You can spend 15 years buying property, building equity, paying down debt and doing all the things that look financially responsible, yet still be no closer to buying back your time. That’s the danger of disconnected investing.
In this solo episode of Get Invested, Bushy Martin brings together the critical pieces investors often consider separately: the life you actually want, the income that life will require, when you want the freedom to live it, what your current financial position can support, and exactly what job your next property needs to do.
Using the example of Michael and Jessica, Bushy shows how an aspirational $200,000 annual lifestyle income can translate into a $4 million future nest egg, a daunting $3.89 million future shortfall — and then, importantly, a much more practical $1.78 million Freedom Number in today’s terms.
But this isn’t about convincing you that you suddenly need to rush out and build a multimillion-dollar portfolio.
It’s about working backwards from the destination and identifying the next sensible move.
For Michael and Jessica, despite the longer-term numbers potentially pointing towards two or three properties, their current capacity suggests a working purchase ceiling of around $750,000, and one property as the next move.
And that property still needs to pass the right tests.
Because a good property can be a bad investment for you if it doesn’t match your purpose, capacity or ability to comfortably hold it.
Bushy also compares two hypothetical $750,000 investments to demonstrate just how different the holding experience can be. In the examples explored, an established property could require around $705 a week to hold, compared with approximately $217 a week for a qualifying new build — around 69% less in year one.
That doesn’t automatically make one better than the other. It means the numbers, the growth evidence and the job the property needs to perform all have to connect.
In this episode you’ll discover:
- Why owning investment property doesn’t automatically mean you’re creating freedom
- The five numbers that can turn a vague financial future into something measurable
- The difference between your future GAP and your Freedom Number today
- Why achieving freedom before super access generally requires accessible assets outside super
- Why borrowing capacity and usable equity are different, and why neither alone tells you what you should spend
- How to turn a much larger long-term wealth target into one practical next property decision
- Why two properties at the same purchase price can have dramatically different holding costs
- When growth should be the priority, and why cash flow can become increasingly important later
- How Infrastructure, Industry, Incomes, Population, Position and Property help test the growth case
- The five questions every potential investment property should pass before you say yes
- Why your strategy needs to be recalculated when your life, finances or goals materially change
You don’t need to solve the next 20 years today.
But you do need to know what you’re trying to build, what your current position can safely support and what your next investment is actually being employed to achieve.
Start with the numbers. Test the property against its job. Then make the next move — not every move.
Because real strategy isn’t collecting tactics or properties. It’s diagnosing what’s stopping you, choosing the right pathway, aligning your actions and adjusting as life changes.
FREE PROPERTY INVESTOR’S FIELD GUIDE
How Should I Invest In Property Now?
After months of post-Budget analysis, modelling and conversations with investors around Australia, Bushy has distilled the key insights into a practical guide designed to help you cut through the confusion and identify the opportunities that still exist for strategic property investors.
Download your free copy here: https://bushymartin.com.au/fieldguide
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