I am from the UK (Kent, South East England) and never really knew what I wanted to "do" with my life. In terms of career, anyway. All I knew is that I wanted to have a good time and definitely travel a lot. I also liked nice things. Nothing too extreme, I wasn't all about designer clothes and brand names but I certainly preferred buying decent quality clothes over Primark (The UK's version of K-Mart or Target) and I was probably a bit spoilt growing up as an only child, some of my earlier years in Saudi Arabia and my parents moving to Qatar when I was 22. So this is by no means an inspiring rags to riches story, nor is it quite the "poor little rich girl" having no touch with reality first world problems like not getting the right colour designer handbag for my birthday. It's somewhere in the middle I guess. Both of my parents worked hard and my Dad earnt a decent wage for the majority of my life but certainly upped his game and earnt pretty well into my adult life up until he retired last year.
What my parents have admitted, as I've got older, is that they never set good money examples for me while I was growing up because they, themselves were always a bit spendy and not so much savey. They didn't make any especially smart money moves like investing in the stock market, property or even renting their own house out while they were working away in another country for all those years! I think they thought about it a few times over the years and even sought the advice of a financial advisor more than once but never really acted on the advice. I'd say their risk profile is just very low but let's face it, the information just wasn't there for their generation so investing absolutely seemed unattainable for the average family. That's why we're so lucky today to be able to learn about things like investing, property investing and even just simple money management skills with a quick Google anytime we get the urge to look into something. My parents still think investing in the stock market is "gambling". While it does come with its risks, also depending on what stocks you buy; it's hardly the same as playing roulette at the casino, which I think my parents view as basically the same thing.
Now, due to my upbringing in the middle east in my early childhood (we moved back to England when I was 9) and me getting to have lovely holidays visiting my parents in Qatar a couple of time a year in my twenties; I believe this was giving me a sort of unrealistic view of success and money and what I could expect from my life. I was working in marketing and quite frankly, having a horrible time and getting frustrated at the pittance I was earning from the jobs that were making me so miserable. Then I'd go and live it up for a week at my parents' flash apartment (they got a good accommodation allowance from my Dad's employer, which is pretty standard for middle east jobs) and spend the week sunbathing at the beach clubs, going to Friday brunches and happy hours and eating every meal either out or ordering in from basically any restaurant in Doha as they all seem to deliver. I also knew a few people my age that had moved to Dubai in the time my parents had been in Qatar and I would be so envious of their perceived lives on social media. I decided this would be my life. I would be rich and go to 5 star hotels for beaches, brunches and bars and always look fabulous with my fancy clothes and beautiful jewellery from the gold souk. Marketing seemed like an easy in to Dubai so I continued to try and pursue my - and I use the term lightly - "career", even though I absolutely fucking hated it.
Cut a long story short, my long term boyfriend at the time wasn't so keen and although he said we could move to Dubai someday, he was 100% putting it off and off until I realised he just didn't want to do it. I eventually ended the relationship after being downright unhappy with my whole life for a couple of intensely depressing years. I thought all would be better once I finally made it to Dubai and was deeply unhappy with the life I was living in the UK and was constantly thinking "is this all there is?" and knowing that I wanted more from my life. I went travelling around Asia and it completely changed my outlook and I think I went in the opposite direction for a while realising that Dubai seemed like a fickle and shallow place and that it maybe wasn't the answer to what I was looking for; especially, as I had completely given up chasing the dreadful marketing career when I got back from my travels. I couldn't think of anything worse than going back to working with arrogant arseholes again (no offense to the non-arrogant arseholes that must exist in the marketing industry somewhere but I unfortunately didn't come across many decent humans in my time!).
So I decided I'd go to Australia... I had no real plans and thought I'd just bum around for a bit and probably pick up waitressing jobs or something to top up my cash and be able to travel more. I thought I'd just do a year in Oz then move on but here I am 4 years later and I don't think I'll ever live anywhere else now!
So working construction in Australia was definitely never my plan but my friend was already out here and had started working on a solar farm for an electrical contractor. She told me I should come and work there too because it would count towards my 12 weeks of regional work to qualify for a second year working holiday visa. I thought I might as well get it done at the start of my travels and then I could stay for longer than a year if I decided I wanted to or be able to come back for another year if I wanted to go elsewhere after my first year. She also told me how much she was earning and I couldn't believe it! 👀🤯 So I changed my flight, went straight to a regional town and met her and started on the solar farm on my second day in Australia!
At first, I was unsure if it was something I could stick out for 12 weeks but here I am 4 years later going from solar farm to solar farm with my partner who I met within a few weeks of being here (another thing I certainly did not predict would happen!).
I just feel so lucky to have stumbled on this opportunity and to see how much we've achieved in a relatively short amount of time is so motivating to keep going. Some days are tough but I think going from project to project every 6 months or so helps keep it interesting and not so much it a drag because by the time you're getting sick of one job it's time to move on to the next. Also, the money really is a good motivation, especially when I compare it to what I could be earning if I had never been introduced to this work. My whole lifestyle has been flipped on its head and something I could never have imagined but I can see how good my life is getting set up for the future now and I am truly grateful and proud of myself. I've grown in ways I could never have imagined and learnt skills and life lessons that I never would have in my old life. I feel stronger in so many different ways.
I'm also lucky that the type of work I do is sometimes physically quite hard but also pretty repetitive (imagine rows and rows of solar panels needing the exact same thing done to them across the whole farm) so it gives me the opportunity to listen to hours and hours of podcasts and audiobooks on money management, investing and my personal favourite; property investing. I feel like I've got smarter and learnt more since doing what some would consider "menial" work than I ever did attending uni or working in more corporate jobs.
Some of my favourite podcasts are:
The Property Planner, Buyer and Professor
While I'm working away doing pretty tedious tasks I feel inspired listening to any of the above podcasts and it gives me my purpose and motivation to keep showing up and doing the best I can at work. It makes me a better worker because I value my job and the opportunities it has already opened up for me and I want to be known as a good worker so that I continue to get hired on these types of jobs and have good references. Ultimately, getting interested in my money has actually improved my overall quality of life as this motivation spreads to all areas including mindset, health, fitness, work and personal development.
I encourage anyone reading this to invest in yourself by listening to podcasts, reading or listening to books and just generally doing your own research into how you can manage your money better. It's never going to be a negative thing to get That FIFO Money in order, that's for sure!!
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