NSW mum will retire at 35 with investment property worth $2million

A young mum is planning to retire by the time she’s 35 after building up an extraordinary investment portfolio worth $2million.

Michelle Ives, 29, from NSW’s Central Coast, is planning to retire within the next six years and live off between $70,000 to $100,000 a year with her husband Andy and one-year-old son with the money they’ve made from investing.

The devoted mother and her husband invest up to 80 per cent of their earnings each month into property, shares and stocks, making superannuation contributions and investing in bonds and commodities. 

Ms Ives claims her family only buys things that bring them joy and avoid mindless splurging on shopping, eating out, beauty treatments and high-tech gadgets.

The mother owns her own copywriting business and runs her own blog which promotes her belief in FIRE – which stands for Financial Independence Retire Early.

She details her tips and tricks for saving and investing and encourages other families to start planning for their retirement much earlier than they previously thought possible.

‘The fear for me is sitting at a desk for 60 years and lining someone else’s pockets and being at the beck and call of a boss or corporation and relying on them for security – that scares the s**t out of me,’ she told News.com.au. 

Ms Ives has been working since she was 14 and previously had a job as a journalist.

But she said she was never excited by a future of slaving away in an office until she was in her 60s or 70s.

The 29-year-old said the theory behind the FIRE movement was to take disposable income and save as much of it as possible and put it into investments.

She and her husband try to save as much of their earnings as they can and make regular investments to ensure they have a substantial nest egg set up.

‘It brings forward the retirement age by decades than people can otherwise realistically do. For some people it’s 40 and for some people, 30 is increasingly becoming the age they can retire,’ Ms Ives said.

The family contribute regularly to low and moderate index funds while also contributing the maximum amount to their super funds so they end up paying less tax.

They invest roughly 50 per cent into property, 25 per cent into shares, another 20 per cent into superannuation and five per cent is used to offset their mortgage. 

‘We are more frugal than most and we are not spending hundreds a week on online gadgets or fancy restaurants or beauty treatments or products and that’s not to say we don’t do it but we do it less than others,’ the mother said.

Speaking to Daily Mail Australia previously, Ms Ives said that you do not need to be earning a fortune in order to save.

‘Although I was in two big roles previously they were both at startups and so funds were always very lean,’ she said.

‘My salary was modest to say the least – and the same applied to my husband. We were both always on an average income.’

However, she said that the couple learned to ‘nestle away money like squirrels’.

‘It requires a lot of late nights reading books, articles and reports on everything from shares to bonds to property markets, but it’s worth it in the end,’ she said. 

Within eight years Ms Ives and her husband managed to save $500,000 which she put toward investments.

One crucial tip she has for other Aussies planning to invest is the four per cent rule.

This means never investing more than four per cent of your invested money each year once you retire.

This rule seeks to provide a steady income stream to the retiree while also maintaining an account balance that keeps income flowing through retirement. 

She says for those looking to start saving they should start with investing around five per cent of their earnings and work their way up to then ten or 20 per cent.

Ms Ives’s blog Girl On Fire explains that throughout her working life she’s often had a ‘side hustle’ be that babysitting, walking dogs, completing random paid surveys and even getting a weekend job like waiting tables at a cafe.

The mother-of-one said for those looking to start investing, the sooner they do the better they’ll be off.  

‘The key is to simplify. Everything. Not just your money, but your life. Basically, figure out what brings you joy and security? Spend on that,’ she says in one blog post.

Another crucial tip she follows is to get rid of as much as your debt as possible and not become bogged down in unpaid loans.

‘It’ll hinder you from accessing the good debt of building wealth, like business loans, home loans or even capital for debt recycling,’ she says.

Ms Ives also encouraged families to have an emergency fund set up in the event of job loss, critical illness or in the event they lose their home to environmental factors. 

‘This way of life isn’t for everyone, and of course everyone’s situations will be very different,’ she earlier told Daily Mail Australia. 

‘But for anyone who wants to feel a greater sense of control over their life and finances, FIRE may be a great place to start.

‘I’ve read of people getting out of mountains of debt, changing their family tree, finally feeling confident enough to start personal business ventures. And the idea that it all starts with a spark like this is amazing.’