{"id":188157,"date":"2026-06-09T10:35:09","date_gmt":"2026-06-09T16:35:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.biggerpockets.com\/blog\/?p=188157"},"modified":"2026-06-09T10:38:05","modified_gmt":"2026-06-09T16:38:05","slug":"texting-with-devon-kennard","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.biggerpockets.com\/blog\/texting-with-devon-kennard","title":{"rendered":"Devon Kennard, The NFL Linebacker Who Built a 50 Rental Portfolio"},"content":{"rendered":"

Most NFL players are broke within five years of retirement. The statistic gets repeated so often it’s become background noise<\/span>, but the<\/span> numbers are real, and the trajectory is brutal: big contracts, bigger lifestyles, a career that ends in your 20s or 30s, and a financial cliff that arrives faster than anyone planned for.<\/span><\/p>\n

Devon Kennard isn’t one of those statistics. He played eight seasons in the NFL as a linebacker for the Giants, Lions, and Cardinals. He also bought his first rental as a rookie, kept buying throughout his career, and walked away from the game with 50+ properties, 50+ syndication investments, and a private lending business he runs with his wife Camille out of Phoenix.<\/span><\/p>\n

He’s now the author of <\/span>It All Adds Up<\/span><\/em> and one of the most thoughtful voices in real estate on how high earners should actually deploy their income while they’re earning it. I asked him six questions about building a portfolio while working 80-hour weeks, the most expensive mistake high earners make, and what he’d tell his 25-year-old self.<\/span><\/p>\n

His answers are the most useful financial advice you’ll read this year if you have a W2 and a paycheck you don’t know what to do with.<\/span><\/p>\n

1. How to Buy Your First Five Rentals While Your Job Eats Your Life<\/span><\/h2>\n

Q: How do you buy your first five rentals when your job already eats 60 hours a week?<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

“You don’t find more time. You make better trade-offs with the time you have.<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

When I was playing in the NFL, my in-season schedule was closer to 80 hours. I made three moves that changed everything.<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

One: I picked one market and went deep<\/span>.<\/span> Most people burn six months researching 15 markets and <\/span>buy<\/span> nothing. Pick one. Learn it cold.<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

Two: I <\/span>built a small team<\/span><\/a> before I needed it<\/span>. Property<\/span> manager, agent, lender. When a deal showed up, I <\/span>made a decision<\/span> in two evenings, not two weeks.<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

Three: I accepted that my first few deals would be OK, not amazing. Five OK rentals beat one perfect rental that never gets bought.<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

With five to seven focused hours a week, you can buy one property a year. That’s how you get to five. Not by quitting your job. By being disciplined with the time you have.”<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

The line that should be on every aspiring investor’s whiteboard: <\/span>Five OK rentals beat one perfect rental that never gets bought.<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

The single biggest reason high earners with money to deploy never deploy it is the trap Devon describes in move No. 1<\/span>. Six<\/span> months of market research <\/span>turns<\/span> into a year.<\/span> The year turns into “I’m waiting for rates to come down.” Two years later, they own the same zero properties and have read 40 books about real estate.<\/span><\/p>\n

Five to seven focused hours a week is part of the answer worth sitting with. That’s not a hobby, commitment, or a side hustle. That’s an hour a day, Monday through Friday, with weekends off. Anyone reading this can find an hour a day if they’re honest about how they spend their evenings.<\/span><\/p>\n

Your move<\/span><\/h3>\n

Pick your market this week, not next quarter. Then book three calls in the next 10 days: a property manager, an investor-friendly agent, and a local lender. The team comes <\/span>before <\/span><\/em>the deal, not <\/span>after <\/span><\/em>it.<\/span><\/p>\n

2. The Lifestyle Inflation Tax Most High Earners Pay Forever<\/span><\/h2>\n

Q: What’s the most expensive mistake you see high earners make with their money before they discover real estate?<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

“They treat lifestyle inflation as a reward instead of a tax.<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

Every raise becomes a bigger house, nicer car, and better vacations. It feels earned. But lifestyle costs don’t go away\u2014they become the new baseline. You raised your floor permanently to enjoy something temporarily.<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

I saw it constantly in NFL locker rooms. First real contract: a new car payment within 60 days and a lifestyle that required the next contract to maintain. Then the next contract didn’t come.<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

The expensive mistake isn’t spending money. It’s spending it in ways that don’t generate more money. A $1,200 car payment is a $1,200 monthly hole. That same $1,200 in the right property generates income, builds <\/span>equity<\/span><\/a>, and creates <\/span>tax deductions<\/span><\/a>. Same dollar. Completely different trajectory.<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

Most high earners don’t have an income problem. They have an allocation problem.”<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

“Most high earners don’t have an income problem. They have an allocation problem.”<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

Every high-income reader of this newsletter should screenshot that line and put it on their refrigerator. <\/span>It explains why the doctor making $400K and the engineer making $180K can both end up in the <\/span>exact<\/span> same place at age 55: comfortable but not free, with a paid-off house <\/span>and<\/span> a 401(k) and nothing else.<\/span><\/p>\n

Devon’s locker room example is the version of this story most BiggerPockets readers haven’t seen. The pattern is identical to what plays out in tech offices, sales floors, and law firms. The only thing different is the size of the numbers.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The mechanism is the same: a raise arrives, the lifestyle expands to absorb it, the new lifestyle requires the income that bought it, and now you’re trapped at a higher level instead of free at any level.<\/span><\/p>\n

Your move<\/span><\/h3>\n

Look at your <\/span>last three years of income<\/span> and <\/span>then<\/span> your net worth today.<\/span> If the second number didn’t grow proportionally with the first, you’re paying the lifestyle inflation tax and don’t know it. The fix is redirecting the next raise into something that pays you back\u2014not just earning more money.<\/span><\/p>\n

3. The 401(K) vs. Rental Property Question, Settled<\/span><\/h2>\n

Q: If you had to pick one, would you max out your <\/span>401k<\/span> or buy one rental property a year? Why?<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

“One rental property a year.<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

The 401(k) is fine for what it is. Tax-deferred, employer match, hands-off. But you can’t see what you own, can’t add value to it, can’t refinance it, can’t write off depreciation, and can’t pass it down with a stepped-up basis.<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

A rental gives you all of that. Plus, something nobody talks about\u2014when you buy a rental, you become a different person. You learn to evaluate deals, manage tenants, and read markets. That knowledge compounds in ways 401(k) contributions never do.<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

After 10 years, one path leaves you with 10 properties and real skill at allocating capital. The other leaves you with a bigger account balance and the same skills you had a decade ago.<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

I’d pick the properties every time.”<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

The part of Devon’s answer that’s easy to miss is the second-to-last paragraph. Most of the debate around 401(k) versus real estate focuses on returns and tax treatment. <\/span>Devon’s<\/span> saying<\/span> the most valuable output of buying rentals is <\/span>that you become a person<\/span> who knows how to allocate capital.<\/span><\/p>\n

That skill is the actual moat. <\/span>A person with 10 properties and 10 years of decision-making experience can pivot into any <\/span>kind of<\/span> deal flow.<\/span> One with a $400K 401(k) balance can max out next year’s contribution. Those are not the same financial trajectory, even when the balance sheets look similar on paper.<\/span><\/p>\n

The standard financial advisor objection to Devon’s answer is risk. Real estate isn’t passive. Tenants are messy. Properties break.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

All of that’s true. It’s a feature, not a bug. The friction is what builds the operator.<\/span><\/p>\n

Your move<\/span><\/h3>\n

If you’re maxing out your 401(k) and not buying rentals, redirect the difference between your current contribution and the employer match minimum into a rental property fund for the next 18 months. <\/span>Most people will be shocked at how <\/span>fast<\/span> that <\/span>hits<\/span> a <\/span>down payment<\/span><\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n

4. Devon’s Four C\u2019s for Evaluating Any Deal<\/span><\/h2>\n

Q: You’ve moved into private money lending on top of owning rentals. What does a deal have to look like for you <\/span>to actually write the check<\/span>?<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

“The Four C\u2019s.<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n