Episode Details

For many of us, 2020 has been a year to forget, but I don't think we're going to do that easily.

I'm confident that we're going to remember 2020 for a long time.

I don't know when you're going to listen to this podcast, but it's almost certainly time for me to wish you a happy, healthy, and prosperous 2021 – a much better year ahead.

2020 brought a lot of its challenges to us, but it's actually been a great year for me, my family, and my team, as well as for this podcast and blog.

I look forward to continuing this education in 2021, but for today, I want to say thank you for being part of my community, and to share with you 20 lessons I learned in 2020.

Michael Yardney's 2020 lessons

Each year brings its own set of wins, challenges, and lessons to learn and 2020 was certainly no exception.

It's been an extraordinary year.

Nobody could have foreseen all that's happened, including the coronavirus, its economic fallout and the way our lives changed.

But as we head into 2021, I can't help but reflect on what Australia as a country has accomplished and what I've achieved personally, what I've overcome, and the lessons I want to carry with me into the New Year.

Here are my top 20.

1. Expect the unexpected.

Every year an unexpected X factor comes out of the blue to undo the best laid plans – sometimes on the upside (like the miracle election result in mid-2019) and sometimes on the downside like Covid19 in 2020.

While an X factor seems to come every year, a major Black swan event as some call it, one that "breaks the world", tends to come every decade.

2. Focus on the long term

Strategic investors have a long-term focus and don't change their plans based on what's happening "now".

In fact, they don't buy investments that are working now – they investment in the type of assets that have always worked.

Clearly this was the thinking behind Warren Buffets quote "Be fearful went others are greedy and be greedy with others are fearful."

3. It's the media's job to entertain you – not educate you.

Remember… it's media's job to get eyeballs on the advertisers' content, rather than to educate you.

Think about it… how many of those expert's forecasts this year came true?

But look how many people worried and stressed about the potential outcomes that just didn't occur.

Unfortunately, being overwhelmed with misinformation led many people to live in a state of fear and anxiety and caused some to make disastrous investment errors.

4. Take economic forecasts with a grain of salt.

If you're reading something frightening in the business section, or hearing it on TV, or learning about it from your neighbour, it's almost certainly too late to act—because the information is already reflected in market – in either the share price or property prices.

5. Don't believe the Doomsayers

There will always be somebody wanting to stall the aspirations of their fellow Australians who are looking to take their financial futures in their own hands and do something about it.

Don't let them stop you achieving your financial dreams – the doomsayers are always wrong, at least in the long term.

6: No one really knows what's going to happen to the property markets.

As a real estate investor, while it's important to have mentors make sure you're listening to somebody who has not only built their own substantial property portfolio, but someone who has kept their wealth through a number of cycles. There are just too many enthusiastic amateurs out their offering investment advice at present. 7. There is no such thing as the "Australian property market."

There are multiple markets in Australia, and each state is at a particular stage of its own property