Bulletproof Investing

CHAPTER 7Financial control: the basics

We all have ‘Oh shit!’ moments. I remember one very vividly. It was the day I received a letter from the ANZ Bank advising that I had to start making repayments on the student loan I had taken out a couple of years earlier. The way the loan was structured — part of a special arrangement between the bank and Bond University — allowed students to pay nothing until they graduated and moved into the workforce. It sounded like a wonderful deal at the time, but for several years the interest had been accumulating at 11 per cent. Now, the monthly repayment was $1330 (or $307 per week).

‘Oh shit!’

By that stage, I had graduated with degrees in law and accounting on the Gold Coast and moved north to work out of the JLF offices in Brisbane. After agreeing to take on some additional responsibilities, I was employed full time on a salary of $80 000. That was the higher end of what a law and accounting graduate might expect to earn in their first year out of university, but it was also about 50 per cent less than my predecessor had been paid. Nevertheless, I was perfectly happy, given my lack of experience.

On paper, life looked good and, for the most part, it was. I was living with my uncle Jimmy and aunt Gayle at their home in Chandler while I found my bearings in Brisbane. But, despite their homely, supportive living environment, I still felt stressed. After tax, I was earning about $1200 per week (a bit more than 25 per cent of my salary went towards ...