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10 Decisions You Need to Make to Build a Passive Income
This guide walks through the 10 decisions you'll need to make if you want to become a successful property investor.
Do I really need to read this guide?
This guide takes around 15 to 30 minutes to read. So you might think ... “Do I really need to read it all?”
That’s a fair question.
Here’s the thing: You’re about to have a portfolio planning session. Soon you’ll consider spending hundreds of thousands of dollars on an investment property.
You’ll have conversations about getting into debt. And about taking on the risks of becoming a property investor.
This will be one of the largest financial decisions of your life ... so it’s important to get it right and avoid common mistakes.
That’s why this guide takes you through
the main points you need to know when
you invest in property.
It also helps you make the top 6 decisions you’ll need to make when you invest.
It’s crucial that you read this: It will make you feel more comfortable and informed when making these decisions.
Don’t worry, you don’t need to read every link in the book. But you do need to take the time to get familiar with the concepts. It could save you hundreds of thousands of dollars and help you make a better financial decision.
Are you investing with a partner?
You might think, “I’m the one interested in property. Do they need to read it too?” Yes. Reading this guide is even more important if they’re not interested
in property.
It will help them feel more comfortable
and you’ll be on the same page.
That way you can decide if property
investment is the right fit for you and
your relationship (or not).
What have I signed up for?
You’ve signed up for a Portfolio Planning Session.
By the end of the meeting you will have created a
Wealth Plan with a financial adviser
from Opes Partners.
The Portfolio Planning Session is the 1st of 3 meetings in our process.
In the Portfolio Planning Session, you will:
1. Use My Wealth Plan (our in-house software) to create a financial plan.
2. Discuss which sort of properties you want to invest in.
3. Decide when you want to buy your first property.
To prepare for the meeting you need to fill out your core financial information in My Wealth Plan.
This will save you about 15 minutes in the meeting. It will also give your financial adviser time to prepare.
That way they can walk into the meeting and give you quality financial advice straight away.
The adviser will then find New Build investment properties that fit your plan. This happens before your second meeting.
The three meetings in The Wealth Programme:
1. Portfolio Planning Session
This is session you're about to have. All session are online via Zoom and take about 1 hour.
2. Property Selection Meeting
3. Due Diligence Meeting
What a Portfolio Planning Session is and isn’t
This meeting will ...
- Have a structured agenda so you walk away with a written-down plan
- Create a financial plan using New Build investment properties
- See how property can be used to achieve your goals
This meeting will not ...
- Be a general chit-chat about property
- Analyse a property you’ve found on the internet
- Give you advice on what to do with your shares, crypto or term deposits
Who is Opes Partners?
In 2023, we helped 432 Kiwis buy 458 properties.
We don’t like blowing our own trumpet, but in case you don’t know, we help Kiwis invest in property. Our financial advisers can help you create a property investment plan, and then find properties for you.
Our goal is to make investing in property easy for you. That’s why we also have mortgage advisers, property managers and property accountants in our team. That way you can get all the help you need in one place.
Our goal is to make investing in property easy for you.
Creates a financial plan, finds your properties to buy
Organises the mortgage
Manages the property
Organises the taxes
We also provide more education about property than anyone else in the country.
Property Academy Podcast
This is New Zealand’s #1 property podcast. It has been downloaded over 7.5 million times.
Wealth Plan book
Over 5,000 Kiwis have bought our property investment book, written by Andrew Nicol and Ed McKnight.
NZ Property Investor magazine
We own and publish the NZ Property Investor and Informed Investor magazines.
Property Live webinars
Over 2,000 Kiwis sign up to come to our monthly property webinars.
Why would I invest in property?
Don’t be poor in retirement
If you dream of spending your later years sipping cocktails on a beach, playing rounds of golf and/or eating at your favourite restaurant ... it’s not likely to happen if you just rely on NZ Super to fund it.
In fact, the pension alone won’t even fund a relatively basic lifestyle.
On average, the investors we work with here at Opes Partners want to spend $100,000 a year in retirement (about $2,000 a week).
Right now, the base superannuation (for a couple) is $764.
So, if you just rely on NZ superannuation, you could be $736 short per week.
On top of that, there’s a good chance
the age you are eligible for Super will go
up in the future.
If you want to retire at 65 (or earlier) you’ll need to find a way to pay for retirement yourself.
1. Figure out how many assets you need to fund your retirement
2. Get those assets (invest in property)
3. Figure out how to use them so you can retire
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The truth is most investors don’t currently have enough assets.
This is where you’re not on track to have enough assets to live the lifestyle you want in retirement.
10 Decisions You Need to Make to Build a Passive Income
What’s the process of buying an Investment Property?
1. Plan your portfolio
First, you need to calculate your Wealth Gap and find out how many properties you need to buy. This i s so you will have enough money in retirement. Your financial adviser from Opes Partners will do this with you.
2. Opes finds you New Build properties
Next, you’ll run the numbers and look at properties. Here at Opes Partners, we find you suitable New Build properties to fit your financial plan. You will check the return on investment and the cashflow for each property.
3. Sign the contract
You then sign the sale and purchase agreement. This does not commit you to purchase
the property (if you have the proper clauses in there).The contract is between you and the developer and it is a legal document. This is an essential step as it means you control the property. The developer can’t sell it to someone else.
4. Due diligence
This is the phase where you dig into more details. You’ll work with your lawyer, mortgage adviser, property manager, accountant and financial adviser to make sure it is the right investment property for you.
5. Build of the property
This is where the developer actually builds the property. You should receive a build update from the developer on average once a month, showing their progress.
Sometimes your property will already be built. In that case, you’ll skip this stage.
6. Settlement
This is where you
pay the money for the property and become the official owner. There is a lot to do in the lead-up to settlement.
How do I get my partner on board? / My partner won’t let me invest?
To be successful in property, both partners must agree to make the investment.
01
1. Watch, read and listen to the same things.
After you’ve read the same property investment article, have a conversation. Ask your partner what they learned and how you could apply it to your situation.
02
2. Create shared goals.
Use software (e.g. a retirement calculator) to create a shared goal. Working with Opes, you'll use My Wealth Plan – our in-house software.
03
3. Know your role.
You don’t both have to be property-mad. Even if you’re not interested in property, you still play an essential role.
04
4. Work with an independent financial adviser.
If you are still in the learning stages, that’s where you might work with a financial adviser so you get their questions answered by an expert.
Before your Portfolio Planning Session, have you:
– Read this guide & make your decisions (if you haven't already)
– Put your financial information into My Wealth Plan
– Confirmed that both you and your partner can make the meeting