Lifestyle
As early as possible, it is important to project forward and deeply consider how your long-term home will meet your lifestyle goals. This means considering your lifestyle preferences today, as well as into the future. Coupled with your short and long-term Money and Financial Goals as outlined as part of your Property Planning experience.
By projecting forward and considering your lifestyle and financial position in five, ten and twenty years, you will inform your lifestyle based property decisions today, as these will impact and influence your investment choices. For example, your long-term home should be factored into your Property Plan, even if your first or next purchase is a stepping-stone home or an investment property.
Equally, regardless of your current age and circumstances, consideration should be given to the other lifestyle property classes – owning a holiday home (if relevant to you) and down-sizing. Your aim should be to minimise the number of times that you will ever need to sell to upgrade your home or be required to move. Poor lifestyle planning, especially regarding location selection or the dwelling is the silent killer of wealth, due to the substantial costs with each move.
To achieve this aim, you need to have clarity over your highest priorities and areas of compromise.
Without a clear view of where you would like to live long-term and how this will fit into your property portfolio pathway, the home buying experience can:
1. Cause frustration.
2. Extend the timeframe to purchase.
3. Result in paying significantly more for a similar property due to delaying your purchase date through indecision.
4. Settling for an inferior property, or worse, an unsatisfactory lifestyle.
As you now know if you have read ‘How to Succeed with Property to Create Your Ideal Lifestyle’, one of the seven critical mistakes is buying and selling properties due to the huge costs involved. If your strategy for your long-term home is effective you can focus on your investment strategy relatively unimpeded. We define an effective strategy as purchasing no more than two homes before downsizing!
Most people purchase a stepping-stone home before buying the long term home. Many people purchase three, four and five homes before they retire, losing significant time and wealth through selling costs and missed capital growth. The holy grail is to purchase your first home and stay in it all your life!
David is the Founder and Managing Director of Property Planning Australia, author of ‘How to Succeed with Property to Create your Ideal Lifestyle’, co-author of ‘Property for Life – Using Property to Plan Your Financial Future’, co-host of the ‘Property Planner, Buyer and Professor Podcast’ and a widely-published media commentator. With more than 20 years of experience, David is passionate about educating others to make informed, and ultimately, more lucrative property investment decisions. David established Property Planning Australia in 2004 – with the vision to educate and empower Australians to make successful property, mortgage strategy and money management decisions. Property Planning Australia’s operations have earned acclaim and national industry awards for its unique fusion of property planning, education, money management, mortgage strategy and risk management. All supported by multi award-winning customer service.