Do you think, given I am a good saver, I am on the right path to investing correctly?

Q.

I am a single woman raising five children alone between the ages of 11 and 18. I have worked very hard to save over the last seven years since the children's father left us with only $8,000. I invested this money and slowly added to it over the years and just prior to the share market slump moved my $80,000 into Westpac at 7.80% interest. Do you think, given I am a good saver, I am on the right path to investing correctly? My aim is to buy my own house/unit one day. I rent, work part time, own a car, and the kids are all in independent schools.

I think you are doing extremely well in view of the hand that life has dealt you and if your goal is to buy a house in the short to medium term, you are wise to keep the money in high earning online accounts such as the ones offered by Westpac or BankWest. If you have a longer term you could think about moving it progressively into shares but you would need to take advice before doing this.