June 2, 2025 • 11 mins
Most investors make it to one property — and never get further.
In this episode, Oscar Don breaks down the 5 silent killers that stop Australians from scaling their portfolios and building real wealth.
You’ll discover:
- The emotional traps and structural mistakes that stall 70% of investors
- Why tax strategy is your biggest untapped weapon
- How to create a clear roadmap from 1 to 3+ properties
- The difference between owning a property vs. building a portfolio
- A real case study of a couple who scaled with zero income increase
Whether you’re about to buy or already own one investment, this episode will shift how you think about growth — and show you what’s really holding you back.
👉 Ready to build your roadmap? Book your free strategy session at www.assetroad.com.au
DISCLAIMER:
The information in this podcast is general in nature and does not constitute personal financial advice. It does not take into account your individual objectives, financial situation, or needs. Always consider whether the information is appropriate for you and seek advice from a qualified professional before making financial decisions.
🎧 Enjoyed this episode?
Follow us on Instagram @zekeguenthrothofficial @oscardonproperty and @assetroad for daily insights, property breakdowns, and behind-the-scenes updates.
Explore more at www.assetroad.com.au
Disclaimer:
The information provided in this podcast is general in nature and does not constitute personal financial advice. It has been prepared without taking into account your objectives, financial situation or needs. Before acting on any information, you should consider the appropriateness of the advice, having regard to your own objectives, financial situation and needs. Asset Road Pty Ltd recommends you seek independent financial, legal, taxation or other advice as required. All investments carry risk. Past performance is not indicative of future results.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:12):
Welcome back to another episode of the Finance
Bible Podcast.
Zeke here and your co-host,oscar, but before we get into it
, please note that nothing inthis podcast should ever be
considered personal financialadvice.
Of course, if that is what youare seeking, reach out.
We'll get you in touch with thecorrect professionals.
Get the job done properly, sitback, relax and enjoy the show.
(00:35):
Let's get into it.
Hey guys, welcome back to theFinance Bible Podcast.
Today you're joined with myself,oscar again, and we're going to
be digging into a truth bombthat most property investors
never see coming.
It is the reason why mostAussies never break past a
single investment property.
And no, it's not your interestrates, the RBA or your own
(00:58):
mortgage broker.
It's actually the five silentkillers of portfolio growth and
scaling to that next property.
Let's start with the facts.
Over 70% of Australianinvestors stop at one investment
property.
Only about 18% ever get to twoinvestment properties and the
most staggering statistic isless than 1% ever hit five or
(01:21):
more investment properties.
Now, on the surface, owning oneproperty sounds great, like
you're in the game.
You put your foot in theproperty door.
You've done something that mostpeople never do, but if your
goal is financial freedom, oneproperty is not enough.
The ability to live off passiveincome, reduce your tax and
create options.
That's just not going to getyou there alone with that one
(01:42):
investment property.
I guess the question is why doso many investors not make it
past one investment property?
We'll break it down today.
I'm going to give you fivesilent killers why this actually
happens and why a lot of peoplecan't get past the one
investment property.
Number one emotionaldecision-making.
When people buy their firstproperty, your emotions are high
(02:04):
, generally speaking.
If you buy where you live, youremotions are even higher
because we all know that youdon't want to buy in your own
backyard because, dependingwhere you live, there's better
opportunities interstate.
But maybe it's the fear ofmissing out, maybe it's the fear
of doing the wrong thing.
Most people stick to what feelssafe, like buying close to
(02:25):
where they live, as I justmentioned, or chasing a suburb
because they know someone wholives there or they know someone
who invested in that suburb andeven though it might've been a
good option five years ago, it'snot the best option right now.
Property investing is not justabout comfort.
It's about calculated strategicplays that stack up over time,
(02:47):
and this is where you reallyneed to speak to professionals
and actually help you steer theship.
If you let emotion steer theship instead of yourself, you'll
either overpay for a propertywhich is not ideal, you'll buy
in the wrong spot, which is alsonot ideal, or, worse, it will
get you scared out of buyingagain so you'll never wanna buy
(03:08):
another property, and that iswhy I hate to say that over 70%
of investors stop at oneproperty.
The second reason is poorstructure.
I did speak about this in mylast episode, about your
mortgage broker and you'restructuring the loans, but a
structure of your lending andyour finance is the backbone of
any portfolio.
(03:29):
Most property investors walkinto their first deal without
the right setup.
All they do is figure out theirborrowing capacity, go to a
broker, get a property andthat's it.
They think the rent's going tolook after itself.
They think investing inproperty regardless is going to
give them a good return ofinvestment itself.
They think investing inproperty regardless is going to
give them a good return ofinvestment just because it's
property.
I hate to say that's not thecase.
Yes, there are great propertiesout there, but there's just
(03:52):
like anything.
There's risk and there'shorrible properties out there
too.
You've really got to sit downand line everything up.
Maybe their loan iscross-collateralized or they've
drained their offset or they'veput the wrong person's name on
the title, but these thingsdon't seem like a big deal when
you only own one property.
If you want to go again, theycan become massive bottlenecks
(04:13):
which will impact you buyingmore and more and more.
I guess the worst part is thatmost brokers don't proactively
structure the deals for clientsin terms of wanting them to
scale down the track.
They just want to get the dealdone.
So this is where it comes tofinding a mortgage broker who
aligns with your overall goals,not just for the next three to
five years, but if you're in thegame, if you're younger, you
(04:36):
might be wanting to do this forthe next 30 years, or if you're
coming to retirement, maybe 20years, 10, 15, 20 years.
So you need to find a brokerwho aligns with that and looks
for the.
If we structure your first deallike this, we could possibly
get you another property in sixto 12 months time.
So that is vital and that'swhat a lot of people don't do.
(04:57):
And then, once you've got theproperty and if it's structured
the wrong way, well,unfortunately it's too late,
unless you want to sell theproperty.
But that's never ideal if youhave to sell it to go again,
because ideally you just keepusing the equity to go again,
and again and again.
Third, no tax strategy.
This one stings.
Most people pay tens ofthousands more in tax than they
(05:19):
actually need to and then theysay, look, I can't afford to buy
another property.
That's because they're notactually leveraging legal tools
like depreciation schedules,correct ownership entities,
interest deductions, and even ifyour property is negatively
geared, they're not evenleveraging the negative gearing.
You've got to remember that theATO isn't the enemy.
If you understand how to useyour tax to your own advantage,
(05:42):
which everyone can, especiallyif you own an investment
property, it can literally helpyou improve your cashflow, also
increase your borrowing capacity, and if you increase your
borrowing capacity, that meansyou can reinvest faster into
another property.
Like we've seen, investors gofrom being stuck in the past to
scaling in 12 months time purelybecause they've changed their
(06:04):
tax setup with qualified taxadvisors and accountants who we
work with.
So that's a real important one.
And again, that just goes downto surrounding yourself with the
right dream team ofprofessionals.
And again, that just goes downto surrounding yourself with the
right dream team ofprofessionals.
Number four no game plan.
This is the biggest one.
Yet Most people buy withoutknowing what they're actually
building Like.
(06:25):
They haven't reverse engineeredwhat kind of income they want
in retirement or when they wantto retire.
They also don't know how manyproperties they will need to be
paying that income forthemselves and they're not
actually mapping their cashflow,growth or even exit strategy,
which it's a no brainer Like.
Let's think of it this way whenyour favorite footy team, for
example, it could be AFL, nrl orsoccer, as some people like to
(06:49):
call it before they go out andthey have the whole week before
the game on Saturday, they'relooking at the game plan.
They're projecting what needsto be done.
They're looking at differentstructures, how we can beat this
team.
That's what you should be doingwith your own personal finances
and actually with your propertyinvestment.
If that's what you're wantingto look at down the track, you
need to project and actuallyplan ahead, because with no
(07:11):
planning, you're not gonna hitanything that you actually.
Any property will seem like agood idea and that is how people
end up with two randomproperties in two random states
and no idea how they connect.
You need a roadmap that sayslook, here's step one, here's
step two, here's how long tohold this property for, here's
(07:31):
how your end goal and this ishow you can get to the income
that you desire.
Number five analysis, paralysisand external noise, especially
in the media today.
Like, let's be real, mostpeople don't fall from lack of
information.
They fall from too muchinformation.
Between news headlines, thesocial media, opinions all over
(07:53):
TikTok and Instagram, and evenyour family members, like the
loud voices at family barbecuesor dinners.
Everyone has their own opinion,which is great, but very few
have an actual plan.
We see this all the time, likesomeone does nothing for two
years because they're waitingfor the market to crash or
waiting for the interest ratesto drop or waiting for the right
time to invest.
(08:14):
Meanwhile, they're borrowingpower drops and they miss out on
100K in growth.
Like it happens far too often.
And you might say you and youmight hear the best time to
invest is right now or yesterday.
And it actually is true thelonger you're in the market,
it's better for your capitalgrowth if you've done it in the
right location.
(08:35):
Let me give you a quick reallife example of a client we
recently worked with.
It was a young couple fromBrisbane.
They bought their firstinvestment in 2022.
Then after that, they froze.
The rates went up and theirbroker said they were maxed out.
We stepped in after that.
We restructured their debt witha broker of ours, ordered a
(08:58):
fresh valuation and then foundaround $85,000 in usable equity
for themselves.
On top of that, ourdepreciation partners found
around six grand in their firstyear deductions that helped ease
cashflow and unlock theirability to borrow again.
They then use that equity tobuy a second investment in WA.
That one was where they boughtthe second one, which was high
(09:21):
yielding and you got stronggrowth forecast and also, most
important thing, tax efficient.
Now fast forward again.
That couple is now preparingfor their third property and the
funny thing is they didn't evenincrease their income.
They literally just pivoted andchanged their own strategy.
I guarantee many peoplelistening to this right now.
You might have no properties,or you might have one and you
(09:43):
might think to yourself youcan't go again until two, three
years or whenever you think yourproperty is going to go up or
the rates drop or whatever ishappening in the world, but you
might be sitting on thousands ofdollars of equity that you can
actually use and reinvest.
So don't be afraid to call yourbroker.
Actually speak to a team, us.
We can look at helping you byputting you in contact with the
(10:05):
right people, but that is anoption that many people need to
look at, because you're missingout on hundreds of thousands of
dollars on growth if you're notdoing anything on it.
Today's episode has been a shortand sharp one, kind of just
getting it to the point.
But if you take one thing awayfrom this episode, I want it to
be this One property is not thegoal.
(10:27):
The goal you need to look atachieving is freedom, and
freedom comes from having a plan, also understanding your
numbers and being willing totake the next step with
confidence.
If you don't have a plan forhow you go from one to three to
five to six to 10 properties andget that retirement income that
you're wanting, we can help.
(10:49):
Jump on our website.
If you're wanting to chat to us,we can put you in touch with
the right professionalsassetroadcomau or even just
reply to this podcast in theshow notes or hit us up on
Instagram.
But yeah, one property is notthe goal.
You need to look at scaling ifyou're wanting to be serious
about this because, at the endof the day, do you want to be
(11:10):
with the 70% of Australians withonly one investment property,
or do you want to be the lessthan 1% with five?
I know what I want to be, butwhat do you want to be?
We hope you enjoyed the episode.
As always, you know exactlywhat to do.
Hit that follow button,subscribe whatever platform you
listen to this podcast on.
(11:30):
Also share it to friends,families, co-workers, whoever
you think may benefit from it.
But unfortunately it's the endand we'll see you next week.
Welcome back to another episode of the Finance
Bible Podcast.
Zeke here and your co-host,oscar, but before we get into it
, please note that nothing inthis podcast should ever be
considered personal financialadvice.
Of course, if that is what youare seeking, reach out.
We'll get you in touch with thecorrect professionals.
Get the job done properly, sitback, relax and enjoy the show.
(00:35):
Let's get into it.
Hey guys, welcome back to theFinance Bible Podcast.
Today you're joined with myself,oscar again, and we're going to
be digging into a truth bombthat most property investors
never see coming.
It is the reason why mostAussies never break past a
single investment property.
And no, it's not your interestrates, the RBA or your own
(00:58):
mortgage broker.
It's actually the five silentkillers of portfolio growth and
scaling to that next property.
Let's start with the facts.
Over 70% of Australianinvestors stop at one investment
property.
Only about 18% ever get to twoinvestment properties and the
most staggering statistic isless than 1% ever hit five or
(01:21):
more investment properties.
Now, on the surface, owning oneproperty sounds great, like
you're in the game.
You put your foot in theproperty door.
You've done something that mostpeople never do, but if your
goal is financial freedom, oneproperty is not enough.
The ability to live off passiveincome, reduce your tax and
create options.
That's just not going to getyou there alone with that one
(01:42):
investment property.
I guess the question is why doso many investors not make it
past one investment property?
We'll break it down today.
I'm going to give you fivesilent killers why this actually
happens and why a lot of peoplecan't get past the one
investment property.
Number one emotionaldecision-making.
When people buy their firstproperty, your emotions are high
(02:04):
, generally speaking.
If you buy where you live, youremotions are even higher
because we all know that youdon't want to buy in your own
backyard because, dependingwhere you live, there's better
opportunities interstate.
But maybe it's the fear ofmissing out, maybe it's the fear
of doing the wrong thing.
Most people stick to what feelssafe, like buying close to
(02:25):
where they live, as I justmentioned, or chasing a suburb
because they know someone wholives there or they know someone
who invested in that suburb andeven though it might've been a
good option five years ago, it'snot the best option right now.
Property investing is not justabout comfort.
It's about calculated strategicplays that stack up over time,
(02:47):
and this is where you reallyneed to speak to professionals
and actually help you steer theship.
If you let emotion steer theship instead of yourself, you'll
either overpay for a propertywhich is not ideal, you'll buy
in the wrong spot, which is alsonot ideal, or, worse, it will
get you scared out of buyingagain so you'll never wanna buy
(03:08):
another property, and that iswhy I hate to say that over 70%
of investors stop at oneproperty.
The second reason is poorstructure.
I did speak about this in mylast episode, about your
mortgage broker and you'restructuring the loans, but a
structure of your lending andyour finance is the backbone of
any portfolio.
(03:29):
Most property investors walkinto their first deal without
the right setup.
All they do is figure out theirborrowing capacity, go to a
broker, get a property andthat's it.
They think the rent's going tolook after itself.
They think investing inproperty regardless is going to
give them a good return ofinvestment itself.
They think investing inproperty regardless is going to
give them a good return ofinvestment just because it's
property.
I hate to say that's not thecase.
Yes, there are great propertiesout there, but there's just
(03:52):
like anything.
There's risk and there'shorrible properties out there
too.
You've really got to sit downand line everything up.
Maybe their loan iscross-collateralized or they've
drained their offset or they'veput the wrong person's name on
the title, but these thingsdon't seem like a big deal when
you only own one property.
If you want to go again, theycan become massive bottlenecks
(04:13):
which will impact you buyingmore and more and more.
I guess the worst part is thatmost brokers don't proactively
structure the deals for clientsin terms of wanting them to
scale down the track.
They just want to get the dealdone.
So this is where it comes tofinding a mortgage broker who
aligns with your overall goals,not just for the next three to
five years, but if you're in thegame, if you're younger, you
(04:36):
might be wanting to do this forthe next 30 years, or if you're
coming to retirement, maybe 20years, 10, 15, 20 years.
So you need to find a brokerwho aligns with that and looks
for the.
If we structure your first deallike this, we could possibly
get you another property in sixto 12 months time.
So that is vital and that'swhat a lot of people don't do.
(04:57):
And then, once you've got theproperty and if it's structured
the wrong way, well,unfortunately it's too late,
unless you want to sell theproperty.
But that's never ideal if youhave to sell it to go again,
because ideally you just keepusing the equity to go again,
and again and again.
Third, no tax strategy.
This one stings.
Most people pay tens ofthousands more in tax than they
(05:19):
actually need to and then theysay, look, I can't afford to buy
another property.
That's because they're notactually leveraging legal tools
like depreciation schedules,correct ownership entities,
interest deductions, and even ifyour property is negatively
geared, they're not evenleveraging the negative gearing.
You've got to remember that theATO isn't the enemy.
If you understand how to useyour tax to your own advantage,
(05:42):
which everyone can, especiallyif you own an investment
property, it can literally helpyou improve your cashflow, also
increase your borrowing capacity, and if you increase your
borrowing capacity, that meansyou can reinvest faster into
another property.
Like we've seen, investors gofrom being stuck in the past to
scaling in 12 months time purelybecause they've changed their
(06:04):
tax setup with qualified taxadvisors and accountants who we
work with.
So that's a real important one.
And again, that just goes downto surrounding yourself with the
right dream team ofprofessionals.
And again, that just goes downto surrounding yourself with the
right dream team ofprofessionals.
Number four no game plan.
This is the biggest one.
Yet Most people buy withoutknowing what they're actually
building Like.
(06:25):
They haven't reverse engineeredwhat kind of income they want
in retirement or when they wantto retire.
They also don't know how manyproperties they will need to be
paying that income forthemselves and they're not
actually mapping their cashflow,growth or even exit strategy,
which it's a no brainer Like.
Let's think of it this way whenyour favorite footy team, for
example, it could be AFL, nrl orsoccer, as some people like to
(06:49):
call it before they go out andthey have the whole week before
the game on Saturday, they'relooking at the game plan.
They're projecting what needsto be done.
They're looking at differentstructures, how we can beat this
team.
That's what you should be doingwith your own personal finances
and actually with your propertyinvestment.
If that's what you're wantingto look at down the track, you
need to project and actuallyplan ahead, because with no
(07:11):
planning, you're not gonna hitanything that you actually.
Any property will seem like agood idea and that is how people
end up with two randomproperties in two random states
and no idea how they connect.
You need a roadmap that sayslook, here's step one, here's
step two, here's how long tohold this property for, here's
(07:31):
how your end goal and this ishow you can get to the income
that you desire.
Number five analysis, paralysisand external noise, especially
in the media today.
Like, let's be real, mostpeople don't fall from lack of
information.
They fall from too muchinformation.
Between news headlines, thesocial media, opinions all over
(07:53):
TikTok and Instagram, and evenyour family members, like the
loud voices at family barbecuesor dinners.
Everyone has their own opinion,which is great, but very few
have an actual plan.
We see this all the time, likesomeone does nothing for two
years because they're waitingfor the market to crash or
waiting for the interest ratesto drop or waiting for the right
time to invest.
(08:14):
Meanwhile, they're borrowingpower drops and they miss out on
100K in growth.
Like it happens far too often.
And you might say you and youmight hear the best time to
invest is right now or yesterday.
And it actually is true thelonger you're in the market,
it's better for your capitalgrowth if you've done it in the
right location.
(08:35):
Let me give you a quick reallife example of a client we
recently worked with.
It was a young couple fromBrisbane.
They bought their firstinvestment in 2022.
Then after that, they froze.
The rates went up and theirbroker said they were maxed out.
We stepped in after that.
We restructured their debt witha broker of ours, ordered a
(08:58):
fresh valuation and then foundaround $85,000 in usable equity
for themselves.
On top of that, ourdepreciation partners found
around six grand in their firstyear deductions that helped ease
cashflow and unlock theirability to borrow again.
They then use that equity tobuy a second investment in WA.
That one was where they boughtthe second one, which was high
(09:21):
yielding and you got stronggrowth forecast and also, most
important thing, tax efficient.
Now fast forward again.
That couple is now preparingfor their third property and the
funny thing is they didn't evenincrease their income.
They literally just pivoted andchanged their own strategy.
I guarantee many peoplelistening to this right now.
You might have no properties,or you might have one and you
(09:43):
might think to yourself youcan't go again until two, three
years or whenever you think yourproperty is going to go up or
the rates drop or whatever ishappening in the world, but you
might be sitting on thousands ofdollars of equity that you can
actually use and reinvest.
So don't be afraid to call yourbroker.
Actually speak to a team, us.
We can look at helping you byputting you in contact with the
(10:05):
right people, but that is anoption that many people need to
look at, because you're missingout on hundreds of thousands of
dollars on growth if you're notdoing anything on it.
Today's episode has been a shortand sharp one, kind of just
getting it to the point.
But if you take one thing awayfrom this episode, I want it to
be this One property is not thegoal.
(10:27):
The goal you need to look atachieving is freedom, and
freedom comes from having a plan, also understanding your
numbers and being willing totake the next step with
confidence.
If you don't have a plan forhow you go from one to three to
five to six to 10 properties andget that retirement income that
you're wanting, we can help.
(10:49):
Jump on our website.
If you're wanting to chat to us,we can put you in touch with
the right professionalsassetroadcomau or even just
reply to this podcast in theshow notes or hit us up on
Instagram.
But yeah, one property is notthe goal.
You need to look at scaling ifyou're wanting to be serious
about this because, at the endof the day, do you want to be
(11:10):
with the 70% of Australians withonly one investment property,
or do you want to be the lessthan 1% with five?
I know what I want to be, butwhat do you want to be?
We hope you enjoyed the episode.
As always, you know exactlywhat to do.
Hit that follow button,subscribe whatever platform you
listen to this podcast on.
(11:30):
Also share it to friends,families, co-workers, whoever
you think may benefit from it.
But unfortunately it's the endand we'll see you next week.
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