# Bold Moves That Fast Tracked Their Wealth | Aaron & Michelle | CHANGING LIVES | Season 3 Ep 58

An episode of [Money Mentor Podcast™](https://invisiblenetwork.ai/podcast/1632604767), 18 Dec 2025, 1 h 00 min.

Audio: https://episode.flightcast.com/qmi280f0kkqa3adn6f1orv2n.mp3

Aaron and Michelle share how they reshaped their financial life by doing the unexpected: selling their family home to rent so they could accelerate their investing goals. With a structured budget, discipline from challenges like 75 Hard and 60 Strong, and a clear vision for the future, they went from financial pressure to building a multimillion-dollar portfolio of six properties, including two inside their self-managed super funds. Their story blends smart strategy with lifestyle transformation. By removing the emotional attachment to home ownership, they gained flexibility, boosted cashflow, and built an investment engine that now covers their rent and supports their long-term goals. Today, they’re focused on helping their kids enter the property market, maintaining strong financial habits, and building a supportive community around growth and wellbeing. 👉 Follow the link https://bit.ly/43V2jKN to watch the free webinar and start your journey to financial freedom now!

## Transcript

[0:00] How much are you earning from your personal investment?
[0:04] Do you know?
[0:05] So we put... 500?
[0:08] Just over 500 in the mortgage fund.
[0:11] Yep.
[0:11] And yeah, we're getting five and a bit each month.
[0:15] 5,000 a month into... 5,000 a month in income?
[0:17] Yep.
[0:18] How much is the rent each month?
[0:20] 4,400.
[0:21] Yeah.
[0:22] I like it.
[0:23] I like it.
[0:24] Money isn't rude of all evil.
[0:25] The fucking lack of it is.
[0:26] Not money.
[0:27] The lack of understanding money.
[0:29] When I put that into emphasis, when I realise our psychological effect and how it hit our family, I FDB me the fucking way.
[0:35] You are now watching the Money Man Talk podcast with Graham Holm.
[0:39] Graham Holm.
[0:40] Graham Holm.
[0:41] Graham Holm.
[0:46] Welcome back to another episode of the Money Mentor in the Changing Lives Financially series.
[0:51] And we have two very lovely special guests.
[0:53] Big, big, big warm welcome to Aaron and Michelle.
[0:56] Well, actually, it's a newer version of you both.
[1:01] True?
[1:01] True.
[1:03] How much weight have we lost?
[1:06] I've lost about 20 kilos.
[1:07] Combine it's close to 50 between us.
[1:09] 50 kilos.
[1:11] A quarter of our body weight between us, yeah.
[1:12] How do you feel?
[1:13] Amazing.
[1:14] Yeah, pretty good.
[1:15] Yeah.
[1:16] What instigated that?
[1:17] You.
[1:18] You.
[1:20] I should get involved in it too.
[1:21] Yeah, yeah, yeah.
[1:23] What was that?
[1:24] Talk to us a little bit about that.
[1:25] Let's start with health then because you look great.
[1:28] You look very vibrant.
[1:30] I wouldn't go that far, but we feel a lot better.
[1:32] Feel better?
[1:33] Yeah, for sure.
[1:33] I think we were feeling a bit old and sluggish and thinking we're getting to that next stage of life where we're just going to slow down, but apparently not.
[1:41] We're speeding up.
[1:43] So that was from 60 strong or 75?
[1:45] Yeah.
[1:46] We've done three rounds of 75 hard and currently doing 60 strong.
[1:51] So we joined Infinity in June or July last year.
[1:57] So about a year and a half in now, yeah?
[2:00] And so that's just become a new way of life for you guys.
[2:03] It has been, yeah.
[2:05] Okay.
[2:05] Have you looked at doing Live Hard Year or do you just keep doing 75 Hard?
[2:09] I think after that first one.
[2:11] It's brutal, mind you.
[2:12] We got some really good results in that first round of 75 Hard and I started the phase one of it.
[2:18] Yeah.
[2:19] And I think we had Michelle's mum's birthday party in Bundy in, it must have been starting November or something.
[2:26] So I lasted 24 days and I needed a beer.
[2:28] Yeah, fair enough.
[2:29] Deal with the in-laws.
[2:32] I've done that with Bex Pop.
[2:34] I've lost all of our grandparents to that now.
[2:36] And then every now and then we're doing something, and if we're seeing Bex Pop, it's the one person I don't drink much anymore.
[2:42] It's the one person I'll sit down and have a glass of red wine with and have a yarn, like love sitting down.
[2:46] And it's the same thing.
[2:47] I've been in the middle of it before and gone with Pop, like Pop's birthday once, and I'm going to sit down and have a red wine.
[2:52] You make that choice, and then you just get back on the horse.
[2:54] Yeah.
[2:55] Okay.
[2:56] Well, you've done well health-wise, so let's go back and talk about pre-Infinity.
[3:02] So you said you came to Infinity about July last year.
[3:05] Who found us?
[3:06] I think it was me.
[3:08] I was scrolling on Facebook one night.
[3:11] No, and I had a lot of swearing.
[3:13] She thought it was me.
[3:15] Okay.
[3:16] That's par for the course, but I watched one of your free webinars and –
[3:22] That was a Tuesday night.
[3:23] I was cooking dinner.
[3:24] I'm like, what are you listening to?
[3:26] Fuck that.
[3:27] Yes.
[3:28] So I had a look at it first and then I saw that there was something in it and I thought the next one I said, Michelle, you need to come and have a listen to this.
[3:37] You heard it from afar.
[3:39] But, yeah.
[3:40] Yeah.
[3:41] I think you were a bit nervous about talking to me about it.
[3:44] Okay.
[3:45] Because we had had some bad investments previously and Aaron was always searching for an answer for our issues.
[3:52] Okay, well, let's go back then.
[3:54] So, tell us who you are.
[3:56] We'll go back to the beginning before we jump into that.
[3:58] Who are you?
[3:59] Where are you from?
[4:00] Family size?
[4:01] What do we do for work?
[4:02] All that sort of stuff for everyone at home.
[4:03] Yep, so Aaron, Michelle, I'm 54 now, Michelle's 49, so we're from Brizzy, I work in international logistics, I'm freight forwarding.
[4:14] And I'm a kindergarten teacher.
[4:16] Oh, very nice.
[4:17] Well that could be very stressful too.
[4:19] It is very stressful, but a lot of love.
[4:21] I'm like an adult kindergarten teacher.
[4:24] I was thinking that before.
[4:27] It's like herding cattle sometimes at an event or a masterclass, like stay, listen, stay.
[4:33] And family-wise, talk to us about family, where we're living in Brizzy, all that sort of jazz.
[4:37] So we have four children.
[4:38] Michaela, there's 23 and then 21, 19 and the youngest turns 16 next week.
[4:46] Okay.
[4:47] And we're living in Brizzy?
[4:48] Yes.
[4:49] In how many bedroom home?
[4:51] Three bedroom, one bathroom, so tight.
[4:54] That's rough.
[4:56] How long for?
[4:58] 15 years.
[4:58] 17 years.
[4:59] 17 years.
[5:00] 17 years we were in that house.
[5:02] Outgrew it 15 years ago.
[5:03] How does that work in the mornings when everyone wants toilet, shower?
[5:08] Our elders, she learnt to get up before everybody else and get herself ready.
[5:14] Have time to be ready while everyone's asleep.
[5:17] The eldest boy moved out a couple of years ago, but he came home, sort of started this year, and that was a sort of catalyst for change for us.
[5:26] The youngest boy is an apprentice chippy, so he'd sort of convert the garage downstairs into his own little space, but we still had the toileting issues, the bathroom issues, so... Yeah.
[5:37] When the eldest boy was coming home, we went,
[5:40] we can put a donger down the back or then we still have those, those same issues.
[5:44] So we went, but you just made it work all the time.
[5:46] Yeah.
[5:46] Yeah.
[5:46] Yeah.
[5:47] Lucky we love each other.
[5:48] Yeah.
[5:49] Allegedly.
[5:51] It was getting a little bit, it was a bit of a tight squeeze.
[5:53] Okay.
[5:54] Okay.
[5:55] And so when you found us on Facebook, cooking dinner, Facebook, actually go back a step, um, mortgage on the home back then?
[6:04] Around 320.
[6:05] Yep.
[6:06] Yep.
[6:06] About 320.
[6:08] Any car loans, credit cards, any other debts?
[6:11] Yeah, we had one car loan.
[6:12] We owned a couple of cars outright.
[6:14] We had one car loan.
[6:15] It was around 50, 50 odd grand.
[6:17] Yeah.
[6:18] And how did you feel financially?
[6:21] Shit house.
[6:21] Shit house.
[6:22] Shit house.
[6:23] And that was at the good stage.
[6:25] Yeah, well, yeah, we were coming out of that fog that we'd lived in for a long, long time.
[6:30] It'd been 15 years of a hard slog.
[6:32] Kids are getting a bit older, right, as well, so jobs and stuff like that are a bit more independent, I guess.
[6:37] So it takes a bit of the load off.
[6:39] When they're all younger, that's expensive.
[6:42] Yeah.
[6:43] And I wasn't working as much.
[6:44] So at least now I can work full time and...
[6:50] We were moving forward, but the banks weren't giving us what we wanted.
[6:54] So you were looking at the time to renovate, upsize.
[6:58] What were you trying to do at the time?
[7:01] We were wanting to knock down rebuild.
[7:03] Oh, okay.
[7:04] Yeah, so I think we thought we were in the perfect position for us.
[7:08] I think we're...
[7:10] Kids are getting a bit older, a bit of cash flow.
[7:12] Well, more so.
[7:13] We've been there so long.
[7:14] We were 200, 300 metres away from the kids' school where we wanted to be.
[7:17] Love the neighbours.
[7:19] A big block, yeah, great community, big block, but the house just didn't suit.
[7:24] So Michelle was thinking Renault, but I wanted to just...
[7:28] He went bigger and better.
[7:29] All those and start again.
[7:30] Yeah, pretty much, because it was an old double-cavity brick home.
[7:32] So to try to renovate comes with his own issues sort of thing.
[7:36] So I thought knockdown rebuild was the best idea for us until we met you.
[7:41] I was scared financially about the knockdown rebuild.
[7:44] Okay.
[7:45] So what did the bank say?
[7:47] They nearly gave it to us.
[7:49] Yeah.
[7:50] Well, one bank said, yeah, they'd give us a couple hundred grand, which wouldn't even give us a new bathroom basically these days.
[7:56] We had a million dollars equity in our house, but they weren't giving us any answers or solutions on how to access that.
[8:04] They were offering us $200,000 to put a new bathroom in.
[8:07] Right.
[8:07] We knew there was something more we could do.
[8:09] We just didn't know what.
[8:10] Do you think that was just inexperience of the lender or the banker maybe or...?
[8:14] Probably, I said to Aaron, I think I knew more about the banker than he knew about us.
[8:18] Right.
[8:19] He was about to go on paternity leave, have his second child.
[8:22] So I don't, you know, he wasn't gathering any information about us or what we were wanting.
[8:28] And then we didn't just didn't hear from him because he went on paternity leave.
[8:31] Right.
[8:33] And then you found us.
[8:34] Yes.
[8:36] Okay.
[8:36] So talk me through the journey of finding infinity, free webinar, masterclass.
[8:46] You mentioned, and then also we'll talk, you said you were burnt in something before.
[8:50] So talk me through the journey of, okay, the bank said you can have a couple of hundred grand.
[8:54] That's not going to cut it.
[8:55] Now the bank has gone on holidays.
[8:56] Yeah.
[8:57] Okay.
[8:57] We found infinity.
[8:58] Talk me through that journey for everyone at home.
[9:00] So we did a bit of sort of buying and selling through the sort of 90s, 2000s sort of thing.
[9:05] So, yeah, trying and made the mistake of we could have paid our house off in the first one we did.
[9:10] Yeah.
[9:10] Right.
[9:10] But we went, oh, we'll go bigger, we'll go better sort of thing.
[9:13] The real estate agents were Aaron's friends and they kept selling him more dodgy properties.
[9:18] Yeah.
[9:20] They weren't so much dodgy.
[9:21] Hopefully they made money.
[9:22] Yeah, they did.
[9:23] They're not that dodgy.
[9:25] We didn't use it wisely.
[9:28] The first one, we could have paid off our first home and just stayed there and just continued to do those investments.
[9:32] But we thought, oh, well, we're in a... Keep chasing.
[9:37] Yeah, exactly.
[9:37] We had our first child at that point and I knew I wasn't returning to work as such for a while.
[9:43] We had planned four children.
[9:44] Okay.
[9:46] Someone did.
[9:48] He had a part in it.
[9:50] Well, you know, it takes two to tango, just saying.
[9:55] Okay, so you have done some investing before.
[9:59] You made some money out of it?
[10:01] Yeah, we did, but I suppose the last one that sort of burned us was, you know, we would have been a great property and a great location.
[10:09] The financial crisis here.
[10:11] It was 2008.
[10:12] Right, GFC.
[10:13] Yeah, so, yeah.
[10:15] And so you sold at a loss or you sold or didn't hold?
[10:19] What happened there?
[10:20] It was just messy?
[10:21] It was just messy.
[10:22] We were in there with family and, you know, the...
[10:25] The credit card bills were ridiculous at that point because as Michelle was saying, she was a stay-at-home mum for a substantial period of time and the walls were caving in basically.
[10:37] So just all hit at once.
[10:38] JFC, credit cards, one income, invested with family.
[10:42] Yes.
[10:43] And they couldn't really sell, but we needed to sell.
[10:46] Right.
[10:47] Okay.
[10:48] So push that bad experience.
[10:50] That would have left a pretty bad taste in your mouth, obviously.
[10:53] And that's obviously 2008.
[10:56] So you had to overcome that at some point in time.
[10:59] Let's talk about Infinita.
[11:00] When did you find us?
[11:02] Would have been May last year.
[11:06] I think you'd found him before that.
[11:08] Because I'd heard the podcast and different things.
[11:11] Oh, the Tuesday night master, not the master.
[11:16] Yeah.
[11:17] And we had looked at different dates to come to the master class.
[11:21] And to find one that suited, it ended up being June school holidays.
[11:25] June, okay.
[11:25] Yeah.
[11:27] And so who was skeptical?
[11:32] I think there's most probably a bit for both of us.
[11:36] You find something on social media.
[11:39] Is it real?
[11:40] Yeah, most of it's bullshit.
[11:41] Exactly.
[11:43] Yeah.
[11:44] So I watched it by myself initially just to have a look at it.
[11:47] Then I thought, oh, well, this bloke's all right, likes to swear a bit.
[11:51] I'm used to that with Michelle.
[11:52] I'm not a very good communicator.
[11:56] So we watched it the second time and I think...
[11:59] I said, why not?
[12:00] Yeah, exactly.
[12:01] Yeah.
[12:02] We tried everything else and... And then...
[12:04] Went up to the two-day masterclass and...
[12:07] Okay.
[12:08] And then where do we sit today?
[12:09] So we had the home with the mortgage.
[12:11] Bank said we'll give you a couple of hundred grand, but that's about it.
[12:14] And then where do we sit today financially?
[12:18] The car loan, home loan, I could only get a couple of hundred grand.
[12:22] Yeah.
[12:22] And today, what do we... What today?
[12:24] Home?
[12:25] We were rent vesting.
[12:27] We sold the home.
[12:28] We sold the home.
[12:28] We sold that about three months ago, I guess, yeah.
[12:31] Okay.
[12:31] And you're renting?
[12:32] So, yeah, renting in a much better position and house.
[12:37] Comfortable?
[12:38] Everyone fits.
[12:39] Amazing.
[12:39] Everyone fits.
[12:40] I just said the other day, I love this life we're living now.
[12:42] Oh, really?
[12:43] She said I love it.
[12:44] She's got a little self-contained granny flat down the bottom, so she's the master of her own domain now.
[12:49] Her own house on the house.
[12:51] Yes.
[12:52] We share with her.
[12:52] Yeah, okay.
[12:54] She's the cleanest of the children.
[12:55] Okay.
[12:56] And so rent vesting.
[12:57] So gone and rented the home that you need to live in within a budget and then done some investing.
[13:04] Yes.
[13:04] Okay.
[13:05] How many investments?
[13:08] Six in total.
[13:09] Six?
[13:09] Yeah.
[13:09] Yep.
[13:10] So we came in with, so...
[13:14] We bought a unit up the sunny coast in our... We set up a self-managed super just before we found you... Well, before we signed up.
[13:22] Yeah, it was about the weekend that we did the... Yeah, settled on the... Yeah.
[13:27] Settled on the sunny coast one just before we...
[13:29] So you set up a self-managed super fund, bought a property in the sunny coast?
[13:32] Yeah.
[13:33] Yeah, okay.
[13:33] Because we knew that...
[13:37] property's not going backwards.
[13:38] Yep, okay.
[13:40] So we just...
[13:41] Okay, so six in total, one in super.
[13:44] Yep.
[13:45] So then you've acquired another five properties since we started a year in the past.
[13:48] Five, three, five, three, five, three, five, three, okay.
[13:51] But the banks said that only give you a couple hundred grand.
[13:53] Yep, crazy.
[13:56] It doesn't make sense.
[13:57] Yeah.
[13:58] I'm not sure what calculator old mate was using.
[14:01] He wasn't thinking about us for sure.
[14:04] Okay.
[14:05] So six properties now, one in super, five in your personal names.
[14:09] Two actually super.
[14:09] Sorry, two in super.
[14:10] Two in super, sorry.
[14:11] So four in your personal name, two in super, six properties in total.
[14:16] That's not bad.
[14:17] If you've got, let's just make a round number, a million bucks each, but six million bucks, call it four and a half even.
[14:23] Go under four and a half, five million bucks of property going up five, six percent per annum, eight percent per annum, depending where they are and more, less.
[14:31] That's not bad where you sleep.
[14:33] Exactly, yeah.
[14:34] All the tax benefits, all the depreciation, all the rental income.
[14:39] So I'm still, I'm still stuck on the banker saying you can only have a couple of hundred grand.
[14:47] Do you feel a bit, and no disrespecting, do you feel a bit robbed that maybe it could have been done better back then?
[14:54] Oh, most definitely.
[14:55] As Michelle was saying, there was a mill in equity.
[14:59] Yeah.
[14:59] Yeah.
[15:00] And fair enough, they said, well, you can't service for a principal place of residence, but there's no guidance as to what else we could do.
[15:10] It's computer says no, right?
[15:11] Exactly, yeah.
[15:13] We didn't fit in that little square box that they needed us to, so they put it in two hard boxes.
[15:16] Well, that's probably the difference, I guess, of the banker or broker to what we do.
[15:20] It's very different.
[15:20] There's great bankers and brokers, but...
[15:22] There's strategy and advice, and there's just selling the product.
[15:27] If the computer says 200 for what you are, that's it.
[15:30] They don't go, oh, well, you could get 2 million if you did this.
[15:33] It's just you can have 200.
[15:35] It's a bit, yeah, made me feel a bit defeated.
[15:38] Well, we were for a long time.
[15:40] Oh, we were.
[15:40] And I think we'd got to that point.
[15:41] We were actually defeated.
[15:43] Right.
[15:43] I felt like we were crawling through mud for so long.
[15:46] And I'd actually done my teaching degree.
[15:48] I started in 2012.
[15:51] I'd done it while the children were at home and I'd finally finished.
[15:54] I'd finally got the piece of paper and I could earn a decent income and still nothing.
[15:59] It didn't help.
[16:01] Now, since then you've invested some cash as well because you obviously sold the home and went and bought properties, paid deposits.
[16:09] How much are you earning from your personal investment?
[16:13] Do you know?
[16:14] So we put... 500?
[16:17] Just over 500 in the mortgage fund.
[16:20] And we're getting five and a bit each month.
[16:24] 5,000 a month into... 5,000 a month in income?
[16:26] Yep.
[16:27] How much is the rent each month?
[16:29] Four, four.
[16:30] Yeah.
[16:31] So it's probably that plus some.
[16:32] So just to humor me here for everyone at home, we sold the home.
[16:36] Yep.
[16:36] We've got six investments in total, renting a much more suitable home because we're all jammed into the three bed or one bath.
[16:43] We've invested some of the cash,
[16:45] into a mortgage fund that's generating over five grand a month income while you sleep.
[16:49] Yeah.
[16:50] But your rent's only four, four a month.
[16:52] Yeah.
[16:53] So the investments we've made, one of the investments we've made pays your rent for free.
[16:57] Yes.
[16:58] Yep.
[16:58] And you've got a thousand dollars profit.
[17:00] And we also charge the children a little bit of rent too now.
[17:03] I like it.
[17:04] I like it.
[17:05] They can blame you for that too.
[17:07] Yeah.
[17:07] I'm sorry, not sorry.
[17:08] Aaron would let them stay for free.
[17:11] So how does that feel then?
[17:14] It must be a very different position cash flow wise to have an investment that funds the rent.
[17:20] Yeah, well, to live in a bigger, bigger home and be comfortable.
[17:24] I think that was, we were scared about renting of paying off somebody else's mortgage.
[17:29] Yeah.
[17:31] And so neither has ever rented before.
[17:33] But then the opportunity with the fund, we're, oh, actually, this actually works out perfect.
[17:39] And we're making money from renting.
[17:41] Yeah.
[17:41] Isn't that interesting?
[17:42] It's amazing.
[17:43] Okay.
[17:44] And you did the same with super, you put some super in as well.
[17:47] That's giving you about three grand a month, I think on that one, a bit more maybe.
[17:51] Then you got the property.
[17:52] So you're in a pretty bloody good position.
[17:54] Feels good.
[17:55] It's been a long, hard struggle.
[17:57] We're pretty happy at the moment.
[17:59] Wanting more?
[18:00] Wanting more?
[18:02] We always want more.
[18:02] Look out.
[18:03] Okay.
[18:04] Tell me, what are the key differences?
[18:07] From what you were doing pre-us to now, there's obviously a big difference.
[18:12] What's so different for somebody listening at home that go, oh, yeah, I'm similar ages and we raised a family and our house is too small.
[18:18] Should we knock down rebuild?
[18:20] Should we rent vest?
[18:22] What are the key differences to what we have done with you versus what you were doing or trying to do?
[18:29] I know I guess it's you guys look at it as a holistic sort of view.
[18:33] The community is another thing.
[18:35] The community you've built is amazing.
[18:37] The advice, not so much even the advice, but you just feed off them as well.
[18:43] Listen to the stories that you guys are doing now and the stories that the people put in the Facebook group and things like that.
[18:52] Okay.
[18:53] Did you have a budget before Infinity?
[18:57] Aaron's saying was there's no money to budget with, so why do we budget?
[19:01] So... Oh, you filthy little bugger.
[19:04] There's no money there.
[19:05] And we were just living it.
[19:09] So there was an excuse not to budget, which is pretty common, right?
[19:12] Yeah.
[19:13] Masterclass, everyone there's like, no, no, no, no.
[19:15] Because we think it's like our budget means diet go without, right?
[19:18] Yeah.
[19:19] But is it say, do you live more comfortably or less comfortably now with a structure and a budget?
[19:25] more yeah and even the chick kids we eat better than we ever ate mum and really yeah they're actually because i think we're just more organized and um we plan more so we then know there's good nutritious meals every night instead of being over tired or whatever and and just eating what we can find so what's it done relationship wise
[19:52] The communication is much better now.
[19:54] I just get an aura or a sense from you guys that you have quite a structured household now.
[20:02] You're quite, like, organised and planned and meals and exercise.
[20:06] I just feel a sense of a bit of, I don't know, a bit of a spark or, like, structure and light.
[20:10] It just feels nice.
[20:12] It feels fluffy.
[20:13] I think that stemmed from the 75 heart as well because we're forced to spend time together.
[20:16] Forced to spend time together.
[20:21] 45 minutes evening and night walking together you've got to talk to each other you've got to communicate okay so it's not a bad thing no exactly we just celebrated 25 years of marriage congratulations that's bloody rare these days
[20:36] And this feels like a new start.
[20:38] It feels like... New phase.
[20:39] Yeah, it feels like the next honeymoon phase, you know?
[20:41] I can sense it.
[20:42] I don't know.
[20:43] I just feel the vibe.
[20:44] Okay.
[20:44] How hard was the 75 Hearts?
[20:48] Yeah.
[20:52] It's not as hard as we thought initially.
[20:54] I was a bit sceptical because I didn't think I could do it.
[20:57] Okay.
[20:57] Because I thought I was too tired.
[20:59] I thought I was too busy.
[21:00] I was going to say, everyone has a little vice, right?
[21:03] Some people say, I don't have time.
[21:04] Yeah.
[21:04] Some people say, I can't not drink.
[21:06] Yeah.
[21:06] Some people say, I can't not eat it.
[21:08] Like food, like there's all the different facets, right?
[21:10] What was it for you specifically, the time?
[21:12] I think it was the time.
[21:13] We have four children at home.
[21:15] I was a kindergarten teacher running after four-year-olds all day.
[21:18] I couldn't possibly fit in two lots of exercise every day.
[21:21] Right.
[21:23] So you do and then you realise how much time you used to waste.
[21:25] And I actually feel I have more energy.
[21:27] Yeah.
[21:28] And I think we did enjoy a wine and I think that made me more tired and not as motivated.
[21:36] Whereas I used to come home on a Friday and have a wine, now it's like come home and go for a walk and go to the gym.
[21:41] And this morning waking up at quarter past five, oh, ready to go, we've got to go for a walk.
[21:45] You know, it's become a way of life now.
[21:48] So you're in 60 strong at the moment?
[21:50] What day?
[21:51] I don't even know.
[21:53] 34, 35, I guess.
[21:54] I don't even look at the days.
[21:55] I just keep going.
[21:57] Okay, back to back to back.
[21:59] So it's become quite habitual now.
[22:01] It's almost a new way of life, unless you're sort of in between a phase or something.
[22:06] Good.
[22:07] Did any of the kids have a crack at it?
[22:09] Eldest daughter lasted about three weeks with the 60 strong.
[22:12] So Michelle was just saying there's more to fit into a race day.
[22:16] For Melbourne Cup?
[22:18] No, it was for her birthday two weeks ago.
[22:20] So she gave it a good crack, got the dress and then she's like, all right, cool.
[22:23] I'm good now.
[22:24] Good on her.
[22:25] You'll meet her next weekend.
[22:26] She's coming to REM.
[22:26] Yeah.
[22:27] Ah, so it's generational now.
[22:29] Absolutely.
[22:29] Very proud.
[22:30] Yeah.
[22:31] Okay.
[22:32] Are you coming to REM with her?
[22:35] No.
[22:36] No.
[22:36] Aaron's going to drive her down and hang outside.
[22:38] You can come.
[22:40] Who else can come?
[22:40] She's really scared coming by herself.
[22:42] Oh, I think she is.
[22:43] Who else can come?
[22:44] Is she staying for the weekend?
[22:45] She is, yeah.
[22:46] You can get your room.
[22:47] You can stay as well if you want.
[22:50] If you want to come, come.
[22:51] That would be great.
[22:53] We'll even throw you on stage while you're there.
[22:56] I think this is daunting enough for Michelle.
[22:59] There's only one person in the room.
[23:01] You're welcome to come.
[23:02] It's up to you.
[23:03] You let us know.
[23:04] I would love to be on stage and take the microphone.
[23:06] Oh, please.
[23:08] No, no, both of you.
[23:09] It's just up to you.
[23:11] You're welcome to come and support her.
[23:12] Because it would be really important.
[23:15] So talk to me more about that, how that's now filtering into the kids as well.
[23:22] And the conversations, I guess, that's obviously festered back from you saying, okay, structures, food, fuel funds, budgets, et cetera.
[23:29] How has that evolved for your daughter?
[23:31] Well, I think Michaela was a huge skeptic when we first joined because I'd see a bit of share trading to try to make, yeah, because putting the money in the bank at 4% or whatever the interest rate is, you may as well.
[23:44] thrown in the bottom drawer really.
[23:46] So I did some share trading with her and it didn't turn out too well.
[23:53] So we joined this and she'd go, oh God, what are you doing now?
[23:58] And we'd go, well, do this, you know.
[24:01] And then we went to Melbourne and got two properties.
[24:04] Come back with two properties.
[24:05] There might be something here.
[24:06] And then the young fella, he's thrown some money into the fund.
[24:10] Okay.
[24:11] He's had...
[24:12] It's matured once.
[24:12] So he put...
[24:13] I think he started off with 30 grand put in it.
[24:15] He's just put 50 grand in it now sort of thing.
[24:17] So hopefully... Oh, so he's nearly doubled his money.
[24:19] Yeah, so he's...
[24:21] last year of his apprentice electrician.
[24:25] So hopefully next year he'll join.
[24:27] So are you taking the time to teach them?
[24:29] Are they asking or are you taking the time to teach them?
[24:31] Role modelling, I guess, too.
[24:33] They're part of the conversations and they listen to our...
[24:37] Part of the money conversations now, yeah.
[24:38] Yeah, that's pretty cool.
[24:40] With our budget, we go, well, no, we're not going to get that this week.
[24:43] Yeah.
[24:43] Yeah.
[24:44] How hard was that?
[24:45] What is your budget each week?
[24:47] It was $7.90, so it's been $7.90 since the beginning, but three of the kids are celiac, so it's bloody expensive to... A loaf of bread this size, $8.
[24:57] To feed them.
[24:58] But 360 strong, it was a bit of...
[25:01] A bit of miscommunication here.
[25:04] I said $10.
[25:05] She goes, yep, that's good.
[25:06] But I was thinking $10 each.
[25:07] She thought $10 between us.
[25:09] So it's $140 a week.
[25:10] So we're living on $650 at the moment.
[25:14] And we've been doing that for 34, 35 days.
[25:16] And it's working well.
[25:18] Okay.
[25:19] It's amazing what you can do when you put your mind over.
[25:21] I don't know.
[25:22] Yep.
[25:22] Okay.
[25:22] So we thought, you know, if we do that 100 bucks a week, that's a holiday at the end of the year.
[25:26] That's five grand.
[25:27] Yeah.
[25:28] Okay.
[25:29] Okay.
[25:29] Very good.
[25:31] What was the hardest change for you?
[25:34] So when you went from, well, there's not enough to budget, so we don't budget, to, okay, $790 a week initially.
[25:38] Yeah.
[25:40] Was that hard?
[25:41] How long did it take?
[25:42] Like, talk to that.
[25:44] People sitting at home, right, they're going, oh, we're similar age to this couple.
[25:47] Yeah, we're crammed in a three-bedroom house too.
[25:50] No, we're never going to sell.
[25:52] Oh, budgets.
[25:52] We don't have money to budget.
[25:54] How hard and how long did it take to get into the groove?
[25:57] It was pretty much immediate.
[25:58] It was empowering.
[25:59] We jumped in the deep end.
[26:01] A month in, we jumped on 75 hard.
[26:03] We took everything that you guys were saying and just put faith in it and jumped in.
[26:08] Why?
[26:08] Why?
[26:10] I think we're at the stage where we need that change.
[26:13] Was it just enough was enough?
[26:15] Yeah, pretty much, yeah.
[26:18] Okay.
[26:18] Because there's either blind faith, a lot of trust, or in that first month there's some proof in the pudding to go, shit, that worked.
[26:26] I'm going to try other things they've said.
[26:28] Yep.
[26:30] And again, you put it down to the community.
[26:34] Listening to the other people talk about what they've done, how they've done it, things like that.
[26:38] Seems to be a big trend for me from everyone I talk to, the community.
[26:43] The people getting, I mean, I don't think you could put 500 Tesla owners in a room together without 250 pissed off people, right?
[26:52] It takes some big kahunas to put five, six, seven hundred people in a room and not expect there to be a blow up.
[26:59] I'm always a big boy.
[27:00] If we've done something wrong, we'll fix it.
[27:03] But if we try to do everything right with the right intentions, then off you go.
[27:09] That's obviously really powerful for you guys because a month in that sense of community and seeing what other people have done and speaking to people in Melbourne, obviously it's helped.
[27:17] Yeah, most definitely, yeah.
[27:20] And listening to the guys that have been around for a long time, like Kim and Craig have been here for 2016 or whatever it is, and Steve and Sue Ann and the Cherries.
[27:29] So you've had a good chance to talk to some of those people that have been around 10 years.
[27:36] I guess that probably does it make it real or is it good to pick their brains on what's bullshit and what works and what doesn't?
[27:44] Absolutely.
[27:45] I guess Casey and Lenny are locals to us.
[27:49] So I guess when I joined 75 Hard, I met Casey and Lenny straight away then.
[27:54] And they had four children as well.
[27:57] And so meeting them and seeing they were real people.
[28:01] And lovely people.
[28:02] Yes, and working hard and doing all those things.
[28:05] So they became part of that journey really quickly.
[28:08] Okay.
[28:09] And they're at Michelle's gym, so they keep her accountable, too, so.
[28:13] Gotcha.
[28:14] There's no hiding.
[28:15] So you see Mayak in there as well?
[28:16] Yes, I've seen Mayak in there, yes, yes.
[28:20] So this is super cool.
[28:22] So we've lost, like, what was it, 50 kilos?
[28:24] Yeah.
[28:24] Close to, yeah.
[28:25] Close to 50 kilos.
[28:27] We've got six properties.
[28:29] We're living in a comfortable home.
[28:31] The investments were structured, are paying the rent, so we're living for free in our home, our rental home.
[28:38] Does it feel real?
[28:39] No.
[28:41] This is all in a short space.
[28:43] I mean, kudos to you.
[28:45] You made a big, difficult decision to sell the family home.
[28:49] Yeah.
[28:49] That's a big decision.
[28:50] Yeah.
[28:50] It was, yeah.
[28:51] Do you regret it?
[28:53] Not one bit.
[28:53] No.
[28:54] No.
[28:55] Kids are happy?
[28:56] So happy.
[28:56] Yeah, really happy.
[28:58] Yeah.
[28:58] Yeah.
[29:00] So how...
[29:04] Does it feel real?
[29:05] Do you feel like you're going to wake up and it's all a dream?
[29:07] Because it's a big shift.
[29:09] I think with kids it feels like a dream because we were talking for 10 years about doing something with our house and suddenly we joined Infinity and... Sold it.
[29:18] Yeah.
[29:19] And by the way, caveat, not everyone needs to sell their home, right?
[29:22] No.
[29:22] But obviously we look at the strengths, okay, well, this is what we can do with the home.
[29:25] Yeah.
[29:26] Yeah.
[29:26] Can't quite can do a knockdown, rebuild, non-deductible, bad debt or, hey, deductible debt and rent, we can do this.
[29:32] So you've gone for the let's do this.
[29:34] It took a little while because I think Ben had said we don't do knockdown, rebuild.
[29:40] Gee, he's never going to agree to that.
[29:42] And that was what I wanted to hear that because I didn't think it was a good idea.
[29:46] I've just personally gone through.
[29:47] I share with you, I've got the property at Broadbeach there, and I bought the one next door, and I was going to do the same, and I've actually just poo-pooed that, and I'm selling now, and I'm going to go buy, because it was going to get into 20s, 30s, millions of dollars, right?
[30:01] That to me, there's people going hungry in the world, and I'm going to go and destroy an eight or $10 million dollar,
[30:07] that I just can't rationalise that.
[30:09] It's illogical.
[30:11] There's nothing wrong with the home.
[30:12] I just want something different.
[30:13] So I'm like, well, that's a beautiful home to someone else.
[30:15] I can sell those and I can go buy actually what I want and not wait three years for a new order.
[30:20] I know, and that was the other dilemma.
[30:21] We thought we'd run out of time to do the knockdown rebuild.
[30:24] Because Michelle likes kids, so she wanted them to hang around.
[30:26] They wanted to stay.
[30:27] I was happy to go to a two-bedroom union in the city.
[30:30] Sorry, Mum had a movie.
[30:31] See you later.
[30:32] My room.
[30:32] Sorry, guys.
[30:35] And they still wanted to be with us, and they're saving money for their own future.
[30:39] So it feels like it was right for our family.
[30:42] And we still like hanging out with them.
[30:44] They still like hanging out with us.
[30:45] That's good.
[30:45] Yeah.
[30:46] That's good.
[30:47] Yeah.
[30:48] Okay.
[30:49] So what's the plan from here?
[30:54] I think that's what we talk about that a bit.
[30:55] So, you know, because we can't rent forever either.
[30:58] Yep.
[30:59] Well, I'm sure, assuming the ultimate goal is to get back into the family home.
[31:03] Yeah, eventually, and like, as I said earlier on, that we thought that where we were in our suburb was the place we wanted to be.
[31:09] We loved the neighbours, loved the neighbourhood, place for schools where the kids were, but,
[31:14] We love the new place so much more.
[31:16] And where we are now, we're 200 metres away from the park.
[31:20] So it takes us three minutes to walk where we're on the pathway twice a day, every day sort of thing.
[31:26] So where in the past was a 15 minute walk, it's three minute walk and we don't have to put up with traffic and cracked ends.
[31:34] So let the investments do their thing.
[31:39] But then do you think, how old's the youngest?
[31:41] She turns 16 next week.
[31:43] So another two years of school?
[31:45] Yeah.
[31:45] Okay.
[31:46] So let the investments do the thing.
[31:47] Another two years of school and then maybe uni and stuff like that.
[31:50] Depending on all the kids and their journeys and marriages and life and jobs and stuff, studies, it may end up being that you just end up in your dream apartment in the city or the beach or the river.
[32:01] Aaron talks about, I'm more like, I want a home that they can still come home for Christmas and Easter and have family celebrations.
[32:08] Let them sleep on the couch.
[32:09] No, I'm joking.
[32:11] Aaron wants to live in the unit down here at the Gold Coast.
[32:14] Oh, if I've got a deal for you.
[32:17] Facing the wrong way at the moment.
[32:19] I'll show you something at REM.
[32:20] Yeah, yeah, yeah.
[32:24] Okay.
[32:24] So how many of the kids do you think will still be at home in two or three years?
[32:29] Well, no idea.
[32:31] No idea.
[32:31] Michelle's hoping all of them.
[32:34] Maybe two of them will still be there.
[32:36] Okay.
[32:36] They're not in serious long-term relationships other than the second youngest.
[32:42] But he's with us for life because he can't save a dollar.
[32:44] He spends his money so...
[32:46] He probably spends it all on his beautiful partner.
[32:48] Yeah, and cars.
[32:49] Well, been there, done that.
[32:51] Not nice cars.
[32:53] Dirty cars.
[32:55] Okay.
[32:56] So what's the ultimate goal, do you think?
[32:57] Is it then, I'm hearing, you'd be happy with an apartment on the beach or the river, but you'd love something a bit bigger or a big apartment that the kids can all come home for Christmas or if they move out for a while and they don't want to come home, they can come home.
[33:11] So you want to keep that family home.
[33:13] It's all about the family, really.
[33:14] Okay.
[33:14] Okay.
[33:15] Okay.
[33:17] What else?
[33:19] Everything to me.
[33:21] In the interim, we're happy rent-vesting.
[33:23] So if we can put our money elsewhere instead of one property rising 6% a year, you've got two, three properties rising at the same sort of rate.
[33:33] Is it safe to say he's a pretty happy at the moment?
[33:35] Yeah.
[33:36] He's both smiling ear to ear.
[33:38] You should be bloody proud of yourself.
[33:40] He's still starstruck, so...
[33:43] What, did you put your best shirt on for it today or something?
[33:45] Yeah, yeah, yeah.
[33:48] But you seem very content.
[33:50] Yeah, it's... Like you guys have met people at events.
[33:53] You can tell when people are under financial pressure.
[33:56] Yeah.
[33:56] You can tell the cracks and the angst.
[33:58] You can tell they're stressed and highly strung.
[34:01] You guys seem just really chill.
[34:02] It's good to have that feeling of we can pay our bills and we can feed our family.
[34:07] And we were on payment plans to everyone previously.
[34:10] So it is nice to now know that we can pay the bills or if something goes wrong that we can help the kids out.
[34:17] So that's what my happy space is, knowing that we can take care of the others.
[34:25] So since we're being so honest, it was actually pretty bad before.
[34:30] It was pretty bad.
[34:30] Payment plans, it was tight, home was pretty old, needed to knock down, rebuild.
[34:35] So it actually was not that comfortable previously.
[34:38] No, but we were faking it pretty well.
[34:41] I knew that we had four healthy kids and we appreciated what we did have.
[34:43] We did have a home over our, a roof over our head.
[34:47] And so we were happy, but it was hard.
[34:50] Okay.
[34:50] Counting the grocery money as you go around.
[34:53] I'm actually had enough money in the bank.
[34:54] Yeah.
[34:54] And you got to buy special bread.
[34:56] Yes.
[34:56] Yeah.
[34:57] Yes.
[34:57] Yeah.
[34:57] Yeah.
[34:58] What would you, what's some words of wisdom you could share?
[35:02] Let's say someone at home now, they've got a couple of kids and they've got medical bills or special grocery needs or houses falling down around the kitchen's fucked or whatever the circumstances are and how bad they, and there's no money to budget so we just don't budget.
[35:17] What's some, now knowing what you know now over the last year and a half or so, what's some guidance or words of wisdom you could share with someone?
[35:25] Because you've been very honest.
[35:26] Yeah.
[35:27] What could you share with someone listening at home going, ah, it's a load of shit, I can't do it, or shit, that's us, why can't we do it?
[35:33] What are some practical steps they could take?
[35:36] First bit is you've got to have a budget.
[35:38] Yep.
[35:39] Got to run one.
[35:39] So even if you hear people on these podcasts, they start off with an exorbitant amount for a couple of people, and within a couple of weeks it's reduced because they know how much they need to spend to get by.
[35:52] Yep.
[35:53] You don't have to...
[35:55] Buy everything just because, yeah, it's got to have that budget.
[35:59] Is it hard to make that change?
[36:01] It wasn't really.
[36:03] I think we were spending money on little things that weren't important that we probably didn't take any notice of.
[36:09] So we're eating better, I think, more organised.
[36:14] So I don't think we feel like we're missing out on anything.
[36:19] And how long did it take, once you put the budget in place, like was the first week a bit hard and it was short?
[36:26] Was it a month?
[36:27] Like how long did it take to sort of settle into a groove of, okay, this is how we operate?
[36:32] Because it's a big change, right?
[36:33] To tap everything and spend it and then go, oh shit, there's nothing left.
[36:36] Oh well.
[36:38] Everything was on credit cards prior to that sort of thing.
[36:40] And you're just hitting that button every time.
[36:43] You don't know where your money's going.
[36:45] And we weren't living over lavishly before hand-done.
[36:47] No, we weren't.
[36:48] Yeah, I reckon it would have been about a month in that you go, okay, well, we're in a sort of groove here.
[36:53] We can operate.
[36:53] And we can do this.
[36:54] We can do it.
[36:55] It's a good month and it was like, okay, this makes sense now.
[36:58] It's kind of, it's got a flow and it's okay.
[37:00] And we had a purpose for doing it.
[37:02] A plan.
[37:03] What was the purpose?
[37:06] Oh, in so far as we had the end goal in sight that we wanted to, at that stage, we wanted to own that house sort of thing, outright sort of thing.
[37:17] So we wanted to smash it down as quick as we could sort of thing.
[37:20] So, and things changed.
[37:23] Yeah.
[37:24] To say 12 months ago that we'll be where we are now is just unbelievable.
[37:31] Still want to pinch yourself.
[37:32] It was exciting right from the start, though, because we got invited to REM very quickly.
[37:37] That was probably Louis.
[37:39] It was Louis and you were swearing up.
[37:40] Fucking Louis.
[37:41] I fucking knew it.
[37:42] I've got recorded evidence on you now, Louis.
[37:45] We haven't had a weekend away for you.
[37:46] I love Louis, by the way.
[37:47] He's a good man.
[37:50] He'll bend over backwards for someone.
[37:51] He says...
[37:52] Don't tell Graham.
[37:53] And I say to Graham, everyone stand up if Louis let you come and you've not been here for three months.
[37:58] And he's like, sit down, sit down.
[38:00] So we joined June, didn't we?
[38:01] I think it was August.
[38:03] Oh, wow, June.
[38:04] Oh, that's July.
[38:05] It felt fast.
[38:06] It felt fast.
[38:08] We hadn't been away for a weekend in, I don't know, 20 years.
[38:12] I don't know.
[38:13] It had been a long time.
[38:14] By ourselves.
[38:15] By ourselves, without children.
[38:16] I think there's a lot of knowledge, but it's also a lot of fun.
[38:19] It was so much fun.
[38:20] We went to Melbourne for the first REM.
[38:22] So yeah.
[38:23] We were doing 75 hard though, so we were well behaved.
[38:25] We didn't get full use of your hospitality.
[38:29] We didn't feel the need though.
[38:30] And it was amazing.
[38:30] A few other people did.
[38:33] It was amazing though.
[38:34] Like, well, it felt like glamorous and.
[38:37] Yeah, it's good fun.
[38:38] Yeah.
[38:38] And meet all those people and pick their brains and.
[38:40] Yeah.
[38:41] I think that was a good one because it was only 120, 150 people in the room versus up here on the Goldie where you have 600 or whatever it is.
[38:49] I think there's 800 next week.
[38:50] Yeah.
[38:52] Michaela's one of them.
[38:53] It's exciting.
[38:54] Big room.
[38:54] But, yeah, come in.
[38:55] Don't leave her on her own.
[38:56] You're welcome to come in and we'll tell the team today and get your seat.
[38:59] Awesome.
[39:00] Then she won't be, like, freaking out.
[39:01] Yeah.
[39:02] She'll still be freaking out.
[39:03] Yeah, she'll be.
[39:04] Well, when you have the after party with 800 people, yeah,
[39:08] yeah it's a bit wild yeah she'll be one of those no yeah okay cut the bathtub so where would you guys like to be in three five years ten years what's the what's the the dream for you it is it's that family home in the next home yeah well we're going to get the unit at the coast yeah we've got a unit at both coasts i've said to michelle if the the one down here on the gold
[39:38] Okay.
[39:38] So there's a bit of a double strategy there, one of the investments on the case.
[39:43] Like, oh, we'll move into it, maybe we'll keep it.
[39:45] Yes, yes.
[39:46] Or we could sell it and use the profits.
[39:48] Exactly.
[39:49] Yeah.
[39:50] We've got a few bubbling along, so we've got time.
[39:53] I mean, you've got Sunny Coast as well, right?
[39:55] Yes.
[39:56] I mean, Coast and Coast, both pretty landlocked, where everyone wants to be on the Goldie or something.
[40:02] It's gone wild.
[40:03] Coming into that, the Sunny Coast was...
[40:06] Basically my retirement plan, it's 100 metres away from the beach I've been at for pretty much all my life and love it.
[40:13] But yeah, since joining Infinity, it's opened our eyes to different opportunities.
[40:18] Like it's the year, it's like our old house, it's ready to be knocked down sort of thing.
[40:22] It's old, but it's prime position sort of thing.
[40:24] Yeah.
[40:25] Good location.
[40:26] Yeah.
[40:27] Okay.
[40:28] When do we want to stop work?
[40:32] I'd like to go back to, after joining Infinity, I used to work part-time and then I was doing just relief teaching on the other days.
[40:39] So I'm doing two kindergarten groups now, which is a lot.
[40:41] Yeah.
[40:43] So I'd be happy to go back to part-time work in a couple of years' time and doing the relief work.
[40:47] Yeah.
[40:49] I've said give us five years.
[40:50] Five years?
[40:51] Of that, of working full-time and then she can drop back to the supplies sort of thing.
[40:56] So five, get the portfolio chugging along next sort of four, five years.
[41:01] Hopefully it's doing its thing through that period and then maybe pull back a little bit.
[41:04] Yeah.
[41:04] Okay.
[41:06] Any other goals?
[41:08] Are we travelling?
[41:10] We've still got a couple of years of school fees to go and looking after young people.
[41:17] So once they're out of school, yeah, definitely.
[41:20] Michelle's more of a homebody sort of thing.
[41:22] I've only been overseas once, and that was on our honeymoon.
[41:24] That was 25 years ago.
[41:25] Whereas I'd love to go overseas and see different things.
[41:28] Aaron's travelled a bit more.
[41:30] OK.
[41:30] I'm happy to go.
[41:31] It just doesn't have to happen.
[41:33] If it happens, that's nice.
[41:34] OK.
[41:35] So family sounds like it's the most important thing for you guys.
[41:40] And you too.
[41:40] Oh, yeah, yeah.
[41:42] By default.
[41:43] Very much, but by default.
[41:47] But I get that sense of, like, home is where the heart is.
[41:50] Family is so important.
[41:51] You want them home for Chrissy.
[41:52] You want them to be able to come home if they want them.
[41:54] That's my driving factor of us doing this sort of thing.
[41:57] So we can provide for them.
[41:58] Yeah, exactly.
[41:59] And it sounds like they're all pretty good kids, to be honest.
[42:01] Awesome.
[42:02] Nicholas does look a bit like Timmy though, doesn't he?
[42:05] Oh, he's hopeless.
[42:06] We've got a redhead that's got a mullet.
[42:08] A big redhead mullet.
[42:08] Hey, nothing wrong with a freckly ginger.
[42:11] If you need a stunt double, he's your man.
[42:13] Okay, all right.
[42:14] You have to send me a picture.
[42:17] But Timmy does come out at REM now.
[42:20] He's a bit of a lair.
[42:23] So if we were to sit down in 12 months' time,
[42:28] and look at where we are, do you think much will have changed in the next 12 months?
[42:34] Well, hopefully our one in Melbourne will be finished early in the new year.
[42:38] And I suppose since we don't have a home loan anymore, we've got the mortgage fund generating income each month sort of thing.
[42:47] So yeah, hopefully we'll start throwing money into that
[42:52] push down yeah exactly so um yeah i think a lot of things are going to look exactly the same for us but i think we're just the financial position yeah definitely a lot happier but the financial position will be will be a hell of a lot better oscar so i love the answer and it's important especially for our community that listen to these you know we're all obsessed and they listen on time and time again it's really important to be patient yeah
[43:18] And some people are constantly chasing, but it's good to hear you go, well, I think things will look pretty similar, except we'll be paying down some debt.
[43:25] It's a great answer.
[43:25] Probably one of the best answers I've ever had because a lot of people are like, oh, I want five more or ten more.
[43:30] And it's like, well, there's always a limitation.
[43:32] We can all get to a certain point.
[43:34] But we then need to have time to let that structure do its thing.
[43:39] And we need a return, right?
[43:41] So I love hearing that logical, practical approach of, well, yeah, it'll look pretty similar, but we'll start attacking the debt because we don't have the home loan.
[43:49] That'll create more equity.
[43:50] You know, it's deductible debt, but it'll create more equity.
[43:54] It'll give us more deposits.
[43:55] It'll give us more serviceability to continue to build later.
[43:58] I like that answer.
[44:00] Don't get me wrong.
[44:00] I want more, and Ben keeps on saying, kill your jets.
[44:03] Okay.
[44:05] How many more?
[44:05] Yeah.
[44:07] Oh.
[44:07] Let's see the flip side of that conversation.
[44:09] I've got the logical answer.
[44:11] You'll take as many as you can get.
[44:13] As you say, yeah, what's better than one?
[44:15] Yeah, money, money's a good thing.
[44:17] Yeah, yeah, yeah.
[44:18] We started with one, so.
[44:19] Okay.
[44:21] And, you know, we're not getting any younger sort of thing, so, yeah, I don't want to be working all my life, but, you know, I've got another good 10 years left in me, but.
[44:30] He works long hours, too.
[44:31] Yeah.
[44:31] So.
[44:33] Kez is 60 whatever she is young.
[44:37] She's still going.
[44:38] As long as you're enjoying what you're doing.
[44:40] Lou actually turns 72.
[44:42] He's going to hate me if he hears this.
[44:44] Lou turns 72 at REM next weekend.
[44:47] And he's still working seven days a week.
[44:50] He's renovating a house right now.
[44:51] He's doing up a car.
[44:53] As long as you're fit and healthy.
[44:55] I mean, the day you stop is kind of the day that it all...
[44:58] You've got to keep going.
[44:59] That's it.
[45:00] Yeah.
[45:00] Okay.
[45:02] I've got a weird one for you.
[45:03] What would you like to ask me?
[45:07] Since you've got me on the spotlight, anything at all you want to ask me about what we do, how we do it, life, the business, anything at all?
[45:15] I don't know if it's so much a question, but I was listening to you with the boys from the Both Side podcast last week, I think, and something struck me like, you know,
[45:27] I think he sat down with them mid last year or whatever it was.
[45:30] 2023.
[45:30] Was it?
[45:30] 2023.
[45:31] Which is interesting because I'll spoiler alert.
[45:34] We just had a meeting yesterday.
[45:36] We're going to drop.
[45:37] They're coming to the Christmas party.
[45:38] Yeah.
[45:38] And the Kmart shopping appeal to contribute.
[45:41] So we filmed those podcasts in December and January 2023.
[45:45] Yeah.
[45:46] So they're two years old now.
[45:47] Yeah.
[45:48] And they're still by far 10 times larger than any other podcast with anyone.
[45:52] They've got huge names.
[45:53] But they're just very practical information.
[45:55] Yeah.
[45:56] So we've just locked in to film another three or four episodes.
[45:59] Yeah.
[46:00] This month.
[46:00] Nice.
[46:01] Wow.
[46:01] Yeah, so two years ago.
[46:02] Yeah.
[46:03] So what got me was, you just mentioned the Kmart Wishing Tree appeal, like, yeah.
[46:08] I think they mentioned you maybe raised about $40,000 or $50,000 in that initial one.
[46:14] Last year was $200,000.
[46:15] $250,000 or whatever.
[46:16] $250,000, I think, yeah.
[46:17] I think as of last night, we're up to $720,000.
[46:21] I looked before, I thought it was $716,000, $718,000 or something.
[46:25] About $718,000.
[46:26] $718,000, $720,000.
[46:28] Yeah, that's...
[46:29] In a couple of years, that's wild.
[46:32] You gave me to make me emotional.
[46:34] Kudos to you and Beck.
[46:36] That must be an amazing feeling for you guys to see where you've obviously...
[46:40] I was a recipient of it.
[46:41] Exactly, yeah.
[46:42] It means a lot, but I think...
[46:44] Thank you.
[46:45] It means a lot because it means so much to me.
[46:47] Beck supports it for me.
[46:48] It means a lot to her too.
[46:49] We've always shopped together and stuff.
[46:52] Being a recipient, it's got a much deeper meaning for my mum and for myself because I don't think people realise too, it's not just the kid, it's the parent.
[46:59] As a parent, you want to give everything to you.
[47:01] Mum having to come in and ask for help.
[47:02] And I say to anyone listening to this, if you're struggling, there's help out there.
[47:06] Don't go hungry at Christmas or your electricity, go in and see the Salvos or any charitable organisation.
[47:14] But that came up, Wishing Tree will always be near and dear to me.
[47:17] And we've got the big shop this year and everything.
[47:19] But to see it hit that 718, I mean, we got the link and I was chasing.
[47:24] I'm like, I need it.
[47:24] I need it.
[47:25] I need it.
[47:25] Like, it doesn't come out.
[47:26] And I'm like, no, I need it.
[47:28] And to get that link, and I was overseas.
[47:31] And so I didn't get to do a video.
[47:32] I think I did do a video, sorry, by the pool.
[47:35] Did a video.
[47:36] We aimed for five.
[47:37] I thought the community is big enough.
[47:39] Yeah.
[47:39] We've delivered... And this is a big thing.
[47:42] People said, mate, you must do so well for your community because to deliver so well for the community, to have them be prepared to give back a percentage of that, that's the proof in the pudding for me that makes people sleep at night.
[47:54] And to see it hit the 500 target, it was in four or five days.
[47:58] So they moved it to six and it hit six.
[48:01] They moved it to seven and it hit seven.
[48:03] I don't know if they've moved it from seven, but I don't know what it's going to end up at.
[48:07] And that's like...
[48:09] I'm still a bit rattled, but it's really cool.
[48:13] Yeah.
[48:13] And that's just a monetary contribution.
[48:15] You know, as you said, you got the shop with my youngest daughter and I came down to that last year sort of thing.
[48:22] Yeah.
[48:22] And she was looking forward to it again, but like, you know, it's
[48:25] close for your staff this year but by the time your staff do their shop yeah i think we're hanging around because we get in early because obviously it's a bit of chaos with 200 staff exactly yeah and um and they i think they like to do a bit of media stuff they did a really cool current affair last year and news this year and so i think they like to do for kmart and salvo's they do a bit of an article on it yeah um so they let us in a bit early because then they can restock the shelves for families and stuff
[48:50] But I think this year we might be hanging.
[48:52] I think we're doing an early shop and then maybe hanging around for brunch or something with some clients.
[48:56] But we're just saying to everyone this year, keep your receipts.
[48:59] Everyone's going to pull their receipts.
[49:00] We want to aim for 5,000 presents.
[49:03] Plus, you can't get into the Christmas party unless you bring a couple of presents or a present each.
[49:08] And that was a couple of truckloads last year.
[49:11] So I'm pretty confident, quietly, that...
[49:14] I think given where it is that we should hit 750,000 and 5,000 presents nationally.
[49:20] Amazing.
[49:20] And that's, I mean, looking at the national target, I think we're 718 and I think it's 740 nationally.
[49:26] Exactly, yeah.
[49:27] So like the country's done 30 and our community has done 720.
[49:31] Yeah, exactly.
[49:32] that's um yeah i don't know it's just it's amazing but i think hopefully you guys get to feel it i think it's really special to be part of that like almost definitely that's a community you know like imagine imagine what we can achieve now to direct that energy to anything like that yeah that's pretty powerful that yeah yeah it's good crazy yeah
[49:58] That sense of community is really, that Facebook group and school and all that sort of stuff and the community days because we're spending a gazillion dollars on that and some of them are wild now.
[50:07] They're booking out whole bloody breweries and time zones and face painting and I'm petrified of clowns.
[50:12] I'm like, if there's a clown, I'm not going.
[50:15] But, yeah, so I think it's really cool to see everyone pull together and also you tend to only meet really good people that want to see you do well.
[50:24] They're happy to share and talk.
[50:26] It's really special.
[50:27] Yeah.
[50:28] I think that's what we found in that first room.
[50:30] Like, we come out with a couple of properties, and the people are just so excited for you.
[50:35] Yeah.
[50:35] You go, wow.
[50:36] Yeah.
[50:36] Yeah.
[50:37] It was ridiculous.
[50:38] People want to see you do well.
[50:39] Yeah.
[50:40] You meet some interesting characters as well.
[50:42] Yeah, yeah, yeah.
[50:43] Yeah, in the past you have people like, oh, you've got this or you've got that.
[50:47] Well, you don't talk about it.
[50:48] Yeah, no, no, it's taboo.
[50:50] Don't talk about money.
[50:51] Well, well done.
[50:53] You should be bloody proud of yourselves.
[50:54] Anything else you want to ask me and pick my brain?
[50:57] I guess we talked about how much we should help support the children getting into property or whether we should be doing that.
[51:05] Michaela's already there.
[51:06] We've got a couple more coming along.
[51:10] Should we use any of our money to help support them getting into the market?
[51:14] Yeah, it's a good question.
[51:15] I always say apply your own oxygen mask first.
[51:18] Yep.
[51:19] Obviously, at the moment, we've got the first home 5% guarantee with the government.
[51:23] A lot of people don't understand it and think it's bad.
[51:26] You'll see it all on social media.
[51:27] Yes, yes.
[51:28] It's not bad.
[51:29] I bought my first home as bank staff with a 5% deposit and borrowed 95%, but they waived the LMI, the fees, the mortgage insurance.
[51:38] And that's all it is.
[51:38] It's saying, hey, you've got the effort to save 5%.
[51:41] You've saved something with cost of living.
[51:44] We'll let you in.
[51:45] And we're just waiving mortgage insurance.
[51:48] There's also co-ownership.
[51:49] So the Queensland government and a couple of states have got the co-ownership where to make them more affordable.
[51:56] You can chip in, say, your five or ten, and the government chips in ten, twenty, et cetera.
[52:00] Yeah.
[52:00] Yeah.
[52:01] So there's some really cool schemes and grants out there to help them get into it.
[52:05] Yeah.
[52:06] Given your neck of the woods in Brizzy and the way Brizzy's going.
[52:09] Yeah.
[52:10] And the growth you'll see Doc predicting at the moment and what we're seeing.
[52:13] Yeah.
[52:14] It would absolutely be a great idea for all of them to go and get a really decent apartment.
[52:21] Yeah.
[52:21] If they qualify for that now.
[52:22] Yeah.
[52:24] um you know i've just bought an apartment two apartments and merged into one on the river at hamilton there yeah so that that's sort of that whole brisbane corridor is it's sort of outstripping you know sydney melbourne now so if they can get in yeah it would be great yeah
[52:39] um again if you're in the position so look yep if they can save two percent two and a half and you give lend them two and a half or give to them just enough to get in yeah now they may very well move into it and a year later go oh no i'm going to come home to mom and dad
[52:56] That's okay too, right?
[52:57] Because they'll only have put a small deposit to it.
[53:00] So if they do later on decide to move out or it's too expensive or don't have friends living with them or whatever, but yeah, the quicker you can get them into the market, the better they'll fare financially.
[53:12] It's not going to stop anytime soon.
[53:14] It's not going to get cheaper.
[53:15] And I guess that's the thing, we're out of the Brisbane market at the moment as such, we've got our properties in other states.
[53:22] Whether, I guess when we should get back in the local property.
[53:27] Soon as you're ready.
[53:28] Yeah.
[53:29] As soon as you tell us we can.
[53:31] I'll show you what I bought in Hamilton and I'll show you something on the other side.
[53:34] I would love Hamilton.
[53:35] I've got a good one.
[53:36] That's not too far from home.
[53:38] Yeah.
[53:39] And there's plenty of great areas.
[53:41] I just use that.
[53:42] I bought two and merged it into one that's getting built.
[53:45] So that was great for what I like to do now, a bit bigger.
[53:48] Yeah.
[53:49] Sounds like a good place to rent first.
[53:51] not built yet but yeah nice and big yeah but look brisbane as a whole is just doing so well and even the surrounds like you look to the surrounds in and you go west out towards ipswich say right and you look at the from sort of the the walloons and ipswiches and red banks and springfields and even out to ripley right yeah it's gone crazy
[54:12] It's crazy.
[54:13] But it's still a commutable distance to Brisbane.
[54:16] But again, they've got their own things.
[54:18] You know, you've got the Marta Hospital out at Springfield.
[54:21] There's so much, you know, the AFL Stadium.
[54:23] They've built out at Springfield.
[54:25] There's so much infrastructure now, you know, filling out.
[54:29] Like, you go north, you go up to North Lakes, Mango Hill, Caboolture Morayfield now used to be like, oh, good.
[54:37] to Morayfield now it's like one of the fastest growing areas just like Pimpermar and that on the Gold Coast it's it's the old story I used to say this to people I'm like everything is something to someone at some point in time and eventually like Sydney you have that sprawl yeah
[54:54] So there's some really good, you know, not smack bang in the city, but there's some really good opportunities as you spread out that are still, I'd consider affordable with really good rental yields.
[55:06] Brisbane has really strong rental yields.
[55:09] That's not something to ignore.
[55:11] So maybe that's the next step.
[55:13] Yeah, could be.
[55:14] Yeah, maybe we plonk something in Brisbane.
[55:17] Maybe we help the kids.
[55:18] That's probably an off-air conversation.
[55:20] Yes, yeah.
[55:21] So they don't hear what we might or may not do for them.
[55:23] We'll keep it under wraps.
[55:24] They did ask if we were going to talk about them today.
[55:26] No, no, not at all.
[55:27] I said it's all about you.
[55:30] Yeah.
[55:31] But look, that may be an option to help them get their foot in the door, especially at today's market values.
[55:37] Yeah.
[55:37] You know, if they're buying something that's maybe, you know, not quite finished yet so they can get some growth.
[55:41] Yeah, yeah.
[55:41] That could be a great strategy.
[55:43] It could be a terrible strategy.
[55:45] If they decide to have a life event or quit their job and they're meant to settle their property, it could be a terrible strategy, but it could be a great strategy.
[55:54] They pick themselves up a nice little unit for seven, eight, nine or a home in the outer suburbs or something.
[56:02] That could be a good thing.
[56:03] What's that worth in a couple of years' time?
[56:04] Yeah, absolutely.
[56:05] And where we're headed at the moment, a lot more.
[56:07] That's right.
[56:08] A lot more.
[56:09] So...
[56:09] So we'll have to chat about that offline, but watch this space.
[56:12] That's what I've been thinking.
[56:13] The sooner they can get into the market, the better, because when they're ready to afford it, it's removed.
[56:21] If you are going to help them, you're going to have to help a lot less now than you will in 24 months.
[56:26] Correct.
[56:26] Yeah.
[56:28] And the help now that will be a lot less will give them a lot more gain.
[56:32] We're in a growth phase now.
[56:34] We've got a housing crisis.
[56:35] And we've got a trade crisis until they can get which they do, but robots to build the whole house.
[56:41] And there's so many taxes in a house.
[56:43] Like a good half of a house being built is taxes.
[56:47] Levies, taxes, taxes, duty.
[56:49] It's wild.
[56:51] and we just can't get the trades.
[56:53] So I think the sooner you can help them and yourselves more, absolutely.
[56:57] If it's feasible, they're good kids, get a foot in the door, go for gold.
[57:03] Might just be deposit or part deposit at the moment, but the sooner you can help them, the better.
[57:08] And if we wait three, four years to help them, I mean, I'd hate to think we're Brisbane.
[57:12] I mean, I'm excited for me personally and my clients, but I'd hate to think we're like the Brisbane, Gold Coast, Sunshine Coast markets are.
[57:19] I mean, we all know the drill.
[57:20] Everyone migrates to Melbourne in Australia.
[57:23] It's the migrant capital.
[57:24] It used to be the most liveable city.
[57:26] It's interesting now.
[57:28] But it's having a bounce back, right?
[57:30] But everyone tends to migrate to Melbourne, very multicultural sport, art, food, culture.
[57:35] They then realise it's fucking freezing.
[57:37] And they sort of make their way to Sydney and they've got a beach and they've got a bit of good income, city slickers.
[57:43] Then they realise that it takes two hours to get from one side of Sydney to the other and the traffic's bad and it's very expensive to live.
[57:49] And the number one net state for interstate migration and where everyone falls is Queensland grows more than anywhere.
[57:57] We just need the infrastructure to keep up.
[58:00] I did, if you go back to my first podcast, first 1050 podcast, I used to talk with Doc a lot.
[58:06] about being worried through COVID and that, that everyone that was coming to Queensland, I was worried about employment.
[58:14] I was worried that it wasn't, could it create enough jobs for people to stay?
[58:17] Because it's a very transient state.
[58:19] People, you know, come in and they travel and tourists and stuff like that.
[58:23] I was always really worried about having enough employment and infrastructure, but it's held its own.
[58:30] And a lot of people through COVID have now set up their head offices from Sydney, Melbourne, et cetera.
[58:35] They've come to Queensland.
[58:36] Yeah.
[58:37] So it's, watch this space.
[58:39] It's an amazing state to live in.
[58:41] Good weather.
[58:41] I mean, I'm here now from Sydney, but it's good weather.
[58:45] You know, people are up early, they're out, they're active.
[58:48] It's interesting.
[58:50] so that's what we noticed this morning beautiful weather out there today and just five o'clock there's people out everywhere past busy yeah up early bad early yeah look yeah i definitely think strong consideration we just have to look at your overall strategy that we don't break anything yeah is if we can help the kids and they've got the incomes and they're good if we can get them into an apartment each now or home like whatever we can yeah have a look at it now yeah because it's it's not going to get any easier no
[59:20] exactly we should be bloody proud of yourselves
[59:23] We are.
[59:25] It's been a journey.
[59:27] Keep going.
[59:27] Finity's made it much easier.
[59:29] Well, that's good to hear.
[59:30] We've had a lot of fun along the way.
[59:32] That's really good to hear and appreciate you guys being part of the community and the Kmart Salvos and everything, and Chrissy Party and Rems.
[59:39] But we'll definitely have to do a part two for this just to see what we end up doing, if we can help the kids and get the beachfront apartment or the new family home.
[59:49] We don't want much.
[59:50] No, no, it's fine.
[59:53] I mean, if you look at what we have now, you probably didn't think any of this was possible.
[59:57] Oh, not at all.
[59:58] So when you realise with the right structures and guidance what is possible, the sky's the limit.
[1:00:05] I think we decided we were just going to struggle forever before we found you.
[1:00:08] No, we're not going to do that here.
[1:00:09] No.
[1:00:10] None of that nonsense.
[1:00:11] Definitely not.
[1:00:12] Well, you should be really proud of yourselves and I appreciate you being so open and honest and sharing with everyone.
[1:00:16] So thank you.
[1:00:17] Thank you.
[1:00:18] So much gratitude.
[1:00:19] Likewise.
[1:00:20] Pleasure.
[1:00:20] Thank you.
[1:00:21] You're fucking going.
[1:00:22] See ya.

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