February 3, 2025 • 13 mins
🎙️ "When it comes to investing, business, or even everyday decisions, cutting corners to save a few bones can cost you thousands. And today, I’m proving exactly why."
In this episode of The Finance Bible Podcast, Zeke shares a real-life story of a client who ignored expert advice to save just $400 a year on property management—and ended up losing over $5,000 in rental income, unnecessary fees, and wasted time.
✅ Why cutting corners often costs more in the long run.
✅ The hidden dangers of prioritizing price over quality.
✅ How to identify when you're about to make a costly mistake.
✅ Real-world examples of why quality always wins.
💡 "You get what you pay for—and when it comes to your finances, paying for quality upfront can save you stress, time, and serious money."
🔗 Listen now and learn how to avoid costly mistakes:
🎧 Website: https://assetroad.com.au/the-finance-bible/
📢 Help others avoid costly mistakes—share this episode!
If you found this valuable, send it to a friend, leave a review, and subscribe for more no-nonsense financial insights.
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.
#FinancePodcast #YouGetWhatYouPayFor #WealthBuilding #InvestmentTips #MoneyMatters #QualityOverCost #SmartInvesting #RealEstate #PropertyManagement #FinancialFreedom
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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.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:01):
In life, you get what you pay for, and when it comes
to investing, trying to save afew dollars can cost you
thousands.
Today, we're going to be divinginto why quality always wins in
the long run, and I'm going toshare real-life examples, one in
particular of a client wholearned this the hard way,
simply put, after choosing thewrong property manager to save
(00:23):
just $400 a year.
Trust me, you'll want to hearthis one.
Welcome back to another episodeof the Finance Bible Podcast.
Speaker 2 (00:40):
You're joined with myself, zeke, and your co-host,
oscar.
But before we get into it,please note that nothing in this
podcast should ever beconsidered as personal financial
advice.
But if that is what you areseeking, get in touch, let us
know and we will hook you upwith the correct professionals.
Sit back, relax and enjoy theshow.
Let's get into it.
Speaker 1 (01:03):
As you would have just heard, we're going to be
talking about quality, whyquality matters.
You've got to choose and figureout what you're happy to pay
for and what you're willing topay for, based on the quality
you're going to get and theoutcome you're going to get.
Now we've all heard the phraseyou get what you pay for common
sense but what does it actuallymean and what are the examples
of when it does go wrong or cango wrong?
(01:23):
What impacts can it have?
So we're just going to jumpinto it pretty much.
We're going to talk aboutdifferent things, but we'll just
break it down really simply andbefore we get into it, it
really does matter.
Saving a few dollars onsomething like an investment
property or just any form ofinvestment a house or whatever
(01:43):
let's say it's a building andpest inspection Then imagine the
outcome that could have.
It could cost you literallyhundreds of thousands of dollars
at the end of the day.
I'm going to share with you areal-life client story and we're
going to go into the specificsof it and talk about how just
$400 cost to someone 12 timesmore than that.
That's just a bad decision.
(02:04):
That's all it was.
So what actually happened?
A client of ours came to us andwe were helping them with the
process of getting theirinvestment property figuring all
that out, buying the property,getting the building and pest
inspections done and so on.
So when you buy the propertyyou obviously go through
everything You've got mortgagebroking, you've got sourcing the
(02:25):
property, you've got the realestate agent that you buy the
property from and each nittygritty bit, including solicitors
, including building and pestinspection, including
depreciation schedules,including property managers,
including advertisingphotographers and so on.
So we obviously recommendcertain people in different
areas or states or cities orwherever the property is that we
(02:48):
work with and we know can do agood job and get it done.
This particular client wentahead with all of our
recommendations bar one.
So the building and pestinspection, they went with us,
which is good, because somethinglike that, if you're not
getting a quality building andpest inspection and there turns
out to be termites in there orthere turns out to be some form
(03:08):
of structural damage you didn'tknow about, there's water behind
the bath and that's causingmould and all of these different
issues, and then you have toget a full bathroom renovation.
You're talking 40 grand there.
Termite structural damage youmight be talking 100, 110.
But anyway, that wasn't theproblem.
Everything was done, propertysettled, everyone's happy
property manager comes in andthey're not overly satisfied
(03:30):
with the recommendation on theproperty management front
because it's going to costroughly between $300 and $400 a
year more than another propertymanager offered.
Now when that happens, youmight be looking at it going
well, 300 bucks a year, that'sactually like a bit of it going
well, 300 bucks a year, that'sactually like a bit of money.
If you're renting, that'sprobably half a week or a week's
rent, if you're living withpeople or whatever the scenario
(03:53):
is.
But what is the actual reasonthat they're costing that much
more every year?
You need to figure that out.
You need to work withprofessionals, you need to look
into the logistics behind it.
But anyway, anyway, moving onwith this example, they go with
the other property manager andthey're pretty happy with their
decision because they're goingto save a bit of money and
(04:13):
cutting cost is important.
But the scenario is where youprobably should look into it a
bit more.
What happened next was we hadsuggested that that property
could rent for between $600 and$630 a week.
We were also pretty confidentwith a vacancy rate of 0.5% in
that particular area that wecould get it tenanted within a
seven-day period of settlement.
(04:34):
So if we got the keys, got theadvertising done within seven
days, we were pretty confidentwe'd have a tenant saying yep, I
want that house sign theagreement.
They might not be in there fortwo weeks, but they'll be in
there.
It's sold as done.
I want that house sign theagreement.
They might not be in there fortwo weeks, but they'll be in
there.
It's sold as done.
This property manager wasrunning the advertising, doing
the open homes and so on and soon.
But seven weeks later it wasstill vacant and the client
(05:00):
began getting frustrated andcalling us and asking for help
and all of that kind of thing,as you would.
But seven weeks went by wherethey didn't change anything.
If it tenanted for $600 a week,that's $4,200 down the drain
just from the wrong propertymanager.
Eventually they did switch,they gave up, they moved on from
(05:23):
the property manager becausethey were terrible, and came on
board with our property manager,who did get it tenanted within
a seven-day period, mind you,and they also got it tenanted
for more than $600 a week.
But in this scenario they thenhad to pay a bunch of different
expenses.
They missed out on their $4,200in rental income, or a bit more
(05:44):
.
They also had to pay theoriginal property manager for
their services.
They had to pay lease fees,advertising fees and so on with
the new one and ultimately itcost them over $5,000 a year.
So that $5,000 cost in thatseven week period versus the 400
or 300 a year that they wouldhave saved is more than a 12
(06:07):
times multiplier.
So they're the kind of decisionsthat we need to figure out and
we need to make.
We need to break it down, weneed to learn the lesson, we
need to see what is going on andwhy.
And here's the truth Saving$400 up front costs the client
over $5,000.
Trying to save on quality is agamble and it rarely pays off.
(06:28):
Breaking down the lessonshort-term savings versus
long-term costing.
So it's easy, very easy, tofocus on saving a little bit of
money upfront, but more oftenthan not, the cheapest option
can be more expensive in thelong term.
(06:50):
So you see it all the time interms of what's another example
If you've got Telstra, optus,whatever, vodafone, they might
be offering you a plan.
You know the first three monthsare $35 off and it ends up for
that first few months costing alot less than another one, but
then it goes up $30 and then,over the period of the 12 or 24
(07:11):
or 36 month contract, itactually costs more because
their their average is higher.
Then that's another thing whereyou're like, oh yeah, cool
short-term saving, but it costsmore long-term, and this is a
perfect example of that.
So it can be avoided.
You just need to do yourresearch.
You need to look into what'sgoing on Value over price when
you choose a service or when youchoose a product, whether it's
(07:35):
property management, financialadvice or what's an example for
blue collar.
If you're in blue collar, itcould be the tools that you're
getting.
You know, makita Ryobi orwhatever, whatever, even just
simple things drills,screwdrivers, that kind of thing
.
You're paying for experience,efficiency, outcomes,
reliability and all of thesethings matter.
(07:58):
A bad choice doesn't just costyou money cost.
It costs you time, peace ofmind and normally more money to
fix the issue later as well.
Let's go back to the toolexample.
If we're talking more, youblue-collar guys out there in
the trade industry, so you go,you buy cheap tools.
You're like, yep, this wholekit of whatever it might be is
(08:21):
$120 less than this other brand.
Awesome, you save the money,you get to your site, you're
doing your job.
However, long goes by and bangit breaks or there's an issue
with it.
You've got to send it off tothe workshop to get fixed or
repaired.
You know, if it's mechanical,like drills and stuff, then your
warranty might be covering it.
But now you're out of equipment.
(08:42):
For how long?
So how do you continue to doyour job in that timeframe?
Whereas if you had thereliability and efficiency of
the other product, would thathave happened?
So then you buy something toreplace that.
While you're doing, waiting forthe repair cost you more.
Anyway, get the repair back,but you should have just bought
the better tool in the firstplace.
There's an example for bluecollar.
(09:02):
If you're buying a car, you'vegot the same problem.
You don't want something that'sgoing to break down in three
years time when you can havesomething for seven years.
You don't want to do it withinsurance because then there's
loopholes and then you don't get.
Make claims.
Builders, like how many of yougo out there and you're like
really researching theseexpensive things.
Like you know, if you'rebuilding a home, the builder
that you want use you reallywant to make sure it's good, and
(09:25):
you want to go through everysingle part of that contract.
You want to go through everysingle part of the floor plan.
You want extra PowerPoints here.
You want extra fans there,whatever the changes are.
At the end of the day, that'ssomething that you're really
focused on and that you reallywant.
You should apply that toeverything that you do, every
single thing that you do.
(09:46):
You should be checking for thequality and comparing it with
the cost.
So how do you actually make theright choices?
How do you ensure that you makethe right decision and it
doesn't end up stuffing with youin the long term?
First of all, research Commonsense.
Figure it out, sit down, takethe time to understand what you
(10:07):
actually pay for what you'reinvesting in, and compare each
option.
Option.
How many of you would sit downand compare what's that, mr
Meerkat?
Compare the market.
How many of you would sit downand compare insurance quotes?
How many of you would sit downand compare internet bills and
stuff like that and look for abetter deal?
So, with everything you do, dothat.
(10:28):
Sit down, make the comparisons,do the research.
But here's the main thing Notjust price the reviews, other
people's experience, theirexperience as a company, the
outcomes they deliver and askfor recommendations.
If you know people in theindustry or if you know people
who have used that productbefore, or whatever it might be,
(10:50):
then you need to rely on peoplethat you know and use the
trusted referrals.
Avoid guessing and gambling.
And thirdly, think long-term.
Before you choose anything,before you choose a cheapest
option of anything, ask yourselfall right, what's the cost if
this doesn't work?
What is the cost if I run intoan issue and you need to
(11:11):
actually sit there and go?
All right, this is cheap in themeantime, but in two years, in
three years, in four years, whatwill the outcome be?
And figure that out.
In the end, you do get what youpay for.
You really do.
Choosing quality over cost isnot just about spending more,
but it's about getting theresults you need and having that
(11:32):
reliability.
I've said it before, I'll sayit again reliability.
Avoid the stress, avoid thefinancial hit of poor decisions.
As this real client exampleshows, saving $400 isn't worth
losing thousands in rentalincome or paying double for the
same job.
Ultimately, that $400 a year.
(11:54):
It would take them 12 years toget that back if they had the
cheaper property manager becausethe $5,000 they ended up
spending.
There you go and that's it.
It's just a short, simple thinkabout decisions.
If this episode resonated withyou, share it with someone who
needs to hear it.
Whether it's about propertymanagement, investing tools,
(12:16):
life in general, the lesson'ssimple Always focus on value,
not just cost.
If you're unsure aboutfinancial decisions, reach out
to us.
We'll connect you with trustedprofessionals.
They'll guide you, help youmake the right decisions.
Thanks for tuning in.
As always, let's make smartdecisions together.
Ciao, dale.
(12:38):
As always, we hope you enjoyedthe episode and if you did, you
know exactly what needs to bedone.
Speaker 2 (12:51):
Hit that follow button, subscribe.
Share it to friends, family oreven your co-workers, as sharing
this podcast helps not just us,but everyone in the world to
learn about their finances.
Thank you, darling.
In life, you get what you pay for, and when it comes
to investing, trying to save afew dollars can cost you
thousands.
Today, we're going to be divinginto why quality always wins in
the long run, and I'm going toshare real-life examples, one in
particular of a client wholearned this the hard way,
simply put, after choosing thewrong property manager to save
(00:23):
just $400 a year.
Trust me, you'll want to hearthis one.
Welcome back to another episodeof the Finance Bible Podcast.
Speaker 2 (00:40):
You're joined with myself, zeke, and your co-host,
oscar.
But before we get into it,please note that nothing in this
podcast should ever beconsidered as personal financial
advice.
But if that is what you areseeking, get in touch, let us
know and we will hook you upwith the correct professionals.
Sit back, relax and enjoy theshow.
Let's get into it.
Speaker 1 (01:03):
As you would have just heard, we're going to be
talking about quality, whyquality matters.
You've got to choose and figureout what you're happy to pay
for and what you're willing topay for, based on the quality
you're going to get and theoutcome you're going to get.
Now we've all heard the phraseyou get what you pay for common
sense but what does it actuallymean and what are the examples
of when it does go wrong or cango wrong?
(01:23):
What impacts can it have?
So we're just going to jumpinto it pretty much.
We're going to talk aboutdifferent things, but we'll just
break it down really simply andbefore we get into it, it
really does matter.
Saving a few dollars onsomething like an investment
property or just any form ofinvestment a house or whatever
(01:43):
let's say it's a building andpest inspection Then imagine the
outcome that could have.
It could cost you literallyhundreds of thousands of dollars
at the end of the day.
I'm going to share with you areal-life client story and we're
going to go into the specificsof it and talk about how just
$400 cost to someone 12 timesmore than that.
That's just a bad decision.
(02:04):
That's all it was.
So what actually happened?
A client of ours came to us andwe were helping them with the
process of getting theirinvestment property figuring all
that out, buying the property,getting the building and pest
inspections done and so on.
So when you buy the propertyyou obviously go through
everything You've got mortgagebroking, you've got sourcing the
(02:25):
property, you've got the realestate agent that you buy the
property from and each nittygritty bit, including solicitors
, including building and pestinspection, including
depreciation schedules,including property managers,
including advertisingphotographers and so on.
So we obviously recommendcertain people in different
areas or states or cities orwherever the property is that we
(02:48):
work with and we know can do agood job and get it done.
This particular client wentahead with all of our
recommendations bar one.
So the building and pestinspection, they went with us,
which is good, because somethinglike that, if you're not
getting a quality building andpest inspection and there turns
out to be termites in there orthere turns out to be some form
(03:08):
of structural damage you didn'tknow about, there's water behind
the bath and that's causingmould and all of these different
issues, and then you have toget a full bathroom renovation.
You're talking 40 grand there.
Termite structural damage youmight be talking 100, 110.
But anyway, that wasn't theproblem.
Everything was done, propertysettled, everyone's happy
property manager comes in andthey're not overly satisfied
(03:30):
with the recommendation on theproperty management front
because it's going to costroughly between $300 and $400 a
year more than another propertymanager offered.
Now when that happens, youmight be looking at it going
well, 300 bucks a year, that'sactually like a bit of it going
well, 300 bucks a year, that'sactually like a bit of money.
If you're renting, that'sprobably half a week or a week's
rent, if you're living withpeople or whatever the scenario
(03:53):
is.
But what is the actual reasonthat they're costing that much
more every year?
You need to figure that out.
You need to work withprofessionals, you need to look
into the logistics behind it.
But anyway, anyway, moving onwith this example, they go with
the other property manager andthey're pretty happy with their
decision because they're goingto save a bit of money and
(04:13):
cutting cost is important.
But the scenario is where youprobably should look into it a
bit more.
What happened next was we hadsuggested that that property
could rent for between $600 and$630 a week.
We were also pretty confidentwith a vacancy rate of 0.5% in
that particular area that wecould get it tenanted within a
seven-day period of settlement.
(04:34):
So if we got the keys, got theadvertising done within seven
days, we were pretty confidentwe'd have a tenant saying yep, I
want that house sign theagreement.
They might not be in there fortwo weeks, but they'll be in
there.
It's sold as done.
I want that house sign theagreement.
They might not be in there fortwo weeks, but they'll be in
there.
It's sold as done.
This property manager wasrunning the advertising, doing
the open homes and so on and soon.
But seven weeks later it wasstill vacant and the client
(05:00):
began getting frustrated andcalling us and asking for help
and all of that kind of thing,as you would.
But seven weeks went by wherethey didn't change anything.
If it tenanted for $600 a week,that's $4,200 down the drain
just from the wrong propertymanager.
Eventually they did switch,they gave up, they moved on from
(05:23):
the property manager becausethey were terrible, and came on
board with our property manager,who did get it tenanted within
a seven-day period, mind you,and they also got it tenanted
for more than $600 a week.
But in this scenario they thenhad to pay a bunch of different
expenses.
They missed out on their $4,200in rental income, or a bit more
(05:44):
.
They also had to pay theoriginal property manager for
their services.
They had to pay lease fees,advertising fees and so on with
the new one and ultimately itcost them over $5,000 a year.
So that $5,000 cost in thatseven week period versus the 400
or 300 a year that they wouldhave saved is more than a 12
(06:07):
times multiplier.
So they're the kind of decisionsthat we need to figure out and
we need to make.
We need to break it down, weneed to learn the lesson, we
need to see what is going on andwhy.
And here's the truth Saving$400 up front costs the client
over $5,000.
Trying to save on quality is agamble and it rarely pays off.
(06:28):
Breaking down the lessonshort-term savings versus
long-term costing.
So it's easy, very easy, tofocus on saving a little bit of
money upfront, but more oftenthan not, the cheapest option
can be more expensive in thelong term.
(06:50):
So you see it all the time interms of what's another example
If you've got Telstra, optus,whatever, vodafone, they might
be offering you a plan.
You know the first three monthsare $35 off and it ends up for
that first few months costing alot less than another one, but
then it goes up $30 and then,over the period of the 12 or 24
(07:11):
or 36 month contract, itactually costs more because
their their average is higher.
Then that's another thing whereyou're like, oh yeah, cool
short-term saving, but it costsmore long-term, and this is a
perfect example of that.
So it can be avoided.
You just need to do yourresearch.
You need to look into what'sgoing on Value over price when
you choose a service or when youchoose a product, whether it's
(07:35):
property management, financialadvice or what's an example for
blue collar.
If you're in blue collar, itcould be the tools that you're
getting.
You know, makita Ryobi orwhatever, whatever, even just
simple things drills,screwdrivers, that kind of thing
.
You're paying for experience,efficiency, outcomes,
reliability and all of thesethings matter.
(07:58):
A bad choice doesn't just costyou money cost.
It costs you time, peace ofmind and normally more money to
fix the issue later as well.
Let's go back to the toolexample.
If we're talking more, youblue-collar guys out there in
the trade industry, so you go,you buy cheap tools.
You're like, yep, this wholekit of whatever it might be is
(08:21):
$120 less than this other brand.
Awesome, you save the money,you get to your site, you're
doing your job.
However, long goes by and bangit breaks or there's an issue
with it.
You've got to send it off tothe workshop to get fixed or
repaired.
You know, if it's mechanical,like drills and stuff, then your
warranty might be covering it.
But now you're out of equipment.
(08:42):
For how long?
So how do you continue to doyour job in that timeframe?
Whereas if you had thereliability and efficiency of
the other product, would thathave happened?
So then you buy something toreplace that.
While you're doing, waiting forthe repair cost you more.
Anyway, get the repair back,but you should have just bought
the better tool in the firstplace.
There's an example for bluecollar.
(09:02):
If you're buying a car, you'vegot the same problem.
You don't want something that'sgoing to break down in three
years time when you can havesomething for seven years.
You don't want to do it withinsurance because then there's
loopholes and then you don't get.
Make claims.
Builders, like how many of yougo out there and you're like
really researching theseexpensive things.
Like you know, if you'rebuilding a home, the builder
that you want use you reallywant to make sure it's good, and
(09:25):
you want to go through everysingle part of that contract.
You want to go through everysingle part of the floor plan.
You want extra PowerPoints here.
You want extra fans there,whatever the changes are.
At the end of the day, that'ssomething that you're really
focused on and that you reallywant.
You should apply that toeverything that you do, every
single thing that you do.
(09:46):
You should be checking for thequality and comparing it with
the cost.
So how do you actually make theright choices?
How do you ensure that you makethe right decision and it
doesn't end up stuffing with youin the long term?
First of all, research Commonsense.
Figure it out, sit down, takethe time to understand what you
(10:07):
actually pay for what you'reinvesting in, and compare each
option.
Option.
How many of you would sit downand compare what's that, mr
Meerkat?
Compare the market.
How many of you would sit downand compare insurance quotes?
How many of you would sit downand compare internet bills and
stuff like that and look for abetter deal?
So, with everything you do, dothat.
(10:28):
Sit down, make the comparisons,do the research.
But here's the main thing Notjust price the reviews, other
people's experience, theirexperience as a company, the
outcomes they deliver and askfor recommendations.
If you know people in theindustry or if you know people
who have used that productbefore, or whatever it might be,
(10:50):
then you need to rely on peoplethat you know and use the
trusted referrals.
Avoid guessing and gambling.
And thirdly, think long-term.
Before you choose anything,before you choose a cheapest
option of anything, ask yourselfall right, what's the cost if
this doesn't work?
What is the cost if I run intoan issue and you need to
(11:11):
actually sit there and go?
All right, this is cheap in themeantime, but in two years, in
three years, in four years, whatwill the outcome be?
And figure that out.
In the end, you do get what youpay for.
You really do.
Choosing quality over cost isnot just about spending more,
but it's about getting theresults you need and having that
(11:32):
reliability.
I've said it before, I'll sayit again reliability.
Avoid the stress, avoid thefinancial hit of poor decisions.
As this real client exampleshows, saving $400 isn't worth
losing thousands in rentalincome or paying double for the
same job.
Ultimately, that $400 a year.
(11:54):
It would take them 12 years toget that back if they had the
cheaper property manager becausethe $5,000 they ended up
spending.
There you go and that's it.
It's just a short, simple thinkabout decisions.
If this episode resonated withyou, share it with someone who
needs to hear it.
Whether it's about propertymanagement, investing tools,
(12:16):
life in general, the lesson'ssimple Always focus on value,
not just cost.
If you're unsure aboutfinancial decisions, reach out
to us.
We'll connect you with trustedprofessionals.
They'll guide you, help youmake the right decisions.
Thanks for tuning in.
As always, let's make smartdecisions together.
Ciao, dale.
(12:38):
As always, we hope you enjoyedthe episode and if you did, you
know exactly what needs to bedone.
Speaker 2 (12:51):
Hit that follow button, subscribe.
Share it to friends, family oreven your co-workers, as sharing
this podcast helps not just us,but everyone in the world to
learn about their finances.
Thank you, darling.
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Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com
The Breakfast Club
The World's Most Dangerous Morning Show, The Breakfast Club, With DJ Envy, Jess Hilarious, And Charlamagne Tha God!