87. From investment properties to ETFs: how Dave actually made the switch

Most people sit firmly on one side of the property versus shares fence. Dave Gow spent 15-plus years on both, building a property portfolio, hitting the borrowing ceiling, then selling down to fund the ETF portfolio he now lives off.

In this episode Hayden puts him through a barrage of listener-style questions on how the transition actually works, and why most property investors have never honestly audited their returns.

In this episode we'll discuss:

💸 Why the property-only plan stalled: maxed-out borrowing capacity, and cash flow forecasts that looked grim even with the properties paid off

💸 The mechanics of the switch: sell a property, park the lump sum in an offset, live off part of it, and dollar cost average the rest into ETFs over a couple of years

💸 Why holding maximum debt while living off your portfolio rarely works, even when the maths of leverage looks appealing

💸 Surviving the brutal years: Perth rents falling while expenses rose, negative cash flow on a falling asset, and why Dave banked on mean reversion

💸 The self-delusion audit: anchoring to purchase price and forgetting stamp duty, holding costs, selling fees and CGT. "I bought for 600 and sold for a million" rarely means what people think

💸 Why leverage only works when returns clearly beat the cost of servicing it, and why interest rates and timing matter more than the property you pick

💸 How much you need to retire via property: roughly 30 to 35 times annual expenses instead of 25, to cover selling costs and tax on the way through

💸 Which property to sell first: most equity, strongest market, worst cash flow, and the psychology trap of always keeping the recent winner

💸 Dave's contrarian take on Melbourne: why the unloved market (with some land, away from apartment oversupply) might be the interesting one