This snippet is from one of our previous episodes: Secret To Making Money While You Sleep – Chat with Tom Panos. 

Some people earn six figures but still have nothing to show for it. Sound familiar? 

In this week’s bonus episode, we’re hearing from the always-insightful Tom Panos, one of Australia’s leading real estate coaches, auctioneers, and media personalities.  

Tom has worked with top-performing agents and seen firsthand why so many high earners remain financially stuck—despite their impressive pay checks. 

The Harsh Reality: High Incomes Don’t Always Equal Wealth 

Tom shares a no-nonsense take on why many professionals struggle to build wealth. He highlights a common pattern: 

• Driving a $100,000 car on lease payments 
• Wearing $1,500 suits 
• Taking luxury holidays that cost $15,000+ 
• Yet only having $5,000–$10,000 in savings 

As Tom puts it: “They’re spending more of their money and time looking like they’ve got money than actually accumulating it.” 

So, what’s the solution?  

The Path to Real Wealth: Hustle, Save, Invest 

Tom lays it out plainly: if you want financial freedom, you need to play the long game. This means: 

✅ Hustling and grinding in your 20s and 30s
✅ Saving aggressively instead of overspending on lifestyle
✅ Investing in property to build long-term passive income 

He explains why property is the ultimate “escape plan”—allowing investors to build a financial safety net, create wealth while they sleep, and eventually live life on their terms. 

Want to Learn More? 

If you’re serious about escaping the paycheck-to-paycheck cycle and ready to set yourself up for a wealthier future, don’t leave it to chance.

Join our FREE Masterclass and learn how to build a rock-solid property portfolio—without risking your lifestyle or making costly mistakes. 

👉 Get started here 

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If You Enjoyed TPC Gold | Tom Panos: Why High Earners Stay Broke (And How to Fix It), You Might Also Like:

• Ep 118 | Create Wealth Through Your Assets, Not Your Pay Packet 
• Ep 424 | How This “Weekend Millionaire” Got Out of $45K In Credit Card Debt And Turned His Life Around 
• Ep 503 | How to Get the Right Property Investment Advice 

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Transcript

Bryce Holdaway
You mentioned before that you buy whenever cashflow allows and hold them for the long term. You’re in the newspaper business which is in the business of reporting on property either booming or busting, and to be honest we’re about to face some headwinds with the news that we receive.  

Tom Panos
Yeah. 

Bryce Holdaway
How do you mentor people who come to you for advice around property? You know probably with the backdrop of (the) Becoming Warren Buffett documentary, the ultimate long-term investor. What advice do you give to people to say: hey look, you’ve got to play the long game here and you are going to face some of these headlines but stay the course. Do you get that question and how do you handle them?  

Tom Panos
Yeah, yeah, look, I do. I get that question all the time. But I mean, ironically, I get that question from people that rock up with a $100,000 car that’s got, you know, lease payments of say, two and a half thousand a month, they’re probably wearing a $1,500 suit. And they most likely have just come back from a holiday – that between air travel, accommodation, and drinking and partying money, they’ve spent 15 grand.  

Ben Kingsley
On their credit cards.  

Tom Panos
And they’re frustrated because what they’re doing is they’re making decent money. Because most of my conversations are with people that are in the sales professions and they’re making decent money, but they’ve got like five, ten, fifteen grand in the bank because they’re spending more of their money and their time looking like they’ve got money than actually accumulating money. So the first thing I say to them is: guys, drop the ego and understand that what’s going to give you absolute freedom in your life is not getting the approval of other people but being able to put yourself and create. You’ve got to plan the escape out of, whether you’re working in the corporate world or whether you’re working as a tradesperson or whether you’re working as a real estate salesperson, you’ve got to plan the escape. No one’s gonna come and rescue you. You’ve got to plan the escape. And for me, property investment is the escape.  

When I’m talking to a young guy, I’m saying to them, even if you write a million dollars in commissions, even if you make a million dollars in commissions, you’ve got to pay about half of that to your real estate office, leaves you with $500,000. Out of that $500,000, you’ve got to pay two admin staff, leaves you with $350,000. Then you’ve got to pay the tax office, right? So you’re going to pay a third of that, even if you’ve got a company set up, leaves you with $200,000. And you haven’t even yet bought a cup of coffee, you haven’t paid your rent, you haven’t paid your car lease payment, you haven’t paid any school fees.  

So how can you win when you play that game when you’re playing against someone else who might have $5 million worth of real estate? Well actually, don’t even talk about $5 million. Let’s talk about if they’ve got $1 million worth of real estate. They make money while they sleep. They’ll make 10% on January 1 each year because they’re playing the long game.  

So what I say is: be prepared to hustle and grind and do it hard for the first three, four, five years in saving money…in being comfortable going to bed at night knowing that you’ve got a mortgage out, which means that you’re losing a bit of flexibility in life, because it means you can’t just pack up and say, that’s it, I’m disappearing, I’m moving over to Spain for six months and partying, or I’m doing that; it creates you to have to be disciplined. Ben and Bryce, this is what I said then: Hustle and grind and save and invest in property in your 20s and 30s so you can start chilling in your 40s.   

Ben Kingsley 
Oh that’s great advice, some really great advice.   

Tom Panos
Sorry for going on, but you can, like (see) it upsets me when I see a lot of people make good money. They got great turnover, but they got zero left over.   

Ben Kingsley
They’ve got nothing to show for it, have they? They might have a few great memories in the memory bank, but a lot of it is… You know, the power of property investing is if you do the hard yards early, this can be the passive power of that income for not having to do much for it. It’s just incredible. Once you build that base wealth up, it just continues to be in perpetuity. You just continue to keep getting that rent, that passive income. The value of those assets grow and you know, you talk about the different stages in your life: the time you get, the choices you’re able to make and, you know, money’s not everything. Let’s be clear about that. But what it does allow is the choice to do what you want to do.