How owning 27 ETFs at once taught Gav that less is more

**Gav** (0:00)
I love going to the gym, I love spending money, I love using credit cards. If I don't invest, I'll spend it. VanEck was releasing ETFs, Betashares was releasing a lot of ETFs, I would invest in pretty much all of them. I was collecting them like Pokemon cards pretty much.

**Jess** (0:13)
What was the biggest that it got to?

**Gav** (0:14)
I would say, maybe 27

**Jess** (0:18)
That's right.

**Gav** (0:20)
I'm not here to compare myself with other experts or other community members. I'm here to compare with the Gav yesterday and how I'm doing now, and just be consistent with it.

**Jess** (0:34)
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, a series where I sit down with a community member to hear the highs and lows of their journey to investing. These are real stories and we hope they're going to give you the confidence that investing is for anyone. Today, I'm joined by Gav. He's a 28-year-old Insurance Advice Associate, who as he describes it, has always loved spending money. Watches skincare, Apple products, you name it, he loves to buy it. When he discovered investing, that enthusiasm followed. At one point, he owned 27 ETFs. Today, he's still learning, but he has a much simpler investing strategy. This is How Gav Got Started.
Gav, welcome to Get Started Investing.

**Gav** (1:19)
Thanks for having me. Happy to be here.

**Jess** (1:21)
Lovely to have you. Now, we start every interview with the same question. If money was a friend, what kind of friend would you be to it?

**Gav** (1:28)
If money was a friend, a meme comes to my mind. Sometimes maybe good, sometimes maybe shit.

**Jess** (1:36)
Okay. Fair enough.
We'll get into why that's the case, but reading through your story, one thing really jumped out at me. You describe yourself as someone who's always loved spending money, but then also someone that's become a really disciplined investor. People are usually one or the other from what I've found. I'd love to understand how you're managing to do both. But first of all, who are you, what do you do, and what's life like for Gav up at Newcastle at the moment?

**Gav** (2:02)
Well, as you said, I live in Newcastle. I work in insurance advice, and I'm studying to be an advisor, specializing in insurance advice space, of course.
And I love going to the gym. I love spending money. I love using credit cards.

**Jess** (2:15)
You love using credit cards?

**Gav** (2:17)
That's right.

**Jess** (2:17)
What do you mean?

**Gav** (2:19)
I don't know. I just got a dopamine hit using credit cards.

**Jess** (2:21)
Is it your own money, though?

**Gav** (2:23)
It is my own money. I have to pay them off.
I do love it. I'll enjoy spending money.

**Jess** (2:28)
And fitness?

**Gav** (2:29)
Fitness, skincare.

**Jess** (2:31)
Skincare. Why should you use skincare as well?

**Gav** (2:34)
I do have a good routine. Five steps.

**Jess** (2:37)
What are the five steps?

**SPEAKER_3** (2:38)
I'm not going to get into that today.

**Jess** (2:39)
It's an investing podcast. It is. We'll leave that one.

**Gav** (2:42)
We only have 20 to 30 minutes.

**Jess** (2:45)
All right. On that, let's rewind the clock a little bit. You've always loved collecting things from what I've read, as a kid, it was toys, then pens, now it's watches, colognes, gadgets. It sounds like collecting and spending has always been part of who you are.
Where do you think that came from?

**Gav** (3:02)
I'm not sure, but I've always enjoyed doing it and I still enjoy doing it. I used to get pocket money and I would always find things to spend money. It's like, I just cannot save. If I have $100, $500, I will always think of things to buy. I've been collecting watches, for example. I went to a Japan trip recently. Now, when I spend money on trips, it just gives me that dopamine hit.
I just love it.

**Jess** (3:28)
Interesting. I'm really curious, the thread of this to understand how you're also investing as well.
Now, let's fast forward a bit. You were working in SMSF accounting and then now insurance advice, COVID hits. You pick up Rich Dad Poor Dad.

**Gav** (3:42)
That's right.

**Jess** (3:43)
Then a number of other investing books. You start watching investing YouTube channels, American Ones, Equity Mates. Equity Mates. What hooked you with investing?

**Gav** (3:54)
Well, after I read Rich Dad Poor Dad, it kind of opened my mind a little bit. Then I started thinking about it. I just used to keep my money in the transaction account, for example. I've never looked into savings accounts. I wasn't saving a lot, but I should have looked into that. It's just like I fell into that rabbit hole and I did more research. And then I think I started investing in around August 2021