Welcome to the Finance Show with Joe . He's Joe , I'm just some schmo , and today we're going to talk about investing outside of Sydney , what you can do to save money and what the government got wrong this week .
Michael , as always , thank you so much for hosting the Finance Show with Joe . Look , it's patent pending . We're not stuck on the name or anything like that , but I just want to preface everything that the advice on this channel is general in nature and if you do need specific advice , please contact the financial advisor or your financial specialist .
I want to go heaps raw on this episode . All good , we're keeping that in there . Yeah , absolutely , jesus Christ . No , we've got a lot that we need to get into . And , michael , you brought up a very interesting question to me off camera and that was the best places to invest in outside of Sydney .
Yeah , because that's all I hear about is Sydney , sydney , it's so hard . It's this , that and the other , but there's some cute new little suburbs you can find , but there's got to be other places , right .
Outside of Sydney . Yeah , there's definitely places outside of Sydney , so Sydney is extremely oversaturated right now . We've got the highest population , I think , in New South Wales and then Melbourne has Melbourne's actually got a higher population as a CBD than Sydney does , but the state of Victoria still has a smaller population in total , those two suburbs .
That's where you're going to find the most demand , demand , demand and obviously with restricted supply that we mentioned in last week's show , it's harder to break into the market in these two cities , especially if you want to buy something that's going to grow in significant value .
So there's a few cities that I want to really highlight on today's episode as places you could look at . I'm not saying should , that's specific financial advice . I'm saying could , because I need to cover my ass and make sure that everything insurance-wise is good . The first city I want to mention is perth .
Now , have you noticed something in the last couple years in regards to sports ? There's been a lot more events occurring in perth . We had a state of origin there .
Uh , we had a wwe event , the elimination chamber in perth I have noticed that as a nation , we just seem to be making things happen at Perth broadly , or trying to make things happen at Perth because it's on the arse end of Australia . It's the only thing over there , but it could be something .
Okay . So the reason that is is because Perth is on the same time zone as China . Oh , I imagine that would be convenient for international trade , right , extremely convenient . And , funnily enough , this is 2024 . We've only just discovered this 2024 , the year of Perth . But Perth is extremely interesting as a city because we've seen Perth go through booms before .
If you remember , mid-2000s , mid-2010s , there was a massive mining boom .
I was like , not even double digits yet .
We saw properties go from $600,000 to a million dollars , $1.1 , $1.2 million . And then once China said , oh no , no , no , we've got enough minerals , we don't need you to export that much , and iron ore copped a massive hit , right right , the property values in Perth started to plummet . So you had people purchasing houses in Perth for $2 million .
They had a mortgage of $1.5 million and then on the other end of it , their property value all of a sudden halved and their property was worth $1 million .
So they had a $1.5 million mortgage on a $1 million house , so it was basically like what happens to mining towns , but this is a major city .
So it was a major city . So Australia kind of looked at it and they go . We need to invest in this city outside of mining and we need to make it a cultural hub . We need to start investing in it and we need to start putting more into Toulouse and Perth so this doesn't happen again .
So even if people are moving there for mining , if there's a mining collapse , the property values there won't collapse like they had in the past .
It's kind of like what the UAE are trying to do diversify away from raw materials .
That is the perfect example . Okay , you are a genius , so it's exactly what Dubai , abu Dhabi , ras Al Khaimah have all done to be able to hey you like that one , ras Al Khaimah , I learned about that one recently .
Say that again .
So that's a casino area that's being built in Emirates . We'll get into that on another day . But in Perth specifically , you're seeing a lot more culture being invested in the market over there . And why not ? You go to the beaches there and you have the most beautiful sunsets . It's not densely populated .
So there are serious , serious pockets of investment over in Perth , over in WA , that you can invest in . You can buy dual lock houses . So what I mean by dual lock ?
You're buying a house with a granny flat attached to it where each property is making you significant rental income , right , okay , where each property is being rented out and I'm talking theoretical now significant rental income , okay .
Where each property is being rented out and I'm talking in theoretical now $500 a week for one property and the other one is $450 a week . So in total you're making about a thousand bucks a week in rental income . That's $52,000 a year , right . These properties are going for about 750 to $800,000 . Your rental yield is somewhere between seven and 8% .
If you're investing in Sydney or Melbourne , your rental yield is somewhere between 7% and 8% . If you're investing in Sydney or Melbourne , your rental yield is somewhere between 2% and 3% with the property prices at the moment . So you can find opportunities in WA , in Perth , in the suburbs surrounding Perth , where you can make some serious money .
And the awesome thing about Perth is the city was built to hold about four times as many people as it has right now .
Herd traffic's great in Perth . Yeah , it's fantastic .
You can get from point A to point B in 20 minutes . Everything is 20 minutes away . It's like Alexandria only as a city . Everything is 20 minutes away . Right , right , right . So Perth is a really great place where people should start looking for investment opportunities because the capital growth it's still growing there .
You're still seeing suburbs around grow by 10 , 15% over a year , which is great . I'd love to make 15% more money every year and then your properties are positively geared or close to being positively geared , even with these high interest rates . The issue is we don't have a lot of exposure .
Are positively geared or close to being positively geared , even with these high interest rates . Okay , the issue is we don't have a lot of exposure , so people are like oh , where's that ? The truth is , flights are expensive to get there .
Yeah , they are .
It costs me more money to get to Perth than it does to get to bloody Detroit , michigan . A flight to Perth is like three grand , to get to Detroit is like two . Like you know , it's just , it's just insane . But my advice is okay , as general as it can be have a look in Perth . Another area to look in and this area was undiscovered is Tasmania .
Oh yes , so the reason why I like Tasmania so much and I've harped on about Tassie before , I've done numerous podcasts- They've got a footy team now . Yes , they do . It's because of immigrants .
No , but the main reason why actually Tasmania is a great place to invest in is because of immigration , because if you want to become a permanent resident in Australia , you have to complete rural work . Okay , there's an 18 month rural work rule that you need to complete in order to become a permanent resident .
Yeah , you've got to work on a farm or something along the lines of that . The cool thing about Tasmania is Hobart and Launceston are considered regional CBDs , like you're in Hobart . It's bigger than Wollongong or it's about the same size as Wollongong , so it's not too small of a suburb , okay .
But if you work five minutes outside of sorry , not Wollongong , you of a suburb . But if you work five minutes outside of sorry , not Wollongong , you work five minutes just outside of Hobart , or you work five minutes just outside of Launceston , you're considered to be doing your rural work .
So you don't have to go to Wagga , wagga or something .
No , and a lot of the Chinese immigrants that are moving to Australia , a lot of the Japanese , a lot of the South Koreans , a lot of the Lebanese as well , and a lot of the Greeks have figured this out recently , so they have a housing crisis in Tasmania as well .
I have heard this .
So I mentioned it on last week's show that Invermay was a place I invested in . Okay , invermay is a suburb just outside of Launceston . It's 170K was my purchase price and that property grew to $400,000 in a number of years . And that's because a lot of people are moving into Tasmania , because they see it as ample opportunity to grow .
It's also nice , the produce , the cold is some people don't like though .
Okay , but the food is sensational because their produce is just out of control .
how good it is yeah , fair enough , I've never been I , I've always wanted oh man , the food markets they have there .
I'm a foodie . They've got this , uh , the salamander markets . I can't remember what they call salamanca , something like that . Salamanca , one of the two . Okay , watch it , it's probably gonna be like threadbow market , it's gonna be something like that .
I'm saying these words but it's like a kilometer long strip and it's just food stall food , stall food , stall food , stall gin , whiskey , and it's like 9 am on a saturday and you're hammered and you're eating oysters and it's great , okay .
But tasmania is also another place that's really invested in its culture and it's actually considered the food capital of australia yeah , no , I've heard that .
That's the only thing I've heard about tasmania . All of the incest . Sorry , sorry to Tasmania . That's your joke , apparently .
As bad stereotypes are . They're true , no , but seriously , when it comes to places to invest in outside of Sydney , you really got to start looking at those two areas . Those are the big ones . There's one more that I want to focus in on , and that is Brisbane .
Now Brisbane we all know the three main CBDs of Australia are Sydney , Melbourne and Brisbane , but Brisbane has like a third of the population of the other two . Oh yeah , it's tiny , it's tiny , it's tiny . So you still have a lot of suburbs on the outer skirts , especially the western parts of Brisbane , that you can make some serious money on .
If Switch 10 years ago was a great place to invest , now it's skyrocketed .
Yeah , I almost bought property in Brisbane , but I had other opportunities came up .
You see what I mean . And then you've got places like Redcliffe Margate . You've got areas like the Peninsula . You've got all that coast that people can invest in . And they just got the Olympics in 2032 . Yeah , so they're going to have all eyes on them around the world . So they're investing heavily in their infrastructure . You've got new train lines coming up .
You've got new high rises coming up . They're really investing in their nightlife the Fortitude Valley . They call it Bris Vegas for a reason . It is like ratchet you want a night out , you go to Brisbane . Melbourne's still fun , don't get me wrong . You go to Melbourne , you go to Revs . Things happen .
But yeah , melbourne is still Melbourne , but Brisbane has seriously invested in their nightlife culture , which is awesome . Sydney seems to be lagging behind . We're in this city that we don't like nightlife . That's fantastic .
In contrast to New York , we are the city that always sleeps .
Yes , yes , no , no , no . We always sleep until it's 4am and then , all of a sudden , there's thousands of people running in Bondi .
Yeah , I should rephrase that . We are the city that goes to bed at a reasonable hour and wakes up at stupid o'clock to go on fucking runs . Guilty , I don't understand these run clubs . You're waking up at fucking nine o'clock . How old are you ?
no , maybe 60 , no , no , but this , this is the thing about sydney , because we've exterminated all of the social life that was occurring at night . Yeah , instead , where this ? Okay , we need to find something to do . People want to be social . Wow , who would have thought ?
Millions of years of evolution where people have pack mentality and they like hanging out with each other , social animals , yeah , yeah , so people are actually waking up earlier and I'm not opposed to this because I like being healthy . Yeah , you're a morning person . I'm a morning person .
I've been most efficient in my mornings , but in saying that , not everyone is me .
No , I cannot stand waking up that early .
Yeah , you see , like some people like being up late , some people like reading books at night , yeah , I'll be up till stupid o'clock . My brother-in-law is a DJ . He's a creative , okay , and he is up until four in the morning making music . Yeah , but he doesn't have a place to play music in Sydney . He played a gig in Brisbane last week .
I imagine that was a lot better than Sydney Because there's opportunity there . So , you see , brisbane , they're investing in their nightlife , they're investing in their restaurant culture . They want more people to move to Brisbane . Apparently , you go to Surfers Paradise and it's all Lebs .
I'm a big fan of this , I love Lebs , I love a good kebab , I love a good kebab . But , as I'm saying , it's just look for the opportunities outside of sydney and melbourne . Sydney and melbourne , you're always going to make money . Yeah , but the , the price of that tree is high . Yeah , look at perth . They just had the wwe elimination chamber .
They sold out a stadium . Okay , to me that is insane because it's been the whole population of birth . But like , look how much , look how many people went there . Yeah , look at the ufc has been held there a number of times now . Look at State of Origin has happened in Perth has occurred a few times . They're starting to become smart .
They know that we can't have everything based in Sydney and Melbourne , so they're starting to spread around . So , whilst last week's podcast was doom and gloom and I was sitting there , I was going the world is ending . The world is nigh . The world is nigh . No , you could still make money in other cities . But this brings me to my next topic .
You've got to be good at savings , because if you decide to invest , you can't use the government grants that are in front of you to be able to buy investment properties . Right , so let me they're just for first-time buyers . You typically right , that's exactly right .
And the classification you can be a first-time buyer and purchasing your first investment , you still don't get the schemes . So the first-time guarantee , where the government comes in as a guarantor and you can purchase with a 5% deposit , that doesn't exist . If you're looking to invest , the first-time owner's grant doesn't exist .
If you're looking to invest , okay , if you're looking to move to Perth and this is going to be your owner-occupied property , you can use the first-time guarantee . You can have the government come in as the guarantor and you're using a 5% deposit .
But if you're looking to live in Sydney and rent-vest , as people like to call it , which I hate Rent-vest , I've never heard of it . So rent vesting is you rent where you live ? Rent vesting okay , rent where you live .
I thought you said rent fest .
I'm like what a festival celebrating rentals .
What are we talking about here ?
I like that . You said celebrating and not celebrating . No , celebrating . We're celibate to renting properties . That's what this festival is about . Redvesting , which I still don't like as a term . It's renting where you want to live and then investing to grow your money . That's fantastic , but yet again , I actually hate the term .
I think we need to come up with a better term .
I've been doing that by accident .
Not that I've ever heard that . I wasn't doing it intentionally , clearly . But if you want to do that and you want to be able to invest over in the other cities , you need to be able to save money and you need to get a lighter deposit . And how do we save more money in today's climate ? Please tell me . I want to know .
There's a number of things that you need to be able to do . The first thing is you really need to avoid afterpay and zip pay . First of all , these two things do affect your credit report . Okay , so if you have an afterpay account or a zip pay account , they're going to affect your CCR .
The second thing is , when you're using afterpay or you're using zip pay , you're just prolonging the process . You're buying something that you don't need Okay , at a period of time that you can't afford it , because you want it now . Because you want it now and unfortunately , no one is coming to save you . Superman is not saving shit . They're not coming in .
They're not coming to help you . What is happening ? We're being brainwashed by this Instagram culture where you're scrolling through and , oh , I need to buy that . Oh , I need to buy that . I need to buy that . I've got a bunch of books to my left that teach you discipline , and I'm going to be the number one person that says this .
Okay , discipline is extremely difficult . Okay , it is a difficult thing to master and I often get brainwashed by these Instagram ads . I spent 70 bucks the other day on something that's going to help me stretch . Okay , it's this pole and it's a band that's going to help me stretch . I've used it three times .
Okay , I spent $40 on an iPhone stand because I thought it's going to make my life more efficient . It came home and it doesn't work properly . I spent $40 on an iPhone stand because I thought it's going to make my life more efficient . It came home and it doesn't work properly . Classic , okay , like it's just . And that is me sitting there going .
I want to create the path of least resistance . I want to be in less amount of pain , okay , and I want to buy these things because I believe they're going to make my life easier , but they haven't .
No , okay , yet again , all these books are in my brain , all of them , and all of them have very , very you know similar messages in regards to the discipline , where you need self-control , where you need to be able to find ways to make yourself more efficient . And after pay and zip pay and these buy now , pay later , things are not going to do that .
So you have to teach yourself discipline first . You have to really say to yourself you know what Life is going to fucking suck for a bit . Life is going to suck for a bit , but the pension is not going to do anything . We've seen it in the past .
Oh , you meant like the retirement pension .
Yeah , yeah , retirement pension is not going to do anything . Your superannuation unless you've got a good financial advisor or you've got an SMSF property or something along the lines of that , that's not going to do much for you either . Right , you need to start growing , and you need to start growing early .
You need to start actually implementing this discipline at an early age , because by the time you're 25 , 26 , you're not attracted by the big flashing lights . You're not attracted to going on vendors and stuff by the big flashing lights . You're not attracted to going on benders and stuff . I wish someone came and taught me this shit at 16, .
But I got to break into the property market at an easier time . For a lot of other people it is a lot harder , because property prices are so high . Wages need to be controlled , otherwise inflation is going to go out of control . Okay , and at the exact same time , to be able to invest or to be able to buy a property is so much more difficult .
You've got more competition , so you need that discipline . That's the first thing that you need , and I'm going to harp on about it Discipline , discipline , discipline . Next is the actual practicality . Discipline is a theory . You can't say . Discipline , you can't touch discipline . You can't watch discipline grow . It is something that is just within you . It's abstract .
It's abstract . Yeah , practicality Right now , interest rates are high . Now you might be sitting there and think to yourself our interest rates are high . This is bad all over . There are certain parts that are good . Yeah , for savings right , that's exactly right .
So for cash management accounts , your interest rates are higher than what they were two , three years ago . You might've gotten half a percent , one percent on your money yeah , now you're able to get five or 6% . Yeah , that's fantastic .
Yeah , and I've noticed it too .
If I save $1,000 at 6% , that's 60 bucks , right ? If you save $10,000 , that's an extra $600 . Now everybody might be sitting there saying oh , it's only an extra $600 $600 . You didn't have , that's 600 bucks you didn't have , you didn't even have to work for it . That's exactly right .
Yeah , so that's the way that you've got to start looking at these cash management accounts . You've got to be disciplined for one to two years . You've got to seriously look at a budget and you've got to say to yourself these are my budgeting tools . I can't go over . Okay , if my friends are going out , which I don't think many people are anymore .
No , not really .
If my friends are going out , I need to say no , I need to have the self control to say no , and I need to be able to convince myself that it's going to be short term pain , but my long term gain is going to go further than anything else If you're able to save I'm not saying 20% deposit , because there's a lot of lenders out there that will now let you
borrow for an investment property with a 10% deposit , not 20 , 10% deposit , literally half Yep , so you can go to second tier lenders like Rezzy , who I absolutely love . They've helped so many of my clients get into the property market earlier . They'll let you buy with a 10% deposit with a 40-year loan term , so your affordability goes through the roof .
They have to wear more risk , yes , but you're breaking into the market at an earlier time and you're able to grow your property portfolio .
And also desperate times , desperate measures .
That's exactly right . So if you're able to save up a 10% deposit , have that discipline for two years . It's going to take you so much further . If you have that cash management account and you're adding money to it all the time , it's going to take you so much further than anything else .
The third thing I want to highlight , and this is going to trigger a lot of people figure out how to leverage your skills to make more money . You might be looking at me . You might be looking at me and saying to yourself well , f you , I work hard and I want to make more money . Look at the job market right now .
This is me staring straight at the camera . Look at the job market right now and look at the unemployment rate . The unemployment rate is 3.5 , 3.6% . The unemployment rate needs to be 5 or 6% for an economy to work efficiently . The reason why immigration is so high is because skilled labor is out the window . We don't have enough skilled labor in this country .
So if you've got a skill and it's a niche skill don't be scared . Look at other job opportunities and try and leverage yourself to take advantage of them , because you could be entitled to a higher pay . Don't fall in love with your boss . Do you know what your boss is ? Your boss is a vehicle for you to grow wealth .
If you sit there and you're a slave to your employer because you want to stay loyal , loyalty is only going to get you so far . If you need more money or you need a pay rise , ask for it , because we have a limited amount of skills in this country and if you can leverage your skills , you're going to go very far . Speaking of which , could I ?
have a pay rise . You've gotten one .
Have you ? I don't know . But , as I'm saying , these are the things that you need to be able to do . Look how to leverage yourself If you've got to , especially if there's a few things that people will undersell themselves on .
But if you can speak well and communicate effectively , if you're great at being on time , you've already beaten 80% of people in Australia . Take it from someone that has gone through a lot of employees and not happily I have . I have actually a core value , that is , I never , ever want to remove anyone from my business or retrench anyone from my business .
I'm not going to say the word fire , but I never want to go through that because I like people being happy in my circle . I like knowing this is the number I call if I need something to be done or this is the people I can rely on . So I like having those particular people in my circle .
But if you show up on time and you are good at your job , there's a good chance that you can turn around and say , hey , mate , can I make a little bit more money ? And you know what your boss is going to say . You're going to be so hard to replace that . Yes , you can , because cost of replacement .
Have you ever heard of this cost of replacement as an employer ?
Oh yeah , I've heard things where it's like you get rid of someone because they were underperforming , even though they had been around for a long time , or even a short time . Then you're losing money because you have a vacancy , yeah , and then there's money that costs to train them up for that position .
That's exactly right .
And all those costs .
It takes six months of a person's wage to be able to fill that role again .
Yeah .
So let's say we've got someone that's on 50K a year . It's going to cost me $30,000 to get those people efficient . Yeah , okay , regardless of what anything in the market tells you , it's going to cost me $30,000 to get those people efficient . That's what cost of replacement is .
Yeah , my employee coming up to me and saying , hey , can I have $2,000 more a year , or $30,000 ?
Yeah .
And now .
I've got two employees in this office getting ideas .
But this is a big thing . Have confidence in yourself and leverage yourself , because if you do those two things and you're good at what you do , then you can leverage it . Last thing I want to talk about very quickly is you need to stop and this is the thing people need to stop having a victim mentality .
Right , right , things don't happen to you , they happen for you , okay .
What I mean by that is especially with the victim mentality , okay , when you are sad or when you think the world is nigh and all these things are closing in on you , you look for an escape , and the quickest escapes in this world are dopamine , hits , pokies , smoking , drinking , gaming All the fun things in life basically yeah , they're escapes .
If the fun things in life basically yeah .
There are escapes .
If you learn how to control this mentality and yet again , this is through discipline If you learn how to control this mentality , you will end up seeing that you're saving a lot more money because you will feel like you're in a lot more control . I know this is a finance podcast and a property podcast , but I am getting a little bit spiritual right now .
There's a little bit stoicism here , yeah .
But if you learn how to control those two things , if you learn how to reduce the amount of things that will affect you mentally and increase your discipline at the same time , you will save more money . And if you save more money , you will be able to set yourself up for the future . So it's an investment in your mind .
At the same time , we're living in a country now where it is a lot harder to make more money , so you need to figure out the ways to do that . And you're not going to be able to figure out those ways if you wake up and the first thing that you do is spend 90 minutes on TikTok . Your brain is getting inundated with so many different things .
And do you know ? The thing about Australia right now is we're so good at everything that we do , right , okay , because we're so good at everything that we do , we get pulled in different directions . We say to ourselves oh , I'm good at this , I'm going to try this , but we never master it .
Oh , I'm good at this , I'm going to go Jack of all trades , master . That's what ends up happening . So people sit there and they get upset with themselves and they go oh , I could be a DJ . Watch , I'm going to get on SoundCloud and I'm going to make a few things .
Or you know , I don't know how DJing works , but oh , watch , I'm going to blow up my SoundCloud and then , when they don't , could do that again , and they'll jump on the computer and they'll try and do it again , but they never stick to it . Okay .
So what I'm saying is find one skill that you're really good at , find your thing , find your thing , hone in on that and make yourself irreplaceable .
Yeah , and by building that discipline , by telling yourself that I'm a victor , not a victim , okay , by building that discipline , by telling yourself that I'm a victor , not a victim , okay , by creating a cash management account , by doing those things , you're going to watch your savings grow , because you're going to say to yourself I don't need to spend $100 on the
pokies to feel something . Okay . And the government sets pokies up because they profit off them . Look at the lockout laws . Boy , do they profit off them . When , when , when , lockout happened , what was the only thing that was open in the cbd after three am ? That was unreal .
That was so like obvious and I couldn't believe how brazen that was and as to what their intentions actually were but you but .
but you see , they make such easy money off it . Why ? Because people were depressed and they needed a dopamine hit Bang money , bang money , bang money . So learn how to do a dopamine detox and you will discover that you are happy within yourself . And when you're happy within yourself , you will spend less money .
I think there's an issue as well in Australia that we're falling behind when it comes to mental health , um treatments and stuff like that . So that might come into come into play as well .
So for some people I know that it's an issue like if they've got , you know , severe depression and stuff really difficult to get out of bed and or just do anything really , or even anxiety and stuff like that , and then onto the more serious stuff with your bpd and stuff like that is , you are on a six-month waiting list to get into a psychiatrist's office or
a psychologist's office . It might be government-subsidized If you're going to see a psychiatrist , it's certainly not and it's going to cost you $600 for an hour . Yep , that is something that we need to look into as a nation as well public spending where that needs to go . And that can happen , you know , because mental health is also .
It plays into the pokies , it plays into the drinking and all those things that you were saying . For those dopamine hits , I'm so depressed I can't afford therapy , but I can afford a beer or a pack of cigarettes . Actually , I don't know how you can afford a pack of cigarettes nowadays , but you know what ?
Thanks Albo , and I got a whole thing about vapes and why . If they really wanted to get rid of them , they could , but I'm not going to because this is not the place . Anyway , I lost my train of thought .
No , no , I hear what you're saying and the truth is they say money doesn't buy happiness . But do you know what it does ? Buy A bit of peace of mind .
Yeah , it certainly means you don't have to worry about certain things , but does absolutely help mental health .
One of the funniest moments of my life and I always like to quote myself on this and , yes , I do quote myself . I don't know if it's quote myself , but I always like to look back on this time the happiest moment of the happiest day of my life is when I had 66 cents in my bank account Dad , 66 cents left in my bank account .
I kind of looked at myself in the mirror , I looked , I was looking and I had two hands and I had two feet and I had a voice and I was like okay , we can figure this out . Regardless of anything else , I can figure this out .
I'm going to figure out how I'm going to be able to make more money in order to be able to complete my university degree , in order to be able to start my business , in order to start my life , start my investment life . So what I did was I used the resources around me . I had a personal training certificate , so I started personal training again .
Okay , I was calling around for work and my cousin got me a job with Lexus as a limousine driver . I needed my full license , but that was my job . It was the best job I ever had . Why ? Because I would pick up where I needed to pick up , I would drop them off , okay .
And then in that in-between time of me picking them up and dropping them off , I was allowed to go study at the library and I was getting paid for it because I was on call . So my client had to message me 30 minutes beforehand hey , come pick me up , and I would know exactly when to leave the library , when to leave wherever I was to go pick them up .
So , yes , I was limousine driving , but I would go , I'd pick them up and in that time I'd be able to use that two or three hour span to be able to make money and study at the same time . So that was . That was a semester at uni where I took five units I was doing .
Anyone that's been to uni knows that five units is a lot to take on at once Way too many . I did five units . I got HDs in all of them , okay , I was also earning some of the best money I ever earned in my life , because I was a limo driver , okay , and I was a personal trainer at the same time , and because I was focused in on what I was doing .
I was so ultra focused in on what I was doing . I was able to grow my savings and I was able to grow it exponentially . And people turn around and they go to me oh , you know that's too hard to do . No , you will always find these little pockets where you can make that money .
Okay , and because I was so ultra focused on my university studies at the time , I knew I needed to get into finance . I knew that personal training wasn't my calling , even though I was still go to the gym regularly and I love it . But I knew that those were the things I needed to focus in on .
And because I was ultra focused on that , because I was ultra disciplined and because I said to myself no , I'm not going to sit here and say I've only got 66 cents in my bank account . Do you know what I'm going to say to myself ? I've said to myself I've got two hands and I've got two feet , I'm going to figure this shit out . And I did .
Okay , and not a lot of people could say that . And that's why I always preach discipline , discipline , discipline . I could have waited till my next paycheck and gone and blown that on another night of drinking . I could have waited and spent that money again on shit that I didn't need . Okay , I spent shit money on shit that I don't need .
Now but my pay bracket is higher ? Yeah , because I've worked so hard for it . You know , and even when it comes to the discipline , and you know , you don't , you don't have to like , you don't have to become an ascetic monk or anything like that .
It's really just about moderation and it's like you know , instead of 10 beers , have five beers , something like that . Obviously health-wise maybe you don't have any beers , but is there a way that the government can help foster that kind of thinking , or help foster that kind of , or just help foster ?
that there's one scheme that the government's actually doing . It's called the First Home Super Saver Scheme , where you can use your superannuation to save for your house deposit . People don't know this exists . It's not heavily marketed , maybe the government doesn't want people to actually do it .
But what you can do is you can use your superannuation , you can make voluntary contributions . So instead of that money being taxed at your regular tax rate so let's say you're on 80K a year , your tax rate is 21% You're instead taxed at your superannuation rate , which is 15% . 6% less isn't small .
It's significant money If you were going to put that money aside for a house deposit , anyways it's going to go in there . So you use that scheme to be able to save more . The first time super saver scheme is great . That's a great initiative in order to be able to save more money .
Because it's not actually like the money that should be your pension . So , for example , it's extra money , it's extra money .
It's voluntary contributions that you're making and you can speak yet again . Mortgage brokers to save the day Good ones , ethical ones but it's up to you having a good relationship with a great mortgage broker . We know a couple at this place shameful plug , for it's simple .
But if you've got a great broker and you've got a great financial advisor , okay , and you can be making $50,000 , $60,000 a year and speak to a financial advisor , it's not just for the wealthy , it's for everyone , because they're the ones that set up your insurances , your superannuation , your growth , anything like that .
Don't think to yourself oh , I'll just worry about that when I'm older , worry about it when you're 17 . Worry about it when you're 18 . Go up to a financial advisor and they will love it . They will actually love the fact that you're thinking about it and they might not even charge you . They'll go .
You're 17 and you're thinking about this and good financial advisors get excited about this . They go oh my God , okay . So if you need to pay any fees , we're just going to take that out of your superannuation . We're not going to ask you for upfront fees and a lot of the good financial advisors do that and they're going to say what do you need set up ?
You want to save for a house deposit in your first home in the first home super saver scheme Perfect , okay . Oh , you want to go buy an owner occupied property ?
Okay , we're going to stack that up with the first home guarantee so you're saving your deposit at a lower tax rate in the first home super saver scheme and at the same time you're using the first home guarantee to be able to purchase a property .
The only thing is the price caps are a little bit out of control , because the maximum you can use for Sydney is $950,000 . And where can you buy in Sydney for $950,000 ? These days the median house price is 1.6 million , so the government does help . No way Is days the median house price is 1.6 million , so the government does help . No way that's .
Is that the median house ? that's the median . That's . That's what most people pay in sydney now for a house 1.6 million dollars , not the average . The average is lower than that yeah , yeah , but the median is is the middle , yeah so what I'm basically saying is the government has provided incentives to be able to help people to save yeah .
But they do need to do a little bit more . They need to start focusing in on the immigration . Policy is really out of control and I've mentioned this time and time again . But they need to think to themselves . If we're going to let in this many people , we need to increase the supply of housing , because we can't handle this many people Yet again .
More skilled migrants perfect , I can hire more people that could do great jobs , but if they don't have a place to live , that's going to impact everyone around them .
Yeah , yeah , yeah for sure . And is there anything that you think the government could be doing more other than that ? Or what do you think their overall goal is ? Anyway ?
I think they needed to be doing more for first home buyers that are looking to invest for first home buyers that are looking to invest , so not owner-occupied investments . Yeah . So maybe a first home guarantee for a 10% deposit . Okay , you know what . You're an investor .
5% is for the owner-occupied , but if you want to lease it and it's your first home , we'll come in and we'll guarantee the other 10% . Because if you're going to be an investor , we need you to prove to us that you could save 10% , that you're not just going to invest , use the money and go splurge . That's a good example .
Or have a stamp duty waiver for first-time investors . Now , yes , you're going to see heaps of people entering the market that way and , yes , you're going to see a lot of people entering the market that way . And yes , you're going to see a lot of you know people parents giving 10% deposits to their kids , and rightfully so .
But let's think about it like this Okay , we're going to increase the investment market and this is me spitballing . This is a hypothetical idea and it might actually be a good idea because it sounds good in my head right now .
We're going to do a first home guarantee for investors only , and we're going to do it for people that live in major cities like Brisbane , sydney , melbourne . The government is going to come in as a 10% guarantor if you choose to purchase an investment property . You don't have to pay stamp duty . We'll worry about the stamp duty as well .
Okay , but you are only allowed to invest in regional suburbs .
So we can get that regional growth that everyone's been talking about . Decentralize everything from the major cities . I think that's not a bad idea , definitely .
I mean it just gives people options If you don't want to live in Sydney and you have work in Newcastle , for example you can go there Exactly and you can rent for cheaper , because now there's more investors buying in the rural towns over there .
So you wouldn't think that , um , increasing the amount of uh , first-time investors could potentially lead to a issue of availability ?
More so , it's like , because there was a period in australia , um and I'm not sure if that's what's still happening , because a lot's changed since then um , that you've got all these empty places that are owned but they're empty , um , they're not being put out for renters , they , they're like Airbnbs it's not exclusive to Airbnbs , but things like that .
Do you think that's a potential risk , unless you make some sort of clause in the agreement ?
Well , this is where the mortgage broker comes in . There's two things that the government can actually do . So the government monitors bank accounts . So if you're applying for the first homeowner's grant and it's expected to be an unoccupied property , the bank not the bank the bank actually , it is the bank .
The bank and the government monitor that and they see if you're collecting rental income at any point in time and if it's going into that bank account , because what you've done there is a tax avoidance for stamp duty . Stamp duty is a tax , yeah , okay .
So if you've , instead of moving into the property , you've made it a investment property and you're collecting rent from it , the government will hit you with a bill for stamp duty . Okay . So they monitor that .
If they do the same thing , where you're an investor and you've used a 10% deposit and you are collecting rental income to help you pay off the property , I don't see why they can't do that . That would stop it from being unoccupied and that would also stop it from being an empty property . Because I know what you're saying . You've got these people .
They come in , they bought , they buy four , five , six properties at a time and they buy it with cash and they just leave them vacant or they use them as Airbnbs , because they'll have less people in there . They'll get to use it whenever they want . So let's create a policy around it . Okay , you're allowed it . Use the investor first-time guarantee .
Yet again , joseph's just a bit balling . Yeah , yeah , yeah , you have to use a 10% deposit and it can't be a short-term rental , it needs to be a long-term stay . Okay , so we're going to help property developers get more contracts of sale because , guess what , more people are going to be able to enter the market as an investor .
We're going to help first-time buyers still stay at home with mom and dad , because they might not want to move away from mom and dad . Okay , until they're 30 . I'm Lebanese . My dad , like when I got married , it was the saddest day of my mom and dad's life . Like it was like , oh , baby , he's gone , you know , like that is just a Lebanese mentality .
No , it's not too different for the Croats . Yeah , it's , it's that's how they think .
They just think to themselves this is what we're going to do in order to be able to save money , or this is what we're going to do in order to help our kids , and then , if they can monitor at the exact same time , okay , there's rental income coming into these properties and it's long-term rental income , not short-term rental income .
I think this is a win-win-win situation where more properties are being built because more contracts of sales are out there . You've got more people who are moving to Australia that might not have cash deposits , that are able to rent more properties because more properties are being built again , and then you have more first home buyers entering the market .
You know , I just wrote up a whole policy . Albo , you can take that . There's the investor first home guarantee , and let me know what you think about it , because I don't think it's a bad idea . Michael , does it sound good on paper ? I'm sure certain there's a litany of cons that people are going to smash me on .
But look , on paper , I sure to answer your question . Yes , there is some things that the government can do in order to be able to help australia , but I think they need to start growing a set and they need to stop worrying about lobbyists and pissing off their electorates . That's what Howard did .
Howard pissed off a lot of people , but then , a year or two later , when they saw the economic benefit of it all , people were like no , this is great . When Howard first brought in the GST , it was so opposed . It was so opposed and people were like he's out , he's gone . Bloody Howard , he was the longest standing prime minister .
Yeah , I think I'm pretty sure , and people are always like bring back Howard . He was the one that was happy to take it on the chin . Okay , he was happy to be booed . He was happy to stand up in a stadium and be booed , but he knew that whatever he put into place a year or two later , it would be for the betterment of the country .
And I'm going to leave us on this . That is what government is supposed to be about , and it's from the Dark Knight Rises when people are sorry . The Dark Knight and Julius Caesar's quoted . It's an ancient tale Government officials should not be happy to be elected in .
They should be dragged into office kicking and screaming about how bad they do not want this job , because these are the people that know what is best for people , and they're not doing it out of power for themselves , but they're doing it for the betterment of a nation .
Well , you've just written up a bit of policy . You've saved Australia . Anything else you want to leave off ?
with . Why is it always mortgage brokers that have to save Australia ? Every single time ? It's up to us to figure out how to save more money for people , how to get them into a house and how to build their wealth . I don't understand it .
I've got to go hang my cape up and got to be ready for tomorrow to save a whole bunch of other Australians , but no , there's nothing else I want to discuss . I want to thank you all for listening in . I know this was a very philosophical episode and it was a very niche episode .
I hope you got a lot of good information , a lot of good general advice on this episode of where to invest , but I do hope you all enjoyed it . As always , I've been Joseph Dalwood . This is the Finance Show with Joe . If you do want any help with your financial advice or if you do want help with your mortgage , visit us at wwwitsimplecomau .
You can also find us at itsimplefinance on Instagram and also at joeychandon on Instagram . It's like Moet Chandon but Joe A Chandon , because my name is Joey .
I always read it as Joe T Chandon .
But thank you all , michael .
No , that's all from me . I'm your lovable schmo who doesn't know anything .
And we'll see you next time .