Where’s the best place to be born at the moment | Cash flow comes to the rescue of property investors

Where’s the best place to be born?  Where you’re born will make a big difference in your life, in your lifestyle, the amount of wealth you can get, and the health you’re going to have. That’s one of the things we’ll discuss in today’s episode. For people interested in property investment, John Lindeman has a great cash flow surprise for you.  Then, in my Mindset Moment, I have a lesson for you from one of my mentors. Where’s the best place to be born at the moment  Even if you weren’t born there, Australia is a great place to live. And many of you are living there now.  Both Melbourne and Sydney earned perfect scores in this year’s The Economist Intelligence Unit’s Global Livability Index. Melbourne last year ended its 7-year run as the top city in the survey. This year, Vienna topped it by .7 of a point out of 100.  Melbourne took the number 2 spot this year, Sydney moved up from 5th to 3rd, Adelaide was 10th, and Brisbane and Perth came up in the next ten. So, 5 of our capital cities ranked among the top 20 cities in the world. Aren’t we lucky to live in Australia? We’re in the best place in the world at the best time in history. So why are so many people miserable? The Economist has found that being rich helped people’s happiness. But it’s not everything. Other factors included crime rates, trust in public institutions, and the health of the family.  According to the 2019 World Happiness Report, there are three important factors to finding happiness: Relationships Money Health How wealthy you are has a lot to do with living in the luckiest country in the world, and if you’re living in Australia, you’re living in the luckiest country right now.  And it’s about to get a whole lot better. The latest Roy Morgan Wealth Report revealed a very positive long-term trend. Australia has performed very strongly over the past 12 years compared with other OECD nations – particularly in Europe where many nations went backwards over the same period. Since 2007, net wealth per capita in Australia has increased by 65.1%, with gains across all levels. The wealthiest 10% of Australians with an average net wealth of over $2 million (up by $811k from 2007), hold 47.9% of net wealth. The poorest 50% of Australians with an average of $31k (up by $11k), who despite gains have seen their total share of net wealth fall from 3.9% to 3.7%. Our geographic neighbors China and India will outpace us in private wealth growth, but if we play our cards right, not only will we be providing these nations with natural resources, but with education, health and technology. And there is the real opportunity for our tourism industry to flourish as we become the playground of a rich new middle class in Asia, just as we were one of the preferred holiday destinations for the Japanese in the 1980′s. Australians and particularly property investors seem to have lost their mojo. Sentiment is improving, but consumer confidence has been low for some time and many potential property investors are sitting on the sidelines waiting for someone to ring the bell confirming the market has bottomed. They’re being fed by the media who in general have forgotten that we’re the lucky country. They forget that as a nation of around 25 million people we punch well above our weight with the world’s 14th largest economy. Australians tend to take many things for granted. Yet despite all our challenges, in certain respects, times have never been so good for us. Our economy is in second gear, not in reverse. Our political system is solid, and our banking system is sound. Income levels are at or near historic highs and our life expectancy continues to increase steadily. We should feel very lucky for the situation we find ourselves in and naturally being a great place to live is strongly positive for our housing markets. The fact is, as Australians we have every reason to be proud of where we live and excited about our future, including the long-term health of our property markets. Cash flow comes to the rescue of property investors The average gross rental yield over the history of Australia is about 11.2%. At the moment, it’s 4.3% -- much lower than average.  Although long-term growth hasn’t been phenomenal, it’s been steady. With the continuous price growth, the yield drops if rents don’t go up. However, this is an abnormal situation. Population growth is continuing at a fairly high rate, and 60% of those are overseas arrivals, and they need to rent for a number of years. So rent demand is rising, and rents are going to raise dramatically over the next couple of years.  Links and Resources: Michael Yardney Metropole Property Strategists Metropole’s Strategic Property Plan – to help both beginning and experienced investors John Lindeman – Lindeman Reports  Get the team at Metropole to help build your personal Strategic Property Plan Click here and have a chat with us More details at the episode web page: Where’s the best place to be born at the moment | Cash flow comes to the rescue of property investors Some of our favourite quotes from the show: “We’re lucky that we live in Australia.” – Michael Yardney “If we get it right we could be the playground to a rich new middle class of Asians.” – Michael Yardney “We learn by what we see, so pay attention.” – Michael Yardney PLEASE LEAVE US A REVIEW Reviews are hugely important to me because they help new people discover this podcast. 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