One of Australia’s most popular financial influencers has revealed how patience and ignoring investment trends helped her turn just $1,000 into a portfolio worth more than $1million. 

Natasha Etschmann – known as ‘Tash Invests’ on social media platforms – began sharing her financial journey as an investor online in 2020. 

Her goal, according to her website, is to ‘make financial conversations less taboo and show that investing doesn’t have to be scary, complicated or only for “finance bros”‘. 

‘I was a disability support worker back then, and I was inspired by people in America sharing their money diaries,’ she told the Daily Mail.

‘I decided to start sharing things like how I managed my mortgage, how much my repayments were, and how much money I had.

‘I think my net worth was less than $100,000 at the time, but things took off quite quickly from there.’

The key to Etschmann’s approach was starting small, investing just $1,000 in about 2016 and using the returns to gradually expand her portfolio. 

Rather than chasing financial trends, she built her portfolio through long-term investing and exchange-traded funds (ETFs). ETFs hold assets such as shares, bonds or commodities in a single fund and trade on a stock exchange like company shares. 

Natasha Etschmann uses social media under @Tashinvests to encourage and educate new and would-be investors

Etschmann has previously interviewed Prime Minister Anthony Albanese

She began her investing journey with just $1,000 and has built a portfolio worth more than $1 million over the past decade 

‘I have $400 a week that gets taken out of my account, and then I use Pearler (an auto investing app)… every three weeks, once it gets $1,200, it auto buys shares for me,’ Etschmann said.

‘It’s just like a bill that gets taken out. I don’t really think about it – I check it every month or two.’

Through a combination of working multiple jobs and careful investments, Etschmann was able to purchase an apartment in Perth at 22 years old.

She also owns a second investment property and, as a result, her combined portfolio is now worth over $1million.

Etschmann, who co-hosts a podcast with fellow educator Ana Kresina and interviewed Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, said the key to success has been trusting the process rather than trying to get rich quickly. 

‘I don’t really look at (my shares)’, the influencer said.

‘Sometimes I’m not even aware the market has dropped unless someone messages me and says, “Oh my God, should I be stressed about X, Y and Z?”

‘I just invest for the long term, which can sound quite boring.’

Etschmann began sharing financial content while working as a disability support worker. She now works full-time as an influencer and financial educator

While she’s not against investing in the occasional speculative stock, Etschmann was quick to caution against going too far.

‘I’ve got about $20,000 in crypto now, which I bought in 2021 when it dropped,’ Etschmann said.

‘I haven’t bought much more since then. I think it’s fun to have a small part of your overall portfolio in it, but I wouldn’t invest lots and lots into it.’  

Her tip for prospective investors is to allow things to happen slowly. 

‘I think a lot of investing is just getting comfortable with it, getting used to it, seeing how you feel when things go up and down and building that habit,’ Etschmann added.

‘I think a lot of people try to optimise everything completely, but (they need to) accept that it takes a while. It took me a few years to feel comfortable putting a lot of money into the market.

‘I’m still going to invest the same way by buying and holding for the long term.’ 

She also encouraged new investors not to be too reactive to change to things like tax laws at a political level. 

‘Things always happen in the world… if you look back historically, there have been wars and other issues like the Global Financial Crisis, the dot-com bubble,’ she said.

‘Things will continue to happen in the future, but if you’re diversified enough, you’ll be fine.

‘You should never make a financial decision solely based on tax anyway because tax will always change, and if you’ve made money, you will pay tax, and that’s overall, a good thing.

‘People get really caught up in the details of it; by the time I sell my investor properties in the future I’m sure the tax system would have changed again… but if you’re investing for the long term, it shouldn’t matter too much.’