Why this 42-yr-old farmer is investing in shares, not just the farm

Justin Walsh (0:00)

Because at that stage, I had no superannuation. In the school, I used to bag up cow and ewe and sell it on the side of the road. Their little satellite positions have sort of grown into planets nearly in the land.

All dairy farmers that I know have cows in their wedding photos. So, you know, like my job wasn't my identity. If you can avoid selling and just let compounding do its work, you know, you'd be heaps better off.

Jess (0:21)

That was meant to happen, because it's changed the trajectory of your financial life.

Justin Walsh (0:25)

Definitely, 100%, I think about it all the time.

Jess (0:32)

This episode is sponsored by Ubank, Money Done Better.

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 lows of their journey to investing. These are real stories and we hope that they're going to give you the confidence that investing is for anyone. Today we're joined by Justin. He's a 42-year-old farmer from Jaspers Brush in New South Wales. Justin first learned about investing through his dad, who bought Commonwealth Bank shares as an early investor and loved to remind the family of his investing genius. Justin is a fourth-generation dairy farmer, so it's no secret to him that farming is a tough, often really volatile profession. His parents' financial life revolved solely around the farm, so when he discovered investing, he saw it as a way to ensure that he can continue the life he loves, no matter the weather. He's now teaching his 14-year-old daughter the power of investing too. This is how Justin got started. Justin, welcome to Get Started Investing.

Justin Walsh (1:27)

Thanks, Naomi. It's great to be here.

Jess (1:29)

Very excited to be chatting with a farmer.

Justin Walsh (1:31)

Yeah, I know. Happy to be here. Happy to spread the word of farming.

Jess (1:36)

Yeah. I was saying off mic, I've never actually met a farmer before.

I'm going to try keep it on track that it's an investing podcast, but obviously I'm really interested in both sides of it. Let's start. Paint a picture of what life actually looks like for you.

Justin Walsh (1:50)

Well, right now, so I'm 42 I've got a wife and a daughter who's 14 and a half.

We're running a dairy farm, a family farm on a place called Jasper's Brush, but most people know Berry, familiar with Berry on the South Coast of New South Wales.

Jess (2:05)

Yeah.

Justin Walsh (2:06)

That's a dairy farm and there's about 380 cows we're milking.

Jess (2:11)

You're milking?

Justin Walsh (2:12)

Yes, 380 cows get milked. Yes.

Jess (2:14)

As in you personally?

Justin Walsh (2:15)

Well, sometimes, yes. So we have some staff that work with us as well, but yes, I personally do milk the cows.

Jess (2:22)

How's your daughter getting in there?

Justin Walsh (2:23)

Well, she's interested in the farm lifestyle, but the actual milking seems to be a bit of a stumbling block. So I'm not sure. We'll see how that goes.

Jess (2:32)

Maybe one day.

Justin Walsh (2:33)

Yeah, I'd say so. I mean, I wasn't always sure that I'd end up back on the farm too when I was her age. So there's no pressure from my wife and I if she can choose to do what she wants to do, but the farm is always going to be there.

Jess (2:45)

Yeah. Awesome. Well, I am really excited to learn more about that side of things, as I said, but this podcast is called How I Got Started. And I want to know how you got started investing outside of the farm. But I think a really interesting place to start would be, why do you invest outside of the farm? Because I would assume that the farm is, and probably has been for your family, the way to build and create wealth.

Justin Walsh (3:08)

Yeah, that's right. So the farm has been very central to, and land ownership has been very central to wealth building for our family forever. And in the past, maybe like shares and things like that have sort of been a secondary thing as a way to get more land. So as a middle step, so like accumulate shares, and then you would then hopefully grow the wealth in the shares to then sell them down to buy more land. And so that was a bit of a long term family strategy. Owning shares was not the end point, they were sort of a means to an end. So that's sort of how the two tie together for me. And that's sort of what I was exposed to growing up, really.