This post is based on an interview we conducted with Rupert in November 2019.
Real Money Talk is our series where we interview Australians from all walks of life about their personal finances. The views expressed are those of the interviewees, based on their experiences with money, and as such are not necessarily representative of Spaceship's views.
We have changed the name of the interviewee for their privacy, but it’s worth noting that the interviewee works at Spaceship.
Overview
Name: Rupert
Age: 28
Where do you live? Sydney.
Please tell us a bit about yourself.
I am a Scotsman living in Sydney and focus most of my efforts around protecting my skin from the sun. I like to think I have quite a wide range of interests but no overriding passion or hobby. My generic interests include music, reading, sports, film, hanging out with friends, generally learning new things, and Paul Rudd. I’m a shocking swimmer but recently moved by the beach with my girlfriend and I am very much enjoying it. Also, I love my cats.
What is your current net worth?
$235,000
How does it break down?
Super: 17%
Cash: 5%
Crypto: 13%
Shares: 65%
Any debts? (including HELP from Uni)
No.
How did you accumulate your net worth?
I got involved in a startup when it was in its very early stages and was lucky to be given a generous amount of equity as part of the employee share scheme. The company went to IPO within a few years. So yeah, as I said, I was very lucky, and outside of that I’ve just tried to save my salary when I can.
Earn
Tell us a bit about your career:
I studied economics at university and was thinking I’d head down the investment banking path for a while. Luckily for me, my poor organisational skills intervened and I missed a couple deadlines to apply for grad jobs. I think I would have probably been a horrible fit long-term for investment banking and the job wouldn’t have been good for me, so bullets dodged all around.
I then spent a year working as a fixed income analyst for a fund in Melbourne before being connected with someone in Sydney who was thinking about launching a fintech. I spent two years there, doing a real jack-of-all-trades role across finance, marketing, ops and a bit of customer success — the stuff you have to do when you’re a company of five people. It was the best experience I could hope for to start my career.
I left there after two years for another startup in a growth role, and it’s been great. An absolute whirlwind, but great. Have learnt a lot personally and professionally over my time here and work with lots of fantastic people (except the guy sitting next to me).
Do you have income sources outside of your job? If so, how much do you earn from each and how did you develop them?
No.
What advice do you have for people who want to earn more money?
I’ve recently been thinking about this. First of all, I’d say it’s important to find a company that you can get passionate about, interests you, aligns with your values, etc.
Then working in startups is like a series of bets. You find a place you like, get in there early, get some equity so you have skin in the game, and then repeat. By the time you’re 40 you’ve probably accumulated some incredible experience and 4-6 decent bets. There’s a lot of upside if one of those companies do well, and if not, then you still have probably got some great experience in an exciting, fast-paced environment. But yeah, I think finding a company that you are proud to work at is the most important thing; we spend so much time at work that it’s a bit sad if you just view it as a vehicle to make you rich.
Save
What is your savings rate? And how has it changed over time?
Right now it’s probably about 50%; until about 18 months ago it was 0%. Part of me wishes I started saving earlier but I feel like you can’t have too many regrets about spending money whilst you’re young.
Do you have a budget?
No.
How much do you spend per year?
Not sure.
Do you make purchase decisions carefully, or are you loose with your money?
I can be pretty impulsive but I’m learning to be a little more frugal.
How is your work-life balance?
Very good. Luckily for me, work-life balance is something that my employer really helps to facilitate. I think a great lesson over the first few years of my career has been learning about what a healthy balance looks like.
Invest
How do you invest?
I have a portion invested in Spaceship Voyager, some riskier individual stocks I bought through Commsec, and some crypto assets that I bought through BTC Markets (locally) and Binance. I try not to have too much money sitting in my bank account doing nothing, although I could probably do with being a little more risk averse sometimes.
What has been your best investment?
Bitcoin.
What has been your worst investment?
Bitcoin. And a speculative mining stock I bought a few years ago which is all but gone.
What's been your overall return?
I’d love to know. I’d probably say positive, definitely positive recently, but definitely had a lot of losers when I was just starting out investing.
How are you building wealth?
Working, saving some salary, and making some good investments and some punts on riskier assets.
What are your main roadblocks? And how are you addressing them?
I think discipline, both in saving and investing. In saving it’s about cutting down on impulsive purchases and keeping to a manageable spending level. In investing, I think I could probably do with de-risking my portfolio a bit, but it’s probably not in my nature to do that.
Do you have a target net worth you want?
Not really.
When did you make your first significant behavioural shift towards wealth building?
Probably 18 months ago.
If you could start again, what would you do differently?
Realistically nothing. I could definitely have saved more but I don’t think being young is about saving money.
What mistakes have you made along the way that others can learn from?
On investing, don’t believe the hype too much. I learned with risky, low-volume assets, there’s never a shortage of people (online and offline) telling you it’s going to make you rich. Do your own research, and if you can’t get enough good, reliable info, then don’t invest.
Do you have any worries about retirement? If so, how are you planning to address them?
Not yet.
How are you learning about building wealth?
Learning as I go along.
Do you give to charity? If you do, what percent of time/money do you give?
Not as much as I should. Less than 1% of my salary, which isn’t really good enough.
