Bulletproof Investing

CHAPTER 2Lessons in life and money

I was born in Tweed Heads, New South Wales, in 1990. I have two younger sisters, Simone and Bridget, who arrived in 1992 and 1995, respectively. My dad — David — grew up in Victoria but moved to Queensland in his role as an area manager for the Target department stores. It was in Queensland that he met my mother, Leanne. They married in 1987.

After a short stint living in Brisbane, Dad was relocated with Target to Tweed Heads. Mum and Dad used some of the profit from the sale of their house in Brisbane (they doubled their money in three years) to buy a four-bedroom home at Carrara on the Gold Coast — perfect timing, given the impending arrival of children. Soon after, they invested the balance of the money in a sports store franchise called Sportsco, with Dad deciding it was time to leave corporate life to create a family business.

The Gold Coast was a wonderful place for kids to grow up and, for many years, the Fitzgerald household was as happy as any family on the eastern seaboard of Australia. Pretty quickly, thanks to their hard work, Mum and Dad were able to invest in a bigger house with a spacious back yard and a swimming pool: nirvana for three active kids.

In my childhood years, I remember regularly visiting my uncle John's house. While my family enjoyed a comfortable, middle-class existence, Dad's brother's house was like Disneyland! It had everything: a pool, tennis court, gym, sauna, games room, lap pool, granny flat and a guest ...