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MONEY DIARIES: Is It a Choice Between Religion & Your Financial Future? · She's On The Money

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Speaker 1: Hello, my name's Santasha Nabananga Bamblet. I'm a proud yr
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Speaker 1: the Order Kerni Whoalbury and a waddery woman. And before
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Speaker 1: we get started on She's on the Money podcast, I
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Speaker 1: would like to acknowledge the traditional custodians of the land
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Speaker 1: of which this podcast is recorded on a wondery country,
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Speaker 1: acknowledging the elders, the ancestors and the next generation coming
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Speaker 1: through as this podcast is about connecting, empowering, knowledge sharing
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Speaker 1: and the storytelling of you to make a difference for
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Speaker 1: today and lasting impact for tomorrow.
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Speaker 2: Let's get into it. She's on the Money. She's on
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Speaker 2: the Money.
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Speaker 3: Hello, and welcome to She's on the Money, the podcast
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Speaker 3: for millennials who want financial freedom. Welcome back to another
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Speaker 3: one of our money diaries where I get the absolute
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Speaker 3: privilege of talking to one of our incredible She's on
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Speaker 3: the Money community members all about their journey. Let's jump
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Speaker 3: straight into it, because this week I got a message.
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Speaker 2: And it sounded like this, Hi V.
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Speaker 3: I have a weird relationship and concept of money that
1:22
Speaker 3: is rooted in my religious upbringing and beliefs growing up
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Speaker 3: in the Philippines. We didn't have to worry about money,
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Speaker 3: and since moving here four years ago, I'm struggling to
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Speaker 3: adapt to the culture and attitude around money in Australia.
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Speaker 3: Even though I earn a living wage and I'm trying
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Speaker 3: to adjust, I can't make the mental switch money, darist,
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Speaker 3: Welcome to the show. I feel like this will be
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Speaker 3: a really interesting diary to share.
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Speaker 2: Oh I hope, so I know it will be. Let's
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Speaker 2: start where I always do.
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Speaker 3: What grade would you give your money habits if I
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Speaker 3: asked you to give them a grade? I, she liked,
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Speaker 3: I stare somewhere in C minus oh minus.
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Speaker 2: Let's learn more about that.
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Speaker 3: My favorite question is money, dires. Let's jump straight in.
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Speaker 2: Tell me a bit more about your money story.
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Speaker 4: My attitude towards money is very peculiar in a sense
2:16
Speaker 4: that it stems from religious beliefs. But at the same time,
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Speaker 4: I'm trying to adapt in the current society where it's
2:26
Speaker 4: at the peak of its contramerism and capitalism. So like,
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Speaker 4: growing up, my parents never discussed money, so they've basically
2:38
Speaker 4: taken on the full responsibility of meeting the needs for
2:42
Speaker 4: the family. However, in the same vein because they never
2:47
Speaker 4: discussed money with us, we also never saw them struggle
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Speaker 4: for money.
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Speaker 2: Yeah, okay, so.
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Speaker 4: We always go back to our religious beliefs. Basically everything
3:00
Speaker 4: will be provided for. We don't have to worry anything
3:05
Speaker 4: because that's already been answered for, Like it's already there,
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Speaker 4: but we just don't see it. We just have to
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Speaker 4: wait for it. So it's a peculiar situation for someone
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Speaker 4: like me as a millennial, where everyone sort of knows
3:22
Speaker 4: where they stand with money, Like it's either they struggle
3:26
Speaker 4: because of their current financial situation. But in my case,
3:32
Speaker 4: I'm not really struggling, Like I have a good wage,
3:36
Speaker 4: like I have a good income and I know what
3:40
Speaker 4: my income is able to purchase. But also it's like
3:45
Speaker 4: I don't want to be obsessed with money as well,
3:47
Speaker 4: but I know that I have to look after for
3:51
Speaker 4: my future rather than just work work and not really
3:55
Speaker 4: putting that money into work itself.
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Speaker 3: Yeah, I would like to know more about this religious
4:01
Speaker 3: side of things. But I've met a lot of people
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Speaker 3: when I was working as a financial advisor who were
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Speaker 3: tackling I guess wealth creation for the first time because historically,
4:12
Speaker 3: like their parents didn't really talk about that or do
4:15
Speaker 3: any of that, kind of like they weren't investing because
4:18
Speaker 3: if they were, you know, had a roof over their
4:20
Speaker 3: head and food on the table and were grateful for
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Speaker 3: what they had, like that was exactly what you lived
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Speaker 3: life for, right, So tell me more about this. I
4:27
Speaker 3: guess religious side of things one because I'm hervy, but
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Speaker 3: I think that a lot of people will resonate with this.
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Speaker 3: Let's be honest, but like, what type of religion was this?
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Speaker 3: Was this something that you still adhere to or is
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Speaker 3: this like your parents and you have differing values, Like
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Speaker 3: I'd love to know as much as you're comfortable sharing.
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Speaker 4: Yeah, my family was, or actually still is Christian, So
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Speaker 4: they're more of like Baptists in a sense, like Southern
4:54
Speaker 4: American type of Baptists were very traditional in our way
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Speaker 4: of beliefs. So I grew up. I went to primary school,
5:05
Speaker 4: and we can't wear nail polishes because apparently that makes
5:09
Speaker 4: you like a prostitute or something.
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Speaker 2: Oh, very dramatic, but yes, I get it.
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Speaker 4: Yes, So and then we were taught like we can't
5:17
Speaker 4: go to the cinemas because bad people go to the
5:20
Speaker 4: cinemas or things like that. Like there's a bit of
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Speaker 4: a confusion or like radicalism in some of the teachings
5:28
Speaker 4: but eventually we were able to sort of reconcile and
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Speaker 4: decide for ourselves what we think is acceptable in terms
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Speaker 4: of our religion and basically just sort of separated from
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Speaker 4: that type of thinking in terms of the financial side.
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Speaker 4: The religious aspect of it is that, first of all,
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Speaker 4: we believe that God provides for everything, right, so even
5:55
Speaker 4: before you ask for it, it's already there, so it's
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Speaker 4: already answered for. And second of all, getting obsessed with
6:04
Speaker 4: money is evil. So if you are so hung up
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Speaker 4: with money, like you're so money hungry, that it becomes
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Speaker 4: now sort of a worship to money itself, which is
6:20
Speaker 4: very frowned upon.
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Speaker 2: Which is very toxic in that culture.
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Speaker 4: Right.
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Speaker 2: Yeah, it's not seen as being a good thing. It's
6:25
Speaker 2: seen as being very negative.
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Speaker 4: Yeah. So that is why I never saw my parents struggle.
6:33
Speaker 4: They're always like, we can't do that, We'll just have
6:37
Speaker 4: to wait. Look, my parents were not like just waiting
6:41
Speaker 4: for dollouts or something. My parents had good jobs.
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Speaker 2: Yeah, it's just the thought pattern behind it.
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Speaker 4: And then we also had to I don't know if
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Speaker 4: you've heard of this, but some of us give ten
6:53
Speaker 4: percent of our gross Yeah, the tithe, Yeah, the tithe.
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Speaker 4: So I practiced that even when I was just receiving
7:02
Speaker 4: school allowance.
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Speaker 2: Wow, which didn't.
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Speaker 4: Really amount to anything, but it was the practice. Yeah.
7:09
Speaker 4: I wasn't pressured into it, but you feel that certain guilt.
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Speaker 4: Well actually you would say that it's pressure, but because
7:16
Speaker 4: you have that guilt to comply, but you sort of
7:19
Speaker 4: have this thinking that, oh, I want to give because
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Speaker 4: God loveth a cheerful giver, something like that.
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Speaker 3: Yeah, is this something that now you're obviously an adult
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Speaker 3: you live in Australia, do.
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Speaker 2: You still see it that way?
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Speaker 4: Like?
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Speaker 2: Are you still paying a tithe that you like?
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Speaker 3: Looking your parents going Wow, it looks like we didn't
7:39
Speaker 3: have to worry about money growing up, and now in hindsight,
7:41
Speaker 3: maybe we did. Like I guess, have you had your
7:44
Speaker 3: blinkers taken off now that you're an adult?
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Speaker 4: I would say, so, it's just that my parents were
7:50
Speaker 4: really really good at hiding it. Yeah. I remember there
7:54
Speaker 4: was a time that I had to pay for something
7:57
Speaker 4: at school and my dad basically had to He is
8:03
Speaker 4: a lawyer, so what he did was he actually had
8:06
Speaker 4: to produce a physical output so he can build a
8:09
Speaker 4: client and that earning is allocated for that school need
8:13
Speaker 4: or school activity. So now that I'm basically an adult,
8:20
Speaker 4: I think I hope you are.
8:25
Speaker 2: Now I sort of.
8:27
Speaker 4: Know in a different sense, like pay the mortgage, pay electricity,
8:32
Speaker 4: pay water. And back then I was just like, oh,
8:37
Speaker 4: let's have the air conditioner on for a whole day
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Speaker 4: and nobody cares.
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Speaker 2: You didn't understand that that meant money, right.
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Speaker 4: Yeah, we had to pay electricity, But I didn't know
8:49
Speaker 4: the implications of turning on the air conditioner for like
8:55
Speaker 4: six hours straight.
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Speaker 3: Yeah, which now as an adult, I'm away is like,
9:00
Speaker 3: is the air cone on?
9:01
Speaker 2: It's fine in here, let's turn it off.
9:04
Speaker 4: Now it's just like, okay, maybe I can turn it
9:06
Speaker 4: on for like thirty minutes just to get rid of
9:10
Speaker 4: the heat inside this apartment and that's it. And now
9:16
Speaker 4: as an adult, I still do tithes, but that tithes
9:22
Speaker 4: goes into a savings account.
9:26
Speaker 2: It's for you, and it earns.
9:29
Speaker 4: So I don't know how to feel about that, Like,
9:32
Speaker 4: do I also like when the time comes that I
9:35
Speaker 4: actually need to give the money to the trish, Do
9:38
Speaker 4: I also include the interest accrued on that saving.
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Speaker 2: No, I feel like that's your money working for you.
9:49
Speaker 4: So now I'm like, there's nothing in the Bible talking
9:52
Speaker 4: about interest, you know, like do I also have to
9:57
Speaker 4: pay interest?
9:58
Speaker 3: It's an interesting because I think that up until you know,
10:03
Speaker 3: not now, but up until more recently, I eat the
10:06
Speaker 3: last couple of hundred of years, we are now talking
10:09
Speaker 3: about investing and putting ourselves forward, and a lot of
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Speaker 3: those things they really conflict with the teachings that are
10:16
Speaker 3: in the Bible.
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Speaker 2: And are you know what hold down a lot.
10:20
Speaker 3: Of religious beliefs right, Like it's always about giving back,
10:24
Speaker 3: and it's always about community.
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Speaker 2: And I know lots of churches they type.
10:28
Speaker 3: I'm not the biggest fan of tything purely because I
10:31
Speaker 3: know how much money the churches have and they don't
10:34
Speaker 3: need it in this economy. I would prefer the members
10:38
Speaker 3: of a church to have access to more income to
10:41
Speaker 3: you know, put themselves in the better position, because in
10:44
Speaker 3: my mind, a rising tied lifts ulships and like, if
10:47
Speaker 3: you're doing well, you're going to be way happier in
10:50
Speaker 3: that church. And this isn't like me saying anything about
10:53
Speaker 3: my religious beliefs or what you should and shouldn't believe.
10:55
Speaker 3: It's not the case at all. It's more I just
10:58
Speaker 3: think that's such a historic practice that.
11:01
Speaker 2: Now you go, that's tough. Things are expensive, like the
11:04
Speaker 2: idea that you would give ten percent of your income.
11:08
Speaker 2: Where you're a female, you're probably already being underpaid. Most
11:13
Speaker 2: people are. Do you know what I mean?
11:14
Speaker 3: Like, you just look at it and go, is that
11:16
Speaker 3: the best use of funds? Is that the best use
11:18
Speaker 3: of a resource for this community? And if not, then
11:24
Speaker 3: what does it look like?
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Speaker 2: Fairly? Because I'm pretty sure like regardless of what you believe.
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Speaker 3: In, people should be in a position where they aren't
11:33
Speaker 3: financially compromised.
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Speaker 2: So I just go what.
11:37
Speaker 3: Does that look like? And it would be very very
11:39
Speaker 3: hard to navigate. I want to know, though, now we're
11:41
Speaker 3: talking about money. How much do you earn and what
11:44
Speaker 3: do you do for work?
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Speaker 4: So I'm a case manager for a non for profit
11:51
Speaker 4: organization and I earn around eighty six thousand before deductions?
11:58
Speaker 2: Is that before or after super?
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Speaker 4: Before? Super?
12:01
Speaker 2: Very nice?
12:03
Speaker 3: Tell me more about I guess your big money goals
12:06
Speaker 3: and also how do you feel about big money goals?
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Speaker 4: I think big money goals are good because it sort
12:12
Speaker 4: of like puts you into perspective, like what do you
12:15
Speaker 4: want to see in terms of financial standing or in
12:21
Speaker 4: terms of financial freedom? So I think one of my
12:25
Speaker 4: big money goals for this year is to do the
12:28
Speaker 4: ten thousand savings money hack.
12:30
Speaker 2: Oh yeah, you can download those free on our website.
12:33
Speaker 4: That's one, and then the second one is paying off
12:35
Speaker 4: my car also this year, so I have a little
12:41
Speaker 4: under ten thousand dollars left on that. So that's sort
12:45
Speaker 4: of like now twenty thousand in terms of big money goals.
12:48
Speaker 4: But for the long term, my big money goal is
12:51
Speaker 4: help out my husband to pay off the mortgage and
12:55
Speaker 4: you know, see if we can sell it in the
12:58
Speaker 4: future and buy a house. So that's something that I
13:06
Speaker 4: wanted to do. But we have to discuss the nitty
13:09
Speaker 4: gritty details before we get started on that. I suppose
13:13
Speaker 4: I love that.
13:13
Speaker 3: Did you move over from the Philippines with your husband
13:16
Speaker 3: four years ago or did you meet him here?
13:19
Speaker 2: Tell me about that. We love a little love story.
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Speaker 4: So no, I didn't meet him back home. I met
13:25
Speaker 4: him here in Sydney and we met online.
13:31
Speaker 2: Oh cute.
13:32
Speaker 4: We didn't have a meet cute, but we did have
13:35
Speaker 4: like a nice start to our conversation and relationship. I
13:40
Speaker 4: suppose I moved in like with him two years ago. Yeah,
13:44
Speaker 4: and then we got married last year.
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Speaker 2: Congrat so exciting.
13:48
Speaker 4: Thank you. Yeah it is, but there's not really much
13:52
Speaker 4: difference to than when we were just dating because I
13:56
Speaker 4: was still living with him already.
13:59
Speaker 3: Oh that's a little bit spicy. Actually, if your family
14:02
Speaker 3: are super religious, how did they feel about you moving
14:05
Speaker 3: in with your partner before you were married?
14:08
Speaker 4: They didn't know.
14:10
Speaker 2: I knew that was coming. I was like, did you
14:12
Speaker 2: tell them? You didn't? Did you?
14:14
Speaker 4: But I feel like my parents had an idea.
14:17
Speaker 3: We don't have to tell them your housemates, like there's
14:20
Speaker 3: two bedrooms.
14:21
Speaker 4: We actually concocted a story like I am hissed renter
14:26
Speaker 4: and he's just like a random landlord.
14:28
Speaker 2: Oh nice. Yeah.
14:31
Speaker 4: If ever my parents did us, where are you living now?
14:34
Speaker 4: And I'm like, oh, here in this little suburb. Oh
14:39
Speaker 4: so where did you rent? I'm just like, oh, I
14:41
Speaker 4: rented from this gay man.
14:44
Speaker 2: Oh you told them he was gay.
14:47
Speaker 4: We were planning to give a similar story like that,
14:51
Speaker 4: just so that I'll have an excuse why I'm no
14:54
Speaker 4: longer living with my sister because I used to live
14:56
Speaker 4: with my sister.
14:57
Speaker 2: Did your sister know?
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Speaker 4: No? She did.
15:00
Speaker 2: Oh you're so shaky. How did that work?
15:04
Speaker 4: Because I used to live like it's a live in nanny,
15:07
Speaker 4: so I sort of like extended the period that I
15:11
Speaker 4: was living with the family, but at that time I
15:14
Speaker 4: was already living with him.
15:16
Speaker 2: I love this.
15:17
Speaker 4: So they're just like thinking, how's the kid that you're
15:20
Speaker 4: looking after, and I'm like, yeah, she's fine.
15:22
Speaker 2: He's a lot older than you think he is.
15:26
Speaker 4: So yeah, they didn't have an idea, but I think
15:30
Speaker 4: they have a bit of a hint.
15:33
Speaker 2: We don't need to talk about it with them though
15:35
Speaker 2: they will never know. I like it.
15:36
Speaker 3: Let's leave it that way. And then you guys decided
15:39
Speaker 3: to get married. That's very exciting. Was that something that
15:43
Speaker 3: you guys had to save up for for ages or
15:46
Speaker 3: you did something small or what did that look like.
15:48
Speaker 4: We didn't spend a lot of money on the wedding
15:50
Speaker 4: because I just couldn't bear the idea of spending like
15:55
Speaker 4: tens of thousands of dollars on a single day.
15:58
Speaker 2: That's so fair.
15:59
Speaker 4: Luckily, my parents and paid for my wedding tress and
16:02
Speaker 4: the only item I had to fork out on was
16:05
Speaker 4: my shoes. Yeah, and for him his suit and his
16:10
Speaker 4: shoes and the dinner after and we got married at
16:14
Speaker 4: the Civil Registry.
16:15
Speaker 2: And like, oh cute.
16:17
Speaker 4: I love that that was very easy to accomplish.
16:22
Speaker 2: Yeah, I love that so much.
16:24
Speaker 3: All Right, let's go to a really quick break because
16:26
Speaker 3: I have a lot of questions.
16:27
Speaker 2: I want to know about.
16:28
Speaker 3: Investments and debts and your best and worst money habits.
16:31
Speaker 2: So don't go anywhere.
16:37
Speaker 3: All right, money Diarist, We are back, and I am
16:40
Speaker 3: loving this chat.
16:40
Speaker 2: I feel like it's really pervy.
16:42
Speaker 3: Also, you are a lot cheekier than I thought you
16:44
Speaker 3: might be going into this because I was like, oh, yeah,
16:47
Speaker 3: you grew up in a religious family, and then you're like,
16:49
Speaker 3: I didn't tell them. I moved in with my partner
16:53
Speaker 3: when it comes to religion.
16:54
Speaker 2: I know you said.
16:55
Speaker 3: Before you're still allocating money to a savings account for
16:59
Speaker 3: a tythe tythe for people who are like, what are
17:02
Speaker 3: you guys talking about? It's basically a commitment that you
17:05
Speaker 3: have with the church to pay ten percent of your
17:07
Speaker 3: income to them, and it's about community and it's about
17:11
Speaker 3: you know, giving back to the church, and it's usually
17:14
Speaker 3: closely tied to being morally good in a way. Right,
17:18
Speaker 3: So you're currently putting your type in a savings account
17:22
Speaker 3: because I feel like you're questioning whether this is a
17:24
Speaker 3: good idea or not. How does your partner feel about this,
17:28
Speaker 3: And I guess the religious side of things, is he
17:30
Speaker 3: on the same page as you? Are you completely different?
17:33
Speaker 3: Like what does that look like?
17:35
Speaker 4: We're definitely different in terms of religion. He's now sort
17:39
Speaker 4: of like backing away from the whole religion thing because
17:44
Speaker 4: he used to be part of a cult.
17:46
Speaker 2: A cult. This is not what I expected bombshell after
17:51
Speaker 2: bombshell with you.
17:53
Speaker 4: So it's not really a cult where you know, they
17:56
Speaker 4: burn people alive or whatever, but it's just very dodgy
18:03
Speaker 4: where you can't join unless you are personally invited and
18:08
Speaker 4: vetted by someone who's already a member.
18:10
Speaker 2: Oh my gosh, a proper cult.
18:12
Speaker 4: In Australia, yes, such to say it's in Melbourne, so no, yeah,
18:18
Speaker 4: he used to be living in Melbourne. Yeah, and that's
18:22
Speaker 4: where it started.
18:23
Speaker 2: I'm going to ask you what it is offline so
18:25
Speaker 2: I can do some research, but we don't need to
18:27
Speaker 2: put that on the podcast. We don't need a cult
18:28
Speaker 2: coming for us.
18:30
Speaker 3: How interesting. And so he's completely backing away from that.
18:33
Speaker 3: And obviously you've grown up with really religious family members
18:37
Speaker 3: and I'm assuming that because you lived with your sister
18:40
Speaker 3: and like you were being a bit.
18:41
Speaker 2: Cheeky with your parents.
18:43
Speaker 3: You're probably still close with them, right, so like, yeah,
18:45
Speaker 3: how's this working out for you?
18:48
Speaker 4: So now a days, my parents are just very blass
18:54
Speaker 4: now in terms of religion.
18:57
Speaker 2: Really.
18:57
Speaker 4: Yeah. So back then I could and get out of
19:00
Speaker 4: going into church every Sunday. Yeah, It's like they don't
19:05
Speaker 4: care if you're tired or if you want to go
19:07
Speaker 4: hang out with your friends. You're coming to church with
19:10
Speaker 4: us and you can see your friends after. Yeah. But
19:14
Speaker 4: nowadays they're just like, oh, okay.
19:18
Speaker 2: They don't mind so much. They're not as strict anymore.
19:21
Speaker 4: They don't mind so much anymore because it's probably sunking
19:26
Speaker 4: to them that we're all adults now and we have
19:29
Speaker 4: our own choices to make.
19:32
Speaker 2: Yeah, of course.
19:33
Speaker 4: But back then I never missed the church unless I
19:36
Speaker 4: was really sick.
19:37
Speaker 1: Yeah.
19:38
Speaker 4: Wow, And that was until I was maybe twenty years old.
19:41
Speaker 2: Oh my gosh.
19:42
Speaker 3: And then what made you go, all right, I want
19:44
Speaker 3: to move to Australia Because that's a big change. And
19:47
Speaker 3: I mean you've mentioned before that like the thing you're
19:50
Speaker 3: struggling with is capitalism and consumerism, Like what made you
19:54
Speaker 3: want to move to Australia?
19:56
Speaker 4: So I lived in a very small town back home,
20:00
Speaker 4: and I felt like the life there is just so
20:04
Speaker 4: slow that I feel like I'm rotting away. And I thought, oh,
20:10
Speaker 4: might as well go to Australia and you know, lives
20:13
Speaker 4: with my sister because she's already here. Yeah. I never
20:16
Speaker 4: really internalized, yeah, that the lifestyle and how people here
20:24
Speaker 4: sort of tackle money is very different than how it
20:28
Speaker 4: is back home.
20:29
Speaker 2: I love that.
20:30
Speaker 3: So now I guess when you mentioned, you know, it's
20:34
Speaker 3: much harder because it's obviously a more capitalist and consumerist society, right,
20:39
Speaker 3: Like it's everywhere. It's social media, it's the billboards that
20:43
Speaker 3: you see on the train on the way to work.
20:44
Speaker 3: It's in your face here, and it's obviously very different
20:47
Speaker 3: in the Philippines. Is that something that you know you're
20:51
Speaker 3: finding you're spending a lot more or being you know,
20:53
Speaker 3: sucked into consumerism or like what does that actually mean
20:57
Speaker 3: for you?
20:58
Speaker 4: I try so hard not to get hung up on
21:01
Speaker 4: the things that are being presented in front of me,
21:04
Speaker 4: especially like I'm a big sucker for like facials and
21:10
Speaker 4: you know, things to make me feel better like massage
21:15
Speaker 4: and many petties.
21:17
Speaker 2: But I really really.
21:19
Speaker 4: Try so hard to say, Nope, you don't need to
21:22
Speaker 4: spend two hundred and fifty dollars on a facial.
21:25
Speaker 2: It's a lot of money, hey.
21:27
Speaker 4: It is. And that really shocked me to my core,
21:31
Speaker 4: like my whole being could not comprehend how something that
21:38
Speaker 4: I used to take for granted, that I used to
21:41
Speaker 4: be able to get back home for like maybe so
21:44
Speaker 4: and so amount of dollars equivalent in Australia costs this
21:49
Speaker 4: much in reality here in this society, in this type
21:54
Speaker 4: of economy. So that was very hard for me to
21:59
Speaker 4: not comprehend but sort of wrap my head around.
22:02
Speaker 1: Yeah.
22:03
Speaker 4: And now I've gone on for maybe like four years
22:07
Speaker 4: without a proper facial from an esthetition, because I just
22:10
Speaker 4: do it myself.
22:11
Speaker 3: Yeah, it's a lot of money. I can't comprehend it.
22:15
Speaker 3: Don't worry, I totally get it. Facial as an investment,
22:19
Speaker 3: So tell me a bit more. Do you have any investments?
22:21
Speaker 3: If so, what are they?
22:23
Speaker 4: So I did go on to share these last December.
22:27
Speaker 2: Oh check you out. What a good choice.
22:30
Speaker 4: Yeah, So I did only make a small investment because
22:34
Speaker 4: I'm still trying to suss out what I would like
22:37
Speaker 4: to invest on.
22:38
Speaker 2: I have my super.
22:40
Speaker 4: Yeah, so I also changed my super into a high
22:43
Speaker 4: growth option. I think. I listened to one of the
22:47
Speaker 4: podcasts and I was like, hang on, I didn't know
22:50
Speaker 4: about that.
22:51
Speaker 2: You hadn't checked it.
22:52
Speaker 4: Yeah, fair enough, I could change it, and then I
22:57
Speaker 4: think it's looking better, especially the last month that I've
23:02
Speaker 4: changed it since then.
23:03
Speaker 2: Very good. And in addition to investments, do you have
23:07
Speaker 2: any debts? If so, what are they?
23:10
Speaker 4: I still have nine seven hundred dollars owing on my
23:15
Speaker 4: car because I had to purchase a car last year
23:18
Speaker 4: for work, and I'm solely paying that off, so I'm
23:22
Speaker 4: on track to pay that off by end of this year.
23:25
Speaker 4: Very good, which is a year earlier that the long term.
23:30
Speaker 2: That's very good.
23:31
Speaker 4: Yeah, I think so too, any other debts.
23:34
Speaker 3: When you get out of debt the second you paid
23:36
Speaker 3: off it is the most exciting thing ever to just
23:39
Speaker 3: feel that weight off your shoulders. And no, you don't
23:41
Speaker 3: owe anybody anything.
23:42
Speaker 4: I feel like I'd be really really happy once I
23:44
Speaker 4: see that money go down to zero.
23:47
Speaker 3: You'll have to message me when it happens, because I'll
23:49
Speaker 3: celebrate too. I feel like you've learned a lot like
23:53
Speaker 3: you've had obviously a very different upbringing to what a
23:57
Speaker 3: lot of our listeners are going to have had, But
24:00
Speaker 3: I do think it's relatively relatable having you know, religious
24:04
Speaker 3: parents that have their beliefs that overshadow money, and then,
24:07
Speaker 3: you know, make it quite complex for you to learn
24:09
Speaker 3: about money because it's like not just the concept of money,
24:14
Speaker 3: but this idea of greed and guilt I think plays
24:17
Speaker 3: into a lot of you know, what you do and
24:19
Speaker 3: the decisions that you make, and feeling like, oh, I'm
24:21
Speaker 3: making the right decision. Is this greedy of me? Because
24:24
Speaker 3: you don't want to feel that way. But also I
24:26
Speaker 3: think it's important to put you first. What do you
24:29
Speaker 3: think now is your best money habit?
24:31
Speaker 4: I think my best money habit because of the whole
24:37
Speaker 4: typing thing, I am able to like segregate my money
24:44
Speaker 4: into small baskets. Hmm. Okay, So I'm going to pay
24:47
Speaker 4: a tythe first, and then I'll separate the money for
24:50
Speaker 4: my car repayment, and then some money into a savings
24:55
Speaker 4: account for a holiday next year, things like that, and
25:00
Speaker 4: then the rest is my disposable income. Sometimes it doesn't
25:06
Speaker 4: even get disposed ye, So sometimes I add more to
25:11
Speaker 4: my savings and pay more into my car repayment. But
25:17
Speaker 4: I have one money habit that I feel like is
25:20
Speaker 4: also my worst money habit.
25:24
Speaker 2: What is it?
25:25
Speaker 4: So I can pretty much convince myself that I don't
25:27
Speaker 4: have money for things, Like I can go on to
25:32
Speaker 4: the Iconic and put things in the cord and then
25:35
Speaker 4: just say you don't have money for that, and then
25:39
Speaker 4: just remove everything from the cord and close the app
25:42
Speaker 4: and forget about it.
25:44
Speaker 3: That's a good money habit, not a bad money habit.
25:46
Speaker 3: I wish that every time I logged into the Iconic,
25:49
Speaker 3: I could fill up my card and then get rid
25:51
Speaker 3: of it instead of pressing checkout, because all I do
25:54
Speaker 3: is press check app.
25:55
Speaker 4: Yeah, but that money habit, I think puts me in
25:59
Speaker 4: a psycho a of the privation and binging.
26:02
Speaker 2: Yeah that's fair.
26:03
Speaker 4: For years I was broke in Australia and I'm always like, no,
26:08
Speaker 4: you don't have money to buy clothes. But also at
26:12
Speaker 4: the same time, I think it allows me to live
26:14
Speaker 4: within my means, like way better than I would expect.
26:20
Speaker 4: So it really allows me to put things into perspective
26:23
Speaker 4: and really figure out which things are the ones that
26:27
Speaker 4: I really need and the ones that will give me
26:30
Speaker 4: more value for money.
26:32
Speaker 2: Yeah that's fair.
26:32
Speaker 4: So sometimes I don't really purchase things like just because
26:36
Speaker 4: they're cheap or oh I like it and it's only
26:38
Speaker 4: like fifty bucks. But then how long is that going
26:42
Speaker 4: to last? You? You know, it could be a pair
26:44
Speaker 4: of shoes and then get broken by the time I
26:48
Speaker 4: wear it the fifth time.
26:49
Speaker 3: Yeah, So it's all about like thinking about where you're
26:52
Speaker 3: at now, not what you were, Like, do you think
26:56
Speaker 3: with your tie thing? Obviously I know you're still putting
26:59
Speaker 3: that aside, but do you think that you will continue
27:01
Speaker 3: to type or do you think that the times are
27:03
Speaker 3: changing and you're like, actually, this could be a little
27:07
Speaker 3: bit more powerful over here.
27:09
Speaker 4: Like I said before, I put it in a savings account,
27:12
Speaker 4: but I don't give it to the Sydney church. I
27:16
Speaker 4: don't plan on giving it to an Australian church because I.
27:19
Speaker 2: Feel right they have enough.
27:22
Speaker 4: Yeah, so I feel like I would be better off
27:25
Speaker 4: if I send it back home, and it would really
27:27
Speaker 4: really help the community's back home where they can spend
27:32
Speaker 4: the money into possibly building a church and you know,
27:37
Speaker 4: helping the people in need, rather than here where it's
27:42
Speaker 4: people who earn hundreds of thousands of dollars in a year.
27:47
Speaker 2: And it just doesn't make sense, doesn't Yeah, it doesn't.
27:51
Speaker 4: Like that's why the types are sitting in a savings account.
27:55
Speaker 3: But I agree with that fully and I feel like
27:58
Speaker 3: in economy's life the Philippines, when it comes to tything
28:03
Speaker 3: and giving to a church, it does get used more
28:06
Speaker 3: often on the local community, whereas I don't see the
28:10
Speaker 3: same thing happening in Australia. And I mean a lot
28:12
Speaker 3: of people will probably argue with me, I'm honestly not
28:15
Speaker 3: interested in the conversation with being brutal, but like they'll
28:19
Speaker 3: say no, no, no, it goes back into the community, and
28:21
Speaker 3: I'll be like, yes, but not in the same way.
28:23
Speaker 3: Like people in the Philippines genuinely are struggling a lot
28:27
Speaker 3: more than they are in Australia when it comes to
28:30
Speaker 3: basic needs.
28:30
Speaker 2: And I know that a lot of the church is
28:32
Speaker 2: over there.
28:33
Speaker 3: They're building shelters, they're building churches, they're building you know,
28:37
Speaker 3: access to clean water, they're building sewage systems, And I
28:41
Speaker 3: just think that that makes to me a lot more
28:43
Speaker 3: sense than tithing to you know, big church in Sydney,
28:47
Speaker 3: who will you know, give back to the community.
28:49
Speaker 2: But they've got a barbecue on a Sunday after church, and.
28:51
Speaker 3: I just go that's probably not you know where I
28:54
Speaker 3: would want my money working hard, right, like, if I'm
28:57
Speaker 3: still going to do this. Yeah, so we've spoken, Abe,
29:01
Speaker 3: this has been very eye opening. I have loved our conversation.
29:04
Speaker 3: But at the start of the conversation you said, I
29:06
Speaker 3: think I'm a C minus with money, but it turns
29:09
Speaker 3: out you're actually pretty good at money. Like you're, you know,
29:12
Speaker 3: good at making sure that you have your little baskets
29:15
Speaker 3: of money and where things go and what they look like.
29:18
Speaker 3: I think you're very aware of your spending and you
29:20
Speaker 3: earn really good money. But what would it take to
29:23
Speaker 3: get you from a C minus to an A?
29:26
Speaker 2: What changes would you need to be making.
29:28
Speaker 4: I feel like I really need to up my investment game,
29:33
Speaker 4: like really teach myself how to be patient in terms
29:39
Speaker 4: of seeing that growth, make sure that I don't touch
29:43
Speaker 4: that money for the years to come, and really make
29:47
Speaker 4: smart decisions on what types of investments, the ones that
29:51
Speaker 4: will give me, so to speak, more bang for my buck. Yeah.
29:57
Speaker 4: So I think that's what would really get me to
30:01
Speaker 4: A because I feel like that's the only thing missing
30:06
Speaker 4: in this whole puzzle piece.
30:08
Speaker 3: Yeah, I feel like that's a pretty achievable thing to
30:12
Speaker 3: do though. Yeah, it's not like Oh, I'm a CS
30:14
Speaker 3: and I'm gonna have to look on my budget and
30:16
Speaker 3: cash flow. I need to earn more, I need to
30:18
Speaker 3: get out heaps of consumer debt.
30:20
Speaker 2: Like that's a very easy change with education.
30:23
Speaker 3: So that makes me really excited that you're able to
30:26
Speaker 3: achieve that pretty quickly.
30:27
Speaker 4: I think, yeah, I hope so too, because you know,
30:31
Speaker 4: it's good to have the things that you're one achieve.
30:35
Speaker 2: I agree so much. I wish we had more time
30:37
Speaker 2: to talk and more time to go through this.
30:39
Speaker 3: I have many a question about cults and religious upbringings.
30:44
Speaker 3: I feel like that topic is always really spicy, but
30:47
Speaker 3: money direct it has been a pleasure getting to know you.
30:50
Speaker 2: Thank you for being so open and honest. I feel
30:52
Speaker 2: like lots of people are gonna listen to this and
30:54
Speaker 2: be like, wow, that's so interesting. That's so different to
30:57
Speaker 2: the way that I've grown up.
30:58
Speaker 3: And I think my favorite thing about money diaries is
31:01
Speaker 3: that you get to learn through other people's experiences, and
31:04
Speaker 3: for me, that's the best way to learn. Like, I
31:07
Speaker 3: don't want to just sit down and read books about finance.
31:09
Speaker 3: I want to know how you know. A money direst
31:12
Speaker 3: from Sydney who moved from the Philippines managers money and
31:15
Speaker 3: you know, changes her life, and I think that is
31:17
Speaker 3: just so cool that we get to share those stories
31:19
Speaker 3: every day. So Money Dost, I'm really grateful. Thank you
31:22
Speaker 3: for joining me.
31:23
Speaker 4: Thank you.
31:30
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31:33
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31:37
Speaker 3: on the Money exists purely for educational purposes and should
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