No matter your age or where you are in life, when it comes to investing, it’s important to find a team you can trust. With the state of the economy always in question, you also want to make sure your investment is protected, diversified, and earning as much as possible.
Just last year, a Northwest investment company opened a new Bend office. Offering a fresh approach to investing, Equilus Capital’s focus is building wealth for its clients through investment in real estate. Located in NWX, Equilus Capital’s Asset Manager Mike Musco is committed to helping local clients navigate investing at any stage of life.
“I enjoy helping people solve problems and helping them do better,” states Musco. “Being here in the Bend office, being local, it’s all about building relationships. We really take our fiduciary role seriously with utmost value on trust, respect and kindness. That’s a big deal to me personally.”
Equilus Capital’s unique approach to investing comes from its Founder, Joel Frank. During his 30-year career with major Fortune 100 investment companies, Joel noticed that the portfolios he was managing that included real estate were doing about 25% - 30% better than those that did not. “I really looked at that and was able to understand why and how that was working,” he says. “It was because of the tax advantages as well as the steady income that real estate can give people, unlike the stock market, which has a lot of volatility.”
So, Joel started working on putting together a professional financial advisory firm with a focus on real estate. He wanted that firm to be able to offer its own diverse real estate to investors.
In 2017, Equilus Capital Partners, LLC was founded. “We have multi-family apartments, townhomes, medical professional buildings, and a retail establishment that has a long-term lease with a national tenant,” explains Joel, who is the Managing Principal as well as the Founder. “We like national tenants like Tractor Supply, Walgreens, and those types of really strong companies. They don't want to own their own properties. Instead, they like to lease back for the long term.”
The name of the company, he explains, signifies financial strength. “In Latin, the horse is the power of strength, and that’s why our logo model is a horse.”
Instead of people investing their money into real estate on their own, there are huge advantages to partnering with Equilus. “The company invests members’ assets into income-producing real estate,” Joel states. “Most people who want to invest on their own probably don't have our kind of diversification.”
“For example, if they have a million dollars, they may get a duplex, but a million dollars into our fund is going to give them the diversity of having all of these other properties in it that are larger and producing more income.”
Another benefit is not having to deal with all the landlord issues such as collecting rent and handling maintenance on the property. “It’s passive income,” says Joel. “They don't have to do anything — they just sit back and collect their monies and still have the benefits of ownership such as tax deductions and their interest off the loans if there's a loan on the property. It's all passed through proportionally to their share of interest. It’s managed like a mutual fund.”
People can trust Equilus, he says, because what it does is all federally regulated. “They can look us up on NASDAQ or FINRA. We've never had any problems or missed paying a dividend. It's always been on time and our financial strength has grown proportionally year after year.”
In addition to the Bend office, Equilus has locations in Kennewick and Wenatchee, Washington and is a true family business. Joel’s wife, Rhonda Frank, who has years of experience in business administration and event planning, is the Vice President of Marketing and Business Development.
“Over the years, I've helped Joel develop the business and supported him with it,” notes Rhonda. “When it grew to the point where we could afford for me to come on board, it was a great fit. I love doing the marketing. I'm a creative person and Joel and I work really well together. It's been a blessing to watch this business grow together and support each other and our team.”
Their daughters also work in the company. Jocelyn Frank is the financial administrator and Janee Poundstone is the marketing assistant. Joel says he has a passion for what he does and is proud to share it with his family.
Joel strongly believes in teamwork. “We have a great team. Mike Musco in Bend is a part of that as well.”
“We have an internal team, but a lot of my initial interactions with the clients may be with helping them with estate planning or other things that are most important at that moment,” explains Mike. “So, helping clients build their own team as well is something that we're doing.”
Seeing not only the company doing well, but its clients, too, is something the whole team finds truly rewarding. “We're very client focused,” says Rhonda. “We're not out to just pad our pockets. We want our investors to be successful. We believe that if we make them successful, then we're going to be successful as well. And that's our goal — to take really good care of the people who are trusting us.”
Adds Joel, “When people have investment problems or are seeking advice, what works well, as Mike stated, is showing them solutions. And many times, real estate inside an investment portfolio will do that.”
EquilusCapital.com
Joel Frank noticed that the portfolios he was managing that included real estate were doing about 25% - 30% better than those that did not. “It was because of the tax advantages as well as the steady income that real estate can give people, unlike the stock market, which has a lot of volatility.”