Hey guys,
Have been flat out with work all day and have flown into Melbourne for two days for work and dead tired, but I thought I'd share a bit more with you guys.
I don't blog, I have never opened Facebook, I never chat, I've never entered into forums, I don't You Tube.......... so this is the first time I've been in such a forum.
Thanks RedWing for opening my eyes.
To continue, I don't drink, I don't smoke and I don't take drugs...... How boring I am you must think?
Well, I do love my sports though and I can talk about AFL (my beloved Hawks aren't faring well), Golf (Tiger is human after all), Tennis (Australia needs to focus more on youths) and Soccer (heading over to watch the Socceroos play in South Africa) all day pretty much.
But in working full time, keeping an eye out for property investing opportunities, looking after my two girls and two teenage nephews as well and my curtain business (which I set up on the side), I simply don't have the time to do much these days................
Anyway, you're thinking where am I heading with all of this. Well it's simple, life is simply too short and if you don't make the most of it whilst you can, you might look back in the future and say to yourself, why didn't I give that a go.
What I have done, others can do (and I know of many many others that have done even better). There are no magic tricks or secrets. It's all about educating yourself, networking with like minded people and actually taking ACTION. It's taking action which alot of people are hesitant with. Understandbly taking on a debt of $500,000 is scary to the majority of the population. But try telling that to the likes of James Packer. If he can't take on more debt, how can he build his empire??
I'm sure everyone here knows the difference between good vs bad debt. As long as the banks allow me to borrow more and I'm able to service the loans, then give me good debt anyday
Just to give a bit more of a context about my situation:
* Prior to 2002 when I married, I had worked in Australia and Japan, I had saved nothing. I spent it all traveling and just enjoying myself pretty much.
* I lived at home with my folks who weren't rich at all. My mother was a teacher and my father a social worker. Like my story, they came here to Australia with nothing but the clothes on their back.
* But the penny did not even drop for me at all during the time living with my folks. I was living at home for FREE and I thought I had it made!
* After I got married, my wage was $37,000pa and my wife was pregnant with our first child. But she still found work prior to giving birth and was able to work a couple of months before taking leave without pay (as she didn't have enough entitlements for maternity leave).
* Her salary was slightly better than mine at $48,000. Was I jealous, no way. As long as we both were working, we knew we could make ends meet.
* So yes, our combine salaries were pretty decent back in 2003, but it's no where near the $200k combine salary someone mentioned.
* Our salaries have increased naturally over the years because we have both found opportunities to advance to the next level. But still not near the combine $200k.
* Not only do we look after our two young girls but we have also sponsored two of my wifes teenage nephews (15 & 17) as well. They both weren't going anywhere back in Vietnam, so we thought, we'd give them an opportunity to study here and be able to turn their lives around.
Actually, I'm more of a speaker than a writer, because once I write, I can be here all night.
What I'm trying to convey is that there are a million ways to make money. For me, I've found property investing one of the best and proven methods and one which we are comfortable with. Now with our curtain business established and having signed a contract with a large developer in Melbourne, this would then allow us to have more cash to continue doing what we enjoy. Buying more properties.
Another aspect is development which we are in the progress of writing a legal agreement to do with a builder up in Queensland. You put out the cash and hold it in a fixed term deposit in your name and it's used as security for the builder to seek finance. He builds, you do nothing and you work out the splits with him. He's got heaps of projects on the go and I have recommended some of my friends who are interested to give this a go.... It's called being a passive developer. The good thing is that as a builder, he does everything himself (as compared to a developer who will need to hire a builder).
Another aspect is Propert Options, which I believe was mentioned earlier. This is very powerful indeed, but you need the right tools to find these deals. I've subscribed with RP Data at $3000pa, but it's one tool which will allow me to identify perfect sites to proposition owners to take on an Option. This is how Donald Trump made his billions. Controlling the asset is the way to go as compared to owning them. There's absolutely no risk in it whatsoever. But it is damn time consuming indeed. But I'm training my nephews to spot the right location for me and giving them a finders fee.... So they don't mind the time and effort in slogging it out and doing the research.
Anyway, my point in all of this is, I'm not doing all of this to become rich. Money means nothing if you don't have a loving family, stay fit and healthy, have good friends and enjoy life. I'm doing all of this, because I want to. The benefits are clearly there and alot of time and effort have been put in to get things started.
Success to me is taking my family and kids on holiday's as often as we can. That's when you're able to not think about anything and enjoying every bit of time with them.
Success to me is being able to shout my parents a round the world trip and visit my sister in the States on the way. They have worked so hard to give us kids the best education we can so we can fend for ourselves.
Success to me is to live an honest and humble life whereby, you don't judge others but respect everyone in their own right.
But most importantly, success is about giving back. Helping our nephews and also donating to the poor whenever we go back to Vietnam gives us a fantastic feeling. And we never ever want anything in return. And as per my article, I'm more than happy to help others with their investment journey by offering my opinion or assistance in some way.
Anyway, it's nearly 1am and I have to give a presentation at work tomorrow at 9am. Staying with my cousin in Caulfield and not looking forward to catching a jam packed train into the city....... That's why living in Canberra makes getting around alot easier!
I guess I've written pretty much everything here and have bored the beejesus out of everyone so I'll call it a night.
Take it easy guys.
Quyen
