‘I’m a stay-at-home mum but spend spare hours building an investment portfolio – I am turning just £2 a week into £8,000 for my kids while my husband works a 9 to 5′
A savvy mum has revealed how she invests just a few quid a week for each of her three children – and believes the tiny contributions could grow to around £8,000 each.
Rachel Leutele, a 31-year-old stay-at-home mum, runs a single-income household with her husband Dean Leutele, 30.
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While Dean is hard at work as a case manager for the Ministry of Social Development, the mum focuses on looking after the kids at home so they can avoid daycare costs.
Rachel initially decided to quit her job when she first fell pregnant and was diagnosed with hyperemesis gravidarum,
With limited finances, she had to find other ways to make the couple’s money grow and began teaching herself how to invest small amounts of cash into a sizeable nest egg.
She now runs an investment portfolio for Leela-Rose, seven, Jakobi, four, and two-month-old Jai.
She estimates that, if she gets an average return of 7% over 25 years, each child could end up with around £8,000.
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“We’re a single income household where initially we didn’t have a lot of surplus after paying all of our bills,” Rachel told Whats The Jam.
“I always thought I needed a lot of money to invest but after more research, I realised time invested is more important than the amount.
“We did £2 because that’s what we could afford at the time and over the years we’ve just kept it at that.
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“It’s cheaper than a pie.
“A lot of people don’t even think twice about spending over £3 on something that lasts a few minutes so I wanted people to rethink every time they made a small purchase.
“Sometimes, people don’t save or invest small amounts because they think it won’t make a difference but over time it really does grow.”
Rachel invests the cash across a range of exchange-traded funds, including those tracking the S&P 500 and markets in Australia, New Zealand, Europe and the US.
The mum, who is self-taught, admits she once believed investing was something only wealthy people could afford.
She said: “In my lifetime, I’ve had a bit of money as I’ve been working from a very young age but because I wasn’t financially literate until my twenties, I wasted it all.
“I always had this perspective that you had to be rich to invest so I never did.
“Once I learned more and realised time is actually the best thing, I knew I had to start for my children.
“I couldn’t change my past but I could influence their future.”
Rachel, who has a bachelor’s in law, a certificate in business and a certificate in financial services, was a “beginner investor” when she first started using a site called Sharesies.
She said: “Personally, I do manual payments, only because I like to control what I invest in and when.
“There is a small fee to invest, but it’s worth it to me.
“The children can’t touch it until they’re 25.
“I set that restriction myself but can change it at any time.
“If my children turn 18 and want it for something that’s of value like education or a car, I could very well hand it over then.”
Rachel, from Napier, New Zealand, says the weekly payments don’t put extra strain on the family’s finances, while giving her peace of mind about her children’s futures.
She said: “I’m confident in it.
“It doesn’t take away from our current financial situation and it takes a little of the pressure away to have money sorted for our children.
“I would say I’m still a beginner investor and learning along the way but with each deposit and investment I feel grateful that I started them off early.”
Rachel hopes her experience will encourage other parents who believe they don’t have enough spare cash to start saving or investing.
She added: “I’m so grateful that I’ve been in positions where we had nothing because it taught me how to survive with little money but still reach our finance goals.
“Becoming a stay-at-home mum meant less money but being with my kids outweighed that.
“I’d say if you’re struggling financially or looking to your future, learn more every day.
“Even being financially literate, I’m still looking for people to learn from.
“Education really is powerful.”
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