Ever see somebody living their best life and wonder just how they got there? We asked some of our Spaceship co-workers to share the strategies they used to achieve some long-held personal goals.
We changed their names so they could get into the details.
I set up milestones before moving out of home
Alice* recently moved out of home. She set milestones to help her save.
“I’ve lived at home for most of my life, and my parents haven’t moved since I was born (20+ years!). I have had small stints where I’ve lived out of home, but that was with other people or a partner. This is the first time I’ve had the opportunity to live alone and I love it.
So, for me… before I moved out of home there were three major milestones I wanted to hit before making the jump.
Milestone one: I wanted to build a ‘backup fund’ large enough to live for a year without working, including rent, utilities, and essential expenses.
Milestone two: This was to pay off all outstanding debt I had, including HELP, a loan, and credit card balance.
For about a year and a half I had all my expenses and a budget logged into an Excel spreadsheet. This helped me keep track of my repayments to knock out milestones one and two.
Milestone three: I wanted to save a chunk to put towards future investments and have as ‘play money’ (be that stocks, super, property, treat yo-self). I call this bucket my general ‘life fund’.
Milestone three is a work in progress, and I used it to help fund my purchases (like furniture and bond) when I first moved out.
Fortunately I haven’t had to dip into my backup fund since I’ve moved, and my life fund hasn’t dipped too much either.
Moving out has generally been a great experience for me, and one where I now have my own space to explore my hobbies.”
Key learning: Breaking your goal into milestones can help keep you motivated and on track.
I took advantage of circumstances to move to the mountains
Fred* is in the engineering team at Spaceship. He headed to the mountains for the ski season. Achieving his goal was a matter of taking advantage of timing.
“Snowboarding is my favourite thing to do. Usually it’s hard to find good jobs in ski towns, particularly in my field (software engineering) so previously to do something like this would mean working in a completely different field and probably taking a financial hit.
With the new focus on flexible and remote working these days it seemed like the perfect opportunity to make the most of it.
I ended my lease early, which meant having to pay a week’s rent as a break fee, which really isn’t that bad considering you’d often have a week overlap when moving house anyway.
I found a 16-week winter lease in Jindabyne. Finding accommodation was probably the hardest thing – there’s a big shortage this season.
I gave my houseplants to a co-worker and threw some furniture into storage in Sydney. I did my own end-of-lease clean to save myself $400 or so. I packed my car with my clothes, snowboard, skateboard, desk, monitor, and guitar, and drove down.
Living here isn’t any more expensive than living in Sydney for me – I just had to buy a ski pass as well as pay some minor costs of moving. I got the bond back from my last place which covered this place plus some extra, and this bond will contribute to the next rental when I move back to Sydney. I’m actually saving way more money here than I was in Sydney, living in a room in a sharehouse here vs a one bedroom flat there.
Even if it didn’t make the most financial sense, I probably would have still done it. Doing things you enjoy is the best way to spend your money in my opinion.”
Key learning: When it’s time to act, take action. Being agile and opportunistic may help you achieve long-held dreams.
I saved aggressively then bought a house
Dean* is a product manager at Spaceship. Before they got married, he and his wife joined forces to aggressively save for a house.
“My wife and I both migrated from overseas but started our relationship here in Sydney.
To save for a house, I started putting savings aside from my first job even though I couldn’t really save much at that time. The biggest challenge was to save the deposit, and also to find a property we could afford. We set a pretty aggressive savings target which involved setting up a savings account and cutting down on most of our unnecessary spending. There were no holidays, no travel, etc.
It did take a number of years, roughly about five years, for us to save the initial deposit. The housing prices in 2012 weren’t as crazy as they are now.
We started planning our future together once our relationship started. My wife has an accounting background, so I guess that did help quite a lot from the beginning, having a financial mindset regarding how to get our first home together.”
Key learning: Just start where you are, with what you have. Every little step helps on the path toward a goal.
I built a ‘sh*t happens’ fund – then moved to New Zealand
Leo’s* a product manager at Spaceship who recently moved to a different country. He learned what not to do from others.
“I met my partner in Sydney. She’s from New Zealand and was in Sydney on a six-month work placement but stayed another four years because of me. We always had moving back to New Zealand in mind.
Before I lived in Australia, I lived in Europe, and it meant that I saw a lot of people and even close relatives getting hit really hard by the GFC (global financial crisis). They all had blue collar jobs and didn't really save (i.e. bought cars and properties, went on vacation, etc. a lot in the lead up to it, when the economy was doing amazing).
So, for me the highest priority is putting a ‘sh*t happens’ fund together that will allow me to be comfortable through prolonged difficult times as I don't want to find myself in the same situation (unemployed without any savings and in debt).
I'm very close to achieving it.
After that it will be saving for a house deposit and making monthly contributions into the stock market.
Most important of all is that my partner and I live off her pay check while we're saving/investing all of mine. That allows us to save/invest 70% of our combined income.”
Key learning: Creating a bold plan – and sticking to it – could help you have the life you dream about.
I started a side-hustle – and added an extra stream of income
Jane* works at Spaceship. She has a goal of creating multiple streams of income.
“In the last six months, I started an e-commerce side hustle. I get consistent sales of about $1,000 a month. It’s in a pretty niche sector so I’m not expecting it to grow very big but it’s been steady so far.
I've also started rentvesting, which means I purchased an investment property in a city outside of where I live. It's more affordable to buy there. I probably wouldn’t consider it an income stream since I’m so in debt [because of the mortgage]! The repayments are more than the rent, but over time I’m expecting to come out ahead.”
Key learning: Having a goal can help you take action, which can change your life.
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. We have an ongoing Real Money Talk series where 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.
