Meet the Canberra-based finfluencer helping people find financial freedom
Posted on
Money makes the world go round – but for 26-year-old ‘finfluencer’ Natasha Etschmann, it was a stepping stone to a career she never foresaw for herself.
Authorised to provide general advice via Instagram and TikTok by financial planning firm Guideway, growing up in Perth, Natasha didn’t plan on becoming a financial influencer, but she was always interested in investing – and with a desire to work in healthcare, she knew that she didn’t want to face financial strain in the future.
“My dad taught me about shares when I was 10 years old; I overheard him and his friends talking about it, and he tried to explain it using a tomato sauce bottle. It kicked off from there, where I was asking questions and they were happy to answer them,” says Natasha.
“They always openly spoke about money in front of my sister and me…and I always knew that rich people invested, and I knew that I wanted to go into something healthcare related, so I would have to invest so I could get ahead of what you earn as an occupational therapist or physio.”
“I started looking into it and then during COVID I randomly decided to start sharing online because I followed so many people from the US but there weren’t that many people in Australia doing the same thing. And it took off from there.”
View this post on Instagram
All completely self-taught, Natasha started sharing her financial journey on social media as @tashinvests, seeing her gain 110,000 followers on Instagram and 120,000 followers on TikTok respectively (with numbers rising daily). And if that wasn’t enough, she also founded the Get Rich Slow Club podcast with financial educator Ana Kresina in collaboration with Pearler – but she soon started struggling to find a balance between her healthcare work and passion for finance.
So, after over a decade working in disability and positive behaviour support, she quit her job to focus on her work as a financial educator full-time.
Moving to Canberra in September 2023, Natasha currently has a net-worth of more than $571,000 and believes that finding financial freedom doesn’t have to be overwhelming or scary – which is why she’s also the co-author of How To Not Work Forever, a new book dedicated to helping people live a balanced and fulfilled life.
“Financial freedom is the freedom to do what you want to do… It’s the safety side of it, of being able to leave a relationship that doesn’t align, being able to leave a job that doesn’t align, but also the freedom to choose what you want to do,” explains Natasha.
“If you want to take time off you can, if you want to move houses you can, if you want to move states or cities or do something like that, you can. It’s all about just having the choice and control and not feeling stuck.”
How To Not Work Forever (which she’s written in partnership with fellow podcast host Ana Kresina) comes out at the end of June and is a beginner’s guide to investing, tackling everything from confidently building your personalised investing strategy to learning why buying and holding index funds is something everyone can (and should) do.
Jargon-free and easy to understand, Natasha believes that breaking the taboos surrounding money starts with a conversation, and she wants to help people realise that investing isn’t as hard as it’s made out to be – and anyone at any age can start with just $5.
“Money has a lot of emotions attached to it and I think people continue those patterns they’ve seen from their parents or their families…there’s still a lot of those gender roles around,” she says.
“Without talking about it, it stays taboo which confuses me a little bit sometimes because money is just another tool that we have – but I haven’t had the same emotional experience with money that other people have had.”
“I hope people read it and realise that investing, isn’t as hard or as scary as it’s made out to be, and you also don’t have to give up everything to invest…You can do both. You can save and invest and also still enjoy life along the way.”
For more information visit tashinvests.com or follow her journey at @tashinvests.
