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While they wait to buy a new property, a young couple are unsure where to invest their money

NAME: Vanvisa and Callum Brown STATUS: In between properties

QUESTIONS: Where do we park the money from the sale of our apartment, apart from cash? What is the best way to save for our daughter’s tertiary education?

ANSWERS: For the short term, leave your money in cash so you can buy another property if you find the right one. Alternatively, consider renting in Sydney and buying two affordable investment properties in Brisbane or Melbourne. Save for your daughter’s education through your mortgage offset account.

When the Sydney property market looked as if it had peaked, Vanvisa and her husband Callum – who were expecting their first child – took the brave step of selling their apartment and waiting. It was a clever move. Prices dropped by 2.1% over the three months to the end of December.

They are now renting a bigger home, a four-bedroom townhouse, that gives them space for their three-month-old daughter Esme, a cute beagle puppy and a home office for Vanvisa’s start-up fintech software business, SaveMyReceipts. Their rent roughly equates to their mortgage payments so they are not going backwards.

Their main question is where they should invest the money until they are ready to buy. “What are the investment options? At the moment, the money is sitting in cash and earning minimal interest,” says Vanvisa. Their investment time horizon is six months to two years, depending to some extent on the property market and when Vanvisa returns to the workplace. While she is at home she is working on her expense management business for people to automatically organise their digital receipts for tax purposes, eliminating the need for paper.

The location of the new property has to have a number of features. “When it was the two of us it was all about investment but now it is more things for a young family like good daycare, school and lifestyle,” she says. Based in Sydney, they are considering the Ryde area or the north-eastern suburbs of the north shore. Is there anywhere else they should be looking?

They are also interested in setting up a regular savings fund for Esme’s tertiary education. What are the best options?