“Getting out of the rat race how I did it”

Getting out of the 9 to 5, I will keep it simple and as brief as possible as to not bore you and note any of this would not have been possible without my partner Vanessa we both have shared goals.

I must add that for me retirement means not needing to work a corporate job any longer and not needing to work if I choose to. Being 45 years old I am not interested in wasting time doing nothing, so I am keeping myself busy by creating my business Baseplate Property Strategy in an attempt to help others and working as a Buyer’s Agent.

So here goes:

• In my early 20’s, I began by placing an extra 5% into my super fund on top of my employer contributions. Note I spent my 20’s and early 30’s not saving money.

• At age 33 I bought my second home, the first home I bought stayed with my ex-partner. I lived there for a year and a half and it was purchased with a 5% deposit. Two years earlier my current partner also bought her first home.

• Age 34 to 36 I cleared out all my bad debt including personal loans and credit cards.

• Age 35 Vanessa and I used equity out of one home and a small deposit to purchase a third home to live in, we both kept our first homes as rentals.

• Age 37 I realised that my career was potentially not sustainable for the long term due to a stressful event that occurred at work which caused a great deal of stress and anxiety, this started my desire to retire early or at least set us up better.

• Age 38 we had moved to Canberra and built a home using 1 property as security (which we later uncrossed). Again, we kept the other 3 homes which was possible due to my income and our rental income.

• Age 39 we begun another build this time was also to help my mum who was coming to live with us. Again, once completed we kept the other 4 homes. Also, we closed off any credit cards and eliminated our car loan.

• Note the only way all this was possible is because we kept all our properties which were somewhat paying for themselves due to the rental income and our frugal lifestyle.

• Age 41 to 44 We embarked on a strict saving routine and a frugal lifestyle, not spending money on luxuries, keeping our vehicles, tracking all our financial data to the $. Yes, extreme however by this time it was clear my work and high salary was not going to be sustainable. I watched all my peers disappear out of the business and I knew I would one day as well.

• Age 42 I ramped up our share portfolio and begun contributing monthly amounts focusing on low-risk ETF’s and some individual shares.

• By age 45 I had also accumulated a large amount of leave to the tune of approximately a years’ worth. I done this by never using my long service only using my annual leave and also not using personal leave.

• By this time our property portfolio had increased substantially, we had a large savings buffer, my compounding super was at a point where I was comfortable with slowing down the contributions and our share portfolio was ticking away.

• With all of this taken into account I stepped away using my years leave and knowing that our assets would continue to grow without me working.

• We are selling 1 house which will give me a combined cash and share portfolio without investing any of it that will last till I am 57 based on my current spending habits and taking into account inflation. Vanessa is continuing to work for the time being. We have a net worth in the multiple 7 figures which is more than enough for me.

There you have it in a nutshell, it was by no means easy and took a large amount of sacrifice and resilience.

If you would like to know more or would like help yourself, fill out this form and see if I can help:

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