← All Letters 2026-08-11 13:12:52

a payment someone owes you every month

You can replace a paycheck with a payment someone owes you every month.

This one's for anyone who wants income in retirement that doesn't depend on the stock market.

That's what a private mortgage note is: a loan you hold, with a house as collateral.

A borrower sends you the monthly payment, the same way you once sent yours to a bank.

The rate is set in writing on day one.

The Entrust Group, a self-directed IRA administrator, reports that mortgage notes have generally paid 8 to 12% annual returns.

When income comes from a portfolio, it often means selling shares at whatever the market price is that day.

A note payment is owed to you by contract, in the same amount, every month.

I’m a real estate investor, and I’ve held notes myself, so I’ve read this paperwork as the person whose money it protects.

The two lines that matter most in that paperwork: whether your lien sits in first position, and what the note says happens when a payment is late.

This week I published the full walkthrough: How Private Mortgage Notes Work

Here’s what’s in it:

• The two documents that make a private money loan secured by real estate in first position

• We use an example of an $80,000 private money note, and exactly who gets what when the housing market drops

• What happens if the payments stop, from the late fee to the window to catch up, to what a foreclosure costs and how long it takes

If you watch one video of mine this year, make it this one.

As promised, income over wealth in under a minute.

- Dan
The chart, in one image
The chart, in one image
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