Early financial education has its rewards

I’m a 41-year-old female from Newcastle. I am writing to thank you for making a huge difference to my life. I grew up in an average home. My parents struggled financially most of the time; they both were very uneducated but hard working.

I started watching the Money TV show when I was around 14 years old and decided then and there that I would make my life different and never struggle for money.

So while working at Woolworths on the weekends I saved 50% of my wage and paid cash for my first car at 15 before I could even drive it. I saved a deposit for a house by 20 and bought an investment property at 22.

Fast-forward to today and we own our dream home outright, have four investment properties, are working on our share portfolio to retire at 50, are still saving as much as possible from each pay and are living a very fulfilling life but not beyond our means. All this has been done with me being a stay-at-home mum for most of the past 10 years. We were used to one income – before children one of our wages went straight into the mortgage.

We educate our children about the importance of saving and investing all the time.

So thank you for my financial education. I would have not learned this and gained an interest in “getting ahead” if it was not for watching the show and reading Money magazine all those years ago. Trac, email