Hi All,

this is the last post I’ll make to this thread. New thread started (This one continued) under ‘heads up’

Cheers Tom

Email to the mailing list

As previously discussed we’re getting together again this Thursday in Five Dock. This meeting is more of a general get together. In our last meeting Amit agreed to prepare a short overview of Trusts which he will present. Amit has been looking at trusts for a while now and has set one up for himself as his investment vehicle and as agreed to share his understanding.

Prior to this I will be meeting with a few people who have expressed an interest in working together to progress their own projects, what I call the ‘project pushers’. If you are interested in this check out the ‘Heads Up’ section of the forum where I have posted a general invite.

The main motivation for organising this meeting is to meet other like minded individuals so I’m looking forward to meeting as many of you as possible.

Please let me know if you’re coming or not so I can keep a track of numbers.

Cheers, Tom

PS As usual I’ll post this email on the forum under the ‘Heads up’ section

Forum members – if you want to come and meetup with some like-minded individuals on Thursday email me for venue details : [email protected]

(Email sent out to those on mailing list)

Wash-up from first investors group meeting held on 27/11/03

Off to a good start last Thursday. Small turnout but what the hell, we couldn’t have accommodated a cast of thousands anyway.

Firstly thanks to Otto for providing the venue and to Jeff for being our first presenter. Thanks to Amit for following up with the mailing list.

Overview
There were only a few items on the agenda but somehow it still took nearly two hours to get through. The main event was an informal presentation by Jeff, (Still_in_school) of the investment strategy that has led him to having acquired 11 properties in less than a year. Not surprisingly this led to a good deal of discussion around the fine details of the process. No doubt this subject will still be a hot topic in future meetings.

The other main area discussed is what I’m now going to call Project Pushing. This consisted mainly of me using the group’s input to help clarify the approach I’d like to take rather than any formal start to the process. The end results of this synthesis are detailed in the General section below.

It was also decided to get together again in two weeks time at the same venue and that I would draft an agenda for the meeting, again see below.

Action Items
1) The only formal action item to be defined was on Amit. Amit has got his head around Trusts and has agreed to prepare a twenty-minute presentation for the next meeting, which will be followed by a ten minute Q&A session. Amit is not a financial advisor so this is knowledge sharing by a peer – only.

Other Actions
I have agreed to draft templates for:

· Statement of Goals document
· Balance Sheet
· Cash Flow Statement

This was not a formal action item as most people already have their own versions of these documents. The (selfish) intention is to ensure I have my own. I am however happy to share these templates with whoever is interested.

In addition I have challenged Amit to buy a CF+ property before me or forfeit a bottle of good Champagne, if he does then I’ll have to stump up the bubbly (however, given the current state of the market we may both be waiting a while to collect…)

General
Personally I found the meeting extremely useful in helping to clarify my thinking. I have created V1 of the Statement of Goals and in doing so a further clarification occurred.

I now believe goals have two dimensions, time and life aspect. By life aspect I mean areas such as Financial, Career, Education etc – nothing new here – just new to me. I have broken the time dimension into: 5 years, 1 year, 6 months, 3 months, 1 month and, most importantly, tasks. The tasks relate to the 1-month goals and being such are very easy to define. The trick of course is to actually do them.

It was at this point that the idea of ‘Project Pushing’ crystalised. I define Project Pushing as the application of an external discipline to our own actions. By keeping the Statement of Goals up to date we will have a list of tasks to complete within the month. Meeting every fortnight or month to review / report progress to others on the tasks you’ve set yourself means you will have to stay focused in order to deliver.

I appreciate that this approach will not appeal to very many people but all this needs is two or three committed individuals to start with. I am quite happy to organize this. I would imagine that many people would drift off once they had acquired enough momentum. Again I would imagine that this approach would be more useful for newbies rather than those who are already making headway though I’m happy to be proved wrong.

However, I believe most people want to meet simply to network and share knowledge. Therefore, I would like to take a dual-track approach to future meetings. The first part of the meeting will be split into two streams: Project Pushing, for those interested, and general networking; the second part will be knowledge sharing by way of a presentation which will of course mean more networking. I’ve put together a preliminary agenda, see below, for the next meeting that I hope illustrates the idea.

At this point I want to know if there is any interest for the Project Pushing idea or am I pushing something else uphill! Email me if you want to get involved and based on the response I’ll adapt the meeting accordingly. Email: [email protected]. Please title the email Project Pushing.

Agenda

1a) First meeting of the PP group
This will be a preliminary exploration of where we are individually and to flesh-out the approach taken.

1b) General networking (I’ll need someone to own this – any offers?)

2) Presentation on Trusts
Content overview to be provided by Amit (cheers mate – really dropped you in it with this one eh?)

3) Date and venue of next meeting

4) Any other business

I’ll flesh-out the agenda once I get some feedback.

Cheers, Tom

As usual I’ll post this on the PI.com forum. Apologies to those who see it there first I’m sending this from home and don’t have everyone’s address.

Thanks.

Could you do me a favour and move the thread to Heads-up as I feel this a more appropriate area.

Thanks, Tom

quote:

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Hi Tom

I used the search function on this forum and found your post within one minute.

Given the recent changes to the site you might want to keep the search function in mind for any further misplaced posts.

https://www.propertyinvesting.com/forum/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=5350

Cheers
Leigh K[]

Carve your own path and lead the way …

---

Email to those on mailing list

Hi Guys,

Despite my constant goading we don’t appear to have anybody else joining us from the forum which is somewhat disappointing. The ‘Group for new investors’ topic has had over 540 hits making it one of the most read topics on the forum – however this has not translated into bums-on-seats tomorrow night. For tomorrow night I believe we have the usual suspects

I have also invited along a guy called Neil. He’s an accountant. I thought an accountant would be a useful addition to the group if we can get him interested. Is there anyone else coming along not listed? Does anyone know a solicitor that we might entice along? We should also at some point give some thought as to the size and composition of our group – a subject for discussion down the pub eh?

Agenda for 27/11/2003

1) Introductions:

Given that we’re all unknown to each other we should just take a few minutes to introduce ourselves to each other – nothing too formal just who we are, what we’ve done so far and what we want to get out of this exercise.

2) Main item of business:

Create templates for:

* Goal Statement
* Balance Sheet
* Cash Flow Statement

Some of us have already done this, if so you can sit back and just pitch in your ideas. I’m not proposing that we complete these documents during the meeting – that’s home work. I’ve included my initial thoughts on what goes into each item in appendix 1. Please review and note any initial thoughts you have.

3) Initial strategy discussion

One of the main reasons we’re getting together is to share ideas and to develop our own strategies / plans. Some of us have already developed a strategy and have started working it by buying properties. This is an opportunity to hear what others have already achieved and how they did it

4) Plan for second meeting

* Venue
* Date
* Agenda

5) Any other business

6) Quick beer in the pub for those inclined

Please let me know of any last-minute cancellations or changes.

Cheers, Tom

Appendix 1

Goals
Financial
Personal

Need to give this a lot more thought!

Balance sheet
I believe the usual approach is to start with the most liquid and then progress through to the most illiquid. Off the top of my head I can think of:

Assets
Monies lent
Cash at bank
Other cash investments
Shares
Managed Funds
Consumer Durables (Cars etc) – some may argue this is a liability
Investment Property
Own Home
Super Fund

Liabilities
Monies owed
Credit Card debt
Personal Loans
Mortgages

Net Worth = Assets – Liabilities

I think that covers most things but if there’s something else that can be usefully added then bring that thought along tomorrow. What I’ve realised is that a balance sheet should be regularly updated. Doing so gives you a good indication of how you’re progressing by comparing your net worth on a regular basis. Companies prepare a balance sheet once a year, I’m going to try to do one once a month to start with and see how that goes.

Cash Flow Statement

Cash in
Wages
Rents
Dividends

Cash Out
Rents
Mortgage Payments
Debt repayments
Living Expenses

Again I’m going to try and move surplus/deficit from Cash Flow to Balance Sheet once a month to start with (i.e. just like a business). I think the only item that needs a budget is Living Expenses the others are pretty much fixed – any thoughts?

I don’t think we’ll need to spend much time finishing this off but I could be wrong.

Quick update,

I’ve talked to the lease company and all the figures check out as far as the leasing goes. The equipment has to be new, and insurance is my responsibility. $5000 over 5 years is 130 pm gross ($15pw net). They’re not legaly allowed to advise me on points of tax law so I’ve asked my accountant to confirm tax deductability which I now believe should be fine.

Next step put case together on paper and see if I’ve got an imaginative landlord or a sheep…

How can I get a dishwasher bundled in with this deal? Do you think I could get the salesman in Harvey Norman to foregoe his commision on the purchase if I told him how to sell a plasma to every tenant that walks in through the door? Anybody know what the commission % is on a plasma?

Cheers, Tom