Latest / She's On The Money / MONEY DIARY: A Force To Be Reckoned With
Transcript
- 0:00Speaker 1: Hello, my name's Santasha Nabananga Bamblet. I'm a proud yr
- 0:04Speaker 1: the Order Kerni Whoalbury and a waddery woman. And before
- 0:08Speaker 1: we get started on She's on the Money podcast, I
- 0:11Speaker 1: would like to acknowledge the traditional custodians of the land
- 0:14Speaker 1: of which this podcast is recorded on a wondery country,
- 0:18Speaker 1: acknowledging the elders, the ancestors and the next generation coming
- 0:22Speaker 1: through as this podcast is about connecting, empowering, knowledge sharing
- 0:27Speaker 1: and the storytelling of you to make a difference for
- 0:30Speaker 1: today and lasting impact for tomorrow.
- 0:33Speaker 2: Let's get into it.
- 0:34Speaker 3: She's on the Money, She's on the Money.
- 0:57Speaker 2: Hello, and welcome to She's on the Mune, the podcast
- 1:00Speaker 2: for millennials who want a financial freedom. Welcome back to
- 1:04Speaker 2: another one of our money diaries where we get to
- 1:06Speaker 2: talk with one of our beautiful She's on the Money
- 1:09Speaker 2: community members all about their journey. Before we jump into
- 1:13Speaker 2: this episode, I just want to give you a little
- 1:14Speaker 2: bit of a content warning. Today we are going to
- 1:16Speaker 2: be discussing sexual assault and abuse. So if that is
- 1:19Speaker 2: a topic that you don't want to dive into today,
- 1:22Speaker 2: we have a million more episodes that you could dive
- 1:24Speaker 2: into right now, So feel free to run away, but
- 1:27Speaker 2: if you're going to stay, let's jump straight into it.
- 1:31Speaker 2: We got a message this week and it went like this,
- 1:35Speaker 2: Hi Victoria. Growing up, my dad made lots of bad
- 1:38Speaker 2: money decisions and got our family into debt. Then my
- 1:42Speaker 2: brother passed away and my father left my mum when
- 1:45Speaker 2: I was five years old. All of a sudden, Mom
- 1:48Speaker 2: had to juggle work, study, and raising my sister and
- 1:51Speaker 2: I on her own. She'd always encouraged us to connect
- 1:54Speaker 2: with our feelings, depend on each other, and it is
- 1:56Speaker 2: a model of stepping up and doing whatever it takes.
- 2:00Speaker 2: Due to an assault, I was unable to finish year twelve,
- 2:03Speaker 2: and I've recently left an abusive relationship that was also
- 2:07Speaker 2: financially abusive. Last year, I was scammed out of my
- 2:11Speaker 2: savings for my first car. But now I'm debt free,
- 2:14Speaker 2: have paid off my first car. I work full time,
- 2:17Speaker 2: have a side hustle, and I'm looking to study soon.
- 2:20Speaker 2: I've learned so much from She's on the Money, and
- 2:23Speaker 2: I cannot wait to share my story Money Diarist, How
- 2:27Speaker 2: is it that you've gone through all of this and
- 2:29Speaker 2: you're only twenty two years old.
- 2:31Speaker 3: It's definitely been a journey. I guess.
- 2:36Speaker 2: Oh my gosh, I'm so proud of you. I feel
- 2:38Speaker 2: like there's such a pivot in that story of this
- 2:41Speaker 2: just you know, reading it, I go far out. This
- 2:44Speaker 2: woman has been through so much, and then it's just like, oh,
- 2:47Speaker 2: and I also paid this off and I work full time,
- 2:50Speaker 2: and guess what, I have a side like, I'm just
- 2:51Speaker 2: so proud of you already and I haven't even heard
- 2:53Speaker 2: the whole story.
- 2:55Speaker 3: Ah, thank you. Last year was definitely a turning point
- 2:59Speaker 3: where I saw put the armor on and I was like, no,
- 3:02Speaker 3: We're gonna try and go in a different direction this year.
- 3:06Speaker 2: Oh my gosh, No, I love this for you. Congratulations.
- 3:09Speaker 2: All right, Well, let's dive straight in. The First question
- 3:12Speaker 2: I want to ask is what grade would you give
- 3:14Speaker 2: your money habits? If I asked you to give yourself
- 3:16Speaker 2: a grade from A through.
- 3:17Speaker 3: To S, Probably like a C plus.
- 3:22Speaker 2: I think a C plus. Yeah, all right, let's start there.
- 3:25Speaker 2: But my favorite question of the entire episode, I want
- 3:29Speaker 2: to know, can you tell me a little bit more
- 3:30Speaker 2: about your money story?
- 3:32Speaker 3: So it was off to a rocky start as a
- 3:35Speaker 3: kid with dad leaving mum. I was brought up in
- 3:40Speaker 3: these two opposite worlds where with Dad money was always
- 3:46Speaker 3: tight and there was always this anxiety around money. But
- 3:52Speaker 3: on the other hand, he would leave this really luxurious
- 3:55Speaker 3: life and go to the market and spend hundreds of
- 3:58Speaker 3: dollars on food, by expensive clothes. So it just didn't
- 4:03Speaker 3: make sense to me, even as a six or seven
- 4:06Speaker 3: year old, if money's so tight, why are you spending
- 4:11Speaker 3: Why are you living like this? And it also made
- 4:14Speaker 3: me feel really guilty about what I cost as a child.
- 4:20Speaker 3: My education must cost a lot, and my school uniforms
- 4:24Speaker 3: must just be putting Dad under so much pressure. Even
- 4:28Speaker 3: as an eight year old, I was thinking that. But
- 4:31Speaker 3: then with mum, obviously Dad took a majority of the
- 4:35Speaker 3: family money and the business and everything, so Mum had
- 4:40Speaker 3: to figure out how to work after ten years being
- 4:44Speaker 3: a stay at home mum, how to manage a family home.
- 4:48Speaker 3: And even though I thought things were tired at mums,
- 4:53Speaker 3: she never made us feel guilty for that.
- 4:56Speaker 2: I feel like that's a really challenging place for an
- 4:59Speaker 2: eight year old to be, Like, an eight year old
- 5:00Speaker 2: shouldn't be worried about money in that way. Like I
- 5:04Speaker 2: think there's educating your kids on money, but then there's
- 5:07Speaker 2: also that guilt associated and that shouldn't have been the
- 5:10Speaker 2: case for you. Like that breaks my heart that you
- 5:13Speaker 2: know you're going to school and you're like, oh my gosh,
- 5:15Speaker 2: is my uniform putting my dad under pressure? Like that
- 5:19Speaker 2: that's just a burden that an eight year old shouldn't
- 5:22Speaker 2: have to carry. Do you feel like that has extended
- 5:25Speaker 2: into your adult life? Like, do you feel like those
- 5:28Speaker 2: things maybe why you want to be so fiercely independent?
- 5:32Speaker 3: Absolutely. I just think now thinking back, it's crazy that
- 5:38Speaker 3: an eight year old would be so hyper aware of
- 5:42Speaker 3: how much things cost and feeling guilty about just the
- 5:48Speaker 3: general cost of me being alive. And I think also
- 5:53Speaker 3: being in a really anxious state around money with dad
- 5:57Speaker 3: has caused me to be quite anxious and panicked with finances.
- 6:02Speaker 2: Yeah. Absolutely, all right. I want to ask, and I
- 6:05Speaker 2: hope that I'm not overstepping here, but in your letter
- 6:08Speaker 2: you said my brother passed away. Can you tell me
- 6:10Speaker 2: a little bit about your brother? Yeah?
- 6:12Speaker 3: So he was born the first of us three children
- 6:17Speaker 3: back in nineteen ninety two, and he was born severely
- 6:22Speaker 3: disabled and had epilepsy. So I can't even imagine what
- 6:27Speaker 3: that would have been like for mom and dad. My brother,
- 6:30Speaker 3: being the first child born, but also in the nineties
- 6:34Speaker 3: where no one really knew what was wrong with him
- 6:38Speaker 3: and there wasn't like the disability support pension. Mum just
- 6:42Speaker 3: had to go through so much red tape to get
- 6:45Speaker 3: a ramp to the front door so she could get
- 6:48Speaker 3: her son in. And then he passed away when he
- 6:52Speaker 3: was four, so still before I was born, and just yeah,
- 6:56Speaker 3: I just can't imagine what my parents went through with that.
- 7:00Speaker 3: But even though he passed away before I was in
- 7:05Speaker 3: the family, Mom still was adamant that you know, he's
- 7:10Speaker 3: your brother, he's a part of this family. It doesn't
- 7:13Speaker 3: matter that you never met him, You're still really close
- 7:17Speaker 3: and you're a part of this family too.
- 7:19Speaker 2: Oh my gosh, that makes my heart so full to
- 7:22Speaker 2: know that he wasn't forgotten. I don't know, I just
- 7:25Speaker 2: feel like sometimes that that can be a trauma that
- 7:28Speaker 2: people go through that they'd prefer not to talk about.
- 7:31Speaker 2: But bringing him back into the family, I mean, he
- 7:33Speaker 2: would have been thirty. Now, that's wild to think about that.
- 7:37Speaker 2: You know, for thirty years, you guys have known your brother,
- 7:40Speaker 2: and I just I think that's so wildly special to
- 7:44Speaker 2: be able to still honor that do you still celebrate
- 7:46Speaker 2: him day to day? Like do you celebrate his birthday?
- 7:49Speaker 2: Or like what do you guys get up to?
- 7:51Speaker 3: Absolutely so, we He would have turned thirty last December,
- 7:56Speaker 3: and obviously we were Mum especially was really upset and
- 8:01Speaker 3: it was a difficult time, but we gathered as a
- 8:04Speaker 3: family and we shared the burden and not even being
- 8:09Speaker 3: upset that he passed away, obviously, but celebrating his memory
- 8:15Speaker 3: still living on. And when I have kids, they're going
- 8:18Speaker 3: to know that they have an uncle and he's still
- 8:23Speaker 3: a part of the family and they still have that
- 8:25Speaker 3: connection to him.
- 8:26Speaker 2: That makes my heart so happy. I'm so glad to
- 8:29Speaker 2: hear that. And I think that it's one of those
- 8:31Speaker 2: things where often people will say things in passing, or
- 8:34Speaker 2: maybe not often, and I hope it's not often that
- 8:37Speaker 2: people talk about siblings or family members that have passed away.
- 8:40Speaker 2: But I just think it's so important that we ask
- 8:43Speaker 2: and instead of just glossing over it, Oh, wow, your
- 8:45Speaker 2: brother passed away. I guess that's a trauma we shouldn't uncover.
- 8:48Speaker 2: But just like, who were they, how old were they?
- 8:50Speaker 2: What was their name? Like do we still celebrate them?
- 8:52Speaker 2: What does that look? I think it's just so important
- 8:55Speaker 2: to also help their memory still live on, Like your
- 8:59Speaker 2: face life's up when you talk about him and you've
- 9:01Speaker 2: never even met him. Like that makes me just so
- 9:03Speaker 2: happy to know that that's part of your journey. But
- 9:07Speaker 2: I guess to bring it back to what we're talking about,
- 9:10Speaker 2: do you think that that then played into maybe some
- 9:13Speaker 2: of the bad money decisions that your dad might have
- 9:16Speaker 2: been making.
- 9:16Speaker 3: It's hard because he wasn't the best parent, but I
- 9:19Speaker 3: still feel.
- 9:21Speaker 2: He's still your dad.
- 9:22Speaker 3: Yeah, Like I still love him, and I can understand
- 9:27Speaker 3: why he did certain things or the behaviors he continues
- 9:32Speaker 3: to do.
- 9:33Speaker 1: So.
- 9:35Speaker 3: I think having that firstborn son and not being able
- 9:38Speaker 3: to like go out and kick the footy or like
- 9:40Speaker 3: do typical dad and son things, it really got to him.
- 9:45Speaker 2: I feel like that would get to anybody. So then
- 9:48Speaker 2: growing up, obviously your mum juggled work and study and
- 9:51Speaker 2: raising your sister. Tell me a bit about your mum.
- 9:54Speaker 2: I want to know how she managed that. I feel
- 9:56Speaker 2: like single parents do not get the credit that they deserve.
- 10:00Speaker 2: How did that, then, I guess impact you now as
- 10:03Speaker 2: an adult.
- 10:04Speaker 3: My mum is a boss. She's like my biggest fan,
- 10:09Speaker 3: my biggest support, and I look back on what she
- 10:12Speaker 3: did and I'm just in awe. She had no financial
- 10:17Speaker 3: education and hadn't worked for so many years, and all
- 10:22Speaker 3: of a sudden, she's got two kids that are fully
- 10:25Speaker 3: dependent on her, and she's lost a child as well,
- 10:30Speaker 3: lost a family, and she's gone out there, went to
- 10:35Speaker 3: tape and got a degree, she started working, and all
- 10:40Speaker 3: the while supporting us through study and like with you know,
- 10:45Speaker 3: having two girls going through puberty is such a difficult
- 10:49Speaker 3: situation by itself, let alone having all those extra vulnerabilities
- 10:54Speaker 3: behind her. But she just she always encouraged us to
- 10:59Speaker 3: feel our emotions and connect with each other. Nothing's too
- 11:04Speaker 3: big that we can't solve. And so I think I've
- 11:08Speaker 3: taken that from her. When things are really really shit
- 11:12Speaker 3: and really low, let's feel it.
- 11:16Speaker 2: Let's just sit.
- 11:17Speaker 3: With it, and then what are we going to do
- 11:19Speaker 3: about it? How can we solve this?
- 11:22Speaker 2: I love that. I feel like that's really good advice.
- 11:25Speaker 2: I want to know more about you, though, so talk
- 11:27Speaker 2: to me. What do you do for work? How much
- 11:29Speaker 2: money do you earn?
- 11:30Speaker 3: So I work in the justice system, in the domestic
- 11:34Speaker 3: violence unit, and I earn well one thousand, seven hundred
- 11:41Speaker 3: and fifty eight dollars comes into my bank account every fortnight.
- 11:45Speaker 3: And then I also have a side hustle that brings
- 11:48Speaker 3: in three hundred and eighty dollars a month.
- 11:51Speaker 2: Ooh, what's your side hustle? How do you get into that?
- 11:55Speaker 3: So I just clean like people's houses around my neighborhood
- 11:59Speaker 3: a cuple times a fortnight.
- 12:01Speaker 2: I love that. I feel like that's such a good
- 12:03Speaker 2: side hustle. And is it a bit flexible given your
- 12:07Speaker 2: working and you know, busy doing life.
- 12:09Speaker 3: Yeah, it's so flexible, Like I come work weekends or
- 12:14Speaker 3: before work in the morning sometimes so and I really
- 12:17Speaker 3: like cleaning. It's so satisfying, so why not get paid
- 12:21Speaker 3: for it?
- 12:22Speaker 2: I do have a question, though, do you like cleaning
- 12:24Speaker 2: other people's places or just cleaning in general? Because I
- 12:27Speaker 2: feel like I remember going to friends places and being
- 12:30Speaker 2: happy to help them clean their room, but like there's
- 12:32Speaker 2: no chance I would do that at home. I like
- 12:34Speaker 2: cleaning my house.
- 12:35Speaker 3: It's the folding that I cannot stand in mind, Like
- 12:38Speaker 3: my laundry will just stay on my bed for like
- 12:41Speaker 3: three weeks.
- 12:42Speaker 2: Yeah, same same. I am clean, but I'm not tidy,
- 12:45Speaker 2: and I think there's a very big difference between those
- 12:48Speaker 2: two things that I'm happy to embrace it. But a
- 12:50Speaker 2: very clean person just not a tidy person. So are
- 12:52Speaker 2: my clothes everywhere? Yes? But is my shower sparkling at
- 12:56Speaker 2: all times? Absolutely? It is because I have an obsession
- 13:00Speaker 2: with domestos. But we can talk about that at another stage. Money, darist,
- 13:05Speaker 2: I want to know a bit more about this career
- 13:07Speaker 2: of yours because you said earlier that due to an assault,
- 13:10Speaker 2: you were unable to finish year twelve. But it sounds
- 13:12Speaker 2: like you've got a pretty cool job. So can you
- 13:14Speaker 2: tell me a little bit more. I guess about not
- 13:17Speaker 2: finishing year twelve and then finding yourself in the role
- 13:20Speaker 2: that you're in, because that sounds like a pretty special job.
- 13:23Speaker 3: Yeah. So it's a lot of things have happened since
- 13:26Speaker 3: I left year twelve. I was quite studious, and I
- 13:30Speaker 3: loved learning, and I had big plans to go to
- 13:34Speaker 3: university and save the world. But towards the start of
- 13:38Speaker 3: year twelve, I had my drink spiked and I was
- 13:44Speaker 3: sexually assaulted. And I knew that if I tried to
- 13:49Speaker 3: stay at school and put up the mask, that I
- 13:55Speaker 3: wasn't going to make it in school or in life
- 13:59Speaker 3: in general. I had to make a really difficult decision
- 14:03Speaker 3: with my mum and my sister helping me, but I
- 14:06Speaker 3: had to choose to leave you twelve to basically take
- 14:11Speaker 3: care of myself and get through this horrendous experience that
- 14:16Speaker 3: just it just turned my whole view of the world
- 14:21Speaker 3: and trust in the world and in people. It just
- 14:24Speaker 3: turned it on its head, and I really needed to
- 14:28Speaker 3: process that before I could study and work towards that career.
- 14:34Speaker 2: How are you so strong? Because the way you've just
- 14:39Speaker 2: articulated that has made me want to burst into tears
- 14:43Speaker 2: and hug you at the same time as knowing that
- 14:45Speaker 2: you are fiercely independent and really articulate, and you work
- 14:50Speaker 2: in this area where you're dealing with, you know, family violence,
- 14:54Speaker 2: having gone through a traumatic event yourself, Like, how have
- 14:58Speaker 2: you come out the other side? Because I think sometimes
- 15:01Speaker 2: people go through these things and they just really can't
- 15:04Speaker 2: see the light at the end of the tunnel. How
- 15:06Speaker 2: are you doing?
- 15:08Speaker 3: I guess it's coming up to the four year anniversary.
- 15:12Speaker 3: I guess you'd call it that. It's been a few years,
- 15:15Speaker 3: but I've definitely been stuck in the deepest of pits,
- 15:21Speaker 3: and sometimes all you need to do is sit with
- 15:25Speaker 3: it with people you love, and just give it the
- 15:28Speaker 3: time and the space that it deserves. I've seen a
- 15:31Speaker 3: therapist every week for about three years, so I'm the
- 15:35Speaker 3: biggest advocate for mental health help and support.
- 15:40Speaker 2: And I guess my mom, your mom sounds like a
- 15:42Speaker 2: bloody legend.
- 15:44Speaker 3: She is Like every time I'd cry or have a
- 15:49Speaker 3: nightmare or have a flashback, she was there and she
- 15:52Speaker 3: never squished my feelings or invalidated me. And she always
- 15:59Speaker 3: trust that I knew what I needed. Like I didn't
- 16:03Speaker 3: go to the police and I didn't want to and
- 16:05Speaker 3: I still haven't. And even though that was hard for
- 16:08Speaker 3: her because she wanted to bring these people to justice,
- 16:12Speaker 3: absolutely that was something that I decided I didn't want
- 16:17Speaker 3: and she one hundred percent respected that.
- 16:20Speaker 2: I love that because I feel like so often people
- 16:24Speaker 2: just jump to wanding to I guess have a bit
- 16:28Speaker 2: of a savior mentality, like I really want to save you,
- 16:31Speaker 2: and the best thing in the entire world is for
- 16:33Speaker 2: me to go to the police. And I know that
- 16:36Speaker 2: that can be you know, it's the right thing, right
- 16:39Speaker 2: And as somebody who has not gone through that, I
- 16:42Speaker 2: you know, can sit here and say, oh my gosh,
- 16:44Speaker 2: I would absolutely go to the police, but you never
- 16:46Speaker 2: know until you're in that circumstance, and that can be
- 16:49Speaker 2: a trauma in itself, like that can be reliving it,
- 16:53Speaker 2: but not only reliving it, but having it dragged out
- 16:55Speaker 2: and having it criticized and analyzed and drawn through the courts.
- 16:59Speaker 2: And it's actually okay to say no, I don't want
- 17:03Speaker 2: to go down that process and sit with that. And
- 17:06Speaker 2: I also don't think that it is anybody else's responsibility
- 17:11Speaker 2: to follow that up, Like you don't have a responsibility
- 17:13Speaker 2: to do that, and I think a lot of people
- 17:15Speaker 2: feel that, and you just don't. So I'm just so
- 17:18Speaker 2: proud of you having gone through all of that and
- 17:21Speaker 2: far out. You've got your head screwed on and you
- 17:23Speaker 2: dropped out of year twelve, Like what how good is that?
- 17:27Speaker 2: So talk to me? What's next? Like what are you
- 17:29Speaker 2: going to study? Like where's life going? What do you
- 17:31Speaker 2: want to do? I'm obsessed with you.
- 17:35Speaker 3: I think I want to work in supporting domestic violence survivors.
- 17:41Speaker 3: I think that sexual assault was a big part of
- 17:44Speaker 3: my story, but I also I think a flow on
- 17:46Speaker 3: from that was just not feeling worthy, not feeling confident,
- 17:52Speaker 3: or like there's something inherently wrong with me for that
- 17:55Speaker 3: to have happened, and that landed me in like an
- 17:59Speaker 3: abusive relationship which I got out of last year, and
- 18:05Speaker 3: he bled me dry with my savings and totally just
- 18:12Speaker 3: got in my head like a parasite and cracked my
- 18:16Speaker 3: sense of reality and my confidence and trust in myself.
- 18:23Speaker 3: So I think now I'm just working on rebuilding the
- 18:29Speaker 3: fact that I can save money and I don't need
- 18:31Speaker 3: to feel guilty and it's not selfish, and really trying
- 18:36Speaker 3: to protect the money that I've worked really hard for
- 18:41Speaker 3: rather than just trying to save like a bit of
- 18:44Speaker 3: that savior complex with that guy that I was seeing,
- 18:48Speaker 3: and so just really trying to build my self confidence
- 18:51Speaker 3: up and the fact that I'm independent, this is me,
- 18:55Speaker 3: and I'm working on financial freedom for myself, not for
- 19:00Speaker 3: a partner, which I think is excellent as well, But
- 19:03Speaker 3: this is just me, and I am worth the work
- 19:07Speaker 3: that I put in for the money and also the
- 19:09Speaker 3: work I put in to save that money.
- 19:11Speaker 2: One hundred percent. You are far out, Brussel Sprout. You
- 19:15Speaker 2: are making me so insanely proud of you, Like I
- 19:18Speaker 2: just I'm in awe, Like it's so impressive to see
- 19:23Speaker 2: at twenty two, you just you are wise beyond your
- 19:26Speaker 2: years with mentality and mindset and the way that you're
- 19:29Speaker 2: approaching this. And I think that I wish everybody could
- 19:32Speaker 2: approach a situation like this, and your advice of like,
- 19:35Speaker 2: sometimes you just have to sit with it is so
- 19:38Speaker 2: relevant and so valid, especially right now, because I feel
- 19:41Speaker 2: like so many people have gone through things or are
- 19:44Speaker 2: going through things, and like, regardless of what it is like,
- 19:48Speaker 2: being able to just sit with it is something that
- 19:50Speaker 2: is really uncomfortable, right, Like it's not something we actually
- 19:53Speaker 2: want to do, and it's not something that is first nature.
- 19:57Speaker 2: It's something that you actually have to learn, but it
- 19:59Speaker 2: can be such a really important part of your healing
- 20:03Speaker 2: and a part of getting through it. And obviously, and
- 20:06Speaker 2: I won't say you're okay, but you are getting through
- 20:09Speaker 2: it in the best possible way, and I can see
- 20:11Speaker 2: that you can see the light at the end of
- 20:13Speaker 2: the tunnel. How did you gain the courage after going
- 20:17Speaker 2: through all of that to be in a relationship and
- 20:20Speaker 2: going all right, well, this douchebag has bled me dry.
- 20:24Speaker 2: What was the decision making process around going into what
- 20:27Speaker 2: I'm out, Like, I'm leaving this relationship.
- 20:30Speaker 3: It was really hard because he had weaseled his way
- 20:34Speaker 3: into my head and isolated me from my family and friends,
- 20:41Speaker 3: which is really scary because I'd like to think I
- 20:43Speaker 3: have one of the closest relationships a mother and a
- 20:47Speaker 3: daughter can have, and he got in between that. And
- 20:52Speaker 3: I tried three times to leave, and I ended up
- 20:56Speaker 3: going back. But I just remember thinking, I don't know
- 21:01Speaker 3: if this is too honest, so please tell me. But
- 21:04Speaker 3: he asked me to take my Marina out because he
- 21:10Speaker 3: didn't like contraception and he thought it was like unnatural,
- 21:14Speaker 3: and I just remember thinking, oh, my god, can you
- 21:19Speaker 3: I was imagining myself as a mother and my children,
- 21:23Speaker 3: seeing like having him as a father and how that
- 21:27Speaker 3: would affect my kids, and just thinking, oh my gosh,
- 21:30Speaker 3: I cannot bring kids into the world with this person.
- 21:33Speaker 3: And then that sort of just it was like a
- 21:37Speaker 3: sheep being taken off my eyes, and I just looked
- 21:40Speaker 3: at every single thing or every behavior that I was
- 21:45Speaker 3: doing for him and realized that it was completely against
- 21:49Speaker 3: my values. It was delusional, and I just could not
- 21:56Speaker 3: live like this for another second. And I think, like
- 22:00Speaker 3: in domestic violence situations, it's so hard because they isolate
- 22:06Speaker 3: you and they make you think that you're going crazy
- 22:09Speaker 3: and that you can't trust yourself. And he would even
- 22:12Speaker 3: pick on the way I did the dishes or my posture,
- 22:15Speaker 3: and I just couldn't do anything right. And that moment
- 22:20Speaker 3: of thinking he wants to bring kids into the world
- 22:24Speaker 3: with me, that was just too confronting. Yeah.
- 22:29Speaker 2: Yeah, it's an interesting way of thinking about it, right,
- 22:33Speaker 2: And I think that this can be true for a
- 22:35Speaker 2: lot of people in relationships that are abusive, and maybe
- 22:38Speaker 2: they haven't realized that they're abusive, or maybe it's just
- 22:41Speaker 2: not the right person. Right. We are so and this
- 22:44Speaker 2: is so wrong, This is so so wrong, But we
- 22:46Speaker 2: are so willing to compromise ourselves and their own happiness
- 22:50Speaker 2: and our own safety and ourselves. But the second we
- 22:55Speaker 2: start thinking would I do that for my children, it's
- 22:59Speaker 2: a different story, right, Yeah, And I think that that
- 23:02Speaker 2: question can be and, as I said, confronting, because you go,
- 23:06Speaker 2: oh my gosh, that is absolutely not what I want
- 23:09Speaker 2: to do, like you know, and I mean there's a
- 23:11Speaker 2: whole overlay of him wanting you to take out your
- 23:13Speaker 2: marina like that is wildly messed up. But I guess
- 23:18Speaker 2: the part of this conversation we're talking about is would
- 23:21Speaker 2: you have children with this man? And would you be
- 23:24Speaker 2: happy for them to be their dad? And you go no.
- 23:26Speaker 2: And I think that the answer to that is the
- 23:29Speaker 2: answer to should you be in that relationship anymore? And
- 23:32Speaker 2: I think that that can be a good question to us,
- 23:35Speaker 2: because so many people justify relationships, right, like he's not
- 23:38Speaker 2: that bad, or he's really nice, or he's just going
- 23:40Speaker 2: through like we justify everything. But I think that can
- 23:43Speaker 2: be a question that a lot of people aren't ready
- 23:46Speaker 2: to know the answer to, right. But oh my gosh,
- 23:50Speaker 2: and I want to know how are you feeling now?
- 23:53Speaker 2: Because this is heavy, Like this is a lot to
- 23:56Speaker 2: have gone through, and like I now, I'm in my thirties, right,
- 24:01Speaker 2: And I think back to me being twenty two years
- 24:04Speaker 2: old and I'd just come out of a seven year
- 24:06Speaker 2: relationship and like it was an absolute mess. But I
- 24:09Speaker 2: look back and I go, I was such a baby,
- 24:11Speaker 2: and you're you're twenty two, Like to me, you are
- 24:15Speaker 2: so young and have so much ahead of you, but
- 24:17Speaker 2: have also lived so many lives. Are you okay? What
- 24:22Speaker 2: is going on with money? Diarist? Today?
- 24:26Speaker 3: Oh I feel like a fifty year old some days.
- 24:31Speaker 3: I guess every day is different and it's really hard
- 24:36Speaker 3: because you have to well, I felt like I had
- 24:39Speaker 3: to build myself up from nothing again. But then again,
- 24:45Speaker 3: I am so grateful and fortunate to have so many strong,
- 24:49Speaker 3: beautiful women. My mum again gets a shout out, like
- 24:52Speaker 3: she I.
- 24:53Speaker 2: Want to meet this woman. She sounds like an actual legend.
- 24:56Speaker 3: She is an actual legend. Yeah, I've really hurt her
- 25:00Speaker 3: when I chose my ex over her and I left,
- 25:04Speaker 3: and but the amazing woman took me back and she
- 25:10Speaker 3: you know, we had to mend that relationship. But I
- 25:14Speaker 3: got through that time because I have really beautiful, strong
- 25:18Speaker 3: people around me and there's just something I don't know,
- 25:22Speaker 3: something in me that it doesn't matter how bad it gets,
- 25:28Speaker 3: I just can't give up, Like I just have to
- 25:32Speaker 3: keep going.
- 25:33Speaker 2: I love that. I love that so much, and I
- 25:35Speaker 2: think that that's something I wish we all had, right, Like,
- 25:38Speaker 2: no matter how hard it gets, I keep going. Like
- 25:41Speaker 2: what an absolutely valuable personality trait you have. I feel
- 25:46Speaker 2: like so many of us are like, oh my gosh, no,
- 25:48Speaker 2: I just call into bed and I'm done.
- 25:51Speaker 3: Days like that.
- 25:51Speaker 2: Don't worry, I'm sorry for So let's go to a
- 25:54Speaker 2: really quick break and then after. I actually want a
- 25:56Speaker 2: deep dive a bit more into your money goals and
- 25:59Speaker 2: what your habits are and whether you invest, and what
- 26:02Speaker 2: the plans are for the future. So guys don't go anywhere,
- 26:10Speaker 2: all right, money Diarist, let's dive straight back in, maybe
- 26:14Speaker 2: a little lighter on this side of the episode. Though,
- 26:17Speaker 2: Money Diarist, you're killing it. You are earning. You said
- 26:20Speaker 2: seventeen hundred and fifty eight dollars per fortnite, which equates
- 26:23Speaker 2: to about fifty five thousand dollars a year, not taking
- 26:26Speaker 2: into consideration superannuation. And then you said you earned three
- 26:30Speaker 2: hundred and eighty dollars per fortnite is or per month?
- 26:34Speaker 2: Was it? I think it was per mon doing cleaning
- 26:36Speaker 2: because you're a little side hustler. I want to know
- 26:39Speaker 2: what are your big money goals, what are you working towards.
- 26:42Speaker 3: I think I really want to just have stability in
- 26:47Speaker 3: my finances and have the option of leaving a situation
- 26:53Speaker 3: or leaving a job or a relationship that I don't
- 26:56Speaker 3: want to be in anymore, and having that financial buffer
- 26:59Speaker 3: behind me. But I think the main money goal would
- 27:03Speaker 3: be to buy a bit of property and like start
- 27:07Speaker 3: my own garden and have my own house. That's the
- 27:11Speaker 3: main one. And I also want to go to Italy
- 27:13Speaker 3: with my mum next year.
- 27:14Speaker 2: Ah, a wholesome goal. I also I'm loving this. You're like,
- 27:18Speaker 2: I'm a fifty year old is what you said before
- 27:20Speaker 2: the break, And now you're like, I want to start
- 27:22Speaker 2: a garden and I want to go to Italy. I'm like, yep,
- 27:24Speaker 2: we are the same person. We are fifty year olds
- 27:27Speaker 2: trapped in younger bodies money diarrest. The next question I've
- 27:31Speaker 2: got for you, I want to know about investments. Are
- 27:33Speaker 2: you investing? If so, how I'm.
- 27:35Speaker 3: Not at the moment. I read about it and like,
- 27:40Speaker 3: I listened to the podcast, but I'm just I'm a
- 27:42Speaker 3: little bit scared to take the first step.
- 27:45Speaker 2: I feel like that is so relatable but also really normal,
- 27:50Speaker 2: Like you don't have to take that step until you're
- 27:52Speaker 2: absolutely ready to do it. And I think too many
- 27:54Speaker 2: times people I don't know, they take it too early
- 27:57Speaker 2: and then they run away from it and then they
- 27:59Speaker 2: bury their head the sand and don't pick it up
- 28:01Speaker 2: for a few more years. So I'd much prefer it
- 28:03Speaker 2: to take a little bit longer than fruit to be turbocharged.
- 28:07Speaker 2: So that is not the worst thing in the world.
- 28:10Speaker 2: The next question, I don't think you do, But do
- 28:12Speaker 2: you have any debts? If so, what are they?
- 28:14Speaker 3: No, I don't at the moment. I had a five
- 28:18Speaker 3: grand debt for my car, but I paid that off
- 28:22Speaker 3: within a couple months. And yeah, other than that, I'm
- 28:27Speaker 3: planning to study next year, so i'll have a hex
- 28:29Speaker 3: step then.
- 28:30Speaker 2: And you're planning on studying psychology. Is that right?
- 28:33Speaker 3: Psychology or social work? I'm still not sure which one.
- 28:37Speaker 2: Air pic l right. Next question I've got for you,
- 28:40Speaker 2: I want to know. I feel like your mum's taught
- 28:42Speaker 2: you a lot here. What is your best money habit?
- 28:47Speaker 3: I think I use an app on my phone called Spendy.
- 28:51Speaker 2: Ooh, I don't think I've heard of this one.
- 28:54Speaker 3: I love it like you can sort It's just tracking
- 28:57Speaker 3: all your spending and your income, and you can sort
- 29:00Speaker 3: it into categories and have different tags on them. So
- 29:05Speaker 3: if I want to know how much I've spent on gas,
- 29:09Speaker 3: boarder and electricity, I'll just go into that category and
- 29:11Speaker 3: see the spending in the last twelve months. So I
- 29:15Speaker 3: think even if I don't stick to my budget, I'll
- 29:19Speaker 3: still put every single dollar I spend in that app.
- 29:23Speaker 2: That's really powerful. Too many times, and I say this
- 29:26Speaker 2: all the time on the podcast. So many of us
- 29:28Speaker 2: are able to articulate how much comes into our account,
- 29:31Speaker 2: but we don't know what goes out, and being in
- 29:33Speaker 2: control of that is where financial freedom starts. So where
- 29:37Speaker 2: did this come from? Who gave you this recommendation of
- 29:39Speaker 2: this spending app or is there something you've just always done?
- 29:42Speaker 3: I think listening to Sheees on the Money and reading
- 29:45Speaker 3: your book on the cash flow, like, I had no
- 29:49Speaker 3: idea where all my money was going, and it just
- 29:53Speaker 3: all felt like a tornado and I was in the middle,
- 29:57Speaker 3: and so I thought, no, I'm going to just start
- 30:01Speaker 3: seeing where it's going. And then once we know what
- 30:04Speaker 3: we have, we know what we can work with and
- 30:07Speaker 3: what we can work towards.
- 30:09Speaker 2: I guess, love, how do you feel now you know
- 30:13Speaker 2: what you have and what you're working towards in comparison
- 30:15Speaker 2: to being in the middle of a tornado? So empowered?
- 30:19Speaker 2: I love it. That's exactly what we want to hear.
- 30:22Speaker 2: And I was definitely leading you down the garden path
- 30:24Speaker 2: to say that, let's flip this on its head though.
- 30:27Speaker 2: I want to know what is your worst money have it?
- 30:30Speaker 2: What are you not so good at I find it
- 30:32Speaker 2: really difficult to.
- 30:35Speaker 3: I don't know, because I had no money and quite
- 30:39Speaker 3: bad like behaviors and giving it away or just getting
- 30:42Speaker 3: rid of it. Now, I'll save like seventy five percent
- 30:48Speaker 3: of my paycheck and leave off like all my expenses
- 30:52Speaker 3: are really low, and I feel guilty if I like
- 30:56Speaker 3: buy myself a skirt for work or like go out
- 31:00Speaker 3: for a nice dinner. I think, yeah, like that guilt
- 31:03Speaker 3: around spending money and feeling like I'm doing what I
- 31:07Speaker 3: used to do. I think that's probably the worst money habit,
- 31:12Speaker 3: because I don't really feel that proud of myself for
- 31:16Speaker 3: the savings I do have. It's just like, oh, well,
- 31:18Speaker 3: you could have had more if you didn't do this, this,
- 31:21Speaker 3: and this those years ago.
- 31:23Speaker 2: No, that's so detrimental, and we say it all the
- 31:27Speaker 2: time when we're talking to diarists. I feel like, once
- 31:31Speaker 2: we start to become educated, one of the detrimental things
- 31:34Speaker 2: about education is that we want to overlay it over
- 31:37Speaker 2: our past. We want to look at the education that
- 31:40Speaker 2: we have today and go far out like I did
- 31:42Speaker 2: this wrong and this wrong and this wrong, whereas past
- 31:45Speaker 2: you she was just doing the best that she could
- 31:47Speaker 2: with the tools and resources she out at the time.
- 31:50Speaker 2: And it's nice to look back and go fire out,
- 31:52Speaker 2: I could have, but in reality you didn't and that's okay,
- 31:56Speaker 2: and we can't change that. And I think it's really
- 31:58Speaker 2: about acknowledging, Hey, we can't change the past. We can't,
- 32:01Speaker 2: you know, change what you would have saved for or
- 32:03Speaker 2: what education would have done for you back then. But
- 32:06Speaker 2: what we can do is reinvent our money story for
- 32:09Speaker 2: the future, and we can actually put ourselves in the
- 32:11Speaker 2: best possible position. And it's not constructive in any way,
- 32:15Speaker 2: shape or form to be saying things like that to ourselves,
- 32:18Speaker 2: because it just makes us feel like trash. Right, Like
- 32:20Speaker 2: when you do that, you're like, oh my gosh, I'm
- 32:22Speaker 2: not celebrating how far I've come. And I mean if
- 32:26Speaker 2: I took you, let's say, four years ago and said,
- 32:30Speaker 2: all right, look at money Diarist today, Oh my gosh,
- 32:34Speaker 2: imagine how proud she would be of what you've achieved.
- 32:36Speaker 2: Should be in awe of everything that you're doing and
- 32:39Speaker 2: the job and the side hustling and the savings and
- 32:41Speaker 2: the planning, Like, imagine that circumstance instead of what if.
- 32:47Speaker 2: And I think that we can really reframe what success
- 32:50Speaker 2: looks like, because sometimes we get into this I guess
- 32:54Speaker 2: groove of it not being enough or not being consistent enough.
- 32:57Speaker 2: But it's so enough, Like you're killing it. I'm just Oh,
- 33:00Speaker 2: I'm so proud of you. Earlier you gave us a
- 33:04Speaker 2: money score, and now we've gone through all of this, Like,
- 33:07Speaker 2: I'm just so proud of you to know that you're
- 33:11Speaker 2: saving and you you know you're you're on cash flow,
- 33:14Speaker 2: You've read my book, you have your spendye app, you
- 33:16Speaker 2: had a Carlo and you paid it off. You are
- 33:18Speaker 2: planning to study. Do you think that the score you
- 33:21Speaker 2: gave yourself at the start of the episode is accurate?
- 33:24Speaker 2: Or maybe do you think you're being a little bit
- 33:26Speaker 2: harsh on yourself in any way, shape or for harsh
- 33:29Speaker 2: on myself?
- 33:30Speaker 3: That's so not like me. Yeah, I think I would
- 33:35Speaker 3: definitely being a bit harsh on myself. Today I added
- 33:38Speaker 3: a little bit to my savings and it clicked over
- 33:41Speaker 3: to fourteen thousand dollars, So.
- 33:45Speaker 2: No, I didn't. That's so exciting.
- 33:47Speaker 3: Yeah, I feel like maybe a B would be a
- 33:52Speaker 3: little bit more appropriate.
- 33:54Speaker 2: Oh, I'm going to give you an A. I just
- 33:56Speaker 2: feel like you deserve it. You're a queen and fourteen
- 33:58Speaker 2: thousand dollars saved at twenty to Holy moly, I was
- 34:02Speaker 2: in more debt than that, Like at twenty two, I
- 34:04Speaker 2: think I had close to forty just over forty thousand.
- 34:07Speaker 2: I need to go find that statement because I think
- 34:08Speaker 2: people would find it interesting. But I was in forty
- 34:11Speaker 2: thousand dollars worth of personal debt at that age because
- 34:14Speaker 2: I just didn't have a financial education. I had no idea.
- 34:17Speaker 2: So knowing where you are, I'm just so proud. I'm
- 34:19Speaker 2: so proud of everything that you've done, everything that you've
- 34:22Speaker 2: been willing to share with us. I just feel like
- 34:24Speaker 2: this story is not only going to teach people a lot,
- 34:28Speaker 2: but I think it's also going to give a lot
- 34:30Speaker 2: of people in our community the permission to just sit
- 34:34Speaker 2: with their feelings, which I think is just so important.
- 34:37Speaker 2: And I'm so grateful that you've shared that, so moneyed Diarist. Unfortunately,
- 34:41Speaker 2: that's all we have time for today, but thank you
- 34:44Speaker 2: for your story and for spending some time with me.
- 34:46Speaker 2: I'm just I'm so forever grateful.
- 34:48Speaker 3: Thank you so much. Viktoria. It's been a blessing to
- 34:52Speaker 3: be on the show.
- 35:00Speaker 2: I shared on She's on the Money is general in
- 35:02Speaker 2: nature and does not consider your individual circumstances. She's on
- 35:06Speaker 2: the Money exists purely for educational purposes and should not
- 35:09Speaker 2: be relied upon to make an investment or financial decision.
- 35:13Speaker 2: If you do choose to buy a financial product, read
- 35:15Speaker 2: the PDS TMD and obtain appropriate financial advice tailored towards
- 35:19Speaker 2: your needs. Victoria Divine and She's on the Money are
- 35:23Speaker 2: authorized representatives of money. Sheper pty Ltd ABN three two
- 35:28Speaker 2: one IS six four nine two seven seven zero eight
- 35:31Speaker 2: AFSL four five one two eight nine