Meet Simon Barber
Hello, I’m Simon Barber. I am employed as legal counsel for a household name retailer. With my wife we have two young sons. We opened our Stockspot account shortly after our eldest son was born in January 2017. I have lived in Melbourne for more than 25 years now and love its sports, music and restaurants.
Why I decided to trust Stockspot with our investment portfolio
I had invested directly in shares before and even consulted a financial planner to explore investments in shares and managed funds. However, when our first son was born we decided to open an investment account to start saving and contribute to his future – think 21st birthday, university, wedding or even a contribution to a house deposit. Whilst the account is in our name, the intention is that the funds will help our two boys along as they progress through their lives.
Our intention was to achieve a diversified investment with a relatively small amount of money and add to it over time.
Opening a Stockspot account has enabled us to do this and as our eldest son has just started school at five years of age, the investment has already grown quite considerably.
“The Stockspot sign up process was very easy. I don’t remember it being any more complicated than opening a bank account.
The Stockspot sign up process was easy
The Stockspot sign up process was very easy. I don’t remember it being any more complicated than opening a bank account. It is easy to deposit funds and it did appeal to me that we own the investments ourselves.
Achieving our investment goals
With Stockspot we are well on our way to achieving our investment goals. We have added both instalments and lump sums to the investment over the past five years. It is the perfect way to make sure a bonus or other windfall keeps growing.
Our investing experience with Stockspot
Our investment experience with Stockspot has been very easy and it really is a ‘set and forget’ option producing fantastic rates of return.
What we like about Stockspot
Even though the ‘advice’ is automated, Stockspot does give you a portfolio based on your risk profile (i.e. the questions answered as part of the sign up process).
Either the dashboard online or the app will show the value of your investment and a breakdown by asset class.
It is great to see the balance of the investment going up over time!
My money tips for people considering investing
For people considering investing, my money tip is that the best time to start saving is right now! There are times when you feel like you may not have large amounts of ‘spare’ cash to invest. However, small amounts will all add up over time.
I think it is all about your timeframes. For example if you are saving for a house deposit and buying in the next 12 months you might not invest your money.
But with interest rates at an all time low, cash in the bank is not doing very much at all. Investment in a portfolio such as Stockspot will produce a far better outcome over a medium or long-term timeframe.
