Where are they now?

I've had an eventful 'nearly decade'.

PPOR in western Brisbane flooded twice, 2009 and 2011 ("the" Brisbane floods). After the second one, the house was structurally damaged and condemned. Our insurer tried to claim that the house had structurally failed due to age, coincidentally at the same time as the flood - no structural damage was noted when the same insurer repaired it after the 2009 flood, 18 months before! - but not because of the flood. After a lawyer spent a few months mucking around with our file, in our last phone call, he said maybe he could get $10K from our insurer. I terminated his retainer, took on the insurer self-represented, and got paid out >$500K, demolished and re-built our PPOR. I then sued the insurer for interest on the pay out (which I also got), and the lawyer I retained for that case couldn't believe what I'd achieved on my own, and told me I should be a lawyer. I thought 'I always have been interested in the law, and I am a bit bored, maybe I'll give it a go...', and so I enrolled in a couple of units, and 5 years and a bunch of study later was admitted.

I'm practicing in succession law (wills and estates), which I enjoy primarily from the angle that it gives me the opportunity to try to and preserve family relationships. So many times, family relationships, or memories towards the deceased, are unnecessarily damaged, or expenses unnecessarily incurred, simply because the deceased didn't think about the consequences of their choices, or just didn't get good (or frequently, any) advice. Resentment and bitterness are not what you want for your legacy!

I'm also interested in helping protect people from abuse when they're incapacitated, so careful preparation of powers of attorney and advanced health directives, etc. Elder abuse is a growing and interesting field, and I'm particularly passionate about what I feel will be an increasing issue in coming years, of protecting elderly LGBTQ from abuse.

People think that estate planning is straightforward - maybe because of the existence of DIY will kits? - but it's not, at all. There are so many 'traps for young players'. I get great satisfaction from helping people ensure that - as far as possible - after they're gone (or incapacitated), everything will go as smoothly as they plan: everybody that they want taken care of will be taken care of, and no unnecessary expense or bad feelings will be incurred.

Apart from that, I got super-amicably divorced towards the end of my study, about 2 years ago. I'm not doing anything by way of property. We finally managed to off-load the student accommodation disaster for a manageable loss in late 2015, having never financially recovered from the initial development problems, alas.

But life is great today! I'm still shy of 50, and I have a wonderful new partner of 18 months who's 16 years younger, so he keeps me feeling young. My twin sons just started uni and live with their Dad (in the new PPOR), and I see them a couple of times a week and they're a blast. My partner and I rent in the heart of South Brisbane, and love it. We walk everywhere and enjoy pubs, restaurants, street art, swimming at Southbank. Living the dream!

 

Oh that's sad to hear, Bob gave me some good advice on land resumption. Rest in peace Bob.

Anyone know what happened to the other Rolf who was a mortgage broker?

What happened to Steve Navra and Dale Gatherum-Goss? Haven't seen them post for years.

 

I follow her on twitter- she’s super active on there... flying to Shanghai at the moment.

 

Steve is active on Reddit

stevenmarkryan (u/stevenmarkryan) - Reddit

 

He opted for Germany over Australia?? Sacre bleu!

 

Anyone heard from Bayview?
for a normal guy he dabbled in virtually everything, admire the set he has on him!

 

I was going to be in his area about 18 months ago and msged him and said id drop by his shop, but my plans changed

 

More handouts there,,,, that is why some groups flee there through various other nations first....setting themselves up for yet another fail perhaps down the track. ?

 

Anyone know what happened to @sanj ?

Seems to have disappeared.

 

What a great blast-from-the-past thread. Some awesome people mentioned!!

 

I found Keith’s posts inspirational. He initially built a property portfolio and transitioned successfully to shares. He was interviewed on Somersoft and outlined his strategy. I think he stopped working in his late 30’s early 40’s.

There were a number of others on the somersoft forum who were inspirational investors. Goanna who developed town houses which she let as short term accomodation in Hobart. Player, who still posts here is a very knowledgeable, helpful and successful investor with a lot of experience.

I learnt a lot from Rixter too. He was a meticulous investor with a very well thought out strategy. His LOE approach made a lot of sense before all the recent changes to lending. He received a fair amount of flack for his strategy as the investment environment began to change. I’d say he would have been able to adapt his portfolio without too many problems. From what he posted he seemed to have had a substantial portfolio.

 

I think Rixter moved/retired to Geelong

Shame we dont see him around anymore

 

I know bayview was controversial , and I wasnt privvy to the poltiics thread he was ultimately no-no'd for , but I wonder what happened to him, does he still have his garage