This was the text message I received from one of my best mates in November. 

 

I congratulated him on becoming a millionaire. 

 

A few years back I gave him a copy of my ‘Money Management Blueprint’ and he’s been tracking his assets and liabilities ever since.

 

He’s now become a top 2% property investor in Australia (without being a property expert).

 

To be a top 2% property investor in Australia – you need to own four investment properties. 

 

Earlier this week I invited Sam over to unpack his journey.

 

 

Sam learned one of the most important ingredients to financial success as a youngster – delayed gratification. The ability to sacrifice something good today for something great tomorrow.

 

He shared a story of saving up his money to buy a Nokia 3310 phone. 

 

(Remember those bad boys?)

 

Saving up for things he wanted was a lesson he learned from his parents. It was a lesson that would stay with him for life and help him on his money mastery journey. 

“If you don’t buy it, I will.” 

That’s what Sam’s Dad said to him about his first property purchase.

 

Sam was 23. He’d just got back from a working holiday in Canada. He had $30k saved. But he had no idea what to do with it.

 

His Dad encouraged him to buy a property.

 

Sam intended to live in this property. But his circumstances changed. So it ended up becoming his first investment property.

 

He admitted it wasn’t a great investment. But the truth is your first investments are never the best. The important thing is getting skin in the game and learning from the experience.

 

Six years later Sam was working FIFO and had some more money saved up.

 

He knew he eventually wanted to settle in Adelaide. So he started looking for properties to buy. He found the one that felt right. Using equity from property number one plus some savings – he was able to secure property number two. 

 

However, this one stretched his financial limits. 

 

He asked his Mum and Step Dad to be guarantors. But that didn’t work out. So Sam ended up borrowing money from them (as a gift which he paid back) to make it happen.   

 

In property number two, Sam experienced a lot of uncertainties and unknown’s.

 

He questioned whether he was overextending himself. Then COVID 2020 hit. And he thought he’d completely messed up. 

 

Turns out, the complete opposite happened. That property became a huge success. 

After the success of his second property, Sam had equity built up that could be put tow work. But again, he didn’t know what to do with it.

 

That’s when I introduced Sam to my coaching friend Olivia Ward – a gun in the property investment space. 

 

Sam ended up working with Liv. She gave him an education in property investing. She helped him build a team of experts who would do all the hard work for him. And this is when Sam’s journey really took off!  

 

Although Sam is now a top 2% property investor, he admits he is by no means a property expert. 

 

But he considers himself a ‘professional outsourcer’. 

 

Brilliant.

 

So many Aussies try to do everything themselves. Wasting time, energy and money. But Sam knew he could pay a fee and get the experts to do it for him. 

 

Smart.  

 

Armed with equity from his second property and an expert team by his side – Sam purchased his next two properties in a 12 month period. 

So many people think their first home has to be their forever home.

 

So they go and get a HUGE mortgage they can’t afford and are left with a massive debt to pay off for the next 30+ years. This locks them into a lifestyle and career they don’t necessarily want. 

 

It’s a shame we’ve been programmed to believe this lie.

 

Sam is doing the opposite.

 

He still wants the dream home. But he’s practicing delayed gratification to get there. 

 

Sam and his team of experts are building a property portfolio that will: 

 

 

Sam’s goal is to buy his dream home with the equity from his property portfolio, and fund the repayments of his dream home with the passive income from the property portfolio.

 

Smart.

 

The thing I love about Sam’s story is he’s an everyday down-to-earth Aussie who’s quietly building wealth and achieving his financial goals. 

 

If you want to hear the full story then tune into ‘Money Mastery with Marshy’ next week.

Have a great weekend