Ok, it sounds like 2025 is throwing you lots of life events all at once... Being made redundant, changing jobs (and potentially changing again), moving house, starting to invest and having another child is a LOT to deal with.

Ok, because you have a bit up in the air, and a baby is a deadline that can never wait, I think it’s always best to err on the side of caution... I would get the new employment (and income) 100% locked in before I looked to invest the $5k.

Even though you have emergency savings, the last thing you want is to reduce your income again, have higher moving or other costs pop up and then find yourself in a pinch. When we invest we want to ensure we can keep it there to do it’s thing (grow) without the need to pull funds out to cover life shortfalls.

If you’re hell bent on doing it now, look for an investment platform that has the investment options you’re keen to use with low transaction fees. If you won’t have funds to invest regularly, then you want to make sure that you are dollar cost averaging in the amount you have (do the numbers on fees here), so that you are smoothing out the buy price, not try to guess the ‘perfect’ time to invest it. Also look at how you can auto reinvest any dividends or distributions (if that's your goal) so you’re able to buy more, even if you can’t regularly contribute more from your income.

Now to the question of the $20 per week...to specifically answer your question: $20 a week is perfectly fine to invest in, its not too silly an amount at all! Especially now you have access to low cost investing platforms. Do check the fees though and you might want to consider having auto transferred into your investing account monthly or quarterly to reduce fees.

Some quick (rough) numbers for you: If you started with $20 and added an additional $20pw for 15 years (till he reaches 18years) in an investment portfolio that had an average annual return of 8% you would have approximately $30,000 (not including tax or inflation considerations)... But this shows exactly why every little bit counts. You can use this calculator to help you test out numbers.

If you are planning on investing for your kids (grandkids or niblings...etc.), there is a fair bit to consider. Like ownership and tax implications, CGT on transfer, Estate Planning factors. If you’re an Evergreen Money Club Member, there is a recorded Investing For Kids Deep Dive within the Learning Library, I go through all the ways to structure these types of investments and the pros and cons for each.

So, my honest advice to you is get a solid plan together with all the life admin tasks you need to factor in, arrange from highest to lowest priority... I’ve heard the transition from one child to two is intense, so the more you can knock off before it arrives the better. Make sure you’re thinking of all the other financial stuff too (like your insurances, estate plan, updated cash-flow for once baby has arrived), the more you can do now the more you do now, the better.

Jess

PS. Oh and if you’re hating your new job and not being paid what you think you should be, my hot take is don’t spend more time working than what you’re getting paid to do. You need every minute possible to get everything else sorted (including rest) as best you can. 

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Obvs all of this is general advice only... especially important to note any and all of the comments above do not take into account your objectives, financial situation or needs. Before acting on any information, you should consider the appropriateness of the information provided and the nature of the relevant financial product having regard to your objectives, financial situation and needs.