ANNA GRAHAMEVANS*, 34

$250,000

WHAT DO YOU DO?

I own a risk consultancy company.

HOW LONG HAVE YOU BEEN ON $250K?

Five years. It’s about $50K less than someone in this role would typically take home, but I prefer to put that money back into the business.

HOW MUCH DO YOU PAY PER WEEK IN RENT?

I pay $1,200 onto my mortgage; I live with my husband in Bayside, Victoria.

DO YOU MAKE ANY VOLUNTARY SUPER CONTRIBUTIONS?

Yes, I put an extra $200 in a week.

WHAT ARE YOUR CURRENT FINANCIAL GOALS?

I want to expand my business and migrate it online. As I’m the owner, I’d foot the bill. We’re also hoping to build a house, if the bank says yes.

ARE YOU FINANCIALLY INDEPENDENT?

Yes. My husband earns a little less than I do, but we’re happy to share everything equally. I think that once you’re married, as long as both parties are contributing to the relationship, then it becomes far less important to split everything straight down the middle. It’s more important to share the same financial outlook, which, luckily, we do.

HOW MUCH DEBT DO YOU HAVE?

My husband and I owe about $1.3 million across

three investment property mortgages, but the rent from them helps pay them off. We started investing in property in our early twenties; with the equity we built in our first investment property, we bought the second and then the third.

WHAT WAS YOUR LAST BIG SPLURGE?

Over the past five years, my husband and I have spent about $70,000 on IVF treatments.

WHAT ARE YOU SAVING FOR NOW?

To send my Australian surrogate overseas for fertility treatment so we can have a baby.

DO YOU THINK YOU SPEND TOO MUCH MONEY?

At the moment, we’re on a strict budget so we can afford to build our house and send our surrogate overseas. We don’t spend as much as we’d like, but that’s okay – in the future we’ll have what we want because we’ve tightened the belt now.

HOW OFTEN DO YOU WORRY ABOUT MONEY?

Not too often, thankfully, although I do baulk when I need to hand over huge sums of money to my IVF doctors. But, having said that, my husband and I are fortunate that we have the money to hand over.

HOW MUCH MONEY DO YOU THINK YOU NEED TO LIVE THE LIFE YOU WANT?

My salary is enough for the both of us; it’s just that we need to stop spending so much, which is difficult at the moment. Once we have a baby and build our house, things will even out and we’ll be in a much better financial position.

WHERE DO YOU SEE YOUR FINANCES IN FIVE YEARS?

I’d like to hit the $750,000 mark in superannuation – that would be a huge achievement and one less thing to worry about – and we’d like to acquire more investment properties.