Single mum's rise from Centrelink to Aussie property millionaire: ‘Anyone can do it’

An Aussie mum has shared how she went from being unemployed and relying on Centrelink payments to owning three properties and building a share portfolio worth $20,000. The 26-year-old said anyone could start building their wealth even if they weren’t “super wealthy”.

Courtney Lorking worked as an automotive mechanic for years, before taking on jobs as a factory worker and building train injectors. But she told Yahoo Finance she found herself out of work after finding out she was pregnant.

“I found out I was pregnant and didn’t work because no one would hire me. I did not work for two years,” the Central Coast resident said.

“I was a single mum and to try and find a job with a newborn baby is tough, especially breastfeeding, I couldn’t leave her, it was very tough.”

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Lorking said she relied on the single parenting payment from Centrelink to get by after her daughter’s birth. She eventually picked up a casual weekend job doing promo work and off the back of this landed a full-time job in marketing, which she said she could do from home whilst juggling her daughter.

Lorking said there was one major reason why she was able to buy her first property in 2019, a three-bedroom home on the Central Coast where she now lives with her five-year-old daughter.

“I bought that property with an inheritance that I got. That was kind of the biggest reason that I was able to afford that property,” she said.

“I bought it at a really good time and I’ve since bought two more properties based off the equity that I had in the original one.”

Lorking also shared she was able qualify for the NSW First Home Buyers Assistance Scheme for her first home and get stamp duty costs waived on the $530,000 property.

Around $5.3 trillion in wealth is expected to change hands in Australia over the coming decades, with a recent Finder research finding more than a third of Aussies were expecting to receive an inheritance.

With property prices skyrocketing and wages lagging, nearly two-thirds of Aussies now think the only way they will be able to buy a home is if they get an inheritance.

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Building a $20,000 share portfolio

Lorking started her own marketing agency earlier this year and said she was now continuing to build her wealth through investing.

She started investing with just $5 about two years ago and said she initially thought you had to be “super wealthy” to do it. But after doing her own research, including reading finance books and listening to podcasts, she started investing smaller amounts regularly and has built her portfolio to be worth $20,000.

Lorking said she now invests around $100 every week. She said she has a variety of ETFs (a bundle of multiple companies in one stock) and company shares.

“It’s an amount that I don’t really miss. I don’t get to the end of the week and think, ‘Damn, I wish I still had that $100’. It’s set and forget,” she told Yahoo Finance.

She also invests any “bonus money”, like her tax return or money she doesn’t already have assigned to another purpose.

Sharesies co-founder and co-CEO Sonya Williams said Lorking's investment approach was known as "dollar-cost averaging".

“This is a common investing strategy ... where you invest the same amount in the funds and companies that align to your strategy regularly, rather than at a specific price," Williams told Yahoo Finance.

"This means you can automate it to run, turn it into a habit and you can watch your money grow over time."

For example, she said by regularly investing $50 each month, you could turn that $6,000 into more than $9,000 due to compound interest after 10 years. That's based on the average ASX 200 rate of return of 9.3 per cent.

“Investing is a long-term game and so much of it is actually about building great financial habits," Williams said.

"You don’t need a lot of money to get started, just choose an amount you can afford and are keen to commit to on an ongoing basis and build up from there."

Diversifying investments

Lorking said she is focusing on diversifying her investments by owning both property and shares.

“There are pros and cons of both and being able to sell a share really quickly if you need to is definitely appealing if you need to get some money. You can’t just sell a house and bail out really quickly,” she said.

Her two investment properties, which are located in Melbourne and Perth and were $530,000 and $480,000 respectively, are currently under construction. She said she plans to rent them out once they are complete.

“The biggest thing that’s messed me up at the moment is how long my properties have taken to build. Therefore, I am spending a lot of money and I’m getting no payments back essentially,” she said.

‘Not as scary as it seems’

For other single mums, Lorking said her best piece of advice was to get educated on budgeting and get an understanding of how to make your money work best for you.

“It’s not as hard as it seems and it’s not as scary as it seems,” she said. “Anyone can do it, you just need to empower yourself.”

Williams recommended those new to investing do their research and find companies and ETFs that matched their values and financial goals.

"Look to build a diverse portfolio by spreading your [money] across different investments - you don’t want all your eggs in one basket," she said.

Lorking also recommended people read up about government schemes available for single parents, including the Family Home Guarantee which lets you buy a home with a 2 per cent deposit, and talk to a broker so they can create a clear “game plan”.

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