Own Nothing & Be Happy | The Sad Truth In Australia

The sad reality in Australia is that most people will never own real estate in the next 10 to 15 years. 

With so many Australians relying on property as a source for their wealth in the future, it does mean that it could be a really sad reality for most Australians.

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In this article, I want to share with you some really telling signs of what's happening right now, why people will own nothing and be happy, and also a simple solution to the entire problem, which is something that you can start implementing today. 

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If you're interested in what my thoughts are, definitely keep reading.

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The Sad Reality in Australia

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In the depths of TikTok and the conspiracy theories that have been going around for the past few years, there's this concept of: 

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It's where we're against the system, but I don't want to make this article about conspiracy theories. Rather than focusing on that, I want to focus on things you can control, because the truth is:

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What I believe in is that everything is your own fault. You need to take accountability for how your actions can change your future.

Now, there are a couple of key concepts as to why we are finding ourselves in this situation and why you might not be getting ahead. 

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You might be making more from your income at your job, but you're still feeling like you're falling behind. 

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You might find that you now have the deposit to purchase a property but just don’t have the borrowing capacity to actually execute. Or the flip side, which is you don't have the deposit because everything is so expensive, you find it hard to save, but you do have the ability to borrow, yet you just can't access any of the equity or use that cash to purchase a property.

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Now, how have we landed ourselves as Australians in this situation? 

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Before you want to jump on the bandwagon and say: It's immigrants, Ravi, it's immigrants, that's the answer, I don't think that is the only answer. 

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Again, we can only control what we can control, and that gives us the power to execute. 

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Now, focusing on our own actions, one of the biggest things that stop us from going and achieving financial wealth—I see it every day—is this concept of social norms and expectations.

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Social Norms and Expectations

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So, what are social norms and expectations? 

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Well, it’s things that you’ve grown up learning. If you think about it, we’ve all been taught, pretty much, if you were born here in Australia or came here early and did schooling here, your parents often told you one thing: go get good grades at school, go to uni, buy your house, get married, have kids, and then retire like the rest of us at 60, with little to no choice. 

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Most of us have actually gone down that path. 

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I started down that path. I went to school, got good grades, became School Captain—happy days—then went to university, got a grad position, got my full-time job, and I was following the social norm.

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Now, although I had an internal drive to go and do those things, a large part of it is what your parents tell you, or people in your family have told you. If that doesn’t push you, you look at all of your other friends, and they're all doing the exact same thing. 

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Unfortunately, 99% of people follow the crowd, and that’s why 99% of people will end up retiring poor and probably have no choice.

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So, the moment we can start breaking away from these social norms and fulfilling these expectations from people we don’t really care about, we’re going to start living our best lives. We can do things the way we want to, and an example of this is rentvesting.

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Rentvesting…I talk about it in my previous blogs and on my YouTube channel. 

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When you think about renting, automatically your head's probably gone to: Well, why would I rent and pay someone else’s mortgage? That seems like I’m a loser; I have no money, I’m probably poor.

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This is because we grew up thinking anyone that was renting couldn’t afford to buy. But that’s changed. 

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Right now, you can go ahead and say: Well, I can rent because I have the choice of renting and the choice of living wherever I like, but I also choose to invest. This means I could own more assets than someone who’s just simply going out there and buying their own place to say they're house-proud.

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I’m not saying that buying your own place is a loser’s game. In fact, you can build so much equity in your own place. 

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What I am saying is that simply going out there, purchasing a unit to live in, or buying a house because all your friends or family friends are doing the same thing is actually such a loser’s mentality. You don’t want to do that. You’ll find that the pressure of having such a large loan is going to put further pressure on you, your job, and your family. So why would you do it?

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What I can tell you right now, in 2024, is that the easiest way to go and build financial wealth—and I think it’ll still apply in 2025—is:

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Go out there, buy and invest. I’m not just saying in property, I’m saying across everything. 

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You’ll have so much more disposable income, because on a million-dollar loan, it’s costing you almost two times more to own a house versus just renting a place. 

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If you can use the surplus disposable income to invest in other things, that’s how you’re going to get further ahead.

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You also don’t need to think about having this lavish wedding because you need to impress people you don’t really care about. That is what I qualify as a loser’s mentality. 

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Only do what you want to do. 

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I honestly think we’re in this transition period where the older generation doesn’t really get us. 

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I don’t want to go and have the big wedding because I need to impress your family friends. 

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I don’t want to go out there and have a really nice car to show that I’m wealthy online. 

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However, most people still do these things, and that’s why most people will not retire filthy rich.

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Lack of Financial Education

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Next up is the lack of financial education in Australia, which is absolutely absurd. Now, we are heading in the right direction. 

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YouTube channels, as well as so many other creators out there, are making financial education more applicable, more accessible, and also less taboo. 

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Right now, so many people have not had conversations with their siblings, with their partners, with their parents, because it’s been such a taboo topic. 

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When you think about it, you went through all of schooling not being taught anything about money. You didn’t know how to do your taxes; you had to figure that out. You didn’t know that if you got a job and had HECS, some of your income goes towards HECS and it’s something you can’t control. 

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You didn’t get taught that; you had to figure it out. By the time people figure it out—if they’re in the right circles—it could be five to ten years. If you think about it, in your 20s and 30s, this is the most important time in building wealth.

Now, if you're someone who’s migrated to Australia, it doesn’t matter what age you're at, the first five years can determine whether you’re going to make it here or whether you’re going to struggle for the rest of your life.

Living in Australia is not cheap, and we all know that, which is why making the moves earlier can make a big difference, a significant difference when it comes to retirement and having the choice.

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I think if you're in households that don’t talk about money openly, if you're in a relationship that doesn’t talk about money, you need to start having those conversations. 

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Think about it this way: if I’m by myself and I’m in this relationship where I say, Okay, I’ve got these goals when it comes to finances, but I talk about my relationship goals with my partner and don’t talk about my finances because that’s taboo, what you're going to find yourself in is an absolute car crash down the track. 

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What I’ve had is so many strategy sessions with people where partners don’t see eye to eye. 

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In fact, I’ve seen so many separations during the process of them purchasing their first property. 

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Why? Because you've got two parties that don’t link when it comes to financial chemistry, and this is something that's so important.

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I'm by no means a couple expert, but I am a finance expert, and I like to think of that because I do this 24/7, and I help hundreds and hundreds of clients through the buyers agency Search Property. 

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If you need any help, book a FREE discovery call with my team and see what we actually do. 

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Lack of Trust

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Another reason why we are held back from achieving our full potential is a lack of trust in the industry, in people, and in the system. 

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What do I mean by this? 

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Well, let's start with the system. 

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I don't care about politics at all, purely because everything they say is most likely a lie. They promise all of these things, then they go and execute something completely different and change their minds only weeks later. 

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It's really pointless for me to put any energy into thinking about who's going to win and how they're going to change things. 

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All I can do is figure out what my strategy is, what my vision is, and what my actions are, and then adapt to whatever happens in the world—whether it's with the leaders here in Australia or overseas.

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However, because politicians are basically liars, we find ourselves not trusting the system. We think that every time something new comes out, it must be designed to screw us over. When you have this mentality of the system screwing us over, every time something new gets introduced, you're already on the back foot. 

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You're like: I don't want to hear what this person has to say, and this links closely with a lack of trust in the industry. 

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If you think about financial experts—whether it's financial planners, real estate agents, buyers agents, or mortgage brokers—there's a lack of trust in the industry because of a few bad eggs, a few bad players who are super unethical, trying to make as much money as quickly as possible. They don't think about the bigger picture, reputation, or brand. 

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For me, I've made it very clear that I like to produce more content than anyone else in the industry purely because I want you to go on the journey with me. 

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I’ve grown from someone who had no idea how YouTube and blogging work to now having Australia's number one real estate channel on YouTube. 

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I want you to be on that journey, but I also want you to be on my personal journey so you guys can keep me accountable. As I share my journey, you're going to learn so much more as well.

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I also think that it's so much harder to fake a life that you don't authentically lead. By producing so much content, it allows you guys an insight into how I am as a person, and I have nothing to hide. 

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Whereas there are a few bad eggs in the industry that try to put out this image of themselves as trying to help you, the reality is they might just be lining their pockets or screwing their clients over. 

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I'm talking about less than 1% here, so there aren't many, but because of that, the negative information looms larger on our mindset and our perception of the entire industry.

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As a result, we don't listen to some of the advice that's coming out. 

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You might have mentally already switched off, thinking: Oh, well, he might be trying to sell me something, but you may choose to just watch my videos or read my articles.  There are so many of you out there who do this but don't use the service, and that's completely fine as well. 

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Now, the service will get you the results you actually want, and some people realise over time that they can't execute themselves and need expert help. That's why that option exists. 

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However, just because I have a service attached to it, it shouldn't mean that you ignore all the nuggets of gold that come out for free from my mouth. 

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Right now, you can access all of my content on Spotify, as well as YouTube, through video and audio completely for free. I don't have ads on my channels so that you can enjoy them completely ad-free and get to the nuggets of gold and the value even faster.

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After understanding and reflecting on our own goals and actions, we're probably realising that we do a lot of things but not for ourselves. We do them for other people, and not in the right way either. 

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You don't buy a new car to say: Hey, I'm doing this for someone else; it's actually to say: Hey, I want to have this perception that I'm really wealthy. 

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As a result, we find ourselves in a generation that's fallen into the trap of instant gratification and living a life that's not authentic at all.

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So, what is the solution? 

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Well, I'm going to give it to you plain and simple: delayed gratification and compound growth. 

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Tips and Hacks to Financial Freedom

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Here are a couple of real quick tips here that you can take on:

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Tip No. 1: Budgeting

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The quickest way to budget is 50/30/20. 

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This is a breakdown of how you're going to budget moving forward. 

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Now, I'm not a financial advisor, and I don't even know if a financial advisor knows how this works. 

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• 50% of your income should go toward your needs—this is where you need shelter, food, things like that. 

• 30% should go toward wants, and that might be living your best life, whether you're going out for food, entertaining, or spending time with your siblings, parents, or partners. 
• 20% is usually used toward investing. 

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If you can start with this model, it gets you in the right frame of mind. 

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Some people might argue 30% should be for investing and 20% for wants, but I think, especially if you're starting out, don’t try to extract everything and go cold turkey.

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You need to create a system that's sustainable, and the best way to do that is to start with a model like this. 

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What you'll end up finding is that you'll have a portfolio that starts growing, and you'll realise: Actually, I don't need to spend 50% of my income on shelter and food. You can reduce this, and that might mean you're now investing 30, 40, 50% of your income. This is how you're going to put yourself further ahead and have a choice in the next 10 to 15 years.

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Tip No. 2: Invest Early

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Another tip I have for you is to invest early. 

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Now, if you've got $20 right now that you can invest, you can actually do it. You've got micro-investing apps, you can go into shares, you can go into Exchange-Traded Fund (ETF).

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If you have more than that and actually want to buy property, please do it the right way because you can lose a lot of money when you use leverage, loans, and debts. So do it the right way. 

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If you have no idea how to, you need to get the experts on your side, and you can go out there and have a combination of these things. Get those investing muscles working, just like you would go to the gym and say: I've never done a deadlift for 500 kilos, why would I go and start with that? 

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You might want to say: Hey, maybe I should just walk on the treadmill and get the investing muscle working. 

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That's the exact same way we want to approach investing.

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Tip No. 3: Focus on Vision and Strategy

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If you have no idea where you want to end up, there is no way you are going to get there. You need to manifest it, know what the vision is, put actionable steps in place, and then go execute. 

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Again, a lot of this stuff you have control over. 

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You don't need to care if the market's going to crash or not—get the fundamentals right, and the rest will take care of itself.

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Tip No. 4: Have 2 Real Estate Investments

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Finally, you only need two real estate investments—two properties, that’s it—to actually be wealthy. 

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I break this down in my whiteboard video on my YouTube channel, which you can check out. I'm not going to steal my thunder from that video because it is one of the most popular videos on this channel, with over 100,000 views, and there's a reason for it. I want you to click on that video, go watch it, and understand that it's actually not that hard to get filthy rich or retire wealthy with choice. 

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I just think that if you're trying to live your best life, you need to live it on your own terms, and not just be trying to impress someone on social media.

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I hope you guys have enjoyed this article. 

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If you need help, you may visit our website or directly book a FREE discovery call with my Search Property team. That's where we help hundreds of Australians like yourself get into property and scale up your portfolio. 

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I'll catch you guys in the next one. 

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Thanks, guys!

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