Frequently Asked Questions

The $1M Challenge is a giveaway of ten $100,000 grants designed to help everyday Americans take their first step into real estate ownership — the same step that started my own portfolio decades ago.

Every grant is structured to remove the four most common barriers people hit when they try to buy their first investment property: not enough for a down payment, no money for an attorney, fear of the tax bill, and no one to walk them through it.

Each grant breaks down like this:

The full $100,000 is allocated specifically so that, by the time the property closes, you've actually kept a real asset — not just received a check that disappeared into living expenses.

To enter you must be:

• A legal U.S. resident, age 18 or older at time of entry
• A resident of an eligible U.S. state (see below)
• Not an employee, contractor, or immediate family of The Guide to Wealth Challenge or anyone otherwise involved in administering the Challenge

You do not need to be an experienced real estate investor to enter — in fact, this Challenge was designed primarily for people taking their first step.

Each U.S. state regulates sweepstakes and contest law independently. New York, Florida, and Rhode Island have specific bonding, registration, and disclosure rules that significantly raise the cost and complexity of running a giveaway of this size.

To keep the Challenge fully compliant and to keep more of every dollar going to actual winners, residents of those three states are not eligible. This is standard practice for nationwide sweepstakes — it isn't personal.

If you live in NY, FL, or RI you can still buy the book, attend events, and use every other resource on this site. You just can't be entered as a Challenge winner.

There are two ways to enter, and both have equal odds of winning:

Path 1 — Online (book purchasers). If you have purchased a copy of The Generational Wealth and Real Estate Playbook, fill out the online entry form on this site and upload your proof of purchase (Amazon order confirmation, a receipt PDF, a photo of the book with your receipt, etc.). One online entry per person.

Path 2 — Mail-In (no purchase necessary). If you have not purchased the book, you may not use the online form. Instead, hand-print on a plain 3×5 card your full legal name, complete mailing address, email address, cell phone number, and date of birth, along with the words "I want to enter The $1M Challenge." Place the card in a plain envelope and mail to:

One mail-in entry per person, per outer mailing envelope. Entries must be postmarked by the entry-period close date and received within five (5) business days after. Mail-in and online entries are combined into a single drawing pool — odds are identical regardless of method.

No. Federal and state sweepstakes law require that all entrants — whether they purchased the book or used the free mail-in entry — have an equal opportunity to win. All entries go into the same drawing pool, and winners are selected at random.

The book exists because it teaches you what to actually do with $100,000 once you have it. It does not influence the odds of receiving one.

You don't have to buy anything. The mail-in entry (also called the Alternative Method of Entry, or AMOE) exists specifically so that anyone eligible can enter for free.

Required on each 3×5 card, hand-printed:

• Your full legal name
• Your complete mailing address (street, city, state, ZIP)
• Your email address
• Your cell phone number
• Your date of birth
• The exact phrase: "I want to enter The $1M Challenge."

Mail to:

One entry per envelope. Mechanically reproduced, photocopied, or incomplete cards will not be accepted. Mail-in entrants are not required to have purchased anything.

The official entry window, drawing date, and announcement date are listed in the Official Rules linked at the bottom of this page. Winners are notified by phone and email using the contact information they entered, and have a fixed window to respond and accept before an alternate is selected.

We will also publicly announce winners (by first name, last initial, and state) on this site and in the email list, so you'll know the moment they're chosen.

The $70,000 is earmarked for the down payment and acquisition of an income-producing residential real estate property — typically a 1- to 4-unit rental in the United States.

You don't have to buy in any specific market. We'll work with you in coaching to identify a market and a property that makes sense for your situation, but the choice of city, neighborhood, and specific property is yours.

Funds are paid directly to the closing agent / title company at closing. No grant funds are paid in cash to a winner.

This bucket is intentionally there because most first-time investors skip it. It covers:

• Real estate closing attorney (where required by state)
• LLC formation for asset protection
• Operating agreement
• Initial title and contract review

One of the core principles of The Generational Wealth and Real Estate Playbook is that the day you buy is the day you build the legal structure — not five years later when something goes wrong. The $7,000 forces that structure to exist on day one.

The IRS treats sweepstakes winnings as taxable income. To make sure no winner is blindsided by an unexpected tax bill the following April, $10,000 of every grant is set aside specifically as a federal tax reserve.

Depending on your state, your filing status, and other income, your actual tax liability may be higher or lower than $10,000 — so we strongly recommend every winner work with a qualified CPA. The coaching component of the grant includes referral support to find one.

Plain English: You will receive a 1099 for the full value of the grant. The $10,000 reserve is there so you don't have to come up with that money out of pocket.

One full year of structured coaching, drawn directly from the Real Estate Investor System. The goal: by month 12, you don't just own one property — you understand how to repeat the process and own three or four more on your own.

Coaching includes:

• Market and deal analysis
• Financing and lender introductions
• Walk-through of the offer, inspection, and closing process
• Property-management setup
• Year-one tax planning, depreciation strategy, and bookkeeping setup
• Long-term portfolio planning — refinance, scale, and the Family Wealth Stack

No. The $100,000 grant is a one-time gift, not a loan. There's no repayment, no equity stake taken, and no fee returned to me or to The Guide to Wealth Challenge.

The mortgage on the property you buy is yours, just like any property you would have purchased on your own. The grant covers the down payment and the cost of doing it right — the property and its long-term equity belong entirely to the winner.

That's exactly who this Challenge was designed for. The hardest property to buy is your first one. The Challenge — and the coaching that comes with it — is built specifically to walk a first-time investor from "I've never done this" to "I own a cash-flowing property and I know how to buy the next one."

Yes. Existing investors are eligible. The Challenge is open to first-time and experienced investors alike.

One online entry per person, per email address, for the duration of the entry window. One mail-in entry per person, per outer mailing envelope. Duplicate entries from the same person across either method will be removed and treated as a single entry.

Winners are contacted directly by phone and email using the contact information from their entry. We will never ask for payment, banking access, or your Social Security number to "release" your prize — anyone claiming otherwise is not us.

A W-9 will be required (this is normal IRS reporting for any prize over $600), and identity verification will happen through standard, secure channels — not a random text message.

Each grant is contractually tied to the purchase of a qualifying real estate property. If a selected winner decides not to proceed with a purchase, the grant is forfeited and an alternate winner is selected from the entry pool.

This isn't a cash giveaway — it's a generational-wealth giveaway. The structure is intentional.

The complete Official Rules — including entry dates, drawing date, eligibility detail, prize structure, and the alternate-winner process — are on the Official Rules page.

If anything in this FAQ ever appears to conflict with the Official Rules, the Official Rules govern.

Email support@theguidetowealth.com and we'll get you an answer. If your question is something a lot of other people are asking, we'll add it to this list.