Property Hub - Investment Insights & Inspiration - Get Invested: Part 1: Rasti Vaibhav on your property wealth blueprint

Episode Date: November 26, 2021

Rasti Vaibhav is one of those rare investors and property professionals with a passion for waking you up and shaking you up to the need to start living by design, not by default – to live with intent by beginning with the end in mind so that you’re making it happen not letting it happen. Rasti has a wisdom beyond his years because of the enormous responsibility that was thrust upon him from an early age. As you’ll hear in Rasti’s vulnerable discussion today, his father died suddenly from an unexpected cardiac arrest when he was still in high school. As an only son, at a very tender age, overnight Rasti took on the responsibility of supporting his family, including his mother and sisters. During that tough time, he found solace in books, which helped him understand that informed decisions are based on accurate insights. Together this instilled in Rasti a level of wisdom that few hold. And this unfortunate early tragedy also fuelled the fires of Rasti’s incredible unwavering work ethic that has seen him achieve great things in a fraction of the time of many other mere mortals.  Rasti invested heavily in his education, obtaining a bachelor’s degree in Architecture, a Masters degree in Computer Science, an MBA and the coveted Chartered Financial Analyst (or CFA) qualification. Since CFA is one of the best qualifications available in the investment management world, it secured him a fund manager’s role with one of the 'Big 4' banks where he directly managed over $2 Billion in investments that paved the way for developing his own property portfolio. As a result, he built his positively geared multimillion-dollar portfolio in less than seven years, allowing him to quit his nine-to-five job to pursue his passion for helping others; as an advisor and author of The Property Wealth Blueprint, Rasti guides you to replicate his personal success and inspires you to follow your passions.  He is now one of Australia’s ‘go-to’ property portfolio strategists and has revolutionised the way aspiring Australians build multimillion-dollar real estate portfolios. As a self-made robust portfolio owner, Rasti uses his unique property wealth blueprint that we outline during our conversation, which combines strategic diversification and sharp negotiation skills to identify ideal opportunities tailored to your unique circumstances. Rasti’s mission is to educate and empower you and many others across the country to become successful property investors. To do this, Rasti is a licensed independent buyer’s agent. He is now the founder and Managing Director of Get RARE Properties, which deals in properties across Australia. Rasti is a firm believer in giving back to the community in whatever way he can. Once we have fulfilled our basic needs and wants to an extent, we have the time to achieve our larger purposes. And Supporting a worthy cause or charity enriches Rasti in ways money alone can never do. Interestingly and very appropriately, Rasti’s name Vaibhav means "moral," "ethical,"abundance" and the "right path" in Sanskrit, which sums him up perfectly. And to capture the heart and soul of Rasti’s message, we’ve split our conversation into 2 parts. This week we begin with a deep dive into Rasti’s life story together with a focus on the importance of your strategy blueprint. Next week we’ll continue our great chat by drilling into the aspect that many investors fail to consider properly, and that’s the subject of risk management. Get RARE workshop: And if you warm to Rasti and his message as much as I have then reach out to him and his Get RARE team by joining him on his free live online workshop at: https://www.getrare.com.au/workshop  Join the Get Invested community: And if you want to continue investing in your knowledge, join me and many other like minded investors in our Get Invested community right now. I send a free and exclusive monthly email full of practical ‘Self, Health and Wealth’ wisdom that our current Freedom Fighter subscribers can’t wait to get each month. It’s full of investment and lifestyle tips, my personal book recommendations, apps I use to enhance life and so much more. Just visit bushymartin.com.au and sign up at the bottom of the page … because this is just the beginning! Get Invested is the leading weekly podcast for Australians who want to learn how to unlock their full ‘self, health and wealth’ potential. Hosted by Bushy Martin, an award winning property investor, founder, author and media commentator who is recognised as one of Australia’s most trusted experts in property, investment and lifestyle, Get Invested reveals the secrets of the high performers who invest for success in every aspect of their lives and the world around them. Remember to subscribe on your favourite podcast player, and if you're enjoying the show please leave us a review. Find out more about Get Invested here https://bushymartin.com.au/get-invested-podcast/  Want to connect with Bushy? Get in touch here https://bushymartin.com.au/contact/  This show is produced by Apiro Media - http://apiropodcasts.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

I was only 17 when my father passed away. Being the only son with two elder sisters, I felt the responsibility of making money. I took it as a challenge that as a responsible son I need to do something for my mother. It's my duty, it's my responsibility because to me it was all about culmination of the sacrifices that I've seen her making through those years and I vividly remember like when I came back in the middle of the night

I was escorted back home and then only I got to know that my father has passed away and I remember very vividly that my mother was sitting next to next to the body and I just

couldn't really cry then that has a strength for me like uh the emotions uh because at the end of the day it's the emotions that us that gets us going so i actually turn it around and uh and i promised myself i promised my mom that i'll do whatever it takes to to achieve what she wanted us to achieve uh not for just our sake but for her sake but also uh for the broader circles that i can touch uh lives upon if you put your mind into anything you can actually learn it if you put a body mind to something with the right resources with the right guidance and anything can be achieved without plans we fail and you know like it's it's

if you fail to plan we are planning to fail and so that's one part like having that strategy having that blueprint is super critical with a view of the end goal welcome to the get invested podcast where we share great conversations with experts from all walks of life to uncover their secret know-how and where they invest their time, their skills, and their money, and the benefits that this has created. You see, the truth is that everyone invests every minute of every day. We're investing our time, our skills, our energy, and our money in something. Some of us are investing consciously, some unconsciously, sometimes for good, sometimes for bad, sometimes for no impact. Get Invested will help you to start living by design, not by default.

I'm going to help you to make it happen, not let it happen. You'll hear the top tips on how you can live with conscious intent so that you can live more, work less, and leave a living legacy by investing now. Listen to the show to discover the top tips on how to get started, make the most of your investment journey, and ultimately to be living your dream, not someone else's. More episodes can be found on iTunes or at bussymartin.com.au forward slash getinvested. Thanks for listening and now, let's get invested.

Welcome Freedom Fighters. When was the last time you took some time to question what you're doing with your life and why? Because if you keep doing what you're doing, where are you going to end up? Will your current life trajectory give you all of the fulfilment, freedom, time and lifestyle that you quietly yearn for? Well, today we're going to revisit these questions that are going to be critical to your future. Because what we think about is what we bring about. And without a clear, compelling vision of what you want your life to look like, then you'll continue to be like a boat without a rudder,

drifting aimlessly or being blown around by the winds and waves of the next fad or fashion. Or you'll become stuck within the confines of your own mental, physical, financial habits and time constraints that condemn you to a constant world of lack, when a world of abundance beckons just beyond the horizon of your own self-beliefs. Now this point is emphasised in a story that today's very special guest, Rusty Vibeth, often retells that he was told by his loving mother when he was a young boy and this story has stayed with him

and it's a story about elephants. One day in India a man was passing a herd of captive elephants when he stopped suddenly because he was confused by the fact that these gentle giants were being held and restrained by a thin flimsy rope tied to their front leg. There were no chains and no cages.

And this was confusing because it was obvious that the elements were strong enough to uproot trees and tow cars and could, at any time, easily break free from their bonds, but for some reason they remained tethered by a flimsy string. He saw a trainer nearby, so he asked him why these massive strong creatures just stood there and made no attempt to get away. Well, the trainer said,

when they're very young and much smaller we use the same small rope to tie them and at that age it's strong enough to hold them and as they grow up they become conditioned to believe that they can't break away they believe the rope can still hold them so they never try to break free regardless of their size or their strength

and the man was amazed these animals could break free at any time from their bonds but because they'd been conditioned to believe that they couldn't, they were stuck right where they were. Does this ring a bell for you? Some therapists refer to this as the chained elephant or baby elephant syndrome. It simply means that we're often held back by self-limitations that we unconsciously or consciously impose on ourselves

through our past experiences or upbringing. So how does this apply to you? when you were a young child did you have lots of passion and were clear about what you wanted to do to make a dent in the universe and then slowly and surely like a frog in a boiling pot without realizing it you got into a lifestyle of having to work hard to make enough money to make ends meet just making enough to meet your ever-increasing financial needs and wants and then your passion slowly but surely dulled and disappeared buried in the dust and debris of the tragic time for money treadmill. So when was the last time you asked yourself what

you really desire in life? If you take yourself back to your childhood, where there was no constraint and no restriction, what would you be doing today? And if it's not what you're currently doing, it begs the even bigger question, why aren't you doing it today? This is where today's guest is one of those rare investors and property professionals who shares my passion for waking you up and shaking you up to the need to start living by design, not by default. To live with intent, by beginning with the end in mind, so that you're making it happen, not letting it happen, by getting invested now. It's why he's written his recently published book, The Property world blueprint. It echoes the key messages of my own book, The Freedom Formula. So I'm going

to whet your appetite by drawing on some relevant extracts to motivate you to start re-energizing your lifestyle, dreams and goals and the critical need to start with the end in mind. So how do you live the life you desire? It starts with the realization that your life revolves around time, money and energy. These are the three resources that we need to enjoy the life we desire. Unfortunately, we usually fall short on one or two of these resources. When we're young, we typically have time and energy, but no money. As adults, we might have money and energy, but time is scarce as we're extremely busy. And finally, in our later years, we may have time and money, but there's a lack of energy.

so what's your current stage in life and what are you short of time money or energy my bet is that you constantly yearn for more time so how do you get it back by getting invested and why wealth well there are many reasons why someone would like to be wealthy let's look at one of the main reasons why you may want to build wealth additional money creates more opportunities it's often said that money won't make you happy or money will destroy everything however rusty and i believe that money opens many doors to opportunities and success in this regard rusty's book is not about turning you into a multi-millionaire overnight it's about designing the life you want to live without money your opportunities are

limited and you can only live within your means. So to us, freedom is about creating opportunities. We create our realities by visualising them first. Success is a blueprint that you outline yourself and a journey that you decide to take. This is why Rusty emphasises the need for your property wealth blueprint. Because property investing to create wealth so you can enjoy an abundance of time, energy and money is relatively simple, but successful investing isn't. As Rusty points out, historically, much of the world's wealth has been generated

through the acquisition of real estate. But unfortunately, most people fail to build their wealth by investing in properties. According to Australian Tax Office or ATO reports, Over 50% of investors sell off their property within the first five years of acquisition, 72% of Australian property investors hold only one investment property,

and only another 18% of investors have two properties. So effectively, 90% of Australian property investors never get past two properties. On the other hand, less than 1% of property investors in Australia hold five or more properties. Now, given these stats, Rusty wonders if it's conclusive that property investing isn't working for most property investors.

It wasn't that thought-provoking. Coming from a small town in a developing country, Rusty saw families struggle to accumulate the means to build a home. They would start with a ground floor and slowly add two to three ramshackle rooms. Then, after a few years, as their families expanded and their resources increased, they would extend their home by adding another floor or two. However, they couldn't go beyond that as these structures just weren't stable and the additions were more of an afterthought than a thorough plan.

Do you think this is the right approach to build a multi-storey building? Is it how you'd do it? Of course you wouldn't, right? They should have planned it, designed it and then built it rather than taking an ad hoc approach. Besides, a strong foundation is necessary in case there are plans to expand the building later. Are we on the same page? Great. A typical Australian property investor is not so different when building a property portfolio.

Why is that? Because this is exactly how a typical Australian property investor starts to build their property portfolio. First, they buy a property as soon as they can afford one. A few years later, when they have enough surplus funds, they look for another property. Adding a third one might be a stretch as they start hitting some constraints around saving a sufficient deposit, cash flow or borrowing capacity. So there must be a better way, right? Well, yes, there is. First, envision it, design it and then execute it.

Or, in other words, plan it, design it and build it. In a nutshell, you need a strategy to serve as the blueprint in order to develop your robust property strategy. On the whole, this strategic approach makes you stand apart as a successful property investor. A good strategy can make all the difference to your portfolio. It's the leap between having one to two investment properties and five plus properties. Also, it's a more holistic approach than many people might think. The best part of property investing, if done strategically, is it can help you to achieve financial freedom. Rusty and I firmly believe that successful investing is a very specialised activity

and shouldn't be done casually You need to build a robust property portfolio which Rusty refers to as the Get Rare model As the artist Pablo Picasso was famous for saying Our goals can only be reached through the vehicle of a plan There is no other route to success One of the most potent ways to accumulate wealth is through investment, and investing wisely in property is one of your good options for a secure future.

And before we delve deeper into property investing, let's consider the goals that we want to achieve. You need to keep the end in mind. It's essential that, as an investor, you have clarity about your goals. Start with your end goal in mind because once you've envisaged your goal, you can turn it into a tangible dollar value target and begin working on your strategy and your finances. And Rusty also echoes our strong belief that finance will play an integral part

in your investment strategy. Perhaps you've never had a financial goal and like most of us, you focus on career, relationships, family and travel. Besides, doubts or lacking clarity about formulating a wealth creation plan might have stopped you from actually creating one. Therefore, the easiest way to set a monetary goal

is to imagine a salary that you'd like to draw. It gives you a concrete number to start working with. Now let's crunch some numbers to get an idea of how this all works. Generally, despite much information of the contrary, a passive income of about $60,000 a year is not enough for you to comfortably retire and live on. Whereas being able to generate income of, say, $200,000 a year passively means you'll have to build significant wealth over many years.

Although you may have different ideas, most people tend to aim for an approximate passive income of around $100,000 annually. So let's compute how big a portfolio you'd need to reach that end goal. Being a landlord means that you'll have a raft of expenses related to your investments. These include rates, strata fees, repairs and vacancies that can account for about 25% of your rental income.

Additionally, rent is deemed to be a taxable income. Hence, to earn a passive income of $100,000 post-tax and after expenses, you'll need around $180,000 in gross rental income. Based on an average of 5% rental returns, it means you'd need to create an investment property portfolio worth approximately $3.6 million to generate this amount of passive income. and if you have a mortgage to pay off you won't get to keep all that money

as you'll be repaying the bank. Therefore, if you want that $100,000 in your pocket the $3.6 million portfolio needs to be debt free in other words, fully paid off. Your plan should also incorporate a principal home residence if you don't want to live in a rental property during your retirement. Now, although it's pretty subjective

you need to factor in your home's market value in your goal setting. So let's say $1 million, for example. So an investment portfolio of $3.6 million and a home of $1 million implies that you'll need a net worth of at least $4.6 million. This is your target. At this point, it might seem easy or it might seem very daunting. However, let's not underestimate the power of compounding and leveraging. If we approach it strategically, if I can get it out of my teeth in the right way, this is absolutely possible.

And the best way to do this is by adopting what Rasty calls the portfolio approach. The portfolio approach is the alternative to buying an expensive property and involves building a robust portfolio with multiple properties. This is a better strategy with many merits such as, number one, diversification for growth. The goal of every real estate investor should be to build a diversified portfolio to achieve consistent growth rather than a knee-jerk return profile. Diversification is the most effective way to generate consistent returns while protecting against sudden market downturns. Moreover, it can be achieved at multiple levels, price points, property types, location and

demographics. Typically, every city or region has its property cycle. When you buy in two different uncorrelated markets, you can expect differences in returns as their growth cycle is highly dependent on their property cycle. Holding different properties with broad market appeal increases your chances for strong rental demand and resale value. In addition, buying multiple properties in uncorrelated markets will smoothen your return profile. Secondly, diversification for risk. The truth is that there are no risk-free investments. Property investing comes with several risks,

including vacancies, falling prices and reduced rental income. A property portfolio will allow you to manage these risks better. For example, if you possess only one property and it becomes vacant, you'll have no rental income. In contrast, if you own 10 properties, even if two of them remain vacant, you'll still collect rent from the remaining eight. owning multiple properties in a asynchronous markets will also offer protection against

sudden downturns third thirdly is the opportunity to deleverage the ultimate goal in building a portfolio is to reach the point where it's debt free as you acquire properties it's perfectly natural that you'll increase your debt levels ultimately you'll need to sell some of your properties to gain equity to cover your overall debt. Naturally, this will result in a smaller but mortgage-free portfolio. A portfolio approach will offer you multiple choices to identify which market to exit from. Number four is a balanced approach. A delicate balance in your property is essential to maximise returns and reduce your risks. Ideally, you want to create a portfolio that pays for itself and grows consistently in value.

It would be perfect to find properties with both attributes, but they're often hard to find without taking undue risks. Rusty believes that to get the right balance at the portfolio level, you need to hold both types of properties, some delivering high rental yields and others offering high capital appreciation, offering you the optimal combination of the two. Number five, goals-based.

By owning multiple properties, an investor can prescribe a different purpose for purchasing each one. For example, a property may be purchased to offer long-term capital growth. It can be given as a gift to a child, or even marked for sale to fund a world trip in the future. This is where smaller but multiple properties can assist you. Of course, when considering diversification, you can buy more properties at lower prices. For example, instead of investing $1.5 million to buy one property, you can buy three properties for an average price of $500,000 each. Now whilst it's true that more properties mean more decisions, multiple maintenance issues and several accounts to handle, you need to consider investing in property as a business and think of these extra demands as the cost of doing business.

Additional advantages of buying low-priced properties include high yields, because as an investor, your focus is to maximise your returns or your rental yield. For this reason, it's sensible to acquire multiple cheaper properties rather than larger expensive ones. For example, a $1.5 million property might rent for $900 a week, equating to a gross rental yield of just over 3%. On the other hand, a rent expectation of $420 a week from a $500,000 property will provide a gross yield of nearly 4.5%, which is a 50% increase. In monetary terms, for an investment of $1.5 million,

it's $900 per week from one property compared to a sum of $1,260 a week for three properties. An entirely superior cash flow outcome. And then there's the benefit of easy exit price. An exit strategy is a necessary part of every investment. Sooner or later, an investor will have to decide whether to retain or sell the property. Inevitably, all properties will experience capital growth, but lower-priced properties are always easier to shift than expensive ones.

A quick sale may be an essential consideration when an investor makes a selling decision that will allow them to pivot quickly to take advantage of new opportunities. Thirdly, they're quicker and easier to acquire. You may be able to purchase a lower priced property more swiftly than an expensive one. It takes a shorter period to accumulate the funds required to buy smaller budget properties. Moreover, the growth in your first property will assist you in accruing funds for your next purchase. Speed in entering a market is often crucial and may mean saving tens of thousands of dollars, especially when prices are booming.

It also implies that if prices continue to grow, so will your equity, and you may be able to acquire another property faster. To illustrate all of this, let's consider a quick case study that we'll call the sooner the better. In 2016, after saving for a deposit for four years, Eva managed to save $120,000. which was not enough for her to put a deposit on the $750,000 property that she wanted. She decided to wait another year to save an additional $30,000. But by then, the price of the property she wanted had increased by 8% to $810,000, and again, she still couldn't buy it.

But during the same period, Holly used her $120,000 to buy a $600,000 property, A year later, she was a property owner and thus benefited from the 8% market growth. Now let's consider Rusty's four stages of investment, which are similar to the wealth by stealth stages I outline in my book, The Freedom Formula. It makes sense to aim for an investment property portfolio first, before planning to buy a residence. However, how can you build wealth by investing in properties that can replace your income? Appreciating that we have a decent target to achieve and stakes are high,

Let me introduce you to the Get Rare Blueprint step-by-step process. It considers your risk appetite and circumstances on your way to financial freedom, where Get Rare stands for get rich and retire early. It consists of four stages, namely acquisition, growth, consolidation, and then financial freedom. So let's break these four stages down. Number one is acquisition. Acquisition is a stage for building your property portfolio. This is where you need to be super strategic before you act.

You start with an ending in mind and then work backwards to determine the actions required to reach your goal. Once you set your target, you can start building it one property at a time. Just as a journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step, similarly, your portfolio will grow property by property. And this is where Rusty's concept of pyramiding comes into play. Pyramiding allows investors to tap into their property's capital growth, e.g. equity as a partial contribution for the deposit for their next purchase. Let's have a closer look

at this. First, you extract equity by refinancing your mortgage by either renegotiating a higher loan amount with your existing lender or taking out a new larger loan with a different lender. The additional amount you borrow can act as a partial deposit for your new investment property for which you'll also need a second mortgage. This idea of freeing the equity underpins the property investment and builds an extensive portfolio quickly. Secondly, growth. Growth is typically the longest stage during which your property portfolio grows in value. Then comes consolidation, which is a stage to deleverage a portion of your portfolio to pay off your debts. This stage is triggered when the equity in your portfolio has reached your financial

target. And then you finally attain number four, financial freedom, which is the final stage where you achieve your net wealth target. And the property wealth blueprint in action is best explained with the following example and assumptions. Let's assume that your net wealth target is about $3 million. You earn enough to be able to borrow a significant amount of money. The holding cost of the portfolio is zero or non-significant. In other words, the property portfolio is a neutral cash flow portfolio where the incoming funds are more than the outgoings. You're also patient to wait for the property portfolio to grow by 90% over the years. You've structured your property ownership in such a way that there are minimal

tax implications. A quick look example of these stages is as follows. Firstly, acquisition. You build a $3 million portfolio with an outstanding loan of $2.7 million. Secondly, growth. You let the portfolio grow by 90% to $5.7 million. The outstanding loan remains at $2.7 million or less. Thirdly, consolidation. You sell a good portion of your portfolio to repay the outstanding loans. And finally, financial freedom.

You're left with a fully paid-off portfolio of $3 million and collect a passive income from rent. A simple but effective way to achieve financial freedom and live life on your own terms. Let's now quickly demystify some of the key dilemmas that you'll face on your property journey. Rusty's book also goes through the pros and cons of the common dilemmas that you may encounter

during the acquisition stage, which includes the important questions of capital growth versus cash flow, where he notes that if you seek a short-term fix with cash flow positive properties you may actually struggle to grow a future cash machine from those properties. Effectively, you need capital growth to expand the portfolio and cash flow to sustain it. Secondly, whether to pay or save on lender's mortgage insurance or LMI.

He also debates the merit of investing in houses versus units and he goes into the relative merits of new versus existing properties. and you'll need to read Rusty's book to get the juice on these very key questions. Ultimately, as Rusty emphasises, there's no right or wrong answer. You must evaluate what's right for you, keeping in mind that unwise decisions may have substantial implications in the long term. The best way to make good decisions is to be crystal clear about your long term goals and then work backwards on them.

This is where a strategy comes in very handy. Another point to reinforce is that property investment should be considered and conducted as a business. Like any other business, you should have a business plan and an appropriate strategy to guide you in achieving your goals. Every decision needs to be backed by an unbiased cost-benefit analysis. Besides, using professional help enables you to source, analyse and understand relevant information before deciding.

You should never purchase property for the sake of it, rather strategically acquire assets that serve the purposes defined by your investment strategy. Ideally, you should also assemble the right team to advise, build and execute your strategy for creating your property portfolio. To succeed in property investing, you need to maximise your returns and minimise the risks, which requires a very delicate balance. So let's have a quick look at Rusty's blueprint in action with another quick example. After working out his long-term goals, Isaac identified a target of establishing a base portfolio of $3 million. He calculated that he wanted to buy six properties having an average value of about $500,000 each. After saving a $90,000 deposit,

he didn't hesitate to use loans with Lenders Mortgage Insurance, or LMI, to build his portfolio more quickly. Using pyramiding and his savings of about $15,000 a year he created his base portfolio over four years Isaac patiently waited for another nine years for the equity in his portfolio to reach the target of $3 million Then he started consolidating and deleveraging his portfolio and paying off the debt accumulated during the acquisition stage

Now, Isaac boasts of a fully paid off portfolio of $3 million which continues to grow and offers him a disposal income of about $120,000 a year. His choices are now centred around how to spend his free time. So in summary, here are the key lessons from Rusty's Get Rare model. Firstly, start with your end goal in mind because once you've developed your plan, you can expand that vision and begin working on your strategy.

Secondly, consider property investing as a business and take your decisions based on cost and benefit analysis. Thirdly, the portfolio approach allows you to diversify for growth and risks while serving as a goals-based balanced approach. Fourthly, the value-add of capital growth over the long term is superior to short-term cash flow returns. And lastly, the Get Rare Blueprint step-by-step process considers your risk appetite and your circumstances

and guides you to build wealth through properties accordingly. now this is just a taste of the investment goal that's in rasty property wealth blueprint book as his book gives you a much more detailed breakdown of what to do and how to do it during these four stages along with a raft of insider secrets to help you dynamically grow your wealth so you can live the life you desire to grab your copy just jump on getrare.com.au forward slash the property wealth blueprint or click on the link in the show notes and rusty expands on this and many other areas that he covers in his book in the first of our two-part special conversation today and i need to preface this by saying that

rusty is one of those very rare people that i immediately felt a genuine deep connection with it's an instant connection that doesn't happen very often and it's hard to put into words what about you how often do you meet someone that you instantly feel comfortable with have you ever met someone and felt that instant connection every now and then people enter your life and you feel a strong connection to someone that you barely know there's no need to push it or force it it has a life of its own and momentum effortlessly carries you forward it just feels effortless it's almost a feeling that you've already met there's an instant rapport and a familiarity that goes way above and beyond the common belief and interest in similar things

It's almost as if we've led very parallel lives and had similar experiences with family and friends. I feel like I've known Rusty all my life, even though I've only just met him. It's that certain feeling that I get when I meet some people, a comfortable feeling of connection, a feeling of familiarity, a feeling of understanding. Like kindred spirits, we have a similar energy,

a similar purpose and a similar vision. And sometimes I believe kindred spirits are actually brought together to remind us of our life's purpose and to awaken our true selves in a way that we help each other to rediscover who we really are and why we're here. And the best part about this kindred connection is that there's no judgment involved. We accept each other for who we are. This allows us the freedom to be genuinely authentically ourselves without the masked personas that we often adopt with new acquaintances. In fact, the presence of a kindred spirit actually calms you down and all those nervous and negative thoughts and feelings

about yourself just vanish. Rusty and I are instantly on the same page and on the same wavelength. We have similar energies which result in an instant affinity which is hard to capture in words. Perhaps this is because Rusty genuinely shares my desire to help others and adopts a very similar approach. Or perhaps it's because Rusty also operates from the heart. He's someone who really genuinely cares about helping others for all the right selfless reasons. You've probably heard me talk about my belief that there are different types of investors and I classify them as no-vestors, investors and out-vestors. No-vestors don't invest in anything. Investors invest in things for their own benefit while out-vestors invest in helping others.

Rusty is one of those rare outfesters who's on a mission to help you achieve your lifestyle goals. I think one of the reasons for this kindred connection is that Rusty has a wisdom beyond his years because of the enormous responsibility that was thrust upon him from a very early age. As you'll hear in Rusty's very open emotional vulnerability today, which I greatly admire and respect, Rusty's father died suddenly from an unexpected cardiac arrest when he was still in high school. So sit in the silence of this moment when Rusty breaks down and bears his soul

in his heart-wrenching account today. Because, as the family's only son at a very tender age, overnight, Rusty took on the responsibility of supporting his family, including his mother and his sisters. During that very tough time, Rusty found solace in books, which helped him to understand that informed decisions are based on accurate insights. Together, this instilled in Rusty a level of wisdom that is well beyond his years.

And this unfortunate early tragedy also fuelled the fires of Rusty's incredible, unwavering work ethic that has seen him achieve great things in a fraction of the time of many other mere mortals. As you'll hear, Rusty invested heavily in easy education, obtaining a bachelor's degree in architecture, a master's degree in computer science, an MBA and the coveted Chartered Financial Analyst or CFA qualification. Since CFA is one of the best qualifications available in the investment management world, it actually secured him a fund manager's role with one of the big four banks, where he directly managed over $2 billion in investments that paved the way for developing his own property portfolio. As a result, he built his positively geared multi-million dollar portfolio in less than seven years,

allowing him to quit his nine-to-five job to pursue his passion for helping others. As an advisor, Rusty enjoys guiding you to replicate his personal success and inspires you to follow your passions. He's now one of Australia's go-to property portfolio strategists and has revolutionised the way aspiring Australians build multi-million dollar real estate portfolios. As a self-made, robust portfolio owner, Rusty uses his unique property wealth blueprint that we outlined during our conversation, which combines strategic diversification and sharp negotiation skills to identify ideal opportunities tailored to your unique circumstances. Rusty's mission is to educate and empower you and many others across the country to become successful property investors. To do this, Rusty's a licensed independent buyer's agent. He's now the founder and managing director of Get Rare Properties, which deals in properties all over Australia. But what really distinguishes Rusty in that rarefied era of an outfester is his quest to give back to the community.

Like me, Rusty believes that a person's wealth is determined by how much they are able to give away rather than how much they retain. Generosity of spirit and heart are at Rusty's core. As Rusty says in his book, when we have excess funds, we can choose how to dispose of the surplus. Rusty's a firm believer in giving back to the community in whatever way he can. Once we've fulfilled our basic needs and wants to an extent,

we have the time to achieve our larger purposes. And supporting a worthy cause or charity enriches Rusty in ways that money alone can never do. Clearly, Rusty is living proof of one of his favourite quotes from Abraham Lincoln, where he quite celebrated, he said, You can have anything you want if you want it badly enough. You can be anything you want to be, do anything you set out to accomplish, if you hold to that desire with singleness of purpose.

interestingly and very appropriately Rusty's name Vaibhav means moral, ethical, abundance and the right path in Sanskrit which seems to sum him up perfectly and to capture the heart and soul of Rusty's message we've split our conversation into two parts this week we'll begin with a deep dive in Rusty's life story

together with a focus on the importance of your strategy blueprint next week we'll continue our great chat by drilling into the aspect that many investors fail to consider properly and that's the subject of risk management and if you're warm to rusty and his message as much as i have then reach out to him and his get rare team by joining him on his free live online workshop at get rare.com.au forward slash workshop where he breaks down his Get Rare model, which gives you a tested strategy to help you to develop a robust property portfolio that has the potential to allow you to retire or rewire early. And if you want to start or continue investing in your knowledge, join me and many other like-minded investors in our

Get Invested community right now. I send you a free and exclusive monthly email full of practical self-health and wealth wisdom that our current Freedom Fighter subscribers just can't wait to get their hands on every month. It's full of investment and lifestyle tips, my personal book recommendations, apps I use to enhance life and so much more. Just visit busheymartin.com.au and sign up at the bottom of the page because this is just the beginning. And in the meantime, enjoy part one of my deeply engaging and heartwarming chat with Rusty Viper. Hi Freedom Fighters. Now at the time of this recording, we're currently in the throes of the biggest property boom in over 30 years in Australia, with buyers everywhere struggling

to find and secure properties that are often going for tens or thousands of dollars or more than expected. So what can you do about it? How can you get ahead of the pack and not be left on the sidelines or end up paying way too much for properties? Well, the biggest tip I've always given you to optimise your chance of securing the right property at the right price at the right time under the right terms you want to satisfy your strategy is to engage an independent and expert buyer's agent. You know, it absolutely staggers me that with over half a million sales a year in Australia, only about 2.5% of them involve a buyer's agent. Now, this compares with about 45% of the USA, which is nearly half, where most buyers engage a professional

buyer's advocate to find, negotiate and secure the property on their behalf. This is in order to level the playing field and to eliminate the biggest risk in a property purchase, and that's you and your emotions, because you just don't know what you don't know, and this can be really costly when it comes to property purchases. So to delve back into the brave new world and the benefits of buyer's agents again, we're joined by another leader in the field who, on top of being a successful and active property investor himself, is also the author of his new book, The Property Wealth Blueprint, and founder of Get Rare Properties.

We're talking about Bebhav Rastogi, or Rusty as affectionately referred to. So welcome, and let's get invested, Rusty. My pleasure, Bush. I really, really appreciate this opportunity. Likewise, mate. I've been looking forward to catching up with you for a while because as we're about to reveal, we've actually shared very similar and parallel pathways over time and both enjoy the benefits of property. So for those who don't know you, can I just get you to start by giving us a quick rundown on who you are, what you do, and most importantly, why you do what you do, Rusty? Sure, with pleasure. So, I'm Rusty Wabhav, an independent buyer's agent and property strategist. I am a successful property investor myself and on the back of the success that I've achieved,

I really see there's a lot of merits that why one should be thinking of investing in properties in a more strategic way. And this is the reason why I found this company get rare properties which actually means not only buying the unique properties but also means the properties which can help you to get rich and retire early and the purpose or the mission that we have is to educate investors to get hold of their own future or the financial self that they are basically having uh today yeah love it and i and i just till you break that down because it's something that uh i was interested in with with the get rare properties name and it's uh retire early and it's it's no look explain it to me again so it's get rich and retire early is that

the breakdown that is correct perfect yeah great name absolutely love it all right well look uh what i'd love for you to do if you don't mind is to take us back through your life journey so far and go back as far as you'd like, please, and take us through where you've invested your time, your energy, and your money. What have been the ups and the downs, the challenges and the learnings, and how has it brought you to where you are

and what you're doing now? Sure. I actually had quite a few careers, so probably I'll go through them very quickly. But as you know that I'm hailing from India, I come from northern part of India. From a very humble beginnings, beginnings like my parents struggled to put food on the table they worked very hard I'm being the

only son I actually felt for them and what I actually found was that it's it's yes they are making money they are they're working hard but they are not really leaving time for themselves but while I was young I was just enjoying the enjoying the life that I had the pleasures of it But when I realized that it's all about the education and back home, the sheer competition that we have, it was all about the education. So I prepared myself to get into engineering college. I always had a passion for properties, so I wanted to get into an architecture college, so I became one. I actually went to the architecture college there. I'm just going to jump straight in there, Russ, if I can.

What was the attraction to architecture? or why did you pursue that road initially? Sure. So I really feel that I have actually a bit of a design taste as well. Like I have been enjoying drawing and painting since childhood and I also had a knack for numbers and how things operate. So I really felt that this is a perfect culmination of, I guess, the whole education side of things, like when it comes to the art side of it

as well as the science behind it. Yeah. And architecture being the most tangible part whereby it's not just really the art form but also something that is structural that people actually can touch and feel. They can live in and also invest. So that made it a perfect field for me to go into,

especially for my love for designing part of it. Yeah, love it, love it. Yeah, great. So I interrupted you there. So you started with architecture. Where did that lead from there? Yeah, so it was like I was doing pretty well. but being the only son of my parents like the I guess like it was a life even for me my father

passed away while I was in high school so I had to really think through what I really need to do for the financing part of it because back home architecture is a great industry but it it's just a slow start in the beginning and I just couldn't really afford that time with me for my family So at that point of time, it was more about IT as an information systems technology that I jumped into and I had to switch gears to get into IT industry. Okay. And again, what was the interest in IT? Because there's quite a chasm of a leap between the, as you very well put it,

the art and the science and the creative aspect together with the mass and the data support and architecture. Going into IT is quite different from the outside looking in. What was the attraction into IT at that stage? Sure. So for me, it was more about logical reasoning and problem solving. So in IT or any sort of engineering sciences, it's all about that this is a solution that we need to work

and then we work backwards to solve it. So to me, IT actually resonated very well with my problem-solving skills, thinking of the solution and maybe coming up with the creative answers as well. And that put me in a very good state

and lots of people actually even asked me that how architecture is helping me in my IT industry. And as you know, you being an architect yourself, that it's all about

having the end result, working towards it as a small components that actually contribute to the success of the end result. Yeah, it's spot on. Absolutely spot on.

Brilliant, mate. And I understand from my doing a bit of back reading that you actually self-taught yourself the IT side of the equation, mate, which is quite a feat. Talk to us about that. Yeah, so I'm talking about late 90s when the industry was not really very, you know, like it was very green back home over there as well. And what I realized is that that was my ticket to be in a position to start supporting my family. Being the only son with two elder sisters, I felt the responsibility of making money. And I didn't want to take any shortcuts in architecture field as well. So I had to think through.

And what I found is that if you put your mind into anything, you can actually learn it. And that was a formula that I learned early on. if you put a body mind to something with the right resources with the right guidance and anything can be achieved so I always have that kind of confidence that if I have to pick something I can do that and the challenge that we had earlier was that there were not really many mentors or any any sort of coaching coaching institutes over there so I self-taught myself got a few books thanks to my cousins who actually guided me what books to pick and without that that guidance I couldn't really have achieved what I achieved then so yeah so I learned that

luckily the IT boom was happening and I was given a job being the only I guess handful people who knew how to program or how to do coding and I was very happy to take that offer while I was still in architecture college so it was a bit hard yards for me in terms of doing a full-time studies as well as full-time job while learning on the go so that gives me a lot of you know still goosebumps that how did I manage that without really sleeping much during the day and you know yeah that that work ethic and that self-belief because there's a lot of resilience I'm hearing in what you're saying but also an ability to say right I can see an opportunity over here I'm just going to work damn hard.

I'm not scared by that opportunity. I'll just do what I need to do and learn what I need to learn to be able to really prosper in that capacity. Where do you think that sort of level of self-belief, that level of quiet confidence and that resilience and work ethic comes from? Great question, Bushir. So if I think through, like, as I was saying, my parents worked very hard. And what I really meant was literally my mother used to work the late nights. Like, so we were under-resourced, underfunded early on. And my mother took a challenge that she didn't want to compromise on the education of my siblings, me included.

So she actually started a boutique at our place as a home. And she just worked way too hard. and whenever i used to ask her like why why she's working so hard because all i wanted her time not the money and as a child i didn't really knew the difference to be honest and i prayed for her time and she was sacrificing long hours like early in the vrs in the morning so uh and she she told me i mean like i could see her you know like she when it comes to work she used to work very hard when it comes to party like we were partying hard and of course in that environment it was more around just having, you know, chit-chat and having food.

That was the party for us. So we loved it and 100% of it actually came from my mother when it comes to working hard. Yeah, and I guess the underlying, probably unspoken aspect of that period of your life and probably very formative in your life with the early loss of your father and, you know, I don't pretend to know the ins and outs of the culture but I would probably assume that you felt a responsibility

and a need to provide for your mum and your sisters. Was that sort of a burden or an opportunity for you in relation to how that inspired you to do what you've done? Sorry, man. I think it's a combination of both. It was like, I was only 17 when my father passed away. Wow. And.

Sorry about that. No, so I was only 17. I took it as a challenge that as a responsible son, I need to do something for my mother. And just if I can be just half sincere about what she has been trying to achieve, it's my duty, it's my responsibility, as well as it's for my sake as well. Because as a parent myself, I know all we want is basically the well-being of the child, not any sort of payback or anything like that. because to me it was all about culmination of the sacrifices that I've seen her making through those years and

I vividly remember like when I came back like I was actually I went to my friend's place to study for the engineering you know like it's a competitive environment so we had to study a lot so I actually came back in the middle of the night I was escorted back home and

then only I got to know that my father has passed away And I remember very vividly that my mother was sitting next to the body, and I just couldn't really cry then. What a very, very tough time. And I can't even guess at the emotion that you must have felt at that stage, Rusty. yeah so uh i didn't really make that as a weakness i actually take that as a strength uh for me like uh the emotions uh because at the end of the day it's the emotions that us that gets us going so i actually turn it around and um and i promised myself i promised my mom that i'll do whatever it

takes to to achieve what she wanted us to achieve uh not for just our sake but for her sake but also for the broader circles that I can touch lives upon. Love it, love it. What I've often said, Rusty, that it's our biggest obstacles that create our biggest opportunities. And the motivation that must have given you at that very formative age has probably had a massive influence on the tremendous success that you've enjoyed so far.

No, 100%, 100%. Love it, mate. Love it. So you got into IT. Where did the journey lead you to from there? Yeah, so from there it was up and up and beyond. So I was doing pretty well with my, I guess, the skills that I learned as an architect, as a designer, thinking about the concept as a solution for the problem. And that was actually very well received in the IT industry. it took me to those places actually so very quickly within a year i actually had offers

from a u.s-based company in in metro city there in delhi and then i had an offer from u.s company and and from the top-notch companies in india itself so with a year i actually could see the success of of of the hard work that i actually put in and i thought that it's just a beginning so because of the focus on education i realized that if i can do this much within a year and a half of self-learning and experience experimenting there should be a lot more when it comes to the experience by itself like working with the with mncs as in multinational companies and formally going for the education so with that my focus was like i should really go and get some formal education and i did a bit of research one of my jobs actually took me to

singapore i was happy to take that opportunity to to go there and look for better venues and in parallel i actually signed up for my part-time master's in computer science from national university of singapore which is one of the best in it industry yeah brilliant brilliant so you got you got to singapore which uh again is probably a a pretty big leap at that point in time uh what happened from there yeah so so it was going very well like uh i never gave up on learning new things like and this is a great thing about it industry there's always always some technology some sort of new methodology uh new ways of doing things and i actually progressed very well i worked with big companies and uh gained a lot

traction as well like in terms of the success with my understanding of data systems of which came from my master in computer science that actually put me in a very good state i mean well i got married as well and we were living a dream in singapore but then the question was that okay where do we go from here how can we improve because singapore was more of a choice that we made with regards to my education side of things but now i was educated i was i guess good experience in leading a company as well so what should i be doing next and then we were thinking about where should we starting our family as me and rupali my wife and we realized that australia is one of the best countries for us to aim for so that's what we did we spent about six years in singapore before coming

down to this beautiful country here in sydney in australia what what was it that uh and i'm taking you back a long way i know but i but as an architect a planner and a designer and a problem solver what were the key criteria that made you decide right of all of the places that we could go on on the earth australia is the place that we we want to to go to settle and and have our own family now uh it's an easy question but like what we did was very detailed analysis on that being being that being the technical and analytical person so what we did was basically as you might aware of like this weighted average uh analysis of our decision making so what we did what we did was like listed all the criteria that what we are looking for the weather the the work-life balance

ease of getting a visa getting mom along as well so my mother used to stay with us as well um all of the specters were actually over listing um listed criteria then we weighted them and and did it each and every, I guess, geography, Canada, U.S., U.K., back home, staying in Singapore, going to other Asian countries or coming here to Australia. So Australia was a clear winner. Love it. And I'm guessing that that sort of weighted analysis approach

is something that's transferred into what you're doing now. So I'll park that thought because we'll come back and dive into that because I'm sure that's an important aspect of the blueprint that you've now developed. So you got to Australia, still in IT, I'm assuming, at that point in time. Yes. Where did the journey lead you to then? Yes, it was going well.

I was leading a team. I was a country head for business analysis tool for the department. So I was loving it. But things that I've not shared just yet is that I was investing sincerely on. Whenever I had some money, I was saving it. I was investing it I tried my hands on currencies share market mutual funds even properties while I was in India and Singapore and so yes certainly the IT was the ticket for me to come here in Australia but then I was always looking for something more and what I realized is that yes

I was making money for my household but then I was also making more money from my investments And I was thinking to myself, like, maybe IT has been more of an accidental career for me. What do I really want to get out of it? So that actually put me back for reflecting upon what I really want, what I really enjoy. And I realized that what I really want to do is basically learn how to do investments in a professional way. Great. Now, I'm going to wind back there very quickly because you've touched on a very important subject, I think, of interest to me. at the very least, you mentioned that you've been investing

for quite some time. Wind me back to when the first spark of an interest in investment occurred, what were you interested in and what did you start investing in and how did you do it as a result? Sure. I think the seed of investing came from my uncle. like um he he's a doctor by profession and uh and he was he came from overseas and wanted to make some investments and open his hospital as well and i remember very vividly as a child like

we used to go together looking for different sites and talk to different people and talk to the brokers and of course like i didn't really had any funds to do any investing of that sort But that actually gave me very good, you know, the mindset or at least something to aspire for to make those decisions. And the moment I got chances, I realized that, you know, like I don't really have to wait that long. So I started investing in the stock market. Of course, like stock market is not very easy to crack. And I was reading about companies and the disclosures and I realized that the more you get into it, like, you know, that you don't really know anything. Did rot.

So what I realized is that instead of me trying to figure it out on my own, I should be actually talking to the bank manager from the asset management side of things. And especially when I was in Singapore, earning a different currency back home, that actually meant a fair bit of money as a savings. So I used to talk or hired actually a banking manager to basically look after the investments so that she was the point of contact and helping us understand. And then the view was that, okay, if you make a decision on the macro economics, like where this particular sector is going, then we can either choose the index funds or the managed funds because you can hire, I mean, effectively, when we get into a managed funds, what we are doing is basically we are paying a fee to the money manager to manage the funds for us. and I realized that that's more powerful like while I can focus my time and energy on what I'm good at all I have to do is basically take some guidance on picking the right manager for me effectively not really I'm paying for that I mean I'm though I'm paying but I'm not really hiring that person effectively yeah all I have to do is research the best money manager to manage

my money love it love it and so where you started in in equities clearly through through index funds which is a great way to diversify and also be very time effective as far as that is concerned without getting lost in the mire and trying to find needles in haystacks by stock picking. So again, you're way ahead of the pack right from the get-go in that. Was it around that time that you also played in the property space? When did that come into play? Yeah, so I was going to appreciate like property needs

fair bit of buffer plus the cash so but the good thing is that when I had a proper job in Singapore that actually gave me a fair bit of boarding capacity and that got me going to leverage that money because property investing is as good as share investing it's just that property investing comes with the benefit of leverage the way it allows us so so that actually got me excited about property investing and being an architect I always had that passion so I looked at that aspect and started talking to them banking like banking managers to borrow money and so I actually so I was 26 years age that I'm proud owner of a property back home in India. Okay awesome and And once you started the property journey, has that continued?

I wouldn't mind if you don't mind just rolling out what your initial strategy was, what you invested in, and how has your personal strategy changed over time and where has that led in terms of the portfolio that you've accumulated as a result? Are you able to break that down for us? Sure, sure. So, in the early stages, it was more about parking the money that I was saving in a more, I guess, risk-aware manner. Like, for example, even though I was investing in mutual funds and index funds, I was still the price taker rather than, you know, having a bit of control. So, and again, because of the leverage, I thought, like, maybe just buying the properties.

like back home it was easy to go for the of the plan properties like creating an existing market is very very difficult yeah you really need a very solid team to take care of your interest yeah so it's not really compatible what we have here but back home it's more about buying properties of the plan yeah and the rental guarantees and all of that sort of things doesn't really work very well back home it's like if you are given a property you are you have to just secure it and make sure

that nobody takes the position of the property owner anyone anyone can be anyone can easily claim so of the planned properties

was easier because it was you know it was we are dealing with a big notch well developed property developer

will not really play those kind of games so to me it was about security and the safety of those investments rather than

trying to make quick money out of those investments so coming back to your answer like how I've changed like I think I've changed a lot from where I was before so you asked me like

what happened after this IT industry so just finishing on that aspect if you don't mind yeah so I realize that money investing is working for me but I'm still relying on someone someone's skills

and with my analytical skills talking about money problem solving and I was in IT like that was a need of the time for me to to take care of the finances but fast forward eight nine years I was doing all right I was not really relying on my paycheck anymore with the savings and with the investments that I was making so I thought like it's probably time for me to think through what I really want from my life rather than just managing that status quo So I came here in Australia in 2006

It took us about a year to settle In 2007, I was thinking about quitting my job To get into a full-time MBA program So that's exactly what we did So I quit my job in 2007 And started my journey as a full-time MBA Graduate with AGSM Sydney As in UNSW

As a full-time student with the intent to making a career switch from IT industry to money management industry. So that's what I did. That's what I really wanted to go to US for the studies just because the quality of the schools and the cohort is at different level altogether. But then we were expecting our first child.

So we were very excited and we realized that it's best for us to stay in the country here. And later on, I can choose to go for an exchange program so that's what I did I went to Chicago, Booth Business School and honed my skills of portfolio management

and share trading and how to evaluate companies and the balance sheet so I thoroughly loved the whole program just the challenge was that as you can appreciate, switching career here in Australia is not really very easy

they tend to look at what you have achieved in the past rather than what you are qualified it far off what you can do it's like true yeah and on top of it it was uh right in the middle of gfc as in global financial crisis and making a switch like that was not really easy yeah but because i had a i guess like call call it my stubbornness or uh perseverance i had to add on to some more skills more certifications so i'm a cfa charter holder which is not really easy uh certification to get um like it's a global quoted uh certification it's a three three level program people take about six seven years sometimes to

compete it because i had that kind of passion um i don't mind boosting about it i actually was able to do in three years and that's a record time anyone can do it um yeah so that actually thank you and that got me a job in Westpac as equities analyst so I was so proud of it that I was able to make it thanks to Rupali my wife who supported me all the way because I was the one doing it but she was the one behind me in terms of support and making me believe in myself as well. Love it, love it. The power of two Rusty

there's no doubt and I guess I'm going to shared some of my own beliefs around this as well success isn't a solo sport it's a team game and like you I wouldn't be enjoying the life that I currently do and have the pleasure and the privilege to spend time sharing stories of great people like yourself if it wasn't for the awesome support and the synergies that my fantastic wife Sonia brings to the table and it sounds very much like yourself and ripali are a similar team and i'm not sure about you and ripali but sonny and i are a real yin and yang uh so you know we we're very different but very similar in our beliefs our vision and our values and that's that's the piece that brings us together and

that's a that's a force of nature when you get that right and from what you've told me in the just the accelerated achievements that you've managed to put together that combination of yourself and Rupali, I would have thought has been fundamental. Am I right? Spot on, spot on. So we work so much together, like yin and yang probably is the right analogy for us as well. So she controls a fair bit of, not really control,

like she contributes in my success all the time, but she also knows what my limits are and we work together and in harmony. Beautiful. Yeah. So thanks to her and it's a joint dream that we are living together. So as I'm living for the dream and living the dream. Love it. Love it. So you got on board with Westpac as an equities analyst and I absolutely commend you. I'm hearing an amazing resilience, an amazing perseverance and an ability just to do whatever it takes to achieve what you need to with both the self-belief in yourself and what you're doing

to make that happen. That's a pretty rare commodity. Rusty? Yeah, look, I'm pretty proud of what I've achieved and I know like if anyone would be in that position with that kind of, I guess, childhood, like they will be pretty much doing the same thing anyway so uh i think it's just the circumstances that has actually made me the way i am and the good thing i mean the other thing that i would

also add is like there are always ups and downs i've deliberately chosen to focus on the positives and that has certainly become my strength on on looking at things in a more positive way i certainly look at as a class full story um and always learning from from the past as well reflecting upon like how we could have done better or how we can improve because because in the systems in IT systems and that's the other part of it is like how we can improvise on it so it's easy for anyone to code or anything but it's like how can we do it in a more efficient way and that is what actually applied as well in in my approach as well like I'm still learning and I'm really privileged to be learning all the time yeah and yeah to me to me growth is about all

all about learning how much we can learn tells me how much i can grow totally 100 agree it's a sad state of affairs that uh and i don't know what it's like in in india but the education system here is so focused on compliance and the lowest common denominator that the creativity the problem-solving, the curiosity and the desire to want to continue to learn until the day we die has been pretty much stifled on the vine. So it's only the rare few that continue to challenge, continue to question, continue to learn and reap the benefits and rewards that come out of that, mate. So clearly you're certainly in that class.

So you spent some time at Westpac? obviously hit a point there and I'm assuming that you're probably working with high net worth individuals and helping them build their portfolios in your capacity there as an equities analyst what was it that then made you make the jump out of and I would imagine very comfortable employment

into I'm guessing your next step was to start Rare Properties as your own independent buyers agent But talk us through the thinking and the process that led to that. Sure. So the way it has started is that because of my passion for properties, the thing that I've not really shared with you is that the reason why I want to move out of IT industry to the money management industry was that I really want to harness the power of investments.

And because I've seen, like my parents included, that they have worked very hard enough seed a seed like on average like every you know australian is working very hard almost everyone but then there's a lot of power in investing as well as in like we work very hard for money but then money can work very hard like harder for us provided it is done in a proper way so that was my incentive when i actually moved i away from it industry again that was an industry that I loved very much because I was performing very well and it was actually coming comfortable as well for me. It was my go out and help other people make money work harder for them. The investment and it wasn't really easy journey as well. And for me to get excited about investing

in properties here actually started with the thought that I should buy my own home as well. So, when I got my third paycheck from Westpac, I realized that I have an earning capacity here. We can go to the bank and borrow money. But then, because I always start with an end in mind, like, okay, the question was, what's next? After I buy a home, there's a loan behind it, what's next? That means I have to work for another 10, 15 years to pay off that mortgage. Then another 10, 15 years to acquire enough funds for my retirement. So effectively, if I sign up for my own home, I'm actually signing up for next 30 years to pay or to work in my job.

And that will take away my capacity to take any risk further. So I realized that at the same time, we still need a home to live in. And that's where I started learning about property investing in Australia. So I started attending almost every seminar, going out, doing workshops, reading books. you name it probably have done it or read it and that got excited that you know the education itself was so important and that actually laid the foundation of my investing and as I said like it's all about having a goal clarity of it and then looking backwards that's what we started with so Rupali and I what we realized is that yes we want to live on our own home but we want to

in a home which we are which we have already paid off so you know i'm talking about 2010 2011 where investing was not really very popular um for quite a few reasons by that time the performance but that actually got us thinking and we started investing and success of first investment got us the second one into the third one and so on and i was very much comfortable with my job the job that i really loved and really want like it was a dream come true like there was a lot of hard work as you know moving switching careers and managing big amount of money for the clients and having a side portfolio as well uh i actually graduated to a portfolio manager i was managing big amount of money i was portfolio manager for two billion dollars uh for the clients and it was dream come

true. But I happen to enroll myself in Tony Robbins' flagship program by name of Unleash Your Power Within in 2019, a couple of years ago. And so he talks about Tony Robbins, very inspirational person. And in the live event, what I realized is like, what I really need to think through is what is my core system what i really want to achieve and that even by itself actually gave me that kind of clarity that the reason why i actually got into money management industry was to help people build wealth make the money work hard for them but what i'm actually doing is like i'm making rich people richer but average australian still needs the funds to start doing something and it's more about clarity and and I realized that because of my success of

property investing I'm capable to let go of my dream role as a money manager and should be out there to help other people to avoid the mistakes and then probably take more control of their finances for the future for the retirement early on because the challenge that we have here in australia i'm not sure whether you agree to this or not which is that there's not much awareness money awareness or or the financial education literacy which we call it in the school normal education that people go through totally 100 agree yep and and i took that as a challenge that maybe i should do my best contribute to the success of australians and um and and talk about property investing because property investing in the way i look at it is one of the best

vehicles here as long as it is done in a very strategic you know more risk-aware manner not really following the herd behavior but rather doing proper research taking the right actions i agree there's a great line in your book which i think is worth repeating and that is that property investing is easy but successful property investing is is very difficult or words to that effect and uh i think it sums it up beautifully anyone can go and buy properties but that doesn't make you a good property investor there's a science and an art which we both know about that separates the the five percent that are successful in property from the 95 percent who who are gonna want to be or have a crack and and don't do it well and then

wonder why so i think you summed that up beautifully if you were to to sort of crystallize then uh you know the inspiration that came out of that Tony Robbins exercise and again I'm amazed at how similar we are I actually got to see Tony Robbins way back in Alice Springs would you believe I was an architect working actively in Central Australia doing some fantastic work and there was a spark there that I took from Tony Robbins that really started to point me in a different direction uh just crystallized for me then two things that I think are fundamental to anyone's journey and that is what are your values because the values uh you know pretty much underpin everything we do and what's your life vision that's flowed out of your thinking around

that yeah so when we talk about value system um first thing is that one should be very true to themselves like the integrity the the yes there's the financials you know that there's at the same time there's a health as well as there's a spiritual part of it so the integrity is is one part that i would always always like it's not non-compromisable and second thing is more about the positivity so um and i have been following it both of them in my best possible way to be positive in each and every scenario and which actually leads into that what we can contribute to the society what's your role as of existence is it really just inward looking that I come I live I enjoy and go back I mean this

mentalistic world or there's a role that I have to play so thinking about the value system to me it's more about thinking about my deathbed and what people are talking about, what they've actually got out of it, is what I really aspire for in terms of my contributions to the society. Love it. You're sounding very much, I use this classification that there are investors who essentially invest in themselves, and then there are outfesters who are successful in investing but outwardly help others to actually achieve their lifestyle goals.

So you sound very much like an outfester. You need to be an investor first to put yourself in that position. But for those that are seeking true fulfillment, which is giving fairly to others without expecting anything in return, you become the epitome of a great outfester, Rusty. No, I truly, truly agree to that statement that you made, that one has to be an investor first to become capable themselves before they can do outward things.

So I have been trying, and for me, it's about becoming an investor is my motivation to become an investor first, and then so that I'm more capable to do more. So towards that effect, like we, Rupali and I wholeheartedly support a charity by name of So They Can back in Africa. And so we support, sponsor a few kids over there. We are in the process of sponsoring a school because we really, really believe in the value of education and to uplift a society or an individual education is a key thing. We hope you're enjoying the conversation so far. Get more insights from Rusty as Bushy continues the conversation next episode. Don't miss it. To get a summary of all this investment gold in the show notes, just email me on hello at khgroup.com.au.

That's H-E-L-L-O at khgroup.com.au or check us out at www.bushymartin.com.au forward slash Get Invested. I look forward to joining you next week for another episode of the Get Invested podcast. So thanks for listening. And as always, dream as if you live forever and live as if you die tomorrow.

Thank you.