My Story

Justin Picker

My business and property investment journey started back in 2015. I came back from a university exchange in Oregon with next to nothing in the bank. I was 23, had no assets, no plan, and no real idea how I was going to get ahead. That empty bank balance stuck with me. It was the thing that made me start thinking seriously about building wealth.

After not being able to land a post-graduate job, I had to settle for an entry-level sales role at Telstra and started a side hustle buying and selling electronics on Gumtree and Facebook. I lived on a tight budget, saved what I could, and eventually put together a $25,000 deposit for my first investment property — a $180,000 three-bedroom villa in Queensland. Nothing glamorous. Just a start.

12 months later, it was onto the second property. I combined what I’d saved with a small gift from my dad, $4,000 I won on a radio competition, and a further $20,000 saved. That got me into a two-bedroom unit in the Moreton Bay area in QLD. From there, I just kept saving, flipping electronics, and repeating the process for property number three, a small two-bedroom semi-detached house in Adelaide.

After my third property, people around me started asking questions, how I was doing it, how the lending worked, and what the process looked like. That led to starting Picker Financial Solutions. Being able to help clients follow a similar journey has been the backbone and allowed myself, the business, and our clients’ journeys to grow together.

What started as a one-man operation out of my in-laws’ study nook has grown into a team of over 20 staff. We’ve helped more than 1,500 Australians get into property and managed over $1 billion in lending. The team has picked up national recognition along the way, including AFG awards for Top 25 Group in NSW, Best Broker Group, and Best Regional Broker Group. My journey was also recently covered by News.com.au.

Today, my wife Madeleine and I hold 28 properties across four states, with an investment portfolio valued at over $20 million. The strategy hasn’t changed much from the beginning, buying properties with strong rental yields, buying below market value, and targeting metro locations with solid growth fundamentals. Having the right team, including a buyer’s agent early on, made a genuine difference in the quality of assets I was picking up and kept us on track for growth.

The thing that keeps me going isn’t the awards or the numbers. It’s showing people that this is actually achievable with the resources they have. You don’t need to come from money. You don’t need a massive salary. You just need a plan, some discipline, and the right people around you.

I started with nothing. If I can build this, so can you.

My goal is to help as many Australians as we can achieve financial freedom and ensure they are on track to reaching their long-term goals.