“The worst decision was not buying Bitcoin. I thought I’d be scammed.”

Did you always want to be an architect?

When I was in high school,

I loved all things design, so I thought this was a way of making money and still having creative output – in a profession where I could design something as small as a door handle to masterplanning an entire city. I also travelled to Rome quite a bit where I have family and the architecture there influenced me in wanting to be an architect.

What was your earliest money lesson?

My first money lesson was when I asked my father for pocket money to do things around the house and he said, “No, it’s your obligation to do things for the family.” I would have been five or six. I did get an allowance not long after that, but I guess the lesson was you don’t always get paid in money for doing things.

What was the first thing you recall saving up for?

My PX200 silver Vespa when I was 18. I saved up because I needed it to get to uni. Public transport was a nightmare. My parents chipped in, too. I still have it. It’s one of the only things I’ve bought that hasn’t gone down in value.

What was your first job?

I used to work at a nightclub called Lounge, in Melbourne, and I was the pool master. I would rack up the balls on the billiard table and take people’s money. On a Friday night it would be an office crowd and they just wouldn’t get off the tables. It was my job to get them off the table.

What was a big financial turning point for you?

I was 15 or 16 and went travelling to Europe. My parents would often send me off to Italy to see family. I racked up a huge credit card bill buying CDs and clothes. I was shocked!

Since then, I have been so careful. I always pay off my card – in fact, I don’t even have one now. I don’t buy anything on credit. The only time I’ve had a loan was to buy a house.

What’s the best investment you’ve made?

A friend and I bought a house in Brunswick, in Melbourne, in 2015, and designed and built two townhouses.

We sold them off at the start of the pandemic in 2020. We made a significant profit.

What’s the worst investment decision you’ve made?

Not buying Bitcoin. I really wanted to buy at the very beginning, but I was just busy with work and never got my head around how to buy. I thought I’d get scammed. That’s the worst decision I’ve ever made – not going through with it.

What is your favourite thing to spend money on?

It used to be clothes and shoes and eye wear – new and secondhand. I bought anything and everything, just purely because I liked it. I’d go to all the op shops and markets and look for items. It was more of a hobby in that way. It was finding the most obscure, oddest thing and spending money on it.

I once bought a secondhand Polaroid SX-70 camera for $70. It’s now worth $500. I should sell it, actually!

Now I have a partner and child that sort of shopping is no longer front and centre. I’m trying to work out how to buy an apartment, so it’s about saving not spending. I also like to buy art.

How would you spend your last $50?

There’s this great takeaway spot in Rome called Pizzeria da Simone, where pizza is served by the metre. It’s in Monteverde. I would love to take my family and have a couple of slices of pizza and a suppli, and wash it down with a beer.

What’s the next challenge you’ve set yourself?

To grow my business in Sydney. I’d like to expand in the inner east and eastern suburbs and west.

Finish this sentence: money is good for …

helping to make your dreams come true.