Perth mum reveals how her maternity leave sparked her wealth transformation
Michelle Rule had her son in 2015. At the time, she wasn't in a bad financial position; she and her husband ran a successful enough IT business and were steadily paying off their mortgage on a home in Perth.
'Wealth creation was never something I was interested in,' she told news.com.au.
'I grew up thinking money wasn't important but, after I had our first child, I was sitting around thinking about his future, and I had no assets to leave him.'
Despite running a profitable business, they had minimal super, just $50,000 in equity in their home and had only cleared $30,000 in personal debt a few years earlier.
Ms Rule felt a growing sense of panic.
She had never been money orientated and was worried she had fallen too far behind to ever catch-up.
'I had overlooked this thing called wealth and I really needed to figure out how to set myself up,' she said.
Even though she had managed to get into the property market and was certainly not experiencing any severe financial stress, she also had no financial plan beyond the day-to-day stuff.
'We had some cash flow coming through the business but we weren't very good at saving money,' she said.
Becoming a mum made Ms Rule realise that she wanted to amass wealth beyond just living comfortably day-to-day.
The couple decided they needed to invest to get ahead and wanted to buy some investment properties to help achieve their goals.
They were able to pull some cash together because they had equity in their primary residence and purchased two homes in Queensland in 2016.
It was 'challenging' because they were securing mortgages off a business, which can be harder, but they managed to get approval.
'We didn't know what we were doing,' she said.
'We just thought anything was better than what we had, which was nearly nothing.'
The pair purchased the two homes in suburbs they considered 'up and coming', with both houses costing around $400,000 each.
'Everyone said it was crazy to get into debt, the property market was going to crash and people were saying prices were too high,' she said.
However, the now 41-year-old went against what everyone was saying and the couple 'borrowed as much' as they could.
Both those homes are now worth between $800,000 and $900,000 and have doubled in value in just over a decade.
It was a gutsy move, but Ms Rule made it because she believed that if she didn't take an educated risk, she wouldn't build wealth.
'I don't believe with the influx of people we get into Australia (house) prices are ever going to drop,' she said.
The couple have since bought another property in Perth and another in Queensland, now becoming renters themselves while owning a total of five properties.
'We rent where we live and we made that choice a decade ago to use all our borrowing power to go to investment properties,' she said.
Ms Rule said she thinks being a tenant herself has made her a better landlord because she understands what people need.
'We are tenants as well and I like to think we're good tenants, and at the same time, I like to think we are good landlords,' she said.
'We let people have pets, paint walls and treat the homes as their own and we always come in at fair market rate.'
Their properties now come to just under $5 million in total asset value and the business is worth over $2 million.
Ms Rule said that, in property, the couple now has just under $5 million in total asset value, and the business is also worth over $2 million.
They also have shares, superannuation, and some Bitcoin.
Altogether, she estimates their combined wealth to be at $7 million, but they also owe around $2 million in mortgages.
'It feels surreal. I never saw myself as someone that desired wealth but it became about freedom and choice,' she said.
Ms Rule explained that she doesn't have to trade her time for money and she can make the right choices for her family because of the financial freedom.
'It makes me feel like I've got options,' she said.
The fact that amassing wealth has significantly improved her quality of life has inspired her to become a mentor and coach to other women.
'Women come to tell me and say they are not good with money, but I don't believe they're not good with money,' she said.
Ms Rule argued that, in general, the truth is that they just haven't created a strategy around their money.
She wants to help other women 'exit the whole pay-cheque to pay-cheque stress' that plagues so many families.
What she loves most about being a millionaire isn't being able to buy fancy thing but rather the freedom, and she thinks everyone deserves that.
'I was still a happy person when I didn't have wealth behind me and I had meaning in my life but I also couldn't take holidays,' she said.
'I would say, (amassing wealth) has allowed me to really live a life that feels good and I can spend my time the way I want too.'
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