John L. Fitzgerald - 7 Steps to Wealth: The Vital Difference Between Property and Real Estate

8TH EDITION

First published in 2018 by John Wiley & Sons Australia, Ltd

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Office also in Melbourne

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John Wiley & Sons Australia, Ltd 2018

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Disclaimer

The material in this publication is of the nature of general comment only, and does not represent professional advice. It is not intended to provide specific guidance for particular circumstances and it should not be relied on as the basis for any decision to take action or not take action on any matter which it covers. Readers should obtain professional advice where appropriate, before making any such decision. To the maximum extent permitted by law, the author and publisher disclaim all responsibility and liability to any person, arising directly or indirectly from any person taking or not taking action based on the information in this publication.

John presents an honest, time-tested strategy to wealth accumulation that every Australian should know about.

Michael Baragwanath, Financial Planner

I followed 7 Steps since 1998. My wife and I acquired 6 properties, sold 3 to fund our family home and now weve purchased our 4th investment property.

Jason McCartney, Former AFL Player

I started 7 Steps in my 50s. 20 years on, I sold just 1 of my 10 properties and made a $280 000 profit from a $47 000 deposit! Thanks to 7 Steps my retirement is secured.

Margaret Seedsman, Former Mayor

7 Steps works. We werent property people when we got started, but we learned how to build a portfolio for our retirement.

David and Dada Bailey, Engineer, Retired

When I first read 7 Steps I didnt believe I could acquire multiple properties. I now have 13 properties and regret I didnt start sooner.

Craig Chu, Banker

7 Steps gives us a choice when to retire as opposed to 65 or 67 years of age.

Margaret Wachnik, Business Owner

To me, attitude is everything in life. 7 Steps gave me the right tools and attitude to help secure our future.

Wayne Dyson, Corporate Coach

As a leadership coach, I help people bridge the gap from where they are to where they want to be. Thanks to 7 Steps, Ive learnt how to do that for my own retirement.

Toni Courtney, Leadership Coach

An insightful book delving into some investment property principles which all property investors should be aware of. The book offers some powerful insights into Johns personal story and is a fantastic read for everyone embarking on their own property wealth accumulation journey.

David Shaw, Accountant

To my beautiful, amazing family; Maggie, Prema, Alex and Kane; and Ron and Suwanti Farmer; and our family of teachers and social workers at Toogoolawa Schools. We are all teachers. Some teachers explain. Some teachers complain. Some teachers inspire.

I first want to thank three Australian property billionaires, who are friends and colleagues Ive known for a very long time, for providing their endorsement and taking the time to pick apart this thesis. Its rare for any Australian billionaire to endorse anyone as they are often very private people, but Bob, Nev and Maha all recognised the dire problem we face with growing welfare and inertia concerning how baby boomers are retiring.

Also thanks to my beautiful daughter, Alexandra, for painstakingly assisting with updating research and recommendations in this eighth edition. In the same vein, thanks to Nathan BG Bowtell (Baby Giraffe), and Darren Marinovich and Brittani Pickering for all your help with logistics and data. Also, a huge thank you to Claire Louise Wright, wherever you are in this amazing world: thanks for all the foundations in earlier editions of 7 Steps to Wealth, which remain as building blocks today.

Finally, to the many thousands or now tens of thousands of 7 Steps practitioners who have followed me for more than 20 years and stand as testimony of this book as the best way to safely build wealth, reduce tax and ensure they retire comfortably without relying on the government: congratulations to you.

Albert Einstein said there are two ways to live your life: one is as though nothing is a miracle. The other is as though everything is a miracle. I believe in miracles and I give thanks and eternal gratitude.

Land is the foundation of all wealth.

This is not just a book about how to build wealth by investing in real estate. Its a book about how you can build wealth by investing in real estate.

Theres a big difference. The words property investment probably conjure up visions of serious guys in serious suits talking about things like negative gearing, leverage and equity positions. And for most people, thats a major turnoff. Perhaps thats why property investment is one of the best-kept secrets of the financial world.

Im going to let you in on a few well-kept secrets in this book and Im going to try and do it in easy-speak language so that anyone can pick it up and read it. I figure, if Stephen Hawking can write a popular book based on Einsteins theory of relativity, then somebody ought to be able to do the same for real estate investment! Id like to give you something you can relate to and, more importantly, use without constantly tripping over a load of jargon and statistics.

The books on wealth creation that are full of jargon and statistics (and there are a few of them about) are often written by academics who may have gathered a wealth of theoretical knowledge, but havent actually personally created any wealth. Id have to say, Im pretty much the opposite.

However, Einstein himself said, Everything should be made as simple as possible, but not any simpler. Good rule. So you will find numbers, charts and technical terms in this book, but they are there to clarify key concepts not to prove that I can use statistics and big words. Well also cover a fair bit of information, but this isnt one of those everything you never particularly wanted to know about economics books. Im simply going to tell you about the most effective way I know to build wealth.

By the time you finish reading this book, you will have a pretty clear idea of how to maximise your assets, reduce your tax bill, ask the right questions and see through some of the so-called experts in the field. And, perhaps most importantly, youll know that you can build wealth.