My wife has finally started investing, that's how you know the cost of living crisis is hitting hard

Equity markets near record highs despite global instability, inflation at 4.6%, multiple rate hikes and a growing storm of discourse around the government's anticipated overhaul of the country's capital gains taxation policies in the upcoming budget.

It's not the ideal climate in which to begin your investing journey. But such is the financial reality facing many young Australians that after years of unsuccessful cajoling on my part, my wife has finally taken the plunge and started investing. 

Not because she thinks she's going to be rich, or because she's suddenly taken an interest in the stock market, but simply from the understanding that the opportunity cost of not investing is now too high to ignore. And many of you likely find yourselves in the same position right now.

In her early 30s, with a good job and a super balance well ahead of the national average, my wife is arguably ideally placed to invest. 

But like a lot of younger Australians, she has always viewed investing as something best left to the experts and outside the domain of regular people. 

As she told me, the reason she hadn't invested sooner was a combination of "having very little pre-existing knowledge of investing, coupled with not knowing how or where to start."

"The whole process seemed daunting and complex." 

Another aspect holding her back was the simple but persuasive idea that investments can lose money. For someone used to keeping their hard-earned savings in a bank account, the possibility of losing money is a difficult psychological barrier to overcome. 

But eventually, the lived reality of seeing her everyday costs continue to increase while her savings account effectively went sideways prompted her to take more decisive action. 

"I have been feeling for a while that I should be smarter with my money, and the 1.75% interest I was earning from my savings account wasn’t really cutting it."

While headline inflation is officially at 4.6%, the experience of many, including my wife, suggests the real cost of living has actually increased at a much higher rate. 

We also bought our first home in early 2025, and after the most recent RBA rate rise, our home loan interest rate is now, for the first time, higher than it was when we took out the loan. 

Given that the forecast at the time called for more rate cuts, it shows how fluid and challenging the current economic environment has been.  

It also speaks to a growing realisation amongst younger Australians that even getting on the property market - which itself is exceedingly difficult for many - won't be enough on its own to achieve financial security in the way it has been for previous generations.  

In the face of this, it's no wonder my wife is keen to find something offering a better return than 1.75%.

Where she's investing

As this was something of a leap into the unknown, she was keen to start by investing in companies she was familiar with. Given her age and the long timeframe she'll have to invest, and given she already has a lot of exposure to the Australian economy through our home and super account, I suggested a global growth-focused investment probably made the most sense. 

And after patiently listening to me extol the virtues of the "time in the market" maxim and the value of diversification, she made her first investment in a diversified global shares ETF, and she's now set up recurring fortnightly investments. 

"ETFs seem like a safe, low-risk option to start investing, and an opportunity to learn more about the investing world," she told me. 

Where she goes next

It's still very early doors on her investing journey, and I didn't want to scare her off by talking about 60/40 portfolios, whether she'd considered diversifying across asset classes or allocating a portion to managed funds, so for now she'll be sticking to this ETF and seeing how it performs.

As she progresses along her investing journey, I'll be sure to provide an update on how she's finding the process and what she wants to do next. And who knows, hopefully her decision will encourage others to finally take the plunge themselves. 

In terms of expectations right now, she's remaining very grounded. 

"Being new to investing, I have no specific goals outside of wanting to see a healthy return on my investment."

Of course, my ongoing worry is that Sod's Law will inevitably cause the stock market to crash the moment she has finally decided to start investing, and all her fears about investing will be realised.  

Thankfully, after four days as an investor, she's up 0.45%. 

Here's to hopefully many more returns to come. 

Are you starting out on your investing journey, or do you know someone who is? 

Let us know in the comments below. And if you want to share your story, feel free to email me at [email protected].