Rachel Barnes was born in England in 1958, and lived in a caravan until she was 17. An only child, she says her parents were too poor to afford to give her a middle name or a sibling!

Rachel’s mother miraculously survived an aneurism and cerebral meningitis when Rachel was three years old, but the trauma left her mother physically disabled and her father emotionally pessimistic. Despite this, Rachel has an optimistic outlook – which she attributes to her mother’s genes.

In 1981, Rachel emigrated to South Australia and in 1984, when her daughter was six months old, she took a part-time job with a local credit union. As her daughter grew older and her marriage fell apart, Rachel needed more of a challenge at work and during her 20-year career with the credit union she worked her way up from part-time loans typist to become its first female executive manager.

In 1991 Rachel met her perfect life partner, John Fowler. Their amazingly strong and rewarding relationship is a mirror of their property portfolio, which they started in 2000. Within 64 months they bought 75 rental properties and still hold 71 of them across Australia and New Zealand, giving them both the opportunity to leave the paid workforce and enjoy a comfortable lifestyle that would be envied by many!

Rachel has co-authored two Walking With The Wise books and is co-director of Real Women Real Estate Pty Ltd which offers coaching and mentoring to budding and existing property investors.