Bridger Pennington always knew he would be an entrepreneur. Even from his early days as a freshman at Brigham Young University, he was looking for routes to pursue his goal of launching his own business. Bridger quickly realized that his aspirations to be a millionaire in his twenties were due for some rough riding ahead. He began launching business after business in just about every space you can imagine, however little came of it. Failure became more common than success in nearly all of his business ventures.
“Some succeeded, while others failed miserably. After my seventh business attempt, I sat down with a mentor who introduced me to the “secret of the wealthy”, starting a fund.”
Come to find out that Bridger’s father had actually successfully started and ran a fund for several years. He became a huge resource for Bridger in learning the ins and outs of investment funds, and he slowly realized the massive potential that lay in the industry.
And so he went to work.
“In 2016, I launched my first bridge loan fund where I raised a meager $46,000; however, I did bring my investors a 64% return. It wasn’t much but it was enough to get on my feet. Since then, I have launched a second fund along with several syndications and I’m currently working on a third,” Bridger says.
Between these two funds, Bridger was able to facilitate over 290 deals and deploy millions of dollars. Three years after completing his first bridge loan, he launched Investment Fund Secrets, a program with the goal of teaching other fund managers how to start, build, and scale their own fund without having an Ivy League degree or working on Wall Street. Over the last year, more than 1,000 students have joined the “Wall Street Rebel” movement, and millions of dollars have been raised for their respective endeavors.
Regarding IFS Bridger remarked, “‘Investment Fund Secrets’, or IFS, is designed to teach people outside of Wall Street how they can go about starting and managing their own investment funds. We have compiled significant resources, partnerships, and educational materials to help our students move forward with confidence in setting up their own funds. During our first year in business we helped several students raise $10M+ for their funds, and had over 2,000 people join our community,” Bridger remarks.
After his first two successful debt funds, Bridger is realigning his efforts towards a third fund. This time with his eye on getting involved in the Real Estate space.
“My latest fund is looking at acquiring big box stores across the country.”
Bridger has partnered with several prominent business leaders in Utah in an effort to propel this fund to be his most successful to date by a considerable margin.
Bridger is now looking forward to being able to scale even further to help more clients. Above all else, Bridger is drawn to the immense possibility and potential a fund symbolizes and holds. With a fund, sound business models are able to scale to sizes that would have been impossible beforehand. Despite their simple ability to grow wealth, Bridger is well aware of their inaccessibility to those that do not have that coveted Ivy League badge of honor, or have spent years of their lives working on Wall Street.
“Though I am aware of just how important experience is in the investing space, I disagree with that stereotype. I decided that the opportunity to bring basic fund management principles to the public at large was something that I almost felt obligated to do. I do not believe that running a fund is for everyone, but I do think the model could be applied much more widely than it currently is, hence Investment Fund Secrets was born,” Bridger says.
Knowing the context in which his clients exist helps Bridger build stronger funds and teaching series for everyday people. He’s bringing this insight into the formation of his third fund, set to launch in the upcoming year.
“This will be by far my largest fund to date, and I have partnered with some incredible people to make this possible. I also have goals to help thousands of people with my Investment Fund Secrets program. This means that so many more individuals will have access to resources and training from experts that they would have never dreamed possible. I look forward to growing and developing our unique community to usher in the next great fund managers in a way never seen before,” Bridger outlines.
Be sure to check out the funds and projects Bridger has available on his website, and follow on Instagram to stay up to date with any new announcements.