Take Some Simple Steps

Tips For Success

I had a friendly discussion with a passenger during a flight from Brisbane to Townsville. I had been thinking about using my life of lessons learned to help others by writing a book of my experiences and some of the things that helped me get through life successfully. 

That conversation really spurred me on to get this book published. As a result of this discussion I have a story to tell.

I thought that it was really quite a coincidence that the person talking to me was almost what I considered a potential customer  for the knowledge that I present in this book. I provided so many helpful hints to assist this novice investor to make decisions on important facts that he would need to  take into account when making investment decisions. 

He literally was blown away when I provided some of the insights that i have offered in Simple Steps to Success! He otherwise might never have dreamed that some of these ideas would be of any consequence in the long term.

Brief points:

The agent was too busy to show this young man around, so he learned a lesson about some real estate agents’ lack of concern about potential buyers requirements. The land was on a hill much steeper than the photography had shown, and the agent was  too busy to guide this poor guy any further after he’d travelled a thousand kilometres and spent the return fare to view it.

Factors this young investor did not understand that would influence his investment decisions:

What should he do with his money?

• Should he buy an improved property?
• Should he invest the money?
• What was the best way to go about any of this?
• What would capital gains be on the sale of an investment property.
• Should he apply for the Home Owner’s grant which was available to some buyers where he lived?
• How to attract the grant, and what was the criteria?
• How did negative gearing work?
• Did this purchase have anything to do with his partner who worked for Qantas?
• What were the complications if he and his partner were to purchase as “tenants in common” or “joint tenancy”?
• What were the de facto rules?
• Should he rethink his desire to build a house for his own use in about 6 years?
• Was it preferable to buy land, or a house that would make an ideal rental property since the tenants would greatly assist with mortgage payments?
• Should he buy a new property for rent, or for resale using the home owners grant? Or should he buy land and start from scratch?
• Should he buy an investment property in a good location for rent, before he bought a family home?
• When should he seek a Financial Advisor’s opinion and what questions should he ask the advisor regarding his purchase options?

This whole scenario reinforced in me the need to inform young people about where they were heading, and how to sort out their priorities, opportunities and savings in a meaningful way without risk of loss and the disappointment of not knowing the full picture before committing to such a large investment.