There aren’t too many Aussie 22-year-olds who are sitting at home planning their will and ironing out their finances – but then there aren’t too many like Bindi Irwin.
Woman’s Day has learned that as she heads towards her third trimester, Bindi and her husband Chandler Powell are, according to our sources, “laser-focused” on preparing for their daughter’s future.
“It’s all about the nest egg for them,” says an insider.
“They’re wise beyond their years and already thinking of trust funds and wills for their child.”
And while Bindi’s mum Terri is proud of her daughter’s smarts, it’s brought up a lot of questions that she wasn’t expecting to deal with until Bindi and her brother Robert, 16, were much older.
.jpg?resize=380%2C285)
“Bindi’s never thought much about her father Steve’s fortune, which went entirely to Terri when he died,” says a source. “But now she’s realising they are sitting on a gold mine – and she will get a chunk of it.”
Terri, 56, is reportedly worth around $100 million, stemming from the zoo empire she inherited when Steve died of a stingray attack in 2006, an impressive property portfolio in southern Queensland and a large land holding in the state’s far north where the family undertake its crocodile research.
Bindi will welcome her first child next year, but is everything smooth sailing within her close knit family?
(Getty)Bindi, meanwhile, who’s carved a name for herself in the US thanks to her Bindi The Jungle Girl and Crikey! It’s The Irwins TV series and a winning appearance on Dancing With The Stars in 2015, is worth around $3.75 million.
For her day job, she juggles high-profile appearances at the zoo, alongside Robert and Chandler, 24, with talking to and observing the vets and scientists at the family’s wildlife hospital.
“Bindi is setting her family up for success. She is the main drawcard to the zoo and her technical know-how will soon match or even eclipse Terri’s,” says a source.
“Bindi and Robert have been performing acts since they were kids, and Bindi would be smart to want some control of her slice of the family pie.”
“With the little one very much on the way, I can see there might be a bit of a shift ahead for Bindi, and, logically, if Bindi and Chandler get chunks of change, Robert, whose star is also rising, should be entitled as well.”
“Even though she’s pregnant, seeing Bindi as a grown businesswoman is going to be a new transition for Terri to accept, after being responsible for the family fortune and making payments to her kids for so long, but they are old enough now to have some form of control.”
Another area Terri may find herself adjusting is Bindi’s relationship with her estranged grandfather, Steve’s dad Bob Sr, 81.
“Bob lives out in the bush after Terri took over Steve’s affairs and gave him the boot,” says a source.
“But it wouldn’t surprise me if Bindi took old Bob’s olive branch. Bindi will inherit this empire one day so it makes sense to listen to all the advice she can get – especially with the bub’s impending arrival.”
