CHAPTER 18 (EXTRACT)

How to Build an Australian Property Portfolio, and retire on Four Australian properties.


Many, many years ago I told my old flatmate (who was a South African living in Hong Kong) that a person “only needed four Aussie flats to be able to completely retire.”

He asked me what I meant, and I said:

“One to pay the mortgage. One to pay the tax. And two flats to live off the rental income.”

At the time I was only half serious, but it sounded good! The specific reason that I remembered this is because my friend recently reminded me of this.

“You were right. What you said all those years ago. That’s exactly what I’ve done, and I’ve retired.”

Over the years, I’ve refined this simple philosophy, and produced a system that will not only take care of most of the tax, but pretty much guarantee an income for life from this property strategy.

So all those years ago my ‘ throw-away line’ is now a workable reality!

It is never too late to start, and it is entirely possible to achieve this within 10-12 years, or 15 years at the outside.

Best of all, the only capital needed is the initial outlay for a reasonable deposit, and after that no further capital is needed.

Notwithstanding the fact that everyone’s idea of retirement is different, and whilst it was a ‘ throwaway line’ so to speak, the facts are you can achieve an outstanding income, tax free, by utilising my ‘ Four Aussie Properties Concept.’

Here then in detail is how it works, and what you need to get started, and exactly the steps you need to take.

What would be a good  ' retirement ' income for you?

Everyone is different.

That goes without saying. For some, their lifestyle and expenses are low, so maybe an income of AUD$30,000 is enough.

For others, they may have more expensive tastes, and want about AUD$50,000.

However, for most people I think it’s fair to say that if I said to you that you could get an after-tax retirement income (in today’s dollars) of $70,000-$80,000 per annum that would be pretty good?

So, let’s make that the aim. A target income of $70,000 every single year with the potential to grow in line with inflation, and all achieved within10-15 years.

Here’s how to do it. The vehicle to get there is Aussie property. You will need four Aussie properties, and then you’re done.


..... The Australian Bureau of Statistics also shows that between 70% to 80% of all investors sell within the first five years of ownership.

To me, this is crazy. Investors have not even benefited from one full property cycle!

In any event, it will be very few people who keep going with this strategy right through to the completion.

My advice is to read this very carefully, as it does work and can be done.

But you will need to take action and make a committed effort.

So let’s get rolling.

Now I will show you what I call the ‘UPS’ or Ultimate Property Strategy.

Before we get into this we know that we have to get our four properties, right?

If you have $1.5 - $2 million to plonk down in cash, then you can skip  right to the end of this chapter to start straight away on the UPS.

But for most readers, it is likely you may have one property, or may be just getting started, so first you need to get your four properties. Here is how to do it from the beginning, with a starting cash deposit of (or access to) AUD$125,000, and around $10,000 each year available in the early years, increasing by around $ 1,000 a year.ie Year 2, $11,000, year 3 $12,000 etc.

The reason for this will be explained later.

Remember, this is not a get rich quick strategy. But it is a realistic, advanced program for most people who have access to the deposit now, and have $10,000 a year to put towards their portfolio, and are willing to wait between 10 to 15 years.

You can still achieve the UPS, if you have a lesser deposit, however, it will not be achieved in the 10 to 15 years we are planning here, and will take longer.

So if you don’t have $125,000 immediately available, don’t despair too much.

Obviously you have to have some cash. Otherwise why would you be looking at buying property?


  I’m going to use the $125,000 as our starting point. You may have more. You may    have less. You can adjust the figures and the timelines accordingly.

But we need some figure to get started.

The reason I’ve chosen $125,000 is that in my experience most overseas investors have that kind of deposit when they get started.

Remember, that only 50 out of every 1000 people actually invest. Of that 50 people, just 6 or so buy a second property, and just 2 will go on to buy the 4 or 5 properties that I am suggesting you do.

(This Chapter continued in the Book)