I have been to 35 countries and still managed to buy my first home before I turned 25 – here’s how I did it

A young Aussie woman has proved it’s possible to go on multiple overseas holidays and still buy your first home before 25. 

Natasha Etschmann, co-author of ‘How to Not Work Forever’, told FEMAIL she started working at 14 and bought an apartment in Perth at 22. 

Now aged 26, she has a net worth of $513,500 – but being financially savvy doesn’t mean can’t afford adventures.

‘Often people assume my life has been really boring but it’s actually been the opposite and I still travelled heaps in my early twenties,’ Natasha, from Perth, said. 

‘I worked A LOT. I always had two to three jobs, so there was always an available shift. I said yes to extra overtime and actively seeked it out.’

She’s worked at Sizzlers, Specsavers, H&M, football stadiums, as a receptionist, swimming teacher and a support worker.

For years Natasha worked herself to the bone earning money when she wasn’t studying, and clocked up to 64 hours a week as a support worker where she even got paid to sleep. 

To fund her travels she was ‘really frugal’ and ‘saved as much as she could’ throughout the year and then chose destinations based on cheap deals. 

The 26-year-old has been to 35 countries and bought her first property in Perth at 22 

‘I wouldn’t buy drinks out, worked as much as I could and really had to justify anything I spent,’ she said. 

Even while on holidays, Natasha said she was ‘conscious’ of every dollar spent and never splurged. She would stay in cheap hostels, opted for overnight buses rather than flights, and lived a backpacker lifestyle. 

‘One time I went to China because I bought a $200 flight from Perth,’ she said. 

She aimed to spend between $30-$50 per day, travelled during off-peak seasons for better prices, avoided expensive tours and booked activities directly in the country to save money.

In an economy where young Aussies are choosing to either get onto the property ladder or go travelling, Natasha shows it’s possible to do both as long as you have the right mindset and use your money wisely.

‘It is possible to travel while saving for a house, BUT you will need to make sacrifices such as working overtime, getting a second job, being strict with your budget, travelling to budget destinations, not staying in five-star hotels, and not buying your dream property,’ she said.

‘You don’t have to buy property if you don’t want to, but you need to be mindful of the impact this will have on your future. If you don’t compromise and sacrifice now, you will have to later.

‘If you’re not buying a home, it is important to invest for your future in other ways, like buying shares or putting extra into your super.’

In an economy where young Aussies are choosing to either get onto the property ladder or go travelling, Natasha shows it’s possible to do both as long as you have the right mindset and use your money wisely

‘It is possible to travel while saving for a house, BUT you will need to make sacrifices,’ she said

The cheapest holiday destinations so far have included India, Vietnam, Sri Lanka and the Philippines, while the more costly holidays were Europe, Tonga, Mexico and the Bahamas.

Since 2020, Natasha has explored her own backyard and visited different parts of Australia.

Purchasing her first home was also on her radar and she managed to tick this off her list in 2020. 

Natasha bought the $295,000 apartment with a $52,000 deposit plus an additional $10,000 from the first home buyers grant, boosting the deposit to the recommended 20 per cent mark. 

For the last five years her portfolio has gone from strength to strength thanks to her smart decisions and frequent investing.

She also opts for a ‘set and forget’ rule when investing her money in the stock market and has more than $131,000 in there. So far it’s grown by $20,000. 

She invests in a broad index exchange traded fund (ETF) which consists of a basket of companies rather than individual shares to reduce risk. 

‘I wanted to simplify everything and make it easy to manage so I chose one and set up auto-investing,’ she said. 

Natasha previously told FEMAIL investing doesn’t have to be difficult or scary; it’s quite the opposite. 

‘My biggest fear when I started was what to invest in. When I started researching, it all sound simple but no one spoke about it so I thought there was a catch,’ she said.  

The podcast host is halfway to becoming a millionaire and has a net worth of $513,500. The figure is calculated by her assets minus her liabilities

The net worth is calculated by her assets minus the liabilities. In this case, Tash’s assets include her apartment value, shares, superannuation, cash, car and cryptocurrency, which comes to a total of $741,500. 

Her liabilities include her HECS debt ($18,000) and her mortgage ($210,000). 

She bought it to live in but it’s now an investment property as she lives in Canberra, and it doesn’t cause her any financial stress as she bought within her means. 

Her Perth property has grown $100,000 in value. If she chooses to, she can use the equity in the mortgage to buy another property, which she plans to do next year.

Over the years her salary has varied from $80,000 to $130,000 depending on the job and hours. 

She’s now self-employed but knows she can get a job easily through support work or occupational therapy if needed. 

Currently she invests $1,000 every few weeks and previously was investing $750. 

Natasha said often the hardest part is deciding what to invest in, but Google has been her strongest tool when it comes to researching. 

She’s also an advocate for investing a portion of your savings into the share market in order to create a source of passive income, which is taxed at a far lower rate compared to earned income. 

However, she acknowledged not everyone will have the money to invest. In fact, almost one in two Australians has less than $1,000 in the bank during a cost of living crisis.

Finder, a financial products comparison group, found 45 per cent of consumers had less than $1,000 saved, based on a large sample survey of 3,214 Australians from January to March.

Financial anxiety is getting worse, even though unemployment in February fell back to 3.7 per cent, down from January’s two-year high level of 4.1 per cent, as 116,500 new jobs were created.

Natasha purchased the apartment with a $52,000 deposit plus an additional $10,000 from the first home buyers grant, boosting the deposit to the recommended 20 per cent mark

The property has grown by $100,000 and is now an investment as Natasha now lives in Canberra 

Unsurprisingly, Natasha isn’t stressed about her finances and is proud of what she has achieved at such a young age. 

‘I understand how to invest, my mortgage is affordable, I’m still saving,’ she said. 

‘When I moved out of home I felt okay but now I know I’m in control. While I’m working for myself now I can fall back onto OT work if I need to.’ 

Previously Natasha told FEMAIL: ‘I often get asked why I like to save and invest and why I care so much about money, but I’m not obsessed with money; I’m obsessed with the freedom that comes with being financially secure. 

‘The freedom that allows you to work less, travel the world and make life choices based around what you want to do, not what you need to do to survive.’