This post is based on an interview we conducted with Harvey in July 2024.
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: Harvey
Age: 38
Where do you live? Tasmania.
Please tell us a bit about yourself.
Hey! I'm Harvey, I'm 38, a married dad of three living in Tasmania who has been scraping by for what feels like decades now but is finally starting to see the light at the end of the tunnel.
What's your current net worth?
Somewhere around $600,000.
How does it break down?
- Home: $507,000 (minus the $291,000 mortgage),
- Super: $350,000
- Crypto and various investing apps: $10,000
- Very little cash sadly!
Do you have any debts?
- Mortgage: $291,000
- Zip Pay: $1600
How did you build your net worth?
Through pure luck and occasionally listening to advice!
I started working full-time when I was 17 and I had more money than I knew what to do with and wasted all of it, but I did take on the advice from my mum to always pay into my super.
I've always contributed 5% personally on top of my employer contributions. This was particularly helpful when I worked in higher education, who were contributing 17% at the time.
I've made a lot of terrible choices over the years (and continue to do so as I have poor impulse control if the offer of a Good Time presents itself) but now my wife is working again after a 9 year slog raising the kids (patience of a saint!), we are starting to make better choices and prepare ourselves for the future.
Earn
Tell us a bit about your career.
I'm into my 21st year working in IT.
I've been lucky enough to progress quite well through roles, and have worked in seven different roles for only three employers in my entire career.
Do you have any income sources outside your job? How much do you earn from each and how did you develop them?
I do run a monthly event that generates a small amount of income, and this goes directly into an account set aside as a holiday fund as we are terrible at saving money otherwise (though getting better!).
I've also rarely held myself back from buying things that I want and some of those purchases, like my vinyl collection, are turning into a wise accidental investment.
What’s been important for you to learn about money?
Start early and start often, and just put aside whatever you can.
If you haven't started yet, today's the day!
I use a number of different investment apps as I'm trying to work out what style is right for me, and what initially seems like an inconsequential amount of money over time can end up being a lifesaver - literally.
Multiple emergency car repairs and things like that have been paid for by the odd $10 here and there that has been invested through something like Spaceship.
Save
What's your savings rate? How has it changed over time?
We don't really save.
It's a constant source of anxiety for me, but we've been single income for a long time and haven't really had the opportunity - if we keep the roof over our heads and food in our bellies, that's good enough.
This is starting to change now we have a second income again.
Do you have a budget?
Sadly, the mere thought of preparing a budget is enough to paralyse both me and my wife, so no, we don't.
How much do you spend per year?
Great question - just about everything we earn at the moment. But I'm seeing a light at the end of the tunnel.
Do you make purchase decisions carefully, or are you loose with your money?
Somehow we manage to do both.
We always try to buy second-hand where we can, perform our own repairs, tend not to make any unnecessary big purchases and rarely travel.
I always get undone when I get a hint of a party - I'm quite happy to drop money on enjoying myself.
How is your work-life balance?
In recent months it has been a struggle, but I'm managing it.
My wellbeing as the primary breadwinner is very important to me and I take it seriously as I can't afford to not be working.
I exercise most days, I socialise as often as I can, and my family are incredibly supportive.
What's your favourite thing to spend money on?
Good times, my kids, and Magic cards (I'm a nerd, it comes with the territory)
Invest
How do you invest?
My super is my main one, if that counts.
I've been contributing to it for 21 years and it is doing really well.
I'm very mindful of how it's being invested and check it frequently to see how my investment options are performing.
What's been your best investment?
I regret not investing more into cryptocurrency when I did as I've had the highest return from specifically Bitcoin and Ethereum.
What’s been your worst investment?
Probably investing in myself - biggest wastes of money have always been dumb things I've bought myself.
What’s been your overall return?
I am no good with numbers. I just let the apps do their thing.
My crypto is up about 300% though - just good/lucky timing. Knowing how volatile it is, I didn't want to risk too much but regret that now.
How are you building wealth?
Keeping my head down at work, slowly making improvements to the house, starting to save more so we can invest more, and being less of an idiot with our money.
What are your main roadblocks to building wealth? How are you addressing them?
It WAS being single income, but we're past that roadblock now. I think in about a year's time, we'll have a much better idea of what the future holds.
Do you have a target net worth you want?
Not really, but I do know I don't want to work a day longer than I need to. Current super calculations have me on track to retire comfortably at 60 and living off that until I'm in the ground. 22 years to go! Woo! But anything I can do in the meantime to reduce that further would be great.
Behaviour
When did you make your first significant behavioural shift towards wealth building?
... this year? I've pretty much always lived just beyond my means and changing that behaviour has taken a long time to undo, and it's still a struggle.
If you could start again, what would you do differently?
1) Stop buying physical media unless it's really niche because trust me, you won't need it, and
2) Your weirdo boss is going to start talking about a new thing called Bitcoin and try to get you to invest - LISTEN TO HIM, THEN WAIT 15 YEARS.
What mistakes have you made along the way that others can learn from?
Living from about 16-28 just constantly chasing a party definitely did a number on my savings and has stopped me from achieving a lot of things I had hoped to do.
I would say my behaviour was problematic.
I wish I had sought professional help sooner, which may have put a stop to it, and would've helped me see some of those bucket list items ticked off.
Do you have any worries about retirement? If so, how are you planning to address them?
Only that I won't be able to retire any earlier than 60. I'm not too fussed.
How are you learning about building wealth? Is it from family, books, being forced to learn as your wealth grew, etc.?
A combination of listening to family and friends, research and being forced to learn.
Honestly - I'm so bad at this. Everything I've ever made is a huge fluke. Don't mention tax to me, I will pass out.
Do you give to charity? If so, what percentage of your time/money do you give?
Yes. MSF are in my will, and we currently donate monthly to the Glenn McGrath Foundation, Canteen, UNHCR and the UNRWA.
The event I run monthly uses the Humanitix platform which, while more expensive, means 100% of Booking Fee profits go to charity as well.
Our view is that we are incredibly fortunate and anything we can do to help those in need should be done. For us right now, that's donations rather than volunteering.
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