# Drowning in Debt to 8 Investment Properties | Stevo & Jaime - Part 3 | CHANGING LIVES | Season 4 Ep 48

An episode of [Money Mentor Podcast™](https://invisiblenetwork.ai/podcast/1632604767), 7 Jun 2026, 1 h 05 min.

Audio: https://episode.flightcast.com/m4slly0mpt52fnqlm4af6b5v.mp3

In this episode of The Money Mentor, we welcome back Stevo & Jaime who return to the podcast to share updates and insights about their astonishing and continuing growth with Infinity Group. Their financial journey started as a young couple, working hard at any jobs that came their way, Stevo was even Mayor of their rural town! To owning a motel in regional South Australia. Juggling raising three girls their life had become driven by work and they knew there must be more. They went looking for change - soldthe Motel in 2023 and that’s when Stevo found Infinity and their lives changed forever. They now own 8 investment properties, are living their best lives, and are excited to share with G their next plans. Stevo & Jaime's financial journey shows that with with clear goals, discipline and the right team behind you - anything is possible! Catch their early episodes here: Series 3 Ep 6 - https://youtu.be/8UYGY3kTkWI?si=et-ATGSadBYl95Cp Series 3 Ep 7 - https://youtu.be/zlGff4WU7XA?si=fw0_1OG3ArreA_ie Ready to change your financial future? 👉 Start by watching the FREE webinar and see what's possible: https://bit.ly/43V2jKN

## Transcript

[0:00] What we've learnt is that hard work's not enough.
[0:03] You can work as hard as you want if you're not disciplined, if you don't value it, if you don't have the plan, you don't have the structure and the advice around you.
[0:11] Hard work alone, I guess.
[0:13] You can't outrun a poor diet and you can't outwork a shit budget or not having a budget.
[0:19] It's true.
[0:20] Like if you'd asked us three years ago where would you be, we would...
[0:24] There's no way we would be in this position without the guidance and support.
[0:29] It's phenomenal.
[0:31] Money is the root of all evil.
[0:33] The fucking lack of it is.
[0:34] Not money.
[0:35] The lack of understanding money.
[0:37] When I put that into emphasis, when I realised our psychological effect and how it hit our family, I have to be in the fucking way.
[0:43] You are now watching the Money Man Talk podcast with Graham Holm.
[0:47] Graham Holm.
[0:49] For 12 years, Jamie and Steve-o poured everything into running a motel and restaurant in regional South Australia.
[0:55] I think we've always installed in our kids the value of hard work.
[1:00] They were stripping beds from like six, eight and ten-year-olds.
[1:04] Hard work, good income, and almost nothing to show for it long term.
[1:09] Complex business debt.
[1:11] No home of their own.
[1:13] One investment property they were earning well.
[1:16] and building nothing.
[1:18] My parents never owned a house and went bankrupt when I was 12.
[1:23] And I never wanted to put my family in that situation.
[1:27] Life was focused on our business.
[1:30] Until COVID came along, that was like starting over again.
[1:33] I was entirely burned out.
[1:35] My mind immediately went to, because I was burnt out, yeah, we're going to sell.
[1:39] So he's saying, we're selling, we're moving.
[1:44] Your life that I know will never be the same.
[1:49] When the contract of sale was signed, Steve went looking for answers.
[1:54] He found Graham's webinar, sat down to watch it on the night Jamie was out.
[1:58] I'm at home and I'm just watching it on my phone.
[2:01] Jamie comes home early.
[2:02] This bloke's good, you'll like him, just give him a chance.
[2:05] She was sceptical.
[2:07] He was hooked.
[2:08] It takes a lot for me to trust.
[2:09] Just stick with it because he's telling the absolute truth.
[2:13] By the time they first sat down on this podcast, they had built eight investment properties and were investing their savings in a fund generating a regular income stream.
[2:23] They stopped working entirely, spent 12 months travelling with their daughters and lived off the returns their investments were generating.
[2:34] The money worked.
[2:35] They didn't have to.
[2:37] Now they're back for part three.
[2:39] The journey keeps going.
[2:42] You've heard where they started.
[2:44] Here's where they are now.
[2:47] Welcome back to another episode of The Money Mentor on the Changing Lives Financially episodes.
[2:53] And this is actually a part three.
[2:54] If anyone would like to go back to Steve and Jamie's story, 20th of June, 2025, season three, episode six and seven.
[3:04] Welcome back.
[3:04] How are we?
[3:05] Yeah, good.
[3:06] Fantastic.
[3:06] So this is episode three for you guys.
[3:10] Part three for you guys, or 2.5A.
[3:12] There we go.
[3:13] Welcome back.
[3:14] Hey, how have you been?
[3:16] Good.
[3:17] Fantastic.
[3:18] Fantastic?
[3:19] Yeah.
[3:19] Okay.
[3:20] Look like you've got something up your sleeve.
[3:22] I'm a bit concerned.
[3:24] All right.
[3:25] Might be something up my pant leg.
[3:26] At least you've got pants on today.
[3:29] Straight away, we're into it already.
[3:31] Hey, tell us, so for everyone who hasn't, obviously we'll get them to go back and listen to season three, episode six and seven.
[3:39] And we're now May 26, right?
[3:41] So we're about 11 and a bit months, nearly a year later.
[3:45] Give everyone firstly who hasn't heard those episodes, helicopter view, who we are, where we're from, pre-infinity, how you found us, why you found us.
[3:54] Do you want to go?
[3:56] Okay, I'll go.
[3:58] Chalk and cheese.
[4:00] Jamie and I have known each other since school days.
[4:06] 25th anniversary coming up, wedding anniversary at the end of this year, but we've been together for a lot longer than that.
[4:15] Three daughters.
[4:17] All adults.
[4:18] All adults.
[4:19] Jamie's very much a detail person.
[4:21] I'm very much a helicopter view person.
[4:24] Graham Beck.
[4:26] Yeah, and it's normally the way, right, in a relationship or one that works.
[4:30] We, you know...
[4:32] So, yeah, one that works where both parties drive each other absolutely mental because they're polar opposites.
[4:37] Yeah, and if you can find someone who you can fall in love with and put up with their crazy, well, then it works.
[4:45] So we're fortunate to have found that.
[4:48] Still together, still very much in love, but along the way, look, neither of us have formal education.
[4:55] Jamie had some opportunities that she passed over for love of me.
[5:02] And we've just done whatever with the grind, the hustle, to build a life together, raise our children, owned a couple of homes, ran a motel for about 12 years and I was also the mayor of my hometown for about the same period of time and a bit of crossover between that responsibility and...
[5:22] Which is the first episode everyone will see, I think episode six, about being a young mayor.
[5:27] Yeah.
[5:29] And so at some stage we decided we wanted to run our own business and looked at what sort of skills we had and what opportunities were available.
[5:38] and landed in the accommodation hospitality industry.
[5:42] And coming out of the exit of that, we're looking, okay, what's our next step?
[5:48] We've always had sort of a five-year plan that we've tried to...
[5:52] So always looking five years ahead in life?
[5:54] Yeah.
[5:55] And always trying to improve and be better and find ways that we can increase our financial situation.
[6:03] Yep.
[6:04] Have pretty well done that from day dot.
[6:06] Yeah.
[6:06] Yeah.
[6:08] Okay.
[6:08] And so I guess in terms of that business period, we're focused on building the business but also feeling like we deserved all of the rewards along the way.
[6:18] So dinners, travel, concerts, spoiling the kids because we weren't spending as much time with them as what...
[6:27] We would have liked to.
[6:28] I'm sure you put them to work through those years of owning the hotel if they were home as well.
[6:32] We did and we found a video clip of that the other night, which was funny.
[6:36] Pretty funny.
[6:38] And so, yeah, and that landed us about 18 months ago, finding out about infinity and then stepping through the process of... 2023.
[6:50] Sorry, well, sorry.
[6:51] Three years now.
[6:52] Three years, yeah.
[6:54] I know, it feels like a whirlwind.
[6:55] I'm just like...
[6:55] Like this time last year in the bloody Serengeti or somewhere.
[6:58] That's right.
[6:59] That's true.
[7:00] But, yeah, steaming through the process of coming on board, having an initial strategy, and, yeah, that's where we are today.
[7:07] Okay.
[7:08] And so from where we were, obviously when we met, we were going through sale of a business, and I can't remember why I got my little mitts involved.
[7:17] I remember somewhere when I was looking at your strategy, I'm like, I need to rip this apart.
[7:21] For whatever reason, I was like, get your ass into this.
[7:23] You were travelling.
[7:24] You were camping or something.
[7:25] Well, camping and... No, it was before that.
[7:29] It was on the boat.
[7:29] It was on the boat.
[7:30] Oh, yeah.
[7:31] And we'd been given our strategy.
[7:33] Yeah.
[7:35] And something just didn't quite feel right for me.
[7:37] Yeah.
[7:38] And someone else... And you wanted more, that's right.
[7:40] I wanted more and I didn't understand it.
[7:42] And someone said to me, on the boat, if you stand here, you'll get to speak for G. And so I felt like...
[7:50] I felt like I was like, get out of my way.
[7:52] Like I know I've got to be in this position because I didn't want to lose that opportunity.
[7:56] Yeah.
[7:57] And I just, I think that will just be a pivotal moment in Stephen and I's life where we sat down and it was you and Bec.
[8:06] And your little notepad, your whiteboard.
[8:09] Yeah, my little remarkable iPad, yeah.
[8:12] And you just said, no, no, this is what you need to do and I
[8:17] I still remember walking to the bus and we were just going, holy shit, like this is just life changing.
[8:25] Yeah.
[8:25] And it just opened so many possibilities for us and our entire family to move forward.
[8:33] It was just mind-blowing.
[8:35] And from that you said, can you come and visit us in Queensland to go through it?
[8:40] And Stephen was like, yeah, sure, we're hopping in the car with a tent and coming up.
[8:46] And...
[8:47] We did hear... And I take Steve for a 10 kind of guy, but I don't take Jamie for a 10 kind of gal.
[8:53] And you enjoyed it, you said.
[8:54] I actually did.
[8:55] It was just nice to switch off and go back to basics, I suppose, and just have time, I think, when you are working so hard.
[9:06] to stop and have time.
[9:10] And probably that's what infinity gave us the most is time.
[9:15] Time to reset, time to... Reconnect and fall in love again.
[9:21] Well, why were you sending me pictures with no pants on?
[9:25] Because I like to share the love ground.
[9:28] I didn't know we were falling in love again.
[9:31] Oh, dear.
[9:32] We'll get to that in a minute, Freddie.
[9:33] My tuning in from home.
[9:36] I freaked Steve out, Dr. Steve, when I sent him one in the shower.
[9:40] Yeah, yeah.
[9:43] Yeah.
[9:43] He wasn't entirely sure why I was watching his podcast in the shower.
[9:51] Oh, we'll come back to this in a minute.
[9:53] But, yeah, that's right.
[9:54] So then you guys obviously, yeah, we'll go camping, this, that, we'll drive up and come in.
[9:58] And we had the budgets and the notebooks, and I can see you brought one along there today to chat about.
[10:04] And you were in the process.
[10:04] You'd just gone through the sale or going through the sale of the business, right?
[10:07] So a lot of blood, sweat and tears and zombie apocalypses in COVID and all sorts of stuff.
[10:13] Yeah.
[10:14] What was the overarching goal, the driving force?
[10:19] What was it you guys were looking for at that point in time?
[10:24] Who found us?
[10:25] Me.
[10:26] Okay.
[10:26] So, yeah, once we'd sort of entered into those contract negotiations and had a terms of agreement, Jamie was settling all of the documentation for their due diligence.
[10:37] Yeah.
[10:39] I was thinking the next step ahead.
[10:41] Right.
[10:42] Next five years.
[10:43] Yeah.
[10:43] Yeah.
[10:44] So how do we protect what we've built?
[10:46] Yeah.
[10:46] More than how do we protect it, how do we continue to grow it?
[10:50] Yeah.
[10:51] And so I'd sat in on a number of webinars that socials had thrown up.
[10:58] Yep.
[10:59] But it was watching yours, your Tuesday night live one as it was back then, that really stuck for both of us.
[11:11] Okay.
[11:12] Yeah.
[11:12] So that... That kicked it off.
[11:14] That kicked it off, absolutely.
[11:16] And it was just the... You could sense the authenticity, the truthfulness of it.
[11:22] We related to what you were saying, given our experience with banks previously and frustrations around...
[11:30] lending and being capped and I guess what we've learnt since is that it wasn't entirely their fault.
[11:35] We didn't have our structure right and we didn't have the advice around us that we needed that's sort of integrated and brings that all together.
[11:43] And at any time they could have.
[11:45] told us why we had no personal borrowing capacity.
[11:49] Because I'd ring him all the time and say, I just don't understand, we're earning all this money.
[11:53] Why?
[11:53] But it wasn't in our personal name.
[11:55] But not once did they say...
[11:57] They explained the nuts and bolts of it and what we had to do to change it.
[12:00] So, yeah.
[12:01] They don't really understand it.
[12:03] Yeah.
[12:03] Well, it's too hard.
[12:04] I mean, can't write a deal today, can't earn a buck, move on to the next number.
[12:09] Correct, yeah.
[12:10] There's so many times that they could have said something.
[12:14] And they just chose not to.
[12:16] And I just don't understand.
[12:17] No, neither do I.
[12:19] It's business gone begging, but it's also your life opportunity, the opportunity cost of not executing sooner to have more time in market, business, home, whatever it may be.
[12:29] So, okay.
[12:32] So we started, where did we start?
[12:35] Yeah, so we started... Well, the life-changing moment really was what you were able to explain to us was that we had a bundle of money.
[12:45] We weren't quite exactly sure because we had to wait for all the chips to fall out of, you know, how we dealt with CGT from the sale of the business, putting a bundle of money into a self-managed super to help with that.
[12:59] and then washing up all of the accounts and other expenses and where would we actually land?
[13:04] How much, what was the figure that we had left?
[13:07] So we're working on some assumptions to start off with, but what you'd explained on the boat during that five minute meeting was that we could park a bundle of money in this investment fund, which would allow us essentially to be paid a salary during the next 12 months, because we wanted to have that time off of work.
[13:25] and that allowed us to do the travel.
[13:27] So there was that initially, and also an investment in our super fund.
[13:33] We'd always had really low super being self-employed.
[13:37] Yep.
[13:38] So making that contribution into, and then shifting into self-managed super,
[13:43] allowed us to do one investment property purchase in super.
[13:47] And we laid out cash deposits on some investment properties that were spaced out down the track.
[13:56] So that when we finished our travel and our break and resumed work, we could then manage the serviceability on those as they came up.
[14:07] Yeah.
[14:09] Okay.
[14:09] So had the year off?
[14:11] Yeah.
[14:11] 18 months it turned into.
[14:13] 18 months off?
[14:13] Well, 18 months for some.
[14:16] Yeah, I had a bit of difficulty finding full-time work.
[14:20] And we were talking about this last night, you know, in terms of it humbled me a bit.
[14:27] But at the same time, we've never felt that we're above any work or any position.
[14:33] And you do what you need to do to make things work.
[14:35] So I spent a little while, you know, back in a manual labour role.
[14:40] Yeah.
[14:40] It enabled us to settle the loan.
[14:43] Yeah.
[14:43] It was like we just, you need a job.
[14:45] Yeah.
[14:45] It doesn't matter what it is, you just need a job to be able to settle the first loan.
[14:52] And then from that you did gain...
[14:54] Full-time employment.
[14:55] Full-time employment.
[14:57] And in fact, we got the band back together.
[15:01] My employer had a position and it was a case of, well, I know the perfect person for that role.
[15:07] So Jamie and I have been working together in the same office again for about eight months or so now.
[15:12] There you go.
[15:13] And our colleagues keep saying, when are you releasing a podcast?
[15:16] Because we just could listen to you two.
[15:19] Not this podcast, but our own.
[15:21] Oh, right.
[15:21] The daily drive to work.
[15:23] Yeah, bickering at each other.
[15:25] Yeah.
[15:25] And they just keep saying, when are you starting?
[15:27] And I keep going, no.
[15:29] Like, this is definitely within this.
[15:31] There's boundaries.
[15:33] Yeah, that's why everyone in our office, when Becca and I are out at each other, sometimes people just duck behind desks and just leave the office.
[15:38] Yeah.
[15:39] It's always a fun experience.
[15:40] So, okay.
[15:42] And then so go back a little bit because there was a period of time in there too.
[15:47] Jamie, you wanted much, much more.
[15:49] I did, yeah.
[15:50] And I was like, nah.
[15:51] Correct.
[15:52] And I'm like, shit, she's going to sack me because you were cranky.
[15:55] Yeah, it was a hard...
[15:58] A hard thing to swallow because I could see that we had the top.
[16:01] And we'd already gone from here to here.
[16:03] Yeah.
[16:03] But you wanted to be here straight away.
[16:05] And if you go back, even to get the four, Stephen probably had to drag me to sign because I was like, oh.
[16:14] Actually, yeah, because the first four properties you were like, oh.
[16:17] Yeah, I just, I don't, I still to this day don't know why because the numbers don't lie but I think it was letting go of control.
[16:25] Right.
[16:29] help which is what we actually needed and we needed a team and we needed a team that actually worked together to come up um and help us with our strategy um because two minds work much better with the team yeah um that bouncing it off and then they put us back to where we need to be yeah um because we can always overthink or think we can do something um
[16:53] So the first four I struggled to sign.
[16:56] I found that quite difficult, questioned everything, asked 100 questions and then once I'd signed them, I just moved on.
[17:05] But you ran out of questions to ask.
[17:07] Correct.
[17:08] And you had the answers for everything.
[17:12] If you want to make me look even more silly, and I'm quite humbled to say this, I refused on one property because of the location.
[17:20] Yeah.
[17:22] A very big mistake.
[17:25] But I think it's great to be able to tell that story now because I totally understand I was not the expert.
[17:32] Right.
[17:33] And I should have taken the advice.
[17:35] It's good to be able to have – hindsight's a beautiful thing to be able to acknowledge it because most people wouldn't go, whatever, whatever.
[17:41] Because I love when people, I don't like the name of the suburb.
[17:44] I don't like Dapdo making it up.
[17:45] Correct.
[17:46] You know, I don't like Main Beach or Brisbane or whatever.
[17:49] And then I love like waiting a couple of years and it pops into my head and I'm like, oh, I should really email Jamie and let her know what she missed out on.
[17:55] But it's good to have that own hindsight to be like, okay, I kind of get it now.
[17:59] Yeah.
[18:00] It's still on my file.
[18:01] Declined.
[18:03] So I am reminded.
[18:04] You remind yourself of it.
[18:05] And we have subsequently bought in the same area as a result of a strategy review and the next stage.
[18:12] But, you know, we're way behind where we could have been on that property.
[18:16] Yeah.
[18:17] But I think it's also, if you've learnt out of it.
[18:21] It's not a loss.
[18:22] It's not a loss.
[18:23] And I know better now.
[18:25] So I begged you for more property.
[18:28] You had said no.
[18:29] I think at the time I was only working two days a week.
[18:33] Yeah.
[18:34] And you said you just don't have the serviceability.
[18:37] And...
[18:38] I also think that was a great thing that showed me that your ethics are not about just selling me to make money.
[18:47] Your ethics are.
[18:47] We would have had a big problem when it comes time to actually settle the loans.
[18:50] Sure.
[18:51] A hundred percent.
[18:51] It's easy to sign the paperwork.
[18:52] You've got to be able to get the deal to go through.
[18:54] Correct.
[18:55] So that really made me... Pissed you off but gave you comfort.
[19:00] Total comfort.
[19:01] It's like they're doing the right thing by me, not just trying to make as much money or getting me into a situation that I can't actually fulfil.
[19:10] Yep.
[19:12] Once we did both... ..were both full-time employed, we rang Karen and she was like, right, next room...
[19:22] And I just, I wish I had a video of my first four properties that I refused to sign.
[19:27] Yeah.
[19:27] And the next three that I didn't actually really care where they were.
[19:31] It was just like, whatever.
[19:33] Like, I'm just signing.
[19:35] Oh, shit.
[19:36] And so it was so, yeah, it was like open doors moment where just two completely different scenarios of how I treated it.
[19:45] So that is funny to look back on.
[19:47] So how many investments now?
[19:49] Yeah.
[19:49] We've got those three and then we've also bought another one.
[19:54] So we're up to eight.
[19:54] That's the answer to the question.
[19:56] Eight?
[19:56] Yeah.
[19:57] It's not bad.
[19:58] Yeah.
[19:59] Super.
[20:01] Not bad at all.
[20:02] Yeah.
[20:03] So the first four, not a chance, forget it.
[20:06] The next three or three, four, you're like, fuck, whatever, wherever.
[20:10] Yep, let's do it.
[20:11] And it was on the fourth one.
[20:15] It was a moment.
[20:16] Do you remember sitting with Karen?
[20:18] And I think it was a two-bedroom place.
[20:20] And then we've both gone, oh, I think we'd like three.
[20:23] We think we'll actually move up here at some stage.
[20:25] And she goes, oh, I can get you three bedrooms on level eight or you can go a sub penthouse.
[20:31] And Stephen straightaway was, oh, I'm going the best.
[20:33] It's up Penthouse.
[20:33] Let's do it.
[20:34] And I'm like, oh, no, let's just think about this.
[20:37] And Stephen looked at me and said, remember the couple we spoke to at our first ever REM?
[20:43] They were testimonials and I can't remember their name for the life of me.
[20:47] And he said, oh, I always do the wrong thing.
[20:50] I always say no, give me no ocean view, give me this.
[20:54] And he goes... You'll take the lower level instead of the higher level.
[20:56] And he goes, every time it comes to settlement, I wish I'd listened to Graham.
[21:01] And so we've sat with Karen and I've gone, fine, go to the Penhouse, I'm okay.
[21:05] LAUGHTER
[21:06] We'll take the upgrade, thanks.
[21:07] I said, we'll work it out.
[21:09] Like, we'll be fine.
[21:10] Okay.
[21:12] But it's about trust.
[21:13] Yeah.
[21:13] And I know that you wouldn't have let me sign it.
[21:16] Yep.
[21:18] If we couldn't do it.
[21:19] We're not going to waste each other's time, that's for sure.
[21:20] And there's a lot of work, as you guys know now, that goes on in the background before you get to that point, however many months or years into the journey.
[21:28] So, okay.
[21:30] So eight investments now, home done, paid off, eight investments.
[21:36] Where to from here?
[21:38] Yeah, probably one thing that I'm really happy that Infinity allowed probably one of Stephen's dreams that I have curtailed for like 35 years and said no, no, no, no, because I've never felt comfortable that we've got enough or that we can take a little risk.
[21:59] So for Stephen's 50th I bought him a substantial amount of gold.
[22:04] Okay.
[22:04] Knowing that...
[22:06] That's okay.
[22:06] Yeah.
[22:07] I'm so comfortable in our property journey that it's okay to do something different.
[22:14] And it was really nice to be able to do that for Stephen because he has done so much and given up so much having a wife and three daughters.
[22:24] I don't want to give up.
[22:25] Girls are the best.
[22:26] Girls are seriously the best.
[22:27] You reckon?
[22:28] Yeah, absolutely.
[22:29] Beck tells me she just wants twin boys.
[22:31] Yeah, okay.
[22:31] Good luck with that.
[22:32] Yeah.
[22:34] The Bragg brothers or something.
[22:36] Yeah, Bash brothers probably.
[22:38] Freckly little me.
[22:39] Jeez.
[22:39] Yeah.
[22:40] Okay.
[22:41] But in terms of where to from here, well, that's Jamie's story to tell really.
[22:45] Okay.
[22:46] So bought some gold then outside of the property stuff, business stuff.
[22:51] Okay.
[22:51] And then where to from there?
[22:54] Well, am I allowed to say?
[22:56] Yeah, of course you are.
[22:57] This is going to be your last podcast.
[22:59] It will be my last podcast.
[23:01] As a client?
[23:02] Absolutely.
[23:03] Yeah.
[23:03] As a client and start with Infinity in August.
[23:07] Congratulations.
[23:08] Oh, what an amazing opportunity.
[23:10] I'm, yeah, stoked.
[23:12] Yeah, okay.
[23:13] Because you've got a bit of a numbers background and analysis paralysis and you're basically doing your accountant's job at one point in time or working for them.
[23:22] So you're going to come in and jump into the wealth strategy role and start helping other families with their wealth.
[23:29] Absolutely.
[23:30] So that means a relocation.
[23:31] Yeah.
[23:32] Absolutely, yep.
[23:34] So, yeah, we'll move from SA to Queensland in a couple of months.
[23:40] Wow.
[23:40] Yeah.
[23:41] Watch this space.
[23:42] Yeah.
[23:43] Okay.
[23:44] Very exciting.
[23:45] So what's the – and Steve, you'll keep staying the current role, but sort of semi-remote, I guess, yeah?
[23:51] Yeah.
[23:51] Okay.
[23:52] And what's the overarching plan?
[23:54] We've got the eight properties now.
[23:56] We're relocating from South Australia to Queensland.
[24:01] What's the overarching goal?
[24:02] Where do you want to be?
[24:03] What do you want to do?
[24:05] And it's funny because we've had this discussion with other Infinity family over the last, sort of seems to be just since the late last year, hasn't it, that people have put that question to us.
[24:20] And my answer remains the same.
[24:22] I just want to be a professional investor.
[24:24] Right.
[24:25] Or a sophisticated investor, whatever it's called.
[24:27] Yeah.
[24:28] And to me that doesn't have a destination.
[24:32] So, you know, it's just continue to build, continue to... Actually, I do know the answer.
[24:43] The answer is about being able to set the example for our daughters and to know that they are learning the same steps, the same practices...
[24:58] And we're helping them, but it's not a case of give it.
[25:03] It's a case of, number one, lead by example.
[25:06] Number two, share the knowledge and the information.
[25:09] And number three, they've got to work themselves to be able to actually achieve it.
[25:15] Knowledge is one thing, but you can't execute if you don't have the income, the hard work, the ethics.
[25:20] Yeah, and the mindset.
[25:21] So I guess that's the future.
[25:25] Okay.
[25:25] So you're going to maybe get to the point where when you've got pre-existing properties there with CGT discounts and all that sort of stuff.
[25:33] So it's like, oh, well, you can sell one of those every couple of years and pull in a couple of hundred grand with a CGT discount.
[25:39] Happy days.
[25:40] Okay.
[25:41] Yep.
[25:41] Okay.
[25:43] A new job.
[25:43] So there's going to be a lot happening.
[25:45] There is.
[25:46] And a grandchild on the way.
[25:47] Oh, congratulations.
[25:50] In South Australia?
[25:50] In South Australia.
[25:51] Oh, you're going to be doing a lot of travel as well?
[25:53] Yep.
[25:54] Yeah, but I think as well it's leading an example to your children that if you follow a path and follow it well.
[26:07] And stick to it and see it through.
[26:09] Yeah, and I go back, I did bring my budget, G. I think back in the day our yearly fuel budget was.
[26:17] What's the time frame on it though?
[26:19] This is 2023.
[26:20] No.
[26:20] Sorry, 2003.
[26:20] 2003, and our fuel budget was $1,500 for the year.
[26:22] Wow.
[26:22] Yeah.
[26:23] So it's interesting to look back that we've always...
[26:34] had a budget until we had the motel.
[26:36] We had a seasonal income where Stephen only worked for four months.
[26:41] And so we had to make sure that we had enough money to get through that 12-month period.
[26:46] So we were good at budgeting.
[26:49] We also would – we were paid as contractors in the family business.
[26:54] So Stephen's dad would pay us our super and we wouldn't put it into our super account.
[27:00] We would pay it off our home loan.
[27:01] Right.
[27:02] Right.
[27:03] In the gross amount of money he'd pay you.
[27:05] I was paid as a share of the earnings.
[27:07] So essentially I was self-employed.
[27:10] But he's always had a lot of faith in superannuation.
[27:14] Yeah.
[27:15] And he insisted that he wanted to pay it.
[27:17] So I negotiated that, sure, don't pay me more money.
[27:22] And I promise you it will be going off the mortgage.
[27:25] Yeah.
[27:25] Okay.
[27:28] But it's probably not quite fair what Jamie said, that I only worked four months of the year.
[27:33] Family business is lobster fishing, so it's a season.
[27:39] But outside of that, I'd take on whatever work I could get.
[27:43] So landscape, labouring, planting pine trees because it's a forestry area.
[27:48] You did work as the mayor in the nightclub.
[27:53] The mayor of the nightclub.
[27:54] Well, no.
[27:55] This would be a good story.
[27:57] I was still a nightclub barman when I first nominated for the mayoral election.
[28:05] You're fucking kidding me.
[28:06] No.
[28:07] 100%.
[28:07] He would wear T-shirts, vote for Mr Mayor.
[28:10] Vote for Steve while I'm serving drinks.
[28:12] And the nightclub owner, who was a good bloke, allowed me to put up posters in the nightclub and stuff like that.
[28:17] So you get people on the piss in there.
[28:19] How good is this?
[28:20] I want this mayor's red-eyed.
[28:21] Yeah.
[28:22] So, you know, like I said...
[28:27] Like I said earlier, it was just the grind.
[28:30] So sometimes I'd work three jobs at once just to keep the money coming in and they were generally lower paid labour jobs but it was just about having a goal down the track and we just had to do whatever we needed to do to get there.
[28:44] We made a conscious decision once we knew we were having kids that Jamie would be a stay-at-home mum and we'd be doing it off one income.
[28:55] You just had to have three incomes.
[28:57] Yeah, one income, three incomes.
[29:00] Yeah.
[29:00] That's called happily married.
[29:01] He worked day, night, morning.
[29:04] And it's interesting, at the last REM, which there was testimonials, of course, there was that question from the guy sort of questioning, you know, I'm the man in the relationship, I should be the provider, et cetera, et cetera.
[29:19] Yeah.
[29:20] We've had those discussions as well at various stages.
[29:24] But we regard ourselves as a team and sometimes it swings.
[29:28] See, and I've done some really – some things that a lot of blokes wouldn't do.
[29:33] We've got three daughters.
[29:34] Jamie's running the actual – the motel.
[29:38] Yeah.
[29:38] And sure, I'm there working in it as well.
[29:40] But Jamie was pulling all of the levers and making sure operationally it worked.
[29:45] So I became the netball umpire and, you know, on the committee, you know, doing the school run in the morning and doing the school run in the afternoon and all of that sort of stuff that's that's normally the, you know, the mum role.
[30:01] But whatever.
[30:01] Yeah, it's a team.
[30:03] It's about the goals that you've got and how you get there.
[30:07] how important is teamwork as far as your financial outcomes because i know that i know you guys a lot of people out there that tend to think that it should just be these very copacetic traditional values and rules copacetic like keeping it real that mate yeah keeping it like like everything's fucking anyway okay it's copacetic but yeah it's just keeping it as it is and it's real real simple and cool and everything but it's also those traditional values of like that guy stood up he's
[30:36] I should bring home the bacon and I'm the income earner and I'm, you know, like you're saying there.
[30:40] And it's like, well, that's a very traditional value and mindset.
[30:45] I know a lot of very, very successful women, much smarter than us, that are bringing home the bacon, so to speak.
[30:52] But I think people can get stuck in that, well, I should do this and I should do that.
[30:55] And then they don't sort of form a team.
[30:57] Like, you know, Sydney Harbour Bridge leans on each other.
[31:00] It's like, well, if one person's here and the other person fucks off and back off, it breaks, right?
[31:04] There's nothing to lean on.
[31:05] It falls down.
[31:06] So how important is that for people listening in at home thinking, oh, well, I should do this and he should do that and she should do that?
[31:14] Not at all.
[31:14] Yeah, like it's so important to work as a team and just communication.
[31:20] Sometimes we have to explain things very simply to you.
[31:27] Dumb fuck here, yeah.
[31:28] We had a meeting with Karen.
[31:30] Stephen had been depressed for about seven months.
[31:33] And going, we're not getting anywhere.
[31:35] And I kept telling him, yes, we are.
[31:37] Like, this is great.
[31:39] Like, it's okay.
[31:40] And he goes, I just want to, when am I going to waterfall?
[31:43] Yeah.
[31:44] And I kept going through this with him.
[31:47] I said it to Karen.
[31:48] We went to a meeting with Karen.
[31:49] I said, can you please just explain it to Stephen?
[31:51] Because I'm not getting through.
[31:54] And Karen goes, Stephen, you're in the Rapids.
[31:57] You need debt to waterfall.
[31:59] You're past the waterfall.
[32:01] And he's gone, oh, great.
[32:03] Cool, no worries.
[32:04] No worries.
[32:05] And Jeremy's like, oh, for fuck's sake.
[32:07] And he's literally walked skipping out of the room going, we're doing okay then, aren't we?
[32:12] And I'm like, no.
[32:13] Yes, we are doing just fine.
[32:15] I think that's why it's important that people take every opportunity to be on monthly accountability meetings and the extra, you know, in the chats.
[32:24] It's true because people think they know.
[32:26] Some people come to Australia, I think at the moment we're like 88.3% is our renewal rate.
[32:31] That's fucking highest it's ever been.
[32:33] And I think it is because we're picking the right people saying yes as a client, knowing they will get on the monthly coaching calls.
[32:40] They will engage with their relationship.
[32:42] Because I know once they miss a couple of scheduled meetings, they're done.
[32:46] I'm refunding them or they're asking for a refund.
[32:50] No skin off my nose, I'll move on to a family that wants life-changing outcomes.
[32:54] They'll watch us from the sidelines and be like, fuck, that should have been us.
[32:58] Hey guys, if you're enjoying this family story and you want to set yourself up for financial freedom, it all starts with our free 45-minute educational webinar.
[33:07] Click the link below this video to begin your journey.
[33:09] Hope it helps.
[33:10] Back to your question about copacetic.
[33:13] Move on to it, yeah.
[33:14] It's important to work to your strengths.
[33:16] I'm going to give you the definition of copacetic.
[33:18] Keep going.
[33:19] But it's important to work to your strengths.
[33:21] That's no doubt.
[33:22] But don't be fixed on that.
[33:23] Sometimes you've just got to chip in and do something that's out of your comfort zone to make things work.
[33:28] Correct.
[33:29] And I'm going to give you the definition so you know.
[33:32] I don't know what my strength is yet.
[33:33] Jamie hasn't told me that yet.
[33:37] We'll figure it out.
[33:38] Maybe it's been copacetic.
[33:39] It's a casual English word that means everything is fine, good and satisfactory order.
[33:44] It's Makuna Hatata.
[33:46] Makuna Hatata?
[33:47] Makuna Matata.
[33:50] Back to front.
[33:51] I even learned a bit of Swahili when we were over there and I still fucked it up.
[33:55] It's Makuna Hatata.
[33:57] Makuna Matata.
[33:58] Makuna Matata.
[33:59] He's no worries.
[34:00] It's okay.
[34:00] I'm staying in the metro.
[34:03] You'll get sued by the guy from Lion King, like the poor comedian.
[34:06] Have you seen that?
[34:07] No.
[34:08] Oh, there's a comedian that translated the, you know, the song thing.
[34:12] Anyway, the producers of Lion King, the music composer, has sued him for like degrading the brand.
[34:20] Because he says, the song says, look, Dad, it's a lion or something.
[34:25] And this comedian's just translated it.
[34:27] It's a lion.
[34:28] Look, it's a lion.
[34:29] And he's like taking the pip.
[34:30] But all he's saying, the song, this amazing song, everyone goes, look, it's a lion.
[34:38] You've butchered Hakuna Matata, Matuna Hakata.
[34:40] Can we go back and edit that?
[34:42] It's staying.
[34:44] That's in.
[34:45] Stalys move, team.
[34:48] And we'll figure out your strengths soon, Steve.
[34:50] It's fine.
[34:50] You know what your strength's going to be?
[34:52] Moving.
[34:53] Yeah.
[34:53] Helping them move to Queensland.
[34:55] Moving.
[34:56] Or picking a new home.
[34:57] Yeah.
[34:58] I've said that for years.
[34:59] I've said that for years.
[34:59] I'm not really bright, but I can carry heavy shit.
[35:03] You've done okay.
[35:06] Oh, dear.
[35:09] I'd help you a little bit and give you a label and say, mate, one of your strengths is being loyal, valuable, and being extremely committed to whatever the task is at hand, whether it's netball committees, whether it's school runs, whether it's be a mayor, work a bar.
[35:26] Mate, you've just done whatever life's thrown at you and not batted at an eyelid, and that's extremely unique.
[35:31] So I'd say, to be honest, mate, you're very versatile.
[35:33] You're a bit of a chameleon.
[35:35] Yeah.
[35:35] And that actually, no, it's a compliment.
[35:38] It goes a long way because whatever you've needed to fit into, you've just fitted into.
[35:43] And that's got you guys where you are today as a team.
[35:46] Likewise, Jamie's fitted into every other aspect because a lot of people are like, well, I'm a concreter.
[35:51] And you can't teach an old dog new tricks.
[35:53] I hear it all the fucking time.
[35:55] And I'm like, fucking whack, whack.
[35:57] Anyone can pick up anything if they truly are forced to or have to and you're going and do any fucking job.
[36:04] And ego is an important thing because ego helps drive ambition.
[36:08] Correct.
[36:09] Ego is okay to have.
[36:10] But don't be precious.
[36:11] Yeah.
[36:11] Don't be precious about yourself.
[36:12] Yeah, that's right.
[36:14] And it's okay to have ego to know that you're very good at something or valuable at something.
[36:18] You've just got to know where the buck stops and keep your ego in check because it can.
[36:22] Like, I've got a lot of ego, but it's because I'm very fucking good at a certain amount of things.
[36:26] I hadn't noticed.
[36:27] No, I know, right?
[36:28] But other aspects of my life, zero ego.
[36:30] do you know what i mean like i'll listen to experts yeah like health and fitness or whatever else it may be zero ego check that shit at the door because i'm not the expert at it but when i the areas i am i'm very eager like not egotity but but hold a high level of ego and self-respect because i value that i'm good at it yeah and so everyone fucking should yeah so okay
[36:52] So big move coming up.
[36:55] Want to continue to be that sort of sophisticated professional investor in gold more recently and real estate and all sorts of different things maybe?
[37:04] Really diversified?
[37:05] Primarily real estate, yeah.
[37:07] I mean we dabbled in.
[37:09] Jamie had a raise account at some stage.
[37:11] She gave me a few thousand dollars to buy penny stocks and I blew all that.
[37:18] I think we've still got some that are continuing just to –
[37:21] Didn't get any NFTs or anything?
[37:24] No, I bought Bitcoin.
[37:28] Again, $1,000 worth of Bitcoin back in the day.
[37:30] Never saved it to a wallet.
[37:31] The platform that I've bought on has disappeared.
[37:34] It was only about 12 months ago that I tried to find it.
[37:38] The value of that would have been somewhere around about $120,000, I think.
[37:42] So I was twisting his arm going, you need to find this.
[37:46] You need to find it.
[37:48] So, no, not too broad.
[37:52] Happy in gold and silver.
[37:54] Jamie said gold, but it's more silver than gold.
[37:56] Okay.
[37:57] And predominantly in property, yeah.
[38:02] Okay.
[38:04] And just making sure that education is there for our daughters.
[38:07] So one is in infinity.
[38:10] The other two aren't, but between the three of them, there's four properties.
[38:14] Probably by the end of the year there'll be six properties.
[38:17] So you're really making sure that the knowledge you're obtaining and learning along the way, because you do, it's a journey, right, where stuff clicks, you're making sure you're passing that down to them.
[38:28] Yeah, 100%.
[38:29] And when you say learning, absolutely.
[38:32] And...
[38:34] some things that I had instilled in our kids was always pay cash for your car.
[38:39] So we've had to unlearn that.
[38:41] I think my daughters think it's a bit funny saying that's not what you taught us, mum.
[38:47] But they understand and I think they really... That's that ego thing.
[38:50] Never be too proud to admit that you could do something better.
[38:54] Not that you're wrong necessarily but there's a better way of doing something because that's where most families in Australia fuck up.
[39:00] Yeah.
[39:00] Right?
[39:01] They're doing something and we like to, you know, you watch it in the chat bar.
[39:04] Oh, so it's not a question.
[39:06] I'm not, you know, they're making this statement and say, but you should do this or you should pay cash.
[39:10] Like, when you can check that before you, check yourself before you wreck, you can go, oh, there is a mathematically better way to do this.
[39:18] This feels better for me, but mathematically it's not the best.
[39:21] Yeah.
[39:22] That's how you grow.
[39:23] Absolutely.
[39:25] And it's interesting.
[39:25] And the kids get to put shit on you along the way.
[39:27] Yeah.
[39:28] No, they're pretty good.
[39:30] I must say.
[39:31] And one thing that our kids can see that we have a budget and sometimes we'll say, no, we can't, we're not doing that.
[39:41] This week, and we went from a very open slather, open credit card, no expense spared, living in the motel because the motel was very profitable to...
[39:54] to then going, no, okay, when we go out for dinner now, you can all pay your own drinks.
[39:59] And it was a real...
[40:02] Adjustment.
[40:02] It was a real adjustment for everybody to do that.
[40:05] Okay.
[40:06] But I think that...
[40:08] They really respect that mum and dad could pay for all of this now, but we choose not to because we have got a different goal.
[40:15] And you put some boundaries in place and they can see the benefits as well.
[40:19] Yeah, absolutely.
[40:20] And when we come home from a REM and I say, oh, these people aren't charging their kids rent, my kids go, like, I can't believe that, they'll never learn.
[40:32] It's like you wash your kids' clothes, 18 or 22, you wash their clothes, you make their bed, you cook their food, you do the grocery shop, you don't charge them bored.
[40:41] They are studying short or they're working.
[40:44] They have no idea how to function as a fucking grown-ass adult.
[40:48] Correct.
[40:48] At all.
[40:49] Yep.
[40:49] Right?
[40:49] At all.
[40:50] That was Jamie.
[40:50] That was Jamie.
[40:52] I teach you to iron.
[40:54] I teach you how to use a washing machine.
[40:55] And just cook.
[40:56] Yeah.
[40:57] But it's a true thing.
[40:58] I mean, me as an only child and a single mum, I had to iron as a tiny, tiny kid.
[41:02] I had to learn to cook.
[41:03] You know what I mean?
[41:04] I had to learn all that shit.
[41:05] And Beck and sometimes and her and her girlfriends, they laugh because I come out with random shit and I can plait and braid and all this stuff.
[41:12] And then she's like, oh, fuck, single mum.
[41:14] You know what I mean?
[41:15] Or I bring up stuff and talk about it or say, oh, do this.
[41:18] Or we're shopping.
[41:18] I'm like, oh, you should wear that.
[41:19] And they're like...
[41:20] single mum.
[41:21] Because it's this different perspective of if I didn't learn to cook or if I didn't do the washing and hang it out and follow, no one else was going to.
[41:28] Mum was working.
[41:30] So I got myself to and from school and then I cooked if I was hungry or made something if I was hungry and I got myself to soccer train.
[41:37] Like those basic life skills, I don't think some parents realise they're killing them with kindness and they're fucking them up.
[41:45] Because then they move out of home and they wear something and they throw it on the floor and they're like,
[41:49] What happens with this?
[41:51] Or they try to learn to cook and burn something and the next thing you know the fry pan just stays in the sink.
[41:58] You've got to set them up for success.
[42:00] And the best way to do that is to start in a small capacity modelling.
[42:05] Well, you pay rent or board or electricity or mortgage.
[42:08] Okay, you need to pay me $50 a week.
[42:10] Because how do you pay?
[42:11] The first thing you do is pay to keep a roof over your head.
[42:14] And then it gets bigger and bigger.
[42:15] But you have to teach them these things.
[42:17] Yeah.
[42:17] Be a role model.
[42:18] Yeah.
[42:19] And be their parent, not their friend.
[42:21] That's one of the most important things.
[42:22] It's the biggest thing.
[42:23] Parents these days, here's the iPad, here's the phone.
[42:26] I want to be their best friend, brand name shit.
[42:29] Being their friend, it ain't going to teach them shit.
[42:31] Correct.
[42:31] You've got to be their parent.
[42:33] And this is getting fairly philosophical here, but with each of our daughters, we've had situations where they've said to me in a fit of rage, I hate you, Dad.
[42:46] And my response to that each time was, good, I'm glad you said that because that means I'm doing my job as a parent.
[42:52] If you didn't... Because it was about not letting them do something that the rest of the herd was doing.
[42:58] Yeah, correct.
[42:58] You can't have that.
[42:59] Yeah, correct.
[43:01] I think if you're not getting an I hate you mum or dad at some point, you're probably not doing your job.
[43:06] Correct.
[43:07] It's not nice to hear.
[43:08] No, it's hurtful.
[43:09] It's not nice to hear.
[43:10] Just make sure you remind them.
[43:12] Remember that time you said you hated me?
[43:13] Yeah, and we've had those discussions with them.
[43:17] They're grown adults now.
[43:20] And we talk about these things from time to time over, a Sunday roast or whatever.
[43:23] Yeah, yeah.
[43:25] and there's an understanding about, you know, that was about discipline, it was about values, and it was about what you're saying, making sure that we're trying to set them up for success and build some resilience and skills.
[43:37] I love it.
[43:39] And that knowledge and that growth and journey...
[43:42] You can never take that away from someone.
[43:44] They can get married and divorced and go, oh, I've lost half a house or a car.
[43:48] But you can't take that knowledge away from them, that acumen to rebuild or to grow or to get up when you get knocked down or the business.
[43:55] Like, you know, watching you guys recover with the business.
[43:58] That...
[43:59] I think one of the biggest problems besides parents not parenting and being their friend is resilience.
[44:05] We took away the ability, especially through COVID, we've stopped forcing people to learn to be resilient.
[44:11] Yeah.
[44:12] And responsible for themselves.
[44:13] The government's responsible for it.
[44:15] Yeah, so now when it's hard, it's like you can't raise your voice at someone at work if they're being lazy or dumb or whatever.
[44:20] you know mental health they would and some people are really struggling but we're taking the piss now and it's like now everything's like oh no there's no resilience they don't know how to bounce back from something oh i'm having i'm depressed yeah okay there's people that really are depressed you know friends and family know that these these kids these days it's too hard it's they're just not resilient they haven't had to do anything they don't want to do
[44:43] We were going through old photos and videos on the weekend and found letters that our girls had written to us after we'd sold the business.
[44:52] Those cards.
[44:53] Yeah, that card.
[44:54] And it was, we so appreciate your sacrifices and the hard work
[45:00] And the opportunities that you've provided for us.
[45:02] For them.
[45:03] And it was just like we read them three years ago.
[45:06] Yeah.
[45:06] But to just sit back and read them again, it was like, oh, yeah, they do get it.
[45:10] And to be able to see their progress from, you know, three years to now.
[45:14] Well, they don't always do what you say.
[45:16] They'll watch what you do and typically they'll mimic facets of it.
[45:20] Yeah.
[45:21] Or the cool auntie and uncle or whatever, you know.
[45:23] But they're never going to do what a parent says straight out.
[45:25] You know, I hate you, mum and dad, but they're definitely watching.
[45:28] Yeah.
[45:29] And you see those cards, like, they watch.
[45:31] They watch what you went through and they are now more mature.
[45:33] They appreciate it.
[45:35] Yeah.
[45:35] So it's lead by example.
[45:37] Yep.
[45:38] Lead by example.
[45:39] They're always watching.
[45:40] Yeah.
[45:40] It's what we try to do.
[45:42] Not perfect, but I think we've done okay.
[45:46] so what do you think things look like in i mean people go oh you got all these properties and this and that i mean you guys are giving back you do the charity stuff with us and you give your time in a lot of other areas and aspects as well what do you think it looks like in like five years time well
[46:04] Seems you always have a five-year plan.
[46:05] I just thought I'd throw it out there.
[46:06] Yeah, you probably even haven't gone there.
[46:08] Probably ready to write a new five-year plan once you get to Queensland.
[46:11] I think that's right, Graeme.
[46:12] I think we'll have a look at that.
[46:14] Look, I've got a... You're supposed to say I'm going to be happily married to my wife.
[46:18] Well, that's a given.
[46:19] That doesn't happen.
[46:24] No, what did you decide?
[46:25] Your new motto is not I love you, Jamie.
[46:28] We had a bit of a tiff the other day and I said, you know what?
[46:31] Because I'd tell Jamie at least ten times a day that I love you, Jamie.
[46:36] Jamie, I love you.
[46:37] Annoy the shit out of her with it.
[46:39] I said, I'm going to...
[46:40] So you're a words of affirmation guy.
[46:44] Yes.
[46:44] Yeah.
[46:45] And it's probably also affirming it to myself that I'm not as well.
[46:49] You're looking for it to be responded, right?
[46:51] She's not saying it back.
[46:52] She's like, thanks, darling.
[46:53] Anyway, we'd had a tiff and I was 100% right.
[46:56] I was fucking dead sure I was right, and I was, but I've just let it go.
[47:00] I'm not sure I have that recollection.
[47:02] And I've said, Jamie, you're right.
[47:04] And then I've said, you know what, Jamie?
[47:06] I'm not going to tell you I love you anymore.
[47:08] I'm just going to tell you you're right.
[47:11] Jamie, you know what?
[47:12] You're right.
[47:13] And that means I love you.
[47:15] But I know that they are the words that you want to hear.
[47:18] So that's what I'm going to start saying.
[47:21] Don't we all have those tiffs over the dumbest, littlest, tiniest things in day?
[47:25] No, you've got to go that way.
[47:27] You've got to go this.
[47:27] And then later we go to Beck.
[47:29] Told you we were meant to fucking go that way.
[47:31] And then we're at each other.
[47:32] The good thing for us, though.
[47:33] I don't know why in human nature we have to be right.
[47:36] Yeah, I know.
[47:37] But it creates a bit of humour and stuff as well.
[47:39] We always laugh about, like,
[47:41] Later on, yeah.
[47:42] It's just... Well, no, even just straight after we'll laugh and go... Why are we having this stupid fight?
[47:46] But what we don't argue over since being with Infinity, having the team and having the structure, is about finances.
[47:54] And there was always stress and arguments and disagreements about what we're doing financially.
[48:01] And you mentioned it before, too, you think...
[48:03] Every human being on the planet has a different way to process and think and communicate and receive communication.
[48:11] Yeah.
[48:12] That simple dialogue with Karen after seven, you're like, oh, okay.
[48:15] Yeah.
[48:16] So that whole, like, you don't want to have the tiff over it because you're all processing things at different levels.
[48:21] So having that third party to bounce it off.
[48:25] So I think I get it here.
[48:26] Well, I think I get it.
[48:27] It's not worth it.
[48:28] Okay, great.
[48:29] Now we're on the same page.
[48:30] Different levels of knowledge, same outcome.
[48:32] Yeah.
[48:32] Just how it comes through.
[48:34] But in terms of in the next five years to be absolutely open, I'd love to have some really cool skills in AI.
[48:47] But the other thing that I want to do is get back to Africa and do some community development stuff.
[48:54] We met some people who have come from fucking nothing and have made their way and they want to bring their community with them.
[49:04] And this is talking about...
[49:07] girls who drop out of school at 12 and 13 because once they reach puberty, it's a thing of shame to go to school.
[49:17] They don't have women's hygiene products.
[49:22] Just families that can't afford to send their kids to school.
[49:27] No buildings.
[49:28] They're sitting on stones and logs and...
[49:32] So, yeah, we saw the impact that it has when you've got these organisations that are providing that as opposed to the communities that don't have it.
[49:42] It's light years apart.
[49:44] Yeah.
[49:44] And we didn't do a – like we did a beautiful holiday, my part, which was planned and organised and Stephen's wasn't.
[49:52] Yeah.
[49:53] But we just got to see places that were not off the beaten track.
[49:58] That were off the beaten track.
[49:59] And it was just, yeah, life-changing.
[50:03] But I think just to make a difference to people is something that we have always done in different ways, whether it was when Stephen was mayor...
[50:13] Sometimes I just...
[50:14] I don't know why we come up with these ideas, but I decided once to cook for all the residents of the aged care facilities, and I'd cook them Christmas puddings every year until they changed the rules about... Food handling.
[50:26] Food handling and things like that.
[50:28] But just always trying to give back and to do...
[50:31] something whether it's big or small that makes an impact to someone's life and sometimes they don't even know that it's us and i think that's the coolest part is when people don't know that you're doing something that's one of the two reasons i love the kmart salvo thing is because one i got presents from there as a kid for mom and i and welfare and bills paid but two every christmas i get to wake up and think
[50:56] All those random little boys and girls and Tina that I'll never meet, I'll never know, but there are little Graham out there that get those presents that day.
[51:03] That shit fucking like, it's like a drug.
[51:06] Yeah.
[51:06] It's really cool.
[51:07] And it's nice to teach other people that joy of giving and...
[51:13] I did it earlier on in the year.
[51:14] There was a single mum at the gym.
[51:17] And so I paid another lady at the gym who's a photographer.
[51:21] You'd see a photo shoot, yeah.
[51:22] Yeah, to do a photo shoot.
[51:24] And this person will never know.
[51:25] Yeah.
[51:26] She was just given it.
[51:27] And the photographer said, I can't believe you'd do that.
[51:30] And I'm like, it's not a big thing.
[51:32] Yeah.
[51:33] But...
[51:33] She had never seen that someone was willing to give something unconditionally.
[51:38] And I hope that stays with her, that she remembers...
[51:41] There's a time she can pay it forward.
[51:43] She can pay it forward.
[51:44] Because it's those things that do make such a difference in people's lives.
[51:49] Yeah.
[51:49] And also provide fulfilment in your own heart.
[51:51] Yeah.
[51:52] Yeah.
[51:52] Yeah.
[51:53] Yeah, it's interesting these days besides the people doing it and filming it on social media for whatever purpose.
[51:58] Like when I get coffee and stuff, I tend to just say, oh, hey, just here's 20 bucks for whatever the next person orders or 10 might pay for their coffee or something.
[52:06] What?
[52:06] And they look at you so fucking weird.
[52:08] Like it's so – especially when you're not filming it.
[52:10] All these people are like –
[52:12] Just whatever the people behind me ought, you know.
[52:14] Or you tip them.
[52:15] Like I remember Christmas holidays we had all our family.
[52:17] We went to the local cafe.
[52:19] And I'm like, oh, 80 bucks or something.
[52:21] I said, oh, can you make it 200?
[52:22] And they're like, what do you mean?
[52:24] I said, just put 200 bucks through the till.
[52:26] And they're like, oh, and I said, just Merry Christmas.
[52:28] And they just look at you like you're a fucking weirdo.
[52:30] Can you remember back when we were living in Mount Gambier, we decided that every – I think we had to change the days because we –
[52:40] We got the day wrong of what day payments came through from the government, but every Thursday we would go to the supermarket and find someone randomly and then just pay their groceries.
[52:50] Groceries, yeah.
[52:51] I did that for a spell, yeah.
[52:52] On Centrelink Day.
[52:54] Yeah.
[52:54] Correct.
[52:55] Yeah, because you know that they're shopping.
[52:56] Yeah, and it was like we just did things like that and have always done, not necessarily, it might not be a monetary thing, it might be.
[53:03] Yeah, it doesn't have to be.
[53:04] It could be volunteering or doing anything.
[53:06] Correct.
[53:06] The other thing is I'd also, I always like to, and I learnt this from the CEO at Council, you know, I'm 27 when I become mayor or something like that, and this guy had worked for a lifetime in local government and he was from Mount Gambier, he had come up from a,
[53:21] from a junior clerk all the way to CEO and had a hell of a lot of experience.
[53:25] And his approach was, you know, you should always be willing to help people that are willing to help themselves.
[53:32] So if someone came to the council wanting a grant, it was like, well, OK, what are you putting on the table?
[53:37] What are you at least contributing before you ask us for thousands of dollars?
[53:41] So, and this is in a small way, but the people that are out on the street selling the big issue, lots of challenges in life, whatever they are, but they're willing to actually do some work.
[53:53] Hard work, stand there all day getting no.
[53:55] Yep.
[53:57] So there's a guy, Rhys, who stands down the street in the main street where we live.
[54:04] And sometimes I buy him a coffee and just stand up and chat with him for 10 minutes as well as grab the big issue.
[54:09] And our daughters, you know, they do the same thing when they're out and about.
[54:13] If they see someone selling it, it's five bucks.
[54:17] I think we've lost a lot of kindness.
[54:19] You probably sent it on socials a night or two ago.
[54:21] This guy carrying on one of our posts.
[54:24] I go to my Instagram and have a look.
[54:26] And this guy commented and said, oh, what have you done for humanity except fill your pockets or something?
[54:32] I have responded to that.
[54:33] So what I did was I post our number one corporate partner just for...
[54:39] so kmart salvos you know 10 000 presents million bucks raised number one in australia is a 10 percent of the funds raised across two countries and i tagged him in it and put his comment there and i actually genuinely responded to all of his things before he blocked me and said well here's what we did for this here's the dv stuff we do here's the like it was a genuine response at first and then he just abused me ah typical communism so like all the and i'm like
[55:05] I said, man, I'm just answering your question.
[55:07] If you've embarrassed yourself now because you've got an answer of all the things I do for humanity and it's not all, here's just a short list worth about $5 million last year alone.
[55:16] And then that's, oh, typical commercial, money, money.
[55:19] And it's like...
[55:20] And now what's funny too is a client messaged him and said, hey, he trains at my gym.
[55:24] So I'm going to make sure I wear my infinity shirt, hat and hoodie every single day.
[55:29] Just as a reminder.
[55:30] But the funny thing is if he sends me a message and says, mate, I was out of line, I didn't realise you do so much for society and as a community, I apologise, I'll take it down.
[55:38] But now I'm thinking about running a paid ad and spending a couple of hundred grand and putting him on blast.
[55:42] Yeah.
[55:44] I think we've lost accountability in society.
[55:46] Yeah.
[55:46] It costs nothing to be nice.
[55:48] But if you're going to be a fuckwit, own it.
[55:52] Or learn from it and go, you know what, maybe I need to look.
[55:55] And again, no hate, no attack, nothing ever comes from above or parallel.
[56:00] It's always somebody beneath.
[56:02] Yeah.
[56:02] It's always somebody who wants to be in your position or is jealous of your position.
[56:06] That's a big issue in Australia.
[56:07] But hopefully time will change.
[56:10] But I think if you're involved in infinity, you just cannot help but to be a good person.
[56:16] You're surrounded by good people.
[56:17] That's what I said to people when I posted, don't attack this guy, but hey, anyone want to share what they do for society and humanity?
[56:24] Because it is like it's a flow on effect.
[56:27] We see how generous you are and they're random things.
[56:32] Quite often you'll just pluck someone or you'll hear a story and then next minute you're doing something and it's like...
[56:40] It's that generosity that we all take on in different ways of our lives.
[56:45] But we all, I think, are better people.
[56:48] It's a buzz.
[56:49] And are mindful of it.
[56:50] Yeah, it's a buzz.
[56:51] I mean, go stick your money in the pokies or if you've got spare money to burn, you could donate to someone doing it tough.
[56:56] Yeah.
[56:57] Could be a set of fucking footy boots for a single parent's son or daughter or whatever, school, back to school gear.
[57:02] Yeah.
[57:03] There's so many things people can do and people think it's monetary and it's not.
[57:09] Money is a resource and a tool.
[57:11] And that's the thing.
[57:12] It allows you to do or assist with everything else, whether it's medical or charitable or personal, whatever the fuck it is.
[57:20] Once you get that tool or resource down, Pat, it opens up a lot of doors.
[57:24] That adage that you're the average of the five people that you spend the most time with, we see that in our own lives because we've made a lot of great connections within infinity
[57:37] people who are now really good friends.
[57:41] And the more time you spend in contact with those people, the more you seem to gravitate to the ideas that we're all talking about and you leave that bullshit behind.
[57:51] Yeah, like-minded people like things.
[57:54] They like the same things.
[57:55] So, hey, so...
[57:58] eight properties, paid the house off, moving to a different state, new jobs.
[58:03] Sounds good, doesn't it?
[58:05] Sounds pretty good to me.
[58:06] It sounds as wild as my life any day of the week.
[58:09] In three years, I'd, yeah, like if you'd asked us three years ago, where would you be?
[58:15] We would, there's no way we would be in this position without the guidance and support.
[58:22] It's phenomenal.
[58:24] Well, what tips would you give for somebody at home that's like, fuck, I can't afford this company or no one can have, there's plenty of basic versions, there's plenty of resources in the world.
[58:36] What tips would you give somebody at home that's struggling right now?
[58:38] Electricity's through the roof, food's through the roof, fuel's through the roof, interest rates are on the up and up, the market's going to get tough.
[58:46] I keep warning people, we're probably going to head for a recession soon.
[58:49] We're going to have a shit one or two years.
[58:51] Yeah.
[58:51] Mm-hmm.
[58:51] Maybe more.
[58:53] But you've got to have the skin thick enough to get through that as well.
[58:56] We talked about this, didn't we?
[58:58] Yeah, you go.
[58:59] Yeah.
[59:00] And we probably think the one thing that has remained pretty constant is to have a budget.
[59:06] Yeah.
[59:06] And just be mindful of what is your goal?
[59:11] What is the big picture?
[59:14] Yeah, mine was a little bit extreme.
[59:16] Did you say that's from 2003?
[59:17] 2003.
[59:17] Have a look.
[59:17] No, you might not.
[59:24] That was upside down.
[59:25] And live within your means.
[59:28] You don't need to have the same as your mate or your neighbour.
[59:32] I was going to say, there's a pram in here.
[59:33] Yeah, there was a pram.
[59:35] Pram and Christmas tree, vehicle services, water.
[59:39] This is some old school budgeting, by the way, Jamie.
[59:41] I know.
[59:42] Waxing for a year was $250.
[59:44] That was a bargain.
[59:46] That was a bargain.
[59:48] Naturopath.
[59:50] Lawns.
[59:51] Jeez, look at this shit.
[59:53] Lotto.
[59:54] Yeah, we might have to get rid of that one.
[59:58] Clothes for everyone for the year.
[1:00:04] What's this kinky stand-up on his shirt?
[1:00:07] I didn't actually read the whole lot.
[1:00:12] Oops.
[1:00:13] But I think live within your means.
[1:00:15] Yeah.
[1:00:15] Try not to keep up with your neighbours.
[1:00:17] Try to just be realistic.
[1:00:21] That's a huge thing because lots of people think that you have to have flashy things and you have to have nice cars.
[1:00:28] But what's really important?
[1:00:31] memories, moments, experiences with your family, things that will never leave your mind.
[1:00:36] Those basic things, Graeme, budgeting like Jamie said, batch cooking, look at all your bills.
[1:00:43] Like we've just recently had a look at our mobile phone plans and so that's going to save us a couple of hundred dollars.
[1:00:52] When we shop, we're always shopping with a plan.
[1:00:55] We stick to our shopping list.
[1:00:57] We have a – we batch cook so we've got the – you know, we know what we need.
[1:01:01] We're still too old-fashioned for click and collect.
[1:01:04] I can't do that.
[1:01:06] Can I?
[1:01:07] Yeah.
[1:01:08] I'm a touchy-feely.
[1:01:09] I've got a shock horror for you.
[1:01:11] When I moved to Queensland and I love it, I come from Sydney, hustle and bustle, right?
[1:01:15] Like I'm getting dinner at 10 o'clock at night when I leave the office.
[1:01:18] I didn't realise that they take two hours to watch 60 minutes.
[1:01:22] They slow down to merge.
[1:01:23] Like it's 110, they drop to 60 to merge.
[1:01:25] They don't put their foot down, they slow down to merge.
[1:01:27] That's what creates traffic.
[1:01:29] And Woolies and Coals shuts at like 6, 6.30.
[1:01:33] So I remember Beck and I moved to Hope Island.
[1:01:35] We went to go to Coals.
[1:01:36] It was like 7 o'clock and it was fucking shut.
[1:01:38] Yeah.
[1:01:39] So you prepare yourself.
[1:01:41] And it's the most beautiful part.
[1:01:44] It's just everyone's up early here.
[1:01:46] I remember we first moved and I woke up and Beck was like, what's the most?
[1:01:49] She's been awake for hours.
[1:01:50] The sun came up.
[1:01:51] I thought the sun's up early.
[1:01:55] Everyone here's up at 5, 5.30.
[1:01:57] They're all doing their morning walk or their gym and their mocha chocolate and smoothie.
[1:02:03] And they're up early.
[1:02:04] But then everyone's in bed really early.
[1:02:06] And he stops.
[1:02:07] It's like, okay, so be prepared.
[1:02:09] Yeah.
[1:02:10] Alright, I might try it.
[1:02:12] But we always have a list and mark it off as we go.
[1:02:15] And we do simple things like we'll buy a whole chook.
[1:02:17] Instead of buying, you can buy a whole chook for about $2 more than you buy a pair of breasts.
[1:02:22] Yeah.
[1:02:23] So buy a whole chook.
[1:02:24] Don't have to buy a pair of breasts, but you know.
[1:02:26] Some breasts are more expensive, you know, depending on...
[1:02:29] Those implants.
[1:02:30] But if... Have you got some?
[1:02:33] Not yet.
[1:02:35] The... What I was trying to say fucking got me right off track is... Get a whole chook instead of... We'll buy a whole chook and cook it.
[1:02:43] Or get your knife out and butcher it down.
[1:02:45] And then you've got five mils instead of just... Oh, I don't have time for that.
[1:02:48] I'm too busy.
[1:02:49] Yeah, everyone has.
[1:02:51] Everyone's just so fucking busy being busy, right?
[1:02:55] And they're busy because they go to the shops, they get a lunch break and they walk somewhere and buy takeaway.
[1:03:00] They're all busy because they're fucking not organised.
[1:03:02] Yeah, exactly right.
[1:03:03] It's like anyone used to have the utmost respect for people I see that are fit and healthy because I know they are regimented with their meals, with their training, with their time, their respect for everything they're doing, right?
[1:03:16] And like when you make a meal, you do a casserole, put a couple of spare serves in the freezer.
[1:03:22] So when you have the rough day and you're late, instead of it being a hassle, it's, you know, it's bottled out, chugging it in the microwave.
[1:03:30] But I think the key thing, aside from all of those small things that are important…
[1:03:35] is what we've learnt is that hard work's not enough.
[1:03:39] You can work as hard as you want if you're not disciplined, if you don't value it, if you don't have the plan, you don't have the structure and the advice around you.
[1:03:48] Hard work alone won't get in.
[1:03:50] You can't outrun a poor diet and you can't outwork a shit budget or not having a budget.
[1:03:56] It's true.
[1:03:57] It's true.
[1:03:58] Well, watch this space because it's going to be the last client podcast you guys get to do.
[1:04:02] So we'll see where this goes.
[1:04:05] What do you want to pick my brain on before we go, seeing as you've got me live for the final time?
[1:04:09] Oh, gosh.
[1:04:10] Yeah.
[1:04:11] We'd forgotten that part, hadn't we?
[1:04:13] No, I hadn't.
[1:04:13] I actually came in on Tegan.
[1:04:14] No, I don't have any questions for Graeme, actually.
[1:04:17] Okay.
[1:04:17] Yeah.
[1:04:18] Unless you want me to come up with just really stupid shit.
[1:04:21] No.
[1:04:22] I mean, I'm doing my job if you don't have any questions for me.
[1:04:25] Everyone's, oh, what's going on overseas?
[1:04:27] And what about this?
[1:04:27] And what about that?
[1:04:29] And I'm like, if people, I mean, even the community seat, I've sort of gone from the driver's seat to the passenger seat to the back seat.
[1:04:36] Hopefully I'll be in the back row of the minivan soon.
[1:04:38] And there's, you know, Rachel's doing her thing.
[1:04:41] And we can see that aggression, but it's seamless.
[1:04:45] Yeah, it's just slowly, but I just slowly pull myself out.
[1:04:48] And there's another eight Rachels in training, which is really cool soon to see other people do it.
[1:04:53] So, yeah, just slowly but surely.
[1:04:55] But, no, if you don't have anything to ask, it means we're doing our job well.
[1:04:59] Correct.
[1:05:00] And I think we're that comfortable within it that I'm out of questions.
[1:05:06] Well, welcome to Infinity.
[1:05:07] Thank you.
[1:05:08] You can't wait.
[1:05:09] Well, congratulations, guys, and thanks for sharing again.
[1:05:13] Why are you looking at me like that?
[1:05:15] I was going to wait.
[1:05:17] Give me a big kiss.
[1:05:18] Oh, look at that.
[1:05:19] Come here, Steve.
[1:05:20] Well done, guys.
[1:05:21] Thanks for sharing.
[1:05:22] Thank you.
[1:05:23] Thanks, mate.
[1:05:25] You're fucking gone.
[1:05:26] See you.

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