Buying property is one of the most powerful ways Australians can build wealth. In this article, I’ll share my personal experience of how my wife and I built our property portfolio, and how you can too. It all started 15 years ago when my wife bought a unit in Sydney, and since then, we’ve used the equity in our properties to grow our financial security. If you’re thinking about investing in property or looking for ways to make your existing properties work harder for you, this story might offer some helpful insights.

The First Step: Saving for Your First Deposit

When my wife bought her unit, it was before we even met, and she did it with a very low deposit. Over the next few years, the property increased in value, and the equity she built up became an important stepping stone for our next purchase.

Here’s an important lesson for first-time buyers: You only need to save a deposit once. Once you’ve got your first property, the equity in that property can be used as a deposit for your next one. This is a powerful way to grow your property portfolio without needing to save for another deposit each time.

Turning the First Property into an Investment

After we bought our first home together, we decided to keep my wife’s unit. It was almost paying for itself through rent, and we figured it was a good idea to hold onto it as an investment. We didn’t overthink it. Renting it out and holding onto the property seemed like the smart move at the time—and it was.

As a result, we now had two properties: one to live in, and one generating rental income. That was a big step towards financial independence.

Building More Equity and Moving Toward Financial Freedom

Five years later, we decided to move back to my wife’s hometown. The area we wanted to move to was too expensive to buy in, so we decided to rent instead. But again, we didn’t sell the unit in Sydney; we kept it as an investment property.

Over time, we realised that property can be a powerful tool for building wealth. We began to focus on building equity in our properties and started looking for more opportunities to grow our portfolio. This wasn’t part of some grand plan—we were just following the natural progression of using the equity in our first few properties to purchase more.

At that point, we started asking ourselves: What more can we do with this? How can we use our assets to build more income and financial security?

From Assets to Income: The Key to Financial Freedom

One thing we’ve learned over the years is that assets are important, but it’s income that truly matters. Having $10 million in property value is great, but if it doesn’t generate cash flow, you can end up being “asset rich and cash poor.”

Instead, we decided to focus on building income streams that would eventually replace our salaries. We wanted to be in a position where we could choose whether or not to work. The goal was to use our growing property portfolio to build an income that would give us the freedom to live life on our terms.

Making Smarter Property Decisions

As we grew our portfolio, we started thinking more strategically about how to build wealth through property. It wasn’t about buying anything and everything, but rather choosing properties that would give us the best returns. We began asking questions like: Where should we buy? How can we make our property portfolio work harder for us?

This shift in mindset transformed the way we approached property investment. It became less about simply owning assets and more about using those assets to generate the income we needed to secure our financial future.

The Journey Towards Financial Security

Our journey hasn’t been a grand, pre-planned strategy. We were lucky to make some good decisions early on, but the key takeaway is this: Building wealth through property isn’t about making huge, risky moves—it’s about making smart, steady decisions over time.

As mortgage brokers, we’ve come to realise that relying on a pension in the future isn’t a guaranteed path to the lifestyle we want. That’s why we focused on building our property portfolio as a way to secure our future.

Today, we continue to ask ourselves: How far can we take this? How can we use property to build a sustainable income that replaces our salary and allows us to live life on our terms?

Ready to Start Your Property Journey?

If this journey sounds interesting to you, it’s never too late to start. Whether you’re looking to buy your first home or build your investment portfolio, property can be a great way to achieve financial freedom. The key is to start early, make smart decisions, and always think about how your assets can work for you.