ASKING SEAN  

the feeling of paying off your mortgage and owning your home outright is unsurpassable. It changed my life profoundly the day I made the final payment to the bank and walked debt free. I went into the office the next day and felt completely free and from then on take no shit, even from the boss. Because whatever happens, I always have a roof over my head, and no more rent/mortgage to pay. And the house is now worth a lot due to inflation/appreciation - is is landed.

Hi Sean, about the tax part, if we didn't settle, but place the money in the semi-flexi account, how does it affect the taxes?

I keep 1 year of Installment for My rental properties... I keep in ASB... The reserve can give divident.. my reserve is just a reserve with dividen... I am not put it in high risk investment (not even in unit trust)

I think is not brainer for a property investor like Sean to keep leveraging their portfolio. Yes is a personal choice and no right or wrong and depends on your risk appetite. If you are just 31, you probably still have room to leverage. However, when you reach 40s later or when you have a family soon, is probably a risk you may need to consider. Personally; as much as I love to invest in properties; I am caution myself and I am also working in overseas. I will not put all in one basket (as in won’t putting all my properties investment or monies in Malaysia). And that’s me. I would diversified and buy property in BKK or Australia though ROI may be lower after taxes, is advisable to put monies outside Malaysia considering the potential political Malaysia climate. We will just never know. Yes I will not sleep well if I owe too much debts too. And yeah; that will be my decision.

Hi Sean, wondering besides the mortgage interest, the assement and quit rent, and fire insurance what are the other deductible expenses for rental income?

Sean, if you don’t mind me asking , for someone who is heavy in real estate investments how did you/ do you : - mentally deal with the amount of debt - how did you navigate thru covid with rentals disturbed or if it recurs - when you see the returns, it’s prolly when you’re much older (50s) is when you are actually tangibly rich? And presently cash flow remains the same? - so what is the motivation to get into real estate?

Sean, Singapore government will love you. They love citizens that can work till they die. But there is a dilemma for many Singaporeans. Singaporeans are worried they can’t retire comfortably. There was a saying about perpetual slave to money. Money will be your god.

HI Sean, based on the example of rental 3.6k and mortgage of 3k per mth, the cost of debt plus income tax is actually too huge. Cost of Debt per mth : $3000 Income Tax per mth : $180 (30% of $600) Total Cost : $3180 %cost to Rental Income : $3180 / $3600 = 88% Return per mth before expenses : $420 / $3600 = 11.7% $420 is before deducting all other expenses to maintain a condo. Too risky plus you do not reduce the principal amount drastically. At the mercy of the banks. One better way is to sell of one property and use whatever profits to pay down the 1st property's mortgage. Increase the Return per mth for the 1st property so that it becomes way +ve cashflow where you have a lot of funds coming into your pocket. Slowly build up wealth. For future properties, buy in cash with funds generated from own employee's income.

hi Sean, there is something that kind of stuck in my mind and I have problem digesting. hope you can help clarify this for me. If according to your strategy, I am to get as much bank money to help invest in the properties, then use the tenants' rentals to help cover the monthly commitment. This seems to put some sort of dependency onto the relationship with the banks, and the more properties I acquired, the more reliance I need to be toward the banks. But what if suddenly, there is some issue cause banks to make you speed up or double your payment towards the bank? Like a reverse moratorium or something. Is it possible for such things to happen? My point is, the whole strategy seems to put a very heavy dependency toward the banks, and any bad things that happen to this dependency will heavily affect this strategy as well. Is this something that actually don't need to worry about? Because in the hindsight after typing all these out, if things like what I mentioned happened, chances are, the country's economy is in deep already.

If all being equal , RM has performed badly against other currencies and you guys project it will continue for years to come. Your investment will only be good in Malaysia. Even going to Thailand is painful. Retirement travel will only be in Malaysia’s backyard. Earning sgd, I suggest to buy in VN or TH if it’s not too mafan. Economically these countries perform better than Malaysia. Equates to stronger currency. I would diversify.

What is the name of the background music?