How this property investor's journey started on a fishing trip
Jim Hall admits that he did not have a concrete plan when he started his property investment journey — all he knew was he had to do something to build wealth for his young family.
At 30, Jim just had his first child and was taking on a mortgage when he realized that he needed to be thinking about the future a little bit more and prepare for it a little bit better.
Similar to what many people might do in the same situation, he sought the advice of professionals first but was either underwhelmed or completely disappointed by their suggested plans of action.
"I went to see a financial adviser, funny enough, first of all, from a big bank," he shared.
"He just wanted to sell me up to sign up for insurance. I thought, 'That's probably a good idea now I've got a child,' and signed up for his insurance. I never heard from him again. Then, I spoke to another adviser shortly afterwards.
"He recommended going into some managed funds, not something I particularly had a good understanding of. I sat on that for a while."
Jim's "light bulb moment" finally came when he was out with a friend on a fishing trip.
"We got off the boat one morning. I had quite a good haul, one of the better catches. I remember saying, 'Look, I'm not too sure what to do.' He's got a bit of experience in investment, in property. He said, 'Look, Jim. You’ve got to get into property.' And I just thought, 'You know what? I'm just going to do it. I'm just going to bite the bullet,'" Jim shared.
From their fishing trip, Jim's friend introduced him to a mortgage broker and a property buyer. In what seemed like a surprisingly short amount of time, Jim has already purchased his very first property investment. The rest, as they say, is history.
Now that he has gathered more experiences as an investor, Jim finds himself going back to earlier days when friends go to him for advice regarding property investment.
"I say the same thing. You’ve just got to do something," he said.
According to Jim, there's no special formula to follow when starting the business of creating wealth through property. All one's got to do is "take the plunge."
"One of the key things that I say to pretty much everyone I talk to about investing in property, [whether it be] friends, colleagues, whoever it might be, is I'm not doing anything that hasn't been done by someone else beforehand," he shared.
"It's a pretty simple formula that I’ve decided to follow. I'm not trying to chase the latest fad or anything like that. I educated myself to a reasonable degree. I've read a lot of books that were recommended to me. Read some of the magazines that are out there. Sooner or later, I think you just got to make the decision."
Tune in to Jim Hall's episode in The Smart Property Investment Show to know more about how he successfully built a portfolio on the fly, what he's learned along the way, and the lessons he is still learning up to this day.
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