I had 6, then realised that even if I borrowed more to buy another 6 and eventually paid down the loans with savings or by selling off a few, it still wouldn't give me the kind of hassle-free and predictable passive income I require in the long-term.
So to me I already had enough property and perhaps too much, so I sold 2 (an under-performing one and a well-performing but high maintenance one), kept my PPOR and the 3 best IPs, and reduced my PPOR loan with the proceeds.
The 3 remaining IPs serve a dual purpose, as well as for long-term capital growth, any one of them can be used for lifestyle purposes eg. 1 to downsize into later in life, 1 to help fund an early inheritance for future kids, and 1 to sell and help eliminate my PPOR loan.
I aim to keep these at <80% LVR and neutral to positively geared.
Now I put 100% of all my future investments into dividend-paying shares, in my family trust and SMSF, with some initial borrowed funds from property LOCs and a small margin loan.
I also stopped working full-time and started working part-time in the hours that suited me - seeing as I wasn't going to buy any more property or re-gear my existing ones endlessly, I no longer needed to seek bank finance and show a high income for this purpose.
If I did want to use some borrowings I could always cautiously use my margin loan where I had negotiated down the interest rate to below 6%, almost like residential rates, and with no loan applications or bank servicing requirements needed to do this.
I also decided that if I could always aim to have some form of enjoyable part-time occupation/business I can do during my days then my passive income requirements would be less and I would be less dependent on investment income to fund a retirement.
Adding the above to leading a simple lifestyle which doesn't require a lot of consumption helped me gain better control of my time and focus more on what matters to me.
