NSW Based, mid 30s couple with 3 kids

I did want to talk to you about Damien’s stories.

So, Damien and I spoke about an interesting couple in their mid-30s who live in regional New South Wales. I love this story because they’re both registered nurses. They’ve got three kids aged thirteen, two and three months, so a very, very newborn child. They’re currently living in coastal New South Wales, but they’ve also got one investment property in inland New South Wales as well. So, they sought some help and some guidance around what their next steps were, and their big rocks in the jar. One of their very big rocks in the jar was a working holiday, and they wanted to be able to go away, obviously, as registered nurses, they’re in high demand anywhere in Australia and also around the world.

So they had this plan to go away and spend some time and travel with their family, so rather than waiting to retirement they wanted to do that early. So, what happened here was we were able to model that in 2023 that they would be able to go away and do that working holiday. There are the big challenges around that working holiday. Do they get an investment property now before they go? You know, do they want another principal place of residence later on? Yes, that was in their thinking.

Okay, what do they do with their Bathurst property? So should they hold it or sell it?

You know and, ultimately, they also cared about what was going to happen with their parents as they got older. So, their parent weren’t in any financial difficulty but obviously, as they get older there’s going to need to be some planning around their parents’ situations so that we’re really thinking about. That as part of, you know, the reasons why they wanted to sit down and get some clarity around their situation. So, what was the result (and I reckon this is a great result)!

So, firstly, we’re going to hold the Bathurst property. It seems to be carrying itself and Bathurst is one of those bigger inland central areas of New South Wales with a diversified economy, so that one’s a hold. In terms of, yes, we could sneak in an investment property right now based on their current situation for around $550 thousand before they embarked on that working holiday. They then can afford into the future a principal place of residence in a coastal community in New South Wales as well.

Overall for this couple we’ve got four investment properties, plus a new principal place of residence. They’re going to make sure that they keep on top of their money using MoneySmarts, so they’re going to implement the money smart system and, you know, effectively they’re going to fund their retirement in their mid-50s, and it’s a comfortable retirement that they’re chasing. So, we’re looking around that sort of $70,000 per annum.

The takeaways for me with this particular couple, I think they’re doing a great job and getting around in, you know the community nursing work and being the registered nurses that they are. I think that’s amazing, but the takeaways for me are they can now start getting excited about buying that second investment property. I can start to see what that’s going to do for their financial situation, but they can also get really excited and start planning for that working holiday that is going to come up pretty quick for them, especially with three young children.

There’s plenty of playing they’re going to need to do, so that for me is real value in being able to see exactly how we can help them on their journey.