Finding the courage

Hi Everyone,

I would like to hear from anyone who has had the courage to give up work (paid), or even reduce the amount of hours they currently spend at work in order to invest full time. Work currently consumes most of my time. My ultmiate goal is to have my partner give up work all together and invest in property full time but I am having reservations. How are we going to be able to save money for property living off one income? (I know, I know - spend less!!)

Anyway, does anyone have any success stories???? or regrets that they wouldn't mind sharing with me please.

Thanks so much!
Krs

Hi Krs,
I’ve twice given up full time work, 1st to pursue my passion of cycling, 2nd to go back and educate myself full time to change careers from accounting to IT after realizing that my forte was in the design of financial systems as opposed to being a user of them.

Not what you were really looking for as an answer, but, although I didn’t make it, I will never look back and wish I’d given cycling a go, because I did. Going back to invest full time in my education is a big thing, especially after 10 years and not having a partner that has another income. Sure I didn’t really have any money, or mortgage at the time anyway, so the risk was quite minimal, it was the lifestyle I’d become accustomed to that had to change in the short term (couple of years).

You say that you don’t have any time yourself because you are always at work. Why would your ultimate goal be have your partner stop paid work to invest full time, if your own work capacity isn’t going to change so that you can spend time together doing what you really want as a result of investing? You must really love your job.

If you give up work to invest full time, then I don’t see how that is giving up work, only changing careers.

I don’t think is necessarily about courage, but more about passion. What do you really want that much, that you would take that kind of leap of faith in yourselves, to have one of you investing full time.

Mal

Getting out of your comfort zone, can help you become comfortable

Hi krs,

I, like Shwing, changed careers after a period of time furthering my education in between. I took the "leap of faith" after I did the investigation and found that the long term gain far outweighed the short term loss. And I was right.

If you and/or your partner have done your homework and research, and it all says to go for it, then go for it !!

Maybe initially you can hedge your bets a little by stopping paid full time employment in stages. Perhaps plan to do "investing stuff" for two hours every night after you come home from work. Then, if that proves to be successful, go part time at work, and if that turns out ok the final step of "giving up work in order to invest full time" should be easier.

My other suggestion would be to make sure you have the biggest line of credit possible set up with your bank BEFORE you change your work status. Banks will generally give you more than you need when you don't want/need it, but the moment you do want/need it they will say no.

Thanks,

BDM

Property + Music : what else is there ?
http://www.mattsmusic.com.au
http://www.rivertothesea.com
http://home.iprimus.com.au/mattandrobyn/index.htm

If levraging your time and effort with like minded services or investors, you will be able to do both, work and invest andwhen you get to a stagewhere you done need to work to support your investments you can retire then..

Roy H.
L.R.E.A., Dip FS (FP)

Guardian Property Specialists (GPS) is a research-focused company that specialises in sourcing and providing residential investment properties Australia wide!

www.gpsnetwork.com.au

krs,

I'm struggling with this as well. I've taken a few 'leaps of faith' in the past which have worked out well.

Taking this leap of faith of leaving the paid workforce appears bigger from this edge of the cliff as the lack of income doesn't sit well with my current preferred philosophy of simply buying and holding.

The only thing I can think of is I'll need to get into the "churning" of property....constant buying / developing / renovating / selling to create the cashflow that has disappeared from the job.

This isn't my preferred choice as it seems like a hell of alot of work / organising, and being at the risk of factors outside your control...the main one being what the purchaser will pay for the end product. Of course ol' Michael Carmody and his merry men at the ATO certainly take the gloss off any profits you make as well.

I think the decision to give up work becomes harder still if the current salary and package you currently enjoy is substantial.

Weighing up hard fin. numbers against soft lifestyle choices is difficult. Saying love and time etc is priceless is great, but nullifies any logical comparison. We all can't sit and hold hands together in a loving family environment with zero dollars coming in.

Sorry I couldn't give you a success story....I'm lined up at the edge of the cliff just as you are.

Cheers,

Darryl Moore

"No point having a cake if you can't eat it."

Hi Guys,
Here is my story. I havn't had a job for wages for 16 years i am 41 now. 16 years ago i was a general assistant in a primary school doing maintenance lawns etc. I could of stayed in that job forever. My father got a sales job selling electrolux vac cleaners and he was earning 1,000 a week i was earning 300. I quit moved to Coffs Hbr and spent 2 years flogging vacs door to door and earnt $50,000 a year. After 2 years i started working on comission for my uncle who had a cladding business down south, after a year i started my own Cladding and Home Improvement business and have had that for the past 13 years.
For me i couldn't work for someone else. I like to be in control of my time and money, i can arrange my work around my kids activities and if i need more money have the ability to go out and earn it. I wouldn't tell anyone to throw in their job this is just how it has happened for me. I feel for you dazzling i read your post about your time away working from your family. When i did the above i only had a PPOR with a mortgage of 25k although it was at 18% ouch. Do you work on one of those oil rigs you see out in the middle of the ocean? Being self employed has its good and bad points, sometimes you wonder where the next dollar is coming from. Being a man i think we tend to spend most of our time worrying about money. My trade off is i get to wake up every morning with my 3 year old daughter jumping on me. For me the next 10 - 15 years is the most important time for my family. What would i do if i was on the edge of the cliff now? I cant answer that, i thank God i jumped 16 years ago.
Robo

Hi krs, I think I have had 4 leaps of faith, the first was in the late 80s when I took leave without pay from a nice government job and travelled around OZ for a few years and then enrolled in university as a mature age student, leap number 2 was in the late 90s when I went overseas with 4K and put my properties in the hands of someone else to look after, leap number 3 was in 2001 when I started my own business overseas and employed staff with the aim of making more money to invest in properties and finally leap number 4 was deciding that I'm 90% towards my goal of desired IPs and reduced my working time to less than 20 hrs per week so I could concentrate on getting that last 10% of my desired goal finished.
C2

Rich in happiness and money is better than rich in money with no happiness.

I nearly forgot leap number 5 the most important one, getting married to a wonderful woman who also took the leap of faith to trust my vision and help work towards achieving my goal which has now become our goal.
C2

Rich in happiness and money is better than rich in money with no happiness.

Hi All,

Thankyou so much for sharing your stories. I think there are two important messages that I can see so far. The first is that it is okay to take baby steps as long as you keep heading towards your goal, whether that be one IP address or thousands. And secondly, if the time is right trust yourself to take a leap of faith and see what happens.....I suppose I (or my partner) could always go back and get a job if things didn't work out (that's not really the attitude to have is it!!!!!)

Cheers
krs

Hi KRS,

Regrets?

Should have left work 3 years ago. In hindsight the hardest part is getting your head around the idea.

We have left full time employment. Left a job that caused us the rise at 3.40am each day and return home at 9pm.

Now we choose to get up at the respectable hour of 7am.

Don't be fooled. You may find that you do more "work"for yourself than for your old employer. Now we do what I spent all day thinking about before.

The difference is that is just does not seem like work.

Try this: Do property investment as a second job until the income from it exceeds the income from your old job. You have just proved it to yourself. You no longer need the job. Resign.

If you can't match your income you need to work out why? Is it a lack of skills, opportunities, motivation or is it just the time.

Make sure you have a plan B. If it all turns to turnips your strong plan B will save you.

Cheers

donandliz@xtra.co.nz
NZ Investors & Property Spotters
Renovations & Project Management

Krs,
I don't know what your background is, for me i would have a look at some sort of commission only work, sales/marketing that pays big dollars for less hours maybe 3 days a week that will give you 2 days for investing. A lot of people get turned off by that word commission but if you have belief in yourself and can do it you will never go back to wages.
Robo

Krs,
I don't know what your background is, for me i would have a look at some sort of commission only work, sales/marketing that pays big dollars for less hours maybe 3 days a week that will give you 2 days for investing. A lot of people get turned off by that word commission but if you have belief in yourself and can do it you will never go back to wages.
Robo

We are ofering just that position in our organisation, as a Business Development Manager BDM role, dealing with researched investment properties Australia Wide. If interested we can chat, preferrably Sydney based.

Roy H.
L.R.E.A., Dip FS (FP)

Guardian Property Specialists (GPS) is a research-focused company that specialises in sourcing and providing residential investment properties Australia wide!

www.gpsnetwork.com.au