Letizia Alto and Kenji Asakura didn’t plan to build a real estate empire. What they did want was their time back. Both physicians, the couple spent years tethered to 80-hour workweeks. Like many professionals, they were financially comfortable, but time-starved.
Today, they own over 100 rental units, work when they choose, and spend half the year in Puerto Rico and the other half traveling with their children. Their journey started with no background in property ownership and no formal real estate training.
What fueled their rise? A relentless commitment to self-education, and three books that served as their roadmap.
During their honeymoon in a New Zealand camper van with no electricity, Alto and Asakura turned to Robert Kiyosaki’s Rich Dad Poor Dad. The classic personal finance book, especially popular among real estate investors, planted the first seeds of possibility.
“It was really powerful. We were like: ‘Oh, my gosh, this is it: We’re employees, we trade our time for money, we’re never going to be able to be in Italy for three months at a time because we’re always going to have to be working,’” Alto said.
The book’s core principle that wealth comes from assets that generate income, not from trading time, struck a chord. For Alto, the dream was simple: more time for travel and family. Kiyosaki’s framework helped them understand that achieving that dream meant building income outside of medicine.
“The only way it works is if we have another source of income, outside medicine, that can replace part of our salaries so that we can have the freedom to take time off,” she added.
Shortly after returning from their trip, the couple used funds originally saved for a primary residence to buy two duplexes. They wouldn’t buy a personal home until 2022. In the meantime, they focused entirely on building their rental portfolio.
As they moved from novice landlords to serious investors, Alto and Asakura began treating their rental properties not just as investments, but as businesses. This book by Garrett Sutton helped them understand how to structure and scale their operations legally and efficiently.
“I think a big differentiator is that we apply a lot of business principles to our rental business,” said Asakura. “A lot of people don’t think about rental properties as a business; they think about it as providing housing, but ultimately, each property is a mini-business.”
The book guided them in setting up legal protections and business structures that would support growth. For real estate investors who want to scale beyond a few properties, understanding LLCs, partnerships, and asset protection is essential.
This focus on business fundamentals helped them grow deliberately and reduce risk along the way.
The third game-changing read was The Millionaire Real Estate Investor by Gary Keller, a title packed with strategic advice and interviews from more than 100 real estate millionaires.
Alto and Asakura used the book not only for motivation, but for real-world application. They even built their own cash-on-cash return calculator based on the tool Keller includes, an essential part of analyzing whether a property would generate positive cash flow before closing.
“We could see that people just like us could do it,” said Alto. “If you don’t believe it’s possible, then you’re always going to look for the reasons it’s not going to work, and you’re going to be stuck in analysis paralysis for the rest of your life.”
This was more than a book; it was a blueprint and a belief system. It gave the couple confidence that ordinary people with no real estate backgrounds could win in this industry, too.
“We were self-taught,” Asakura told Business Insider. “We were reading all the time.”
From legal strategies to cash-flow calculators, nearly every move they made came from books. No paid coaching programs. No get-rich-quick seminars. Just self-education books and disciplined execution.
They now run Semi-Retired MD, a digital platform that teaches other professionals how to achieve financial independence through real estate. But the foundation remains the same: learn, apply, repeat.
Letizia Alto and Kenji Asakura’s success didn’t happen overnight. It was the result of years of reading, learning, and taking consistent action based on what they learned.
Their story is proof that education, when done intentionally and acted upon, can serve as a powerful catalyst for transformation.
And for others hoping to break free from long workweeks or build generational wealth, the first step may be just one book away.
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