Inspired

Before I go into what I have done so far, I’ll give you an idea of my finances before reading Steve’s books.

Paye wage earner $55,000 year
wife paye $35,000 year

$5000 credit card 1
$3000 personal loan
$2500 AGC Creditline (27% interest!)

Spent $110 per month on internet
Spent $120 per month on phone
Spent $50 per month on mobile phone plan
Spent $30 per month on gym (didnt go to anyway)
Spent $100 per month on cable tv
Spent LOTS per month on eating out

Managed to pay off ALL credit card debt AND Personal loans since then.

Now spend $120 per month on internet & phone, prepaid mobile with incoming calls only
Quit the gym
Basic cable plan $46 per month
minimise eating out, and budget the food bill much better.

I also setup some automatic direct deposits from my pay each fortnight to subtract for electricity, water/sewerage, phone, internet, and insurance. That way I have much more of an idea what I have left for savings/investment, and incidental expenses, and wont be hit up with a huge bill out of the blue(Electricity/water was about $850 per 3 months, not a nice bill to look at!)

After running with the new budget, and paying off the credit/loans my wife and I realised that we were no longer fighting to keep our financial heads above water! I have to tell you that that in itself was a great relief.

Next step was to draw some equity from our home, so we refinanced with Wizard Home loans up to 80% LVR. This gave us $78,000 to invest/rennovate our home. $30,000 has been set aside to put in a new kitchen, electrical work, lighting, new hotwater service etc, etc(Value add). The rest is being used for property purchases to get us off to a rip roaring start!

Following the positive cashflow principle we found 3 properties that matched that description pretty much through pounding the pavement and talking the the local real estate agents of the area we believe has good growth potential.

We are currently in the final stages before settling on these properties, and have our eyes on a fourth in our home town, with the idea to rennovate and sell after 12 months CG + value add to bring it up to a neutral geared position.

All cylinders firing now, I have to keep the momentum rolling along…..

Up to $9000 Pos Cash flow p/a so far. Going strong!

Borg