🎙️Cate Bakos is joined by David Johnston and Mike Mortlock for an episode built around the six principles that underpin lasting property success, the guiding pillars they come back to again and again with clients. Rather than chasing headline numbers, this episode goes back to fundamentals, asking what actually separates investors who build genuine wealth from those who end up with a hodgepodge portfolio and years of regret.

🏡 Dave opens with goal setting and long-term planning, explaining why so many investors buy reactively, one property here, another there, without a plan for how it all fits together, and the costly predicament that can create when life circumstances shift. From there the conversation moves into mortgage strategy, the backbone of any property plan, and the risk management that should sit alongside it. Dave shares a sobering live example: a wave of recent first home buyers who purchased at 95% LVR and could now be facing negative equity as the market softens.

💰 Mike brings the money management lens, unpacking why disciplined saving and automated habits matter more than most people expect, given that most Australians will earn between four and five million dollars across their working lives, and that income, not property alone, is what funds the investing.

The Trio also dig into the power of compounding, the case for buying and holding over trying to time the market, and why Dave has spent two decades advocating for quality over quantity, arguing that two to five well selected properties can outperform a sprawling, harder to manage portfolio.

Could sticking to a handful of the right principles really outperform chasing every opportunity that comes along? Cate, Dave and Mike make the case that these six work best applied together, not in isolation, a reminder that discipline, not timing, tends to be what separates a good property outcome from a great one.

Download your free copy of Dave’s e-book “Money Management Principles – the 7 Steps to Success” 

And….. our gold nuggets!

Mike Mortlock’s gold nugget:”The cart before the horse, or the meat and vegies before dessert. You have to have a plan.”

Dave Johnston’s gold nugget: Dave reminds listeners not to think about their mortgage as ab interest rate and a lender, but to think of it as the entire engine room of the property plan and strategy. “If you get your strategy right, every element we’ve covered today becomes easier to execute.”

Cate Bakos’s gold nugget: Cate cautions investors to remember the six pillars in good times and in bad. If investors don’t have a good accountability partner throughout their journey, they are well advised to find someone strategic and qualified.

Related episodes:

#19: TIME IN the market v TIMING the market

#30: Money Management – 7 steps to success 

#48: Offset accounts – God’s gift to Mortgage Strategy! 

#184: Interest only vs Principal & Interest – Why working through the different considerations could add millions to your nest egg at retirement

#191: Risk management and the things that can go wrong when mortgage strategy is ineffective

#250: Investment Borrowing Masterclass – Maximise Tax Deductions and Advanced Mortgage Strategies for Long-Term Wealth Creation 

Upcoming ep: #378: Investor Reactions to the Negative Gearing Removal – Emerging Pivots and Trends