Now that you’ve developed a strong foundation in lending, accounting & cashflow, and research, this module is where it all comes together.

Strategy Knowledge is the application layer — where you move from understanding concepts to building and sequencing tailored portfolio strategies. It’s where we take everything we know about a client’s position, goals, and constraints, and weave together all the components into a clear, executable portfolio plan.

This module will guide you through:

This is where you’ll shift from understanding concepts in isolation to being able to construct them into tailored strategies that help clients move forward with clarity and conviction. And ultimately build high-performing portfolios that create long-term wealth.

Our portfolio scaling framework has proven transformative. Over the past five years, we've helped clients build strong portfolios that generate their desired passive income. The key to this success lies in creating a solid strategy and following a proven formula. Let's explore the essential elements of our portfolio scaling framework.

We consistently use our portfolio scaling framework as a foundation. While each client needs a unique strategy based on their income, existing portfolio, and goals, your role is to create a plan that achieves their objectives while applying InvestorKit's proven portfolio scaling framework.

Our portfolio scaling framework typically looks like this:

If clients prefer to skip the foundation stage, that's perfectly fine! While we can explain the benefits of including foundation properties in their portfolio, some confident clients may choose a different path that is more suited for them.

One of the most overlooked — yet most powerful levers in building a high-performing property portfolio is how quickly you acquire the assets.

While most investors take a decade or longer to build a 3–5 property portfolio, it’s almost always not purely because of financial constraints. It’s due to hesitation, lack of strategy, or poor execution.

The truth is: if the lending capacity, capital, and cashflow exist, then waiting longer than needed to acquire is one of the most expensive forms of opportunity cost in portfolio building.

This is the slow path — and one that most investors regret after they realise how much time they lost and wealth they missed out on.

When you build your portfolio faster, you:

Suppose two investors aim to build a 3-property portfolio:

Portfolio Value at Year 11 - Investor A

Portfolio Value at Year 11 - Investor B

Equity Position at Year 11

Let’s assume all loans were at 80% LVR, with no additional repayments made (i.e., interest-only for simplicity).

Opportunity Cost

By simply buying sooner and letting compound growth do its thing, Investor B has $310,331 more equity than Investor A after 10 years — without buying more properties or taking on more debt.

This is the opportunity cost of delaying purchases. It’s not just missing out on rental income or capital growth — it’s the compounding effect that accelerates wealth the earlier the portfolio is built.

Key Insights:

The only difference? Timing of execution.

This is the power of tight acquisition windows. Time in market is required alongside timing the market — and the earlier a portfolio is built, the more compounding takes over.

It’s important to note that these results can be significantly amplified when we have outperformance in the market, and the compounding differences in these scenarios can be must more drastic than this.

As Portfolio Strategists, we must help clients:

Condensing the acquisition phase isn’t about rushing. It’s about executing with clarity, confidence, and intent — so the portfolio can start doing what it’s meant to do: grow your wealth while you live your life.

As strategists, our role is to bring urgency where it matters — not out of fear, but out of respect for time as our most valuable asset.

Even with the most sophisticated models, clean data, and strong market logic, one element can stall or accelerate a client’s progress more than anything else: mindset.

Real estate investing is not just about numbers — it’s about navigating the mental and emotional hurdles that come with taking calculated risks. Clients often hesitate at the exact moments when logic and rationality says to move forward. As strategists, we must unpack this with clients and guide them through uncertainty.

Many clients experience decision fatigue or emotional resistance after one or two property purchases. They might say:

While gut instincts have their place, they often clash with the objective data — rising markets, strong borrowing capacity, solid buffers, and a green light to move forward on strategy.

When this happens, it’s important not to push, but instead to coach:

This links directly to the concept of condensed acquisition windows: the faster we can acquire assets when the conditions are right, the more powerful the compounding effect. Delays often cost clients years of growth and tens of thousands in forgone equity, and many don’t even realise it.

The traditional “10 properties in 10 years” is commonly quoted — but it often leads to false realities, short-term thinking and underestimates what’s actually required to achieve true financial freedom.

Most clients, when they really crunch the numbers on passive income, will find that:

We must help clients zoom out and visualise what’s possible over two or three decades — and frame our recommendations accordingly.

This long-term lens:

Often neglected, but the client’s mindset is part of the strategy.

If we ignore it, we risk building a technically sound plan that never gets executed. But when we align mindset with method — coaching and educating clients through fear, encouraging bold but measured steps, and helping them think in decades, we unlock the full potential of their portfolio journey and allow clients to truly achieve their financial goals.

While there’s no denying that we as strategists love crunching the numbers, we must recognise that we also play a big role as a client’s financial psychologists too. And a big part of this role is to navigate them through complexity, uncertainty, and ambition.

When building a portfolio, we commonly apply a framework called “portfolio construct” — a framework designed to create a strategically balanced, diverse portfolio, that grows sustainably over time, rather than simply chasing the latest hot market or making isolated purchases.

A well-constructed portfolio:

For most clients, this means building a portfolio that’s:

This structure aligns with our broader scaling framework, allowing clients to progress through acquisition phases confidently while insulating against volatility in any one market.

This strategy suits long-term portfolios but may require adjustments for active investors using a core-satellite approach, where short-term trading is part of their plan.

While diversification is the backbone of many long-term portfolio strategies, there’s a valid and often powerful alternative approach: concentrated purchasing.

This strategy involves deliberately purchasing multiple properties within the same market, region, or market cycle to maximise returns from a single growth cycle. When timed well, this can deliver exceptional compounding gains.

In the right context, this can make strategic sense — particularly for investors who:

While this approach can accelerate returns in the short term, it carries several clear risks:

For this reason, concentration is rarely recommended as the only approach unless the investor is experienced, has a high risk tolerance, or is clear about their short-term, active investing goals.

In more sophisticated portfolios, concentrated purchases can form part of the satellite, while the core remains diversified and stable.

For example:

This allows the investor to chase upside while limiting downside — blending growth acceleration with a safety net.

When recommending a concentrated approach, ensure:

Key takeaway:

Concentration isn’t inherently bad — it’s simply higher conviction with higher risk. Used wisely and paired with portfolio context, it can be a powerful wealth-building strategy, especially when integrated into a broader framework like core-satellite investing.

When building a property portfolio, it’s crucial to recognise that no investor has unlimited resources. Every portfolio is governed by a key principle:

Understanding which constraint applies to a client at any given time is one of the most critical skills in portfolio strategy. Once the constraint is known, the investment and structuring strategy can be tailored to push past it — or work around it to continue growing the portfolio effectively.

Let’s break down the three key constraints:

Capital refers to the amount of cash available a client has to cover the deposit and purchasing costs. This is often the first constraint for new investors.

Common signs:

Strategic Levers:

Example:

A client has $60K saved but a strong borrowing capacity. By using 88% lending with LMI, they can secure a $500K property instead of being limited to $300K at 80% LVR.

Cashflow constraints occur when the portfolio’s ongoing holding costs begin to outweigh the client’s surplus income, or when the investor becomes uncomfortable with negative cashflow despite having the ability to cover it.

Common signs:

Strategic Levers:

Example:

A client is saving $1,500/month but a prospective property would have a negative cashflow of $1,200/month. Technically viable, but may feel too tight. Either find a higher-yield deal or create a buffer into offset to reduce risk.

This is one of the most common blockers for scaling a portfolio — especially in today’s tighter lending environment. Borrowing capacity is dictated by income, expenses, and existing liabilities, and once maxed, the client cannot proceed unless something changes.

Common signs:

Strategic Levers:

Example:

A client with strong equity but a capped-out DTI ratio (e.g. above 4x) might consider more heavily looking into trust lending for their next purchase. If the asset becomes neutral in 2–3 years, they can silo the debt and restore capacity in their personal name.

It’s important to understand that constraints can shift over time. For instance:

This is why strategic sequencing is key — every purchase should consider the future impact on all three levers.

Strategy Summary Table

As strategists, our role is to identify the constraint holding a client back and apply the right tools to remove or minimise it — always one step ahead. By treating capital, cashflow, and borrowing capacity as the three pillars of progress, we can guide clients to build scalable, sustainable portfolios over the long term.

While identifying and addressing constraints is essential, the action off the back of this is to build portfolio strategies that are scalable and adaptable over time. A successful property strategy isn’t static — it evolves as the client’s circumstances, goals, and the market environment change.

Every investor’s journey will include moments where the strategy leans more toward growth and others where cashflow becomes the focus. This is normal and expected.

The key is to remain flexible. No single strategy applies forever, hence why we have portfolio reviews. By recognising that growth and cashflow are two sides of the same coin, we can tailor recommendations at each stage of the portfolio’s development — always with the end goal of scaling sustainably.

Ultimately, great portfolio strategies balance long-term wealth creation with short-term affordability, so clients can continue building without hitting a hard stop.

One of the most important parts of a strategist’s role is to filter through research insights with strategic intent. Research doesn’t sit in isolation — it must always be applied through the lens of what the client’s portfolio needs next. That’s why brief parameters aren’t just technical inputs — they’re strategic signals that tell us what kind of market we need, and therefore, which research outcomes to prioritise.

When reviewing research or shortlisting markets for a client, go back to:

That context determines whether you’re prioritising:

Here are some common client brief scenarios, and how they translate into specific market requirements based on our market categorisation framework:

Brief type: The client has a limited deposit or buffer and is relying on capital growth to pull equity for their next purchase.

Ideal Market Categories:

Client messaging:

Brief type: Client is serviceability constrained or sensitive to holding costs.

Ideal Market Categories:

Client messaging:

Brief type: Client already owns in QLD/VIC and is looking to avoid land tax or spread risk across states.

Ideal Market Categories:

Client messaging:

Brief type: Client is in a strong personal financial position, with a high income or good buffers. They are not overly concerned with immediate equity releases. Their goal is to build substantial net worth through long-term compounding capital growth.

Ideal Market Categories:

Client Messaging:

Many investors default to the idea that cheaper properties offer better value — more diversity, higher yields, or the ability to “spread the risk.” But in many cases, higher price point assets can provide a better return on effort, stronger long-term outcomes, and more manageable portfolios.

Here’s why:

Building a portfolio of fewer, higher quality assets can be significantly easier to manage than a larger one made up of multiple lower-value properties.

Consider this:

This becomes especially important for busy professionals, families, or clients who don’t want property to become their full-time job.

If we compare two $400k properties to one $800k property, you’d assume that maintenance costs scale linearly. But they don’t.

In practice:

So while theoretically cheaper properties are “cheaper” to own, in reality they come with additional costs that need to be factored in the equation.

It’s true that gross yields compress as price increases — a $500k property may yield 5%, while an $800k property might yield 4%.

But fixed costs like:

…don’t scale with property price — or at least not 1:1.

So while a more expensive property appears less “yielding” on paper, the actual net cashflow may not be significantly worse.

Higher price point strategies often make the most sense for:

This strategy may not suit:

When presenting research and choosing locations with a client, it’s important to remember your role: you’re not there to recite data — you’re there to guide.

Clients are often more informed than ever, but information alone isn’t clarity. Your job as a Portfolio Strategist is to connect the dots between their brief, goals, and the markets we’re watching — and then help them move forward with confidence.

Rather than walking through every market in our research update as a viable option, focus instead on:

This helps clients feel that the plan is tailored to them, and not a generic list of “good markets.” It also reduces overwhelm and positions you as a strategic guide — someone who understands their situation and is filtering the noise for them.

While you want to provide clarity, don’t box yourself in too tightly by committing to just one market too early — especially if:

In these cases, it’s better to speak in categories or a small selection of aligned markets, and reinforce that we’re keeping things flexible so we can seize the best opportunity — not just the first one that ticks a box.

This also allows us to remain fluid as markets change move through their cycle, and we can remain flexible with updating briefs and keeping clients open to new locations.

You’re not there to simply inform the client about what the research says. You’re there to guide them toward action based on what suits them best — while preserving enough optionality to find the right deal without unnecessary constraints.

One of the most important strategic decisions in a portfolio’s development is deciding when and how to incorporate residential or commercial assets. Each serves a distinct purpose, and understanding their roles, strengths, and limitations allows us to build more balanced and effective portfolios over time.

Residential assets are typically the starting point for most investors — and for good reason.

Strategic Advantages:

Ideal for:

Commercial property plays a powerful role in portfolios when the objective is servicing improvement, cashflow stability, or retirement cashflow generation.

Strategic Advantages:

Strategic Constraints:

Ideal for:

For many investors, residential and commercial serve complementary roles in the journey:

Over time, as equity grows and borrowing constraints shift from capital to cashflow, commercial can be introduced to balance the portfolio. This might mean holding mostly residential early on, and introducing commercial assets once 3–4 properties are already in play — particularly when a client’s personal income or serviceability starts to plateau.

Both residential and commercial have strategic value — but they serve different phases of a portfolio’s lifecycle. A smart strategist knows when to prioritise one over the other based on the client’s current constraints, future goals, and borrowing position.

While every investor’s journey is unique, there are several common inflection points where transitioning from residential to commercial makes strategic sense. This shift is often driven by changing constraints, evolving goals, and the desire to generate stable passive income. Below are some typical pathways we see in practice.

Many investors start by accumulating residential properties to build equity through capital growth and leverage. Once equity is built across a few assets, the investor may sell one high-performing property or access equity to fund a commercial purchase.

This is often used to:

This is a typical strategy for clients in their 30s-50s who have benefitted from early residential success and want to stabilise their cashflow.

For older investors (typically 50s–60s), the focus often shifts from growth to preservation and passive income. In this case, the goal is to reduce portfolio volatility and simplify cashflow.

Strategic steps may include:

This approach offers:

Some clients come in with significant earnings and/or large capital pools from their careers or businesses. Their portfolio goals are less about timing equity-building and more about deploying capital efficiently to create positive cashflow.

For these clients:

These are often time-poor professionals looking to streamline their investments and create immediate cashflow returns.

As residential portfolios scale, especially with multiple negatively geared assets, they can become serviceability-constrained. Commercial property can be used as a counterweight to balance the cashflow profile and allow continuation in portfolio building.

This becomes particularly powerful when:

🧠 A single commercial property can sometimes make the difference between hitting a borrowing wall and continuing to scale the portfolio.

One of the most critical — and often overlooked — elements of portfolio strategy is evaluating the opportunity cost of holding underperforming or misaligned assets. While long-term buy-and-hold investing is foundational for many investors, there are times when strategic selling and redeployment can accelerate portfolio performance, improve cashflow, and optimise return on capital.

As portfolio strategists, part of our job is to help clients decide what to do with what they already own, not just what to buy next. Sometimes, the best next step isn’t just another purchase — it’s unlocking capital from existing assets that are no longer serving the client’s goals.

There are three key scenarios we typically consider:

This is where opportunity cost needs to be considered.

Let’s say a client holds a high-rise apartment purchased for $600,000 that’s now worth $700,000 after 10 years. It rents for $520 per week, has high strata, and no significant land component — not ideal for future growth.

If the client sold the apartment today:

If that $300,000 were redeployed into two growth-market houses with higher land value and stronger yields, those assets could:

So while selling involves costs, the real question is what you gain in return.

Even after tax and costs, redeploying the capital can generate significantly higher ROI and strategic alignment.

Some investors are more open to trading through market cycles, especially when they:

In these cases, a buy-sell-buy strategy (e.g. buying in a rising market, holding through a growth phase, then selling and reinvesting into the next rising market) can outperform a passive hold approach. This isn’t suitable for everyone, but for more aggressive or growth-oriented clients, it can be a powerful lever when combined with:

This aligns with the satellite part of the core-satellite investing model — where the “core” of the portfolio is made up of long-term, stable buy-and-hold assets, and the “satellite” involves more active, riskier investments that may be sold and rotated for enhanced gains.

Ultimately, the future performance of any asset is unknown — but that doesn’t mean we can’t make highly informed decisions.

Our research team plays a key role in:

By showing clients the data and logic, we help them gain clarity — not just on whether a property has grown, but whether it still deserves a place in their portfolio.

By asking these questions and helping clients explore the true opportunity cost, we ensure their portfolio is always working strategically, not just passively.

Superannuation is often the most ignored asset in an investor’s portfolio. For many clients, a Self-Managed Super Fund (SMSF) can be an excellent vehicle to accelerate their long-term wealth strategy.

While many investors view their super as something to be left alone until retirement, smart portfolio strategy treats SMSF as a complementary stream, operating in parallel to their personal portfolio — but governed by its own rules, opportunities, and constraints.

We always reinforce a simple message with clients:

Whether it’s a personal purchase or an SMSF purchase, our focus remains the same:

The only difference is that the structure is different — and that brings its own unique benefits and considerations.

One of the best times to raise SMSF as a strategic lever is when a client:

With ~200k in super, a client can often purchase an SMSF property in the $500k range using lending at 70–80% LVR (depending on lender policy).

Even a single, well-chosen SMSF purchase can:

In many cases, this becomes the “difference maker” in a client’s wealth trajectory — the one additional property they might not have been able to fund personally, but can acquire in super to bridge the gap to financial freedom.

SMSF investing doesn’t replace personal portfolio building — it supports and enhances it.

While SMSF is commonly positioned as a long-term buy and hold strategy — and for good reason — it’s also a highly strategic environment for more active, growth-oriented investors who are comfortable with market timing and asset rotation.

For most clients, SMSF is a natural fit for buy-and-hold investing. The super environment complements this with:

This makes SMSF the perfect place to hold a high-quality asset that grows steadily over 15–20 years while providing rising rental income — ideally placed to support clients’ retirement goals.

However, for more aggressive investors who are comfortable with buying and selling to ride market cycles, SMSF can be an incredibly powerful tool — if planned with research and strategy.

This approach is well-suited to clients who:

⚠️ Note: Active buying and selling in SMSF needs to be structured carefully to avoid breaching rules around investment purpose and fund behaviour — particularly avoiding anything that may resemble business activity (e.g. property development or flipping).

When it comes to structures such as trusts, we often can be in a position where clients seek guidance around whether it’s the right path for them. As always, we are never here to provide financial advice. We are only here to provide insight on what previous clients have done with their portfolios based on their scenarios at the time.

It's important that we always talk about this as things that clients have previously done, and that they need to check with their financial professionals whether it is something that they should explore within their own portfolio. Overall, we will typically have some thoughts that we can provide on whether they should consider it or not, or the questions they can ask themself and their professions.

Scenario 1 (no trust): This is where we get to, but we aren’t considering wage increases (insert bigger numbers go slightly over)

Scenario 2 (trust considered): We could grow with structures, policies and banks where some look at things differently

Scenario 3: Providing further examples of where it hasn’t suited a client

Strategy is often seen as a numbers game — and while data, performance, and financial modelling drive our decision-making, the most successful portfolios are those that also align with a client’s personal values, lifestyle aspirations, and emotional goals.

A well-built portfolio is not just about how much equity or passive income we can generate — it’s about supporting the life the client wants to live and achieve.

Throughout a portfolio journey, priorities shift. A goal and strategy that made sense in the client’s late 20s might no longer suit them in their 40s or 50s. For example:

These shifts mean we may need to adapt strategies to prioritise cash flow, liquidity, or capital preservation — even if the “optimal” path on paper is different.

Sometimes, a slower growth trajectory with more comfort is the right choice for where the client is in life.

For many clients, purchasing a home to live in is a deeply emotional milestone. Even if it doesn’t stack up as the most financially efficient choice (e.g. twice the cost of renting, poor equity potential), the sense of security, stability, and fulfilment from owning a PPOR can outweigh the trade-offs for clients.

In strategy, we need to:

Trying to ignore the PPOR desire often leads to clients pausing or abandoning the plan later — so we’re better off building it into the roadmap early, with full transparency on the impact and trade-offs.

Eventually, all portfolios need to transition from a growth engine to a retirement income stream.

We must help clients:

Not all clients are ready to discuss exit planning at the start — but introducing the concept early builds trust and shows we’re thinking long-term on their behalf.

At the core of strategy is a human being — with dreams, fears, family responsibilities, and lifestyle goals that might not always fit inside a spreadsheet.

As strategists, it’s our job to guide with the numbers, but respect and integrate the emotions.

A strategy that disregards emotional goals will eventually lose momentum. But one that combines logic and lifestyle, even with some compromise, becomes sustainable, motivating, and meaningful.