Member Spotlight: Tom Johnson on Achieving Financial Independence

Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00.034)
People overestimate what they can do in a year and underestimate what they can do in 10. And if you'd have asked me at the start of the program, would we be where we are now? It would have been unfathomable. Achieving financial independence means that you now are in a position where I get to do the things that I enjoy working on. Once we turn that wheel on that first property and we'd finally saw the rent drop in, that's where the penny dropped. It was a real defining moment to say, actually, you know what? We can do this again. And there's no reason why we can't rinse and repeat this. And so that's exactly what we did.

Speaker 2 (00:31.47)
Welcome to this week's episode of Wealth Talk. My name's Christian Rodwell, the membership director for Wealth Builders, joined today by our founder, Mr Kevin Whelan. Hi, Kevin. Happy New Year.

Same to you, Chris. And it's great to actually be sharing and reminding when this time of year comes around and people kind of, I don't know, what do they do? Resolutions that they don't keep. It's great to be showcasing somebody who kept to a plan, had the patience and the tenacity to follow through continually despite setbacks. And it's taken a while, but crumbs, you know, five years to become.

financially independent and then be financially independent for the rest of your life and build on that. I think I'd rather do that than stick my money in a pension fund and hope for 35 years it might work.

You're right. It is that time of year, isn't it, where we'll set on some new kind of goals for the year ahead and probably had a bit of time for reflection over Christmas. And if this is the situation that you find yourself in, then please be inspired by Tom's story today, because Tom was in that same place just a few years ago. In fact, it was when we launched our membership program back in 2019, Kevin, and we launched the podcast.

as well in February 2019. And Tom was an avid listener of the podcast. And so it was great to be able to bring him onto the show today. yeah, it just shows, doesn't it Kevin? Time goes quickly. We remember the pandemic, Tom joined just before all of that kicked in, but that time goes quickly. Someone today might be thinking, five years sounds a long time, but if you start now, then the rest will unfold. And before you know it, you'll be looking back.

Speaker 3 (02:10.99)
And you know, one of the things that impresses me, I have to say this, it took me 15 years to hit financial independence. I was 30 when I started, 45 when I hit the target I'd set. Okay, we all have different targets, but Tom's done him five. And nothing is, when you listen to the story, there's nothing earth shattering. There's nothing dramatic. It's tenacity at work. It's following principles.

Okay, you get nudged from time to time, but sticking with them. I think some of the principles you could tell he really understands the principles. I it's always pleasing to me when people use the terminology that has been created, the IP, in other words, you he uses terms that are really important to kind of get your head around. And if you've been listening to the podcast for a while and

maybe haven't embraced all of the terminology, then Chris, let's give people an opportunity to reconnect with maybe some of the terms Tom's using that he knows and we know, but a new listener to us wouldn't know. And we could showcase some of the podcasts where we reveal those to give people perhaps a bit of an injection of good IP that they could possibly act upon in January.

so that they've started the plan for the next three to five years.

Indeed, we can. Tom's story today is one of creating a family wealth plan. Tom was a busy guy, full-time job, international travel. We had two children, had a global pandemic, and he still managed to achieve financial independence within five years and before the age of 40 on top of that as well. I think time for us to head on to our conversation today with Tom Johnson.

Speaker 2 (04:09.774)
Tom, welcome to Wealth Talk today. How are you?

doing very well thanks Christian very well indeed

It's so good to have you with us. And you've been a member since 2019, one of our founding members, almost one of the first, Tom, if I remember correctly. And we're to hear your story today. And it's been a fantastic journey and real commitment and such a testimony to if you follow the process, the process will work. And we're going to hear how that has worked for you today. So yeah, as I say, pleasure to have you on. And I believe this is your first ever podcast as well.

It is indeed. Yeah, very excited. listen, I've been an avid listener of the podcast right from the very beginning. So it's great to be able to join you today, Christian. Thanks for inviting me on.

That's right. And, you know, we talk about family as well. you know, we should say that you haven't done this all alone, have you? You've been supported by your wife, Leah, and I've known you to have two children in the time that you've been a member. So that's how many years we've been on this journey together. So yeah, tell us a little bit about your family.

Speaker 1 (05:07.734)
Leah is my wife and it's been a huge part of our wealth building journey. Right by my side, it's been something we've done absolutely together. And then, we've been blessed with two wonderful daughters as well, two young daughters. So there's been plenty going on during our wealth building journey, both professionally and personally, and I'm sure we'll get into that. But they've been a big part of why we've been doing this.

When you first joined Wealthbuilders, I remember you were in a corporate career and working long hours, traveling a fair bit. Since then, you've been able to quit your job and achieve financial independence at the age of 40. Quite remarkable really. I'm sure we'll be an inspiration to many of our listeners. How does that make you feel, Just reflecting back on that.

a huge milestone. I think it's that the age old quote of people overestimate what they can do in a year and underestimate what they can do in 10. If you'd have asked me at the start of the program, would we be where we are now? It would have been unfathomable. It's been a hell of a journey actually. It's testament to the fact that the process does work when you commit to it. Listen, I enjoyed the job that I did. I enjoyed the industry that I was in.

But achieving financial independence means that you now are in a position where I get to do the things that I enjoy working on and that really interest me. And it's great to now be in that position at the age of 40 to be able to now choose where I spend my time and what I do going forward. So yeah, it's a hugely exciting time and I feel very fortunate to be in this position.

What we're going to do today then Tom, we're going to walk through our recurring revenue roadmap. That's our nine step process that you followed as well as many others to achieve financial independence and really begins with the mindset and really getting clear on your reason why. We talked about family. I'm sure that was a big part of it. But can you remember, was there a particular catalyst around 2019, anything else that kind of, you know, really made you sort of sit up and think, right, I've got to do something about things here? Yeah.

Speaker 1 (07:10.754)
There were two, the first of which is that before joining Wealth Builders, a few years before that, my mum had passed and she was age 60 and she passed with ovarian cancer and it came pretty quickly. I remember at that time, the realization that time is really short and then it's a real gift, the time that we have. That was quite a catalyst for me to really think about.

what I was doing and what I wanted to do. That was the first. Then the second is, and we talked about it at the start of the course, about Atu Daughters. I wanted to make sure that as they were growing up, that I was there and I was present. Also, I was able to leave them some kind of legacy for the future as well. Both of those events were really important in terms of helping me really get clear on

why I wanted to embark on the journey and what it meant to get to where I am today. So two really important defining moments for me.

Yeah. And can you remember how you first came across wealth builders and then found out about what we were launching at that time and obviously decided to join us?

Yeah, I, prior to joining Worldbuilders, like many, I'd spent some time doing property education courses. And during that time, I've become aware of Kevin, and this was before the program obviously had launched. And I was aware of some of the stuff that he was sharing and the concepts. I remember at one particular property training event, Kevin was speaking and I was really impressed at Kevin. And as I started to spend more time on YouTube and

Speaker 1 (08:53.71)
following some of the stuff that you were doing and Kevin and the deeper I got into it, the more it made sense to me. know, when I looked at, you know, the seven pillars, for me, that holistic approach just made total sense. And rather than focusing on one particular strategy or one particular thing, the fact that you could, you know, build wealth across seven pillars, you know, wrapped around with the roof as well and the foundations that are in place to help you.

sustain that wealth for the future was just, it was a no brainer to me. And from that point, I was committed to joining the program when it launched. It really was an easy decision at that point.

Yeah, well, were so pleased that you did, Tom. And one of the other things we do, know, soon after really getting clear on what is your why, what's driving you, is identifying what those financial milestones are. And we refer to them as our five levels of wealth and financial insecurity is where most people in the UK find themselves. You know, they're reliant on one source of income and that can be risky because if that suddenly disappears, whether it's from a job or your business, you know, there's no other income flowing in. that's...

know, where most people are. And then the first step for most people to, you know, to reach is financial security, which is generating enough income from assets to cover your essential outgoings on a monthly basis. can you remember what level you were at when you joined Tom?

my most, I was definitely in financial insecurity. I remember it very clearly because whilst I was in a really good corporate job and it paid very well, I remember, and you probably remember this as well, Christine, you sent out to all the founding members the charts, the poster charts we put on the wall and maybe you still do that today. But I remember putting them up on the wall and I remember looking at my income stream outside of corporate and it was zero. It was quite a sobering thought because I thought, actually, if my job was to go tomorrow for whatever reason,

Speaker 1 (10:47.318)
I have no other income coming in. So whilst it was quite a frightening thought, it was also the motivating factor for me to actually start to really get serious about building my wealth and building different income streams. yeah, definitely started with zero and obviously I've been working over the last X number of years to make sure that I was no longer in that position.

pleased to say you've now worked your way up to a place where when we talk about financial independence, what does that mean to you, Tom, now, you know, to have asset income now coming into your life every month?

choice. I think that's really the key. I now have the ability to be able to do things that I enjoy. I don't want to stop working. I really enjoy work, but it means that now I can actually spend the time on the things that really interest me, the things I really enjoy. That's been massive for me. I wouldn't necessarily have that if I didn't have those multiple streams of income. I would be dependent on one source of income and that would drive

know, where I spent my time or who I worked for. So now, as I said, it gives me that choice, is amazing feeling at the age of 40 to be in that position. I feel very blessed.

Yeah, we can tell us in a moment a little bit about those different income streams. But there's a final piece in our sort foundational stage of the roadmap. And we talked about the foundation, the solid kind of making sure there's no leaks and plugging any holes that exist. But then you've got the roof on top and this is all about the protection. As you well know, Tom, you would probably know the roof inside out by now. But this is talking about wills and powers of attorney and making sure that, you know, your assets, yourself and your family are protected.

Speaker 2 (12:25.89)
Was there anything there that you noticed you needed to pay some attention to when you joined?

Yeah, most definitely. It was actually the place that we started and both Leah and I spent the first month or so actually, one, getting our wills in place. We didn't have wills at that point in time. I put in place my last thing, power of attorney, so I went through that process. We went through the debits process as well to make sure that we were optimizing what we were spending and all that good stuff. yeah, we really focused down on making sure the roof was solid. And even now, I review that.

every year just to make sure that as things are evolving, the roof is still solid. I remember very clearly once we'd been through that process, the feeling that we had of, we were really satisfied to know that now actually we had wills, we had power attorneys. We looked at where we were spending our money and it was a really good feeling having gone through that to make sure that now we were building our wealth on really solid foundations.

Really good feeling to go through that and it's something we continue to revisit now.

Yeah, no, it's wonderful to hear that. talking about those foundations, we better start building some pillars now. So where was it that you began? Of course, we've got seven pillars, right? Business, property, looking at your home, looking at your pensions. So it could be overwhelming at the beginning to think, where do I start? where was that starting point for you,

Speaker 1 (13:47.406)
Yeah, for us, we started in the property pillar. It was an area that we had had some training in and an interest in. was really interesting coming into wealth builders looking at the seven different pillars because some of those we just hadn't considered at all. So we took that opportunity very early on to reassess. having done that, it still felt like property was the right pillar for us. And that's where we wanted to initially spend that time and really focus down on making some progress in.

So property was the pillar you decided on. Did you find leverage from any of the other pillars at all? Sometimes, when it comes to financial leverage, people are looking at maybe their home or their pension or cash that they've got in the bank. Where was that leverage for yourselves?

We didn't actually. For us, I said, I had a good corporate income. We had been saving for some time. For us, we had a good pot to start with. It's actually only recently now that we've started to spend time looking at the other pillars and trying to look at how we maximize and make progress in other pillars to help diversify our income. I'm sure we'll talk about that at some point. Initially, it was

We had savings we put to one side and we focused down on one particular strategy to get started.

Although I remember, Tom, it did take us a little while, didn't it, to decide on that strategy. So a few calls that you and Kevin had. So tell us about that sort of process of working out, you know, what was the right strategy for you.

Speaker 1 (15:19.918)
I remember it well. It can be, as you said, very overwhelming. We certainly found that. Even in the property pillar, as we know, there's so many different strategies you can go after. As we went through the wheel, Kevin and yourself probably thought, will we ever get started? I think we were going around in circles a little bit and we spent time obviously looking at different strategies.

We made some connections to yourself and Kevin with different individuals that helped us really dig into what was the right property strategy for us. But having done some education, looking at the connections and the due diligence, we made the decision that actually Byte-a-Lette was the right strategy for us. We were going to keep it very simple, very straightforward. We had a lot going on. I had a demanding global role. We had a young family at that point. It would have been very easy to get distracted by HMOs and...

service accommodation, all the other wonderful things that out there. But for us, we decided, you know, let's keep it really simple. Let's do something that's manageable. And we committed to the ByteElect strategy.

Yeah. And can you remember how long from joining to when you purchased your first ByteLite, how long that was?

Yeah, so I joined the program, was late 2019, I think it was, when it opened. And we then obviously had COVID start and we could talk a little bit about the challenges that that presented, but it was 2021. It was March, April of 2021 when we really started to turn the wheel and make some real progress. So it does said it took a good 12 to 18 months.

Speaker 1 (16:55.746)
to really make sure we were setting ourselves in the right direction.

Yeah, I think it's important for us to just pause on that because a lot of people always are looking for that quick result. And we understand that, right? We all want to see results as quickly as possible. But the reality is, when you actually start getting into things, you realize, hey, this is harder, this is going to take longer, this might cost more than we expected. And a lot of people just simply give up in that first six months, 12 months, 18 months, because they're not seeing the results.

It's such a terrible shame because once they drop out, they're guaranteed never to make it. You often see people as well kind of trying one thing, doesn't work, go to another thing, doesn't work, go to another thing, doesn't work. Again, that can be exhausting. It consumes all your time, your energy, your money, your confidence as well. I think it's an important lesson for people to hear that it did take you some time, but you stuck with it. You got the clarity. You made sure you made the right decisions in the end regarding your strategy.

And then after you did purchase that first property, Tom, how do things kind of play out after that?

You're absolutely right. The most important point is, and in terms of the lesson for us, is committing. You've got to commit to the process. For us, we went through that process of turning the wheel on buying one buy-to-let. That was by far the hardest property to buy. There were so many learnings going through that. But once you've turned the wheel once on that first buy-to-let,

Speaker 1 (18:33.562)
The second, the third, the fourth, the fifth, and so on becomes so much more easier because you've then got the learnings that sit behind that. Then obviously, you've got the benefit of momentum that starts to build behind you as well. That was definitely the case for us. Once we turn that wheel on that first property and we'd worked through all of the fears and concerns that we'd had and we finally saw the rent drop in for that first property on that first day of the month.

where the penny dropped. Quite literally, it was a real defining moment to say, actually, you know what? We can do this again. And there's no reason why we can't rinse and repeat this. And so that's exactly what we did.

So I guess if we fast forward to the point you are now, how many properties have you now purchased?

So we have a portfolio of 15 properties and a combination of flats and houses.

amazing. Yeah, and this is in the Bristol area where you live Tom, is that right?

Speaker 1 (19:29.164)
Yeah, predominantly in and around Bristol. So near to us. And again, that was the other thing that was important to us. There's all these different strategies that you can go and invest in all over the UK, even overseas. But for us, we made the decision, actually again, young family demanding job, let's keep it simple and let's keep it where we can actually give it the time and effort it deserves. And so we made the decision to invest close to home. Now there's financial trade-offs with that, we realized that, but again, we wanted to build something that was sustainable.

would be really difficult for us to do that with a young family doing that on the other side of the country, for example. So it was a very deliberate decision.

Well, congratulations. Kevin and I often say focus your way to security and then diversify to independence. Since then, or along the way, should say, you've now starting to have a look at some other areas. Anything in particular?

I think there's two really that we've started. Again, we're in the position now where we've got the headspace to be able to look at some of the other areas. Certainly, the investment pillar was a very natural space for us to go and explore. We're spending a lot of time in that area. Obviously, our pensioners connected to that as well. Based on my age, my pension pot is very different to others. But again, in that investment arena, we've also started looking at that.

The thing that I really like about wealth builders and enjoys is you have the seven pillars. And so as you move from one pillar, you have the opportunity to move to another. even now, you know, I'm thinking about, you've got all this IP, you know, all this stuff that you've built up over many, many years. How could you start to reuse and leverage that? So there's the opportunity to continue to build wealth in other pillars in the areas that interest you. So yeah, property, then investments and, you know, hope.

Speaker 1 (21:17.614)
Hopefully in the future there'll be a third that we can start transitioning to as well and progressing, which again is really exciting.

Yeah. So just to talk about the results then that you're generating from the multiple streams of income, where roughly are you on a monthly recurring income now then Tom?

Yeah, so it's circa 6,000 pounds a month, income coming in every month from the portfolio, which is a great, position to be in. And we're not stopping, right? You know, we've built a portfolio and we're continuing to build that portfolio and it's a wonderful position to be in. And, you know, we're really enjoying the journey as well. You know, it's really exciting.

you couldn't have done this, I'm sure, without the support of your wealth coaches along the way. So shall we give a nod to some of the people that have helped you?

Yeah, most definitely. I think when I joined my wealth coach was Ian Halfpenny. Since then, I've had the opportunity to work with John Dale as well and with Monish and they're all great guys. But really the wealth coach for me has been critical to my wealth boarding journey. And there's without a shadow of doubt been the catalyst and specifically Ian, because the huge shout out to Ian.

Speaker 1 (22:30.498)
I've mentioned this term in person several times, but I'm so grateful to Ian, to the help and support he gave me as my coach. Because as I said, he really was the catalyst that helped me work through some of the blockers and some of the mind shift changes that was necessary to help me build my wealth. as I said, critical, critical part of it. For me, the accountability piece wasn't so much of a factor. I was fairly driven and motivated, but what I wanted

with somebody that was several steps ahead of me and somebody that had done it and somebody, you know, when I hit blockers and challenges could really help steer me, help motivate me and keep me focused. And, and that's exactly what, what Ian did. He was brilliant. And then as I said, subsequently, you know, when he took a break, John, then, and then more recently onto Manish and plenty of examples, but one in particular, you know, with Ian was a really defining moment for us because in those early stages, you hit so many blockers.

And I remember during the COVID pandemic was one particular period where it would have been very easy for us to be able to make a lot of excuses to say, well, we've got COVID going on. I've got a demanding job. We've got a very young family. There's no shortage of excuses, I think, that we could have used to say, we're going to put this on hold for a little bit and come back to it when we're in a different place. But we didn't, we kept persevering. And I remember one particular defining point in our journey was

During the COVID period, we were still trying to find our first bike-delete property and we've been really focused on trying to find our first house, two or three bed house in and around the Bristol area. with obviously all that was happening with COVID and the impact of the property market, everyone wanting to exit and move to a house with gardens, the numbers were all over the place and we really struggling to make it work. I remember on this call with Ian in the very early days,

I was reviewing multiple deals with Ian and getting his thoughts and his inputs. Ian noticed very early on that actually I had a bias towards houses. As somebody that could look at this much more broadly, Ian was able to really dig into that and say, what is it about flats then that you're concerned about? They were all the usual things around, well, there's the lease and-

Speaker 1 (24:52.792)
Capital growth is mainly better in houses, isn't it? And what about the rental appeal? Surely houses are better for rent, rental appeal and all that kind of stuff. And Ian really started to dig in and challenge me on that. And I'll never forget the turning point for me when Ian said, listen, you really should look at flats because we talked to all these different aspects and I started to get more comfortable with it. And said, listen,

Let's just look at the numbers. You know your area very well, but let's take a look at what flats go for in your local area. We went on to Rightmove and picked a flat in a five mile radius from my house and two bed flats. And he said, well, let's just look at the numbers. So purchase price, okay, great. Well, in fact, said, actually, in Europe, let's just ring the agent now. And he put it on speakerphone. He said, let's just validate the numbers. So it's not just me. You can hear it for yourself. I said, okay, fair enough. Sat on this call and...

Ian spoke to the agent and he said, okay, you know, just inquiring what's the status situation and what do you think it had rent for? And can you tell me a little bit about service charge? and he said, okay, great. Thanks very much. And, and he put the phone down and he said, right, okay, let's put the numbers into the spreadsheet. And he put the numbers into the spreadsheet and the numbers blew me away. I mean, literally when I compared them to the two bed house that, that we'd been looking at, it was just completely different. and, you know, we, talk about, you know,

taking massive action. For me, we did. We came off of that call, it blew me away. I said to Leah, listen, there's a lot of these flats on the market and the numbers are really good. The fine day we booked a viewing on that property, we said, let's go view it. It wasn't the right property for us because actually there's a lot of work to do to it and it was a bit too much for us to take on. But within the first two weeks, we had found our first property and it was a flat.

in Bristol and we bought it. know, unspecified to us, this was at a time during COVID obviously when everyone was wanting to leave the cities. No one wanted flats, everyone wanted houses for gardens. Fast forward now five years, it the best thing we ever did. We bought flats when no one wanted them in the city when nobody wanted to be in the city. And so a big part of our wealth journey was a big part of it was timing. again, the wealth coach was somebody that was able to see, you know, some of the things, some of the challenges we had and were able to help us see past it.

Speaker 1 (27:15.958)
And know, for Hannadon, for Ian having that conversation with me during those coaching calls, to be honest, I don't think we would have started Christian. We would have said, do you know what? It's just not working. You know, we tried it. It's not right. But he really helped with that. And it was, yeah, it was massive.

love that. Absolutely love that. yeah, I'm sure Ian will be very, very happy when he listens back to this. And was it in that you had another big conversation with when it came to thinking about departing your corporate life?

Yeah, it was really good. It's a big decision to come out of that. For me, wasn't about... I think we'd been in the period where it'd been so intense. We'd had obviously a young family, a global job, we'd been building a property business. All of that, as I said, is fairly intense. There's not much room for anything else. It was really interesting listening to...

It was an interview that you guys did with Susie Cole actually. In the reflections, yourself and Kevin were talking about the Rs and you talked about the concept of the eight, which was rest. That was really one that resonated. My story is nowhere near as extreme as Susie's obviously. But for us, it was about rest and taking a breather. It was about being able to take a pause, reset, spend time with the family, quality time with the family, spend time with friends.

reconnecting with the things that you really enjoy doing. And the property portfolio has given us the opportunity to do that. It's enabled us to take a breather and just try and think about, okay, so what next? We've got different opportunities that we can look at. And as I said, if it wasn't for the property business, we wouldn't have that opportunity. We'd be continuing down the track that we were on. yeah, the taste there for rest was huge. And Ian was a massive part in helping me think about how do you transition in terms of

Speaker 1 (29:07.17)
You know, financially, how do you prepare and think about, you know, the short, medium and long-term, you know, commitments and considerations that you need to make in order to transition. But also, you know, some of the other things about, how do you, what do you to do? Like, where do want to spend your time? What are the things that really motivate you? he, you know, he got me thinking about things that I would never have thought about that really helped me, know, crystallize why I wanted to do it. And what I was going to do.

when I did make that move. yeah, Ian was a big part of that. As I said, I've told him before, but very grateful to him for his support. obviously to yourself and Kevin and Christine, because obviously we've been connected throughout that period of time. that support has been huge.

and other members of the community of which many I'm sure you've built relationships with over last five or six years and how everything has evolved and it feels like what needed to happen happened and the key, you didn't give up. That really is the key there. And of course, you haven't stopped, right? So as you will continue to build wealth now and diversify into new areas, what do you think the next five years looks like for you, Tom? What are you excited about now that you've got more time, more confidence, more knowledge?

Yeah, it's, you know, we're right in the heart of really thinking about that now actually. And, you know, the property stuff is we're continuing to do more adventurous and demanding property projects. We really enjoy that. And again, it's great to be able to, you know, as part of the wealth builder community and the podcasts, you know, all the opportunities around commercial and all the different strategies, you know, now we've got.

The ability to really explore that and we're enjoying starting to figure out where we go next to build on what we started. As I said, we started with very vanilla vitalettes that needed no work. Now we're in the middle of refurbishing properties completely and starting now to think about what do we do beyond that? As I said, commercial and some of these other areas are areas that are certainly of interest. The other piece is obviously in the investment pillow as well, working with Manish thoroughly enjoying that. That's a whole new world to me.

Speaker 1 (31:19.15)
having the headspace to really get your head around that and what the opportunities that there are in that space has been brilliant. So certainly over the next six to 12 months, those two areas go deep into property space and the investments is probably the two obvious ones, but I'm sure and I'm hopeful that there'll be other things that crop up along the way that will present themselves and that will give me an opportunity to go and continue to do new and interesting things. So yeah, really, really looking forward to the next year ahead for sure.

you've expressed an interest as well in sharing all of this with others as well and helping other people to achieve their own financial goals. Any final words for someone listening now, Tom, who aspires to be in the position that you're in and in five years they could be? What would be your words of support and encouragement for them?

I think there's probably two elements. The first of which is I'd encourage people to commit to the process. As I said at the start, turning the wheel for the first time is really, really hard. It certainly was for us, but it just got so much easier on the second, the third, and the fourth, and so on. That momentum is a really important factor that plays an important. I think the other area as well that's really important is taking massive action.

I gave the example earlier on in terms of when we identified that opportunity, we jumped on it and we didn't stop and we didn't make excuses. We committed to it. We took massive action and we continued to do that. For sure, those two elements have played an important part in terms of getting us to where we are now and they continue to play an important role in making sure that we continue to build our words. So, yeah, two areas that said for us very important.

hopefully may be of benefit to others.

Speaker 2 (33:07.71)
can probably both hear Kevin's words ringing in our ears saying, never let 30 days go by without doing something to build your wealth.

Exactly that. We talk about the wealth building calls. I take a lot of time to prepare for those calls. actually, you know, chat Ian or John or Manish, I'll turn up to those calls with an agenda. I'll be very clear in terms of what I want to cover and I'll make sure that I'm getting the very maximum amount of value I can out of those conversations. The short amount of time that we have every single month. I will always make sure at the end of it that we've got a very clear plan in terms of what I'm going to do for the next 30 days.

And it's such an important point to make sure that you're really clear, as you said, on those next 30 days, because, you know, it's, and there's been times where actually we make sure that we're making progress every single day. You know, it could be a very small thing, but as you said, committing to making that steady progress is huge. And as I said, makes a massive difference from a mental perspective as the years start to pass by.

many secrets of success sprinkled throughout this conversation, Tom. And I can't wait to do the debrief with Kevin, but thank you so much again for coming on Wealth Talk and your first podcast. Very, very well done, Tom. And yeah, we look forward to obviously seeing you continue to grow in the future.

Thanks, Christine.

Speaker 2 (34:28.782)
to Tom for sharing his story there. A really simple story, if you break it down, Kevin. There wasn't really too much complicated aspects to it. It did take us a bit of time at the beginning, if you'll recall, to get Tom focused on the right strategy. once he was, and interestingly, he said it took him 18 months to get clarity on that strategy. It was really only spring 2021 when he started to generate his first income from his first property. So actually,

We said he achieved in five years, kind of four years from when he actually pushed it up.

Well, you know, I'm going to take issue with you on this one, Chris, because I think you need the time for clarity. don't pick up some ideas and run with them. You need to, he said, turn the wheel, right? So, you know, and for the simplicity of this, but I'm sure Chris, we've done some episodes on the wheel. The simple wheel is just simply to get the education on something that it is you want to.

you're considering applying as a pillar in your life. So you've got to know what the seven pillars are, and he referred to those. But the first step is he decided property, and of course, it's the most popular one for obvious reasons, but not everybody follows property, at least not at the start. Then you get support, and you could hear the numbers of people who he was happy that

really did give him some support, support of his wife, support of his coaches, support of you, support of me, support in the community. So this whole idea of finding great places of support, really critical because it's tough on your own. I think he said, you know, without the help of Ian, who's a great coach, he probably would have given up, would have realized just too hard.

Speaker 3 (36:31.032)
You know, I'll stick with the job, I'll stick with the pension plan, hope for the best. One day I'll be 65 and my pension will kick in and that'll be me. I think he's got a much better result than that, hasn't he really? To be financially independent at 40. I mean, that's a very, very laudable thing, which gives 20 odd more years of freedom of choice, of independence that he wouldn't have had if he'd gone, like I suppose a lot of his colleagues would be lockstep, hand in hand.

sticking with the pension plan, hoping everything works out, you know, cause you can't, you can't get wealthy unless you're building assets. You can't just hope for growth. It just doesn't work that way. So yeah, share that Chris, so that people understand education, support, connection, diligence. You heard him talk at length about the number crunching he did with Ian and so fascinating that Ian actually took him on a live call and said, look, we're not putting this off.

I'm going to do it with you. And we'll often do that one. will showcase that this is something we do. It's not something we just share and teach, but we want people to take action and anybody can take action. And maybe we should invite some people who have been sitting on a fence of some kind, getting splinters up their rear end. Chris, maybe there's an opportunity for people to book in maybe a clarity call with you or what you call a GPS call just to give people a sense of direction. Do you want to do that?

Do do that in January for a few people?

Yeah, I'd love to do that. Open up the calendar. So if you're someone that feels like you need a nudge, just needs to have a chat, find out what it is that perhaps you could focus on in order to build more recurring income streams in your life, then head to wealthbuilders.co.uk forward slash GPS and book in a call with me. We just ask you to fill out a few details in advance so we can make the best use of that time together. And yeah, I love those calls going through all the pillars, looking at your personal situation and then giving you my best thoughts as to how we might be able to help you.

Speaker 3 (38:31.278)
Amazing. And I think you could serve as an inspiration to others on their journey and good luck to you. Don't put it off. Get some help with someone, you know, or find a buddy, find some way to give you a helping hand during 2026 and don't try and DIY it. Three most expensive words in wealth building DIY. It's so easy to be put off when challenges come your way.

And we talk about this overreliance on a single source of income that many people have, Kevin. I think the traditional method for most people is working towards that later life, that retirement, and then that single source of income purely coming from a pension. And we know that unless you have a pretty substantial pension these days, that's not going to last you 30 years. So you really, really do need to think about where is that income going to come from in later life?

Yeah, it's been an interesting one to see. I remember I've said this before on podcast, I think Chris, when I started my journey giving advice as well as a young advisor in 1990, the exchange rate or the annuity rate of capital for income was 15%. You know, so what's, what's a decent income? You know, what's a decent income now? Is it 50 grand a year? You know, well, if you multiply.

that you need six times that. So 300 grand would have done that. You've got a million quid, you get 150 grand a year. Now a million quid will get you 60 grand a year. So your money's got to work three times as hard, but you're probably starting behind the curve if you've got student debt, if you've got mortgage debt, if you've got other things that are holding you back that will prevent you from being able to save a big enough pot. And then when you take fees and inflation out of that,

It's really impossible, Chris, unless you don't draw your pension until you're 80, they'll see you out to 100 probably. But if you want to go before that, one of the freedom of choice to do what you want to do. Crumbs, can you imagine being 40 and not 80, but 40 to be independent? This isn't Tom ending. This is Tom's beginning. He's diversifying into other income streams and

Speaker 3 (40:51.554)
Recognizing he's got the bandwidth to be able to do it, the intelligence to do it, the reason why to do it, those things just continue to build. So, you know, by the time he's another 10 years, you know, he will have built significantly on that, but it'll be so much easier because it doesn't have those pressures that are holding him back.

That's right. And those excuses and it's so easy to make excuses. And Tom said himself that he could have done that. But Kevin, all we ask is one action per month. That's it, isn't it? Small steps.

When you say it out loud, sound long. Let's just throw it out at the audience, right? Let's pretend it's me or you. Would you give me an hour of your time, once a month, just to take one small step that you could be guided to take so you don't get lost, confused and overwhelmed? Just one. Can you do one thing and then do another thing next month? And then do another thing the next month? And just repeat that process of doing one small thing and holding yourself accountable to that.

Maybe if there's two of you, you could do two small things. Is that possible? Could you do that to become financially independent for the rest of your life, to set yourself up for life and set up your children for life? One small action every month and send a lot to them. Sounds like I'm being evangelical. It sounds like I'm inviting people to some experience that's religious or something, but it isn't. It's just simple compound.

effect, basic mathematics at work, but just choosing the right few things is the key. And that's what the GPS call will do. We'll try and help you get to the right first action, the right next action and the right one after that. look, good luck to everybody who's still interested. Maybe you've been listening to the podcast in 25, but I haven't taken action yet. Just one small thing. So I'm gonna ask you to do and you can do it.

Speaker 3 (42:51.948)
And if you've already built your wealth, great. Just make sure that you're aware of what's going on with the inheritance tax position. We're wow, we're still debriefing so many people, Chris, with the inheritance tax on pensions. So anybody with a pension in their life and a family in their life, if you haven't downloaded the guide, download the guide. You could let people know where to get that.

link it in the show notes for the IHT Impensions Guide. Yeah, just click the link, download that today.

Because it's the unprepared where inheritance tax is payable and it's the children who pay it. That's my big thing for 2026 in the running to April, 2027 is to spend this year focusing on helping people with their inheritance tax solution. you know what, with good preparation, like if you take five years with it, like Tom, you can get to a place where you can virtually eliminate your inheritance tax position.

Or maybe not on five years, but certainly within seven to 10 years, you probably could get it to zero or almost zero with a good plan.

Good stuff. Well, look, we hope you've enjoyed our first episode of 2026 and try and find that one hour. And if you'd like to spend that one hour with me going through your plan, then head to wealthbuilders.co.uk forward slash GPS. Or if you've just got a broader question and you'd like to have a chat with our team, perhaps about your inheritance tax situation and head to wealthbuilders website, click on the big red button and you can book a discovery call with our team. Okay.

Speaker 2 (44:27.874)
Thank you, Kevin. Good to be back in the hot seat and we'll be back same time, same place next week.

I look forward to that Chris and until then happy 2026 and see ya.

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