I’ve Been to 35 Countries and Still Bought My First Home Before I Turned 25 – Here’s How I Did It

A young Australian woman has proven that it is possible to holiday abroad multiple times and still buy your first home before the age of 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 26, she has a net worth of $513,500. But just because she’s financially smart doesn’t mean she can’t afford adventures.

“People often think my life was very boring, but the opposite is true – I travelled a lot even in my early twenties,” says Natasha from Perth.

“I worked a LOT. I always had two to three jobs, so there was always a shift available. I said yes to extra overtime and actively sought it out.”

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

For years, Natasha worked hard to earn money when she wasn’t studying, working up to 64 hours a week as a support worker, even getting paid to sleep.

To finance her travels, she was “very frugal” and “saved as much as she could” during the year, and she chose destinations based on cheap deals.

Natasha Etschmann, co-author of ‘How to Not Work Forever’, told FEMAIL she has always been ‘good with money’, starting work at 14 and buying an apartment in Perth at 22.

The 26-year-old has been to 35 countries and bought her first home in Perth at the age of 22.

“I didn’t want to spend any drinks, I worked as hard as I could and had to really justify everything I spent,” she said.

Even on holiday, Natasha said she was “conscious” of every dollar spent and never splurged. She stayed in budget hostels, opted for night buses instead of flights and lived a backpacker lifestyle.

“Once I went to China because I had booked a $200 flight from Perth,” she said.

She aimed to spend between $30 and $50 per day, traveled outside of peak season to save money, avoided expensive tours and booked activities directly in the country to save money.

In an economy where young Australians are choosing between buying a home or travelling, Natasha shows that both are possible as long as you have the right mindset and use your money wisely.

“You can travel and save for a house at the same time, BUT you will have to make sacrifices, such as working overtime, taking on a second job, being strict with your budget, traveling to cheap destinations, not staying in five-star hotels, and not buying the house of your dreams,” she said.

‘You don’t have to buy real estate if you don’t want to, but you do need to be aware of the impact it will have on your future. If you don’t compromise and make sacrifices now, you will have to later.

‘If you don’t buy a house, it’s important to invest in your future in other ways. For example, by buying shares or putting extra money into your pension fund.’

In an economy where young Australians are choosing to either buy a home or travel, Natasha shows that both are possible 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 have to make sacrifices,” she said

The cheapest holiday destinations so far have been India, Vietnam, Sri Lanka and the Philippines, while the more expensive holidays have gone to Europe, Tonga, Mexico and the Bahamas.

Since 2020, Natasha has been exploring her own backyard and visiting different parts of Australia.

Buying her first house was also on her wish list and in 2020 she was able to cross this off her list.

Natasha bought the $295,000 apartment with a $52,000 deposit, plus another $10,000 from the first-home buyer’s grant, bringing the down payment to the recommended 20 percent.

Over the past five years, her portfolio has only grown stronger thanks to her smart decisions and frequent investments.

She also has a “set and forget” policy when investing her money in the stock market and has over $131,000 in it. So far it has grown by $20,000.

She invests in a broad index ETF (Exchange Traded Fund) that consists of a basket of companies rather than individual stocks, to limit risk.

“I wanted to simplify everything and make it easy to manage, so I picked one and set up automatic investing,” she said.

Natasha previously told FEMAIL that 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 first started researching, it all sounded simple, but no one was talking 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 amount is calculated by dividing her assets minus her liabilities

Net worth is calculated by her assets minus her liabilities. In this case, Tash’s assets include her apartment value, stocks, superannuation, cash, car and cryptocurrency, which adds up to a total of $741,500.

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

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

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

Her salary has ranged over the years from $80,000 to $130,000, depending on the job and hours.

She is now self-employed, but knows she can easily find a job through support work or occupational therapy if necessary.

She currently invests $1,000 every few weeks, whereas previously she invested $750.

Natasha says that deciding what to invest in is often the hardest part, but Google is her strongest tool when it comes to research.

She also advocates investing some of your savings in the stock market to create a source of passive income, which is taxed much less than earned income.

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

Finder, a financial products comparison company, found that 45 percent of consumers had less than $1,000 saved in a large-scale survey of 3,214 Australians from January to March.

Financial worries are mounting even as unemployment fell to 3.7 percent in February, down from a two-year high of 4.1 percent in January. 116,500 new jobs were created.

Natasha bought the apartment with a deposit of $52,000 plus an additional $10,000 from the first home buyer grant, increasing the deposit to the recommended 20 per cent.

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

It’s no surprise that Natasha isn’t worried about her finances and is proud of what she has achieved at such a young age.

“I know how to invest, my mortgage is affordable and I’m still saving,” she said.

‘When I left home I felt OK, but now I know I am in control. Now that I am working for myself, I can fall back on OT work if I need to.’

Natasha previously told FEMAIL: ‘I’m often asked why I love saving and investing and why I care so much about money. 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 choices based on what you want to do, not what you have to do to survive.”