🎉 To kick off our new financial year, we are thrilled to welcome a bucket list guest to the show! 🌟 

This is a guest who truly needs no introduction… 

Noel Whittaker – international bestselling author, finance and investment expert, radio broadcaster, columnist, and public speaker.  

He reaches over 3 million readers each week through his columns in pivotal Australian newspapers and is one of the country’s most successful authors, with 20+ bestselling books achieving total worldwide sales of more than two million copies. 

In fact, in 2011 this guest was made a Member of the Order of Australia for service to the community in raising awareness of personal finance. (And that’s just the tip of the iceberg for his achievements!)  

In today’s episode, Noel covers it all:  
🏠 His investment journey from buying his first property for £35,000 to losing half his assets
🌟 Mentorship from THE Doug Malouf and discovering his life’s purpose
📚 The story behind writing Australia’s first and best-selling personal finance book, “Making Money Simple” (which inspired a 16-year-old Ben to pursue his path!)
💡 How his struggle to find a publisher turned into a financial triumph
🌱 Noel’s intriguing investing riddle: “When does a lily fully bloom?”
💰 The importance of making superannuation savings automatic
📈 The evolution of superannuation – from Keating’s reforms to today’s productivity challenges

Get ready for a wealth of investing wisdom, sharp insights, and humorous tales from one of Australia’s greatest (and arguably original) finance writers. Tune in now, folks! 😊  

 

Free Stuff Mentioned

• Noel’s Resources:  
  • His latest book: Wills, Death and Taxes Made Simple 
  • Check out Noel’s spreadsheet: Getting Your Affairs In Order – BAN TACS 
  • Check out his other free downloads  

• The first time Ben met Noel Whittaker below 😉  

• It’s a new financial year which means an opportunity for new money habits. Try our free, all-in-one money management app now. Start transforming your financial future today >>  

• Guests & Episodes Mentioned:  
  • Jan Somers  
  • 500 | Dr Michael Gervais: Why FOPO Holds Us Back & What to Do About it! 

 

Timestamps

• 0:00 – Noel Whittaker: Super, Shares & Why He Sold Most of His Properties!   
• 2:17 – Mindset Minute: Is it a dream, plan or reality?  
• 3:24 – Welcome Noel Whittaker! 
• 6:46 – Money Story: Pig farms and a £35,000 property?! 
• 9:55 – “I always had a burning drive to get the business.”  
• 12:20 – How those 2 goals transformed his life  
• 13:25 – Starting the first display village   
• 15:01 – From Doug Malouf mentoring to finding his purpose in life 😮  
• 18:06 – Making Money Made Simple: When the search for a publisher turns into a profitable opportunity… 
• 21:31 – Building the first-ever high rise on Sunshine Coast  
• 25:11 – The power of compound: 15% return on his first property?!  
• 27:07 – Noel’s Investing Riddle: How long does it take a lily to reach full bloom?  
• 27:54 – How he lost half his assets and the #1 lesson he learned from it  
• 31:07 – The £100 earning 😉  
• 32:37 – Noel’s property portfolio and the comparison to shares 
• 35:38 – Australia & Super: Then vs. now, tax-free rollovers and productivity  
• 41:50 – Why June 2026 is the big date 
• 42:49 – What Noel would change about our Super  
• 44:20 – Hypothetical Q: “You have $1,000: to spend on an index or leverage the investment property?”  
• 47:17 – Noel’s latest book “Wills, Death & Taxes”: 50% of Aussies die without a will 
• 51:39 – Case studies on the nuances of wills  
• 54:14 – What would Noel change on his financial journey if he could?  
• 57:04 – The death tax on Super  

And… 

• 59:33 – Wow, what an inspirational guest!  
• 1:04:56 – Lifehack: Tuned into brain.fm?   

When we started this podcast nearly a decade ago, we never imagined we’d reach this milestone… 

🎉 🎉 🎉 Well folks, here we are celebrating our 500TH EPISODE!!  🎉🎉🎉 

A massive thank you to our incredible, go-getter community, we’re so proud and grateful to have built, and be part of, such an amazing group of people.  

To mark this huge milestone, we’ve invited a leader in his field – someone who helps others achieve their best. 

Please welcome one of the world’s best high-performance psychologist…

Dr. Michael Gervais! 🎤✨ 

Michael is a bestselling author, host of the popular “Finding Mastery” podcast and co-creator of the “Finding Your Best” self-improvement course. (phew!)  

With over 20 years of experience working with elite athletes, military personnel, and top executives, he’s sharing his wisdom on the Art of Self-Mastery and why being present is “the keyhole to the good life.”   

From his 3 criteria to consider BEFORE investing your time, to practical mental defence tools like the Screens technique, Michael teaches us how to apply these concepts to life, money, finance, and lifestyle by design. 

It’s a milestone episode with a guest who has absolutely blown our hair back. Give it a listen now, folks! 🔥 

 

P.S. Win Michael’s Finding Mastery course (usually sold at US$499) for free! For your chance to win, on any social platform and post related to Episode 500, simply:  

⭐️ Follow @findingmastery and @thepropertycouch 

⭐️ Tag a friend 

⭐️ Let us know the best takeaway you got from this episode! (It can be on any social post related to Episode 500)    

Entries close on July 11th. We’ll contact two lucky winners shortly after, so watch your DMs!  

 

Free Stuff Mentioned

• Dr. Michael Gervais:  
  • New Book:  “The First Rule of Mastery: Stop Worrying About What People Think of You.” 
  • Morning Mindset Routine: Change your life in the morning with this 90-second routine  
  • The Finding Mastery Podcast: Tune in to Michael’s own podcast where he sits down with the greatest thinkers and doers in the world to unpack human potential, leadership, health, mindset, and more! 

• Other Resources Mentioned: 
  • Rich Dad Poor Dad by Robert Kiyosaki 

Timestamps

• 0:00 – Dr Michael Gervais: Why FOPO Holds Us Back & What to Do About it! 
• 1:17 – It’s our 500th episode! 🎉 
• 4:13 – Mindset Minute: “The sooner you fundamentally change your relationship with other people’s opinions, the sooner you become…”  
• 4:45 – Welcome Dr. Michael Gervais! 
• 6:07 – How will this episode make a meaningful difference to your life?  
• 8:55 – Michael’s Money Story: From sticks to sacrifices 
• 12:11 – The conversation that changed his life 
• 14:37 – His pivot point and saving his way to the nest egg
• 18:10 – “Cash is king”   
• 20:48 – Role Reversal: What was the driving force for Ben & Bryce to invest in property?  
• 24:37 – CEOs, Skydiving Records and Olympic Games: How Michael ended up choosing jobs beyond the money  
• 32:20 – The 3 Criteria for Making Decisions  
• 33:21 – Above The Line vs. Below The Line work 
• 34:52 – The definition of self-mastery & the ONLY 3 things you can train 
• 37:57 – The Foundation of Your Philosophy: What is FOPO?  
• 41:39 – Why is FOPO hard-coded into our brains? 
• 44:01 – The impact of “social envy” platforms  
• 45:31 – Is it possible to solve this primal fear?  
• 51:28 – If you want to achieve the “good life”, you MUST work on this…  
• 56:16 – When is Michael most vulnerable to FOPO?  
• 57:10 – When he met David Goggins  
• 59:11 – What Michael’s learned from speaking to the world’s best 
• 1:01:21 – The Spotlight Effect  
• 1:02:08 – The Screens: Use this tool to help you filter people’s opinion 

And…

• 1:06:55 – Thank you, Michael! What an amazing episode 😊 
• 1:09:09 – Win Michael’s Finding Mastery course for free! Here’s how.  
• 1:10:24 – Lifehack: The screen test in action  
• 1:14:42 – Reflections & Thank Yous!