Learning how to build wealth from property from a seasoned property investor

Investing is the only way to build wealth - whether it's property, shares, building and scaling a business.

Recently, I spoke with property specialist, Janice Minihan about the difference facets of property, and the ever-changing landscape (thanks to budget announcements and market changes).

Janice is a property investor, buyer's agent and property manager across two countries, and the experience that changed things for her shows you the power of investing.  She watched her dad flip a house: he added to the property and bought and sold in three months.  That transaction (at the time) made more money than Janice's entire teaching salary for the year.

She said it felt like a light bulb moment.  She started to educate herself about property - how things worked, and she has never looked back.

The part of this story that I want to talk about isn't really about property (though we do cover a lot of practical stuff in the episode, and it's worth a listen), it's about that gap between knowing something is possible and actually doing something about it. Because that gap is where a lot of people are sitting. And I see it constantly.

The cost of "not yet"

I talk a lot about the cost of inaction. Not in a scary, pressuring way, but as a genuine financial reality.

When you delay getting your finances sorted, you don't just stay where you are. You actually fall behind. Every year you're not investing is a year of compounding returns you don't get. Every year you're running your money without a structure is a year of potential tax inefficiency, missed savings, and scattered cashflow.

Janice puts it well in the episode. She talks about getting the structure wrong in the UK because she didn't listen to advice about getting an accountant and bookkeeper in place early. She thought, "I don't have any properties yet, there's no point." Then she ended up in, in her words, "a world of pain" once she started scaling. Getting it right at the start looks like an unnecessary cost. Getting it wrong looks like years of expensive consequences.

Most of us wait until things are complicated before we deal with them. But the mess is usually a direct result of not dealing with them earlier.

You don't have to know everything

One of my favourite moments in this conversation is when Janice talks about how she learns. She's a property expert with years of experience, portfolios in multiple countries, a licensed agent and property manager — and she still says she's "always doing some coaching or courses or reading something or learning from others."

She specifically mentions learning from me about the money management side, because it's not her background.

I think that's important. Because I see a lot of women who convince themselves they need to know everything before they can start. They need to understand all the tax implications. They need to know exactly what the market is doing. They need to feel confident about every decision before they make one.

But no one who has actually built wealth waited until they felt ready. They started with what they knew, got the right people around them, and figured out the rest along the way.

What you actually need before you start isn't encyclopedic knowledge. It's clarity on where you are now, a few good people in your corner, and the willingness to take a step.

Property isn't as complicated as it looks

Janice shared that it's still possible to what neutrally gear property in South-East Queensland.  It's important to buy well and to add the right amount of value to a property.  That means not "over-capitalising", meaning doing renovations that are not going to see a return on investment.  Adding a granny flat is increasingly popular, as the cost of living means multi-generations often need to live together.  Plus, with the rising cost of aged care, it's a way to keep aging parents close by.

If you've been following the budget noise and feeling overwhelmed, I'd encourage you to speak with a finance professional ( such as your account, and if you have one, your financial planner).  They can talk you through the potential impact of the changes on your situation - negative gearing deductions, the capital gains tax discount, how trust structures are being taxed differently, and the growing interest in buying property inside self-managed super funds.

From Janice's perspective and experience, she believes that unless you make a really significant error, property is hard to genuinely lose money on. The market is buoyant. Population is growing. There's not enough housing. And strategies like granny flats and dual occupancy make the numbers work even in a tougher market.

This is not saying property is risk-free. It isn't. But it doesn't have to be so complex or risky that it's out of reach. It's more likely that it's just unfamiliar, and all the current hype around the changes is making it seem even more confusing.

The team you build matters more than the knowledge you have

The quality of the professionals you work with matters enormously. If you don't have the right professionals around you (accountant, property manager, real estate agent, lawyer, etc.), you can pay more upfront and even potentially in the long term if you don't have the right structure to meet the goals you have.

Building a good team - a broker who understands your goals, an accountant who specialises in investment structures, a property manager who actually shows up and does inspections, is one of the most important things you can do. And you're allowed to change people when they're not performing.

Ultimately, it's about understanding what you want, and how you can build wealth. Property is one way.  If you don't understand how it works, or you would like to know how to do it in a smarter way, speak with professionals like Janice Minihan and take one step at a time.