7 Steps to Wealth

The author is John Fitzgerald. He controls well over a hundred million dollars of property and has consistently done that for more than 30 years. Accumulation, that is. The difference between him and someone else you might listen to is that he has the numbers in dollars to prove it, whereas many others have just a colourful story. John first registered his business on October 13, 1981, that's over 30 years of continuous success. His educational arm – Custodian started in 1998 has helped thousands of Australians build wealth through a well-structured property portfolio and proven system as outlined in 7 Steps to Wealth. Our clients’ properties have increased in value by close to $1 billion which takes the total client’s portfolio to more than $2.9 billion, a true testament to not only John's education but also that real estate is the proven way to build wealth. In that time, John has bought, sold and developed more than 10,000 properties. John has helped create hundreds of millionaires, with case studies to prove it. These defined ‘millionaires’ are people with four or more properties – over 11 times the national average. This equation puts those clients in the top 1% of all property investing Australians.

Acknowledgements ix

Preface xi

Foreword xiii

Introduction: A fool and his money are easily parted xv

Who is John L. Fitzgerald? xxiii

Part I: Starting points 1

1 Why build wealth? 7

2 Why residential real estate? 17

3 A structure for growth 35

Part II: The 7 steps to wealth 47

Step 1 Buy land for capital growth 49

Step 2 Optimise your income 69

Step 3 Maximise your tax benefits 87

Step 4 Finance to build wealth 101

Step 5 Aim for affordability 121

Step 6 Make time work for you 133

Step 7 Be all you can be 151

Appendix A: Tenancy application form 167

Appendix B: Questions and answers 175