David Nilssen

An avid investor, David Nilssen has purchased millions of dollars in real estate and was instrumental in the development of a national sales team with a production of over $250 million in gross revenue. As a renowned educator and entrepreneur, he continues to forge an extraordinary career within the investment community. He has helped to initiate many businesses within the service industry, including a real estate agency/property management firm and real estate development company, and he is nationally recognized as one of the leading experts on nontraditional investments.

He became involved in real estate after spending years of successful investing in the stock market. At the time real estate was a part of his conservative investing portfolio. At the time he viewed real estate as a more stable, secure and boring part of his investment portfolio. It took only one deal for him to realize the power of leverage or what is known as OPM (other people's money). After closing the 1st transaction, he diverted a majority of his attention to real estate investments that yielded higher returns than the stock market ever did for him.

David advises to choose a mentor carefully. Beginning investors should learn from someone who is truly "walking the walk." David believes that emotion should not be a part of your investment deals. Do not fall in love with your investments; otherwise you will not treat them as investments.

To David Nilssen, everyone has the ability to effectively invest in real estate if they have the desire. He spends time with others who are successful; he reads a tremendous amount of books on investing to gain more knowledge. He is not afraid to "get his hands dirty" and participate in the deal. He thinks that his ability to separate emotion from his transactions was the greatest gift he gave himself. He invests with his excess capital and OPM, not his "grocery money."

In 2003, Nilssen was invited to participate as an educator on a nationwide tour for the Real Estate Super Conference featuring many of the top minds in investment education. In addition, he has been featured on numerous radio and television shows including WS Radio, and he has been highlighted in many national investment publications such as Fortune Magazine. The Small Business Administration named Nilssen the national co-recipient of the Young Entrepreneur of the Year Award for 2007. Having spoken to thousands of interested investors across the United States regarding innovative investment strategies, he continues to be in demand as a top expert in the self-directed field. To further add to his long list of accomplishments, Nilssen, in partnership with Jeremy Ames, will soon be releasing a book on self-directed investing. Look for it at your local bookstore in late 2007.

As a founding partner of Guidant Financial Group, Inc., Nilssen has helped to educate tens of thousands of individual investors across the country learn more about self-directed retirement plans. In four years, the company has grown to include five offices (Wisconsin, Colorado, Arizona, Atlanta and Seattle), and it employs a staff of over 75. The U.S. Chamber of Commerce recently named Guidant the winner of the Blue Ribbon Award for best small business in the Northwest region.