Property Investment, Success & Money | The Michael Yardney Podcast

Have you ever felt like everyone else knows what they're doing when you have no clue? Do you sometimes believe your success is all about luck, but your failures are all you? Do you wonder when the fraud police are going to come to kick down the door and drag you from your desk? If the answer is yes to any of these, welcome to the imposter club! The good and bad news is that it's not a very exclusive club and almost all of us will be a member of this club at some stage in life. In today's podcast, I'll have a chat with Louise Bedford, who has a degree in psychology, about what's going on in your brain when you feel like a fraudster and how to try and push through those feelings. What is Imposter Syndrome, and how does it affect you? The term "Imposter Syndrome" was coined by psychologists Pauline Clance and Suzanne Imes in the 1970s An estimated 70% of people experience these impostor feelings at some point in their lives Three main components of Imposter Syndrome: Feeling like a fake Disregarding praise and achievements Attributing successes to good luck If investors don't correct their thinking, they'll self-sabotage Lies Imposter Syndrome Tells You Lie #1: You have self-doubt, so you will fail Lie #2: You can't admit vulnerability Lie #3: You're not ready Lie #4: It's a matter of time until you blow it Lie #5: They don't mean that praise, they're just being nice How can you get rid of Imposter Syndrome? Refuse to give your "inner lunatic" any light Practice self-awareness Take credit for small triumphs Keep a journal to record your thought patterns and your wins Seek constructive criticism on small matters Seek professional help if you need it Links and Resources: Michael Yardney Metropole Property Strategists Louise Bedford – The Trading Game To download your Impostor Syndrome special report, click here: To read more about Pauline Rose Clance and take the Impostor Syndrome quiz, click here Show notes plus more here: What you don't know about Imposter Syndrome could hurt you as an investor Some of our favourite quotes from the show: "If you suddenly come into wealth, whether it's through property, whether it's in lottery, whether it's inheritance, I just see people over and over again sabotage themselves." – Michael Yardney "I'm prepared to bet my money that spring's going to come after winter this time too because it always has." – Michael Yardney "I'm prepared to fail knowing that I've just found something that doesn't work, and I'll get to the next level." – Michael Yardney PLEASE LEAVE US A REVIEW Reviews are hugely important to me because they help new people discover this podcast. If you enjoyed listening to this episode, please leave a review on iTunes - it's your way of passing the message forward to others and saying thank you to me. Here's how

When you look back on 2019, it's going to be a watershed year for property, a year of two halves. At the beginning of the year everyone was very nervous about the future of our property markets. At the end of the year there's so much more optimism. Of course, there are still some economic issues and headwinds ahead for our property markets. But we've recently conducted our annual Property Investor Sentiment Survey, so today, I want to share what 1,800 property investors are planning to do for 2020. This will help you understand where you fit in with a wide range of other Australian investors as well as giving you a glimpse ahead, because investors do move our property markets. Being Australia's longest-running and largest survey of Australian property investor sentiment, it showcases insights from property investors and would-be investors across the country. Running since 2011, it offers rich and vibrant insights into how property consumer trends and sentiments have changed over time. I'm joined today by Sarah Megginson, editor of Your Investment Property Magazine. Investor profile shifted slightly: 2017 - 28% owned 5 or more properties 2019 - this had dropped to just 17% owning 5+ We're not sure whether this reflects a drop in property ownership or a change in the type of people who are replying Rentvestors: 16% of respondents were rentvestors in 2019 Almost half (48%) the respondents would consider using it as a strategy to get into the market Investment Strategy: Investing for "Long term capital growth" and "buy, add value and hold" remain the two most popular property investing strategies Long term growth was the no.1 strategy for 59% in 2017; 51% in 2018; 49% in 2019. Add value and hold the property largely unchanged, 20% in 2017; 19% in 2018; 19% in 2019 - so around 1 in 5 investors adopting this strategy Sentiment: People remain positive, as the majority reported that now is a good time to buy property in 2017 (61%), 2018 (52%) and 2019 (68%). 19% of respondents plan to buy a new home in 2020 – the same as last year (2019). This was down from 23% in 2018 (but still higher than the number planning to buy a new home 3 years ago (14%) Takeaways from our conversation: Watch out for analysis paralysis. Don't buy investment properties for tax benefits. Treat your investment properties as a business. Negative gearing is not an investment strategy. This is the best countercyclical opportunity to invest in a long time. Don't change your long-term strategy because of short-term circumstances. In today's tighter finance environment, living off equity is very difficult. If you want to outperform the averages, you need expert advice. But be careful who you ask. Links and Resources: Michael Yardney Metropole Property Strategists Get the team at Metropole to help build your personal Strategic Property Plan Click here and have a chat with us Sarah Megginson – editor Your Investment Property Magazine Get the results of the 2019 Property Investor Sentiment survey here Show notes plus more here: Here's what 1,800 investors think is going to happen to property in 2020 Some of our favourite quotes from the show: "Don't make 30-year decisions based on the last 30 minutes of news." – Michael Yardney "The decision to buy a home doesn't depend as much on the market as, I guess, your family circumstances." – Michael Yardney "All the successful people I know don't particularly want to retire, they just want to work at their pace, do what they want to do, when they want to do it, with whom they want to do it, and have choices." –Michael Yardney PLEASE LEAVE US A REVIEW Reviews are hugely important to me because they help new people discover this podcast. If you enjoyed listening to this episode, please leave a review on iTunes - it's your way of passing the message forward to others and saying thank you to me. Here's how

If you want to be rich and successful be like Spock. If you're a Star Trek fan, you'll really enjoy that segment where Tom Corley and I discuss controlling emotions as being one of the rich habits. And even if you aren't, you're going to get a lot of good information out of it. Then, I'm going to teach you one of the lessons I learned many years ago. It's an extended mindset moment about the Law of Belief. Once you understand the Law of Belief, you're going to be much more in control of your life. You'll be able to develop some more rich habits and get rid of some poor habits. Why You Want to Be Like Spock For the few listeners out there who have never heard of Dr. Spock, he is the Vulcan in the Star Trek series, books, and movies. Spock's overriding character trait was that he never expressed emotion and, thus, was ruled by logic. There is a great deal of new brain science out there that explains how emotions, in particular, negative emotions, alter brain performance. One of the most profound impacts emotions have on the brain is that they interfere with the operations of the Prefrontal Cortex. Why is that a problem? It's a problem because the Prefrontal Cortex does numerous things, some of which impact your ability to live a successful, happy, healthy and wealthy life: Executive Command and Control – The Prefrontal Cortex is the area of the brain where logic and decision-making reside. Creativity – Insight, flashes of genius and intuition result from the joint communication between the Prefrontal Cortex and the Limbic system. Consciousness – Although consciousness is spread out among many areas of the brain, the Prefrontal Cortex is the CEO of consciousness and self-awareness. Emotional Control – The Prefrontal Cortex has the ability to stop emotions in their tracks, upon command. When your emotions erupt, you have two choices – let them flow or shut them down. When you allow your emotions to flow, the Amygdala, one of the primary emotional centers of the brain, takes complete control of the brain by shutting down or overpowering the Prefrontal Cortex. There are millions of people around the world, sitting behind bars, all because they allowed their Amygdala to control their behaviours and decision-making. So, controlling your emotions keeps you out of trouble? Yes, but it is much more than that. Controlling your emotions also happens to be critical to success, wealth, health and happiness. When the Prefrontal Cortex is trained to control emotions, and this training becomes a habit, the Amygdala loses all power over you. This allows you to intelligently and logically think through difficult situations, without any emotional interference. Those who have trained themselves to be unemotional are able to tune out all negativity, no matter the source, and go on about their business. Becoming successful is a process. Part of that process is learning to Be Like Spock and control your emotions. And, it's a big part of that process. The Law of Belief Many years ago, I learned about the Law of Belief from Brian Tracy, one of my mentors. The Law of Belief states that whatever you believe with emotion, becomes your reality. The Law of Belief says that you don't necessarily believe what you see, you see what you have already decided to believe. In other words, your beliefs control your reality. You act in a manner consistent with your innermost beliefs and convictions. It's not hard to tell what anyone believes by simply looking at what they're doing. This is a foundational law in life. That means that without wholeheartedly believing that something can actually be part of your reality, it will always remain out of your reach, no matter how desperately you want. Our thoughts and our beliefs lead to our feelings, our feelings lead to our actions, and our actions lead to results. But the great thing about the Law of Belief is that it's reversible. Our beliefs are built on a mixture of facts and fictitious perspectives. We learned the beliefs that we had when we were young. Beliefs are nothing more than illusions of reality, and we're all walking around with tinted glasses on. The problem is that we don't know we're wearing tinted glasses. Our self-limiting beliefs make up fundamental flaws in our psychology. The biggest part of success has to do with the way you think and the way you feel. All the good property advice and information in the world won't be enough if you're sabotaging yourself with self-limiting beliefs. But, if you engage in actions consistent with the beliefs you want to have about yourself and about your life, you can eventually develop the muscle – the beliefs – by lifting the right weights. Links and Resources: Michael Yardney Metropole Tom Corely's Rich Habits Blog Get your own copy of our international bestseller Rich Habits Poor Habits Show notes plus more here: If you want to be rich and successful be like Spock PLUS the Law of Belief | RICH HABITS, POOR HABITS Podcast Some of our favourite quotes from the show: "If you have a team, if you've got people that work with you, whether they're employees, teammates, partners, you like working with people who are volatile and you don't know what's going to come out of their mouth next." – Michael Yardney "That's something I'm going to say now – be like Spock." – Michael Yardney "It's only what a person actually does that tells you what they truly believe." – Michael Yardney PLEASE LEAVE US A REVIEW Reviews are hugely important to me because they help new people discover this podcast. If you enjoyed listening to this episode, please leave a review on iTunes - it's your way of passing the message forward to others and saying thank you to me. Here's how.

We know the Reserve Bank is determined to lower unemployment and increasing wages growth and inflation. It's attempting to do this by lowering interest rates and is even talking about other measures such as quantitative easing. But what if this doesn't work? What if the only effect of lowering interest rates is pushing up property values, yet the economy doesn't pick up? That's the subject of today's chat with Dr. Andrew Wilson. We discuss some really interesting things about the economy, what's happening overseas, and what it means for you, me, our wealth, for interest rates, and for our property markets. But first, I'm going to share five property investment lessons you can learn from farmers and a mindset moment with you. 5 Lessons property investors can learn from farmers Look at your salary or wages the way a farmer looks at his seeds. Think about how and where you can 'plant' that income to create a return on your investment, instead of focusing on consumption and spending. Be patient and look after your investment the way a farmer tends his crops. As a property investor, you need to understand that long-term market cycles (as with the seasons) and time in the market will ultimately determine your capacity to produce a post-work income through real estate. Be selective with how you use your growing asset base like a farmer is selective with his harvest. As an investor, you need to keep an eye on your growing portfolio and know when to take out some profit. In the asset-building phase of your investment journey, you should only take out profit to reinvest for accelerated returns, just as a farmer re-sows the best seed to make sure each new crop is more bountiful than the last. Each new cycle should be seen as a chance to grow your wealth. Like the farmer, you don't want to consume the fruits of your investment labors, but continue to look for new buying opportunities that will enable you to use that good quality profit to acquire even more good investment-grade properties. Work your investment portfolio, the way a farmer works his land. For property investors, the lesson is to be an active participant in the growth and sustainability of your portfolio. This means taking care of your investments, regularly reviewing their performance and protecting them with necessary asset protection structures, cash flow buffers, and insurances. It also means keeping a close eye on the performance of your properties and if necessary, doing a bit of 'weeding' if you have underperforming assets that are threatening your harvest. What if rate cuts don't work but only push up property values It seems the RBA is aware that their low-interest rate tactic may backfire. In the minutes of their October meeting, RBA board members stated that "policy stimulus might be less effective than past experience suggests." The IMF's World Economic Outlook cut its growth forecast for the Australian economy from 2.1 percent to 1.7 percent — a level below the government's and the Reserve Bank's forecasts of about 2.25 percent. In their minutes they noted that the Reserve Bank's most recent forecasts suggested that unemployment and inflation rates over the following couple of years were "likely to be short of the Bank's goals". The RBA minutes justified their decision to cut rates in October. They suggested that holding back rate cuts in anticipation of a negative shock was not the best policy. Instead, they felt it is better to cut rates, strengthen the economy immediately so that the economy would be better placed to absorb a negative shock. The Board minutes leave little doubt that another cut is expected. We're in for some interesting times ahead. Links and Resources: Michael Yardney Metropole Property Strategists Metropole's Strategic Property Plan – to help both beginning and experienced investors Dr. Andrew Wilson, chief economist of MyHousingMarket.com.au More details and show notes here: 5 Lessons property investors can learn from farmers | What if rate cuts don't work but only push up property values? With Dr. Andrew Wilson Some of our favourite quotes from the show: "To find success in growing your own crop of high growth assets, you must change your focus from consumption to production." – Michael Yardney "Your thoughts lead to your feelings, your feelings lead to your actions, your actions lead to your results." – Michael Yardney "Just because spring arrives doesn't mean things are going to look good in autumn." – Michael Yardney PLEASE LEAVE US A REVIEW Reviews are hugely important to me because they help new people discover this podcast. If you enjoyed listening to this episode, please leave a review on iTunes - it's your way of passing the message forward to others and saying thank you to me. Here's how

Around this time every year, a little animal creeps out. They're called naysayers. And they find all the bad things that are going on in the world, rather than seeing the good things. Rather than being grateful. Interestingly, in the 40-something years, I've been investing, the naysayers always come out. And interestingly, they've always been wrong. So in today's episode, I'm going to explain to you why these are the good times – why these are the times you should be enjoying and appreciating. Then we'll have a chat with my business partner Brett Warren about why he left $50,000 on the table by not doing a property deal. Some great information there. And there will also be a lesson in my mindset moment that I think is going to help excite and stimulate and influence you to go for some great things. Why These Are the Good Times The steady stream of "bad news" we receive via our 24/7 news cycle is enough to get anyone down. It's easy to buy into the doom and gloom hype in the media these days. So, it's no wonder many of us are pining for the "good old days". But what if I told you that you've won the lottery and right now, we are living in the best country in the world and at the best time in human history? Thanks to the internet, we have a whole world of possibilities our parents and grandparents would never have dreamed possible. We can video chat with friends and family on the other side of the world, work from home and even gain qualifications through prestigious overseas universities, all without leaving the couch. We have limitless news and entertainment right at our fingertips. International travel has never been cheaper platforms such as Airbnb enable us not only to travel on a budget but also to make some cash on the side when our home is empty. Most of us can afford to eat at restaurants and buy takeaway on a regular basis, even if we don't have a huge income. And if we can't be bothered going out, we can have the finest cuisine brought to our home using apps like UberEats. So what is wrong with this picture? Human nature is such that with all these advances and improvements, we can't help but want more, more, more. But none of it is real. Real happiness and real financial security can't be found at the bottom of an award-winning bottle of wine in a fancy restaurant. It's gained through hard work, discipline and maintaining your priorities – spend a little here, save a little there, until you reach a point where you're no longer dependent on your weekly wage to make ends meet. Until that time, you're never truly free, because you're always at the mercy of your creditors, your employer, or the economy. Becoming financially free isn't about having the best of everything – you have to make sacrifices in some areas so that you're able to splurge on the things that really matter to you. It's called delayed gratification. Then follow these three simple steps to financial freedom: Spend less than you earn (otherwise you'll always owe money.) Save and invest wisely in income-producing growth assets like residential real estate. Reinvest your money and use compounding and leverage to grow your asset base until you have a cash machine. Now don't underestimate the importance of this simple message. Every little step you take towards that dream is progress, even if it doesn't seem that way at the time. Why I said no to a $50,000 profit with Brett Warren Never make long term decisions, based on short term information. It's easy to focus on the short term: In this case a possible $50,000 profit as a one off hit flipping a property. But it's an error to assume that everything will go according to plan. In this case, to achieve the best-case scenario, you would need to hope that: The purchase would go to plan at the right price There would be no significant issues with the renovation It would be easy to find a tenant paying the desired rent The valuation would stack up at the end You need a backup plan in case one or two (or more) of these factors don't work out as you hoped. This is the risk of the transaction alone, let alone the idea of holding on to the asset and renting it out for the long term. The better plan is to focus on the longer-term and reduce risk. Focus on areas with a higher percentage of Owner Occupiers Homeowners are in it for the longer term and will not give up their homes so easily, this leads to less market volatility. At Metropole, we look for suburbs where the locals have a high disposable income. We look for locations where the wage growth is higher. We also look for locations where jobs are plentiful. The people living here will generally be able to ride out the difficult times. We also look for aspirational suburbs and gentrifying suburbs. As a result, these locations perform significantly better with less risk. Links and Resources: Michael Yardney Metropole Property Strategists Brett Warren – Metropole Properties Brisbane Organise a time to speak with Brett by clicking here Show notes plus more at the show page: Believe it or not, these are the good times | Why I said no to a $50,000 property profit with Brett Warren Some of our favourite quotes from the show: "We want everything and we want it yesterday, and this mentality leaves us open to the relentless pursuit of keeping up with the Joneses." – Michael Yardney "One day you're going to wake up and realise you've made it. And it will be totally worth it." – Michael Yardney "You only need one thing to succeed: forget all the reasons why it won't work, and believe in the one reason why it will." – Michael Yardney PLEASE LEAVE US A REVIEW Reviews are hugely important to me because they help new people discover this podcast. If you enjoyed listening to this episode, please leave a review on iTunes - it's your way of passing the message forward to others and saying thank you to me. Here's how

Have you made any mistakes in your investment career? If you're an investor, you almost certainly have made some mistakes. Nobody starts out as a great investor – property investment is a learned skill. Today, I'm going to share with you one of the biggest mistakes I made early on in my investment career. I hope you'll learn something from my mistake today. I'm then going to have a chat with Pete Wargent about 3 demographic trends you need to understand as a property investor. I also have a great mindset message for you. My Worst Investment Loss Exposed! I'm keen to tell you the story of how I lost 100% of my invested capital many years ago, way back in the 1970s, and the investment mistakes I made which created this disastrous result. But first I want to explain the 2 main reasons why I'm sharing this story. Losing investments can be great teachers. You'll not only learn from the investment mistakes you make, but you can also learn from other people's investment errors so that you don't have to make the same mistakes yourself. Most investors pay the market a huge learning fee in the way of mistakes. Studies show that around 50% of investors who buy an investment property sell up in the first 5 years. Clearly, they've done something wrong. And most investors who stay in the game don't make it past their first or second property, so clearly, they're not doing things right. So why not learn how to avoid their common mistakes? Losses are a natural and normal result of making investment decisions. Don't be so hard on yourself when things don't go as planned because the key to long term success is what you do when this occurs and the lessons you learn from your mistakes, so you don't repeat them. Here are a few of the more obvious mistakes I made with this investment: I gave my money to a virtual stranger without doing enough due diligence I invested in something I didn't understand I bought a story rather than investment fundamentals. I was lured by the opportunity of making quick money In reality, I was speculating, not investing and risked money I couldn't afford to lose. I had no investment strategy – just a desire to get rich quick. I learned many lessons from this experience including: Not everything that glitters is gold Sometimes your best investments are the ones you don't make. Don't invest in anything you don't fully understand. I knew nothing about gold mining, so I was speculating rather than investing. I had no competitive advantage and there was no mathematical expectation for my investment strategy. One of the worst things that can happen to an investor is to get it right the first time. I thought I was smarter than I was when in reality my investment success so far was in large part to a rising property market – a boom that made me look smarter than I was. Don't become overconfident -the market will soon humble you. I didn't understand the incentives of the so-called "advisor" who really had a vested interest which created biases in the recommendations he gave me. My worst investment mistake was a cheap lesson This investment was the first of many learning fees I've paid to the market over the years. I've made a lot of mistakes and paid a lot of learning fees during my journey to investment success. Nobody starts out as a great investor. Property investing is a learned skill. You now have indisputable proof that I began life as an investment sucker. Few people have made more mistakes in their investment journey than I did. In fact, I've often said I'm a real success at failure. Yet, I'm a successful investor today, and it's largely because I've learned from my mistakes. I hope you've also learned something from my mistake. Highlights from my conversation with Pete Wargent about Demographics Demographics drive the property markets One of the big changes ahead are the technological advances that will change the way we work. As many as 30-40% of the jobs today may not exist in their current form by 2030 Property price growth is linked to wage growth so it's important to understand what's going to happen to wages Livability becomes more challenging as cities become larger and infrastructure and transportation don't keep up People will want to live near where they work and near public transportation, especially in cities large enough for car ownership to not be realistic for many people Links and Resources: Michael Yardney Metropole Property Strategists Pete Wargent Next Level Wealth Get the team at Metropole to help build your personal Strategic Property Plan Click here and have a chat with us more notes and details at the show web page: My biggest investment mistake exposed | 3 demographic trends all property investors must understand with Pete Wargent Some of our favourite quotes from the show: "I've actually learned to say no to more opportunities that come up than yes, and I've made more money by saying no to them." – Michael Yardney "One of the key factors to my investment success is that I always try to learn from my mistakes." –Michael Yardney "Your mentors are the people that you hang around with that you learn habits from." – Michael Yardney PLEASE LEAVE US A REVIEW Reviews are hugely important to me because they help new people discover this podcast. If you enjoyed listening to this episode, please leave a review on iTunes - it's your way of passing the message forward to others and saying thank you to me. Here's how

Wherever you look property is in the news. And while there are many more good news stories than there were at the beginning of the year, there is also a lot of conflicting information. So to bring some clarity to some of the recent news stories, I have a chat with Australia's leading housing economist, Dr Andrew Wilson chief economist of myhousingmarket.com.au. We discuss the following: Is the property market recovery real? One of the interesting stories that has been creating some debate In the media is whether the property market recovery is really happening in Melbourne and Sydney. It started when Nerida Conisbee, chief economist of realestate.com.au suggested that their figures did not reflect the housing boom as seen by CoreLogic. Corelogic report that both Melbourne and Sydney property values have increased over 5% in the last quarter. Of course these markets are playing catch up, as they are the markets that had the largest decrease in value during the recent downturn. Sure the lower turnover means that stats may not be as reflective of the general market as when there were more sales, but REA came out with their view despite them not really having an index. They seem to just look at clicks on their site. I can tell you that on the ground the segments of the market wear Metropole have been buying investment-grade properties and A grade homes in Sydney Melbourne and Brisbane are definitely on the move. Tax rules blamed for Australia's property obsession The Australian newspaper reported that a panel of experts has declared Australians "dangerously obsessed" with housing, pinning the blame on tax rules that have lured waves of baby boomers into investment properties and fuelled an unsustainable credit boom. "Boomers, they're using the second, third, fourth and fifth property as retirement funds, and they're not investing to get a decent yield. They're betting the house, literally, on the capital gain," said the article. On the other hand, you will hear Dr Andrew Wilson and I explain there is nothing wrong with having the ambition to own your own home or create wealth through property investment. Sure Australians have taken on debt, but in general it is in the hands of those who can afford it and secured by income producing assets, or the family home and currently the rate of mortgage default is very, very low. I would say Baby Boomers recognise that the government isn't going to look after them in their golden years and that superannuation isn't enough – so yes they are obsessed with securing their financial future. But is there anything wrong with that? The latest finance figures – owner occupiers are driving the housing rebound The September housing finance approvals showed a much stronger than expected rise in owner occupier loans but a pull-back in the value of investor loan approvals leaving the total value of approvals broadly in line with expectations. The number of owner occupier loans surged 3.6% in the month, well above market expectations of a +1.1% gain and a clear signal confirming the market recovery already evident in the auction, price and turnover data. The number of loan approvals is now up 11.4% from its April low and 0.5%yr. The number of first home buyer approvals dipped slightly in the month. Overall, the result confirms the clear upturn in activity since mid year is carrying into year end and suggests that rather than the more balanced upturn shown a month ago, the gains are being driven more by owner occupiers than investors. This is important for the medium term market outlook as it suggests the upturn will be more sensitive to affordability than the previous investor-led cycle. However, when comparing mortgage approvals to those to the levels of 12 months ago, we have a long way to catch up. The RBA has downgraded its forecasts. Dr Andrew Wilson and I discuss the RBA's recent forecast downgrades for inflation, wages growth and economic growth and what that could mean for you. Links and Resources: Michael Yardney Metropole Property Strategists Metropole's Strategic Property Plan - to help both beginning and experienced investors Dr. Andrew Wilson, chief economist of MyHousingMarket.com.au Show notes plus more here:- Are Australians really obsessed with property? A worrying statement from the RBA plus more - PROPERTY INSIDERS with Dr. Andrew Wilson PLEASE LEAVE US A REVIEW Reviews are hugely important to me because they help new people discover this podcast. If you enjoyed listening to this episode, please leave a review on iTunes – it's your way of passing the message forward to others and saying thank you to me. Here's how

If you're a property investor, in business, or an entrepreneur, you're really going to enjoy today's show. Simon Kuestenmacher, Director of Research at The Demographics Group, is joining the podcast today, and we're going to talk a bit about demographics – how many Australians there are, where they're living, where they want to live. But more importantly, we'll talk about what the big trends are and how they're going to affect our property values and the economy. We're going to speak about what the right sort of property is going to be in the future for our burgeoning population, where they're going to want to live, how they're going to want to live, and where property values are going to increase. It really is people who are going to create the need for property, so let's understand what those people are going to need. Highlights from today's conversation with Simon Kuestenmacher: Population growth is one of the major demographic trends that will influence Australia's property markets. Despite the large Baby Boomer demographic, Australia's population is aging at a slower rate because the country has so much migration New migrants tend to move as close as possible to job centers and knowledge centers. But established migrants act on the housing markets like everyone else. Large populations of immigrants aren't a problem if distribution and infrastructure are handled correctly. But over the last 10 years, infrastructure hasn't grown at the same rate as the population, and that's created problems. Inner suburbs are not densifying. Distribution of the population requires that developers are on board to help create the housing needed at the pace required. There are two ways to build housing at a rapid pace: by building skyscrapers in city centers or bulldozing land to build homes on the greenfield sides. Housing at scale is not being added in the inner suburbs, so people who want bigger housing have to look outward. This is a good time to build high-quality and beautiful housing that will last inter generationally. Town planning and regulations are an issue. To densify the missing middle, you must contend with local government regulations and concerns. Any kind of property in the inner 10 km of a capital city will likely continue to be a good long term investment. Links and Resources: Michael Yardney Metropole Property Strategists Metropole's Strategic Property Plan – to help both beginning and experienced investors Simon Kuestenmacher - Director of Research at The Demographics Group Show notes and more details at our show page: The most important things investors need to understand about demographics with Simon Kuestenmacher Some of our favourite quotes from the show: "Australia's been built on migration going all the way back to the 1800s and the gold rush." – Michael Yardney "The challenge is firstly town planning, and also NIMBYs." – Michael Yardney "We are so lucky that we live in the best country in the world." – Michael Yardney PLEASE LEAVE US A REVIEW Reviews are hugely important to me because they help new people discover this podcast. If you enjoyed listening to this episode, please leave a review on iTunes - it's your way of passing the message forward to others and saying thank you to me. Here's how

Where's the best place to be born? Where you're born will make a big difference in your life, in your lifestyle, the amount of wealth you can get, and the health you're going to have. That's one of the things we'll discuss in today's episode. For people interested in property investment, John Lindeman has a great cash flow surprise for you. Then, in my Mindset Moment, I have a lesson for you from one of my mentors. Where's the best place to be born at the moment Even if you weren't born there, Australia is a great place to live. And many of you are living there now. Both Melbourne and Sydney earned perfect scores in this year's The Economist Intelligence Unit's Global Livability Index. Melbourne last year ended its 7-year run as the top city in the survey. This year, Vienna topped it by .7 of a point out of 100. Melbourne took the number 2 spot this year, Sydney moved up from 5th to 3rd, Adelaide was 10th, and Brisbane and Perth came up in the next ten. So, 5 of our capital cities ranked among the top 20 cities in the world. Aren't we lucky to live in Australia? We're in the best place in the world at the best time in history. So why are so many people miserable? The Economist has found that being rich helped people's happiness. But it's not everything. Other factors included crime rates, trust in public institutions, and the health of the family. According to the 2019 World Happiness Report, there are three important factors to finding happiness: Relationships Money Health How wealthy you are has a lot to do with living in the luckiest country in the world, and if you're living in Australia, you're living in the luckiest country right now. And it's about to get a whole lot better. The latest Roy Morgan Wealth Report revealed a very positive long-term trend. Australia has performed very strongly over the past 12 years compared with other OECD nations – particularly in Europe where many nations went backwards over the same period. Since 2007, net wealth per capita in Australia has increased by 65.1%, with gains across all levels. The wealthiest 10% of Australians with an average net wealth of over $2 million (up by $811k from 2007), hold 47.9% of net wealth. The poorest 50% of Australians with an average of $31k (up by $11k), who despite gains have seen their total share of net wealth fall from 3.9% to 3.7%. Our geographic neighbors China and India will outpace us in private wealth growth, but if we play our cards right, not only will we be providing these nations with natural resources, but with education, health and technology. And there is the real opportunity for our tourism industry to flourish as we become the playground of a rich new middle class in Asia, just as we were one of the preferred holiday destinations for the Japanese in the 1980′s. Australians and particularly property investors seem to have lost their mojo. Sentiment is improving, but consumer confidence has been low for some time and many potential property investors are sitting on the sidelines waiting for someone to ring the bell confirming the market has bottomed. They're being fed by the media who in general have forgotten that we're the lucky country. They forget that as a nation of around 25 million people we punch well above our weight with the world's 14th largest economy. Australians tend to take many things for granted. Yet despite all our challenges, in certain respects, times have never been so good for us. Our economy is in second gear, not in reverse. Our political system is solid, and our banking system is sound. Income levels are at or near historic highs and our life expectancy continues to increase steadily. We should feel very lucky for the situation we find ourselves in and naturally being a great place to live is strongly positive for our housing markets. The fact is, as Australians we have every reason to be proud of where we live and excited about our future, including the long-term health of our property markets. Cash flow comes to the rescue of property investors The average gross rental yield over the history of Australia is about 11.2%. At the moment, it's 4.3% -- much lower than average. Although long-term growth hasn't been phenomenal, it's been steady. With the continuous price growth, the yield drops if rents don't go up. However, this is an abnormal situation. Population growth is continuing at a fairly high rate, and 60% of those are overseas arrivals, and they need to rent for a number of years. So rent demand is rising, and rents are going to raise dramatically over the next couple of years. Links and Resources: Michael Yardney Metropole Property Strategists Metropole's Strategic Property Plan – to help both beginning and experienced investors John Lindeman – Lindeman Reports Get the team at Metropole to help build your personal Strategic Property Plan Click here and have a chat with us More details at the episode web page: Where's the best place to be born at the moment | Cash flow comes to the rescue of property investors Some of our favourite quotes from the show: "We're lucky that we live in Australia." – Michael Yardney "If we get it right we could be the playground to a rich new middle class of Asians." – Michael Yardney "We learn by what we see, so pay attention." – Michael Yardney PLEASE LEAVE US A REVIEW Reviews are hugely important to me because they help new people discover this podcast. If you enjoyed listening to this episode, please leave a review on iTunes - it's your way of passing the message forward to others and saying thank you to me. Here's how

Can property investment really fund your retirement? Will this really be possible at a time when the banks are being stricter with their lending making it harder to grow a significant portfolio and at a time of lower capital growth? That's what we're going to discuss in today's episode as I have a chat with Pete Wargent. We're going to look at how you can take control of your financial future, why many investors fail, and the strategies of debt in retirement and how to reduce debt before you retire. What you need to know about self-funding retirement through property Over 2 million Australians invest in property. You're probably one of them. These investors are looking to take control of their financial future and hope to one day live of the rents of their property portfolio. But is this still possible in today's more restrictive lending environment – how many properties do you need to live off your property portfolio and how do you handle your debt when you retire? Most property investors fail They never build a sufficiently large property portfolio to be able to live off its fruits – why is that? They start too late The don't buy the right assets – they don't get sufficient capital growth They don't stay in the market long enough – it takes 20 and more likely 30 years to grow a big enough asset base We don't know what the future holds The rules have changed since the global financial crisis with more restrictive lending and the world will change again in the future. We don't know if there will be a pension, what the superannuation rules will be, whether you will be able to negatively gear One thing we do know: if you have a substantial asset base, you'll have options The 3 stages of wealth creation Asset growth – requires leverage Transitioning to lower LVR Living off your property portfolio How are you going to repay all your loans before you retire? Part of successful investment is having a strategy – a strategy for property purchases, a strategy for asset protection, a finance strategy and an exit strategy knowing how you're going to repay your debt before you retire. You don't need to fully pay off your debt before you retire, but you must assume that the banks will not be comfortable extending you further debt unless you can prove serviceability. In my mind, it's not necessary to repay all your debt before you retire but debt serviceability is very dependent upon interest rates and therefore it is important to go into your retirement years with the level of debt that is easily manageable and there would not choke you financially if interest rates changed. With that in mind how I like to structure our clients' portfolios is that when they go into retirement, they have a mixture of assets: their home with no debt against it superannuation which should be bringing them income a property portfolio that is no longer negatively geared, and if it does have debt against it the LVR is such that the portfolio generates income. This does not need to be a lot of income but needs to be sufficient so that your property portfolio is not draining your cash flow having no debt may not be an optimal strategy as a conservative amount of leverage going into retirement could work well for some people Often our clients will live off their superannuation for the first 10- 15 years of their retirement years allowing their property portfolio to once again double invaluable and therefore naturally lowering the loan to value ratio allowing the portfolio to spin off cash flow. Other clients achieve their cash flow in retirement through the dividends from shares or from the positive cash flow of commercial property investments Strategies to reduce debt During the investment journey stage where you lower your loan to value ratios, the following strategies can be used slowly lower your loan to value ratios by not buying further properties and allowing the natural increase in the value of your well-located assets to keep growing and at the same time lowering the LVR's paying principal and interest replacing growth properties with cash flow positive properties, but not secondary properties – instead of adding commercial properties which have strong cash flow and still some growth to the portfolio renovating or redeveloping properties in the portfolio to increase cash flow selling one or two properties – remember capital gains tax and bank repayments of existing mortgages will be required meaning you won't end up with this much money as your equity may have suggested. Selling assets in your SMSF which would not attract capital gains tax and then distributing the proceeds tax-free to help pay off debt outside the SMSF. Strategies to be used during retirement Downsize your home – this doesn't often work as well as some would expect as selling up and buying a good apartment, townhouse or villa unit in the same location may not give you much change Withdraw some funds from super - after 60 you could withdraw funds tax-free, either to live off or repay debt. Of course, in retirement, super is a zero-tax environment (if your balance is less than $1.6 million), so it's wise to keep as much money in your super account for as long as possible. Does Living off Equity still work? This is very hard nowadays because you need to prove serviceability and to do that you need strong cash flow which would mean you'd have to have a very low LVR and probably a number of commercial properties in your portfolio which would produce substantial cash flow Links and Resources: Michael Yardney Metropole Property Strategists Pete Wargent - Next Level Wealth Get the team at Metropole to help build your personal Strategic Property Plan Click here and have a chat with us Read the full show notes of this page: Can you really self-fund retirement through property? With Pete Wargent Some of our favourite quotes from the show: "You can't save your way to wealth, so you've got to borrow and buy income-producing capital growth assets." – Michael Yardney "You've actually got to have debt that's at a level that's going to be manageable and not choke you financially if circumstances change." – Michael Yardney PLEASE LEAVE US A REVIEW Reviews are hugely important to me because they help new people discover this podcast. If you enjoyed listening to this episode, please leave a review on iTunes - it's your way of passing the message forward to others and saying thank you to me. Here's how