Long-time lurker from Melbourne

Hi everyone!

A long-time lurker here who finally decided to register and contribute to discussion. I've been reading through PC and old Somersoft threads intensively during last year or two, and have learned SO much and got inspired by success stories - so thank you for all that and I hope my experience will also help someone else in future.

A little about me and my partner - we are two DINKs (dual income no kids) in our early 30s and have bought our first house Melbourne's East. The house is in a great location and on a nice, big block, but it needs some work - we will give it a coat of paint, remove the old carpet and perhaps update bathroom & kitchen (nothing too fancy as this is not our dream PPOR and we will rent it out eventually).

Our final goal is to "retire early" - or better say - to become financially independent so we're not tied to 9-to-5 jobs. What then? Well, we'd like to move to SE Asia or somewhere else in the world (we've been here for 10+years, but none of us was born in Australia) and build a small business from there - being financially independent will allow us to do so without worrying about day-to-day expenses.

At this stage, we're looking to diversify into stocks and are saving every penny (corona makes this easier heh!) to invest. I love learning about new things and after reading a lot about property investment and buying our first property, I'm currently reading Intelligent Investor by Graham and Random walk on Wall St by Malkiel (I'll be grateful for other book recommendations!).

Thanks for reading and chat to you soon!

 

Welcome Zagi.

What's important about retiring early for you?

What lead you to diversifying into stocks after one property purchase?

Lastly, curious how is it easier to save during Corona

 

Thanks Property Twins!

For me, retiring early means getting freedom to spend time doing things that I love but which may not bring that much money to support me alone. So, am not really looking to retire and do nothing, more like retire and do things I really love.

Diversifying into stocks... It's a perfect time to start growing stock portfolio - everything's on sale

And saving during corona... Luckily both me and my partner have jobs that are not very affected by the outbreak. So, income stayed the same, but our expenses are lower as we don't go anywhere, no transportation costs (working from home), no restaurants, no gym fees, no roadtrips (petrol), plenty of time to cook own food, etc.

 

Thanks mate!

 

Welcome @zagi

Keep well!

 

Thanks Kate!

 

Thanks @Rolf Latham - this a very interesting suggestion that I'd be interested in! I checked my lender's rules and they seem to do it with LOC, they allow for splitting the limit between personal and investment portion of debt. Also, I do have offset account which should make things easier to manage from tax perspective.

What LVR is required for this? We bought the place fairly recently, so our LVR is high...(and falling prices won't help either!)