the win win wealth strategy: 7 investments of the goverment will pay you to make

Most taxpayers hand over money they legally don't owe because nobody told them the rules were written in their favor. Wheelwright, Robert Kiyosaki's tax advisor, shows how the wealthy read the code as an invitation. Read it if you own a business, rental property, or a retirement account — or plan to. Skip it if you want aggressive schemes; this is deliberate, legal, boring-on-purpose wealth building.

1. 1Introduction, Chapters 1–2

   The tax code is a wish list, not a weapon

   Wheelwright opens with a number meant to intimidate: over 70,000 pages of tax code. Most readers hear that and reach for an aspirin. He flips it. Those pages exist because Congress wants specific behaviors — and writes a reward for every one. A 'Win-Win Wealth Strategy' means investing in ways that benefit you, the government, the environment, and society at once, with the government paying its share through tax benefits. Deductions and credits aren't loopholes; they're intentional incentives. Avoiding the taxes the government offers to avoid is legal tax avoidance. Your job: figure out what the government wants, then do it.

   The idea

   The tax code names the investments it prefers, and the seven categories are laid out plainly. Once you see them, you can't unsee them.

   Try this: This week, list your investments and mark which of the seven government-favored categories they touch. Zero marks means your portfolio is paying full freight.

2. 2Chapter 3

   The sun pays you back twice

   A client installs a $100,000 solar array on a commercial building. The federal government immediately hands back a $30,000 tax credit — 30% off the top. Then accelerated depreciation lets him deduct another $85,000 over five years. The broader rule: renewable energy carries credits precisely because the government wants more of it — a 30% Investment Tax Credit turns a $20,000 residential system into a $14,000 one.

   The idea

   The tax benefit can rival the asset's cost when credit and depreciation stack.

   Try this: If you've been pricing solar, calculate the 30% credit on your quote before deciding — the after-tax price, not the sticker, is the real comparison.

3. 3Chapter 4

   The duplex that paid for dinner

   A couple buys a $300,000 duplex and moves into one unit, renting the other. Mortgage interest, property taxes, and depreciation come off their taxable income — $15,000 a year less to the IRS. The engine underneath is depreciation: the government lets investors deduct the building's cost over roughly 27.5 years even while the property appreciates. It's a 'phantom' deduction — paper losses, real cash flow. Cost segregation accelerates it: reclassify a $500,000 residential rental and deduct $100,000 in year one instead of waiting decades.

   The idea

   Depreciation reduces taxes while the asset grows, and cost segregation pulls decades of deductions into a single year.

   Try this: If you own a rental, ask a cost segregation specialist for a study estimate — the first-year deduction may dwarf your current annual depreciation.

4. 4Chapter 5

   The dentist's $12,000 raise

   A dentist restructures her practice as an S corporation. She pays herself a reasonable salary of $120,000 and takes another $80,000 as distributions. The distributions skip self-employment tax, saving her $12,000 a year. Behind her move sits the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act: the Qualified Business Income deduction lets pass-through owners deduct up to 20% of qualified business income — a business owner with $100,000 in profit deducts $20,000 from taxable income.

   The idea

   The savings require no new revenue, no new clients, no extra hours — just paperwork and a CPA who knows the difference between a paycheck and a distribution.

   Try this: If you're a sole proprietor, ask a tax advisor this week whether an S corporation election would pay for itself in self-employment tax savings.

5. 5Chapter 6

   The orchard that wrote off $200,000

   A client buys a 100-acre almond orchard for $1,000,000. The trees themselves are depreciable — he deducts their cost over their productive life — and bonus depreciation lets him write off $200,000 in the first year. Elsewhere in the chapter, a farmer deducts $50,000 for an irrigation system the year it's installed, part of a broader set of breaks for soil and water conservation expenses.

   The idea

   Agriculture qualifies as an investment category with first-year write-offs this large.

   Try this: If you've dismissed farmland as uninvestable, spend an hour this week researching how it's held — direct, fund, or REIT — and which tax treatment each gets.

6. 6Chapter 7

   The $100,000 loan that wasn't income

   A policyholder sits with a whole life policy carrying $150,000 in cash value and needs money now. Selling the policy would mean surrendering it; a withdrawal would trigger taxes. Instead, the policyholder borrows $100,000 against the cash value — and no tax is triggered. Meanwhile the cash value has been growing tax-free all along. In a second case, a business owner pledges a $500,000 whole life policy as collateral for a bank loan, gaining liquidity while the cash value keeps compounding at 4% annually, tax-deferred.

   The idea

   Growth inside the policy escapes tax, and policy loans escape it too.

   Try this: If you hold permanent life insurance, request an in-force illustration showing current cash value and loan provisions — most owners never see the numbers.

7. 7Chapter 8

   The IRA that bought a rental

   A client uses a self-directed IRA to buy a $200,000 rental property. Every dollar of rental income lands inside the IRA, tax-deferred, compounding to $300,000 over 15 years. The broader retirement lesson: a Roth IRA takes contributions after-tax and returns withdrawals tax-free after age 59½ — contribute $6,000 a year for 30 years and pull out $500,000 without owing a cent. Choosing between traditional (deduct now, tax later) and Roth (tax now, tax-free later) depends entirely on whether rates will be higher now or later.

   The idea

   A self-directed IRA can hold real estate, and the rent compounds without a tax bill interrupting it.

   Try this: Check whether your IRA custodian permits self-direction. If not, research custodians that handle real estate before your next contribution.

8. 8Chapters 8–9

   Give appreciated stock, keep the gain

   You bought stock for $2,000; it's now worth $10,000. Sell it and owe $1,200 in capital gains tax. Donate it instead: no capital gains tax, plus a $10,000 deduction — a double benefit. Wheelwright extends the move with a donor-advised fund: a family contributes $50,000 in appreciated securities, takes the immediate deduction, then recommends grants to charities over several years while the fund grows tax-free. Charity, he insists, is a government-incentivized investment — the government pays part of every gift.

   The idea

   The donor-advised fund adds timing control: deduct now, decide later, let the balance grow untaxed.

   Try this: Before your next donation, check whether appreciated shares — not cash — can fund it. Most brokerages process this in one form.

9. 9Chapter 10

   The $45,000 year

   One investor stacks everything: solar tax credits, real estate depreciation, business deductions. The combination reduces $200,000 of income to $50,000 taxable — $45,000 saved in a single year. Wheelwright's synthesis: choose the investments the government wants, structure them properly, and work with a proactive tax advisor who plans ahead rather than just preparing returns. His guardrail, repeated like a drumbeat: never invest just for the tax benefits. Invest because it makes economic sense, and let the tax savings be the icing on the cake.

   The idea

   Tax planning at this level isn't a deduction here and there, it's a redesigned balance sheet.

   Try this: Sketch which of the seven categories you could realistically add in the next 12 months, then price the tax benefit of each before committing capital.

10. 10Chapter 11

    Think like the rich, then act like it

    A teacher earning $50,000 starts a side business. She deducts a home office and vehicle expenses, cutting her taxable income by $10,000 — then uses the savings to buy a rental property. Wheelwright frames her with his mentor's line: 'If you want to be rich, you have to think like a rich person.' Wealthy individuals treat taxes as a system to be understood and leveraged, not feared.

    The idea

    The teacher didn't wait for a higher salary; she built a second income stream and claimed the incentives attached to it.

    Try this: If you have any side income, list this week's legitimate home office and vehicle deductions with an advisor — then route the savings into an asset, not a splurge.

11. 11Chapters 12–13

    Fire the historian, hire the strategist

    A real estate investor switches from a general CPA to one experienced in cost segregation and saves $40,000 in taxes. Wheelwright's rule: 'Your tax preparer is not your tax advisor; a preparer records history, an advisor helps you create your future.' A good CPA does tax planning and strategy, not just tax preparation — and the taxpayer, not the accountant, is responsible for knowing the rules. Looking forward, the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022 extended the 30% solar credit through 2032, and Wheelwright predicts incentives will keep tilting toward environmental and social goals.

    The idea

    Responsibility stays with you regardless; the CPA executes, you decide.

    Try this: Ask your current tax preparer one question this week: 'What tax planning have you done for me for next year?' The silence is your answer.

Business owners, landlords, and side-hustlers who suspect they're overpaying the IRS but don't know which levers exist. Also ideal for anyone about to make a big investment decision — solar, rental, entity restructuring — who wants the tax layer priced in before signing.

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