Hey there folks . It's Bryce here , and Ben and I are excited to bring you our new podcast mini series based on our best selling book , the Armchair Guide to Property Investing how to Retire on $2,000 per week where we give you an insider's look at the making of our book , chapter by chapter .
Now , the reason this mini series came into being is because , back in 2020 , we did a series of Facebook Lives to help us bust out of COVID lockdown blues and , instead of reading the book word for word like an audiobook , we told behind the scenes stories , chapter summaries , anecdotes and back stories to bring each chapter to life in a unique and insightful way .
Now we've brought together all the audio from these sessions , so you'll see for yourself why more than 45,000 copies and counting have been read on the way to retiring on $2,000 per week through investing in property , and we talked about these concepts in our trademark casual and conversational style .
So if you've ever thought about retiring on $2,000 per week or wondered how to live a life by design , doing what you want when you want , or you've dreamed of travel or philanthropy or anything in between , then this mini series is for you . We want to give you the Armchair Guide to actually do it for yourself .
And if you'd like to get a copy of this best selling book for yourself to play along at home , you can get a free copy at wwwTheArmchairGuidecomau . We'll rush out a copy of the book to you on us if you simply pay for postage . We hope you enjoy the series and you design a lifestyle that you want to live .
So dive in and enjoy each episode as you learn how to retire on $2,000 per week . Ben , we finally got to the end , the final chapter . The whole point of this entire book was to get us to the very end where we actually say how to retire on $2,000 a week . We actually show you folks how to do that .
So we munch it together , Bryce Munch it together .
Hey , ben , I just wanted to . There we go . Thank you , ben . Just to highlight that . What page number is that ?
It is 250 .
200 . Now , folks , we actually . I just want to build a bit of a backstory on this book .
When Ben and I decided that we wanted to write a book regarding property investment , we kind of just did that look at each other , which was a knowing look of the world doesn't need another investment property book where he and I sit up there with pumping our chests going , how good are we ? Look at all the toys we've got behind us in the picture .
We didn't feel like that was going to serve anyone in any way . So the context of the way that we decided that we would write our book was from the perspective of a professional advisor . Ben's a qualified property investment advisor . I've been doing this for over 20 years . So we thought what would we do if we were doing a consultation , a discussion ?
Capture everything we'd say in a consultation , put it into the book so that ultimately , ben , we arrive at chapter 10 , which shows people exactly how to do that .
Rubber hitting the road . Bryce Rubber hitting the road . This is where it all happens .
Can you give us a quick feedback from you , Ben , around why we decided that the world didn't need another book like the other 50 million ones with the plane on the front of it ?
Well , look , there's a lot of books out there that just basically talk about this is how I do it and you should follow me . This book is actually about a tailored solution irrespective of what demographic you are , what household composition you are .
You can actually do this from any walk of life as long as you're prepared to put in the work , put in the planning and understanding all of the moving parts . So it's very much a framework driven book . But chapter 10 sort of supercharges that story .
When you start to understand all of the moving parts that make up you know modelling out a plan so you can plan to become what you plan to become .
Exactly Ben . So this book is a culmination of 20 plus years of knowledge from Ben and I doing this . But , more importantly , we like to think of this book as the Yoda Ben , where we are the guide , not the hero .
It's actually allowing people to go through and see themselves within these pages and see how they can actually fit into the book for themselves and actually make that transition from hoping for some form of lifestyle design to actually getting it .
So , hey , what I want to do is I just want to shout out to folks we've got five scenarios that we go through , ben , and a couple of things . One I'm going to quickly go through what those five scenarios are , and then two I want everyone in the comments section .
If they could actually put which one they are , that'd be really good , because I can see the comments here and we can address that . But then Ben , we actually we wrote this back in 2016 and we missed a popular demographic for these case studies . We did so .
There should have been six case studies , not five , so I want to throw it out to the comments to see if anyone can work out what it is . But here we are . Ben you ready ? Yep , Go for it . Scenario number one is the rent Vesta , Ben . Scenario number two is dinks double income no kids .
Number three is couple with young kids , Number four is older couple with older kids and number five is empty nesters , Ben . So folks who are watching this live , can you just put in the comments box which one of those are you ? Are you a rent Vesta strategy ? Are you a dinks or a double income , no kids strategy ? Are you a couple with young kids ?
Are you an older couple with older kids or are you an empty nester ? Or Ben , are you the one that we forgot ?
Oh , and what is that one we forgot , because we might even find out that there might be another category that we missed out on . But well , that's definitely one . There's definitely one .
That's the point of this , ben , because then if we get all this really cool feedback , we might have the second round book that has 10 case studies , because everyone says , well , you missed this one , but there's a few coming in here . So we've got katrina smith saying couple with young kids Wow , which is cool We've got alea , that's a skeleton .
Who is a rent vesta ? Uh , so we've got michael olderton here to represent the number two is ben dinks . All the way Dumblin . Come no kids . Ian's a rent vesta , so we've got a bit of a cross-section . Have we got um Older with older kids ? I just want to have a quick look there .
Ivis is nodding , no , she's saying no , no , so all right , it's really good I get to see Ivis on the screen here . Bro , I know everyone else doesn't get to see , but I've got a . You know , I've got her on my screen here , so Stick around , you can hear her .
She doesn't have a mute on so we can hear her voice . So . But the thing is , here's the important bit stick around right to the very end , folks , because Ivis will accidentally put herself on camera . She does it every second time .
She forgot to do it last time , so I recommend we do , and then she'll go back and panic and pull the video and edit her out of it and then put it up again later . So we'll see how we go . So let's have a quick look , ben , I'll just watch you having a look .
I will sort of pad that out , bryce , by talking about the , the ones who are the couples with younger children . Here's a little tip for the beginners what's the amount of income Sorry , amount of cost that you should assume per child ?
Um , so we use a modeling index that's based on raising children and you will be around that sort of 350 to 500 dollars per month per child . Okay , so that should give you an idea of what it costs .
Now , if you want private school fees and a few other bells and whistles , pony clubs , drum lessons , dance lessons and a few other things , but that's roughly the cost it's going to be per child per month . How much 350 to 500 dollars price per month they usually . Where is that ? Where's the ? I've got two kids mate you .
I have the heads up 10 years ago .
They are priceless . Price they are priceless , so it doesn't matter what you have to pay , they are priceless . That's what I'm told anyway . Um , no , they're not cheap . So that's the reality , right ? So ultimately that's going to have a big impact on cash flow .
Um , we normally factor in around seven to ten thousand dollars in you ready for this , startup costs , which is basically preparing for bubs . So that's getting nursery ready , getting the the , the capsules and the car seats and the prams and all of that . Um , so yeah , you know it's , it's not not a cheap exercise .
Bros , raising children , the memories , bros , the memories priceless , it's , it's probably a good that's price .
So it's probably a good story to remind folks that sometimes we haven't intended to be the family planning clinic . But it might be worth you telling a few stories around Uh , how , as a property investment advisor , you back in the day you turned into the family planning clinic for a bit . There's a anecdotal , too , you might want to share .
Well , mate , I've got one straight from today . I've got a text message from my lovely wife Jane today . You ready for this ?
Yeah .
Um , jack was on the internet when he , you know , wasn't necessarily meant to be , and what do you think he stumbled across ? Oh , this could go . Yep , that's pretty much it . Yep , you know . So that four little word it starts with P . Okay , right , Our filters aren't working properly . So there you go . So that's the joy you have .
Yes , so we've got to , obviously , you know , sit down with Jack later tonight and go through that . It's not stuff that you know , like how did you get here ? Like , where did you go ?
Yes .
You've never seen that before .
How did you do that , anyway , so that's a bit of fun , but look at the reality is for all the the season's parents who know how to help on that regard , then the reality is is that , yeah , you know , we have a strong view that if you want to succeed financially , you are best to plan property acquisition before you plan children .
Now , that's not to say that you know money is everything , but it will serve you in having a more comfortable and potentially prosperous ending , because you are chasing your tail if you're trying to do it the other way around .
So , for all those people out there who are thinking what's the best decision to do , it's probably not having a child when you're renting , because it just gets tougher and tougher as you go . So we do feel for those people , but , if you know , if it's a life story that they want and they don't care .
But just be mindful that it's a very , very important decision that you're making , and we do know that your state of wallet plays with your state of mind . So just be mindful of that as well , because when the toughness does happen financially , it's very difficult to be up and about . So it's also good to point that out .
We are , of course , talking about the armchair guide and probably investing how to retire on $2,000 a week . We have been doing this now for 10 Facebook livespan not nine , not eight , but 10 . What we've done is we've actually gone through each and every one of these chapters and summarized the chapters and we're giving people an opportunity .
I think Stiggy might put a little link up on the screen at some stage . So , folks , if you want to copy , we're giving away some free copies because we want to get it in the hands of as many people as we possibly can . If you tell us two things where to ship it and if you pay for the postage , we'll send you a copy of the book , Ben .
So if you want to play along from home , watch all of these Facebook lives , we will have this in a standalone podcast as well . Ben . Which , Stiggy ? But by the time you're listening to this , you may actually be listening to this as the podcast , Ben , but for those of you who are early days , you can keep an eye on that .
We'll make that known , but , Ben , I'm just going to throw it back out to the crew who are watching us , because I want to know which ones we've missed . I wish you might be able to help me with this , because there's quite a few comments here .
But just wanting to see who we missed , because there's actually six in the book , Ben , I've left one out on purpose , so I want to see if it's been missed . But number one are you a rent best ? Or number two , dinks . Number three couple with young kids . Number four older couple with older kids . And number five is an empty nest .
And then , of course , number six is question mark . So folks who did we miss Stick around to the end . We want to know who that is . But there's a few comments here , Ben , from folks who are saying they've got the book . So this one from Katrina Smith bought the book , love it . Thank you for that .
So those people playing along Bryce . They were listening to the podcast . For the first time , the rent investor is still a single person , because they're probably screaming out single . It's clear . Everything everyone else was couples , so it's got to be the single . Well , the first case study was a single rent investor , so we captured that as well .
Yeah , so folks , the one that we haven't talked about , which is in the book , is the divorcee , so someone who is actually needing to recover from a position .
So we got that covered in here and , ben , the other thing is , if you go to the armchair guidecomau , we have actually done a seventh case study and that's actually the one where we talk about single income , single professional female , no kids .
Yeah , and buying , not rent , investing , yeah , so that's also an important one . So there's some yeah , look , I mean there's . Obviously there are different types of demographics out there , and how early you're starting , how late you're starting . Those types of things are going to play a role .
But I think you know the teaching that we want to do in terms of this chapter is about all the moving parts and bringing those moving parts together in terms of you know , you've learned about the ABCD , so now we're sort of getting more technical on those cash flow elements .
So you can start to see , you know , when we start talking about those moving parts around cash flow . So Bryce is holding that up there . So lots of , lots of data and analysis . And there's also the strategic planning diagram .
That's good , and I'm going to do one now , bryce , which is this one here which basically has , you know , all those moving parts so you can start to think about it . And on the very next page , that's this one . It gets a little bit more technical , but there's lots of bullet points there . That's how it affects money .
I've sort of I've coined it , bryce , I've coined . It's called Consequential Finance . Do you like that ? That's what . That's the name I'm going to give it . Yeah , consequential Finance . So what problem are we trying to solve in the world ? We're trying to solve Consequential Finance . Now , what does that mean ?
It means that we're measuring the impact of money decisions . So Consequential Finance , which is something I've just come up with , really does refer to before you actually spend it . It means that what is the impact of that and how is it going to impact your cash flow ? Like that I did . Like that , I did it before , have you ?
I haven't heard that before , but I just wanted to take a look at you and congratulate you for that . Well done . Hey , interestingly , ben , what we've done . Actually , I was just said to me Daniel said you forgot the ones living with mum and dad .
Not really Rent Vesta .
I think it'd be a Rent Vesta if you live with mum and dad , as long as you make sure that it's . The Rent Vesta is a strategy you want going forward , because if you change your mind , as a Rent Vesta , that's .
Oh , go on on Daniel's side there , mate . You can't be a Rent Vesta if you live in a home , unless you play it . You're a board Vesta . You're a board Vesta .
All right , fair enough . I'm sure mum and dad are charging a bit of board . But well played , daniel . I like that . Thank you , ivers will keep sending them through to me . If there's any others , I think she'll put it up on the screen as well . If you leave a comment and we read it out , ivers puts you up in light . So she's clever like that .
So , ben , yes , mate , there's interesting stages here , right ? Because you go from rent vest , you go from a dumber income , no kids , so it's almost like a life cycle approach , and then also with a divorcee at the end . But it's interesting that there's differences within time , isn't it ?
Because if your older couple with older kids , usually you've got a couple of things on your side resource , you're , generally speaking , you've probably got a bit of equity in your home .
If you're in your own home and , generally speaking , ben , you probably got a little bit of a run rate up with your career , so you're probably starting to hit a bit of peak earning capacity . So the banks think you're wonderful in terms of a credit risk . But the secret source in property investing is time . So it's not too late .
But you've run it from a bit of a shorter run up versus when we had David before talking about what about living with mom and dad ? You're on the other end . You've probably got plenty of time . What happened there ? I was still saying the wrong name . I did so , remember .
I was going to say this is going well for you , bruce . Don't keep going , it's good .
Enjoy it . It's all right for you as in late , just kick back . I've got to coordinate these multiple screens . So then , on his side of things , you've obviously got plenty of time I'll make you a big assumption here but maybe the resources . So it's kind of .
You know , we've talked about this in a previous chapter , but it's time , target , income and expense , so it's about having these particular scenarios being at different points in the leverage meter on all of those four things .
Correct , and I think you know , obviously the biggest challenge for most millennials is the deposit .
So you know , the bank of mum and dad is sometimes helping out in that respect , in regards to potentially using a bit of equity that they might have in one of their properties , which is a great starting point to help the children get onto the property ladder , because it isn't about buying that Nirvana property first up .
There is a program that I'm sure your parents will tell you about in terms of our first home wasn't our dream home , or you know that was their home , that they were going to live in , but they had other plans about , you know , buying an investment , sorry , a holiday home , or something on those lines .
So so it's always important to note that that first property isn't usually the one that you're going to be spending all of your time in , daniel Ben .
I said Daniel , that's Daniel .
I knew it was the Daniel .
I'm sorry , mate , I was just sending me text messages . I'm watching the comments here . Oh , kingsley , mate , they're always doing his turn in the pages .
All I'm doing is teaching . I'm just focusing on the lesson here Assumptions . Assumptions is next . So for a man it's like we're finished , Isn't it like the last chapter ? We'll let you down a little bit .
Well , let you let the head down to the bottom of your chin a little bit . Thank you .
It's the first one , so 221 is an important page for everyone to read when you are thinking about how you do these cashflow assumptions . Thinking about now , since we've written the book for us , we always use seven and a half percent long term interest rates .
Now the model that we use just to give everyone context is that we look , we look from 1990 and effectively we're in inflation and with the recession that we had to have , and we looked at the long term interest rates over that time up until today , and that was back in 2009 that we did that analysis . So that's how long we've been doing this work for .
Since , obviously , that time , we've had lower record low interest rates and going lower and lower and lower , and now we're at these you know what was once referred to as emergency interest rates which are now going to probably be the norm for any time that I'm alive , and so we've now dropped that down .
So we average that out each year and that's been creeping down , and so we would suggest , as an absolute minimum number , that you wouldn't push below six percent long term interest rates .
So when you're doing your modelling and making sure that you can afford something , because interest rates will go up at some point into the future , post pandemic , and so you want to make sure that you can afford this property for the medium to longer term , not just the short term , because we don't want to be speculating the property .
That is not who we are . That is not what we recommend . We recommend multiple different strategies for different people cash flow strategies , balance strategies , growth strategies for different households and what their surpluses are . So that's an important message , but that is that's probably the main one that's changed .
But everything else in here is pretty much inflation is probably still sitting at indexation at 3 percent . You could probably tweak that to 2.5 in the current environment . But everything else six percent capital growth on on your superannuation returns , 9.5 percent contribution to super .
That is going to hopefully go up , although , who knows , bryce , I mean , can I give you a little scoop ? What's going to happen in the October budget you can give us ?
a scoop , ben . And while you're doing that , if the folks who are watching us because there's quite a few folks here , ben just pop in the comments section , where you are right now watching this , I'd love to know that . I'm going to read a few out . But go for it . Scoop for October .
So scoop for October tax cuts . Personal tax cuts are coming , bryce . The question is they're going to be moved a year forward or are they going to be moved 18 months forward ? So will they be from the 1st of January 2021 ? Or will they be from the 1st of July 2021 ? So that's number one .
The other point around , what's also going to be coming is , as a tweak , they may not move that compulsory contribution . They may push that timeline out . So it was moving from 9.5 to up towards 10 and then 10.25 . That may just be pushed out by a year or so . So just with that one , I'm not really sure , but I'm pretty confident on the tax cuts .
You're mailed , good you reckon .
Mailed . Very good , you're the future prime minister .
So hey , ben Renee is in Devonport yes . Tasmania . Love Speedon is working from home in Sydney . Anna Berrigan in Mackay in Queensland . She wish mate You'd be happy with being up in Mackay in Queensland right now , but as soon as you're a battery hand over it in Melbourne .
Let's snook up to Early Beach there and go out in the Witsundays for a little paddle In .
Lola in Queensland . There's a bit of Queensland Cornu Bia in Brisbane . And then we got Nathan from Melbourne with a face mask on his little emoticon which is good . Ian from Sydney , Alexandra from Western Sydney , Port Hedland over in Perth .
Oh , I can't remember , not Perth , it's a bit higher up than . Perth's side . And you're a Western Australian mate , you should know your geography .
I think we're self up within three seconds . Fair go Like three seconds . So we've got Cal Gully here . We've got lockdown in Melbourne . So we've got a bit Dean in Melbourne . So , ben , this is the . There's the pyramid , this is the culmination , because I've just lost my page . Chapter 1 covered it through here , chapter 2 , chapter 3 , chapter 4 .
So we were building the knowledge base all the way to the very top , ben .
So we you read it out for me , bryce , can you read it out ? For that ? You are Mr Audio .
Okay , chapter 1 was the Personal Values and Goals , ben , which in my mind , said Chapter 2 was the four foundational levers , ben , maybe you could put the pyramid up on the screen , as I read this out oh yeah , that's a good idea . There we go See how we work together . Chapter 3 is the five essential steps money , smarts and the industry players .
That forms Part 1 , ben . Then Part 2 is in Chapter 4 , investment Foundations . I was just asking you to move it the other way , ben the Property Investment Formula . No , the other way . Chapter 5 is the Property Investment Formula and Building a Team . Chapter 6 is the Property Market Mechanism . Chapter 7 is the Buyer's Decision Quadrant .
Chapter 8 is you as the Investor . Chapter 9 is the Investment Strategy . He's been those 18 Investment Strategy . And then Chapter 10 was the Real Life Case Studies . Can you believe we've done it ? We've done it , kingsley .
There we go , we've done it , we've done it . And the conclusion , bryce , I think we should . Should we read the final paragraph of the conclusion ?
Okay , go on On the close .
On the close no , I think it's on the close .
Yeah , well , the thing is that you want me to read it , or you want me to read it , or are you going to read it .
Well , how can the people get the book ?
Just for a final reminder of how you can get the book Well , if you point to With your right hand , and I'll point with my left hand , we just go there . That's how they get it , ben .
I've got that there , there we go .
Now , I was just stressing out , but here's the point , ben If you want this book and you're a reader , you go to thearmchairguidecomau . We'll send it out to you . But if you're also an audiobook listener , ben , there's an opportunity .
Once you get the free paperback , you can upgrade to get the audiobook , because you might want to consume whilst you're listening to the car , going for a job , going for a walk , all that sort of stuff , ben . So if you get the paperback book , there will be an opportunity for you to upgrade to actually get the audiobook . Not only the audiobook , ben .
You'll get the Kindle version , you'll get the PDF version , you'll get all the supplementary notes , so just the tables , so that you can actually just have the tables next to you as you're listening to the audiobook . Ben , you might be on a plane or whatever .
Good to know .
Actually not a lot of planes . So , basically , thearmchairguidecomau if you're a reader , if you're a listener , if you're a skimmer , if you're a Kindle , it's all covered there , ben . So we want you to go and check that out the Armchair Guide . So I don't know if it's still up on the screen . Yep , actually it is . So there we go .
Any closing comments before we go to the conclusion Ben .
No , no , I've enjoyed these last 10 Facebook Lives , bryce , and for those people on them , I've apologized to you now in advance for obviously interrupting your day and those who are listening on the podcast . Apologies for our little run around there in terms of having a bit of fun , but hopefully you got some takeaways as well .
Very good , so it's been enjoyable , ben . I will finish with this conclusion , so obviously . I was wet so you could hit the button , but it just reminds me , for those , the audiobook . I had to read the book twice . The first time the audio wasn't good , so second time , so it kind of feels like I'm reading the conclusion , probably for the third time , ben .
So , but here we go . So congratulations on getting to this point . You've climbed to the top of the pyramid with a lot more knowledge about this whole property investing thing . Now your Armchair Guide can begin , ben .
However , just as with dieting , where nothing replaces eating well and regular exercise , so too is it with investing that nothing beats having a proven process and , ben , actioning it . This is the way you sign off every week . We hope that reading this book gives you a great start on your investment journey .
If you have already started , we hope we have given you a greater insight into all the important parts and that , when you put together , they make for a very , very powerful result . Our wish is that you keep the book handy , ben . Keep the book handy and use it as a constant resource that you refer to often .
So I'm going to go straight to the final words , ben . Our final words Knowledge is empowering , but only if you act on it . Ben , you should start saying that each week , building passive income comes when the grunt work has been done . Only then can you sit back and relax from your favorite armchair . There we go , the title from your favorite armchair .
Only one thing left to do , ben . Let's begin over to you . It's actually how we sign off over to you , if I can get it on the screen . There we go . There it is there we go .
It's sort of still oh , there it is , it's even in focus A brief .
There you go , folks over to you . So I'm gonna encourage you to go to thearmchickguidecomau . Go and get whichever way you like to consume the book , ben . If it's paperback , we'll do it for free . If it's audio book , we upgrade it for a small fee once you get there . But go and check it out , it's up for you to do that , ben .
And the other thing I wanna say is we have a podcast . It's called the Property Couch . It's our joy and our privilege and our passion to do it each and every week where you and I get together , give the insiders guide to property finance and money management . This Thursday will be no different , ben .
At three o'clock Australian Eastern Standard Time , we will release another episode . It is a cork of this week . You gotta check it out . So I'd encourage you to do that , mate . So before I sign off , any last words from you .
Well , just I just wanna publicly acknowledge your brass for reading the audio book . Thank you very much for doing all that work twice . I think it's a grand effort and people will get benefit from that , because it wasn't me . So I think that's an important outline there . So , yes , mate , well done , congratulations and yes .
Well , they get the benefit of your wisdom between the pages . But thank you for that , mate . I'm certainly hopeful that it does provide value to our community in some way , shape or form . Go and check it out , folks . Go and get a free copy . Go and upgrade to the audio book If that's your jam , but each and every week Ben the podcast .
So I reckon you should go and check it out at thepropertycouchcomau . Hey there , folks , bryce here again , and we've got something super exciting to share with you , because we've been working hard on creating a brand new course that perfectly compliments the book and this mini series . It's called how to Retire on $2,000 per week .
In this course , we'll reveal never-before-seen insights into how we created each of the case studies in chapter 10 of the book . In fact , we're going to make it available to you first , just for being a part of this awesome mini series .
Simply go and get your hands on a copy of our best-selling book for free , and everyone who got a copy during this mini series will receive a special discounted price that won't be available anywhere else .
It's our way of saying thanks for tuning in to our armchair guide to Property Investing mini series , which we hope is adding value , as we show you how to retire on $2,000 per week .
All you need to do to get your hands on your free book is go to wwwthearmchairguidecomau and give us two things One , tell us where to send it and two , pay for the postage and handling . And that's it . We'll do the rest .
Once you leave your details , we'll rush out a copy to you and you can start reading along with us as we unpack the book chapter by chapter here . Once we release the course at the end of this mini series , you can dive straight into the teaching and start creating your $2,000 per week . So go to wwwthearmchairguidecomau today , enjoy .