From living paycheque to paycheque to a $1M+ net worth in 6 years

**Amy** (0:00)
The longest time I lived paycheck to paycheck, because I didn't think I had a problem.

**Jess** (0:04)
So, still in a level of avoidance.

**Amy** (0:06)
Exactly. I was definitely an avoider.

**SPEAKER_3** (0:07)
I did not want to talk about money.

**Jess** (0:08)
Let's just look at the now. Now is going, well, I can afford to live this little life that I'm living, but yeah, I've got over a 1 million network now, so is that the property and then the shares as well.

**Amy** (0:19)
Yeah.

**Jess** (0:19)
It's incredible. And super. And six years ago, you were literally living paycheck to paycheck. That blows my mind.

**Amy** (0:25)
I know. Even I'm like, how was that even possible? The time just flew.

**Jess** (0:35)
Thank you so much to ShopBack for sponsoring the series and helping keep all of our content free. Welcome back to Get Started Investing, a show that helps you make the most of your money. This is How I Got Started. It's a series where I sit down with a community member to hear the highs and loads of their journey to investing. These are real stories and we hope they're going to give you the confidence that investing really is for anyone. Today, I'm joined by Amy. She's a 31-year-old risk manager in banking. Today, Amy's built a $400,000 share portfolio, owns an investment property and has grown her net worth to $1 million. But just six years ago, things looked very, very different. She was living paycheck to paycheck, had a credit card she didn't really understand, and had no idea where her money was going. So what changed? Well, this is how Amy got started.
Amy, welcome to Get Started Investing.

**Amy** (1:23)
Thank you for having me.

**Jess** (1:24)
Very excited to have you here. We start every episode with the same question. If money was a friend, what kind of friend would you be to it?

**Amy** (1:32)
That's an interesting question because I don't think I've ever been asked this question. At this point in my life, I think I would be a dependable friend, very organized, the planner, but wasn't always like this. Someone who likes to calculate everything and track everything, that type of friend.

**Jess** (1:48)
But you weren't always like that.

**Amy** (1:49)
No, I wasn't always like that.

**Jess** (1:51)
No, which we will get into as we get through it, because that's what I'm so curious about.
Before we rewind and go back to everything, paint us a picture of life. Like what does life look like for you today? I know you're a bit of a health and fitness junkie. Who loves a good gym sesh, running, cycling, reformer pilates, but like what else does day to day look like for you?

**Amy** (2:11)
Yeah.
So right now, I work in a 905 in risk management in Banki. Prior to that, I used to be an auditor. So it's the atypical sort of path that you take as an Asian, I guess, kid in an Asian household.
You grow up, you just like study hard, you work hard and you go find like a corporate job in like accounting or finance. You just follow that path. I'm married. We've got one little doggo called Nori. He's a Frenchie. He's like the best. Okay.

**Jess** (2:40)
So you're with your Frenchie, you're married, living in Sydney.

**Amy** (2:42)
Living in Sydney. We're renting.

**Jess** (2:44)
Renting.

**Amy** (2:44)
Resting to be specific.

**Jess** (2:45)
Okay. Well, that all sounds really good. Now, let's rewind even further. So you immigrated to Australia when you were five.
You said you moved around a lot and things weren't necessarily like super stable. What was money like growing up, like in that environment and in your family from that move?

**Amy** (3:02)
I actually didn't know about this, but when we first moved to Australia, because my parents were starting over, I guess, over here, eventually they moved back to China to work and everything. But when they first moved here, we actually lost a lot of money.
I didn't even know this until my family told me. I won't get into the specifics, but it was crazy to know how much they had lost. So that's why they had to start all over again over here. So mom had to work like three jobs. Dad was like back in China. So it was crazy. I didn't know any of this. I just thought, oh, we just didn't have that much money. We actually did bring money over, but when you exchange a currency, it's not a lot, but they lost a lot of it. And yeah, they just had to start over again. And I think that's why it was so unstable at the beginning. We were renting, every one year, we would change. And I think that's why we were moving around a lot. But again, I didn't know any of this and I didn't know what was going on. I was just a kid. And then you kind of, and I think I've always wondered why I couldn't get certain things. It's because of the things that happened when we first moved over here. And then I think as I grew up, yeah, just money was just never really spoken about.