Why your financial leakage stops you from investing
All too often, we hear about someone who has just bought an investment property and how lucky they are. The reality is, it has very little to do with luck and everything to do with choice.
By simply cutting out the lavish lunch here and there and bringing home-prepared food to work, you can not only save considerably on weekly expenditure but eat healthier too.
What about those climbing ATM fees charged at non-bank machines, parking fees and other small expenses? Even buying mineral water adds up to more than one thinks.
These small expenses and unconscious leakage can actually get you into an investment property, if managed efficiently.
Considering that a well-researched and bought investment property may only cost as little as $70 per week to maintain, this equates to only a couple of lunches with friends or a few glasses of wine at a bar down the street, whereas an investment property is a more rewarding and beneficial investment.
By introducing a more personally valuable reward like treating yourself to a massage rather than a six-pack of beer, we can change the way we spend significantly. Such savings can easily add up to be sufficient to plug the shortfall on an investment property.
Of course, buying a property takes a little more than just a few saved lunches, but with low interest rates and high rental demands, financing an investment property is highly achievable.
Looking at the most common points of leakage or where costs can be reduced are obvious. Small things such as re-assessing insurance premiums for homes and cars, reducing bank fees and credit card charges, re-evaluating subscriptions and memberships such as the gym you have not attended for months, can add up.
Another great idea is to have a garage sale or put things on Gumtree where you can sell your unused goods stored away in garages and attics. These can add up and could easily be put towards your deposit.
It really is surprising to see how some of my clients have literally gotten their deposit together by reducing and de-cluttering, and are now affording their investment property by maintaining slightly different spending habits.
It is more often about our beliefs around money and property investing as well as the spending habits we have, than the actual income or savings we make, that stop us from buying an investment property.
