Investor plans to retire at 30

There is no stopping Kasia Mikina who, at 27, bought three personal investment properties in one year.

"You see people working, renting and getting into their 30s before they start thinking about buying a property," Kasia says.

"But when I'm 30, I'd like to be in a position where I don't have to get up to go to work. I don't want to be a working mum."

Unlike other highly successful stay-at-home investors, Kasia does not come from a wealthy family.

She migrated from Poland when she was four. Her family were refugees.

"When we came over we had absolutely nothing," Kasia says.

"My dad had to get a couple of jobs. We lived in hostels and rented a room in a Polish family friend's house.

"Then my parents bought their first house in Footscray. When I was about six or seven we moved to Clayton. We struggled, but my parents have that European hard-work ethic."

As soon as she turned 15 she began working at weekends to save money for a car. Four years later she persuaded her mother to take her to a wealth and investment seminar. Then she read everything she could about the property market.

"I realised that I needed to look after myself," Kasia says. "Investing is a great way to set yourself up for life."

In her early 20s Kasia was determined to save money for an investment while she was renting with friends in St Kilda and Richmond. But even earning between $60,000 and $90,000 a year, working seven days a week as a casual nurse, wasn't enough to save for a deposit. So as a 25-year-old she returned home. Kasia opened a high-interest bank account, separate to her everyday account, and put money away the day after being paid. She contributed about $50 a week to her parents' household costs.

Within about a year she achieved her goal of saving $20,000. Kasia used the money to submit 5 per cent deposits on each of her first two investment properties in Queensland. In June 2004, she paid $211,000 for a three-bedroom house in Mackay, where she later bought another three-bedroom house for $261,000. The properties are rented out for $275 and $315 a week respectively.

Last year Kasia looked closer to home for her her third investment property, a four-bedroom house in Werribee for which she paid $205,000. Then in December she bought a house in Rockhampton, Queensland, with her partner, 25-year-old Barry, a landscape gardener who carries out minor improvements to their investments.

All the properties needed a little work, but Kasia says she was more interested in buying in areas that would almost guarantee positive and consistent rental income.

"All of my properties have been a week out of tenants at the most," she says.

The investments are almost paying for themselves, Kasia says, bringing in about enough income to cover mortgage repayments on interest-only loans.

After recent re-evaluations her portfolio now has a total equity of $150,000.

Kasia works about five days a week and continues to claim all her property expenses and depreciation on tax.

"I'm still saving money - it's become second nature," she says.

"For the year that I was saving a lot it was difficult, it was very, very hard not to go out so much with my friends. But it was worth it."

15th March 2006

Source: SMH