How Peter and Serena Built a $5.1M Portfolio After 40

I think it was a midlife crisis almost of sorts, turning 45 and saying, hang on, how long can someone think about doing something and not do it? It was just starting to really irritate me. That was the hardest thing, to make yourself start. If you engage in a healthy back and forth with your team, your team should not be a team that pushes you to a decision like, we're the best. A team should be there to educate you along the way because the more and more educated you get on your journey, then the more you're likely to just go, that works.

My belief has always been that you never stop investing. Even when you hit retirement, you've got to do something with all that stuff that you've accumulated. You don't stop. If you get that wrong, it can hold you back so many years. Very rarely can you be a successful investor without being a successful person.

Building a $5. 1 million property portfolio across six properties is no small feat. And to start in your late 40s, a time where most people think, well, is it too late? Is it not? Definitely proves today that it's not too late at all.

So in this particular episode, our valued clients, Peter and Serena, come down from Melbourne to the studio in Sydney to chat to me about their journey of working with us and building out a portfolio. You're going to learn the key tips of how to build a portfolio as a couple, how to stay on the same page, what the journey for them was like, and what a nine-year gap in investing meant for them and how it impacted their mindset in terms of getting from property number one all the way to the property number six. Now, you're going to want to stay to the end of this episode because at the end of this episode, they also talk about the key components of tips for others when it comes to building a team around you because we all see wealthy people and want to get the results that wealthy people have, but you have to do what wealthy people do. And when it comes to doing what they do, Peter and Serena share these tips at the end of this episode to unpack the key lessons and how you can get to a portfolio like theirs too. So let's jump in and speak to Peter and Serena here from Melbourne on how they built a $5.

1 million property portfolio. Nerd alert! Property nerds, the home for data-driven property investors where we uncover Australia's hot and cold markets, latest headlines and trends. Serena, Pete, welcome to the show. Thank you.

Thank you. And from Melbourne as well, right? So how was the trip down? Fantastic. Yeah, good.

Definitely not missing Melbourne weather at all? No, it's actually quite hot today. Oh, is it? Funnily enough, yeah, 33 in Melbourne today. Okay, that's a change, something different.

It is a change. Well, I just wanted to firstly say thank you for coming in and making some time here for today and the Property Nerds show, but also really want to get back into where things all started for you two. So Serena, when it comes to the first home and how that journey kicked off, could you share more about that and then what really sparked the interest for investing? Yeah, I think we both, Peter and I, have long had an interest in investing and it's just a matter of, I think, life getting the better of us over time and getting caught up with family. But we got to an age, I know for me, I think it was a midlife crisis almost of sorts, turning 45 and saying, hang on, how long can someone think about doing something and not do it?

It was just starting to really irritate me. I was like, no, this is it. So making that sort of commitment to ourself to, right, we're going to do something and coming across people that can help us has really shifted the dial, really, and helped to get us into action when we kind of wanted to do something and thought about it for a long time but not actually actioned it. It was just a matter of circumstance, time, good timing, I guess, in our life where we just said, no, that's it, time to get going on that. Now, if we look at the current home that you're living in, you got that back in 2011.

Was that where your journey started or did it start before that? It actually started before that. We had our first home in 2007 and then we'd been renting up until that point and when our third child came along, that was when we went, this house isn't big enough. So we moved 800 metres up the road and bought another house. And if we'd have known, potentially, Pete and I have spoken about this a lot, now knowing what we do, would we have sold that house and bought another one or would we have done it a little bit differently?

But we bought the bigger house. We've got the house and it's the same house we're in now. And it's been a while. It's been 14 years in that home and built our family home. But, yeah, it took a while to get the investments going.

Yeah, on that note, so Pete, 2011, you get the home that you're in now, upgraded in the same suburb. So clearly that suburb's got a soft spot for you too, the 800 metre move down the road. But 2020 is when the first investment kicks off, right? So that's a good nine years after. What was happening in between to hold off that investment in your opinion?

We didn't know what to do. So we did that thing that I think a lot of people do where we wanted to invest, we'd buy a book, we'd read it, we'd get some ideas together, and we didn't know that there were buyers agents out there. So we were trying to do it all ourselves. And it wasn't until we found someone to hold our hand, I guess, and show us a direction and lead us ahead that we then went, all right, well, let's go. But it was that lack of knowledge and feeling that you had to do it all yourself, which is not correct at all.

So Serena, I want to ask you, like, that's a very clear answer on, like, what was the actual core reason. But what does that actually look like? Like, as in the nine years is not a short time. Time goes by. And the admission to this itself is great because it's showing, like, hey, we didn't know and we're humble enough to say we want to be surrounded, we want to know.

But what's that look like each year? Is it like a scroll a few days, switch the phone off, shut the laptop? What is it like? Yeah, we used to run our own business. So we were crazy.

We had a company ourself and life. And then we had three children. And so life was quite wild. So it was the background scrolling. But not even that.

I think we almost, you know, not gave up, but just sort of sat it aside. And I really, as I say, when it got to that point within 2019 and, you know, and my birthday and I just went, no, you know, all those things that we'd sort of read in the background and when we had time, it was like when building that knowledge was just like, no, we need to do something. But it was really just having that bit more time. Our kids were a little bit older, just that bit older at that point. And we'd sold our business and we were working for somebody else.

We had a tad bit more time as well. But unfortunately, I lost both of my parents in that period of time as well. So there was just a lot going on in our life. And life is, you know, you need to be real about that. Like sometimes you can say you have all these aspirations, but then things happen and you can't do it.

So we got to a point where, as I said, I went, no, I need to do this. Like we have to. We know what we need to do to free ourself up in the future. We wanted that. So let's start because all the knowledge in the world isn't anything unless you act on it.

And finding out that it was just the perfect timing because, as Peter said, like because we didn't have that time and we thought we had to do it ourselves, finding out and the scrolling on the social media taught me that, that there suddenly sort of were. That was the beginnings of people being out there and offering services to help. And I said, honey, Pete, I said, honey, you know, if we can have somebody help us, we'd be prepared to pay for that. But it doesn't matter because we can start. And starting and getting that action.

And once we started, then now there's no stopping us because I feel like that was like a really breaking through that ice and then getting the momentum. That was the hardest thing is to make yourself start. Yeah. And people don't recognize that during that time, they're sitting on massive amounts of equity. It's building because nine years in the Australian property market, as good as it's been, whichever city you choose in many areas, continues to build for you.

Right. And so there's this launchpad that when you use it, you can really use it. And that's the thing. When you kicked off, it was pretty crazy as in COVID's here. Melbourne as well.

Sorry, like you guys were hammered the hardest. So you've got pandemic. You've got life events that have occurred. You've got your state that's been hit the hardest. But instead of just starting, you went and purchased five more properties, which is an amazing accomplishment.

Like what really kicked it to now become not just start, but a serious investor? I We've brought some things to the table that's, you know, made us think a bit broader as well, some of the questions that we've had as well. Absolutely. And I feel like that's just a thing that all people on this journey should actually like take a note of, that there's a positive to that. That's the key thing, as in, you know, this is the diligence that comes with making sure that you're comfortable and you have the data, not just at a high level, but the data follows through the whole journey.

And what you touched on is that exactly. It's like the data was at the area level and there's questions about the area. Then you get the comfort once you see that, okay, it does actually make sense. But then once you get to the property, there's also data at a property level someone should look at, due diligence, floods, bushfires, streets, housing commission, anything, then take it to another level. So like, I feel like that's also actually a good tip for buyers out there is to recognize that, you know, if you engage in a healthy back and forth with your team, your team should not be a team that pushes you to a decision like we're the best, buyer's agency of the year, make this decision.

A team should be there to educate you along the way because the more and more educated you get on your journey, then the more you're likely to just go, that works. Your eye becomes like our eye and we have a shared eye. And I've noticed over the last few purchases that as we progress time and time, the eye of us three as a group gets closer and closer to like, it's almost like you guys want to join the team? It's like that. But on this journey, you've noticed a pattern appear and it's diversification.

So we've got Victoria with the homes at, and we've got New South Wales in a recent purchase. WA was in the portfolio, Queensland. The journey just really considered as four states now. Was diversity part of the initial plan you thought or has this evolved through influence and support? Like what are your thoughts here?

My background by education is economics. So we naturally looked at diversity from the get-go. It's been part of our structural plan the whole way was to not put all our eggs in one basket. And in that regard, so that's why we've got, yeah, South and Queensland, far North Queensland, WA, Northern Victoria and New South Wales. And that's been led by you as well in terms of, hey guys, you've now got these, so we don't need to get something that's going to kickstart tomorrow.

We can get something that's going to kickstart in six or nine or 12 or 18 months. So you've led us on that path as well in terms of, so I think like both Townsville and Wodonga were, we sort of looked at each other for the first six months and said, is this property going to do anything? And then all of a sudden, bang, they're off. And then, whoa, now Dubbo's been different. Dubbo's launched from the get-go.

But those two were both, they sat there and did nothing for six or nine months and then bang, they're off. And then the Dubbo one brings me back to something you were talking to Serena about before about us talking. And when I rang you up and said, hey, you've given us a price range for this, but the market's kicked off, let's go a bit higher. And you're like, you know, that's good. So we could work together and go, you know, so I think the opportunity cost of missing the purchase is higher than paying five grand over market for it.

And you're like, actually, guys, no, that's really good. Adjusting the market heat with the times in front of you. And this is a core part of valuation that many people don't get is that property is a fine balance of avoiding overpaying and avoiding constantly missing out. And you nailed that when you two conversed with each other. You're like, this is how we avoid that.

Makes sense. Yeah. Now, what's cool about this diversity journey is that out of the three purchases made for you, I've actually purchased in two of the same cities of the three. So like I'm on the journey with you. And I think that's pretty cool.

And so many of our team members that have been on the journey, like we all back these areas together. But when it comes to investing together, there's people who use our services alone. There's people who are on the journey as a couple. For other couples out there, like what tips do you have when it comes to working as a couple mindset wise, risk wise, strategy wise? Serena, any tips from that side?

I think we balance each other out a little bit. Pete doesn't like me saying that he's more conservative than me. I said once I got the B in my bonnet, that was it. I was like, we need to go. And he tempers me down and I get him going.

He says I give him the drive. Sometimes he has more knowledge than me from traditional finance background, but I'm more current because I've got a little bit more time. And when I'm out doing my training for sport, I'm like listening to stuff. I do a lot of consuming of information from yourself and other different property and finance podcasts that I follow. And I say, hey, how about this and that?

So I think we balance each other out with those things, with the energy from myself and that current information. And sometimes I don't fully understand something. So I'll say, this is what's happening in the property market. And I don't fully understand what it means when I've heard something. So Pete will explain it to me.

So I think we balance each other out really nicely in that way. Yeah, cool. And Pete, anything for you that you feel like this is my strength or weakness or tips for just couples out there who are trying to get it right? I think it's just talking about it and not sitting on your hands. But yeah, we talk about it, not every dinner, but we talk about it regularly and we talk about where we're going, what we think we're doing.

And that changes all the time. Only the other day we suddenly went, oh, do we need to look at a sixth? Whereas three months ago that wasn't on plan. So we're always adapting and we just chat about it. And then we'll go, actually, oh, maybe we'll give Arj a call and have a chat to him.

And we've done that a few times. Yeah, we've had a good few chats together. And it's even when we might not be ready, ready to purchase, we still have these chats just because whilst, yes, we offer an annual portfolio planning service, at the same time, it's like there's nothing wrong with reaching out prior because we're just exercising our minds to figure out what does the portfolio need, not need. And we've had moments together where we've just said, yeah, we just need to wait for this to happen or that to happen. And we haven't done anything.

Then we've had moments where it's like, okay, no, this makes total sense. Like, yeah, we should look into that. And it didn't just immediately begin. You get the finance right. You get the accounting right.

You get the discussions right. So how important, just on that note, are these check-ins as a couple? Like how, is this planned, unplanned? Does it just happen? How does it work for you two?

I think it just happens. It's unplanned. We just chat about it. Is there a particular dish that brings it out? No, it's usually something I've read or listened to and I'll say, or something, maybe it might be even with like keeping up with the news as well.

It might be even something that's on the news. Oh, did you hear that? And then that'll spark it. So we've definitely become the property nerds with you. That's the reason of the podcast, the fellow nerds, right?

Yeah, that's it. Developed a real interest, yeah. Loving the show and keen to invest? Well, book your free discovery call and we'll actually walk you through how to build a high growth portfolio without all the guesswork. Just jump onto the link in the show notes or visit investorkit.

com. au to book your discovery call. And now let's get back into the show. And if we go through some of these purchases, Serena, I want to kick off with you when it comes to going borderless because this is a big change. Even like before us, let's talk about just the borderless journey.

Your first house to your second house, correct me if I'm wrong, 800 meters? So like that's not borderless at all, right? That's like 800 meters down the road. But then suddenly you're like, all right, Queensland, WA, New South Wales, Vic again, regional capital. What is the moment for you where you go, I need to, like how did you start building confidence to firstly go past this whole I'm not driving past it, touching, seeing the property?

We have actually gone past three. There you go, so it's not fully out the system. But at the time of buying, it's out the system. That's right. And that was after the fact and we barely went out of our way.

We just happened to be there. So we have been to Townsville and we have been to Perth. Yeah, so and Queensland as well. So the Brisbane property. Have you been to Wodonga yet?

No, not yet. See the one that's closer. I'll catch two flights, but I won't go to the driving distance. Our property manager keeps inviting us up there when they have inspections. And I was like, oh, should I?

It's funny. But the thing was, though, I think I proved myself that when we did it, it didn't Serena, I'll start with you. Absolutely. Having a team, a really good team around you. And we've spoken to a lot of people over the time and they've had to fit right with us.

And I feel like we've got not only the best in terms of relationships, but the quality of the people. So yourself, Arjun and co at InvestorKit for the buyers agency, but our accountant is phenomenal. Our broker is phenomenal as well. And I think that together, that has really helped us. Each one of those people have contributed significantly to where we are today.

So that's a key thing. And also, as I said, the education piece for me, I felt like I've had a lot of, I've had the drive, but not necessarily the knowledge. So Pete and I are a bit in reverse, as I said earlier. So I feel like I've been playing catch up on that. And the education piece, you can never sort of do enough.

But without doing anything about it, I keep coming back to that action is 100% where it's at. You just have to get to a point in your life where you're like, okay, I see it like diving off a 10 meter diving board. I remember doing that back in the day when I was 20. And I just went, the only way I'm going to be able to do this is I'm going to just walk out there and I'm just going to jump. Because if I get to the end and think about it and overthink, I'll turn around and go back.

So it's just like commit, go do it. And we haven't looked back. Yeah, that's some special knowledge to share, like action taking, you just can't beat that. And when you have a team around you, just it makes life easier. What about you, Peter?

Any different ones from there? Or those two key things stick out for you too? I think it comes down to one of the things from my career is we get specialists in to do specialist tasks and construction. And it's no different here. So we pay good money to get the right people to give us the right advice.

And if you try to build a house on your own, you don't know how to build it, you're going to make a mess. It's the same here. We pay for good financial advice, we pay for good brokerage advice, we pay for good property advice. And it's worked for us. Yeah.

Now building a portfolio, a team around you, having the mindset shifts, the action taking, the team, all these things are great points. But there's one element we want to talk about now, which is financial habits. Could you talk to me about the inspiration or any things that have worked for you, little tips or success moments? Because with financial habits, property is one of those things where you very rarely, unless you have so much time on the clock, can you be a successful investor without being a successful person. And by person, I mean either growth in income, growth in career, values, long-term mindset, financial habits.

So let's talk about financial habits firstly. What were some things that you felt has really been well-placed as a couple? I think for both of us, we come from a family background that was not, we didn't come from a spendthrift background. So we don't cut ourselves short, but we don't go crazy with it either. And the other thing we've done too through this whole process is by continually adapting, by continually going, well, this is all we're going to spend.

And we haven't, as we've got higher income and whatever else, we've gone, okay, we'll put it in the property. So we haven't got to the point where we used to, we've got more money, but we haven't got used to having more money. We've gone, no, we're putting that forward. But we're not putting everything in tomorrow, like we live for today as well. But we do all the smart things.

We've got an offset account. All our rent goes into the offset account. We do all those fundamental basic things. And we shop smart and we don't buy something today if we can get it on special in a month's time. We do all those things.

Good old Black Fridays. Yeah. Or Cyber Mondays. I love them too. Yeah.

And I guess that's what we do. We don't put everything aside for tomorrow. We're not living on two-minute noodles, but we don't go crazy with today. We've got three young boys who we're supporting as well, so different set of scenarios. But we certainly don't go - yeah, we save money to put inside it.

We don't get used to spending money that we haven't had before. So when you look at the journey with family now, Serena, on this and these financial habits, how does it feel like knowing that there's this future set up not only for you two but also the kids and their future? How does that feel and how important is that to you? Yeah, good. It feels really good.

And I think I feel really proud of us that we're having that influence on our kids. Our oldest boy has now developed an interest and he's reading finance books as well. And so he's - yeah, it's just having - being able to pass it down, something that I personally in my family, Peter probably had a bit more exposure with his parents investing a little bit later in life, but still there. Whereas I didn't have that. I didn't have that at all.

So trying to sort of come from a background where you're not exposed, that is harder. So it's been - it's really great to - so our younger boys don't necessarily understand it fully, even today and saying what we're doing. I was like, oh, they don't fully get their head around, but they're exposed to it though. They're saying, oh, mum and dad, they're investing in this property. I think it's even if it's a subconscious thing, I think that will make a difference.

And it's so tough for young people these days. And I really look forward to being able to help them through that from young people getting into the property market themselves and how to navigate that. So that's - yeah, I definitely feel proud and that we're going to be able to shine a light for them in that way. That's special. I mean, I've got two things coming up for you.

Number one, I know we've spoken about, I think, catching up with your son as well between myself and him. We haven't been able to link it up just yet. But what I'd love to do is when we catch up later today, I'll give you a copy of Driving the Data, and I'd love for you to pass it on to your son and the other kids as well. Just help them on the journey. I'll give you a couple of copies just because that data and what you all saw in Townsville and what happened from there, like I said before, it's a formula.

And it'd be cool to share that with the kids as well. So it'll be good. And the second thing I was saying is I come up to Melbourne often. Next time we catch up, we'll see if we can get a coffee, catch up with your son and just link up. We're always open up new roles, new opportunities and things like that, a bit of internship, work experience.

I'd love to show them the ropes and see if you'd be down to catch up. Yeah. That'd be very interesting. Thank you. Awesome.

Wasn't part of the podcast plan, by the way. We didn't chat about this. I'm just hearing the story and I just wanted to share that. Thank you. In terms of what's next now, six properties in the portfolio, what's the plan from here?

We're kind of consolidating a little bit at the moment. The plan's fluid. If you asked us a month ago, we would have said, oh, we're not doing anything for a period of time and then we'll probably look at some commercials. But it's funny because we were talking the other day and my belief has always been that you never stop investing. Even when you hit retirement, you've got to do something with all that stuff that you've accumulated.

So you don't stop. Some things get harder. Obviously, borrowing money and whatnot is more complicated, but it never stops. And I think it's fluid. We've got long-term plans to change the balance a bit to a bit more commercial as we move into retirement.

But between now and then, what we set up to take us through into there, we can still purchase properties right up until then and go, that's a set and forget. We're not doing anything with that now for 10 years. So I don't think it stops. Yeah. I mean, on that note as well, consolidation is such an important part for just those tuning in.

It's like we want to fall in love with the outcome investing can do for our lives and our families. We don't want to fall in love with the investment itself, right? And getting rid of properties is a part of natural progression of a successful portfolio because residential is not an income game. It's a wealth creation game. Yields don't track and have never tracked at the same rate purchase price growth does.

And so property growth will happen here. Rents won't keep up at the same value. And so at one stage, your asset base is about to be inefficient, whether capital is here and the rents are here. And so that whole exit to move over to high income assets. And here's the thing.

It could be commercial, but it also doesn't have to be property. Like I don't want to be the person sitting here that's biased that just goes, oh, we'll just buy another property. It should be great. You can get financial advice. You can speak to planners.

You can go property is a vehicle, resi, commercial. Could it be bonds, stocks, other ETFs? Could it be private lending? Could it be overseas investing? There's a world out there that exists.