I left my $300k job to be my own boss. I would have never done it if I knew about this one thing

Should you invest in shares, or property? Is university still worth it, or should you start your own business? With the path to financial security becoming less clear, Insight asks how aspirational people are getting ahead, and whether Australia is a good country to build wealth. Watch Insight episode Gettin' Rich on SBS or SBS On Demand.

I was raised in poverty in western Sydney by a single mum. At dinnertime, she would wait for my four siblings and me to finish eating, and then eat whatever was left over.

My mother had nothing but worked her absolute ass off doing everything from cleaning to hospitality to put us through school and to make sure we were always clothed and fed.

To me, she was proof of the Australian principle: you can achieve your financial goals and transform your life's circumstances if you are willing to make sacrifices and work hard.

It gave me hope.

Sure, I might not have all the things the other kids in school had, but it didn't matter where I started. If I worked hard, I could still get ahead and achieve the Australian dream.

But I'm not sure that is still the case for Australians today.

Because I had to help my mum with our household bills, I started full-time work right out of high school as a junior finance broker on $38,000 while also studying web development full-time.

For the next 10 years, I worked almost every single weekend. I sacrificed and missed out on so much.

I didn't have a passport until I got married at 23; our honeymoon was the first time I went overseas.

I missed many family barbecues, events, and parties so I could set up my own life for my future family as well as support my mum.

I just knew that anything that I could do to help my mum would be worth it after seeing her struggle financially.

By the end of that decade when I was 27, I was running teams of over 20 people and earning upwards of $300k a year.

But I was working 80 hours a week, had no work-life balance, and felt like I was spending so much time building other people's businesses who didn't necessarily appreciate it.

The sacrifices no longer felt aligned with the reward, which made me think it could be different if I were my own boss.

Nearing financial ruin

So, in 2020, despite many people telling me it would fail, I decided to risk it all and start my own fintech business.

It was extremely scary starting from zero and paying myself potentially $0; I had no investors — just bootstrapping.

It almost brought me to financial ruin on multiple occasions.

I poured my life savings into starting the business.

Twice I refinanced the family home, which my wife and I bought at age 22, drawing out hundreds of thousands in equity; I sold all the shares and crypto I had been investing in since I was young; I spent the money upfront that I received from Research and Development grants; and I took out $1+ million in business debt that I have personally guaranteed.

I also pulled out $20,000 from my superannuation (which I was allowed to do during the COVID-19 pandemic) and drained our children's bank accounts.

'A naive assumption'

I believed I'd earn more and work fewer hours by starting my own business. It was a naive assumption.

The reality was: I worked, and continue to work, way more than I did when I was someone else's employee.

And like almost all other small business owners, I always paid myself last — and pay an amount almost a third of what I was earning when I was employed by someone else.

This also means I don't have the superannuation nest egg to fall back on at retirement in the same way employees do.

Although it's been difficult and completely draining, the business now employs almost 40 people across Australia and New Zealand.

Three of our young team members have settled on their first homes in recent months.

Finding this out was one of the most rewarding moments of my life — even more so than when I bought my own home. Without the risk-reward nature of startup remuneration, this may not have been possible for them.

'A deflating experience'

But despite this rewarding feeling, had I known what the landscape for business owners in Australia would look like today, I would have never gone off on my own.

I would have never started my own business if I knew how hard it was going to be or had known about the 2026 Capital Gains Tax (CGT) reforms that will come into play on 1 July next year.

Under this reform, a 50 per cent CGT discount is replaced with indexation and a 30 per cent minimum tax. An effective tax rate of up to 47 per cent on the gain from selling a business could be applied to owners in the top tax bracket who do not qualify for small‑business CGT concessions.

Despite nearly losing everything multiple times, despite spending many nights unable to sleep, despite not having a single holiday in years, despite not earning my true market value, despite needing my wife to return to the workforce, I would potentially lose almost half the proceeds of a future sale of my business.

Budget night, when the initial proposed tax changes were announced, was a really deflating experience for me. I felt,"I've taken all this risk in starting this business; I've invested all my personal money into it; and now I have a'co-founder' (the tax office) I never asked for".

And I believe this change will affect the ambition of young people wanting to start their own businesses.

'Not a greedy rich tech bro'

I think wealth shouldn't be a negative word; it should be a very positive word. You should want some level of financial freedom.

I'm not talking about super yachts and supercars; I'm just talking about the ability to take your family out to dinner, to holiday once a year, and have some level of financial security.

That shouldn't be something that people get shouted down for or get called greedy over.

I'm certainly not a greedy rich tech bro; I'm just trying to provide for my family.

I'm not sitting here complaining.

I'm just hoping the government doesn't make things even harder and riskier than it already is.

Or take away the reward that was there before — that might not be there moving forward.

Watch your favourite Insight episodes around the clock on SBS On Demand's dedicated Insight channel. For the latest from SBS News, download our app and subscribe to our newsletter.