Buy, Sell or Hold. The Bigger Financial Picture.

In this episode of Property, Straight Up, host Mel Dennis sits down with Scott Mitton from Secure Invest to explore one of the most common traps in property — making buy, sell, or hold decisions without looking at the bigger financial picture.

Scott brings nearly 20 years of financial advisory experience, having entered the industry during the Global Financial Crisis and building through to his current role at Secure Invest, a 40-plus-staff multidisciplinary firm covering financial advice, accounting, and lending.

From the tunnel vision problem that trips up even experienced property owners, to the tax structures that can save pre-retirees thousands when selling investment property, to a little-known superannuation provision that could change your retirement picture entirely — Scott covers the financial levers most people don't know they have.

WHAT WE COVER:

The tunnel vision problem

Most people approach property with emotional attachment or a fixed idea — a family home, an inheritance, "the one." Scott and Mel unpack why zooming out to look at your broader financial life leads to far better decisions than focusing on a single transaction.

Hold, sell or reinvest — how do you actually decide?

Scott's process starts not with the property, but with what matters most to the client in life. Income? Growth? Emotional value? Once those drivers are clear, the right strategy usually follows. Sometimes the answer isn't sell or hold — it's restructure.

Diversification beyond property

Many Australians have their wealth heavily concentrated in one asset class, often in one geographic area. Scott explains how super, managed funds, and other investments can complement a property portfolio — and why liquidity matters more than people realise. You can sell shares in 24 hours. You can't sell a bathroom.

Downsizers and pre-retirees — the strategy shifts

There's a specific government provision allowing people who've owned their primary residence for more than 10 years to contribute up to $300,000 each — $600,000 per couple — into superannuation when they downsize. Scott walks through how this works and how selling investment properties in the lead-up to retirement can be structured to minimise tax and maximise income.

Why financial advice and property advice must work together

Scott is clear: he's not licensed to give property advice, and he doesn't try to. His approach is to get property decisions sorted first — then dovetail his financial strategy around what's been decided. The same works in reverse: Mel regularly sends clients to Scott before they make any move.

CONNECT WITH SCOTT MITTON @ SECURE INVEST

Scott Mitton Secure Invest Financial Services https://sifs.com.au/

ABOUT DOMAIN & CO

Buying or selling a home is one of the biggest decisions of your life. Often the biggest financial decision you'll ever make. Bigger than anything else you'll sign your name to.

And the people meant to help you make it have started to look a lot like the people you didn't trust in the first place.

The polished ones in the sharp suits. The corporate machines who never learn your name. Or worst of all. No one. Just you and a portal and a hunch.

We've spent thirty years on both sides of property. The buy and the sell. The boom and the bust. The houses that grew. The ones that didn't. The agents you'd want in your corner. The ones you wouldn't.

We've walked the same families through five, six transactions across decades. First home. Family home. Forever home. The next chapter after that.

So we don't pitch. We don't perform. We don't take work we don't believe in. We just tell you what we'd do, if it were us in your position.

For property, told straight. We're your property people.

https://domainandco.com.au/

Timestamps:

0:00 Introduction & guest background 
1:11 About Secure Invest 
2:59 Why people make property decisions in isolation 
4:25 Should I hold, sell or reinvest? How Scott helps clients decide 
5:32 Just because you own a property doesn't mean you should keep it 
7:29 Diversification — why property alone isn't enough 
9:43 Strategy shift for downsizers and those approaching retirement 
11:13 Using super and tax structures when selling investment property 
11:58 Why financial advice and property advice must work together 
13:40 First step if you're wondering whether to buy or sell 
15:07 Why a financial plan matters before any property decision 
16:09 General advice disclaimer — this isn't personal advice 
16:48 Wrap-up & how to connect with Scott

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:00

One thing I've learned after nearly 30 years in property is that behind every property transaction there's a story, a big decision, and often a lot more emotion and complexity than people expect. This podcast is all about giving you access to the people, insights, and strategies behind smart property decisions so you can make better moves, whether you're buying your first home, investing, selling, downsizing, or planning your next step. Today we're talking about something I see all of the time: people making property decisions in isolation without looking at their broader financial strategy. Because the real question isn't just what should I buy, sell or hold, but it's what is the right remove for me for my overall financial future. And that's where having the right financial advice comes so important. Today I'm joined by Scott Mitten from Secure Invest. Scott works with clients to build holistic financial strategies, looking at everything from investments and super through to property and how it all fits together. What I really value about Scott's approach is that it's not just about pushing one asset class over another, it's about creating a balanced, diversified strategy that supports long-term goals. Welcome to the podcast, Scott.

SPEAKER_01 1:15

Thank you very much.

SPEAKER_00 1:16

Scott, tell us a little bit about yourself and the business that you're doing.

SPEAKER_01 1:20

Sure. So been in financial services since essentially the global financial crisis, because my business partner told me that I was the cause of the global financial classes back in 2007. I didn't feel like that was fairly placed, but anyway.

SPEAKER_00 1:36

So it was There'll be some other factors that play out.

SPEAKER_01 1:38

Just a few. It was baptism by fire, understanding um what a volatile world financial markets are. And so that was fantastic for me, my sort of entry into the business to really be immersed in a really challenging part, global events and the impact that had on clients' portfolios and the way that people respond and huge amount of learning lessons, yeah, lessons learned through that process, which was awesome.

SPEAKER_00 2:01

And so that's nearly 20 years ago.

SPEAKER_01 2:03

That's nearly 20 years ago.

SPEAKER_00 2:04

Next year, 20th anniversary.

SPEAKER_01 2:05

Correct. Correct. So being um immersed in um those difficult conversations early and then exposed to um sort of running a business, a small business, um, originally in Baldwin, that has evolved into a couple of iterations of larger businesses where we've pulled a few together and then became a business owner a couple of years later and doing the advice thing and progressing through to now being a part of a business called Secure Invest, which has got about 40 plus staff, so about 44 staff, and is multidisciplinary. So we've got financial advising, we've got accounting, we've got lending and all of those things working together.

SPEAKER_00 2:39

So um part of just because you your clients can really be supported by the whole group.

SPEAKER_01 2:44

Correct, correct. It's around trying to create a new financial universe for them where we can support them through all different parts of their financial well-being and transactions and life events.

SPEAKER_00 2:54

A big thing that's come out of the podcast um sessions that we're doing is the team that people surround themselves with and how important that is. So to have that all in the one place for your clients, I think is pretty phenomenal.

SPEAKER_01 3:05

We've done part of the business journey is being just on our own with financial advice, and we've had to be very deliberate about plugging in uh complementary businesses and services for our clients. We're very big on that as you know, as you know, we're trying to get people in front of the right professional at the right time.

SPEAKER_00 3:20

Absolutely. Scott, do you find um people often make property decisions without considering their broader financial position?

SPEAKER_01 3:28

It's probably the most common scenario. Um everyone needs to own a property, don't they? Well it's the great Australian dream. That's the Australian dream. But typically people have a very narrow focus. They've got an idea that they're fixated on, they've got an emotional connection to something because it's a property that was passed down through the family or it's part of inheritance, or it doesn't necessarily have to be the right property or a good property. It's just that they've got this vision of this is the one for me or this one that's available, rather than this is the right best solution for me overall. So yeah, lots of, yeah, what I'd call, I guess, tunnel vision and emotional attachment to uh decision making rather than let's zoom out and have a look at, you know, what are the whole picture and what options are available.

SPEAKER_00 4:13

So how do you help clients decide whether they should hold a property, sell it, or potentially reinvest into something else?

SPEAKER_01 4:21

Yeah, a lot of people come thinking that I can just click my fingers and make that happen for them. And I guess the process for us is to unpack what actually matters in life to you more broadly than just this property, right? So they've got, again, probably a bit of tunnel vision thinking about this is one transaction, do I buy it, do I sell, do I hold it? And we say, well, what actually matters more broadly in your life for us to be able to connect that to? Or if it doesn't connect to it, what are the other options? So taking them away from a transaction or a particular investment or a particular property, for example, we want them to think more broadly and then start to say, how do we re-engineer or reshape this to better match your personal circumstances?

SPEAKER_00 5:00

And looking at their overall objective. So it might not be about selling or holding, but what is right for what you want to achieve.

SPEAKER_01 5:08

Yep. And sometimes people people just want growth. Sometimes people want an income source, sometimes people want that, they don't care how bad it is, they just want the emotional yes, that was mum's property or whatever. So we're trying to understand what are the drivers that sit behind their decision making, and then how do we match those solutions to make sure that we give them the outcome they're after, but they are aware of any downsides if they do choose to maintain a terrible investment, for example.

SPEAKER_00 5:34

Yeah. There's often the mindset of never sell property, but just because someone owns a property doesn't necessarily mean it's the right property to hold. How do you assess that?

SPEAKER_01 5:43

Similar, I guess, response to the last one. It's around what is the context for it? Are they after in yeah, I think I probably said that after income or growth or how does it fit in with their overall situation? Like we s we really just have to unpack.

SPEAKER_00 5:56

Some people think this property is not growing from a an asset protection, sorry, an asset point of view. Do we therefore get rid of it? But then looking at it from the rental income perspective and obviously other costs, is this a property that's driving us some income that we need?

SPEAKER_01 6:13

Yep.

SPEAKER_00 6:13

So it might be a good one to hang on to for that reason.

SPEAKER_01 6:16

Yeah, and they're the sorts of things that you know I will always defer to domain and code to say, hey, do an assessment of this, help them understand how this is working for them or how it's not. What are the, you know, what has been the historical growth of this property and what is the likely forward-looking growth prospects? Because the property space is something that we're constantly dealing with, but we're not the ones that can give them advice on holding or buying or selling. But what we can do is help them surface the issues to effectively come to that conclusion themselves.

SPEAKER_00 6:47

To find out all the information, as you said. Correct. Is it growing? Is it not growing?

SPEAKER_01 6:50

And is it the blind spot?

SPEAKER_00 6:51

Rental income, does it not have a good rental income? Like just go in there with your eyes open and make the best decision based on all of the facts, not just what you're thinking or property manager in good intentions might tell you something, but is not quite they're trained in property management, not necessarily in assets and wealth building.

SPEAKER_01 7:09

Yep. And so it's one piece of a bigger picture, and often it's the largest. So you think about it, your private residence, it's a property. Any investment property that you have, there's another, you know, very high concentration. People typically try to invest in an area that they're familiar with, not necessarily in another state or whatever. And so there's normally a high concentration. And so what we try to do is, you know, how do we complement that? What do we add to it? What else have you got? What are your other what are your assets inside superannuation doing? What are your wealth creation strategy outside of property if you are, you know, significantly leveraged into one asset class in one particular geographical area?

SPEAKER_00 7:43

Absolutely. Some financial planners aren't always pro-property, um, more so in the past than I think now with changes being made. But equally having all your wealth tied up in property can also be risky. How do you approach diversification with your clients?

SPEAKER_01 7:58

Yeah, I probably touched on it in the last question, but it's helping them understand the risks that they're taking. It's delving into those other asset classes, which are probably more in our sweet spot, and making sure that if they've got the property piece in place and they're comfortable with it, and you know, we've sent them through to domain and code, and they'll say, yep, this is appropriate for them and it remains suitable. We basically just try to say we need to spread your eggs into different areas. So super investments diversify. There's things that people go, oh yeah, but I can't get the same leverage with other asset classes, for example. There is actually capacity for us to, within exposure to international Australian shares, we can get exposure to leveraged managed funds that means that they put a dollar in and it gets matched. So that they've got leveraged exposure that way. So sometimes that's a real blockage for people to think outside of property because they get such highly geared exposure to a growth asset. But it's not the only method to do that. And sometimes having other types of investments that have got different qualities, such as, you know, liquidity. So you might have what we would consider to be illiquid property that might take one, three, six, twelve months to sell and realize and very expensive and typically a you know five to ten year proposition to something that we can actually sell and liquidate within a day, you know, 24 hours. So it's very different characteristics and helping people to understand you if you've got portion of your investments are liquid, let's look at complementing that with some liquidity. Let's look at using other asset classes to complement it. So it's helping people understand their overall situation and then working out a strategy to improve it.

SPEAKER_00 9:33

Yeah, great. So for downsizers or those approaching retirement, how does the strategy shift?

SPEAKER_01 9:39

It's probably a bit of a liquidity conversation again. It's so there's two elements here. One is the downsizer is if you've just got your primary residence and you may not have any other property, so you're selling your property to downsize it, unlock some equity. The government's got a couple of really cool things going on there. They've actually thought this through to say, you're sitting in a, you know, single old lady sitting in a four-bedroom house in the suburbs. Why aren't we looking at trying to relink, you know, get that property available for a whole family to come and live in it? And this downsizer sort of legislation they put in a few years ago is encouraging people to say, well, even if you're over the age of 75, where you can typically put money into super, they're giving people opportunities to put in up to $300,000 and for a couple, $300,000 each into super, no matter what your age. So as long as you've owned the property for more than 10 years and you've lived in it as your primary residence for a period of that time. So it can only, you know, and it doesn't have to be the whole time. Then there are some other provisions, got it to be done within 90 days, et cetera. But there's capacity to put in for a couple, $600,000 into a tax-free income stream once they get that in. So, you know, that is really good for people that asset rich, cash flow poor, need to make a shift in their in their assets, unlock the equity in their primary residence, start an income stream that's tax-free, happy days. And then if you've got an investment property and you're selling that as you approach retirement, there's strategies around, okay, how do we use this wonderful tax advantage structure of superannuation where you're only paying 10 to 15% tax rather than your marginal rate, which is typically higher. And then how do we, in time, when you retire, move that into a tax-free income stream? So sometimes people, the best strategy for them is they've held these growth assets through their 40s and 50s, but then it becomes appropriate for them to realise those in order to start drip feeding an income to them to meet their retirement income needs. Because if you've got a property and you want to go on a holiday overseas, you can't sell a bathroom or a kitchen of your, you know, rent all. Uh, you've got to sell the whole thing. So it's just around uh repurposing that to match their current position, which is moving towards that retirement.

SPEAKER_00 11:41

So when they're selling, you're really helping them to redeploy that capital in a way that strengthens their overall position.

SPEAKER_01 11:47

And it is more appropriate for their stage of life or their age or their you know ability to access their money inside super or whatever it might be. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 11:54

Absolutely. And um, we've touched on this and and most of the podcast guests have from my side, I often see the best outcomes when financial advice and financial planning all work hand in. How important is that collaboration?

SPEAKER_01 12:07

Yeah, so I've got a sweet spot of what I operate in and it is not giving property advice. Like I'm not licensed to give property advice. And so we deal with it every day. We have conversations with clients about every day every day. And for us, it's like a responsibility to make sure that they're getting good support when they have a transaction that needs to happen or they're thinking about it, or they need guidance or advice. So we are very, very quick to get people in front of Domain ⁇ Co. Mel, Warwick, Ella to have a conversation to make sure they know they've got support around one of the biggest financial decisions they're making, which will be to sell, hold, buy, whatever the scenario might be for them. And one of my mottos or my passions for my clients is always to make sure that they're able to make big life choices, but do that with confidence. And so part of that is making sure we're partnering with other professionals like yourselves to make sure that they get the right support at the right time so they can make really good choices.

SPEAKER_00 12:59

That's right. And it is, you know, I guess coming to us as advocates, we're not wanting to sell necessarily. Like we're looking at the whole picture for them. Whereas going directly to a sale agent, they're like, quick sign, let's sell.

SPEAKER_01 13:09

100%.

SPEAKER_00 13:10

Sure, pressure, pressure.

SPEAKER_01 13:10

And there's multiple scenarios where they've tested.

SPEAKER_00 13:13

Not all sale agents, just putting that out there, so they're just listening. I know you don't all do that. But the aim is to sell. You know, we're we're here as you know, advice givers similar to yourself in but in the property field.

SPEAKER_01 13:22

Yep. And of many cases where clients have come back and said, Yep, well, based on that conversation, we thought we had to do this and we don't have to do this anymore. Or we were thinking we had two properties, we were thinking of selling this one. Well, we're very clearly now going to sell the other one because we just don't know what we don't know. And getting an expert that's living and breathing, you know, the example I use for clients is you sell a property once every 10 years or so on average, is that about right? And these guys deal with it every day, every week, and uh making purchases regularly. That do you think who's better placed to understand the market and to get the best outcome for you? It's a very clear choice.

SPEAKER_00 13:54

It's it's kind of a no-brainer. It is a massive get someone to play the game who knows how to play the game. Correct. Correct. Absolutely. So if someone's sitting there and wondering, should I buy or should I sell, what do you think is the first step they should take?

SPEAKER_01 14:06

This is what I do, as you know, is the first conversation needs to be with someone like Domain and Co. to say, hey, what are the implications here? What are the things you're trying to achieve? What's a good strategy? What's not a good strategy? So we will often get even new clients that come to us, they haven't bedded down their property strategy yet. And the first place that I send them is to Domain and Co. Once that's resolved, so I don't want to give them advice, then they go and make a property decision that completely undermines, we have to re-engineer the strategy that supports that. So we try and get the biggest moving piece in all of that, which is the property decision or decisions, get them better down first, and then we dovetail our advice into the back of that.

SPEAKER_00 14:47

On the flip side, Scott, we get people come to us and say we want to sell, and you know, we talk to them about where they're at in life and what's going on and ask them all the questions. And quite commonly, do you have a financial plan? What we say to them as well. Because if they don't and they're making these decisions around buying or selling property and they don't have a plan in place, it's um, you know, just throwing mud at a wall and seeing what sticks.

SPEAKER_01 15:07

Yep. So, you know, getting that support, I think I'll loop back to my previous comment around making big life decisions with confidence. When you've got people in your corner that understand the stuff that you don't understand, you're gonna end up with a better result and you're gonna be more comfortable through that process and you're gonna get the right people supporting you when it when it comes down to making the decisions and and rolling it out.

SPEAKER_00 15:28

Table to plan, plan to say. Absolutely. I know we've sat down personally with you and gone through it all and it and it just gave so much of a clear picture of what the future looks like and how much money you need to put into super and what happens to this property at what point and how that affects everything. It was a really great exercise to go through. Yeah. Scott, how important is it when someone's listening to this podcast that we're talking to them to not take what we're saying for their own personal advice?

SPEAKER_01 15:55

Yeah, super important. Um, it's a requirement for us to make sure that we notify people that we are not taking into account their personal circumstances and their goals, needs, objectives, and therefore we're talking very generally. And if there's a need for us to progress a piece of conversation towards advice, we have to document that in writing. So uh this is very much general in nature. And if it's specific to someone's circumstances, we have to do a whole bunch of research to make sure we're uh giving them air own specific. Yeah, exactly. Taylor didn't follow. Absolutely.

SPEAKER_00 16:22

Scott, thank you so much. It's terrific this information for our listeners to hear. And if anyone would like to connect with you for their own personal advice, we will put Scott's details into the show notes. If you're thinking about buying, selling, or just want to clarify your next move, feel free to also reach out to us. Myself and the team at Dominico are always up for a chat. And that may be very well referring you to Scott. Thanks for tuning into the Melbourne Property Brief podcast. And don't forget to subscribe so you don't miss out on the next episode.

SPEAKER_01 16:50

Thanks, Mel.