you the website again. Fred, F-R-E-D Moskowitz, M-O-S-K-O-W-I-T-Z. Fred moskowitz.com. And Fred's made it easy if you want to go to giftfromfred.com. Find the little green book of note investing on Amazon or on his website, wherever books are sold. Also, you know, you don't have to do Amazon, but apparently that's the easiest these days. AI and technology and all those things. All right, fredmoskowitz.com, giftfromfred.com, The Little Green Book of Note Investing. And, uh, again, Fred, thank you for joining me. Appreciate it.

Thank you, Dr. Wayne. My pleasure.

Beautiful. All right, this is One Sharp Sword, cutting through to what matters most. My guest today has been Fred Moskowitz, and I am Dr. P, Dr. Wayne Pernell. Your host, your guide, your coach on this journey. Please, if you enjoyed this, this segment, please like it, please share it, and please subscribe to the YouTube channel and, and all the other places, right? The, the, the podcast delivery channel. So we'll see you here next week. Thanks for being here. Tell your friends. Keep making your magic. Thanks for listening to One Sharp Sword, cutting through to what matters most with Outfluencer Dr. Wayne Pernell. For more information, please go to onesharpsword.com.