How to manage your portfolio with a financial team

However, navigating the landscape would have been a lot harder for the avid investor if he didn’t have the support of his financial team.

According to him: “As your portfolio gets larger, you really should get your subject matter experts all together around the table at any time so that everybody’s on the same page, everybody’s heading in the same direction and we're all knowing the numbers of the portfolio intimately.

“This is a multimillion-dollar business for any investor and you should take it seriously accordingly,” he highlighted.

With the help of his financial team, Mr Tarrant learned to balance active investing and “catching his breath” by consolidating and managing his portfolio.

Many investors fall into the trap of focusing on the exciting parts of property investment, like negotiation and purchase, and failing to realise that the growth of their portfolio also relies on the way they run it.

In fact, at times, doing nothing can make you more money than purchasing another asset.

Mr Tarrant said: “You've got to maintain the health of the portfolio at any given time. You don't have to buy all the time. Consolidating, catching your breath and the time to sit on your hands is just as important. There’s a lot of administration around it —that’s certainly not being passive.”

The avid investor has successfully created a streamlined system to understand what’s going on with his portfolio and how he can improve its current condition, all with the help of his financial team.

Building a financial team

When looking for professionals to work with, Mr Tarrant reminded his fellow investors that it’s not merely a matter of choosing the best individuals from specific fields of expertise. A financial team will work best if its members are able to get along and work together, even despite contradicting views.

For instance, his accountant, property adviser and mortgage broker process his portfolio from different perspectives and, understandably, they will have different priorities and strategies in mind to improve the portfolio. At the end of the day, their aim is to find the best solution for the investor — all egos aside.

Right Property Group’s Steve Waters said: “This is for the investor’s benefit and everybody needs to be on the same page. You need to select your team around you and make sure that they all do get on.”

“If they don't get on, well there is going to be conflicting advice and conflicting procedures so to speak. It's a must that, at the very least, they respect each other's advice,” the property specialist added.

Having said that, he reminded investors that it’s also important to keep an open mind when working with multiple professionals.

Instead of having your team march to the beat of your dream blindly, keep a self-reflecting and self-challenging attitude and establish relationships grounded by open communication and mutual respect.

In a way, it’s like being a member of the board of directors, according to Mr Waters. You could be the most brilliant director on the team but without feedback, you don’t really get the best value out of your team.

“Together, we learn and we develop and grow,” he highlighted.

Managing your portfolio

Despite the significant role of the team of experts and professionals in his journey, Mr Tarrant encouraged investors like himself to learn to understand the intricacies of their own portfolios.

After all, it’s your wealth-creation business and your team, at the end of the day, acts only as your guides and mentors.

“Do it all yourself so you know what's going on. It's going to get to a point where you’ve got to start prioritising your time and making sure you can add value,” he highlighted.

Throughout his investment journey, Mr Tarrant has made it a point to keep updated spreadsheets that details the numbers which make up his entire portfolio — no sugarcoats or whatnot. By accounting for everything, from holding costs and taxes to minimal agent fees, he gets a good idea about where his portfolio stands at any given time.

Having the records also helps him determine the next best steps moving forward—which properties to target, the amount of cash flow he needs, the level of growth he’s chasing and other drivers of success.

From there, it’s only a matter of being proactive, according to Mr Waters. What are you going to do about those figures?

At the end of the day, good portfolio management comes down to giving yourself the ability to prepare for investment opportunities and react to them accordingly when they present themselves, all without neglecting risk management.

“While it's all good to do the figures and have the figures and look at the figures, what are you going to do about them? Knowing that we have to do something about it versus actually doing something about it are two totally different things,” the property specialist concluded.

Tune in to Phil Tarrant’s portfolio update on The Smart Property Investment Show to find out the steps he plans to take in order to improve his portfolio’s cash flow position.