Still seeking a physical mentor

Hi Sebastian. Why not attend one of the Sydney meetups? We had a great one at Baulkham Hills last week. Both new and experienced investors. Informal chatting about investing and whatever comes up. 

Check out she Somersoft forum. Meetups are listed there. 

Its a great way to network and meet like minded people. 

A young meetup sounds great but in reality it may be the blind leading the blind.

Do you want to hang with the guys or learn about property investing? 

 Surely its better to meet with other investors (regardless of age) with like minded goals. I have been to meetups where some people haven't bought yet and others have multiple properties and years of investing experience. There are many experienced investors who are very generous with their time and expertise. Why through that away because they aren't 26? 

Doesnt make sense to me. Disclaimer-  I'm more than double 26. 

Totally agree. 

Haha fair call, I will take that one on the chin.

I have no plans to "do something about it" however, that's just who I am. I believe that knowing who you are and how you react in different situations is crucial to implementing a strategy that is suited to….you.

Hi Rick. Good to hear you have a sense of humour.

I should have put a smiley as I realised it reads a bit rudely. I did mean it tongue in cheek. Damn writing. Never conveys emotion.

I agree with knowing where you are coming from is essential. My lack of confidence stopped me from investing for MANY years. I must say in my defense though that internet has made a massive difference to investing, especially in the last 10 years.

Networking was instrumental in getting me to where I am today. I met young people who had less money than me and had more property than me. That was a wake up call.

Anyone can write anything on the internet but when you meet and talk to genuine people it connects. 

I know you don't want the world to know about your investments but curious- have you bought in Townsville?

Wow this is great.

I just PM to MunMun5, I will try to join him in Brisbane.

Catalyst Comment "A young meetup sounds great but in reality it may be the blind leading the blind."

I have seen Entreprenuer groups where they all help each other become better Entreprenuers. I think there still Entreprenuers (trying to achieve more but limited by those around them).  You can really benefit by having a people ahead of you. Suggest a couple of ol dogs that have done a few deals or made a few million. Or have some Millionairs drop in occasionally. Or guys like Rick

Sebastian, I found a lack of Mentors. I don't want to be retiring at 40. I want to retire at 30.

What Rick Sta says is interesting. I did it similar to him. I attended meetups and talked more but relised that there was so much BS out there. I had 50yr olds giving me lots of advice and they were all working 40hours perweek.   Rick, if your up for lunch someday holla. Im visiting family in Townsville till the 13September.

Hey Catalyst,

I agree with you re: ' is it the blind leading the blind' . My goal is  I have been on a private course kind of tied in with Steve cert 4. He gave anyone on it who was enrolled the chance to come to Melbourne every 2 months from July last year to oct this year ( last meeting next month) to stay in the course we had to complete different tasks weekly between each meeting. If you failed to complete things you got eliminated the group started with 150 odd and is down to 20-30 ish. I have learnt a lot of amazing things while doing this and the cert four that I think I can pass on some of this life lessons to get the group started and help get people on the right financial path. My aim after that is to build some networks with a team of knowledgeable people in their fields,lawyers, accountants town planners etc who have a passion for property and may see sharing their knowledge as a two way street. I also would want to encourage people to present real deals they are working on to encourage and highlight the successes and pitfalls associated with property. I have found at different meetups and networking groups I have attended that there are some amazing older investors who are happy to share information with you but on the other hand there are alot of older people there who I put in the'group junkie' category in which they go from one to another hoping to find the get rich quick option with no effort or they are in the couda,shoulda,woulda mindset and not ready to take action. Many of the younger people I have met have already taken action to change their life and are usually action takers although occasionally frightened at such events due to their knowledge base. I want to create an event that they can come to feel comfortable but also push their comfort levels and also meet like minded people who they can inspire and be inspired by. While reading what I wrote this sounds like I am bagging anyone who is not 'young' this is far from what I am trying to get across all I am trying to provide it a forum for people to succeed in life. 

Seb,

I am you, but 10 years down the track. I joined the forum in 2003 and am now 29 (with the big three oh not far away!). 

I started out like you as well, researching tirelessly and trying to learn from others. The advice I would give you is don't look for a single mentor. One person's method and ideologies are more than likely going to be different to what works for you and trying to emulate how they do things or taking their advice above others is not going to get you where you want to be. Learn as much as you can from as many as you can and then put the pieces of the puzzle together to form your own ideas and opinions. The comments about joining investment groups and going to forum meet ups are on the money because you will meet more like minded people. 

The above post is the only one of yours that I've read so I'm not sure if you already own any property but If not then my second piece of advice is to pull the trigger and buy something! Doing will teach you more than researching ten times over. It will also give you the confidence to move on with the next one and hopefully the passion and craving for more! When I was 19 I read a property investing book which I thought was ground breaking, and nowadays I realise it was basically full of outdated ideas and marketing spin – The one good thing about the book though was that it got me so pumped about buying a property that I purchased my first IP a few months later which was the biggest single step of the whole journey.

The last thing I would say is maximise your employment income – Cash truly is king, and income will always be a more important factor in any loan application than LVR. If you can get a job that will add in some way to your passion for wealth creation or help you learn from others (eg: real estate, finance) then that's a huge added bonus.

Today I own an investment portfolio with net income of over $100k (before tax), and my PPOR is paid off. My first child is now 12 weeks old (named Sebastian!) and my wife is on maternity leave with no intention of ever going back to work. I plan to leave work at the end of next year and have time to raise a family and do all the things I've worked so hard to be able to afford over the last decade. Hopefully you find this motivating, and it gives some context to my earlier advice.  

I know your post was mainly about finding a mentor, but you sound so similar to what I did when I joined the forum so I thought I would weigh in with a couple of ideas that helped me along the way.

Best of luck with everything, and don't hesitate to PM me if you want to discuss anything further. 

Steve.