CAPTIVATING AN AUDIENCE

While it may be out of favour with the younger generation, AMP deputy chief economist Diana Mousina is drawing on her expertise, passion and creative content to get us all interested in economics.

- Karren Vergara writes.

At 14 years old and nine months, Diana Mousina entered the workforce with a part-time job at Best&Less.

Other retail jobs ensued, working for the likes of Witchery and Crabtree & Evelyn.

"I spent everything that I earnt," she laughs.

"I was not interested in saving or investing at all at that age."

What Mousina was becoming very interested in, though, was economics and business studies. So, in her final year of high school, she studied economics. She then pursued commerce and economics as an undergraduate at the University of New South Wales.

During class at university, the finance lecturer asked: "What's your best investment?"

"I said to myself, a pair of Nine West knee-high boots. I remember that very clearly, because I just loved shopping. I was earning about $30 an hour and worked for three hours in one day and made $90. So, it wasn't a lot of money, and I figured I would use it for shopping," Mousina says.

Mousina eventually became more serious about money. While she wasn't saving for a holiday or an investment, she started saving her earnings because it dawned on her that it's what she should be doing.

But it wasn't until she started working for Commonwealth Bank (CBA), landing a highly coveted graduate position, that she first thought of saving for a home. It was also at CBA where Mousina first got her real exposure to economics - meeting the economics team under the rotation program.

Mousina stayed at CBA for about five years and then moved to AMP Capital in 2016.

"When I joined AMP Capital, it was initially Shane Oliver and myself, and we worked closely with a certain fund. That changed after a restructure when we moved into AMP," she says.

"We still work closely with the portfolio management team, but our team doesn't have its own investment fund. We also have in the team My Bui, who is an economist."