A lot of people feel they have to compromise big time on their lifestyle to become an investor, but in my experience, it wasn’t the case. As a young professional, it’s completely do-able.
For a long time, Tony Ng lived what he describes as a conventional life. He studied hard at school and afterwards chose accounting at uni. because it seemed like a ‘safe’ option. Then after graduation, he went into full-time work straight away with an accounting role at Coca Cola Amatil and got stuck into climbing the corporate ladder.
“I took a very traditional path; I come from an Asian family and my mum always told me: work hard and you’ll do well in life. That’s why I was so focussed in my studies and afterwards in my career. After starting at Coca Cola, I quickly went on to get my CA (Chartered Accountant). I made solid progress in my career, changing roles every 1-2 years, initially at Coca Cola, and subsequently moving to Woolworths, where I led a small team as the Finance Manager.”
Apart from being a bit of a high-achiever, Tony also happens to be the nephew of one of our long-serving Strategists, who is a highly successful investor in her own right. By having access to his aunt’s expertise and insights, Tony made one slight and quite crucial deviation to his otherwise conventional path.
“I bought my first property when I was 20. I still remember clearly; I was at my aunt’s house, she hadn’t started working for Ironfish yet, but she was already an experienced property investor. She had just decided to purchase a property off-the-plan and suggested that it might be a good buy for me too. I was 20 – I had no idea about anything! But she had already had some good results to show for her investments and Mum was very supportive and happy to pay the deposit. It was an off-the-plan purchase and settlement wasn’t for another year, coinciding with me working full-time. And as a first home buyer, I was able to access some government incentives as well. But without her, it wouldn’t have been done. I wasn’t thinking about investing; my sole focus at the time was getting into my career. Her knowledge gave mum confidence that it was the right thing to do for me long-term, even though I was just starting in my career. And given she is family, we had complete faith and trust in her guidance. It was the ideal partnership.”
Tony is quite adamant that for a young professional such as himself, property investment really doesn’t require any compromise to your lifestyle and shouldn’t be something that holds you back.
“When you take out a big mortgage it seems very daunting and I think there’s a big misconception that this has a major effect on your lifestyle. But I realised very early on that it didn’t really affect my lifestyle at all. Because I had a tenant paying off my mortgage, what was left was relatively little. And at tax time every year, I’d always be excited because I knew I’d be getting a nice return. I did live at home – which helped. But I also had a good social life and went out a lot – probably more than many of my friends.”
After his first property purchase, Tony subsequently built a portfolio of 5 properties, 3 of which were purchased with Ironfish. Tony’s first purchase, with the benefit of hindsight, was his first ‘pot of gold.’ Market timing happened to work in his favour, which allowed him to refinance and have a deposit for his subsequent investments.
“After my 1st property, I still had no interest in investing, but after the first 2 properties started to perform, that’s when I started to get a bit more interested. That’s when I realised just how important it was to build assets, as early as possible.
“And I had only been able to achieve this because of my aunt, because of having the support of Ironfish and a good team. My aunt put a good broker around me and a solicitor. (I do my own tax – so I didn’t need an accountant.) So, I never really had to think or stress about my investments. I could concentrate on progressing in my career. And that’s what I’ve learned – if you have a company like Ironfish and their services, you can be a successful investor without any property investment knowledge or time.”
Earlier this year, Tony took a second unconventional step in his otherwise traditional / ‘status quo’ path. He decided to apply to join Ironfish as a property investment strategist.
“The turning point for me was when I attended [Ironfish CEO] Joseph’s ‘Active income, passive investment’ workshop. He said, to be successful you need the right platform, industry and team. You also need a purpose. And this is something that really resonated with me. Because when I worked in the finance industry, it was all very numbers driven. I lived in the world of Excel and lacked meaning and satisfaction in my work. Ironfish’s company mission to help others, like me, build assets, build wealth for the future – this has been very meaningful and motivating for me. I didn’t really have a greater purpose before.
“My aunt always says this industry is very fair, because you get out what you put in. Earning the trust of your customers comes back to how much time and how much energy you invest in your customers. At the end of the day, people can sense whether you’re being genuine and whether you are really there to help them. I really like that, because I know I’m now in control of what happens with my career.
“I’m still investing as well, alongside my customers. My original aim was to purchase my 6th property before I turned 30 and I’ve just achieved that. I signed a contract just this Monday to purchase an apartment in Melbourne, within the ‘Aspire’ development!”
Tony’s property investment tips:
Ironfish property investment services
If you would like to find out how an Ironfish property investment strategist could help you invest, feel free to book a free appointment here.
