# Doubt to Mortgage Free in 18 Months | Garth & Gemma | CHANGING LIVES | Season 4 Ep 37

An episode of [Money Mentor Podcast™](https://invisiblenetwork.ai/podcast/1632604767), 3 May 2026, 38 min.

Audio: https://episode.flightcast.com/hwpe2vrqxi4ucicjtdqgjnpt.mp3

On the Money Mentor Podcast, Garth shares how he and Gemma transformed their finances after joining Infinity. They entered the program skeptical but quickly embraced its structure, consolidating accounts, following a budget, and using targeted debt reduction and equity strategies. Gemma initially resisted using her savings to pay down their mortgage, but ultimately trusted the process; within about 18 months they’d paid off the home loan and began investing in property, later establishing an SMSF. The couple describe improved financial oversight, less relationship conflict, and newfound freedom to travel and plan future moves. Garth emphasises the supportive Infinity community and advises others not to fear the process: with guidance and commitment, significant progress is achievable, as their portfolio growth and lifestyle changes demonstrate.Change your financial future now! 👉 Start by watching the FREE webinar and see what's possible: https://bit.ly/43V2jKN

## Transcript

[0:00] There's been nothing to be scared about.
[0:03] Once you get in the process and the fears subside... ...and there's a lot of genuinely nice people... ...both in the community as clients and as a part of the team... ...that just want the best outcome.
[0:20] There's nothing...
[0:22] that anybody wants except for you to be successful.
[0:26] Money isn't rude of all evil, the fucking lack of it is.
[0:28] Not money, the lack of understanding money.
[0:31] When I put that into emphasis, when I realised that psychological effect and how it hit our family, I have to be in the fucking way.
[0:37] You are now watching the Money Mentor podcast with Graeme Hunt.
[0:41] Graeme Hunt.
[0:42] Graeme Hunt.
[0:42] Graeme Hunt.
[0:44] Welcome back to the Money Mentor Podcast, where we have our latest episode of Changing Lives Financially.
[0:49] Today, I'm gonna be talking to Garth, who is one half of Garth and Gemma.
[0:54] Garth, how are you doing?
[0:55] Great, thanks for having me.
[0:57] Yes, I'm good, I'm good.
[0:58] We met back in 2023.
[0:59] Yep.
[1:00] This is a special conversation because I was actually your finance strategist when you first met Infinity.
[1:05] So you've had an amazing journey, which is obviously what you're here to share.
[1:09] So tell me all about the beginning of your journey, where you were at before you met Infinity, what the home loan looked like, the money mindset, all of that.
[1:18] So Gemma and I had met a little bit later in life.
[1:23] So we were both in our 30s when we met.
[1:25] I'm getting closer to 50 now.
[1:28] So I had an investment-ish property at the time.
[1:36] Gemma had some savings but she didn't like the thought of property so much and she certainly didn't like...
[1:45] The thought of having property while I still had my other investment property going on.
[1:52] Also, we weren't very good at making decisions.
[1:59] We would take, I think we took about six years to buy the house that we, our primary place of residence after probably renting about three or four different places at the time.
[2:10] We just, nothing was ever good enough or quite right at the time.
[2:15] And that was just fear of commitment?
[2:18] Well, maybe.
[2:19] Yeah, just nothing was quite right.
[2:24] We had a certain list that we wanted to tick off and Gemma had a certain price that she wanted to get it for.
[2:33] They weren't quite aligned at the time, so it was just easy not to go through with it.
[2:37] Yeah.
[2:37] And then we, I think we ended up in the primary house.
[2:42] I think I ended up just putting an offer in on the house after we went to an open home without really even talking to Gemma about it.
[2:50] Oh, gosh, we're asking for forgiveness, not permission.
[2:53] It just got to that point where I was just like, oh, by the way, you know that house we bought?
[2:57] Yeah, we, no, not bought, you know that house we saw the other day?
[3:01] Yeah, yeah.
[3:02] They accepted our offer for it.
[3:04] Our offer.
[3:04] Our offer.
[3:06] Yes, yes, our offer.
[3:10] So, yeah, we certainly – we had a joint bank account but we didn't share finances.
[3:20] Yeah.
[3:21] We contribute to a joint bank account and then I had my money and Gemma had her savings and money and, yeah, we just –
[3:33] Never really thought about it.
[3:35] I lived pretty much week to week and Gemma lived year to year almost.
[3:40] She was a lot better saver than what I am.
[3:42] She was a great saver.
[3:44] She was a great saver.
[3:46] Yeah.
[3:47] She would save it at the expense of interest rates and things like that.
[3:52] um that was um oh yeah i i had a child from a previous relationship so um uh that was always something that part of the reason why we had separate accounts is so i always had some um maintenance activities and things like that to to take care of so it was just easy it seemed like it was cleaner yeah way
[4:17] It seemed like it was equitable that way.
[4:19] Yeah.
[4:20] But it probably put us a little bit behind to be honest.
[4:23] Yeah.
[4:24] Yeah.
[4:25] So then you've come and you've met Infinity.
[4:27] Yeah.
[4:28] How did you find us?
[4:28] So Gem was going through a process where she was trying to really improve herself.
[4:36] And so she attended a couple of Tony Robbins events.
[4:40] And after one of those events there was an online follow-up event.
[4:47] ...weekend thing and I remember her set up and spending all weekend in there.
[4:51] And during there, there was about a one-hour period... ...where there was some fella talking about finances.
[4:58] And Gem, she was quite open.
[5:01] She said, I don't know what he's going to say.
[5:05] I don't think I'm going to understand anything that he's going to say.
[5:07] Can you come and sit in on this?
[5:08] And I was just like, I don't really want to.
[5:11] Just what is he going to tell me that I don't already know?
[5:15] Yeah, because we're killing it right now.
[5:17] Yeah, just so reluctantly, very reluctantly I sat in.
[5:25] And then probably around 15, 20 minutes in I just went, oh, I get that.
[5:32] And so Graeme kept talking and kept talking and I was just like,
[5:38] I don't know what he's selling because I just assumed it was selling something.
[5:41] Yeah.
[5:42] I don't know what he's selling but just sign up to the next part.
[5:47] It all makes sense.
[5:49] What he was saying just made sense at the time.
[5:51] Yeah.
[5:52] And I could see.
[5:52] It clicked for you.
[5:54] And I could see it and it really clicked for me.
[5:56] I'm like we had spent.
[5:59] Ten years saving and really not getting anywhere.
[6:03] And we'd had the mortgage for maybe four years at that time.
[6:07] And we were making mortgage payments but you really couldn't see the end.
[6:12] Yeah.
[6:13] So it just really, really clicked.
[6:16] We didn't have a budget and like him saying you've got to have –
[6:20] Not nine buckets.
[6:23] Like we had the multiple accounts.
[6:26] Just one for putting money into the mortgage and one for paying bills out of them, one for spending off it.
[6:33] That's...
[6:35] Not rocket science, but it seemed like it was a lightbulb moment for us.
[6:39] You just needed someone to explain it.
[6:42] So, yeah, we signed on to the webinar.
[6:47] And from the webinar it all made more sense, I think.
[6:54] And then…
[6:56] Yeah, we pretty much signed up almost straight away.
[6:58] So we went from webinar, free webinar to masterclass.
[7:01] Masterclass, yes.
[7:01] Which is what you sold into first, yeah.
[7:03] Yeah.
[7:04] Yeah.
[7:04] Yeah, so we went from the, yeah, one-hour session to the weekend session.
[7:10] Sitting on the lounge and… Went from one hour to two days.
[7:13] Two days.
[7:15] And to be honest, at the end of the first day I think Jay was still going at like 11.30 at night or something like that.
[7:23] Yeah, because he just wants to keep giving to you guys and giving you the Q&A and yeah…
[7:27] Yeah, I think Jim's like, oh, I've got to go to bed at like 9.30, 10 o'clock, something like that.
[7:31] And I said, oh, I'm just going to watch a little bit longer.
[7:33] So, yeah, that was the weekend.
[7:37] And, yeah, we haven't looked back since.
[7:40] We were even still wondering at the time.
[7:43] Like we applied to become clients and we're like,
[7:48] are we going to get accepted?
[7:49] Like are we the type of clients that they want?
[7:51] But yeah, everything's been great since then.
[7:53] Yeah.
[7:54] And what were your expectations of what you thought may have come from like your first strategy session?
[7:58] Yeah.
[8:06] We didn't have a lot of expectations.
[8:08] We knew we had to clean up a lot of what we had going on because I had maybe three or four bank accounts or buckets.
[8:20] Gem had maybe eight, nine, ten buckets and that was a lot.
[8:26] And then we had the joint account.
[8:29] So we knew our expectations were that, you know,
[8:32] Certainly that side of things would clean up and we kind of knew that there would be some equity release somewhere.
[8:40] We really weren't sure how much equity we would have in our house.
[8:49] But then after that first strategy session and you were like...
[8:55] well, that money you've got sitting in that bank account there is going to pay off most of your mortgage.
[9:00] And we're like… I remember your face is dropping at first.
[9:04] And then I think you set a really stretched target of one year and 11 months to pay off.
[9:11] And I went, look, I don't think we can get there.
[9:16] You had another one of two years and four months.
[9:18] That's it.
[9:18] I think that's doable.
[9:19] Yeah.
[9:21] So we, yeah, we followed the rules and followed the system and… Yeah.
[9:28] Yeah, it was great.
[9:29] We had a bit of a process to follow because I remember Gemma had quite a bit of money in savings, she had over $200,000.
[9:36] And I remember the first meeting I said straight away, you're going to take a third of your mortgage off if you put all of that in there and let me recycle it back out into an equity release and we'll go buy property with it.
[9:47] And there was a bit of fear around that.
[9:48] There was a heap of fear.
[9:51] So the biggest fear there was not having a rainy day fund.
[9:57] Yep.
[9:58] And I always kind of said, you know, like rainy day fund is one thing, but that's a little bit bigger than a rainy day fund.
[10:08] That was a big rainy day fund.
[10:11] And then the other was it was in a term deposit.
[10:13] I'm like, ooh.
[10:13] Which wasn't as much as what your home loan was or more.
[10:16] It wasn't anywhere near what the interest rates...
[10:19] Your home loan was like, what, 6% and she was getting less than that?
[10:22] Two and a half.
[10:22] Yeah.
[10:23] Maybe two and a half.
[10:24] It was less than CPI.
[10:25] So I'm like, in real terms, it's going backwards.
[10:28] So mathematically it didn't make sense.
[10:30] Not to me.
[10:30] Yeah.
[10:32] So, yeah, look, and we would have debates, spirited debates...
[10:37] Around that.
[10:38] But most of the time I would just let sleeping dogs lie and just let it be.
[10:45] But after that, yeah, that made a massive difference too.
[10:48] Because she did it.
[10:49] She did it.
[10:50] She dived in and she did it.
[10:51] She trusted someone else.
[10:53] It just needed a G and a Rachel.
[10:57] And then, yeah, so, and then I had that investment property and that took a long time to try and settle.
[11:05] Yeah, because I wanted to sell that.
[11:07] Yeah.
[11:07] Yeah.
[11:08] And you called it investment-ish because you were doing the right thing.
[11:11] You were looking after your son and his mum.
[11:14] Yeah.
[11:14] And you had them living in it as part of your child support.
[11:17] Yeah.
[11:17] Yeah.
[11:17] That's right.
[11:17] Arrangements.
[11:18] And so I was very conscious of, you know, what that would look like after that had been sold.
[11:26] Yeah, because that paid the home loan off.
[11:29] Yes, down the track.
[11:30] Yes.
[11:31] We eventually got there.
[11:32] Yeah.
[11:34] And, yeah, everyone is happy.
[11:36] He's, as it is, he's 18 now.
[11:39] So it's that chapter is sort of finished and we've certainly got a lot better position than what we were.
[11:49] Yeah.
[11:49] Because I wanted to sell that.
[11:50] Obviously, that was going to pay the rest of the home loan off.
[11:52] But we took our time with it because you wanted to do the right thing, of course, by them.
[11:57] So you went down the right path of doing it, you know, through a legal agreement and having them involved, which was great.
[12:01] But eventually, like you said, we got there.
[12:03] But that didn't stop you from still setting up the budget, doing debt reduction.
[12:08] What did that process look like for you guys?
[12:09] Because then we were like, guys, all those accounts are going.
[12:12] You're joining forces now.
[12:15] The – so there was a lot of paperwork and signatures required and I did a lot of reading just going through fine print and after a while and you start to realise that all the fine print's the same and it just becomes a lot easier and the process becomes a lot more – you have a lot more trust in the process after a while.
[12:44] Yeah, there was a lot of reading and a lot of just trying to understand, you know, how much we were going to keep in... ...how much we were going to spend in Triple F. Yeah.
[12:56] Because we had a couple of goes at varying amounts.
[13:00] And then how much our salary and bills was going to be.
[13:07] And then also, you know, like how much we were going to sweep...
[13:11] each month and not every month.
[13:14] We didn't sweep the same every month.
[13:15] Some months were better than others because we'd have bigger bills.
[13:18] Yeah, which is to be expected, yeah.
[13:21] Yeah, but after about six months I think we – the routine was right and we got that routine right and we knew what to expect and we knew, all right, yeah, we've had a good month or we've had a few extra bills and what we –
[13:40] ...had planned for it hasn't been such a good month.
[13:42] But we were still seeing big amounts drop off.
[13:47] Yeah.
[13:50] Yeah, that first year we paid off more in that...
[13:53] Well, we probably paid off more in that first month than what we did in the first four years.
[13:58] Yeah.
[13:59] Which is crazy.
[14:01] Yeah.
[14:02] And you could have paid the home loan off really quickly, but because obviously we had to go through that arrangement, you still went through the process of doing it the debt reduction way.
[14:10] Yes.
[14:10] Yeah.
[14:11] Yeah.
[14:11] With the FFF and all that.
[14:13] The FFF and setting the budget, working to the budget and –
[14:19] Not so much, Jim.
[14:20] Myself, it took a couple of goes, a couple of weeks to not overspend and to get that FFF right.
[14:30] But every time we got it right and got comfortable with it, we'd challenge ourselves a little bit more and drop it a little bit more and then drop it a little bit more again.
[14:40] and it's only recently that we sort of bumped it back up to cover the extra fuel costs and things like that but the process was easy to do that way you just just ask Kat say yeah Kat we need to move this is this going to work yeah and she goes yeah yeah it's easy you got it you got it yeah fine yeah so and how valuable did you find that process of still having to do the debt reduction even though knowing you could have had the home loan paid off sooner um yeah
[15:11] The motivation, just seeing those amounts drop and that motivation that you get from seeing the amounts drop when you do a sweep and then that sort of sets you up for the next part where you're going through that debt reduction and you're seeing what comes off the mortgage each month
[15:42] well why can't we do this again why can't we do this again like what were we doing previously that yeah we this is too easy yeah it was way too easy at the time it shouldn't have been yeah kicking yourself you weren't doing it before yes yeah yeah and what else do we do as part of your strategy
[16:04] So I think we got into our first... Yeah, I think in February, so about three months after.
[16:14] Yeah, a couple of months later.
[16:15] A couple of months later we got into our first investment property.
[16:21] And that was at a Real Estate Mastery.
[16:23] Yes, yes, that was at a REM.
[16:25] Yeah, that's right.
[16:26] That was our first REM.
[16:27] I think we were lucky that, yeah, within a couple of months we got an invite.
[16:35] And we actually…we had a couple of…
[16:40] opportunities there.
[16:41] We certainly weren't the one but we weren't the SMSF one.
[16:47] We weren't quite ready to go.
[16:49] Because you could have done a lot more than one at the time.
[16:52] Yes.
[16:53] Yeah, but you decided just to do one at that real estate mastery.
[16:56] Yeah, we just dipping our toes in the water there.
[17:01] I think there was – I didn't trust my superannuation –
[17:08] part of it, but there was still a bit of trepidation around the SMSF part of things just at that time.
[17:18] So we just went with the one investment property at the time and I think that settled last year, mid-last year.
[17:28] Yeah.
[17:28] So yeah, that was good.
[17:32] That was really good.
[17:34] Yeah.
[17:34] And how have you found making that decision just to go a little bit slower on the investing side?
[17:39] Because we don't push, right?
[17:40] We're just going to give you the information, show you the education and then it's completely up to you.
[17:45] Yeah.
[17:47] It definitely built in a lot of comfort, especially in Gem, knowing that it wasn't rushing into something and we were going to feel overwhelmed with it.
[18:01] all of these properties and all these other commitments financially.
[18:07] And it really just gave us an opportunity to just see what the process looked like.
[18:14] And we were still going through that debt reduction process at the time.
[18:18] So obviously, you know, you still had some bills coming in and the additional sort of mortgage expenses that we had to consider, which slows down the debt reduction part a little bit.
[18:36] Um, but yeah, we would still try and push.
[18:39] Still doing well.
[18:40] Still doing well.
[18:40] And still trying to push for that sweep goals each, each month.
[18:44] So, um, I think once we got that and we saw what the process looked like, yeah, we haven't, haven't looked back since.
[18:53] Yeah.
[18:54] And did you appreciate that process that were allowed, you know, we kind of just followed along at your pace?
[18:58] Yeah.
[18:59] Yeah, yeah, it was great.
[19:00] There was no – at no point did we feel under pressure until we get to like deadlines and things have got to get settled.
[19:08] Of course, when we've got to sign paperwork.
[19:11] I'm the worst person to try and get hold of.
[19:13] Yeah.
[19:13] I'm like, guys, settlement's next week, sign your paperwork.
[19:17] Can you get this paperwork in?
[19:19] And Jeff's like, have you read through that yet?
[19:21] I'm like, no.
[19:22] I'm getting to it.
[19:24] And then you'd sign on after follow-up Gemma.
[19:27] So but that side of things is just being comfortable.
[19:33] Yeah.
[19:34] And but still being –
[19:39] um, still felt like we're still valuable parts of the community.
[19:44] And, um, you know, sort of just because we decided to go a little bit slower to start, it didn't mean that we were in any less contact or anything like that.
[19:55] We would just, um, we still had check-ins.
[19:58] You're of course, you said Kat.
[19:59] Yeah.
[20:00] Yeah.
[20:00] We still, I would still get slapped on the wrist for takeouts and things like that.
[20:05] And, um, yeah.
[20:06] Yeah, yeah, that's, that's side of it's been really grand.
[20:09] Yeah.
[20:09] Awesome.
[20:10] But you've still, you've since gone on to buy another property in your personal names recently.
[20:15] Yeah.
[20:15] Yeah.
[20:16] And also we've eventually opened the SMSF.
[20:19] Actually, I think there was maybe another two properties.
[20:22] Yeah.
[20:23] Yeah.
[20:23] Yeah.
[20:23] It was two properties.
[20:25] Yeah.
[20:26] Yes.
[20:26] That's right.
[20:26] Cause I remember, yeah, Lou was saying it was the one first, but then he was like, oh no, no, they've actually decided to do the two.
[20:33] Yes, yes, that's right.
[20:34] Yeah.
[20:35] One was, one was, one settles maybe in a couple of months or something like that.
[20:41] Yeah.
[20:42] So it was one Victoria, one Queensland.
[20:43] Yeah.
[20:44] And then, yeah, I think, yeah, we decided to do the, go to the SMSF and then we, yeah, we went and got two in the SMSF.
[20:57] Yeah.
[20:57] So you went from going very scared of SMSF to going two in the SMSF.
[21:01] Yeah, we went straight into two.
[21:02] And what changed your mind on the SMSF?
[21:06] Look, I...
[21:08] I really disliked how slowly the superannuation balance was growing.
[21:11] Because you always said like you're on good incomes but you knew super alone was not going to cut it.
[21:16] Yes.
[21:17] For retirement.
[21:18] Yeah.
[21:18] I was really sceptical about the projection was always you have a comfortable income but it's like that projection seemed to be based on what the costs of living would be now.
[21:34] Yeah.
[21:35] And I'm like, in 25 years when I retire...
[21:37] So different.
[21:38] ...that's not going to cut it.
[21:40] And so... ...and Gem had come from a very different way of thinking... ...and it was very... ...along the lines of... ...at the end of your working life... ...that's what you got.
[21:58] You work within it and you make it work.
[21:59] And I'm just like... That's our safety net.
[22:01] Yeah.
[22:02] I'm like...
[22:04] It's got to be a way of doing better because there was some years, multiple years that I felt like the superannuation had gone backwards.
[22:13] Yeah.
[22:15] So you're quite good at monitoring it?
[22:17] Probably.
[22:18] Or checking in with it?
[22:19] I would check in every time that I could remember what my password was to the…
[22:23] to get in online but it wasn't like I was checking in monthly or anything like that.
[22:30] Sometimes it would maybe be once a year or something like that.
[22:33] Because most people ignore their super.
[22:35] Yeah.
[22:36] Yeah.
[22:36] And I did probably for a long time too but obviously as you get older and you start to go, well, what's the next phase of life look like?
[22:47] And, yeah, I just went, this is not going to cut it.
[22:51] We're not going to end up where we want to be.
[22:53] We're going to be, yeah, it just felt like we were going to be living very sort of week to week.
[23:02] Yeah.
[23:03] And not having a lot of leisure.
[23:05] Freedom or choice.
[23:07] Yeah.
[23:07] Not choice.
[23:08] Yeah.
[23:08] Yeah.
[23:10] It just seemed like we wouldn't have a lot that we could choose to do.
[23:12] We would just do what we could afford.
[23:14] Just make sure bills were paid.
[23:15] Yeah.
[23:16] Yeah.
[23:16] So that was what made our decision to just go, all right, we've got to pivot and try something different.
[23:24] Yeah.
[23:25] Do you feel like you have more control and oversight of your super now?
[23:28] Certainly more oversight, yeah.
[23:31] We still...
[23:33] You know, you're still at the... ..you're still reliant on markets and things like that.
[23:39] Yeah.
[23:39] But certainly we can choose what gets invested in now.
[23:46] And I think MJ, you know, we've still got some amount there... ...that we can move and allow MJ to...
[23:58] Diversify the...
[23:58] Diversify for us as well.
[24:00] Yeah.
[24:01] And that would be, you know, at better rates than what we were still getting in our super funds anyway.
[24:09] So that's been really good for us too.
[24:11] Yeah, and how does Gemma feel about it?
[24:13] She's a lot more comfortable.
[24:14] Oh, good.
[24:15] So much more comfortable with it.
[24:16] Like she never really thought about it beforehand and she probably still doesn't think about it much now but she certainly takes a lot more ownership of it.
[24:27] And so I think that's good because now she can see what we have, what we will have at the end of it.
[24:36] Yeah.
[24:37] And it's very common for families, blended families to keep things separate, separate bank accounts.
[24:43] And then you go make your decision, Gemma's making her decisions and there's nothing really cohesive.
[24:48] Yeah.
[24:48] Right.
[24:48] So now that's been a big change.
[24:50] Do you think it's, do you think that's quite common for couples?
[24:53] And what would you say to them now that you're on the other side of it?
[24:59] I get held a lot more accountable than what I used to.
[25:02] Than probably what you like.
[25:07] And there's certainly reviews get done of what transactions.
[25:13] Well, that's what the relationship manager is there for.
[25:18] I feel like sometimes Jen might be employed by Kat to get a job.
[25:23] You think the two of them are against you?
[25:25] The two of them are against me.
[25:26] But we obviously going through that debt reduction process could see the big chunks getting taken out.
[25:35] And we didn't have that happening before.
[25:38] So that was the obvious that having that oversight and having that –
[25:47] those joint accounts and having everything go into one pool rather than having your pay, two pays get split maybe six or seven different ways or something like that.
[26:01] And you just see little bumps every now and then.
[26:04] But really for me, like it's, I'm not, don't feel like I'm living week to week anymore.
[26:14] So yeah, that's.
[26:16] Because that was something you felt before, right?
[26:18] Absolutely.
[26:18] Yeah.
[26:19] Good incomes, you know, but we felt like we'll paycheck to paycheck.
[26:23] Good incomes.
[26:24] I was trying to make sure I had the investment property paid for... ...and then also we had the joint account and then so...
[26:35] Between those two things, so the joint account paying, you know, the mortgage and the bills and things like that that were coming in, like I didn't feel like there was much left over at the end of the week.
[26:46] And Jen was so committed to saving and she would sort of feel the same sometimes too.
[26:57] She's like, what?
[26:58] Where's all our money going?
[26:59] Because she's got it screwed away.
[27:02] She's got her rainy day fund building and we had the joint, the stuff that we were sharing but it was really only just enough to go through and we couldn't see the big picture because it was just all these little things
[27:19] All over the place.
[27:20] Accounts all over the shop.
[27:21] And so just having that both combined in and both going into the same place and it's our money and it's, yeah, it's all being used to fund the common things.
[27:38] Yeah.
[27:38] Yeah.
[27:39] The common goals that we have now.
[27:40] The common goals.
[27:40] Yeah.
[27:41] What do you think Gemma would say to past Gemma that I'm in 2023 about when I'm telling her to take all her life savings and put it on the home loan?
[27:51] She's in a very different perspective now.
[27:53] She's in a much better, different mind space now.
[27:58] And it...
[28:01] She'd be a lot happier talking about it.
[28:04] Yeah.
[28:05] I think even in our first meeting she was a little bit reluctant to talk about.
[28:10] Yeah.
[28:11] There was a lot of reluctancy and pushback.
[28:13] You guys were never rude.
[28:14] You were great.
[28:15] But I just remember going, oh, gosh, they're making this job really hard.
[28:20] So, yeah, she'd be a lot more open.
[28:24] She'd certainly be a lot more open.
[28:27] And even the conversations that we have here.
[28:30] Occasionally there's still spirited debates around, again.
[28:35] Keeps the relationship interesting.
[28:37] Usually around individual transactions in the FFF account, but usually my spending, not.
[28:48] Anyone else's.
[28:51] But yeah, she and both of us would be a lot more easygoing... ...and less afraid to share with, you know, what our financial situation... ...looks like or it appears.
[29:07] Yeah, we can both see everything now.
[29:11] Do you think it's changed your relationship?
[29:13] Oh, for sure.
[29:14] We fight far less.
[29:16] Yeah.
[29:17] Still, we, so money would get brought up and I didn't like talking about money and I would get defensive and my defensive position would cause other defensive positions and, yeah, it'd just be like two rams butting heads.
[29:38] Yeah.
[29:39] Running at each other and, yeah, we have far less conflict now around that topic because you just know what's going on.
[29:53] If we...
[29:56] We haven't gone without through the process either.
[30:00] Like we've come up to maybe two REMS I think.
[30:08] And they're great weekends away.
[30:10] But we've gone for weekends away and down to Melbourne or to the Blue Mountains and haven't been scared to...
[30:22] Yeah, to ask, check, obviously check first, but just to say, hey, can we use a couple of thousand dollars and go through a bit of a break?
[30:30] Yeah.
[30:31] And we just know we're just on the same page.
[30:34] Yeah.
[30:35] There then, so.
[30:36] And it's more possible now too because you don't have that home loan looming over your head anymore.
[30:40] Yeah, that's, yes.
[30:43] Because what did that feel like when you paid it off?
[30:44] Yeah.
[30:47] I don't think maybe getting married might have put a smile on her face.
[30:52] So we haven't put a ring on the finger yet.
[30:54] No, we did.
[30:55] No, we were already engaged.
[30:58] I don't think you were engaged when we met.
[30:59] Yeah.
[31:00] Yes.
[31:01] It was a little bit after, wasn't it?
[31:02] Oh, did we?
[31:03] No, I think this is really bad.
[31:07] No, I think we had just got married.
[31:09] We were relatively newlyweds when we met.
[31:15] I thought you were only just engaged but we hadn't gone down the aisle.
[31:19] This is really bad, Garth.
[31:21] This is bad on both of us.
[31:24] This is why we needed Gemma.
[31:26] I think we'd been together for about 10 years before we got married.
[31:29] So probably happy at the wedding.
[31:30] But the smile on our face is that day where we finally transferred that money.
[31:36] I think it lasted a week.
[31:39] It was just...
[31:42] Freeing, liberating.
[31:43] It was a massive pat on the back sort of moment.
[31:49] And yeah, yeah, I think we danced in the kitchen maybe.
[31:56] I love that.
[32:01] I think I was doing 75 hard at the time.
[32:03] Yes, you were.
[32:04] I do remember this because I remember saying you've got to celebrate and she was saying you couldn't.
[32:09] Yes.
[32:09] Yes.
[32:11] So Gemma popped some wine and had a cocktail and I was like, yeah, a glass of water.
[32:17] Yes, thanks.
[32:20] But it was genuinely the...
[32:26] ...most unplanned surprise that we certainly didn't see three years before.
[32:34] Yeah.
[32:35] Two years?
[32:37] It was under two years.
[32:39] Yeah, a year and a half maybe?
[32:40] Yeah.
[32:40] Maybe 18 months I think in the end.
[32:42] So shorter than one year and 11 months, that's right.
[32:46] Yeah.
[32:47] So, yeah, we got ahead of the goal and we, yeah, we were just smiling and laughing and we couldn't believe that it was possible because legitimately we were still looking at 26 years.
[33:02] Yeah.
[33:03] That's what you came to me with.
[33:04] Yeah.
[33:05] Yeah.
[33:06] And, yeah, we – knowing us, we probably would have refinanced to do the bathrooms or where we haven't done a kitchen yet.
[33:17] But, yeah, like we would have refinanced and we would have extended it and we'd still had 30 years.
[33:20] Yeah, because we've still got some extra funds to be able to do that.
[33:23] I've left some money aside to be able to do that.
[33:25] Yep.
[33:25] Plus still keep investing.
[33:27] Yes.
[33:28] Yeah.
[33:28] Yeah, yeah, yeah.
[33:29] Yeah, we have.
[33:31] But it's not going to increase our debt.
[33:32] It's spare funds.
[33:33] It's somewhat spare.
[33:35] Yeah.
[33:36] Well, you know, I know you won't have it anymore if you spend it, but to make the home the way you want it.
[33:42] But then you're saying you don't know if that's right for you anymore.
[33:44] So what is next?
[33:47] Good question.
[33:49] And it's still a little bit of paralysis by analysis for us because we really don't know what's right.
[33:57] But I do know that mowing the lawn every weekend is probably not in the cards for that much longer.
[34:08] We've got four bedrooms and there's two of us.
[34:11] Yeah.
[34:11] It's...
[34:13] We just feel like part of the problem now.
[34:15] Yeah.
[34:16] And if we don't need the size, why are we in?
[34:18] Well, you want to go enjoy your spare cash flow now.
[34:21] Yeah.
[34:22] And we'd certainly like to upgrade the area that we're in.
[34:25] So it'll be next on the next strategy review.
[34:27] Yeah.
[34:28] Yeah.
[34:28] So we'd like to, yeah, something with a view, I suppose.
[34:32] Okay.
[34:32] All right.
[34:33] That's good for us to keep in mind.
[34:35] But how are you feeling about having a $6.7 million property portfolio?
[34:39] Fuck.
[34:42] Put it perfectly.
[34:43] We were surprised.
[34:48] I think… You didn't believe me at the beginning you could do it.
[34:51] Do you know…
[34:54] I thought it was a massive stretch goal.
[34:56] I genuinely thought...
[34:57] He looked at me like I was an idiot.
[34:58] She's like, this girl is crazy.
[35:03] I think...
[35:03] I remember our first meeting with Lou.
[35:05] Yeah.
[35:06] And Lou says, what's your goal?
[35:07] And I said... Just throwing it at me and said, I think I need $10 million before I retire.
[35:16] And he goes, let's just start with baby steps, shall we?
[35:19] But...
[35:22] Yeah, we genuinely did not think that we would be this far into the journey.
[35:30] Yeah.
[35:30] What we are at present.
[35:32] Like that's mind-blowing.
[35:35] We've – what is it?
[35:36] Nearly – is it three years?
[35:37] You're about to come up to three years, yeah.
[35:41] And yeah, we've gone from just feeling like we were just in debt... ...even though we probably weren't, we probably had equity that we didn't realise... ...or we didn't appreciate what it was worth.
[35:55] And then to be now, yeah, that's a massive number.
[36:00] Yeah, I'm so proud of you guys.
[36:01] You've come such a long way.
[36:03] What would you say to somebody who might be sitting on the fence about joining Infinity?
[36:06] Yeah.
[36:07] Do your homework.
[36:08] But there's been nothing to be scared about.
[36:12] Like once you get in the process and the fears subside and there's a lot of genuinely nice people both in the community as clients and as a part of the team that just want the best outcome.
[36:29] Like there's nothing...
[36:31] that anybody wants except for you to be successful.
[36:35] Yeah.
[36:36] And they don't pressure you.
[36:41] If you're not ready, you're not ready.
[36:43] But if you are ready, then you might contact them and people go, yeah, we can do that.
[36:49] It's so easy.
[36:50] It's so easy to talk to someone.
[36:52] It's so easy to get hold of someone.
[36:53] Yeah.
[36:53] Even yourself, like, you're like a superstar in infinity now.
[36:57] Oh, thank you.
[36:58] Every now and then if I text you, you just go, yeah.
[37:02] Text you right back.
[37:03] It may be a bit slower than it used to be, but you still do.
[37:05] Yeah.
[37:06] It's easy to...
[37:09] Yeah, it's easy to get hold of and it's always easy to get an answer.
[37:12] Yeah.
[37:12] Yeah.
[37:13] Well, thank you so much for coming on to share your story.
[37:15] I'm so proud of both of you.
[37:17] Please give my love to Gemma who can be here today.
[37:20] She'll see it.
[37:21] Yeah.
[37:22] Amazing.
[37:22] She's sad.
[37:23] She couldn't be up here.
[37:24] No, I'm so sad she couldn't be here.
[37:26] But such a privilege to talk to you.
[37:27] So thank you.
[37:28] It's all right.
[37:29] Thank you.
[37:30] You're fucking gone.
[37:31] See ya.

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