Broke to $20m: 32yo’s powerful message for struggling Aussies

Michael Thomas 32, who runs a multimillion dollar property and business empire today, something he never dreamt would be possible in his 20s. Picture: Tom Parrish.

A 32 yo gamer is urging more Aussies to get the mental health help they need after he went from not having a full-time job until he was 25 to now being worth $20m thanks to his 13 properties and thriving business.

From barely leaving his bedroom to building his private empire, Michael Thomas has had a stunning turnaround boosted by the biggest property boom in Australia’s history – a far cry from his early 20s spent battling intense mental health issues including anxiety, depression and suicidal ideation that started when he was just 14.

“That was something I dealt with every single day … with the exception of maybe two or three days, up until I was around 25 years old,” he told News Corp network. “So that’s, do the math, 3000-plus days not wanting to be alive.”

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Michael Thomas struggled to hold down a fulltime job until he was 25. Picture: Tom Parrish

Desperate to show his parents he was trying something, he began flipping second-hand phones – buying on Facebook and selling for more on Gumtree. “It wasn’t much – like $100, $150, maybe $200 per phone.”

From there, he moved to car flipping, before a friend in the motor industry urged him to go for a real job there. “My reflex response was no because I didn’t care about cars,” he said, but then thought of his dad and got the job – earning about $800 a week.

“I was working 80-plus hours a week, sometimes up to like 100 hours. There were times where I would get up at 3am, fly down to Melbourne to try and buy one or two cars … I’d be up for 22 to 24 hours.”

“I was running away from a version of hell that I’d experienced for most of my life … and I was desperately moving toward a version of heaven.”

Michael Thomas said he did not think he would live to 25 as he battled intense mental health issues in his early 20s. Picture: Tom Parrish

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He said it was discipline that transformed him, living frugally despite his income rising – living at home, driving a company car and squirrelling away every cent he could into savings.

“I made like $300k, and I still wouldn’t buy an espresso from a cafe,” he said. “I didn’t let lifestyle creep kick in. I didn’t care for buying the fancy watch or the fancy clothes. I was happy for people to think that I was a loser … because the overarching goal of finding financial freedom was more important to me.”

He bought his first home at 27 off a 20 per cent deposit on a circa $300k home in Loganholme in Brisbane’s south despite several people warning him values there had not moved much in years.

“Even though that’s a relatively low entry point, it still felt like a lot,” he said. “Everyone told me not to do it. It encouraged me more so to actually do it.”

Michael Thomas’ residential properties have grown in value with the post-Covid boom. (Source: InvestorKit).

The house value surged, sitting on $660k now, and so began his property journey that accelerated after signing on with InvestorKit as his buyers agents.

The firm under head Arjun Paliwal boosted him towards his now 13-strong tally, including diversifying in the last two years into commercial properties too.

All up, his purchase price across five years of property buying was $13.676m with the current value of the properties sitting around $16.54m, according Mr Paliwal’s InvestorKit data.

Mr Thomas has seven residential properties, three of which are in Queensland – Loganholme, Wynnum West, and Bargara; two in New South Wales – Killarney Vale and Harrington Park; one in South Australia – Hallett Cove; and one in Victoria – Pakenham.

He has expanded into commercial property since last year.

Of his six commercial properties, three are in New South Wales – Queanbeyan, Smeaton Grange and Thornton; and one apiece in Victoria – Mooroopna; Western Australia – Rockingham; and Queensland – South Gladstone.

“None of it was intentional,” Mr Thomas said of his early success with phone and car re-sales. “It was purely just because I wasn’t doing anything else with my life at the time. It was all just happenstance.”

But his property journey certainly has been very considered and mathematical in its approach since InvestorKit took over, he said.

It’s at the point where he does not need to know where they are buying next, just what he needs to pay.

“I didn’t expect it to be an opportunity of any value,” Mr Thomas said of the change in his fortune that now sits at $20m including his properties and business. “I just kept moving.”

If you or someone you know is struggling with mental health, help is available 24/7. You can contact Lifeline on 13 11 14 or Beyond Blue on 1300 22 4636 for free, confidential support. It’s never too late to reach out and start turning things around.

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