Meet Stefan: He owns 3 properties at age 30 (and is making his money work for him with ETFs)

It doesn't seem like much, but this was just the beginning of Stefan's journey - one that would see the now 30-year-old civil engineer learn to make his money work for him, instead of working for it. 

In February 2020, Stefan and his "Superwoman" wife purchased their first home for $440,000 on the Central Coast. Thanks to COVID-19 and the 'tree change, sea change' trend, what was a modest two-bed, one-bath home in Noraville soared to a $700,000 valuation in just a year and a half period. 

"We decided to use the extra equity to our advantage, and after some research, we signed up with a property broker who helped us secure our first investment property in SEQ (off the plan)," Stefan explains.  

"A year later, we secured a second investment property in Broadbeach using equity and savings we had built up over the past few years. We recently moved back to Sydney and converted our two-bedroom shack in Noraville to an investment property." 

The goal is simple. Use these investments to realise some capital growth over time, sell at a profit, and use it to pay off the mortgage on what will eventually be their home in Noraville. 

"We are now basically even in terms of cash flow (rent minus mortgage and maintenance), however, in terms of capital growth we are up about 30% since we bought our first property back in early 2020 in the Central Coast," Stefan says. 

As for the rest of Stefan's investments, around 90% of his portfolio is invested in low-cost exchange-traded funds, with only a single satellite stock. This makes the day-to-day managing of his portfolio far easier, meaning he only dollar-cost averages into eight positions each week.

In this Meet the Investor profile, Stefan openly shares his top portfolio positions today, explains why he believes in the benefits of consistent dollar-cost averaging and outlines his plans to be financially free in just 10 years. 

Livewire investor profile:

• Name: Stefan Dencic
• Age: 30
• Employment status: Employed
• Years investing: 6
• Investment goals: Passive income
• Products used: ETFs and shares. 
• Biggest portfolio holding: Betashares Nasdaq 100 ETF (ASX: NDQ)

1. How old are you and how long have you been investing?

2. What is your objective from investing? 

My partner and I currently work full-time professional jobs, and I also recently picked up a part-time job as a Flexologist for some extra cash. Our appetite for risk is quite high at the moment as we realise we are in our early 30s and this is the time to go all in and give it a hot crack!

To date, we have been buying shares with a long-term mindset, as a way of saving and using the market for growth. Eventually, we would like to pass our shares down to our future children to help them with their education or buying their first home. If we have any leftover, we might use the rest for a cheeky holiday.

3. What products do you use to execute your strategy? 

4. How would you describe your strategy?

Currently, 90% of my portfolio is invested in ETFs with a single satellite stock. I recently reduced the number of holdings in my portfolio from 11 to 8 total positions as I felt I was spreading myself too thin across a variety of stocks and consolidation meant I had less to manage and could dollar-cost average more efficiently. The three I sold were part of my satellite portfolio.

5. Could you please share your top 5 holdings in % terms and tell me a bit about why you hold each of these positions?

7. How does Livewire help with your investing process and what tips can you share with other investors about using Livewire?

8. Do you have a favourite contributor you recommend other investors follow?

9. What can Livewire do better or what do you dislike about Livewire?

10. Is there a lesson you’ve learnt as an investor that could potentially help others?

11. Can you share a personal passion or ambition you have for your future?

I love basketball, so any way I can be involved in it by watching, playing or coaching is definitely a must, so you will probably see me courtside watching an NBA game one day! We also would love to have the freedom to give our time to charity work on a regular basis. 

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