What is your net worth? Approximately $4,000,000
At what age did you become a net worth millionaire? 50
How did you accumulate your net worth, what are you invested in? Rental Investment Properties
What was your highest average household WEEKLY income after tax? $120,000 combined (yearly)
What is your career? Retired Teacher & Det Senior Sergeant
Do you have children? YES
Do you have a tertiary qualification? YES
Did you inherit any of your money? YES
If YES, how much did you inherit? $60,000 about 15 years ago which we kept as our backup funds and $250,000 this year which we shared with our two children.
What's the approximate value of your house? $1,000,000
Are you debt free now? NO
If NO, how much debt do you have and what is it for? Own our own home (in a Trust) but have $1,8000,000 debt over our investment properties.
Are you in KiwiSaver? YES
Were you taught about money? NO
What is the most enjoyable thing you do with money?: Not worrying about having enough money to live the way we want.
Do you use your money or your time to help others? YES
If YES, can you please elaborate. Mentoring other people on buying property and property investment. Co-ordinating community fundraising events.
What is your greatest financial win? Purchasing great rental investment properties at bargain prices and adding value by DIY renovating. Holding all properties.
What is your worst financial mistake? Not starting sooner. Having all our loans with the same bank tied up future lending.
What advice do you have for others? We started off by reading one book about property investing and then putting what we learnt into practice. Keep reading and keep investing.
What is the point of having a net worth above $1,000,000. What does it mean to you? $1,000,000 is not enough these days $2,500,000 would be better - we were aiming for financial independence and having the option to retire early or being able to swap stressful full time jobs for something easier. The trick is to recognise when you can take that leap to freedom.
Finish these sentences:
If you want to build wealth do this… Start learning and investing early on in your working life. Keep at it.
If you want to build wealth avoid doing this… Spending money on things you don’t need.
Not educating yourself about investing your money.
If these questions don’t adequately tell your story, feel free to briefly elaborate here: We didn’t really have a goal at first but loosely decided to buy one investment property per year until we had 10. We made mistakes in the beginning with negative gearing but that turned out to be a form of compulsory saving (using our own money to pay down loans). We always bought properties we would be happy to live in ourselves.