Hey guys,

I find it quite easy to tell an experienced investor from an inexperienced one these days. A phone call, an email or a 2 minute conversation normally reveals a person's understanding of property.

Property is such a diverse and sometimes complex investment vehicle that no-one could possibly know all things, all structures, all strategies, all procedures, or all markets. I don't know a great deal about commercial property, nor do I know a lot about planning permission, developing property or SIPPS.

In fact, the more I learn about property, the more l realise I don't know. Does that make me a bad investor? Does that mean you shouldn't read my educational blogs or work with my team?

Well - yes - if you want to develop property, buy commercial or invest in SIPPS.

BUT...if you want to learn how to use new build or off plan residential property to build your portfolio from 0 - 10 and in the process self fund your retirement -- then yes, because that is my specific strategy.

I have discovered that the people who make the most money in property are those that know a lot about a little. Specialists in a specific strategy.

So, to answer the question I posed in the subject of this post, which strategy is best of all? Well the answer is simply, they are all good as long as they're making you an acceptable return on your investment.

Note that I very deliberately used the phrase "return on investment". I could definitely make more money from my investments but my return on investment would be lower. Let me explain: I pay an agent to manage my properties even though I could do it myself. The fact is I trade the extra money I would save by not paying the agent for a better lifestyle and peace of mind. For me its a worthwhile investment and greatly improves my return on investment.

It's part of my "Set and Forget" strategy. (Listen to my set and forget podcast here)

Lets look at another example:

One investor buys a run-down property and spends 3-6 months renewing it, he then takes out £20,000 and repeats the process. The other takes new build property which they buy at a discount and does nothing to it except hold it for 2 years and takes £40,000 out.

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Whose strategy is better?

Well if you were speaking to me I would say that it has to be the latter strategy since that's my chosen strategy. If you spoke to Damien, a good friend of mine -- he'd laugh and say the first.

Even funnier is that if you spoke to Alex, one of my property mentors back in Australia, he'd laugh and say we were both crazy and that we should be doing industrial property.

Each strategy works for each of us and we are all happy with our respective returns on investment. It's not what we do so much as the fact that we only do that one thing really really well.

As Warren Buffett famously said:

"Diversification is a protection against ignorance. It makes very little sense for those who know what they're doing."

My team and I can't help you with industrial or commercial property, nor with renovations. It's just not our game. But we can absolutely help you build a portfolio from 0-10 properties using my "Set & Forget" philosophy.

Live with passion,

Brett Wood

PS. I think I would love being a politician, since I obviously possess the ability to answer a question by not really answering it. :-] The bottom line is that without knowing what is fully involved in each strategy and without knowing your position, there's no way to answer the question accurately for you. That's the trap people fall into. When you're working with your portfolio manager, they'll be able to tell you if our strategy is right for you or not.

PPS: Listen to my "set and forget" podcast right here: