Client Success Stories

In 2003, my husband and I saw Margaret interviewed on television and made the decision to find out more. We couldn't believe our luck when we found a Destiny branch close to home (Perth) and after spending some time with the team there, firmly believed that this was a logical and viable way for us to provide for our retirement.

We had equity in our home but limited finances and had always believed that purchasing an investment property was an option which would not be open to us for some time. Within the first two years, and with the valuable help of the Perth team, we purchased three properties, all of which have done really well.

Property investment took a bit of a back seat for a couple of years while we worked on setting up our own residential building company, however I recently attended some Focus Group Sessions and am now motivated and keen to get involved again. Since making that decision, James has assisted me by providing valuable tools and advice to assist with our property search.

Although we have not been actively investing over the past few years, James, Terry, Paul and the team have always been more than happy to assist us and answer our questions. We really appreciate the strong support that we've received from Destiny Perth and are excited to be looking for our fourth investment property purchase - with many more to come!!

Once upon a time there was a couple called Tony and Michele. Tony was a safety officer and Michele was a teacher. They had four lovely children and lived in a cottage on the Gold Coast. They worked very hard to build up a portfolio of investment properties. But one day a bad, bad troll took all the money that they, and lots of others, had invested into his company and ran away with it. Michele and Tony were very sad because they had to sell their properties to keep the tax man away. Little by little they began again, buying a house here and there. They tried one loan, but interest rates were too high, they tried another broker but the cash flow was too negative. They did not know what to do.

One night Tony went to bed with a very smart lady called Margaret. He was very excited and called Michele into the room - she got very excited too. Margaret was telling a wonderful bed time story on the radio and she seemed to talk about the happy ending Tony and Michele were looking for. So off they went to the big city to listen to Margaret talk at a seminar. She told them of some very clever ways to manage investment properties. It sounded just right. They went to a special meeting with a delightful lady called 'The Good Fairy Carolyn' on the Gold Coast. It was their "destiny" to meet her because she made a lot of sense. She did not have a magic wand to make things better… she had "The System". Tony and Michele agreed that this was the place for them and they joined the "Destiny Family".

The system meant they had to work hard by doing lots of research on a magic box and a voice amplifier, but poor Tony and Michele had eaten an apple poisoned with procrastination. Luckily for them, The Good Fairy Carolyn left a trail of breadcrumbs for them to follow back to Destiny land. When they arrived back, they met 'Prince Boris Charming' and he and The Good Fairy Carolyn thought it was about time Michele and Tony got a move along and invited them to a shindig.

At this shindig they met a lot of the Knights and Ladies of Destiny Land. They learnt how to unlock the secrets of the magic box and were given the names of Keepers of Wisdom who helped them to find new castles to buy. At the end of the Coming of Wisdom Season they celebrated because 3 members of the group had become new landlords. Tony was so excited by what he learnt that he organised a playgroup for his play mates who he'd introduced to Destiny Land. They would meet each week and competed for the prize for the best foul foot site of the week.

Tony told Prince Boris Charming of the fun he had at the playgroup and Prince Boris Charming organised all the Knights and Ladies of the Land to meet around the Round Table on the eve of each fortnight. What fun! What conviviality! What motivation! Each night the assemblage talked of the different ways they have found the yellow brick road to their own "destiny" and breadcrumbs were put out for those who had lost their way. Like so many, Tony and Michele are no longer waiting for their happy ending, they are living it.

"Life itself is the most wonderful fairy tale."

Said Hans Christian Andersen.

We knew we had to do 'something' to ensure our retirement years would be comfortable. Eight books into my research, I read 'How to Create an Income for Life' by Margaret Lomas. She knew what she was talking about! We contacted our local Destiny Branch, Sydney, and made an appointment. Dean Bassett showed us how we could use the equity in our home & units to better our financial future - plus we came away thinking he was the 'teacher' from the Chinese Proverb that says "Give a man a fish and he will eat for a day. Teach him how to fish and he will eat for a lifetime."

Destiny weren't Property Gurus trying to sell their own properties - Destiny were going to teach us how to 'fish'. It took us 12 months and lots of weekly 'Focus Groups' to take that next step in property investing - but when we did, it snowballed. One of the most valuable things we have learnt from Destiny -you learn best by 'doing'. In two months we purchased 2 three bedroom homes (only a couple of years old) with great rental returns & lots of depreciation.

Destiny 'Focus Groups' have taught us to be open to opportunities - as a result we had an offer accepted on a brand new home which the builder wanted to lease back from us as a 'Display Home' for several years. The rent is higher than normal residential rent, we are very happy. Positive cash flow too!

At a Destiny seminar a 'Quantity Surveyor' talked about 'scrapping' & 'seeing opportunities to get a tax deduction before any work is done'. An opportunity arose when I found a home that was cosmetically poor but structurally sound - it had immediate potential. We bought the property and renovated, we now own a very modern, desirable rental property. We gained a rent increase of approximately 42% after the renovations.

We now own six investment properties. After joining Destiny we purchased four properties in the space of seven months (our last in Jan 08). We are on track with our 'Property Acquisition Strategy' & are again looking for the right property. We now feel that our retirement years will be financially comfortable. The 'Team at Sydney' are always there to give us advice. We cannot thank them enough for their continual support & encouragement.

My husband & I had 4 investment properties prior to finding Destiny. I had always been interested in property and could see it as a way to secure our financial future. My husband is in commercial building and his body will not allow him to continue to do the physical work he does through to retirement age. We saw property as being our vehicle to a safe and secure retirement. We were keen to purchase more property but the bank wouldn't lend us any more money as I wasn't working and we had four young children so I thought our property investing days were over.

Luckily I picked up one of Margaret's books by chance and read it in a couple of days. Through the Destiny website I found the Melbourne office. I had an appointment with Michael and came away very excited and motivated with the prospect of someone being able to help us start investing again. I couldn't wait to become a Destiny client.

That was approximately 4 years ago and during that time I have learnt so much. Initially, I couldn't grasp the concept of buying a property over the internet 'sight unseen' but with Michael as my mentor as well as reading all Margaret's books the process was less daunting than expected. Since then we have managed to purchase a further 10 properties and have well exceeded our initial expectations. None of this would have been possible without the full support and encouragement from Michael, Laurel and Lucy and the excellent team at Melbourne.

In fact I love the property investing business so much that after attending Margaret's seminar in Melbourne last year I was so motivated again that I phoned Michael and asked if there was any possibility of me working at Destiny in some capacity in the future. My youngest child was starting school and I felt the time was right for me to get back into the workforce doing something I loved. I am now a consultant with Destiny and love being able to help Destiny clients with their investment property purchases.

We feel very reassured about our financial future and look forward to many years of travel with our children and the choices that our investment properties will bring us. None of this would have been possible if I hadn't picked up that first book of Margaret's!

Kevin and Wendy run their own Photographic business and have enjoyed their involvement with Destiny as a way to help set up some security for their retirement.

"We are good friends with Gary and Jan and when they began their journey with Destiny, we, of course, were not going to miss out" says Wendy. "I have really enjoyed the learning process and admit we were total novices when it came to property. Kevin had built our own home as an Owner Builder and that was the extent of our property knowledge.

Through Margaret's books and the Focus Group Sessions held at the Branch, we were able to get a handle on buying further property. Our first purchase was a property in Kalgoorlie WA for $115,000 and we were quite scared of the whole process. Gary and Jan held our hand through the different stages and that property has always been a positive cash flow property. It is now worth more than $200,000 and we are rapt!

Our next venture was in building a property in Northam WA as we found an inexpensive block. The process was different but our goal was always to be positive cashflow at the end and we have achieved that, and again seen the value of the property grow well.

It is so reassuring to have Gary and Jan there as mentors through all our property purchase decisions. We love the professional service provided by Perth.

Anthony and Joanne started their Destiny journey after attending Destiny's Central Coast seminar in 2006. Anthony works as a land surveyor while Joanne works part time as an Office Administrator. After thoroughly researching their options, Anthony and Joanne could see that their investment goals were well aligned with the Destiny® program and subsequently joined the Central Coast branch as Platinum clients in March 2007. In July, the Olivers were invited to join the trial group for the new and improved Property Focus Group and successfully completed the program in September this year.

"Joanne and I were so motivated after attending the Property Focus Group that about a week after the conclusion of the session we found our first investment property in Tamworth. The Property Focus Group was an excellent kick-start to our property Investment journey and we learnt many useful research tips to help us find our first investment property". "We were keen to learn the Destiny approach and were pleasantly surprised at how fast we were able to acquire our first property. Through the Property Focus Group we were also able to meet other like-minded people who were interested in investing and this gave us a good chance to learn from each other".

"Our first property was not a positive cash flow property and we struggled with this a little but we also knew through our research that there were many positive indications, that in time the rent returns would follow. We realised that it was important for us to get a foot in the door and not to lose good opportunities when they came along".

The Oliver's are firm believers that anyone can achieve their property investment aspirations; all that is needed is belief, confidence and application. Anthony and Joanne are already actively searching for their next property.