Not a lot of people know that I grew up in the U.K. before migrating with my family to Australia at the tender age of 9. We lived in the U.K. during the Thatcher years – a miserable time economically for the U.K.
My father, a double degree holder, had a lot of difficulties getting consistent work. He was travelling a lot and working sporadically before going for six months without employment.
In 1981, he, fortunately, received an offer to work in Australia, and not long after, we were on a flight to the other side of the world.
While it was undoubtedly a risky move, it ultimately paid off, and we certainly saw it as a new chapter and a way to wipe the slate clean and build our life into a new direction.
A Brutal Diagnosis & Financial Worries
At the age of 10, my father was diagnosed with a terminal illness with six months to live. It was a devastating time to live as we had to come to terms with his diagnosis. Why am I telling you this story?
It was during this time that I grappled with many things, including figuring out how to make ends meet.
My father, who was usually a happy-go-lucky kind of guy, spent every waking moment being preoccupied about our family’s financial situation.
Fortunately for him, thanks to new medical technology, he was told that he would have a further six months to live, then another six months and another six months… where he eventually lived an additional thirty years.
The impact on him and our family was profound as we lived through a period where he was virtually given six months to live for an indefinite period.
The direct impact on me was that I didn’t want to be worried about money. Instead, I was driven to understand money and my relationship with money better. So that if for some reason, my time in the world were to be cut short, that I was prepared for myself and my family financially.
Financial freedom was and still is the key driver for me regarding wealth creation.
Property Investment as a Means for Financial Freedom
So what about property investing?
It wasn’t until I met my husband that I saw the extraordinary returns on property investment.
Prior to this, I was an avid stock trader and built businesses. But after blindly signing every property document put in front of me, I didn’t look at the returns until some years later.
And I was blown away at the unbelievable returns in a very short space of time.
Admittedly, this was during a property boom. But the fundamental insights still held true. Property was a fantastic asset class that I didn’t fully realise, and it wasn’t until I saw this that I finally shifted my focus from stock trading and business building to property investing.
But this was only the starting point.
I quickly realised that investing and wealth creation was only half the puzzle. The other half was financial freedom.
Property investing affords leverage around time, money and simplicity.
While I may make it sound glamorous and easy, but that’s not true at all. I had my fair share of cuts and bruises along the way. But the fundamentals were that it was a safer investment option and afforded me the choices surrounding the freedom that I wanted.
For me, financial freedom is all about the ability to choose how I spend all my time and to pursue the things I want to pursue, develop interests, support my children, influence my community, to impact the lives of other people and so much more.
I’m incredibly blessed to be running a business that’s congruent with the aspirations I have, where it’s all about the fact that I’m on a journey towards building financial freedom for others and if you want to jump on this proverbial bus, then come on board.
Enter Alternative Investing
After many years of amassing a property portfolio, I was knocked back by the banks who believed I was over-leveraged and denied any further access to capital.
My portfolio was doing reasonably well but wasn’t setting the world on fire. But because I was keen to drive greater returns further and pursue my final goal of financial freedom, I started asking the question of “what else”? What other opportunities do I have?
And there appears to be this invisible wall that most investors hit.
I’m not sure if it’s a lack of knowledge, time or energy. But when many investors have hit this wall, they remain content and start to figure that they’ll let the portfolio do its thing and hang onto the hope that it’ll begin to perform for them.
And to be frank – hope’s a pretty poor strategy for investing hundreds of thousands to potentially millions of dollars.
For me, I looked into exploring alternative investment strategies which took me down a rabbit hole for over a decade. This set me on the path to learning overseas markets and how they did things differently. And the result?
My mind was once again blown by the variety of strategies that I’d never heard of.
The metrics of which you judge the value of assets and how property prices overseas compared to Australia proved that Australian property prices were phenomenally high.
The fact that many opportunities, such as ones in the U.S. meant that I didn’t have to worry about property management and needing minimal capital upfront was a total game-changer.
Achieving Financial Freedom
Now that I’ve been an alternative property advisor for a few years, I’ve realised that high net worth individuals also experience financial stress. Often more so than those with lower net worth.
And that you don’t necessarily need to overhaul your property portfolio, but to finesse it in the right direction with the proper knowledge.
My mission is to empower people with education and direction. As someone who’s achieved and continues to strengthen my financial freedom, I believe the only way to accomplish this is through drive and guidance.
Are you ready to join me for your journey towards financial freedom?
