Investing in Property on a Low Income at 24 – Interview with Matt Chamberlain

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iNAG0fxF6Kk Matt Chamerlain was able to purchase his first property at the age of 24 while on a low income. In this episode we talk about early financial lessons he learned, how get got into property, the details of his investments and his plans for the future. This is an inspiring interview with an up and coming property investor and I'm grateful that he was able to share his story with us. 0:00 - Introduction0:40 - Matt's first financial lessons7:09 - What go Matt into property9:59 - How to invest on a low income17:13 - Avoiding bad debt19:00 - Why did you use a buyer's agent?24:38 - The experience using a buyer's agent27:57 - Matt's property details30:59 - How has owning the property been32:35 - What's Matt's long term goals38:35 - Last big takeaway Recommended Videos: Interview With Ben Everingham From Pumped On Property (Ep198) 2 Properties Before She Turned 30 - Interview With Lisa Tran Transcription Ryan 0:00Today, I'm really excited because I have a very inspiring investor on the channel. Today, I'm interviewing Matt Chamberlain, who was able to purchase his first property at the age of 24. All while doing it on a low income. I love these stories where we can talk through people's journey, how they got into property, how they're able to secure their property, and where they're looking to go in the future. So hey, Matt, thanks for coming on today. Matt 0:23no problems at all. Ryan? Glad to be here. Ryan 0:25Yeah. So you hit me up over email and said, I've been listening to you for years, you've used Ben and Simon as buyer's agents to help purchase your property. Do you want to chat? It took me way too long to get around to doing this. But I'm really excited to talk to you today about your journey. So do you want to take us back, I guess, to the beginning, where did interest in property or personal finance and things like that start for you, it was, Matt 0:49it was at a very young age, my, my mum probably was the best role model for this when I was maybe 567 years old. Back then we she opened a like a Super Saver account at the local bank with, you know, for my brother and I, and maybe not, you know, on day one, but over time, she really educated us on you know, the perks of that particular savings account, and what you have to do each week to achieve, you know, your high interest rates, and that kind of stuff, which, you know, as it happened, it was depositing a certain amount of money each and every month. So what she would do is, she would give my brother and I pocket money, she'd give us $10 each week, but what she would do is she'd hand it to us say it, you know, at the school gate, and then we'd all go down to the bank. And then we deposit it without deposit book straight to the bank teller, put it into our bank account. And, you know, we got the receipt back. And we could see over time, our all of our different lines on the on the checkbook, where, you know, our money was slowly increasing over time. And I guess that was probably the very first introduction for me with, you know, learning about money and how money works. But then, you know, fast forward five, five years or so when I got my first job when I was 13. Again, sorry, tax man, but I always got paid in cash back then. So the, the owner of that business would pay us in cash again, same thing, I think the best thing about, about having that experience when I was much younger is that I could see, you know, I guess cash, see notes and dollars and actually probably associated that mostly with walking straight to the bank, as opposed to walking into the canteen or something like that, Ryan 2:40you know, that was me when I was 13 or 14, I got a paper on. And so I would go around the streets blowing my whistle, people would come out and buy papers and tip you and that's kind of how I started. And yeah, same as you got paid in cash, looking back on it never even thought about tax or anything like that. But at that age, I think we'd be earning over the amount anyway to have to pay tax But Matt 3:02no, very true. Very true. So look at that was 13 was, you know, the first job and then that I slowly got pay rises in that and moved into to, I guess, well after school. So again, five years down the track 17 when I graduated, I'd been working part time for a fair while. And probably I think it might have been in year 12 I actually picked up a book called The barefoot investor. And that really taught me all about, I guess money management. So yes, I was putting all this money into a bank account, but I didn't really know why I was doing it, or what I was working towards. I just knew that I had, you know, a couple of $1,000 sitting in the bank. Ryan 3:42Yeah, so you have a good savings habit, but you had no purpose behind it or really goals or ambitions of what to do with that money. Matt 3:50Absolutely. And you know, the Barefoot investor was the probably came at the perfect time because by then, you know, 17, I bought a $3,000 car, I was then deciding that I was going to save up and go over to Europe and spend some money in Europe on a holiday but picked up the book and realized that okay, I can actually be doing all of that I want to end putting some more money aside to savings and investment down the track. So, you know, I walked into the bank when I was 18 when I was you know able to kind of control my own my own bank accounts and that and asked the lady if she could set up six online saver accounts. And she nearly fell off a chair because she was just she just didn't understand why I needed so many accounts. Ryan 4:37Yeah, well and as well five years ago, or even more, having that many online accounts was not very common, whereas now barefoot investors more prevalent having multiple accounts, you can just set them up online. Easy. Yep, Matt 4:50yep, so true. So look, I had my you know, I have my emergency account. I had my bills account where I'd pay all of my ratios and stuff throughout the year. savings, all that kind of stuff. And the best thing about it was, you know, car radio would come around, and I'd have to spend 800 bucks or something, but it didn't bother me at all I had to do is transfer it out of one account into my spending account and just pay the bill. So that was something that just, I think, really resonated with me and I kind of held on to that. Going into full time work. Ryan 5:20It has been so good the Barefoot investor and his whole money management. I've applied that to my own life with some tweaks as well. And it's that situation when it when a bill comes up a big bill like car Reggio, or insurances and things like that, when you've been putting aside the money every single week, you can just kind of take it, move it in pay the bill, it's so good. So I've done a video on explaining the bank accounts and buckets. And so I'll link up to that down below. But yeah, I run with that as well. It's the best thing ever. Matt 5:50So look, then we move on to after school worked three jobs at one point, worked very, very hard saved up, went over to Europe the first time and in spent about $10,000. For me back then that was a hell of a lot of money. But I managed to make it last for 73 days in the end, came back and then went straight into my first year of a Business and Commerce degree at uni. So always again, probably on the vein of learning about money and business, I really enjoyed the concept of doing a business degree. Yep, I moved into that and carried two part time jobs throughout my whole degree whilst whilst working full time, or sorry, while studying full time. So continued I guess the savings habit. And through that time, I managed to get over to Europe again for another two months. And then pretty much for the let's say second year onwards really started saving and putting all that money into a bit of an idea for me was was getting enough money for a house deposit back then. Ryan 6:57Okay, and what inspired saving for a house deposit barefoot investor, he tends to talk about, you know, shares more over a house or he does talk about buying your own home, but not so much investment properties. So what was it that got you thinking, Okay, I'm going to save for a house deposit. And how old were you on stage? Matt 7:16So first year at uni I was 18 second, third, fourth uni as bet what 22 you know, in my fourth year of uni, but I probably picked up a book by the name of Rich Dad Poor Dad, which again, another I guess household favorite. When I was maybe 20 years old. Yep. And it was in my let's say that was in my second year of uni started obsessing over property. And I was commuting 40 minutes a day, each way to uni. So I thought what better way to waste the car trip buyer starting to educate myself about property and picked up all of these different podcasts he was included, on what the property marketing in Australia does, how it works, how leverage works, how to buy a property, who you need in your team to buy a property, all that kind of stuff, which was, I guess, my education piece at the same time as I was, you know, putting all this money aside to save for a deposit. Ryan 8:14That's so cool to hear that, you know, you're using that commute time productively to learn about these sorts of things, which is definitely something that's massively changed my life in so many different areas, whenever I'm driving anywhere, going anywhere, even brushing my teeth, I'm often like listening to something and learning and I remember being a pharmaceutical rep, because I would drive around a lot. And so all the other reps would just listen to the radio and music. And I would I would just churn through podcasts after podcasts on two times speed. But I just learned so much. And it's just, it's really changed my life dramatically. And obviously doing the same thing has changed the trajectory of your life as well. Absolutely. I