Hands up for those nearing Financial Freedom

Not really ?? Methinks you have no idea what you are talking about.

So enlighten us jackbak.....speaking from experience, how many hours does it take to own and manage a 12m portfolio ??

The beauty of a $12m property is you can outsource the leg work to someone else for a percentage of the income - the time you spend on it is entirely up to you. Try doing that with your 7 figure salary job. You're comparing apples and watermelons.
 
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hiya folks

would like to know who is approaching financial freedom say within 12 months?

i am at a stage where the light is getting brighter but not quite within 12 months for me. i'm struggling with keeping motivated going to work for someone. is there anyone in the same boat?

Great thread. I am not nearly as close as I'd like to be, however due to some significant redundancies happening in my workplace over the next 6 months, I have been doing some 'worst case scenario' analysis in case I was to become redundant.

When I take into account my current financial position, and project some conservative investment returns including rent / dividends / capital growth and assuming there are no catastrophic drops in the property / share market and I have no significant unplanned expenses, I have already potentially become financially independent of a full time job, just shy of 30 years old. I would still however have to perform some part time work (approx. 60-100 full time equivalent days) in my second job (which I enjoy).

My preference is to keep working full time, as it significantly increases my overall financial position but more importantly I enjoy the work. I have thought about what I would do if I lost my job, and it would probably involve finding another full time job (in a related but different field). I guess I'm just not ready to retire from employment, or maybe I'm just not really sure what else I'd do, or where my real passion outside of work lies. I think I'll need to consider these things much more in depth as my financial position improves further, but I just don't know at this point.

Anyway it's good to have these options, and while I'm sure I'd feel significant stress if I was to lose my job involuntarily at least it wouldn't destroy my life, unlike some colleagues who have a similar income, but spend most of it on lifestyle. This has really highlighted to me how much more flexible and resilient having an investment mindset can be.
 
It's nice to have passive income, but retire? No thanks.

Better off finding something you can work on yourself like a business that still gives you flexibility to come and go with low stress. That is the ideal situation to me, gives you something to do during the day, gives you an income but you do not necessarily have to be chained to it week in week out. I find just having the weekends off is plenty for me.

What would I do with myself every day if I retired around 40? Travelling for extended periods doesn't interest me and I have a young family so it is not an option anyway.
 
Better off finding something you can work on yourself like a business that still gives you flexibility to come and go with low stress. That is the ideal situation to me
That's the dream of many who start in business. The reality can be quite different.

After eight years in a business, I'm happy to be in employment. When I go home at night, that's the end of the day. I have my weekends to myself. I don't have business debt to service, people to employ, obligatory paperwork to keep up with.
 
That's the dream of many who start in business. The reality can be quite different.

After eight years in a business, I'm happy to be in employment. When I go home at night, that's the end of the day. I have my weekends to myself. I don't have business debt to service, people to employ, obligatory paperwork to keep up with.


It takes time to get it to that point and you may have to take a bit of an income hit in the process to cut down the time required to work on it but that is what I'm building towards. Ideally I want a business that requires less than 40 hours work a week and some good cash flow from my properties.

That gives you pretty much everything. Income, autonomy, freedom and the satisfaction that you are doing something productive with your time.
 
It takes time to get it to that point and you may have to take a bit of an income hit in the process to cut down the time required to work on it but that is what I'm building towards. Ideally I want a business that requires less than 40 hours work a week and some good cash flow from my properties.
Some people will get there, some won't- no matter how much time they're in the business. I was in my business for eight years. People with better skills than me were able to achieve that goal. Eight years was enough to show me that I never would.

I was drawing less than a checkout chick from the business. Some income from properties held things together. But the loan repayments over that time made things worth while financially when I sold.
 
Anything where you have to employ more than 1 or 2 people is difficult I have found. People in numbers require too much maintenance and are too stressful to make something passive or easy to manage unless you have extremely good margins on top of them and you can appoint someone to do the dirty work for you...then the person doing the dirty work leaves and you are back at square one anyway.
 
It's nice to have passive income, but retire? No thanks.
I think that universally the term "retire" refers to the 9-5 PAYE - or more specifically; the need to have to go to work.

I know a number of folks who are "retired" but still work because they enjoy the work they do.

One of these guys is the guy who did our blinds for our house. We know him through his wife, who was one of my golf pupils for a number of years back in the day.

He is retired by age, but still does a bit of the blinds work as pin money, and he also works part-time in one of the local golf course ProShops because he loves that too.
 
Anything where you have to employ more than 1 or 2 people is difficult I have found. People in numbers require too much maintenance and are too stressful to make something passive or easy to manage unless you have extremely good margins on top of them and you can appoint someone to do the dirty work for you...then the person doing the dirty work leaves and you are back at square one anyway.

Anything under 5 requires a lot of hands on management, but once you get 10+ staff the business should be able to afford a GM to run the business.
 
That's the dream of many who start in business. The reality can be quite different.

After eight years in a business, I'm happy to be in employment. When I go home at night, that's the end of the day. I have my weekends to myself. I don't have business debt to service, people to employ, obligatory paperwork to keep up with.

Thats how I feel, having been running a small business for about six years now. I will be keen to stop my small business once I reach my net worth goal. Then I would like to be a part time employee.
 
Anything under 5 requires a lot of hands on management, but once you get 10+ staff the business should be able to afford a GM to run the business.

If it wasnt for staff management I could work in small business for a lot longer. Human resource management create the biggest stress in any small business owner's life.
 
Anything under 5 requires a lot of hands on management, but once you get 10+ staff the business should be able to afford a GM to run the business.

Depends on the business. More employee's should but doesn't always = more profit which would allow you to take on more help. A lot of the time you end up having to babysit the baby sitters. I know all about it I had 25 at one stage. NEVER AGAIN.
 
hiya folks

would like to know who is approaching financial freedom say within 12 months?

i am at a stage where the light is getting brighter but not quite within 12 months for me. i'm struggling with keeping motivated going to work for someone. is there anyone in the same boat?

I have approached financial freedom within 12 months several times but always seem to buy another IP or increase the $$'s needed to be finacially free.

The question I always seem to grapple with is ... How much is enough?
 
I have approached financial freedom within 12 months several times but always seem to buy another IP or increase the $$'s needed to be finacially free.

The question I always seem to grapple with is ... How much is enough?

5 mil net worth including PPOR puts you in the top 1% of the Australian population - this should be enough.
 
Depends on the business. More employee's should but doesn't always = more profit which would allow you to take on more help. A lot of the time you end up having to babysit the baby sitters. I know all about it I had 25 at one stage. NEVER AGAIN.

I'm only up to 9 but starting to find management is getting easier and easier. Break them up into small groups, one person to 'supervise' each group. If I get up to 15+ I'll look at getting an office manager to look after basic day to day stuff. I think the key is not to have one key manager who looks after everyone and everything, then, as you pointed out, if they leave you are in big trouble.

I think it's best to break your staff up into small teams with a supervisor looking after each group, if a supervisor leaves it's no big deal as they're only looking after a few staff and you can easily promote from within to replace them..
 
I'm only up to 9 but starting to find management is getting easier and easier. Break them up into small groups, one person to 'supervise' each group. If I get up to 15+ I'll look at getting an office manager to look after basic day to day stuff. I think the key is not to have one key manager who looks after everyone and everything, then, as you pointed out, if they leave you are in big trouble.

I think it's best to break your staff up into small teams with a supervisor looking after each group, if a supervisor leaves it's no big deal as they're only looking after a few staff and you can easily promote from within to replace them..

All depends on the business and where it is you make your money from. Just be careful with it. While it's going good it's fantastic but you get a couple of rotten eggs in there and you'll quickly notice how little control you really have over them.

Another thing to consider is it's easier in business to expand than contract. It's easier to get rid of 1 person when you have 3 or 4 than to get rid of 3 or 4 when you have 20. As you build the business you take on overheads that are fixed and dependent on a percentage of turn over being met. You end up creating a monster that has to be fed. All good when things are going good. Not so great when they are not which means a lot of time you end up holding onto people who once upon a time you would not have put up with but now have to. Little things like that come into it as you get bigger....Then there is payroll tax...blehhh.
 
All depends on the business and where it is you make your money from. Just be careful with it. While it's going good it's fantastic but you get a couple of rotten eggs in there and you'll quickly notice how little control you really have over them.

I know what you mean, but it's just a matter of keeping on top of everyone and getting rid of the bad eggs and keeping the good ones. I certainly had my fair share of bad ones, but they didn't last long...
 
I know what you mean, but it's just a matter of keeping on top of everyone and getting rid of the bad eggs and keeping the good ones. I certainly had my fair share of bad ones, but they didn't last long...


If that is all there was to it every business would employ hundreds of people. I used to think like that too but I learnt my lesson. Took a big down turn and being overly loyal to people who I shouldn't have been to but I learnt it.

You kind of have to go into orbit and then crash land to fully appreciate the concept. I hope you stay in orbit for many decades to come! :D
 
Why would you have to manage them yourself?

Super Andrew,

If you have to ask that question....you're clearly not following.

Employing a pimply 19 yo receptionist at a REA with a list of tradies at her fingertips does not equate to "management".
 
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