How this property investor with a credit card who ‘can’t budget’ saved money

“I love my credit card,” she exclaimed.

“The credit card is actually great… I don’t know how some people say they can’t manage it “

Niusha shared: “The way I planned it, basically, [is that] I pay all of my… own personal stuff in my credit card and at the end of the month… How I set it up is on Wednesday, I get charged for interest and I pay my credit card on Friday. I saved [on interest] just by leaving that into my offset account and paying on the last day. That gives me about $60 a month.”

Like many people in the business of creating wealth through property, Niusha has learned to maintain her money-conscious attitude, but she admits that she has yet to master the art of budgeting.

Fortunately for the property investor, she has a supporting husband who helps her take care of all the so-called “money matters” in their household—from their personal expenses to the cash and loans taken out for their four investment properties.

“I can’t budget. I don’t know how to budget. All I knew when I got married to my partner was saving one of our incomes. That’s 50 per cent savings every week. It’s so basic,” she shared.

“Having two incomes [makes] a huge difference … we try to save the most we can.

“We don’t really have expensive vehicles or anything that would cost us a lot of money and will not improve our life in any way. We do travel, but we travel on a budget, obviously. Not five-star. It’s been pretty good. The reward’s been great.”

If Niusha had to save on her own, she admitted she would not be able to, as her partner is very tax-savvy.

"What I did with my partner is he files everything, he’s very pedantic. We have a filing cabinet, and as I pay each and every single one of our bills, he basically files that properly for that year, so whenever we need to do our tax returns, it’s really easy because we’ve got it all properly filed. Just take it out and give it to the accountant,” she explained.

Saving is undoubtedly difficult, especially for investors who are doing their best to provide for themselves and their family at the same time, as they are working to keep their property investment journey moving forward.

However, Niusha and her husband proved that it does not take ultimate sacrifices to save on cash—at the end of the day, it’s only all about crafting a basic strategic plan of action that would work best for your unique lifestyle.

Smart Property Investment’s Phil Tarrant concluded: “It’s quite hard to get it right, but if you’re structured and methodical and thorough, you could actually put credit cards to good use… Discipline [is key]... There’s no excuse for being disorganized. Everyone can be organized.”

Tune in to Niusha Zumbo's episode on The Smart Property Investment Show to know more about how working from the age of 12 set her up for success even in difficult circumstances and all the lessons she's learned about investing in property from the age of 21.