Rising from the ashes

Getting divorced at any age is a painful experience. But when you’re in your late forties, with nothing to your name and staring down the barrel of retirement, the future can look particularly bleak.

For Rishworth, the trauma of this experience was so profound it made her physically unwell.

But the determined mother of two gave herself one year to regroup before setting out on a new path in 2012.

The first step was to secure her own place and she managed to put a deposit down on a two- bedroom home in Dannemora, Auckland.

Rishworth, who is profiled in this month's issue of NZ Property Investor magazine, had always been interested in property investment but it had never been a priority, so with only 15 years until retirement, she knew now was the time to commit.

She said to herself, “I have to do this, I need to get rid of this mortgage - $300 per week isn’t nearly enough to live on”.

With that in mind, she set herself an audacious goal to be mortgage free on her Dannemora home by the time she was 55.

Rishworth began reading as much as she could on the subject of property investment. She attended free seminars, signed herself up to mailing lists and educated herself, without spending any money.

She was working full time in admin and had one of her daughters, who was in her early-twenties, living at home with her, so she couldn’t afford to invest any real money in her property education.

Being time poor, when she finally decided to take a leap of faith and buy, Rishworth engaged a property finder to locate a property that met her buying criteria.

Within a short space of time, she was the proud owner of two investment properties in Rotorua.

Despite some maintenance cost issues, she was happy with the results and over the subsequent years she has built up a five property portfolio. She is also now mortgage free.

It has not been all smooth sailing though, but Rishworth says the ups and downs of investing have taught her how truly tenacious she is.

“The best analogy for me is I was looking down a dark tunnel to that prick of light at the end. I knew I was taking steps in the right direction. Every time bad things happened I was really staunch and really determined that this was going to work.”

To read more about Rishworth’s journey, as well as her top tips, click here to get the digital issue of NZ Property Investor magazine.

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