Property vs Stocks, page-40

Thought I'd better put in a view from a payg employee .

Get yourself a good steady job ( skill backed ) earning more than you spend and buy a property . Build a bit of equity and go again . Rinse and repeat . Call it compulsory saving if you like but there is no doubt the power of leverage and compounding . A bit of experience gained through being involved can add value as well .

Somewhere along the way I got interested in shares so with a bit of that spare money I started building a portfolio . Now the stock portfolio is about the same value as the property one so I've spread my risk roughly 50:50 . No one can guarantee that either will be perfect so the spread is the go . Steady cash flow from rent and fully franked dividends makes it easy to sleep at night .

Fortunately for me , I'm in a defined benefit super scheme at work which I like to call my insurance policy in case I manage to stuff up my investments .

All pretty much low risk but it also means a longer timeframe . I suspect that this wouldn't suit some of the posters on here as they seem to want to be rich overnight . For you guys , don't follow my example .

Thinking about it , whether you work for yourself or work for someone else , the common thread is a bit of hard work and sacrifice , particularly early on . Add in some luck and a reasonable time frame and I think anyone can do it .