Accomplishments over 10 years..

[Rickardo]

Hi all,

I was recently doing some reflecting around the end of the financial year and realised I have been on Somersoft over 10 years. It certainly doesn't feel that long, but sometimes it's nice to look back and see what you've accomplished. The highlights for me have included:

• Started reading, learning about and getting passionate about investments and mindset
• Worked and saved my way through uni, built up a share portfolio and sold most to purchase my first property at age 22
• Worked full time for 8 years and slowly built up a property portfolio with a gross value close to $2,000,000
• Continued to learn about investment to a level where I think I have a financial intelligence well above the general population

I did all this while keeping a pretty good balance with other aspects of my life, I've never let investment consume my decisions to the point where I feel like I haven't lived. I've travelled extensively to over 15 counties, owned a nice car, and just generally always enjoyed a good life. I feel happy with where i'm at, and while I don't necessarily feel much happier now I have a bit more wealth, I take comfort in the fact that eventually i'll have the choice of whether I continue in paid employment or not.

I don't think i'm particularly intelligent or gifted, no more than anyone else, but I've just made a conscious effort to make good financial decisions that will dramatically improve my life in the future. I've tried to block out the noise, avoided taking advice from those who haven't invested themselves, and just generally gotten on with my plan to accumulate properties.

The support I've gained from books, speaking to other investors and especially reading this forum has been invaluable. I'm excited about the possibilities of the future and hope to look back on this thread in another 10 years and see just how far I've come.

So thank you to all the posters here for helping me along my way. Does anyone else have a similar story to share?

 

[mikezen]

Hi all,

I was recently doing some reflecting around the end of the financial year and realised I have been on Somersoft over 10 years. It certainly doesn't feel that long, but sometimes it's nice to look back and see what you've accomplished. The highlights for me have included:

• Started reading, learning about and getting passionate about investments and mindset
• Worked and saved my way through uni, built up a share portfolio and sold most to purchase my first property at age 22
• Worked full time for 8 years and slowly built up a property portfolio with a gross value close to $2,000,000
• Continued to learn about investment to a level where I think I have a financial intelligence well above the general population

I did all this while keeping a pretty good balance with other aspects of my life, I've never let investment consume my decisions to the point where I feel like I haven't lived. I've travelled extensively to over 15 counties, owned a nice car, and just generally always enjoyed a good life. I feel happy with where i'm at, and while I don't necessarily feel much happier now I have a bit more wealth, I take comfort in the fact that eventually i'll have the choice of whether I continue in paid employment or not.

I don't think i'm particularly intelligent or gifted, no more than anyone else, but I've just made a conscious effort to make good financial decisions that will dramatically improve my life in the future. I've tried to block out the noise, avoided taking advice from those who haven't invested themselves, and just generally gotten on with my plan to accumulate properties.

The support I've gained from books, speaking to other investors and especially reading this forum has been invaluable. I'm excited about the possibilities of the future and hope to look back on this thread in another 10 years and see just how far I've come.

So thank you to all the posters here for helping me along my way. Does anyone else have a similar story to share?

Hi there, im interested to know how many of your 8 properties have doubled over the last 8 years or come close?

Well done btw

 

[Rickardo]

Hi mikizen,

I do not have 8 properties (yet) however the best growth I've seen so far is around 60% from the property I purchased 6 years ago. The majority of my portfolio growth will come in next 5-10 years (assuming a growth rate of 5% plus)

 

[westminster]

Hi all,

I was recently doing some reflecting around the end of the financial year and realised I have been on Somersoft over 10 years. It certainly doesn't feel that long, but sometimes it's nice to look back and see what you've accomplished. The highlights for me have included:

• Started reading, learning about and getting passionate about investments and mindset
• Worked and saved my way through uni, built up a share portfolio and sold most to purchase my first property at age 22
• Worked full time for 8 years and slowly built up a property portfolio with a gross value close to $2,000,000
• Continued to learn about investment to a level where I think I have a financial intelligence well above the general population

I did all this while keeping a pretty good balance with other aspects of my life, I've never let investment consume my decisions to the point where I feel like I haven't lived. I've travelled extensively to over 15 counties, owned a nice car, and just generally always enjoyed a good life. I feel happy with where i'm at, and while I don't necessarily feel much happier now I have a bit more wealth, I take comfort in the fact that eventually i'll have the choice of whether I continue in paid employment or not.

I don't think i'm particularly intelligent or gifted, no more than anyone else, but I've just made a conscious effort to make good financial decisions that will dramatically improve my life in the future. I've tried to block out the noise, avoided taking advice from those who haven't invested themselves, and just generally gotten on with my plan to accumulate properties.

The support I've gained from books, speaking to other investors and especially reading this forum has been invaluable. I'm excited about the possibilities of the future and hope to look back on this thread in another 10 years and see just how far I've come.

So thank you to all the posters here for helping me along my way. Does anyone else have a similar story to share?

Kudos for starting early.
I bought my first IP at 23 but then got sidetracked by PPOR and kids.
I'm now about 5yrs into my new journey and in the middle of an intensive phase which is messy (going from 3 IPs to 10) in the space of 18mths.
Come the end of 2014 it should be clearer - but I'd say I'll just be adding more to the mix

 

[BayView]

3 kids.
3 years in USA
Passed 15 years marriage (20 next March)
Bought 5 IPs (and sold 4 )
Renoed and sold PPoR no.4
Built PPoR no.5
Bought a business
Destroyed about 70% of my liver.

 

[spludgey]

30 now and not as far in investing as I would have liked to be, but here are my accomplishments over the past 10 years:

• Uni degree
• Got a job that I don't mind (comes with RDOs)
• Got 3 IPs and buying a 4th.
• Most importantly: got myself a girlfriend that's totally awesome

 

[Hados]

Turning 28 in 2 months

Bought first PPOR when I was 18 with former girlfriend. Broke up and sold my share of the house to her.
Bought another PPOR by myself around 22 years old.
Bought 2 IP's since.
Got engaged 2 years ago and married this year
Bought an IP together and moved into my wife's PPOR

Total of 5 properties together and on the lookout for something in another state to avoid land tax.

Planning a family in the near future so started a second job 6 months ago- See less of my wife now than I did before we were married lol

 

[atti]

Turning 30

Bought first PPOR when I was 21
Bought another PPOR by myself around 27 years old.
Looking for another one this year.

Can probably retire on rental incomes from all 3 and let the wife work, i focus on part-time job, health and drop the wealth part for inflation and gdp to do the rest, hold on to thought of sports car for 10 years will get one at 31!!!

i dont to want headache of more money more worries just focus on paying off all debts and living the life that i planned for.

 

[josko]

My grestest accomplishment over the past ten years (apart from the addition of two children), would undoubtably be this:

Being able to financially and emotionally survive one of the most stressful financial periods of my life.

Something of which I hope to never experience again.

JO

 

[josko]

On a much lighter note though:

I did manage to refrain from vomiting after beating my PB in a 12km run without any training!

Now THAT's worth mentioning

JO

 

[investor2009]

Good ta' see you back Jo!

Past 10 years (going on 10 pretty soon, it's been about 8 years so far)
In the beginning, was living in a shack and bought a unit to rent out
Bought another, while living with friends and drinking lots (these were my batchelor years) Bought another, bought another and then moved into one with my now Wife. Sold one and bought a nice one to live in. Rents are getting better so easier to hold onto these days.

Whats changed>? We've started going overseas every year now, well, multiple times! Seems we've caught the bug. We now want to start living more and the Wife is about to take a few months off work and then go into part time employment. Which is quite a milestone for us, it's finally happening! So money isn't so much a worry anymore and we know that the IP's are doing the hard work for us while my Boss rents his accomodation while trying to save for a house and working weekends. He's too busy to make money. Which is something I learned not to do many years ago. So after 20 years full time work the Wife can semi retire at age 37. I will continue to work to pay the mortgage and keep us afloat for now. Then we sell the IP's to pay out our PPOR and start investing again but this time commercial with a positive cash-flow.

This may not sound all that great a feat to some, but to us it really is. Our PPOR is quite expensive and to be able to semi retire already is actually pretty good compared to most. Especially since it will be mortgage free in a few years time.

As Robert. K says "You are financially free when your income exceeds your expenses" Good enough for me. Investing has always been about buying time for me. I could be free already, but would not have my own house to live in.. There's a pretty big difference.

 

[DaveM]

I am 34 and I guess mine would be

* Left working for large corporates and started my own business... I have had ~50% growth year on year for the past 5 years and now have 6 staff + subcontractors

* Built and grown IP portfolio to be CF+ enough to pay a sizeable chunk of my PPOR mortgage each month

* Rescued 3 pets from shelters and have 2 happy moggies and 1 very happy siberian husky

* Joined Somersoft

 

[MTR]

I am 34 and I guess mine would be

* Left working for large corporates and started my own business... I have had ~50% growth year on year for the past 5 years and now have 6 staff + subcontractors

* Built and grown IP portfolio to be CF+ enough to pay a sizeable chunk of my PPOR mortgage each month

* Rescued 3 pets from shelters and have 2 happy moggies and 1 very happy siberian husky

* Joined Somersoft

Rescued 3 pets, I like all but that one the most

 

[tang]

im 25
working in property since high school
bought my first property right after high school
bough another property a year later
sold the second one at 45% growth
accumulated bad debt...
stalled..
finished property degree and diploma
pondering bad financial decisions...
reducing bad debt level.
sitting here at work contemplating next move

 

[VYBerlinaV8]

I'm 37. In the last ten years I:
* had two wondeful children
* travelled around the world twice, and went on 4 other major trips OS
* worked hard enough, and smart enough, to go from being a graduate to having my dream job
* learnt to play the guitar, and now play regularly
* indulged my love of fast cars
* bought 8 IPs
* became a millionaire twice over

 

[devank]

I'm 37. In the last ten years I:
* had two wondeful children
* travelled around the world twice, and went on 4 other major trips OS
* worked hard enough, and smart enough, to go from being a graduate to having my dream job
* learnt to play the guitar, and now play regularly
* indulged my love of fast cars
* bought 8 IPs
* became a millionaire twice over

wow.. that is a massive achievement! Would you mind expanding on last two points?

 

[Fifth]

Rescued 3 pets, I like all but that one the most

I was going to type the exact same thing!

 

[cimbom]

I'm 27 (turning 28 in September). Not as exciting but in the last 10 years I:

- Finished uni
- Met my now husband and have been together for 6 years
- Went through and fully recovered from major spinal surgery
- Have worked in several really interesting positions that I thought would be difficult to get for someone with my background
- Got married (have been married for 2.5 years)
- Moved interstate
- Got a permanent job that I really enjoy
- Have been overseas twice and planning a big trip for next year
- Completed a post-grad qualification
- Purchased our first IP
- Just purchased our first PPOR
- About to start my own business

 

[Propagate]

I'm 37.

In the last ten years...

..at age 27 - renovated and extended our house (UK)

27 - 29 - did bugger all apart from work hard for someone else for 70 ours a week, waste all my overtime money on cars and beer, looked for "get rich quick" schemes and help support my partner through her Masters degree, (part time in addition to her working full time).

at 29 - we decided we were bored of the daily,"normal" life so applied for an Australian residency visa. Why not? we thought.

at 31 - after almost 2 years of jumping through hoops and taking medicals, we were granted Australian PR visas and immediately panicked, (we didn't expect to get them deep down, and now we had them we weren't sure we could go through with it! Emigrating was something 'other people', exciting go-getter type people did, not what a working class lad from the north of England did). We had nice lives, a nice house, good jobs and great friends and family. In short, we were comfortable (boring).

at age 31 - talked to one of my mums friends that has known me forever, we were sat on her couch in the same house she'd been in for 40 years. She looked at me and said "I remember when your mum sat there 30 years ago and told me she was pregnant with you" and "I wish we'd had the opportunity to move overseas and experience something when we were young enough". I came home and asked Emma what she thought we'd achieved the last 7 years, (since buying the house we were in at the time), we realized that although we were comfortable, but the years were just whizzing past with nothing really happening in them, and there was a very real possibility wed still be sat on our couch in 23 years time saying the exact same thing my mums friend had just said to me.

...we put the cars into the classifieds, handed our notices in at work, got the house ready to rent out and booked a one-way ticket to Australia via the USA, stopping in at Boston, NY, Philly, DC, Vegas, Death Valley, Yosemite, LA, San Fran, Lima, trekked in the Amazon Jungle, hiked through the Andes to Machu Pichu, checked out north & south NZ and landed in Melbourne a couple of months later with no more than a 30kg bag of luggage between us and a few dollars in our pockets and a head full of amazing memories. More memories were made in those two months that the sum of all the years we'd been togteher beforehand.

What a feeling that was, to go from years and years of mundane normality to crossing the states and have a huge adventure, then landing on the other side of the planet to start a completely new life! It was insane, awesome, exciting...

age 33 - bought land, built a modern house as that was something we could never have done in the UK and moved jobs.

age 34 - sold the house, long story, but we were only in for 6 month. It just wasn't us.

age 35 - went from the modern house to a 100 year old Federation Weatherboard and lost my new job, (company went bust owing me holiday pay, wages and super). Started another job and a massive house renovation, essentially stripped the guts of the house, replacing a lot of rotten timber and a whole new floor.

...meanwhile, Emma was busy doing great things at her work and rapidly rising up throughout the ranks....

Cut to now. Settled on out first proper IP last month, finance in place for the next IP, (when we find it). Both going well at work and looking forward to my folks coming out to visit next Feb.

On the one hand we're kind of back to where we were at age 27, settled and wondering if this is us for the rest of our lives. Although happy, it's also quite scary. Until we left the UK I'd lived in the same street all my life and never EVER thought I'd move away, let alone to another country. Jumping out of our comfort zones to do that and give it a go was such an eye opener, the experience of forging a whole new life and the adventures you have along the way is priceless....so much so that you sometimes want to replicate that feeling again. Tough to do now, too big of a risk...maybe if our new Western Sydney IP rockets ten fold in the next 2 years then yeah, otherwise, who knows what the next 10 years will bring? Perhaps a visit back to the Motherland wouldn't go amiss, seeing as we haven't been back since we left over 6 years ago...not bad going for a home-boy that never left his suburb for 30 years.

The worst parts of the last 10 years...and being so far from "home", missing your brother have his first child, missing your friends and family and not being there when your own friends and family pass away.

Tone, (still trying to get rich, finally taking steps to make it happen, and accepted it won't be 'quick').

 

[VYBerlinaV8]

wow.. that is a massive achievement! Would you mind expanding on last two points?

It's not as massive achievement as you might think. I have a very well paying job, and am married to a well paid woman, and we have used property primarily as a storehouse for wealth. That said, a few strategic buys and renovations have netted about $1.5M of that number, through reno for profit (but not sold), bought at a good price, natural price growth, etc. Some of that is due to fronting deposits ranging from 60k to 100k out of our back pocket.

After paying our loans and bills, it's not unusual for us to save $10k some months.