This post is based on an interview we conducted with Akhil in February 2022.
Real Money Talk is our series where we interview Australians from all walks of life about their personal finances. The views expressed are those of the interviewees, based on their experiences with money, and as such are not necessarily representative of Spaceship's views.
We have changed the name of the interviewee for their privacy.
Overview
Name: Akhil
Age: 30
Where do you live? Sydney NSW
Please tell us a bit about yourself.
I am a 30 year old from Sydney who came to Australia in 2016 and I now live in Australia. As an international student, I did not understand the importance of super early on but now I am getting there.
What's your current net worth?
$39,000
How does it break down?
Super: $48,000
Business: $10,000
Cash: $4,000
Crypto: $5,000
Equities: $100
Do you have any debts?
Car loan: $25,000
Credit card: $3,000
How did you build your net worth?
I hardly have a net worth but whatever I have is primarily in super.
Earn
Tell us a bit about your career.
I work as a Senior Consultant at a Big 4 Accounting Firm. I completed my Masters in 2018 and started working full-time as a data analyst immediately. I moved into a consulting role in 2022.
Do you have any income sources outside your job? How much do you earn from each and how did you develop them?
I profit around $500-$1000/month from my e-commerce business. My side business is only 6 months old so at this stage I am reinvesting all my profits.
I wanted to build something of my own as seeing many of my colleagues lose their jobs in 2020 made me feel very vulnerable as well. I started learning about e-commerce in 2020 and managed to start selling my own products by mid 2021.
Save
What's your savings rate? How has it changed over time?
I save around 15% of my income.
Do you have a budget?
Yes.
How much do you spend per year?
$65,000
Do you make purchase decisions carefully, or are you loose with your money?
Depends on what it is. For many things I am careful but when it comes to technology, I am very loose.
How is your work-life balance?
Pretty good. I have enough time outside of work to do things I enjoy.
What's your favourite thing to spend money on?
Definitely technology and gadgets. I just want to buy every gadget there is.
Invest
How do you invest?
I like to invest in the financial markets. The two asset classes I am comfortable with are stocks and crypto. I prefer to take a long term view.
I usually start with fundamental analysis and then dollar cost average for the most part. If I have a lump sum, I would probably look at some technical analysis to time my entry but would still enter over time and not at once.
What's been your best investment?
Tesla stock - 280% return in a year.
What's been your worst investment?
Virgin Galactic - I sold in profit but learnt a very good lesson about fundamentals. I got carried away with the hype and kind of ignored the fundamentals but the market always catches up to it.
What’s been your overall return?
Don't know.
How are you building wealth?
I just turned 30 so this decade I want to invest a lot more. I will maintain my standard of living even if my wage increases so I can invest that. I plan to dollar cost average every month this decade in the Spaceship Origin Portfolio and my crypto portfolio. I am quite comfortable with volatility and have high conviction in these asset classes so I will keep on buying. I like index funds as beating the index consistently is hard and I can use that time to study crypto.
What are your main roadblocks to building wealth? How are you addressing them?
The main roadblocks would be increasing cash flow and sticking to the plan.
I want to earn more or reduce expenses to invest more. The other is sticking to my plan and not letting emotions get in the way especially during periods of increased volatility and during bear markets.
Do you have a target net worth you want?
Ideally above $10 million at age 65 but at least $5 million.
Behaviour
When did you make your first significant behavioural shift towards wealth building?
At age 27-28 so around 2-3 years back. I was always interested in the financial markets but never really invested and spent all my money.
If you could start again, what would you do differently? What advice would you give your younger self?
I would buy Bitcoin early.
On a serious note, I would just start investing early even if tiny amounts. With hindsight, you realise how many opportunities you have missed but I’m not gonna repeat that again.
What mistakes have you made along the way that others can learn from?
Not starting early enough. No amount of knowledge or analysis can replace time in the markets. Start investing ASAP as time in the market always beats timing the market.
Do you have any worries about retirement? If so, how are you planning to address them?
No, not really. I am confident that compounding has my back.
How are you learning about building wealth?
Mainly through books, interviews, podcasts and my own analysis. Books are good for theory and concepts while podcasts, news etc. are great for macro-economic trends. Annual reports and Financial statements are great for info on companies.
Do you give to charity? If so, what percentage of your time/money do you give?
Yes, on and off. I have volunteered time in the past but lately I have only made financial contributions. For the past couple of years, that would be around 1% of my income.
We want to hear your Real Money Talk
At Spaceship we’re big believers in sharing our money stories. We want to hear yours, too. In our ongoing Real Money Talk series, members of our community share what they’ve learned about managing money. We’d love you to take part. Here’s a link to our Real Money Talk survey where you can share your story.
