Where does US Property fit in YOUR financial plan?

Making a financial investment without first determining your objectives and timeline is like jumping in a car to go on vacation without knowing your destination or if you have enough fuel in the tank to get there.  A plan is simply having an efficient route to achieve your goals.  A good financial plan seeks to find the most enjoyable, direct path that expands future choices and achieves personal and financial objectives.

Most people include Property in their Financial Plan. Paying off your home is normally a focus. Many people also use property as a tool to earn additional income. People may focus on future capital gains and not need additional income now. Others desire regular rent(s) to supplement other income. Many people fall somewhere in between, wanting some income now and desiring a capital gain in the future. A good Property Plan facilitates the changing financial needs of a person over their lifetime particularly as income, family size, interests and priorities change. Property can safely facilitate these changes.

My Financial Plan

I am an acrobat with Cirque du Soleil. I thought it likely that I could only be an acrobat for so many years. My personal plan was to have five fully paid-off rental properties by the time I turned 35 to provide a reliable future income. Upon achieving this goal and still being fit and healthy and enjoying my acrobatic career, I extended this plan to have ten paid-off rental properties and residences in both the US and Australia before turning 45. To achieve this I am using a combination of Cash Flow, Balanced Return and Capital Gain focused property investments.

Many of my friends are elite sports people, smart, great at determining their goals and planning to achieve them. But many focused more on their athletic and career goals, ignoring their financial planning. Over the years though, as they became interested in buying homes and investments, they came to me for assistance in determining the kinds of property purchases that would match their goals and help keep them happy.

Of course, there are those of us who have a more haphazard approach, but who know they need to do something for their future and know how much spare cash they have to do it with. They don’t believe their superannuation or shares will be enough, particularly after several stock market crashes in the last few decades and are looking for something with returns that will move with inflation. I have also helped many of these folks with their property investments over the last couple of decades.

US Property Made Easy.com has grown out of the help I have provided to my colleagues, friends and family.  Any real estate agent can sell someone a house.  I, and those I associate myself with, go to great lengths to ensure that our clients have the knowledge and tools available to determine the Property Investment that is right for them by matching their unique life and financial goals.

My service DOES NOT END when your property purchase closes. Indeed, once you’ve bought a property you may realise that was the easy part!  The ongoing management and review of your investment(s) is vital in achieving your goals.

So for my business, your property purchase is just the start of our relationship.  My clients continue to contact me years and decades after their first property purchase, as their life circumstances change, when considering new directions or just for a review of where they are at financially. They are looking for advice on the performance of their property assets; how to safeguard them as their life situations change and sometimes, how to achieve additional gains from further investments.  My clients are long term clients, just as our property purchases tend to be long term in nature.

Common questions in considering your Property Plan or US property purchase:

• Your age and years to retirement.

• A Spouse /Partner, and/or children and their ages.

• Planning for future children?

• Income of you and partner (if applicable)

• Tax bracket

• Your current employment and its stability.

• Your current focus? Your possible focus in 10 – 15 years?

• When and how might you supplement your income?

• Other investments? What industries or locations are they dependent on

• Can you spread the investment risk?

• Are you planning on a receiving a pension?

• Will you be eligible for social security when you retire? Will it exist or will governments have cut back e.g. Greece

• Where might you like to reside when retired?

• What is your risk tolerance? Your partners?

• Are there financial dreams you have for yourself or your family eg a holiday home, college tuition etc

• What do you need your property investment(s) to do for you?

• Do you prefer to pay cash or take a loan? Do you have alternate sources to access cash or equity?

• Can you qualify for a loan?

• Do you have a USA green card, social security number, ITIN number, ‘guaranteed’ income and good credit?

• Will your upcoming property investment(s) need to target Cash Flow, Balanced Return, Capital Gains or some mix of these?

• Have you planned best case and worst case scenarios?

• Does your plan consider changing property prices, rent increases, exchange rate gains, benefits of being invested in multiple economies and loan amortisation?

• Do you have fall back strategies?

• What other experts do you need to assist with your plan?

If you are interested in assistance with fitting US property into your financial plan I can be reached at steve@uspropertymadeeasy.com