Hi haven't looked in for a couple of years, short attention span and had enough of reading property stuff all the time.Lots of new names and still a few oldies.
Anyway, I did retire at around 30 yrs of age from my previous life as a HPE Teacher thanks entirely to property investing (used equity to purchase an annuity), posts from a few years ago explain in more detail. I had 18 months off alltogether. Went to the gym, excercised a fair bit, played with my kids (2nd had just been born, wife also stays home with kids), managed my portfolio a few hours a week but just absically enjoyed not having to go to work everyday. Had enough of managing portfolio and gave all to an agent (now I don't want to know, my agent only conatcts by email and only for major stuff) i haven't even been inside an IP of mine in 3 years even though must are within 3 k's of my house.
I like challenges and my brain wasn't being stimulated enough so I:
Did a townhouse development, and actually did all the project managment myself.
sold 5 houses to buy 1 renovator on the water in inner Brisbane, fought the council for 10 months and got overheight DA to turn little workers cottage in to grand 3 story residence (still building it myself in my spare time)
Bought a business for circa $650K, did some work in it for a while, systemised it all got it running now increased turnover dramatically. Now I just physically pay the bills and wages (staff run it and even enter all bills into spreadsheet and quickbooks so I can do netbanking from anywhere) spend time know on marketing business and have just setup to franchise throughout OZ
Started EasyPhonewords a business that leases 1300, 1800 and 13 phonewords to other businesses eg. 1300 SPLIT AIR for airconditioning tech
Started AdBike.com.au -mountainbikes that tow 3 sided trailers with backlit billboards in them and eskys for handing cold promo products etc.
Basically I Still really enjoy property investing but I find that I have my formulae know and it is ticking along great. I am all about time and freedom but find that I still need new challenges and brain stimulation. With IP's none of this would of been possible and the fact I only do about 3 days work a week is great (and a lot of it I do from laptop sitting in a cafe on Burleigh heads beach). Would like to do some more developments and I again have had a good gain in my equity from the recent little run Brisbane has had.
Overall I guess I could of stayed working and made more money, done another development straight away of the same kind and made more money, I could work more in one of my businesses and make a higher wage so to speak etc. etc. But what I am currently focusing on is doing enough to make a decent living (while still accumulating significant property Growth for future years) but enjoying my kids (no 3 since been born and no 4 should be underway next year), stimulating the brain and still having a decent life.
IP for me was always about the ability to make choices and it still is today. I could buy a lot more property with my equity, especially if i 'worked' more hours to increase my cashflow, so i guess to answer the question what would i do if i didn't work, find something to challenge me that i can think about and work in a few days a week and the rest of the time enjoy my family caue they sure aren't young for long. If i didn't have kids I would probably find something more to get my teeth because all my mates are still a slave to the grind stone and don't have the time to hang out with me in the middle of the week