Hi there. Thank you so much for tuning in to this week's episode of Investor Intelligence, brought to you by the team at The Property Mentors. It is your weekly podcast for all things investment, and hosted by me Phoebe Zukowski-Wallace. For today's episode, we have another investor journey for you, as - alongside mentoring our valued members - we also love to celebrate and share their wins, how far they've come and to hear all about their goals. We find this is a really great way for our listeners to hear stories that may be similar to their circumstances, as a lot of people share the same goals. And when you hear how well others have done, it can be that little bit of extra inspiration for people wanting to do the same. So our investor today is Liam Carmody, who throughout his time here has been mentored by the wonderful Malika. Now Malika was very excited to put Liam forward to share his story, and throughout my chat with Liam - and just hearing how he's approached his investing journey, where he is now where he plans to be in future - it was really quite truly inspiring to hear this. And it will become very evident very soon that he really is the definition of someone who works hard and smart for his goals. But I will let him tell the rest. So I hope you enjoy - here's Liam. So Liam, welcome. Thank you so much for sitting down with me today.
Liam Carmody:Thanks for having me on.
Phoebe Zukowski-Wallace:To start off, and before we get into investing in property and portfolios, I want to know more about you. Tell me about your background, your family, what you like to do, what your hobbies are, where you're based. Tell me about you.
Liam Carmody:I grew up in a town called Yass, which is near Canberra, and I lived there until I was 18. I spent a year after I finished school, just working any job I could to try and save money to go to university. I did jobs like working in a nursery, as a lifeguard, doing cleaning jobs, working in bars. I actually did some chauffeuring for someone back before Uber existed, because he lost his licence. So I did that as well, just helping out - I used to pick up his kids and take him to work, and that was interesting for a little while. I did whatever I could to save money to enable myself to go to university, and then get a Centrelink allowance to use that to fund my way through university. I did a civil engineering degree at the University of Wollongong. I moved out of home when I was 19, completed the four year degree, and I've been based on the south coast near Wollongong ever since. And now, throughout my engineering career, I've saved up money, and whenever I've had a chance I've invested on the way through.
Phoebe Zukowski-Wallace:What's the what's the journey of your career been like, over the last five to ten years?
Liam Carmody:I've recently changed careers, but I was a civil engineer for about nine years, working project to project. I'd do a job for 18 months, mainly on the south coast, but then I took a role about three years into my career, in a remote place called Armadale towards the Queensland border. I went out there for a wind farm project. So that was a good role for me and my wife. My wife's a teacher, and we both went out there and she managed to pick up work as well. I got a good pay rise to go out there and some other incentives, like living away from home allowances. So while it was a bit of a sacrifice to move away from friends and family for 18 months, we knew in the long run that it would help us out. Having a family - we've got a little 18 month old boy now - we were trying to think longer term. But whilst you're young, you've got that chance to move around and experience different things, but also to make more money and save more money during that time, that we can then use and put towards a better future. That was our plan.
Phoebe Zukowski-Wallace:You mentioned you saved some money through your engineering career in order to get into investing. Prior to being a member with The Property Mentors, how would you describe your investing knowledge on a scale of one to 10?
Liam Carmody:I'd say probably seven, around there, seven or eight. I read quite a lot of books and podcasts, and educated myself on the way through when I was at university and also when I was working as an engineer. We bought our first house back in 2015, the place we live in now. That was a house and land package, and it's worked out quite well for us. We've managed to refinance that one a few times now and invest elsewhere. But that was a decision for the longer term. Because when I was trying to find a place for my first first house, we were looking at a unit in Wollongong, off the plan as well. But, looking back, we made the right call, because we would have been in that place for maybe two or three years and then would have outgrown it, with an 18 month old, and a 30 kilo dog that wouldn't be that keen on a two bedroom apartment. We wanted to have a longer horizon, with the houses we live in - we don't want to be jumping in and out of houses. You obviously cop a lot of stamp duty and legal costs getting in and out of properties. So we found somewhere that we thought we'd be able to settle down in for five to ten years, and have a family, and then get to a point where we can invest elsewhere and not overextend ourselves initially. Then we can use our money to continue investing and then eventually find our dream home somewhere on the coast. But yes, a little while away yet, but we're working there.
Phoebe Zukowski-Wallace:So before becoming a member, you were about a seven or an eight, as far as investing knowledge goes. Do you remember the moment that you decided to seek some guidance, and why you came to us?
Liam Carmody:I got to the point where I wanted to be a bit more aggressive, and to increase my knowledge further, because my ultimate goal is to get into property development. I know Luke's done that himself, quite a bit, so one of the main reasons I reached out to The Property Mentors was to speak with Luke. He's done it himself, so it's always good to bounce ideas off people who have been there and done that, and so that was one of the main driving factors for me. Just to use that knowledge to eventually get there myself, and not to go into development without the knowledge. You hear stories of people trying to do it themselves, too early on in their investing career, and it all goes wrong, and you're back to square one. So I wanted to make sure we're doing it with a long term focus, and not to overextend ourselves too early on.
Phoebe Zukowski-Wallace:So, in hindsight, which of the types of readiness do you think that you needed the most help with? There's educational readiness, emotional readiness and financial readiness. Which was the one you think you needed the most guidance with?
Liam Carmody:Probably financially, because I've got quite big aspirations. But Luke's always been clear from the start that you've got to build a good base first; you can't rush into it too early, because then you've got the risk of losing everything. I'm quite aggressive with what I want to do and achieve, but you've got to be smart about it too. There's no point just rushing into it. It's give and take - you've got to have that drive to go and do what you want to achieve in life, but you've got to take baby steps sometimes and not just try and go and do it all at once.
Phoebe Zukowski-Wallace:And how long have you been a member with us now?
Liam Carmody:Probably three years now.
Phoebe Zukowski-Wallace:So investing can be a very daunting journey for a lot of people to start, it's a massive leap. Was there anything that you were worried about, or did you have any concerns going into it?
Liam Carmody:Not necessarily, I was pretty well educated What would you say has been the biggest challenge for you so beforehand, so property investing just gelled with me. Being an engineer, I'm quite analytical. Property just makes sense to me. I love building things too. So it's always going to be my vehicle to achieve passive income and wealth. far? My biggest challenge is probably just trying to pull myself back. Which is where it's been good having that other point of call to talk through ideas. Because I want to go out there and do everything, but I know you've got to be smart about it and have more control. Because property, it's an expensive asset, and it's very hard to get out of a bad deal that you've got yourself into. You want to choose your investments carefully on the way through, and then make sure they're all pieced together and they're all structured correctly, and they all serve a purpose in your overall portfolio.
Phoebe Zukowski-Wallace:Now speaking of your portfolio, how's it going? Where are you now with it? How would you describe your investing knowledge now, as opposed to when you went into it? If you started at a seven or an eight, where would you say you are now?
Liam Carmody:I'd say over eight, maybe nine, now. I wouldn't say I'm an expert, by any means, but I've actually changed careers quite recently, and I'm now a buyer's agent. So that's a role that I'm more passionate about, too. And coming from an engineering background, it's very analytical, though I specialise mainly in commercial buyers agents. And that's very much looking at numbers, investigating tenants and having a clear understanding of what drives property growth and what reasons you're purchasing it for. But my personal portfolio - I'm trying to grow every year. I've bought every year since I first started, but, with the changing career, it's a bit more difficult with finance at the moment. I've got equity sitting in properties that I'd like to be using, but I have to sit tight for the next little while, and - probably towards the back end of the year - look to go again and work my way towards having a bit more passive income, then use that to go out and look at some more exciting things for me personally, which would be in developing and that sort of space.
Phoebe Zukowski-Wallace:How many investment properties have you got under your belt at the moment?
Liam Carmody:I've got five at the moment. So not not big enough yet, in my opinion. But we're working there. They're all spaced out quite well, too. I've deliberately spread them out across four states now, to make sure it's diversified - regarding land tax and things like that - to try and make sure it's a long term buy and hold strategy. That's always going to be one that, where one area is not growing, I can then leverage off another area that might be growing, to stagger it in a way so that I'm always in a position to be able to leverage and keep moving forward.
Phoebe Zukowski-Wallace:What's your biggest overall goal when it comes to your investing?
Liam Carmody:It's probably just to achieve that financial freedom, to be able to make the choices that we want to do. My wife's from the UK, so we actually spent three months there last year. It was nice to have that time off, and with a young baby, just to go and see your family for a few months. Properties give me the opportunity to be able to just take some time out. And also, just to be able to just spend time with family and have the option to choose how we spend our time each day, just to go and do more fun things. I'm wired differently to most people so I actually enjoy working, whether it's in property or in some way, shape or form. So I don't think I'll ever retire necessarily, but just to be able to have that freedom to go and do some cool projects, and then at some point to be able to show my kids that I built that - that's what I want to be able to get to.
Phoebe Zukowski-Wallace:What's been your favourite thing you've learned about investing with The Property Mentors? It can be something that you had no idea about to begin with, or it could be something that you wanted to learn about at the start, and now you're more knowledgeable on what's been your favourite thing that you've learned.
Liam Carmody:There's other ways to invest, not just bricks and mortar, but there's other passive strategies that you can implement too. I haven't taken them on yet, but there are options out there that you can take on. Become the Lender, for example, where you can - if you're not quite ready to purchase - or if you've got equity sitting there and for whatever reason you can't access it, then that's a great way to be able to put your money somewhere other than a bank, which isn't a great spot to have your money at the moment. Just to be able to have that as an option too, is just as good, and has that flexibility too, that you can you make sure that your money is always working for you on the way through and you're not sitting there idle.
Phoebe Zukowski-Wallace:I'd have to say that's probably one of my favourite things that I've learned as well, that something like Become the Lender is a great way to fast track your foot in the door. Liam, thank you so much. It's been a pleasure to hear your story. What an incredible journey you're on so far. Thank you so much for making the time to share that with me and I wish you even more success in the future.
Liam Carmody:Thanks a lot for having me.
Phoebe Zukowski-Wallace:Thank you so much for listening to today's episode. If you would like to know any more about us here at The Property Mentors, you can check out our website thepropertymentors.com.au. Make sure to follow us on Instagram. Both the podcast and The Property Mentors handles are linked in our show notes, along with all other socials, including a link to our blog. If you are ready to take your investing seriously and want to broaden your knowledge, the best way to do so is with Luke's latest book - Property Fit and you can get yourself a copy of that at propertyfitbook.com.au Please make sure to share and leave a rating as it helps us reach more people on their investing journeys, and also subscribe to be notified when our episodes drop. Once again, thank you so much for listening, and I will be back in your ears again next week. Investor intelligence provides general information only. You should consider seeking independent advice to see how this information relates to your unique circumstances. Please refer to the terms and conditions available at investorintelligence.com.au for more.