# From Separate Lives to a Shared Financial Future | Stacey & Brad | CHANGING LIVES | Season 3 Ep 85

An episode of [Money Mentor Podcast™](https://invisiblenetwork.ai/podcast/1632604767), 20 Jan 2026, 56 min.

Audio: https://episode.flightcast.com/scpazwd5qi1vdowehwpw28sn.mp3

Stacey and Brad share how they rebuilt their financial footing after coming into their relationship with past hardships, separate finances, and a lot of uncertainty. Brad, an ex-military member living on a pension, and Stacey, a paramedic and single mother, initially struggled with trust around money. Things shifted when they discovered Infinity, giving them the structure, clarity, and support they needed to combine finances, reduce debt, and create momentum toward a long term plan. Since joining the program, they’ve paid down their mortgage, sold a property to upgrade their family home, and begun investing toward a more secure future. With a tighter budget, a clearer financial system, and new routines that support their health and lifestyle, Stacey and Brad now feel more in control than ever. Their story highlights the power of trust, community, and strategic planning to turn a complicated financial past into a confident future. 👉 Follow the link https://bit.ly/43V2jKN to watch the free webinar and start your Infinity journey now!

## Transcript

[0:00] But yeah, just the fact like after leaving what we've been able to build, like just getting a house by myself but now having a multi-million dollar property portfolio is fucking wild.
[0:14] You're a living, breathing example of what can happen if you just don't give up.
[0:18] Yeah.
[0:19] And you can't beat someone who doesn't quit.
[0:21] Nah.
[0:22] Money is the root of all evil.
[0:23] The fucking lack of it is.
[0:24] Not money.
[0:25] The lack of understanding money.
[0:27] When I put that into emphasis, when I realized our psychological effect and how it hit our family, I have to be in the fucking way.
[0:33] You are now watching the money man talk podcast.
[0:36] With Graham Hunt.
[0:38] Graham Hunt.
[0:38] Graham Hunt.
[0:44] Welcome back to another episode of The Money Mentor, continuing on the Changing Lives Financially series.
[0:49] And we have two very lovely special guests today.
[0:51] Welcome, Stacey and Brad.
[0:52] How are we?
[0:53] Hello.
[0:53] Good.
[0:54] Good.
[0:54] You good?
[0:55] Good.
[0:55] Shit and bricks.
[0:56] Shit and bricks?
[0:57] Oh, shit.
[0:57] You'll be fine.
[0:59] If a little bit of wee comes out, it happens.
[1:01] It's fine.
[1:01] Yeah.
[1:01] Just don't be too... Not from you.
[1:04] I'm holding it.
[1:05] Good, good, good.
[1:05] Yeah.
[1:06] All right.
[1:06] Hey, tell us a little bit of background about you guys.
[1:09] Who are you?
[1:10] Where are you from?
[1:11] What's your background before we jump into the money stuff?
[1:15] Okay.
[1:17] Well, my name's Brad.
[1:19] This is Stacy.
[1:20] Yep.
[1:20] We're from Gippsland.
[1:21] Gippsland, Victoria.
[1:25] Little bit about myself.
[1:26] I'm ex-military.
[1:28] Basically on a military pension.
[1:32] Got a couple of injuries from the military.
[1:36] So I just do a little bit of voluntary work where I can.
[1:41] But I'm usually just a stay-at-home dad, take care of business at home.
[1:46] Awesome.
[1:47] That's my dream, by the way, to be able to, without the injuries, but to stay-at-home dad.
[1:51] That's my dream.
[1:52] By the way, thank you for your service.
[1:54] Oh, thank you.
[1:54] I don't think America, you go to America, it's so highly regarded, respected, appreciated.
[2:01] Yeah.
[2:01] Australia.
[2:02] Not at all.
[2:03] Yeah.
[2:03] Not thought of.
[2:04] It's a bit weird, so thank you.
[2:06] No.
[2:07] Thank you.
[2:08] Okay.
[2:08] And then I'm Stacey, so I'm a... Well, you used to be Stacey.
[2:12] I used to be Stacey.
[2:12] I'm half of Stacey.
[2:13] You're half of Stacey.
[2:14] You walked in again, I'm like, what's going on here, mate?
[2:17] I'm like Stacy's little sides person.
[2:20] Yeah.
[2:22] I'm a paramedic.
[2:24] Yeah.
[2:25] I've been working in the emergency sector for probably about seven years now.
[2:29] Okay.
[2:29] So, yeah, I was a single mum before meeting Brad.
[2:36] I grew up single parent with three kids.
[2:39] We moved around a lot.
[2:41] um when we were kids there was like periods where we were homeless and we used to get a lot of food hampers and stuff i know what that's like yeah so nothing like black and gold tin food yeah jewel was the thing back then i don't know if you had jewels i don't know we had jewels i'm too old yeah it was a brand it was like coals but it was jewel
[2:59] Yeah, we were all black and gold and getting the hampers and you get so excited if there's like a little cheesy dip something in there.
[3:06] Something good in it, right?
[3:07] Not the baked beans and Spam.
[3:09] Yeah.
[3:11] And yeah, growing up, I guess we never really knew much about money.
[3:15] Yeah.
[3:16] Okay.
[3:19] And how long have you guys been together now?
[3:21] Three years.
[3:22] Three years.
[3:24] Yeah.
[3:24] Okay.
[3:25] And financially, pre-infinity, a couple of years ago when you got together, mortgage, homes, what was the story financially as you guys come together?
[3:34] So I had built my first house.
[3:38] That was just me as a single parent.
[3:41] And then...
[3:42] Yeah, I had one before Stacey.
[3:49] I was married, divorced.
[3:51] I had one house that I redone up, sold that.
[3:57] Middle child needed a...
[4:02] a specialised school, so moved to a different town, bought another house, a lot bigger one.
[4:10] Of course, like with divorce, you split your assets.
[4:15] And then, yeah, it wasn't that long after Stacey and I got together and we combined the
[4:24] Everything.
[4:25] Now, how long did it take?
[4:26] It's always interesting to me when we come from separate relationships and lives and all that.
[4:30] Yeah.
[4:30] Did you combine finances and bank accounts straight away or not straight away?
[4:34] Oh.
[4:35] Not straight away.
[4:38] Oh.
[4:38] I kind of, I'm a very kind of trusting kind of person.
[4:42] Okay.
[4:43] To a point.
[4:44] I know.
[4:47] Yeah, so it was a little bit easier for me.
[4:50] I respected that it wasn't for Stacey, like everything that she's been through.
[4:57] So I had to have that patience there.
[5:01] So you were like, I don't know about this, my lover.
[5:03] You're on guard anyway.
[5:05] Well, so we didn't combine anything until we'd actually started with Infinity.
[5:10] Okay.
[5:12] I think we were probably living together a couple of months.
[5:15] So Brad had sold his house with his ex-wife.
[5:18] Yep.
[5:20] And, yeah, he'd moved in with me because I already had a four-bedroom house there.
[5:25] Yep.
[5:26] Um, and then we were sort of, you just sold the house and we were trying to figure out what to do with all this extra money.
[5:33] Um, and then at the same time as when we sort of came across infinity and we were like, Oh, we should probably just listen to them before we make any changes.
[5:41] And who found infinity?
[5:43] Me.
[5:44] Right.
[5:44] And that was at the time.
[5:45] So sold the house with the ex had your home already.
[5:48] And what was going through your head?
[5:50] You were like, Oh, we probably should get some help.
[5:51] Was it?
[5:53] At the time, I was pretty unhappy with my job.
[5:56] Okay.
[5:59] It was affecting my health and I was really stressed that I had all these bills and I was stuck in this job because we had the mortgage and the bills and stuff.
[6:10] Okay.
[6:11] So I was like running the numbers and I was like, if I could just pay the mortgage out, then technically Brad's income could cover all our expenses.
[6:20] Okay.
[6:21] And then I could take the time to go and find a job that I was really passionate about.
[6:24] Retrain, relearn, study.
[6:26] Yeah.
[6:27] Just find something that suited me a bit better and where I felt actually valued as an employee.
[6:35] Yep.
[6:37] Um, so that's when I was doing a lot of personal growth and things.
[6:42] Your infinity ad popped up.
[6:44] Um, and of course we thought a hundred percent is a scam too good to be true.
[6:50] Yep.
[6:50] Fair enough.
[6:51] And then I was like, Brad, come and watch this.
[6:53] And he was like, what a lot of shit.
[6:54] Yep.
[6:56] Yep.
[6:56] Okay.
[6:57] That's what I thought.
[6:58] So how long did you watch the free webinar together?
[7:01] Yes.
[7:02] Yes.
[7:02] Oh, you did it together.
[7:03] So that helps.
[7:04] You're not trying to re-explain it, right?
[7:06] So I watched a couple of your YouTube, not YouTube, your Facebook videos.
[7:11] And I think it was the both sides podcast that I was looking into.
[7:16] And then Brad and I sat down, we did the free webinar.
[7:19] Then we signed up for the next masterclass that was available.
[7:24] And yeah, we were still pretty skeptical.
[7:26] Like when I ask you to upload all your bank statements and everything before the masterclass, we were like, not a chance.
[7:33] We're not giving someone we don't know that information.
[7:38] And then you got there and you're like, shit, we should have put our stuff in the system.
[7:41] Yep.
[7:43] Yep.
[7:44] It was, yeah.
[7:45] We got it in pretty quickly before you finished the presentation.
[7:50] Yeah.
[7:50] Yeah.
[7:51] Okay.
[7:54] So mortgage balance when you came to infinity?
[7:57] So I bought my house for 440 and then four years later I'd refinanced to buy a car because I was smart and it was still 430 when Brad moved in with me.
[8:10] Ouch.
[8:11] Yeah, it wasn't ideal.
[8:13] Property gone up a bit in value but?
[8:15] Yeah, I think it went up probably about $200,000.
[8:18] Okay.
[8:18] So still owed the same amount of money, almost what you purchased it for.
[8:22] Yeah.
[8:23] Okay.
[8:24] Okay.
[8:25] And when did you join Infinity?
[8:28] May 24.
[8:29] So I think about 18 months now we've been with Infinity.
[8:33] Okay.
[8:33] What's the home loan balance today?
[8:37] Well, we sold that property and we took the equity or the cash we got from it.
[8:48] We've bought a bigger property and I think we bought that in February.
[8:54] Our mortgage when we bought it in February was $4.95 and today we're sitting at $221.
[9:01] Pardon?
[9:01] $221.
[9:03] How much was the new home?
[9:04] $1.25 million.
[9:07] How much did you sell the old one for?
[9:09] 65,000.
[9:11] Wait.
[9:11] 650?
[9:12] That's the one.
[9:13] 650,000.
[9:14] I'll take it.
[9:15] I'll take two.
[9:16] So sold for 650, owed 430.
[9:18] So there's a couple hundred grand there.
[9:20] Yep.
[9:20] Some proceeds from the settlement.
[9:22] Okay.
[9:22] And then we've gone and bought a new bigger home that suits together as a team.
[9:26] Yep.
[9:27] And we only owe 400 and...
[9:29] What was the two?
[9:31] The mortgage was $4.95.
[9:32] It's currently $221.
[9:35] Well done, guys.
[9:36] Yeah.
[9:37] So that's just since February.
[9:38] We've got it done.
[9:39] You should be bloody proud of yourself.
[9:41] Yeah.
[9:42] And when are you going to start investing?
[9:44] Oh, we've already done that.
[9:45] Oh, we've already done that.
[9:46] We've already done that.
[9:46] You just fucking make.
[9:48] So how many investments?
[9:50] We've got two now.
[9:51] Yeah.
[9:52] Two.
[9:52] Two.
[9:52] Two.
[9:53] Yeah.
[9:53] So big new dream home.
[9:56] So got together, separate money, separate assets, share bodily fluids and bed, but different bank accounts.
[10:03] Now we share everything.
[10:04] Yeah.
[10:04] Sharing, sharing.
[10:05] Okay.
[10:06] Yeah.
[10:06] Exactly right.
[10:07] New home, merged resources, merged capacities, two new investments, and only a couple of hundred grand left on the home loan.
[10:16] too good to be true yeah i know right pinch yourselves every day oh yeah every morning best best bullshit ad you've ever seen on social media ever yep i literally went on google and i was like googling graeme home scam and i was like trying to find something who's this dickhead wow okay we could not find a single thing
[10:38] Well, you've done well in a short space of time.
[10:42] Tell people at home that are tuning in for this, and maybe like, I mean, obviously we get big support from our community, because you all love learning from each other.
[10:49] Yeah.
[10:49] For people that aren't part of this weird, wild community, what are some of the things that you've done?
[10:55] Like, what are the changes we've been helping you make to do so well, so quick?
[11:01] Budget.
[11:02] Budget.
[11:02] Okay.
[11:03] Yeah.
[11:03] A budget.
[11:07] Our budget previously, so I calculated like all our expenses, divided it across the year of how much we had to put into account each fortnight.
[11:15] So all the bills were paid every fortnight, everything else got spent.
[11:19] Right.
[11:20] Okay.
[11:21] So there was a breakdown to pay the bills by fortnightly installments because they're your fixed expenses, give or take.
[11:30] Yeah.
[11:31] And then spend everything else we earn.
[11:33] Pretty much.
[11:34] So no budget.
[11:35] No budget.
[11:36] Now there's a budget.
[11:37] Now there's a budget.
[11:38] What's the budget?
[11:39] $600 at the moment.
[11:42] $600.
[11:42] $600?
[11:43] Yeah, we've got down to $600.
[11:44] And how many in the house?
[11:45] $600.
[11:46] Two adults, two kids.
[11:47] Any pets?
[11:48] Yeah, two dogs and a cat.
[11:49] Okay.
[11:50] Two adults, two kids, two dogs and a kitty.
[11:53] Okay.
[11:54] And you're down to 600.
[11:55] Yeah.
[11:56] We started at 750 and then we've been working with Ellie like, oh, you can just trim a little bit here, trim a little bit there.
[12:03] And are you going without anything?
[12:07] Oh, nah.
[12:08] No.
[12:08] Nah?
[12:08] The kids still get their Friday night takeout.
[12:11] Yeah, okay.
[12:11] That's their favourite time of the week.
[12:14] We don't go without anything that we don't need.
[12:17] Yeah.
[12:18] We're not just spending it on shit.
[12:19] I was going to say, you kind of just made takeout on Friday night sound special, like a little family thing then.
[12:26] Yeah.
[12:27] Yeah, it is.
[12:27] Like it used to be when I grew up, it's like, hey, on a...
[12:30] Fish and chip night.
[12:31] Well yeah, fish and chip.
[12:32] We used to do, when my pop was still here, we used to always go to the retired, so like the RSL, you know, that whole era, and go to the RSL.
[12:40] And it was like palmy and a pint or pop.
[12:43] It was like two for pension a night or whatever.
[12:45] So it was Wednesday night, and I grew up getting a palmy and chips and a fire engine cream, you know, cream.
[12:50] And because it was, it must have been cheap or something.
[12:52] So that was the night we all went.
[12:54] And the whole family used to come together that night and buy their own, you know, two for one meal or whatever.
[12:58] But I'll never, I was only little, I'll never forget those Wednesdays and eat and then the kids would run around and go nuts for hours and all the adults would probably be on the punt and the piss or whatever.
[13:06] But it actually made eating out special.
[13:09] Like all the family got together and spent time together instead of just drive through every fucking day.
[13:14] Yeah, 100%.
[13:16] So you now, what's a normal Friday night look like for takeout?
[13:19] Do you guys actually put on a video or games night or...
[13:23] We love movie nights or we play like video games together.
[13:27] Like the kids love playing Fortnite.
[13:28] So we'll all sit down on the couch and play Fortnite together.
[13:31] Play with my niece and nephew, it's so fucking hard.
[13:34] I prefer it.
[13:35] I watch.
[13:36] As soon as I come alive, I get murdered.
[13:38] Yeah, fair.
[13:39] Yeah, I'm not very good at it anyway.
[13:41] Yeah, no, I easily just watch it.
[13:43] Yeah, fair enough.
[13:44] I'm no good at least.
[13:44] So how have the kids processed the changes of spending everything to now takeaways Friday night, games night or movie night, and no, you've got your food, how have they adapted to the changes?
[13:59] Pretty easily, I think.
[14:00] Yeah.
[14:02] I think like when they do want something, like if we're going to the shops, like Kmart or whatever, and they're like, oh, I really want this.
[14:08] And it's like, cool, you just saw it two seconds ago.
[14:10] You don't really want it.
[14:11] It's just you saw it and it looks cool.
[14:13] Right.
[14:14] So it's like, all right, how about we do this?
[14:16] How about we just take a photo of it?
[14:18] Okay.
[14:19] And then if you still want it at your birthday or Christmas or the next thing, like instead of buying Easter eggs, we can buy you a small gift instead.
[14:26] And if you still want it then, then we can get it then.
[14:29] But it's not just buying them stuff just because, oh, you've been behaving.
[14:34] Like, let's buy you a treat.
[14:35] I probably won't even remember 20 of the photos by the time you get to.
[14:37] Exactly.
[14:38] It'll just be a fad.
[14:39] Yeah.
[14:40] Okay.
[14:40] Yeah, don't remember it all.
[14:41] That's the second parents that have told me they do the photo.
[14:45] Yeah.
[14:45] And the delayed gratification.
[14:46] I like it.
[14:47] Yeah, they usually just forget because it's not important.
[14:52] Yeah.
[14:53] Now, actually, tell me, budget's really important.
[14:58] Is there anything else you've learnt along this journey so far?
[15:01] Someone at home, you're like, yeah, you really have to have a budget and you also should do this and you should.
[15:06] Is there anything else you've picked up along the way so far?
[15:11] Do you guys talk openly about money now?
[15:14] Yeah.
[15:15] Yeah.
[15:16] And is that something that was not so much talked about before when it was separate?
[15:19] Was like, hey, you pay this bill, I pay that bill, or has the dynamic changed a bit?
[15:24] I think when it was separate, so I sort of covered all the bills and everything with my income and my accounts.
[15:31] And then Brad would pay for shopping and stuff.
[15:33] Yep.
[15:34] So that's kind of how we split it all up.
[15:37] Yep.
[15:39] Yeah, combining everything was hard to start off with.
[15:45] Big risk.
[15:46] Yeah.
[15:47] Yeah.
[15:47] I think there was a lot of, I was really scared about it, like handing over my sort of, what's the word?
[16:00] My control, like I felt like I was losing my independence.
[16:03] Yeah.
[16:04] So like Brad could just up and take all the money or like and giving him half of the house and everything.
[16:13] It was really, really scary.
[16:15] So.
[16:16] How's it feel now?
[16:18] Oh, it's so much better now.
[16:19] Like it's really good.
[16:21] And I like the fact that Ellie's watching as well.
[16:24] So if Brad takes all my money, Ellie can see.
[16:26] So I've got back up.
[16:28] yeah you're fucked I know yeah and then we've got other Ellie in the office too yeah that can flip a car big Ellie Ellie can go to the big Ellie and you're in trouble oh yeah fuck she's strong man I'm so proud of her you got double Ellie's yeah double fucked yep that's it I think yeah just having that trust in infinity like
[16:52] even though you guys have got our back as a couple, like you guys have got our back individually as well if things did go wrong.
[16:57] Yeah.
[16:58] So, yeah.
[17:00] So, was that the hardest thing, do you think?
[17:01] Was that that trust, giving that trust to even each other as a newer couple and then the trust to us as well?
[17:07] Yeah, that was my hardest thing.
[17:09] Okay.
[17:10] Yeah.
[17:11] Okay.
[17:11] Okay.
[17:12] What about physically?
[17:14] Because there's been some changes physically as well.
[17:17] Yeah.
[17:18] So, um, yeah, this almost 10 months now, I've lost 32 kilos.
[17:27] That's wild.
[17:28] Yeah.
[17:30] How do you feel?
[17:31] I feel amazing.
[17:33] It's yeah.
[17:34] What was the driving force of that?
[17:37] I think like my work stress, that kind of caused a lot of my weight gain and I was eating to sort of make me feel better.
[17:48] Yeah.
[17:49] And like I drink a couple of glasses of wine to calm down on the week – on my weekdays off.
[17:53] Yeah.
[17:54] And just help me sleep.
[17:57] But now we're so set up that if I technically don't want to go to work for a day – Yeah.
[18:05] I don't have to right like I still want to go to work yeah you're choosing to go to work now I'm choosing to go to work you're not forced to work so I don't sort of have that stress about work because I don't feel like I'm locked in anymore yeah which yeah it's a big shift like to be able to wake up in the morning go geez I'm a bit tired but I'll go to work because I want to make a difference and because it's great for our strategy yeah but I don't have to if I don't want to
[18:31] Yeah, I want to buy another property.
[18:32] Yeah, exactly.
[18:33] All right, I'm on.
[18:34] Off we go.
[18:34] I'm working overtime.
[18:35] Exactly.
[18:36] Yeah.
[18:36] Okay.
[18:37] But yeah, I think... How about 30?
[18:39] 32 kilos now.
[18:41] 32 kilos.
[18:41] So walk us through that.
[18:43] What are you doing?
[18:44] Just so I stopped drinking.
[18:47] Yep.
[18:49] I have been doing meal prep, which has really helped our budget as well.
[18:52] So I'm like taking meals to work.
[18:54] Yep.
[18:54] Brad loves cooking.
[18:55] I love eating.
[18:56] Good.
[18:56] He makes good food.
[18:59] And yeah, just trying to focus on decreasing my stress and yeah, just do more stuff for us.
[19:06] A lot of training as well or?
[19:07] Not that much.
[19:08] Just food.
[19:09] Yeah, just food and stress.
[19:11] Food and alcohol and stress.
[19:12] Yeah.
[19:13] Well done.
[19:14] It's only sort of what we're doing 60 Strong now.
[19:16] Yep.
[19:17] Yeah.
[19:17] How are you finding that?
[19:19] It's been good.
[19:19] Yeah?
[19:20] Yeah.
[19:21] Massive.
[19:21] And them steps in together every day.
[19:23] Massive changes.
[19:24] Yeah?
[19:24] Yeah.
[19:25] The kids are like getting involved in the steps or are they like, oh.
[19:29] Harrison does He comes out the back He's like Do you guys want to go for a walk in the backyard?
[19:34] Go get your steps up We'll do laps We'll go in the shed And we'll do a bit of a workout Or something like that Yeah That's good Yeah Lots of good things come about Just being a part of the community Which has been amazing Yeah how's that?
[19:51] Have you been able to get to any community events yet?
[19:54] The Rams We've seen you at the Rams and stuff What have you done with those?
[19:57] How did you find them?
[19:59] They were unreal.
[20:01] Yeah.
[20:01] So we went to the one in Melbourne.
[20:03] Yep.
[20:05] At the winery.
[20:06] At the winery, Levantine Hill.
[20:07] Yeah, the weather was a bit bad, but didn't it?
[20:09] Did it come in bad?
[20:10] It was Melbourne.
[20:10] It wasn't raining.
[20:11] Yeah, we're kind of used to it, you know.
[20:13] Yeah.
[20:15] But yeah, we found it was so good.
[20:18] We met so many nice people there.
[20:21] And yeah, like you usually do, like you add them on Facebook, all that kind of stuff.
[20:27] You know, they're always there, you know, whatever you put on Facebook.
[20:31] Like, yeah, it's like an extended family, basically.
[20:36] Yeah.
[20:37] We definitely want to bring the kids back to our next time now that we know, like, how kid-friendly they are.
[20:42] Yep.
[20:43] Yeah.
[20:43] We weren't 100% sure last time.
[20:45] So we came to...
[20:46] There's a couple of them that weren't kid-friendly and then we're like, no, they're community days.
[20:50] It's the whole family.
[20:51] Yeah.
[20:52] They've done a really big push.
[20:53] Even the ones at wineries or breweries, there's like the jumping castles and the face painting and the rye.
[20:58] And then, yeah, the adults can still have a beer or a vino and some cheese and nibbles over there and have a chit-chat.
[21:03] Then they've done Mario Kart.
[21:05] I didn't know existed.
[21:06] I was sick.
[21:07] I'm like, how come I didn't go to that?
[21:08] Yeah.
[21:08] They've done some cool stuff, actually.
[21:10] Yeah.
[21:10] Yeah, we can't wait to see what they do next year.
[21:13] Yeah, I keep thinking we're going to run out of ideas, but Nat and Megan and Jeremy just keep lifting the baths.
[21:20] Pretty cool.
[21:21] Yeah.
[21:22] Pretty cool.
[21:23] Expensive, but cool.
[21:26] So what are we on now for our food, fuel and fun at the moment?
[21:30] 600.
[21:31] 600.
[21:31] Okay.
[21:32] Pets, kids.
[21:33] Okay.
[21:33] Not too bad.
[21:34] Yeah.
[21:34] Okay.
[21:36] What's the big, big dream, big goal for you guys?
[21:39] Where would you like to see yourselves in the next couple of years or five years or 10 years?
[21:45] Whoa, that's a tough question.
[21:47] Have you thought about it?
[21:49] Yeah.
[21:51] We do want to move the house.
[21:56] Yeah.
[21:56] Move the family home.
[21:59] A new one?
[22:00] I think it's more of a stepping stone.
[22:02] Yeah, this one's going to be definitely a stepping stone.
[22:05] OK.
[22:07] um this is also this new home's kind of the amalgamation of the family as well right like it's you guys going you know what we're having a red hot crack at this together and i'm putting this in and you're putting this in and off we go together yeah so you're kind of it is a step because it's that first trust and amalgamation together yeah you go okay well all right off we go so that makes sense yeah so i think next time we probably wouldn't go as big as what we've got
[22:36] Well, that sounds like it keeps him busy.
[22:38] It does.
[22:40] All you do is mow grass.
[22:42] Hey, you picked it.
[22:43] And then, yeah, I know.
[22:46] So, stepping stone.
[22:46] Yeah.
[22:48] But yeah, something that's a little bit more practical so we can actually go and do family holidays and not have to worry about doing things around the house when we're on days off.
[22:58] Yeah, okay.
[22:59] So not work the property so much, just living the property.
[23:02] Yeah.
[23:02] Big properties are a lot of work.
[23:04] So we found out.
[23:05] We didn't think about that before we bought it, did we?
[23:09] Nope.
[23:09] Okay.
[23:10] We live and learn.
[23:11] Live and learn.
[23:12] Okay.
[23:13] So stepping stone property, maybe downsize or downscale that property a bit.
[23:18] What about career and investments and that sort of stuff?
[23:25] We don't really have an investment target.
[23:28] Okay.
[23:29] I think, so we've got two at the moment.
[23:32] I cheekily told Paul that I want to have five before I'm 40, but we'll see.
[23:38] I think...
[23:40] My goal personally, I would love to get to a point where I could replace my income.
[23:47] Okay.
[23:48] So I could, I guess shift work's hard.
[23:54] Yeah.
[23:54] They're really long hours.
[23:56] It never becomes normal either, like your sleep patterns and trying to have a life and...
[24:00] Yeah.
[24:01] I really miss spending time with the kids when it's like a really nice weekend and I'm doing a 12-hour shift.
[24:08] Yeah.
[24:09] I'd love to have a job where I could be more present for my family.
[24:14] Okay.
[24:15] Like, I've got a good job, but yeah, I really want to prioritise my family.
[24:21] Okay.
[24:22] Yeah.
[24:22] Okay.
[24:25] And same area you think you were downsized?
[24:27] You think you were staying in the same area or you make a change?
[24:30] Yeah.
[24:31] Yeah.
[24:31] No.
[24:32] I was staying in the same area.
[24:33] Yeah.
[24:34] Okay.
[24:34] Brad's got his three kids in sort of our area.
[24:38] Yeah, okay.
[24:39] So we wouldn't want to move away from them.
[24:40] Yeah, fair enough.
[24:42] We were talking about getting a holiday apartment up here though.
[24:44] Just come in the winter.
[24:46] Oh, dear.
[24:49] Moving right along.
[24:52] Maybe you can get one of your investments up here and you can pretend that you're going to holiday in it.
[24:57] Yeah.
[24:58] No, we'll just come visit.
[25:00] Yeah.
[25:01] Go to the theme park thing and all that sort of stuff.
[25:03] Yeah.
[25:06] What words of wisdom can you share for people at home that they might need to consider?
[25:13] I mean, we've talked budget before.
[25:15] You've just given a good example, too, that you went for the aspirational dream of the big home on the property.
[25:21] maybe didn't think it through and now you're like like all we're doing is working the property plus like it's kind of working you now yeah so it sounds like too that sometimes everything we think we want isn't what we want and i think that's important sometimes to really think through these decisions but what words of wisdom would you give on at home listening to this about your finances and about your your journey together
[25:44] Because it was a big call to merge finances.
[25:47] Yeah.
[25:50] Yeah.
[25:54] Yeah, I think, like, I didn't rush in to, like, merging accounts and all that kind of stuff, like, on to make sure that Stacey was comfortable.
[26:09] Yeah.
[26:12] So you kind of need to...
[26:15] Yeah, kind of need to have that, what do you call it, patience.
[26:22] Yeah.
[26:24] Just so then, you know, and then once he's comfortable... Mm-hmm.
[26:30] um yeah go from there how do you go with the kids both at home and obviously locally as well how do you go with the kids now on budgets like like i know you talked about the photo and all that sort of stuff but was there a kickoff initially when you started saying no to stuff no i always said no yeah like no you don't need it you'll be right yeah okay but you're still doing takeaway you still are you planning any holidays coming up at all
[26:59] we'd love to do a holiday we haven't actually done a family holiday yet right so that's definitely on the to-do list yeah um yeah that would be amazing to be able to take the kids and do something as a family yeah give me some friendly advice book a holiday i've heard that one before yeah or else or else yeah what would it be like if you didn't have infinity tomorrow
[27:26] Yeah, I think I'd probably be completely lost.
[27:29] I'd be in a very different situation.
[27:30] Okay.
[27:31] So I want you to book a holiday.
[27:33] Okay.
[27:33] Even if it's a weekend away.
[27:35] It doesn't have to be overseas or a couple of gold coasts for the week and the theme parks.
[27:39] Yeah.
[27:40] It's really, I had this discussion with someone a couple of days ago.
[27:43] It's really important.
[27:45] when you're working so hard at something to celebrate the wins.
[27:49] So when Beck and I first started this ourselves, when I was in debt and she took me at my worst of my divorce, it was like, right, what are we going to achieve every month?
[27:57] And then we allocated a percentage of that to a little celebration.
[28:01] So it might be, okay, we're going to do $1,000 this month, making up a number, but we're going to spend $100 on a dinner.
[28:08] It can be any economy of scale.
[28:10] But each month you just want to have a little reward.
[28:12] We used to have a monthly thing, we used to have a quarterly thing.
[28:16] And twice a year we would travel.
[28:17] Yeah.
[28:18] So it's like every little month there's a little reward.
[28:20] You don't have to do it monthly, but it's nice to then go, right, we do something cool every month because we just live normal life and we're practical and went without maybe.
[28:28] Yeah.
[28:29] Like splashing it out for three or four weeks.
[28:31] Something nice once a month.
[28:33] And then even for yourselves, once a quarter maybe or with the kids, be nice to get a date night in, get a babysitter.
[28:41] The kids can have the takeout with the babysitter, play fortnight.
[28:44] Go have a meal together somewhere.
[28:45] Go do something together.
[28:46] Yeah, like get that time, especially you're working the property, you're working jobs, looking after the kids.
[28:52] It's really special to make sure you enjoy the fruits of your labour.
[28:57] Yeah.
[28:57] But book a nice holiday.
[29:00] Okay.
[29:00] Whether it's an apartment up here for whatever, I mean try to avoid peak periods, it's wildly expensive.
[29:06] You know, off the back of the peak period, when everyone leaves for Chrissy New Year's and it settles down, it's still school holidays, get a unit for a week.
[29:14] Yeah.
[29:14] Go to an Airbnb, you can still cook your meals or you can go down to the restaurant, go and do the theme parks, do the whole... Do some fun shit together.
[29:21] Yeah.
[29:22] That's a good idea.
[29:22] Because that will also, by the way, instill into the kids why you're doing what you're doing.
[29:29] Yeah.
[29:30] Because if kids don't have a reward mechanism, they don't see why they should continue to do it and eventually they default.
[29:37] Yeah, okay.
[29:39] As do adults eventually.
[29:41] Now you get to see the statements and the bank balance.
[29:43] You get to buy another property.
[29:45] You get to see adult rewards.
[29:48] They don't get to understand that or comprehend that fully yet.
[29:52] Yeah.
[29:53] So you just want to make, because they won't do what you say, typically.
[29:55] They do what you do.
[29:56] They'll watch what you do and decide whether they want to copy it or not.
[29:59] Yeah.
[30:00] Right?
[30:00] So you just got to make it a little bit fun.
[30:02] Yeah.
[30:03] Like you've done with Friday night takeaway, if you can get a monthly, like, maybe it's out somewhere for dinner, something that they like that's cool.
[30:11] Yeah, maybe it's a quarterly little weekend away or camping or whatever it may be.
[30:15] Make sure there's a little bit of fun in there so that they don't think that they don't... You know when kids go up and they go, oh, money doesn't grow on trees.
[30:22] Money's the root of all evil.
[30:24] Easy come.
[30:24] That's, you know, I grew up.
[30:25] Yeah.
[30:26] So you think money's bad, whereas budgeting's not bad.
[30:29] It's just planning where your cash flow goes.
[30:30] Yeah.
[30:31] So you want to get to a position where the kids understand that it's good, it's positive,
[30:36] And you'll find as they get older and start, they'll start to copy your money habits.
[30:41] Yeah.
[30:42] Does that make sense?
[30:42] Yeah.
[30:43] Yeah, it does.
[30:43] Yeah.
[30:43] So now you're going to have to message me and say, hey, we've booked a holiday.
[30:46] Okay, good.
[30:47] Definitely.
[30:53] So how many did you tell Paul?
[30:54] What did you say you wanted?
[30:55] Yeah.
[30:56] Oh, I made a joke.
[30:57] So we bought our last investment property at REM on my birthday weekend.
[31:02] Yes.
[31:03] And I was like, oh, I'm 35 now.
[31:05] Now you just got to get us a total of five in the next five years and we'll be happy.
[31:09] Okay.
[31:10] So one a year for the next five years.
[31:12] Yeah.
[31:12] Okay.
[31:13] We can work to that.
[31:14] Yeah.
[31:15] Okay, so what we maybe want to do post this episode is get you back for another episode to see where we went on holidays.
[31:24] Also, I'm not going to let it go.
[31:28] Also, to adjust your plan now that you settled into the new home, semi-settled because it's a bit big and there's a lot of work going on, you semi-settled in the new home, we might want to look at what it looks like to either A,
[31:42] If it is too much and you're realising that already, you might want to downsize it sooner rather than later.
[31:47] Yeah.
[31:48] If I hear that, like, even next time we catch up, you're like, I'm still mowing, I'm still slashing, I'm still, you know, and that's taking away from that family time and that's not your hobby or your passion.
[31:59] You might then decide, okay, we paid this and we paid stamp.
[32:01] Well, if we sold it and we got X, maybe you do go and get something that's a little bit more thought through and downsize and not have to work the land.
[32:09] But if you did do that, guess what, that will open up.
[32:13] More borrowing capacity.
[32:14] More investment capacity, more borrowing capacity.
[32:17] So you might see that couple of hundred grand you're talking about half, drop to nothing.
[32:23] Yeah.
[32:23] And open up more capacity.
[32:25] So there's one of five.
[32:26] Bingo, we've got four left.
[32:28] Yeah.
[32:29] So that sounds weird because you've only just got the new home.
[32:33] Yeah, I think we've, Paul said we should wait until our Gold Coast investment settles before we look at selling it.
[32:41] So yeah, we're just kind of waiting.
[32:45] I'll have a look at it.
[32:46] Yeah.
[32:47] I'll see if I can ruffle some stuff around.
[32:50] That would be amazing.
[32:51] Have a chat to Paul.
[32:52] Because you never know, there might be a, depending on the timeline of different dates.
[32:57] Yeah.
[32:57] There could be a couple of different options.
[32:58] We might get a bit creative.
[33:00] Yeah, happy to downsize.
[33:02] We don't need an acre backyard.
[33:05] No.
[33:06] What was the thought process when you were buying it?
[33:08] I was going to homestead.
[33:11] I was going to have a veggie patch.
[33:12] I got my orchard.
[33:13] I got some chickens.
[33:15] Rescue animals.
[33:16] I was going to rescue animals.
[33:19] Get more dogs.
[33:20] None of that's happened?
[33:21] None of that's happened.
[33:22] It could still happen.
[33:23] It could still.
[33:24] I think, yeah.
[33:25] If you've got the time.
[33:26] We've had to put so much work into getting it just to where it is now.
[33:30] Yeah.
[33:31] So it's just, it's been a big effort.
[33:33] Okay.
[33:34] You guys coming to the Christmas party?
[33:36] We are.
[33:36] Oh, sick.
[33:38] He wasn't until you yelled at him.
[33:40] Yeah, because he doesn't want to fly, right?
[33:42] Oh, yeah.
[33:43] Just close your eyes.
[33:46] I'm medicated now.
[33:47] Yeah, yeah.
[33:47] Yeah, just pop up.
[33:49] You go to the doctor, pop a pill, close your eyes, pretend you're having a nap.
[33:53] Yeah, that's it.
[33:53] Just a bumpy bus ride.
[33:56] I'll just keep flying you in all the time.
[33:58] Just get your practice up.
[33:59] You'll be fine.
[33:59] Yeah, that's it.
[34:02] You got your outfits yet?
[34:03] Not yet.
[34:04] No.
[34:05] Well, because we're doing 60 strong, we're like, oh, if we buy something and then it doesn't fit us.
[34:09] See, I'm just training, so what are we going to get in my, I don't know, but it's not going to fit, so I'll just wait.
[34:14] And then we'll get to the death, I'll be like, fuck, I don't know what to get.
[34:17] Got to get something.
[34:18] Yeah.
[34:19] Good.
[34:20] And I have to get into Kmart with us all, if he's here, when he's coming in.
[34:24] Friday night.
[34:25] Yeah.
[34:26] Oh, okay.
[34:26] Just miss it all.
[34:27] Yeah.
[34:27] Okay.
[34:27] Very good.
[34:29] Who's looking after the kids?
[34:29] Yeah.
[34:31] My mum will be looking after the house.
[34:33] She's on house duty this weekend.
[34:35] Good.
[34:35] Yep.
[34:35] Very good.
[34:36] Very good.
[34:37] Yeah.
[34:39] Tell me, what questions do you have for me while we're catching up today?
[34:43] We have three questions.
[34:44] Yeah.
[34:46] Did you want to ask yours first?
[34:47] Yeah.
[34:50] So I kind of wrote it down and then I was thinking about it and I thought,
[34:57] Your favourite real estate investment that you've bought, you didn't really want it but you wanted to buy it just to say that I've bought it.
[35:10] Have you got one?
[35:11] No.
[35:13] No?
[35:13] No.
[35:17] Yeah, no.
[35:20] I've never been, like for example, say can you go back a couple of rems and that, you know, we bought the big house at Broadbeach Waters, nearly nine million bucks.
[35:27] Next door had a divorce and sold.
[35:29] We bought that for 7.2.
[35:31] Ours was 8.7.
[35:31] You know, big dollars, right?
[35:33] Yep.
[35:34] And then we were going to reno and join them together.
[35:37] And I thought that was going to be the favourite.
[35:39] And it was home, not invest.
[35:40] But then the costings and the draw of actually putting them together, it was going to be a knock them down and start again.
[35:48] Yeah.
[35:49] wild yeah so we've then just gone well that's silly and then we bought at mondrian which we moved into which is great because i'm in a branded residence i've got a i can have room service so in the morning i go yep two poached eggs slice of sourdough and a coffee please on the qr code and within 30 minutes it's upstairs and i'm on the balcony looking at burley beach
[36:08] Perfect.
[36:09] Got home late the other night and left my dinner here because I thought I'd eat here and got in the cupboard.
[36:12] Oh, fuck, dinner.
[36:13] We have our meal plans.
[36:15] I went, shit.
[36:16] Steak, green beans, happy days.
[36:19] 30 minutes up to the room.
[36:21] Coolest thing ever.
[36:22] Yeah.
[36:23] I'm sure it gets old, but it probably won't.
[36:26] But if we look at those three properties, there's about $32 million of assets there.
[36:32] We were kind of living in between, living in one, renovate.
[36:35] And so we just made the decision, we know that's just, that's stupid.
[36:39] Yeah.
[36:40] So we've just bought a new forever home.
[36:42] Yep.
[36:43] That'll be the one I'm most proud of.
[36:45] Yep.
[36:46] Because it's sort of replacing three.
[36:48] Yeah.
[36:49] Sold the one, we bought the one next door, sold it straight away, flicked it because we decided we're not going to put them together now.
[36:54] Yeah.
[36:54] Then I've got to decide what I do with the home we were living in, with the rooftop and basement and that.
[36:59] And then I've got to decide what I do with the beachfront, you know, half floor Mondrian.
[37:03] So, I mean, I can keep them.
[37:05] I can keep it as a weekender.
[37:06] I could rent it out.
[37:08] I don't know yet.
[37:10] So I think the new home will be the proudest one.
[37:13] But investment wise, like you hear there.
[37:15] And then we've got, I've got Main Beach, settle the penthouse next to Kerry next year.
[37:20] I've got so much on the go that at any given year, you know, I'll probably sell five a year.
[37:25] And that's where my income really comes from.
[37:27] Yeah.
[37:28] So, a lot of...
[37:30] I'm never really attached to any of them or have a favourite.
[37:33] Yeah.
[37:34] That's fair enough.
[37:36] Yeah.
[37:37] I think the new home will be the wow.
[37:40] Investment-wise, if anything, we've got...
[37:44] We've got one down at Greenmount, Coolangatta.
[37:48] That's just about to start construction.
[37:49] I think that will probably be one of the nicest developments in Australia.
[37:53] It's right up on the point on the border.
[37:55] Yeah.
[37:55] So every direction has ocean or river.
[37:58] Wow.
[37:59] It looks back at Tweed River, down the coast, up the coast, like the way it's situated out there at Greenmount on the hill.
[38:06] So that will be pretty special.
[38:07] That's gazoons of dollars.
[38:09] But nothing that's really, because as investments have done well for me, they've always been commercial.
[38:14] It's done well.
[38:15] It's made me some money.
[38:17] I've sold it and I've bought two more.
[38:19] And as they've done, I've sold it and I've bought two more.
[38:21] I mean, if I look at our home journey up here, we were at Hope Island.
[38:25] Then we were building at Benoa.
[38:27] Then we were living in some of the units in Surfacing Circle on Cavill as we bought them while we were building Benoa.
[38:33] You know, then we're brought, like, we've jumped around so much.
[38:36] Like, even back to me, she's, I'm never moving again.
[38:39] I think we've got to be 14, 15 times in 12 years, maybe 13 years we've moved.
[38:46] And just, like, from one to the next, to the next, to the next, I'm very all over the place.
[38:50] So, but I'm ready to sort of settle now and be stable in a new home.
[38:53] Yeah.
[38:54] Yeah, I don't really have a favourite.
[38:57] Although I've just finished one at Melbourne.
[39:01] And Melbourne Cup was on the other day, which I don't usually watch.
[39:04] And it's right at the end of the straight.
[39:06] And it's the shape of a shoe horse.
[39:08] Oh, really?
[39:08] Yep.
[39:09] And it's like it's in the grounds of Flemington.
[39:13] Wow.
[39:13] And the old hospital or jockey club next brand new beautiful project.
[39:16] And it's the shape of a horseshoe and then it cascades down.
[39:20] So we've got like a sub penthouse in there that looks out over the city and the straight of the racetrack.
[39:24] Yeah.
[39:25] And that's just finished.
[39:26] I'm just looking at my photos and this and that and I'm like, fuck, that looked pretty nice on telly the other day.
[39:31] Yeah.
[39:31] That's the thing.
[39:31] You go, oh, that looks nice.
[39:33] But it's just another.
[39:35] Yeah.
[39:35] You know, if I was a 7-Eleven and I was selling water, to me, it's just another piece of stock.
[39:41] It's just another part of my financial business, my investment business.
[39:45] Okay.
[39:46] So yeah, it's a tricky one.
[39:47] There's nothing really...
[39:49] I have an emotional attachment to our Dunbogan property.
[39:54] That's the holiday home.
[39:55] I say holiday home, but we bought that and renoed it, and that's to be with Bec's family, because we've lost my nan, pop, her nan, her pop, all her aunties and cousins, they're all still down in that area near Port Macquarie.
[40:08] That renovation finished this week.
[40:10] Yeah.
[40:11] So I've just seen the photos and the videos and the furniture.
[40:15] So I'm going to go down there after REM and start, you know, we'll start being down there with family.
[40:19] And that's been going on since July last year.
[40:22] Yeah.
[40:22] That's one I have a pretty solid emotional attachment to.
[40:26] But it's like a holiday home, second home that we could finally afford to do.
[40:30] But, yeah, there's no real...
[40:34] It's nothing that really, yeah, oh, that's my best investment.
[40:38] It's not like a car then.
[40:41] No, even with cars, I've got so many of them now.
[40:43] Yeah.
[40:44] So, like, I'm up to about 10 of my babies now, 9 or 10.
[40:49] And there's no favour... Like, funny, like, I've got two Range Rovers that I drive.
[40:54] I've got a beautiful, near-brand-new matte black Range Rover when they brought out that new matte black one.
[40:59] Yep.
[41:00] But then I went in, because we're between here and Port Macquarie, if we fly in there, we need a car...
[41:04] I went and bought an older Range Rover SVR.
[41:07] It has the carbon bonnet and the old loud exhaust and all of that.
[41:10] And it's a bit older.
[41:12] Yeah.
[41:12] But I'm driving that today.
[41:13] I love it.
[41:13] It's the old car that's meant to be in Port Macquarie when the Renault's finished.
[41:16] So I don't...
[41:19] Some people get one thing and they're attached to it forever.
[41:22] I work pretty much all the time, but that gives me the ability and invest all the time to chop and change and do so many cool things that most people couldn't imagine because I work so hard.
[41:33] I don't really get enough time to enjoy them properly, but I get to do them and experience them.
[41:37] And when I experience them, I absolutely love them.
[41:39] So there's nothing...
[41:41] nothing that jumps out at me okay yeah even cars now i keep chasing the next thing in chase i need to just set it i need to relax yeah good question but my hobby yeah well cars are my hobby yeah so whenever i have time off and beck we'll get one of the cars and we'll go for a drive day and go down the coast or up the coast or stay somewhere for the night or something we love getting you know getting a nice car and going for a drive yeah cool good question what else
[42:09] So my question is sort of about my past history.
[42:14] Yeah.
[42:15] I messaged you while I was talking to you at REM.
[42:20] So you were asking us about our why.
[42:22] And like 10 years ago, I was in a relationship where I experienced domestic violence and
[42:34] um we were living in a caravan park at that time um and i had like my newborn son trying to make everything work um we i left that relationship when my son was eight months old um and came back and we stayed with my aunt and uncle who were really supportive they encouraged me to go to uni and
[42:59] make something of myself.
[43:00] So that's where I went and studied and saved up and bought my first house by myself as a single parent once I finished university.
[43:09] Well done.
[43:11] I guess my question was sort of looking back at where I've come from, I know not everybody's at the stage where they can work with infinity.
[43:22] But for those single parents who have gone through domestic violence and are trying to create a life for their family where they can put a roof over their kids' heads and keep food on the table, what advice would you have for them?
[43:40] for them to get ahead and get to a point where they can create that life yeah it's a really tricky one because one they'd have to be as motivated passionate and driven as you were yeah right and two to make it financially feasible they need a support network yeah i.e.
[43:59] an aunt and uncle just like you had or parents or grandparents or friends and
[44:04] Because if you have to, as a single parent, pay rent, run a household, support children and yourself, then you've probably got to have a job.
[44:14] Yeah.
[44:15] That means it's very near impossible to have time to study and raise those children.
[44:19] So when people, and I was raised by a single mother in similar circumstances, so I know exactly what it's like.
[44:26] So it's very, very difficult unless they have some support to be able to balance that because there's childcare costs and all those sorts of things.
[44:36] One, they've got to be driven, determined, passionate and prepared to go and do the things you're like, right, I'm going to go train, I'm going to learn, I'm going to this.
[44:42] But to do that, they've got to be able to have the time to either just work and build a career
[44:47] or work and study yeah and they need some support with the kids yeah um outside of that if they don't have any of those things then they've got to look to obviously get accommodation once they get accommodation rental crisis housing etc then it's getting back into the workforce and getting their confidence back as a father or mother as well um and from there it's building a career that's going to be first and foremost to pay the bills and all those sorts of things
[45:13] There are some really cool grants available.
[45:16] So there's the 5% first home deposit guarantee now, et cetera, with no mortgage insurance.
[45:21] There's also a 2% single parent grant.
[45:24] Yeah.
[45:25] Now, again, get yourself set up, stable, stabilised, secure, safe, confidence back.
[45:31] Very hard to save anything, let alone 2%.
[45:35] To be able to buy a home with only 2% deposit, a lot of people, if they knew that and were aware of that information, a lot of people would go and do anything they had to do to make that happen.
[45:47] Yeah.
[45:48] But then it is harder as a single.
[45:51] There's no lie on one income with one or two children.
[45:54] Your borrowing capacity is much lower.
[45:56] Yeah.
[45:56] Which means they have to be prepared to most likely relocate.
[46:01] to an area where there's affordable housing.
[46:04] So it's, for example, it'd be unrealistic for a single mother with two children to be out on her own in Sydney CBD on 60 to $80,000 a year and everything they could buy a home even if they had some savings or a divorce settlement.
[46:20] Because the income isn't high enough after you take tax out, after you pay for the children, rent, living expenses, or they just don't have the serviceability.
[46:28] and that's why we're seeing so many people driven away from the big cities now in the fringe areas yeah and that's not a bad thing to raise kids to be in a different area you know quieter area but there's a lot of things that people aren't prepared to sacrifice yeah and you've point blank they've got to make some they've already made some sacrifice but they have to be prepared to make those sacrifices but the two percent single parent guarantee grant is amazing yeah but
[46:55] They're going to need to bunk in.
[46:56] And ideally to do that, it would be ideal to be in with mum and dad, nan and pop, aunt and uncle, friends.
[47:02] Hey, can we be here for a year, six months, whatever.
[47:05] We'll contribute a bit.
[47:07] Some help with childcare.
[47:09] Go and get a taxable income.
[47:10] Generate an income.
[47:11] Pull together that 2%.
[47:13] Happy days.
[47:14] Yeah.
[47:15] Even if friends or family lend them the 2% or gave them the 2%.
[47:19] But look, there's no, I'm not going to make any bullshit statements about it's bloody tough.
[47:25] It's fucking hard.
[47:27] It's a lot of effort.
[47:28] It's hard.
[47:29] And that's why there's that fear when people come together to if you do get in that position like you were fortunate enough to.
[47:35] it's bloody hard.
[47:36] It's scary to merge finances.
[47:37] So it's a bit of a difficult one, to be honest.
[47:41] I think, yeah, I know more needs to be done in relation to how things actually tick along financially when people do separate and kids and child supports and all these things.
[47:52] because it just doesn't work the way it is at the moment.
[47:55] Someone takes on that love and, you know, raises the kids forever in a day and the other parent doesn't see them at all but throws a few bucks if they even bother to at all, it's just so bloody expensive.
[48:06] Yeah, 100%.
[48:09] But again, first step would be budgeting.
[48:11] Yeah.
[48:11] They would have to be so frugal with their single parent pension or their work income or the combination of the two and they would just have to be meticulous and driven
[48:21] Because they may very well could get themselves into a little unit with 2%.
[48:25] Yeah, at least it's a stepping stone.
[48:27] So then they could let that build up in the capital.
[48:32] Yeah, I've met a few single parents that have come through and done the events.
[48:36] And I've looked at stuff and gone, yep, hey guys, with that 2%, you could get a little unit like this in Parramatta or Blacktown.
[48:44] I'm like, no, I'm not going to live there.
[48:46] I'm like, well, what choice do you have?
[48:48] You can't even afford Wollongong or the Central Coast.
[48:51] Yeah.
[48:51] Family networks in Sydney.
[48:54] What do you expect?
[48:55] Oh, it's not fair.
[48:57] I'm not saying it's fair.
[48:58] Like, life isn't fair, right?
[49:00] Yeah.
[49:00] That's what you can do right now to put a roof over your family's head.
[49:04] Home is what's inside the walls, not the suburb name or the unit or house or whatever.
[49:09] Some people are completely unrealistic.
[49:11] Yeah.
[49:12] And that can be a problem.
[49:13] So I'd tell them be frugal, budget, be realistic.
[49:17] And the big one, I would say ask for help.
[49:19] A lot of people are too proud.
[49:20] You were blessed and fortunate.
[49:22] You had really, really strong family ties to help you.
[49:24] Yeah.
[49:25] And I think a lot of people don't realize that people do have that.
[49:28] They just don't want to ask.
[49:30] Yeah, well, I didn't realise I had that support from my family until it got to the point where I was like, I need to leave, like, can you help me?
[49:38] And then they pulled together heaven and earth, like my dad and everyone just came together and that support that they gave me to get us out of there was absolutely phenomenal.
[49:49] Yeah, I think there's so many beautiful people in the world we don't realise.
[49:54] A lot of people are scared to ask for help, scared to leave.
[49:57] Yeah.
[49:58] They don't know.
[49:58] We do heaps with DV safe phones.
[50:00] Yeah.
[50:00] All the company phones we donate and they pay credit.
[50:02] Yeah.
[50:02] Because one of the things is when, you know, coercive control and these things, they can't call.
[50:07] It's like if they can get away and they do make that decision finally, which is scary.
[50:11] Yeah.
[50:12] Who do they call for help?
[50:13] How do they call for help?
[50:14] How do they keep communicating with family so they know they're okay?
[50:16] So I think ask for help is probably the first big step if you're in that situation.
[50:21] And then, yeah, once you ask for help, you'll be surprised.
[50:25] So many people care and will help, you know.
[50:28] Yeah, I think it's eye-opening as well because I know being in that situation, you kind of get it drummed into you that you couldn't do better off outside.
[50:40] Yeah.
[50:41] Like you can't leave because you'll never...
[50:44] Anyone telling you any of that shit is fucked up and miserable themselves.
[50:48] Absolutely.
[50:49] That's that coercive control bullshit manipulation.
[50:52] Yeah.
[50:53] But yeah, just the fact like after leaving what we've been able to build, like just getting a house by myself but now having a multi-million dollar property portfolio is fucking wild.
[51:07] You're a living, breathing example of what can happen if you just don't give up.
[51:12] Yeah.
[51:12] And you can't beat someone who doesn't quit.
[51:14] Nah.
[51:16] We're either too dumb, too stubborn, or just nothing bothers us.
[51:20] I don't know, but we just keep going.
[51:23] You tell me I can't do it?
[51:24] I'm going to take photos along the way.
[51:28] What else, guys?
[51:28] Anything else?
[51:30] The last question...
[51:35] was with the special review of Jeremy.
[51:39] So do you have any big plans for our strategy in the future and can you get us to 21 properties?
[51:48] Can I get you to 21 properties on no – oh, sorry, on no, on one income and part income?
[51:57] Yeah.
[51:59] So, because you're getting a, like, defense pension at the moment, right?
[52:03] So, just have to have a look.
[52:04] So, lenders can be funny about certain income streams.
[52:07] Yeah, okay.
[52:08] Equity-wise, you've got phenomenal equity.
[52:10] Income-wise, to get to 21, no.
[52:12] Okay.
[52:14] You would have to increase your income significantly.
[52:17] Yeah.
[52:17] Okay, because let's just make up a set of numbers.
[52:21] A million dollars of property, 21 properties, 21 million dollars of debt.
[52:25] Less deposits.
[52:27] So, you borrow, you know...
[52:28] let's say it's for, I don't know, $16, $17 million.
[52:33] To service $16, $17 million, first you get all the rent and the benefit, but then you've also got to have the taxable income as well.
[52:40] So you need a really strong income to get that high.
[52:43] For example, Dr. Choi, if you met Steve and Sue Ann, I think we got them up to about 16.
[52:49] He was cruising and he was working four days a week, not five.
[52:54] He wanted to buy more and we can't get any more from the bank.
[52:56] Yeah.
[52:57] So what we had to do is he went back to working five days a week for more income, which is normal work, but they do long hours.
[53:03] Yeah.
[53:04] And they were good incomes.
[53:05] And then we also sold some properties to unlock.
[53:08] Because if you use equity, you go up to like 80%.
[53:11] But if you sell, you get 100%.
[53:13] So that extra 20% being unlocked in a few properties actually brought in a heap more cash to deploy, which means he had to borrow less.
[53:21] Yeah.
[53:21] So 21%, probably no, not so realistic.
[53:23] Yeah.
[53:26] Being honest, but 10.
[53:29] Yeah.
[53:29] Probably.
[53:30] 10 would be good.
[53:31] Yeah, 8, 10, probably.
[53:33] I'll just go enough, what's better than 1?
[53:35] 21?
[53:35] Yeah, we start at 10.5 and we get to 21.
[53:39] So yeah, look, I mean, you're at a couple now already.
[53:45] We get to 4, 5, 12.
[53:48] we can start to stretch the strategy out so it's definitely lots more potential for you guys what we do when we review the strategy is look at what happens if you downsize the home only because i'm hearing that move we've made maybe isn't the ultimate happiness move it sounds like it's a lot of hard work and ideally i think when you get home from work you just want to relax and have family time yeah and it sounds like it's just more work yeah we're just time away from family and away from relaxing so whilst
[54:14] you're really financially happy and stable and lost all this weight because you're not stressed and you're going to work because you choose to because you want to now the missing link now is that castle of being just coming in home and going right family time super happy no chores no i mean chores but not slashing not fixing this not you know all that sort of stuff not having to feed all the animal rescue animals all that so
[54:39] So I think there's just a little disconnect in what you wanted to do, what you thought it would look like, like the vision versus the actual.
[54:46] Yeah.
[54:46] I think if we start there, I'll be able to reverse engineer from there for you what the ideal structure would be.
[54:53] Yeah, cool.
[54:53] And that might be downsizing the home and adding two new investments.
[54:57] That'd be great.
[54:57] And that could probably be done right now.
[55:01] so you could go from the home the big home the couple two investments at the moment the big home two investments big homes annoying you a bit smaller nicer simpler home yeah to four investments
[55:15] I wouldn't be complaining.
[55:17] Oh, I wouldn't be complaining with that.
[55:18] So I think that's probably step one is to probably maybe reposition the home and add to the portfolio.
[55:26] And I think that's probably a bloody great outcome.
[55:29] Yeah, definitely.
[55:31] I think, yeah.
[55:32] It was better than two.
[55:33] It definitely is.
[55:35] Yeah.
[55:36] You get little giggles.
[55:36] You're like, oh, yeah, okay.
[55:38] I guess we've got some work to do.
[55:40] No, I think we just, yeah, we want to be able to do as much as we possibly can because we know everything that we can do, we're setting the kids up in the future and like property is only going to get more expensive.
[55:52] So, yeah.
[55:53] The more you can do now and the longer you have it for, the more time in the market you have to get a return.
[56:00] It's all time.
[56:01] Yeah.
[56:02] We just want to be the best we can be in every way.
[56:05] Yeah.
[56:05] Yeah.
[56:06] So well done guys.
[56:07] You should be really proud of yourselves.
[56:08] Thanks.
[56:09] Let's review this strategy.
[56:11] See you at the Chrissy party and we'll get you back for round two in six months or so.
[56:15] Cool.
[56:15] Yeah.
[56:15] No worries.
[56:16] Well done.
[56:17] Thank you.
[56:17] Thanks guys.
[56:18] Thank you.
[56:19] You're fucking gone.
[56:20] See ya.

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