By Justin Wang
The lure of investing in property is strong and wide. There are more self-made millionaires through property than any other asset class. We live in a time of impetuousness and instant gratification – in many areas of our life we want to see quick results and change. This is becoming more prevalent with the advent of digital and social media. We’ve become a fast consumption society – we consume everything at a rapid rate – information, news, consumables, and food.
However, the path to success is not always achieved with the quickest route, just ask Justin Wang (Founder and CEO of PIA) “In the early 1990’s as a new migrant from China, to make ends meet I worked incredibly hard in a variety of different roles – from a restaurant waiter to a Chinese language teacher to a door-to-door salesperson…After ten years of hard work, I could not seem to get ahead….you work extremely hard, but just end up making ends meet. I needed to secure a better future for myself and my family. I found that this was not uncommon – people are continually concerned about their futures, struggling to navigate a path forward.”
Justin’s success came from valuable lessons learned when choosing the right pathway, a pathway that deviated from what the local market and competitors were doing. Justin’s personal experience led him to research the property industry as an investment strategy. 20 years ago the great Australian dream was to own your own home, work hard in the same job, raise your family, pay off your mortgage, retire and leave something for the children. 30 years later, the house was paid off, and you finally owned your house free-hold….and your pension and some superannuation would hopefully sustain you. Or would it?
20 years ago, Justin’s philosophy was slightly different – use your home as a powerful tool in your future plans and become self-determining and self-reliant. Use your largest asset and equity in your family home as a way to increase your personal wealth and derive a passive income that will sustain you and supplement your superannuation income well into the future, “I started looking at my own future and the strong record of property in Sydney market. I started to invest in properties (units) across Sydney, starting out small and begun to accumulate a small property portfolio of my own. Today, PIA turnover is between $1.2-1,6 billion in property each year”.
What’s the secret to success? Long-term investment
Start with your personal goals in mind. PIA’s business was founded on the principle of assisting people with modest income achieve a comfortable retirement through investing in property over the medium and long term. As you build equity in your portfolio, you continue to invest to achieve your income and capital growth goals. To be a short-term speculator, for instant profit, you must have intimate knowledge and experience in the property market, investment strategies, and market cycles – plus have a strong asset backing or cash flow. Markets rise and fall, and short-term strategies to ‘make a quick profit’ are often short-sighted and risky. Not everyone can achieve this. Instead, we encourage you to focus, not on how much you’ll earn over the next 12-24 months, but how much wealth you can create over the next 10-20 years to achieve your retirement goals.
Information for this article has been sourced from The Property Investors Alliance