Once upon a time...

[weg]

what I really like is that I can combine both private and public, depending upon what I need. I see an oncologist at the hospital clinic, but do chemo privately.
I think its really the best of both worlds.....

I think it's a case of doing your homework, and getting second opinions - read, ask around, find the doctor that is a cut above the others in his specialty.

Choice is a good thing, but knowing which to choose makes all the difference.

I have seen cases where private was definately not better because there was no team to spot the errors in treatment. There are definately good and bad in both.

And those not on private cover can still use the private health system if they pay the gap (medicare still pays for most of the treatment when you go private).

HiE, fantastic news hearing the chemo is doing good.

 

[INVSTOR]

HE, How are you, and how's your wife going?

 

[china]

So, it was at this point that this young couple decided to start a family and they felt it was desirable for the new mum to stay at home with baby/ies at least until they went to school. Which meant the man of the house had to find a better paying job. As is the case for many in Perth, this initially involved a move to Karratha, where accomodation would be paid for by the company and all their debt could be made tax-deductible. This involved living in a much nicer, new 4x2 house and meant they could now buy a bed instead of sleeping on a mattress on the floor. A nice change to compensate for the rather warm weather outside...

You see, property investing by then had become a bit addictive and they were very keen not to spend money on unnecessary consumer items. Being notoriously tight with their money and naturally risk averse, this mindset has been very difficult for both of them to shake. Nevertheless it meant they were able to keep saving a decent chunk of their income as they went along. They always maintained large buffers and while this was a source of comfort to them it also meant they didn't leverage as much as they could and should have...

Following the recognition that Karratha wasn't really the family friendly place for them, another move was initiated within a year - this time to Hobart. You see, I'm told this bloke has a profession which is rather unusual in that a pay rise could be achieved with a move from Karratha to Hobart...

In Hobart they bought a PPOR, lived very nicely for a couple of years and made some wonderful friends. It was at this point they stumbled upon this forum - I think it was from a google search on HDTs or something. Suddenly this couple, who were once pretty happy with their investing progress, realised where they could have been from an investing POV if they actually had some idea of what they were doing. Lots of old threads were dug up and a lot of "aha" moments had. This couple were at this stage kicking themselves for not thinking about it earlier but it actually never occurred to them their might be useful PI info out there on the internet. They must be pretty slow on the uptake!

It was also at this point they bought a couple of Tassie IPs just to keep things moving along as they hadn't bought anything in awhile. One IP yielded 5% gross and the other 7% - a small but pleasant step up from what they were used to. These IPs haven't yet done much from a CG point of view but with truly excellent property management they just tick along in the background and don't require much effort. Between the two of them there is an exposure of about $560k - a 4x1 DLUG on a triplex site and a 3x1.

After a couple of years, with an offer for employment back in Perth that was "too good to refuse", they sold their Hobart PPOR, making just a little more from it than it cost them in stamp duty and agent's fees. They got back to Perth just as the GFC was in full swing and the ASX was on its knees. So, seeing bank shares were netting fully franked dividends in excess of 10%, this couple decided to use the cash from their Hobart PPOR to enter the share market for the first time. Unfortunately, being all new to the ASX, they didn't back their own judgement as well as they should have and bought a "diworsified" portfolio of shares, including shares that weren't the same screaming bargains the banks were. Nevertheless, over the course of 2009 and up to this date, the share portfolio is up $250k and very cashflow positive so they can't complain. They are yet to sell any of their shares, which were financed at the time with a combination of predominantly RIP equity and a small margin loan (they would like to extend their thanks to keithj for that idea!). With that buffer in place now they have again increased their exposure.

At the same time, they thought Karratha properties were looking like better value than they remembered when they were there. One in particular came up around the corner from where they used to live. It was purchased for $805k, with rent of $1700pw and a gubbermint tenant. The rent has now just gone up to $1900pw. It was only when going through their bank statements that this couple properly realised the true benefits that good yields can provide. Instead of being a bit of a burden, property investing suddenly became quite a refreshing pastime. That property was only a few years old (so had good depreciation) and would now be worth around $1m, which is not a bad performance within a year. However, as has been pointed out to them by a member of this forum (who I will let claim the quote if he wants to) they know that it is income that gives freedom rather than net worth so are concentrating on that now.

So, after all that, this couple (and their two kids) have now moved into their house on the beach and have a positively geared portfolio of assets in excess of $5m with an LVR sitting around 50%. By now the man of the house also has a pretty well paid job which also helps kick the investing along. This means they have been scouring around for the next deal, with a particular focus on a new area for them being CIPs. They may have to dump their share portfolio to dip their toe in that pond but there seem to be a few good opportunities around at the moment so that may well be worth doing. As per usual they will probably just bump into something that looks good at the time and buy it and so the story will go on...

These are very commendable investment achievements. My impression is that most of the gains mentioned in this story are due to rising property prices. There is no mention of manufacturing equity. I suspect that these achievements are going to be hard to replicate in the next decade as property prices remain stagnant.

 

[china]

Thank you...what I really appreciated from this story was the timing...I could see that your slow start very quickly grew momentum and this came out very clearly in this story....kind of inspiring. The question is, can this sort of story be replicated Post 2009???

Eg. "Well, back in 2009 in fact,....."

The short answer is no.

 

[china]

Great thread HE. Amazing what can be done with a carefully thought out and systematic plan.

Back to Dazz's post; I played golf on Saturday at the club I last worked at, with a couple of the members.

One is about 35, recently married, no kids and both he and his wife are highly paid engineers. Just came back from a month skiing in Switzerland and Italy. Very nice.

They recently bought a property in Beaumaris for $900k - so they can pull down the house and start again with a brand new one.

Now, I can tell you that in this suburb, there will be no change out of a million for just the building by the time you take into account the demolition, architect fees, and so on.

So, let's call it $2 mill for the finished product as you need to add in gardens, curtains, furniture and so on..

The investor brain in me is thinking "now imagine what they could do if they spent $1 mill on a very nice house in another suburb, and invested the rest in some property with a decent cashflow and depreciation, or maybe some shares."

They will get a lot of enjoyment from their custom made 2mil Beaumaris castle. They only live once and money is replenishable. So why worry about cashflow, shares, depreciation, etc.

 

[china]

That's fantastic news and thanks for that fantastic post and expressing your experiences with private v's public! I have started a couple of threads previously about good friends of mine with breast cancer. The first instance - my friend was diagnosed and using the public system. A relative was diagnosed a couple of days later went through the private hospital system. I know that the many types of breast cancer can vary greatly, but the patient with private cover seemed to have a much more urgent response than the waiting lists of the friend using the public system. More recently, another friend has been going through public system. She was told by oncologist they could do no more for her and they wouldn't continue with any more treatment. Her brother is a doctor and has been researching more avenues. Although she has no private cover and doesn't have much/any money, they decided to go private. Her new oncologist in the private hospital suggested a treatment that commonly cures the type of cancer she has that the public system failed to ever try. I think it is definately worth going private for cancer. Even when I broke my leg I went through the public system and the surgeon didn't believe it was broken (hadn't seen any x'rays results at the time) He got two nurses to hold me down while he tried to straighten my leg. Tears were rolling down my face and he said, "I get you woosy girls all the time who won't straighten your leg when their is nothing wrong with it." Totally different story when I saw him again and he had my results and saw how much damage I had! I didn't understand the trainee doctor/public hospital thing at the time, and used to think people went privately for the comfy stay. I have another relative too who had DVT and PE (life threating) Public hospital gave her a script for nurofen and warfarin and told her to rest. When she took scripts to her chemist where she worked he told her you couldn't take the two together. She had private cover so went and saw the private hospital who admitted her immediately.

The take home message is that if you place any value on your life and health, you need private health cover.

 

[HiEquity]

Hi Invstor

All is much the same. Next scan due later this week and we will know the verdict next week. Holding our breath in the meantime.

China - we since made a CIP investment which has done very well since 2009 actually. A market rent review kick combined with option take up dropping the yield is a nice double whammy... so will be getting back in to the market again if everything goes well on the medical front - opportunity is everywhere! Just have to look in the right places...

 

[chindonly]

Best of luck with the next scan Hi E.

Just read the full story tonight, and it really does put it all in perspective.

Your story - both the investing and the personal issue are both inspiring.

All the best.

 

[INVSTOR]

Hi Invstor

All is much the same. Next scan due later this week and we will know the verdict next week. Holding our breath in the meantime.

I hope you get some good results!