Latest / The Curve / What we've learned in 2025.

Transcript

What we've learned in 2025. · The Curve

• 0:01
  Welcome to Raising the Curve, a podcast designed to teach you everything that you need to know
• 0:04
  to be better with your money.
• 0:06
  Come and learn alongside me, Sophie Hallwright, a total beginner from the finance expert,
• 0:11
  Victoria Harris.
• 0:12
  Sophie asks all of the questions you wish you could so that finance, investing and growing
• 0:16
  your wealth actually makes sense.
• 0:17
  Yes, it's expert education, but that we promise will not be boring.
• 0:21
  And in the wise words of Cher,
• 0:22
  My mom said to me, you know, sweetheart, one day you should settle down and marry a rich
• 0:27
  man.
• 0:28
  And I said, Mom, I am a rich man.
• 0:29
  Come and talk and learn and laugh with us because together we really can raise the curve.
• 0:36
  Do you have any traditions Soph?
• 0:37
  No, none.
• 0:38
  Well we've got one.
• 0:39
  I really, I was thinking about this, I don't really have that many traditions, do you?
• 0:44
  What traditions do you have?
• 0:45
  Watching Love Actually at Christmas time.
• 0:47
  Actually I do have that one too.
• 0:49
  Honestly I went to see it live in concert.
• 0:52
  It was, like the orchestra played all the music and you sat and watched the movie.
• 0:56
  I have never cried so much in a movie
• 1:00
  Really?
• 1:00
  I don't know because I was hungover and vulnerable
• 1:02
  But I
• 1:03
  But no it was so sad
• 1:05
  Like imagine being in love with your best friend's wife
• 1:08
  Or like imagine
• 1:10
  Imagine your mum dying
• 1:12
  Imagine being cheated on
• 1:14
  Like there's so many storylines
• 1:16
  I think it really got you
• 1:18
  Because the orchestra that was playing
• 1:20
  The music accompanying it
• 1:23
  Like I think music
• 1:24
  Makes anything
• 1:25
  unbelievably emotional i what have been watching this is completely off topic and i'm not going to
• 1:31
  go too far down the rabbit hole but i've started to try and train my algorithm to give me more nice
• 1:35
  stuff online because i'm just sick of all this rage baby shit that i get oh yeah anyway rage baby
• 1:41
  rage baby rage bait you know it's just like people being annoying anyway there's these videos that
• 1:45
  i'm getting of like this 10 year old boy who can't see color and his principal buys him
• 1:51
  glasses to see
• 1:52
  Carla for the first time
• 1:53
  and he puts his glasses on
• 1:54
  he looks around
• 1:55
  and he takes them off
• 1:55
  and they just burst into tears
• 1:57
  but it's the music
• 1:57
  that plays in the background
• 1:59
  I just like
• 1:59
  have to cry
• 2:01
  and give myself a minute
• 2:02
  I'm so emotional
• 2:03
  it's like in a scary movie right
• 2:04
  the music
• 2:05
  it's like
• 2:05
  I know that's Jaws
• 2:08
  but like same
• 2:09
  quite fun living in London
• 2:10
  and watching it though
• 2:11
  you're like
• 2:11
  I know where that is
• 2:12
  oh
• 2:12
  he threw
• 2:13
  oh
• 2:13
  it was really cheap tickets
• 2:14
  as well wasn't it
• 2:15
  you know casual
• 2:16
  150 New Zealand dollars to go
• 2:18
  oh yeah yeah yeah
• 2:19
  so worth it
• 2:21
  so worth it i was like saying to my because my housemate is a really good friend of vicks and
• 2:25
  mine and she was meant to go and she was like i just couldn't bring myself to spend 70 pounds on
• 2:30
  a movie that i've seen 17 times i was like so worth it i get it but i also think that the
• 2:35
  orchestra playing the music the addition to that is quite amazing it's actually coming to new zealand
• 2:41
  oh great gift oh great little like tradition speaking of okay so today's tradition this is
• 2:48
  the third year we've done this we are going to be talking about our financial personal and business
• 2:55
  ups and downs of the year as well as reflecting on 2025 yeah yeah i'm a bit scared because our
• 3:00
  producer emily said that she's got last year's year to play back and i'm feeling a bit like you
• 3:05
  know normally you have a journal you write in and you just never like ever read it again
• 3:10
  this is the opposite we can't say anything without it being brought up again in 12 months time it's
• 3:16
  Apparently two minutes of some of the things that we said last year.
• 3:19
  I'm scared.
• 3:20
  We have come out of this cost of living crisis.
• 3:24
  We've had a new, slightly scary, president in the US.
• 3:30
  We've seen some crazy returns in certain stocks, mainly off the back of AI, like Nvidia.
• 3:36
  We've also had Bitcoin.
• 3:37
  Yeah, that's just gone absolutely bananas.
• 3:40
  personally I've had a really big brain wave and realized the importance of mental and physical
• 3:48
  health and probably how much my finances impacted both of those and how I've put kind of boundaries
• 3:55
  and stop gaps in place to make sure that that doesn't happen again increasing my emergency
• 4:00
  fund was one of them just a lot more strict with my spending a massive realization for me this year
• 4:07
  is unless you take control of your money and how you spend it, it will control you.
• 4:13
  I really like the way that I've now learned to know where my money goes and actually choose
• 4:20
  those places rather than just like swiping my card.
• 4:23
  Really actually taking a small amount of
• 4:26
  time to set up those processes and be able to follow them.
• 4:29
  And I've also paid off my student
• 4:31
  loan.
• 4:31
  That's amazing!
• 4:32
  Yeah, for the first time ever I'm debt free.
• 4:34
  We have moved the business to the UK,
• 4:37
  moved ourselves to the UK,
• 4:39
  raised money, got our own office,
• 4:41
  got staff, launched a new
• 4:43
  product, all in one year?
• 4:45
  What a big year, wasn't it?
• 4:47
  Wow.
• 4:47
  God.
• 4:48
  Part of me's like,
• 4:49
  what did we achieve last year?
• 4:51
  I also think in terms of planning for this episode
• 4:53
  and reflecting, I did not think
• 4:55
  about stuff like that.
• 4:55
  No, I know neither.
• 4:56
  I really didn't.
• 4:58
  Like the two houses that you bought?
• 4:59
  Yeah.
• 5:00
  Thanks for dropping the best thing I had to talk about in this whole episode.
• 5:04
  It is good to reflect, though, because you can kind of coast through life.
• 5:08
  Well, not coast, probably not the right word, but like, you know what I mean?
• 5:11
  And not actually stop and smell the roses.
• 5:14
  And I remember doing that episode and I remember being like, gosh, yeah, we have actually achieved a lot.
• 5:19
  And then I sat down to do this one and I was like, we've done absolutely nothing for the last two months.
• 5:26
  We've enjoyed London.
• 5:27
  We've been to the pub.
• 5:28
  Oh, God.
• 5:29
  We've just actually, all we've done really is go to concerts and get drunk on the weekends,
• 5:35
  in fact, haven't we?
• 5:36
  There's been almost no, there's been no work done in the last 12 months.
• 5:39
  Nothing at all.
• 5:40
  No?
• 5:41
  Yeah.
• 5:41
  Do you want to go first, Vic?
• 5:42
  Well, should I give a little update of the world?
• 5:45
  Yes, okay.
• 5:45
  Yeah.
• 5:46
  So, stock market has had another great year so far.
• 5:50
  There's still a week or so to go.
• 5:52
  But, yeah, it's up nearly another 20%.
• 5:54
  So, we've had three years of nearly 20% returns in the stock market, which is crazy.
• 5:59
  There's a lot.
• 5:59
  Average is about 10 to 11% a year.
• 6:02
  So we are above average last three years, which kind of makes me a bit nervous.
• 6:06
  But do you know the best performing stock market this year?
• 6:09
  Take a guess.
• 6:09
  Japan.
• 6:10
  Close.
• 6:11
  They were second.
• 6:11
  Really?
• 6:12
  Yeah.
• 6:12
  Third.
• 6:13
  Sorry, they were third.
• 6:13
  The best performing.
• 6:15
  Close.
• 6:15
  Korea.
• 6:16
  Yeah.
• 6:16
  No way.
• 6:17
  South Korea, not North Korea.
• 6:19
  Wow.
• 6:19
  Yeah.
• 6:20
  That's amazing.
• 6:21
  Yeah.
• 6:22
  Up nearly 70%.
• 6:23
  70?
• 6:24
  I know.
• 6:24
  Did you invest in Korea?
• 6:25
  No.
• 6:25
  Damn, neither.
• 6:26
  You know, you can't win them all, but I was invested in Japan.
• 6:29
  Yeah.
• 6:30
  So close.
• 6:31
  Bitcoin.
• 6:32
  Bitcoin has been super, super volatile again this year.
• 6:35
  It's been up and then down and sideways.
• 6:36
  It has, hasn't it?
• 6:37
  Yeah.
• 6:37
  Where is it at now?
• 6:38
  It's about $84,000 a share.
• 6:41
  Oh yeah, so it's still quite a bit lower.
• 6:41
  It got up to about $120,000.
• 6:43
  Yeah.
• 6:44
  Gold, one of the best performing assets globally, up nearly 70% as well.
• 6:50
  Crazy.
• 6:50
  Honestly, giving me hectic FOMO.
• 6:52
  Trump got into power this year
• 6:54
  which Trump and AI
• 6:56
  I think if I had to pick
• 6:59
  two things that dominated the world
• 7:00
  this year Trump AI
• 7:03
  I mean god think about the amount we've spoken
• 7:05
  about both of those things
• 7:06
  imagine if you pulled out Trump and AI what would we
• 7:08
  have actually talked about for 12 months
• 7:11
  I mean imagine how curve wrapped
• 7:13
  how many times you said Trump on the podcast
• 7:15
  how many times you said AI on the podcast
• 7:17
  what would be one word
• 7:18
  you would describe this year
• 7:20
  Do you mean personally or the stock market?
• 7:23
  The stock market.
• 7:24
  Elastic.
• 7:26
  It's been stretching.
• 7:28
  The bubble's gotten bigger, bigger, bigger.
• 7:30
  It's quite fluid.
• 7:33
  Maybe it'll pop, but maybe it won't.
• 7:35
  I would say it's been quite elastic.
• 7:37
  It's stretched in ways that none of us really ever expected.
• 7:39
  What would you say?
• 7:41
  I'd probably say surprising.
• 7:43
  There was a lot of things, you know, when Trump got into power,
• 7:46
  everyone's like, oh, gosh.
• 7:48
  and the stock market actually did well when he introduced trade tariffs,
• 7:52
  you know, products and stuff.
• 7:53
  And everyone's like, oh, no, but then it continues to do well.
• 7:56
  And everyone's like, AI continues to do well.
• 7:59
  So right, actually.
• 8:00
  Maybe resilient is probably another good word.
• 8:03
  But, yeah, I'm surprised.
• 8:05
  Like gold's up 70, if you'd asked me that last year.
• 8:08
  Absolutely not.
• 8:09
  Would never have ever, ever, ever picked that.
• 8:11
  Like that's crazy.
• 8:12
  Is there a part of this that we're missing?
• 8:15
  or like, I don't know if you've listened to economists speak about this, but the idea of
• 8:19
  Trump, you know, we were all, I personally was kind of expecting everything to turn to shit.
• 8:25
  And I know that there's lots of things that have been really negatively impacted by him and the
• 8:29
  decisions he's making.
• 8:30
  But to your point on it being surprising, it is so surprising to me.
• 8:36
  Like,
• 8:36
  yes, there's been those giant cliff falls of stock market where there's been huge corrections,
• 8:41
  but they're for a short period of time and they've bounced right back again.
• 8:44
  I don't know, like has he been good for the stock market?
• 8:47
  Yeah.
• 8:48
  Well, the fact that he's in power and it's up nearly 20%.
• 8:50
  Bloody hell.
• 8:52
  And he usually has.
• 8:53
  Last time he was in power, he was good for the stock market.
• 8:55
  This time it's even better.
• 8:56
  It's like I find with the stock market, you know when all the fish swim one way
• 9:00
  and they're like, it's going to end up this way.
• 9:02
  Like Trump's getting into power, stock market's going to go down,
• 9:05
  and everyone believes that.
• 9:06
  And you see all the news headlines read that.
• 9:08
  It's like you want to be the fish that swims the other way.
• 9:12
  you know everyone's like hey i bubble it's gonna burst it's gonna burst it's like
• 9:15
  what if it doesn't yeah you know it's kind of it's very easy to join the crowd
• 9:21
  and have this like herd mentality but i really love that yeah sometimes in the stock market the
• 9:27
  best time is to actually and that's what warren buffett said right be fearful when others are
• 9:31
  greedy and greedy and others are fearful and it's so true it's like that just never landed for me
• 9:36
  as a beginner but it's definitely the idea that when everyone is greedy and trying to buy everything
• 9:42
  that's when you should be scared yeah if people are scared and not buying that's when you should
• 9:46
  be buying it's the idea of like zig when others zag yeah exactly should we speak about our
• 9:52
  overarching year in review we did work finances and personal right we've both done some little
• 9:56
  journal notes here okay my word yeah i am really proud of the team that we've built at the curve
• 10:03
  and the team that we have it just feels really cohesive and you can see it coming through and
• 10:08
  like the podcast stats, the community grow,
• 10:11
  everyone just feels really like they're a team.
• 10:15
  And we're trying to achieve the same goal.
• 10:16
  And it's really good to see the energy in the office.
• 10:20
  I also am really proud of us signing our biggest sponsorship deal ever with BNZ.
• 10:28
  Yes, we love BNZ.
• 10:29
  Bank of New Zealand.
• 10:30
  I mean, both of us have banked there for a long time.
• 10:33
  And I think when you can promote something you genuinely really believe in
• 10:37
  to an audience that you have to be totally yourself right so like we show up as ourselves
• 10:43
  on this podcast yeah so talking about a brand reflects directly on us I think to be able to
• 10:47
  work with one of the you know best banks in New Zealand is a pretty exciting step for the business
• 10:52
  in general and I don't think it's just even the size of the contract right it's I I think for me
• 10:58
  it's the recognition that the Bank of New Zealand wants to partner with us so true I'm like this is
• 11:06
  like a bank a financial institution that has so much rules and regulation and like you know they
• 11:15
  could partner with anyone and they chose us like i think that is oh my gosh i think that's such a
• 11:20
  beautiful way to put it especially because you look at the financial landscape or like other
• 11:24
  brands in the financial space and a lot of people go with like really safe traditional options and
• 11:29
  to have a bank that sees our brand and what we do and thinks no we want to align with them is such
• 11:36
  a huge tick of approval for us, isn't it?
• 11:38
  Yeah.
• 11:38
  And then, yeah, the other kind of work-related one is we did a small bridging round with
• 11:44
  our investors this year.
• 11:47
  Can you explain a bridging round?
• 11:48
  So it's like a very small capital raise.
• 11:51
  So it's like when you go to investors and they're like, look, we need more money.
• 11:54
  Just signed up for this sponsorship, but we need more money.
• 11:57
  But anyway, it was kind of to tide us over for a period of time.
• 12:01
  And I, but from those conversations that we had with our investors, I think I was really
• 12:09
  nervous because we'd missed our numbers and I was really nervous to go back to investors
• 12:14
  and explain why.
• 12:16
  And being open with our investors and the way they were like, don't worry, everyone
• 12:20
  makes mistakes.
• 12:21
  It was kind of, you're only human.
• 12:23
  I was just really thankful for their support in that instance.
• 12:26
  Yeah.
• 12:27
  I think it's a really interesting one.
• 12:28
  what you bring up just in general the idea of investors because a lot of people wouldn't have
• 12:32
  experienced or know what that looks like I do think there's so much we could talk about when
• 12:36
  it comes to investing and investing in businesses this is actually something that I would love to do
• 12:41
  more of as like an entire episode not yeah or like a whole thing like the amount of people that
• 12:46
  contact us saying can you speak to me about how you raised money or I want to raise funds can I
• 12:51
  ask you questions I think there's a really interesting space there that we could create
• 12:55
  some super valuable content but you do yours my business ones and my work ones okay I'm not going
• 13:00
  to double down on the same things you've said because I just think it will be boring to repeat
• 13:04
  obviously I hate everyone in our team so um I feel like there's just so much that you we could
• 13:12
  be doing within the business and I feel like we've started to finally kind of slot into place with
• 13:16
  like people in the right positions which is probably leading on from the team thing right
• 13:20
  Like even just the other day we had our first viral video on Instagram, which is just like crazy to think we've been going for four and a half years.
• 13:28
  And I mean, honestly, the amount of engagement on this video is insane.
• 13:32
  And, you know, we wouldn't have been able to achieve that if it wasn't for Lucy and the sort of digital media role.
• 13:38
  And I think it's just, you know, realizing like we're all good at different things.
• 13:41
  We can't all be good at everything.
• 13:42
  And I feel like we've started to put people in the right places to like lean into their strength.
• 13:46
  Yeah.
• 13:46
  We've had a pretty stressful year.
• 13:48
  The start of this year was quite scary for us.
• 13:52
  Seems like so long ago, as well as also yesterday, in a weird way.
• 13:56
  I just think I'm really proud of how resilient we were
• 13:59
  because there's been so many times this year,
• 14:02
  and I think this is true for anyone in business at any point in time,
• 14:05
  so I don't want this to sound panicky for people to stress out
• 14:07
  because I think this is just the reality of being in business.
• 14:10
  But you go through ebbs and flows of things feeling unbelievably stressful.
• 14:14
  It's always stressful, but there's moments where it's like,
• 14:18
  I am balding.
• 14:20
  I think I've realized also, yeah, totally on that is you're going to get through it.
• 14:26
  Do you know what I mean?
• 14:27
  And also sometimes when things are going absolutely swimmingly, you're like, what's around the corner?
• 14:33
  When has that happened lately?
• 14:35
  No, but you know when things are like, shit, yeah, we've got a viral video.
• 14:38
  Shit, yeah, we're doing this.
• 14:38
  And then you're like, something's going to come and just knock you down a peg.
• 14:43
  You just never know what's going to happen.
• 14:44
  I think it's so unpredictable.
• 14:46
  Yeah.
• 14:46
  I think back to this.
• 14:47
  But then also flipping that, sorry, is like when things are feeling like, oh my gosh,
• 14:51
  it's just like one thing after another.
• 14:53
  It's like, don't worry, there'll be sunshine soon.
• 14:56
  You know?
• 14:56
  Well, it's more the idea.
• 14:57
  I love that.
• 14:58
  And thank you for the reminder.
• 14:59
  But it's more like the idea of future us will figure it out.
• 15:02
  Yeah.
• 15:03
  You know, like the problem that we hit, which there's always going to be one, we'll figure
• 15:07
  it out.
• 15:08
  And I think that there's been a lot of those moments this year, like for us as a business
• 15:13
  and personally and you know like there's so many times where we could have just both turned to each
• 15:20
  other and been like this is so hard the pressure here is too much like I think it's just I think
• 15:25
  it's time we just start a soup business I want to go marry a rich man yeah just go marry someone
• 15:30
  wealthy have seven children get a dog and just call it a day you know like there's so there's
• 15:36
  so many times we could have done that this year and we didn't and I think I'm really still can
• 15:39
  that a week less one leg out the door jokes cool cool my finances one is another tough year
• 15:50
  financially i think just london just is expensive and i think brits love to complain about it and i
• 15:55
  used to be like complaining but i get it it's like as soon as you step outside oh that's three pounds
• 16:00
  to breathe you know it's very much three pounds 30 pounds yeah 30 pounds to breathe but i'm feeling
• 16:06
  more in control, I think, and kind of getting a lot more comfort around making sacrifices and
• 16:14
  saying no to stuff, I think is just like part and parcel of being conscious about spending money and
• 16:19
  all of that.
• 16:20
  And also on the flip side of that is I can see now, like the, I guess the sacrifices
• 16:28
  you're making, I can see the light at the end of the tunnel or like the reason, like to put it
• 16:34
  bluntly we get paid pretty low but I can see the value we're creating in the business like and I
• 16:40
  think before it was like quite early on I couldn't really see that whereas now it's a lot more clear
• 16:46
  and what we're creating the value of that and so yeah it's kind of I guess coming closer to fruition
• 16:53
  which means it's having a less of a financial stress on me that makes sense I mean you're 10
• 17:00
  years older than people who are in our team that earn the same amount of money you know like yeah
• 17:04
  yeah it's pretty that's not ideal in any kind of setting right like it's it's also like naturally
• 17:11
  I think as you get older your tastes change the things you want to spend money on change like
• 17:16
  I mean at sort of at 25 I could be a better with my money I think that it's hard when you are in
• 17:23
  an environment with a whole lot of friends or peers that are that are older that spend money
• 17:27
  in a certain way because they earn more.
• 17:29
  Do you know what I mean?
• 17:30
  Like as in they've had 10 years on their career compared to.
• 17:33
  But I'm also like, yes, you've got to be able to survive
• 17:36
  and pay your day-to-day bills,
• 17:38
  but that's not how you're going to grow your wealth is, you know,
• 17:42
  by increasing your salary.
• 17:44
  It's going to be by making risky investments or, you know,
• 17:48
  investing in private companies or like taking bets like that.
• 17:51
  And so that's what I kind of just have finally,
• 17:56
  not finally got my head around but like when you are living a day-to-day it's sometimes it's hard
• 18:00
  you're like oh I just want to be paid more it's like well no because it's the whole delay
• 18:04
  gratification you know it's just on a on a much larger scale than like a new investment portfolio
• 18:08
  and then the other thing is navigating relationship finances the first time really like we kind of got
• 18:15
  together last year and so it was you know still in the fun stage of relationship that's still fun
• 18:21
  sorry I mean no but it's more like now it's more serious it's more like okay no if we want to
• 18:25
  achieve xyz then we have to sacrifice and we have to put contribute x we have to do yeah so it's
• 18:30
  which is so complex because doing that on your own is one thing but then to put someone else in
• 18:35
  to that in terms of how even what we spoke about on the curve weekly a few weeks ago and what you
• 18:39
  were sharing how like you like spending money on certain things and he likes spending in different
• 18:43
  ways to be able to find a middle ground and compromise not only with yourself but also
• 18:47
  someone else is complex and I think it's also just realizing everyone is so different and was
• 18:52
  raised in such a different way when it comes to money and he's not going to fit my mold I'm not
• 18:57
  going to fit his mold and there just needs to be a bit of what's the word flexibility compromise
• 19:02
  yeah a bit of compromise you know um I remember my dad didn't go and spend like any money and
• 19:08
  then went out and bought a bloody saxophone and doesn't even play the saxophone and my mom was
• 19:13
  like I was like mom how are you not like he's she's like well he spends nothing you know so
• 19:18
  he can go and blow it on a saxophone once a year or whatever like I guess it's just finding your
• 19:22
  groove in that like for your mom she's like well I can put up with a saxophone because he does this
• 19:27
  yeah yeah I think yeah it's finding that middle ground where everyone's kind of picking your
• 19:30
  battles really yeah okay personal finances I bought two houses this year outrageous that's
• 19:38
  amazing like outrageous are you gonna buy like three next year or something I mean not just like
• 19:43
  up it every year no shit no I'm like so financially stretched it's not funny because of those two
• 19:49
  purchases but this is what I mean right like taking risks to pay off in the future like you
• 19:54
  you kind of have to get comfortable with being uncomfortable for a bit yeah I think I just
• 19:58
  haven't done it very well I'm gonna get to that in a minute and I think that there's there's
• 20:02
  definitely truth to that but there's also yeah I mean me lying in bed last night my head was
• 20:08
  absolutely spinning and a lot of it honestly was financial stress and I don't want to feel like
• 20:12
  that and so it's really interesting to hear what Emily played at the start when she was like these
• 20:17
  are what you thought last year and one of those was you know you've just got to take control of
• 20:20
  your money or if it takes control of you and here I am being like still spinning I'm spinning help
• 20:25
  still controlling me god I built my first ever emergency fund this year which I've never done
• 20:31
  before I mean I've like inadvertently had a shitload of money sitting in cash which was not
• 20:36
  an emergency fund on purpose but that was like stupid and just sitting there and doing nothing
• 20:41
  so I've done that which I'm proud of um god what the was I thinking when I wrote the notes for the
• 20:46
  first time ever I started to feel like maybe I could be my own daddy love that so on my background
• 20:53
  of my screensaver basically this year I had uh you know that thing that we did a couple of years
• 20:58
  ago with the signs around London and one of them was make your own sugar be your own daddy I've
• 21:03
  had that on my background because I really wanted to feel like I could actually be financially
• 21:07
  independent myself I think I have a huge hang-up around the idea of being in a relationship means
• 21:14
  you're more financially stable and blah blah and obviously haven't been in a relationship this year
• 21:17
  so I think that I wanted to feel like I could take the power back and actually be my own daddy
• 21:22
  nice I was like where have I heard that before yeah I have had to borrow money from my parents
• 21:28
  I'm pretty in debt right now which is not I'm not super proud of and like some of those things
• 21:33
  are good debt like my houses but yeah like we had a renovation blowout I had to borrow money like
• 21:39
  it's just been there's a lot going on financially where I've had to essentially say to my parents
• 21:44
  can I can I have a personal loan I'll pay you interest so that's been a bit of a weird thing
• 21:49
  and I'm so lucky to be able to do that but it doesn't make you feel like an adult really no
• 21:55
  yeah I think there's a lot of things that I haven't been able to do because I haven't had
• 21:58
  enough money you know like I haven't been able to travel really I had one trip this year which I
• 22:04
  know is again sounding so spoiled true turkey oh yeah true yeah yeah but that was kind of funded
• 22:11
  by my sister yeah I really wanted to get my eggs frozen I spoke about this a year ago I haven't
• 22:16
  been able to afford to do that I haven't been able to be like particularly generous with like
• 22:20
  friends or birthdays like I think that I'm I'm proud of some of the big decisions that I've made
• 22:24
  I'm not super stoked with where I am financially personally right now I feel really reliant on
• 22:28
  other people and quite stretched yeah like I'm not ending the year thinking nailed it this year
• 22:34
  at all okay my personal year in view some of my personal things um I feel a lot more balanced in
• 22:42
  my life like if I think about even hearing that last year like gosh I was in a weird place yeah
• 22:48
  I feel a lot more balanced across work health career family relationship like all of that I
• 22:53
  feel like yes everything ebbs and flows in terms of like its demands from me but I feel way more
• 23:01
  in control than I did last year I think what you've done like on reflection as like a total
• 23:07
  outsider well not really a total outsider but as an outsider I would say you're really good
• 23:12
  if you make a mistake or something happens you're pretty action-based about like rectifying it or
• 23:17
  doing it differently you're not the kind of person that runs into the same wall a million times
• 23:21
  and I think that I've seen you you know like have these blowouts or have these like personal
• 23:25
  learnings whether it's in your relationship or it's in work or personal life or exercise whatever
• 23:29
  and rather than complaining about it or sitting there and being like oh I still can't like you're
• 23:34
  really good at looking at the way you need to restructure your life or rethink about things
• 23:39
  to not have that happen again yeah and I think it's really impressive because thank you there's a
• 23:44
  there's a particular demand that comes with running a business and it's really easy to put
• 23:47
  that is the most important thing and then everything else kind of just has to suffer as a
• 23:51
  result and I think what you saw last year is everything else massively impacted and you
• 23:56
  actionably made a real effort to ensure that that wasn't the case this year without not putting work
• 24:02
  first if that makes sense and I think it's not many people do that I think also not coming back
• 24:08
  to love actually again but when I was watching that and I was like oh my god love just like
• 24:15
  conquers everything and I know that sounds so cliche but it was just like at the end of the
• 24:19
  day it's like love that's what there's one is what important and how people remember you and like
• 24:23
  well I think no no but I think it's true I think that you know it's so easy to get wrapped up in
• 24:31
  I need to achieve this and I need to do this and like we've got to hit this KPI I've got to do that
• 24:35
  I mean who's going to give a flying fart by the time you're 80 of anything that we did in the
• 24:40
  curve like yeah we'll be proud of ourselves like no one cares Sophie got the podcast to 2.5 instead
• 24:47
  of 2 million downloads literally no one cares the things not saying that this podcast is
• 24:52
  like I'm just meaning like it is yeah it's like how you make people feel rather than
• 24:57
  and also how you make yourself feel and like letting yourself be around people that make
• 25:00
  you feel happy and loved I think it's it's just such a hard balance I find it's still really hard
• 25:06
  I think I've nailed that
• 25:08
  and then embracing saying no
• 25:09
  that's my other person
• 25:12
  I've just really embraced saying no
• 25:14
  she's been very good at that
• 25:15
  just saying like no in work
• 25:17
  in like social situations
• 25:19
  just being selfish
• 25:22
  being like no I don't want to go out tonight
• 25:24
  not being like oh I have to go to this dinner
• 25:27
  you know it's like no
• 25:28
  I can't be effed
• 25:29
  I think there's freedom in saying no
• 25:32
  we can all learn from that one
• 25:33
  okay my personal
• 25:34
  oh I went through a breakup this out of the year I was heartbroken god I was sad I just remember
• 25:42
  like on my way back to New Zealand in January wandering the streets of New York bawling my
• 25:46
  eyes out listening to Taylor Swift it was unreal I was like walking the high line just
• 25:50
  crying and crying so sad and I think that yeah I got home to New Zealand and I was
• 25:58
  honestly I was quite overweight and unhealthy not not I wasn't overweight in terms of
• 26:03
  it being a problem, but I just, I didn't feel, I was, I put on a lot of weight and I didn't fit a
• 26:08
  lot of my clothes and I had no energy and I felt real, I just didn't feel good.
• 26:12
  I wasn't looking
• 26:12
  after myself.
• 26:14
  And I think I've really turned that around.
• 26:16
  I feel way more comfortable in my body
• 26:17
  again.
• 26:17
  And I did that in a really healthy way, like a sustainable, okay, I'm just going to try
• 26:22
  and like, even just walking to work.
• 26:24
  It's like, if you don't have time to go to a gym class, fine,
• 26:26
  but move your body somehow.
• 26:28
  Like yesterday I had two late night meetings and I just walked while
• 26:31
  having them because I was like I need to move my body today I think I'm trying to sort of find a
• 26:35
  bit more balance in that and yeah if I look at myself at the start of the year compared to the
• 26:40
  end of the year I've massively like looked after myself compared to yeah where I was and I think
• 26:48
  that's mainly due to being home in New Zealand and being around family and people that can kind
• 26:51
  of pick you back up when you're totally broken you know like yeah yeah so I think I'm glad that
• 26:58
  I'm not where I was nine, 10 months ago.
• 27:00
  It was not fun.
• 27:01
  I think I, I'm not perfect with this at
• 27:03
  all.
• 27:04
  So I haven't nailed it, but I think finding coping mechanisms within the situation has been
• 27:09
  quite important for me.
• 27:10
  So for example, if it's food delivery, if it's, yeah, I don't know.
• 27:14
  It's
• 27:14
  more just look at like zooming out and looking at my life holistically, trying really hard to not
• 27:19
  have 99% of that as work.
• 27:22
  Yeah.
• 27:22
  Really trying to prioritize other things and, and finding almost
• 27:26
  like loopholes for myself it's like okay you might not be able to make a roast chicken three times a
• 27:31
  week but how can you still get nutrients in a way that doesn't feel like you're super disconnected
• 27:36
  from your food source or really just like picking up a bag of chocolate because you're starving you
• 27:40
  know like what can you put in place to try and support your lifestyle yeah what are some money
• 27:45
  and business lessons I'll do my business very few decisions are one-way doors god that was my
• 27:51
  mantra this year, I reckon.
• 27:52
  And I'm just going to say it again.
• 27:54
  Very few decisions are one-way
• 27:56
  doors.
• 27:57
  Honestly, in business, in life, it just makes you make decisions way quicker because
• 28:02
  you're not scared that you're making the wrong one because very few decisions are one-way doors.
• 28:06
  And then also we had Natalie Pucco on the podcast, who is the chief technologist at Google
• 28:12
  Australia.
• 28:12
  And she said something that really hit me.
• 28:15
  And she was like, ready is a decision,
• 28:16
  not a feeling.
• 28:18
  And the number of times I've been like, oh, I just want to feel ready to move
• 28:24
  overseas.
• 28:24
  I just want to feel ready to start a business.
• 28:26
  I just want to feel ready to take that
• 28:29
  next step.
• 28:29
  And it's like, no, no, no.
• 28:31
  Ready is a decision.
• 28:32
  You make the decision, then you become
• 28:34
  ready, essentially.
• 28:35
  So that's kind of led me, I guess, to take more risks.
• 28:39
  Just make the decision
• 28:40
  and run with it.
• 28:42
  And then my last one would be,
• 28:44
  you can achieve way more by asking for help,
• 28:47
  which kind of comes back to the whole investor thing,
• 28:49
  kind of investors and the team.
• 28:51
  Do you know what I mean?
• 28:51
  Like having people where you're not as good
• 28:54
  or where you're leaning into your strengths,
• 28:58
  yeah, you can achieve way more.
• 29:00
  Also you enjoy it more, right?
• 29:01
  Like if you're doing stuff that you aren't good at,
• 29:04
  it's such a shit feeling.
• 29:05
  Like outsource, outsource, outsource.
• 29:07
  Yeah, like find the people that are good at things
• 29:09
  that you are not and surround them surround them surround yourself with them yeah definitely
• 29:14
  okay business uh okay oh god i feel like i'm being so pessimistic in this i think that there's never
• 29:21
  been a day in this entire year that i've left thinking god i achieved a lot today it's not a
• 29:26
  normal job where you have your to-do list you tick it off and you leave and you go home and i think
• 29:30
  for me something i've been really trying to work on is the idea of i'm never gonna really feel like
• 29:34
  that anyway so you've just got to do your best in the day and then be like I did my best in the day
• 29:40
  you know because otherwise you're just constantly feeling guilty for not having done more or
• 29:44
  yeah better or having you know it's just this like but also it's you should be glad that you're
• 29:49
  glad that you're busy and glad that you're stressed at work not like stress to the point
• 29:52
  of like chronic stress but you know you should be glad that you have a job that's so fulfilling
• 29:56
  that's so busy that there's got that's so much going for it that it has caused you to not get
• 30:01
  through your to-do list do you know what I mean like there's people there there's people out there
• 30:05
  that probably would love to feel that busy at work and feel that fulfilled and that you know
• 30:09
  they're achieving things but um and I remember my sister's I remember like I think it was last
• 30:14
  year before and I was like I just never get through my to-do list and my sister's like
• 30:18
  I've never got through my to-do list like so I was like I was looking for her of like
• 30:22
  oh tell me that it gets better because she runs a business as well and she was like no no I've
• 30:26
  never got through my to-do list you kind of give up especially when you have kids I was like
• 30:30
  yeah I think it's almost like maybe the learning is being okay with knowing you've you've done your
• 30:37
  best for that day even you know it might be you look back and actually like oh wow you needed to
• 30:42
  take a nap from 12 till 2 that's fine you were still actually doing your best you know like
• 30:46
  you have to know your intentions are there to achieve as much as you can but yeah if you know
• 30:54
  that the way your work is structured in the in the sense that there's always going to be stuff to do
• 30:59
  I don't know almost being at peace with the idea the day finishes I did as much as I could in that
• 31:05
  day yes you know the lingering sort of guilt of feeling like you could have done more is so
• 31:12
  counterproductive it makes you feel just really negative and actually yeah it's I think you go
• 31:17
  on to the next day with even more stress or the next week or the next year it just compounds and
• 31:21
  then I think it just becomes really unenjoyable and um and I guess this comes back to sort of
• 31:25
  what I was saying about personal it's like okay you could work a 20-hour day what kind of person
• 31:31
  would you be you know like you have to know that there's a time to stop there's a time to start
• 31:36
  work and stop work and around that you have to enjoy yourself and be healthy and look after
• 31:40
  your relationships and the people that you love knowing that those are super important too and
• 31:44
  you just get done what you can in a work day and it's like this is a work on work on yeah do you
• 31:49
  want to do your personal my sorry your money um i think the big one here is the times that i spend
• 31:57
  money and that i that bring me the most joy the most value are on experiences not things and i
• 32:05
  think i have thought it was the other way for so long and like i'm still unpacking that but i think
• 32:12
  it's when i look back on the year and i'm like when did i have the most fun and it was like when
• 32:17
  I was on holiday with some girlfriends or when I was at my birthday celebrating with friends you
• 32:24
  know like it was really fun it was the the experiences with friends not necessarily oh
• 32:30
  when I put on my new shoes you know so it's like yeah I think that's just something that I nearly
• 32:35
  I want to take into next year and really try and focus on more well does that mean if you go to
• 32:42
  think about buying something yeah you just think twice about almost put it in a holiday fund or
• 32:46
  something or put it into a birthday fund or put it in something that rather than buying something
• 32:52
  that you know is bringing you long-term joy yeah obviously you need underwear and you need pants
• 32:58
  and you need you know that but like to an extent you know yeah yeah my money oh my finances uh
• 33:05
  oh this is so ironic because this is literally what we were just playing that i had learned the
• 33:09
  year before and obviously need to learn again the more attention that i pay to my finances
• 33:14
  and the stricter that I am with myself, the better, within reason, obviously not being
• 33:20
  totally depriving myself.
• 33:22
  But yeah, I think that, for example, like in the UK, the way that the tax
• 33:27
  works is that you get more money at different points of the year when your tax is different.
• 33:33
  I didn't realize that.
• 33:34
  So I made a budget, you know, when I had a certain amount coming into
• 33:38
  my account and that's much, much less than it was.
• 33:41
  And I didn't realize that it was changing.
• 33:43
  and so I didn't then adjust my budget so I've been sort of constantly dipping into my emergency fund
• 33:48
  thinking that I've been kind of my budget and actually it was just that I wasn't playing paying
• 33:54
  close enough attention to what was coming into my bank account to then adjust my budget and I think
• 33:58
  that's been really shit because I think it feels like you're taking 10 steps backwards like I feel
• 34:04
  like I've almost landed back in old Sophie behavior where I'm just pulling money out
• 34:09
  with like it's not an emergency it's just that I need to buy groceries and I think that if I had
• 34:14
  been more strict with myself and actually had you know a monthly I'm setting aside this time
• 34:19
  to sit down and look at my money like I started the year doing that and then I just got lazy
• 34:23
  thinking I kind of was nailing it I also think like don't be hard on yourself right like it's
• 34:27
  like with healthy eating right it's like you know you can go for like months or like with eating
• 34:32
  really healthy and then you have like a blowout it's like it's not and you feel like you've taken
• 34:36
  10 steps back because we haven't actually and I think that's I think what you've probably showed
• 34:41
  now is like you can get back to that place very easily whereas before when you felt like you were
• 34:46
  taking 10 steps back there was probably no like foundation to spring back up from if that makes
• 34:52
  sense it's also like you know the things that make you feel good you need to keep doing you can't
• 34:59
  just stop them so you know in the same way that perhaps some people might stop going to therapy
• 35:03
  because they think they're all fine and then all of a sudden they're at breaking point they need
• 35:06
  therapy again it's like you need to be constantly on it with your finances it's not one of those
• 35:10
  things that you can just sit and forget forever yeah like yes you don't have to put a shitload
• 35:14
  of time and energy into it but you have to be consistently checking in with it and I think
• 35:18
  that I got lazy this year honestly and as a result I felt like I've been failing with my money but
• 35:24
  actually if I just remembered to pay more attention like I learned like I was doing at the
• 35:29
  start of the year I would have been yeah I would have been in a different position than I am now
• 35:34
  my personal ones are I realized how resilient I am and we've kind of spoken about this but
• 35:41
  someone said to me they were like just remember you've survived 100% of the bad days in your life
• 35:45
  and I was like so true it's like when you think that it is the worst day and how am I getting
• 35:51
  through this like you find a way through it and I think that's something to remember is like just
• 35:56
  back yourself more and also like things happen in cycles right particularly in business it's like
• 36:02
  things do really really well and then like not so well and like same personal life sometimes you
• 36:06
  feel like everything's imploding at once and then everything's going really well at once it's like
• 36:10
  just gonna ride the waves oh can i add a good quote to this that a friend shared with me
• 36:16
  everything will be okay in the end if it's not okay it's not the end oh i love that yeah and
• 36:23
  it's kind of what you just were saying yeah just the idea that you know you're stronger than you
• 36:28
  think and you can get through things and yeah yeah yeah like there's been quite a few things
• 36:32
  in the last couple of months for us where initially we've sort of found out about something
• 36:36
  and it's been a really stressful like how are we going to deal with this oh my god you know like
• 36:41
  there's a process to get from the oh my god if something's not going well to you know how you
• 36:46
  figure it out and you have to trust yourself that you can get from that point to the conclusion and
• 36:51
  and and the the amount of stress or worry that you give it is not going to necessarily help you get
• 36:55
  to that conclusion quicker.
• 36:57
  You just have to know it will work itself out
• 36:59
  and you are capable of figuring it out.
• 37:02
  I remember someone asking Angelina Jolie in an interview,
• 37:04
  like, what advice would you give to someone going through tough times?
• 37:08
  And she was like, just go through it.
• 37:11
  Like, you just have to go through it.
• 37:13
  Like, go through the motions.
• 37:14
  Go through the shitty, shitty period.
• 37:16
  And it's so true.
• 37:17
  It's kind of like you were saying.
• 37:18
  Yeah, but I think that's right in life, like in relationships,
• 37:22
  in finances.
• 37:23
  you know if you think it's like so bad you can't get out of it like it's it's not the end you will
• 37:28
  survive you will get out of it like if you've had some bad financial issues bad relationship issues
• 37:34
  you know like it's so right it's not the end the other one for me the personal kind of lesson that
• 37:39
  I've learned this year is trying and I'm still learning this to not compare myself to others
• 37:45
  in terms of like what's everyone's achieving in their stage of life and yeah I think as I approach
• 37:50
  40
• 37:51
  40
• 37:53
  I know
• 37:53
  shit yeah
• 37:54
  not yet
• 37:55
  not yet
• 37:55
  not yet
• 37:55
  but yeah
• 37:57
  I think
• 37:57
  I don't know
• 37:58
  it's so hard
• 37:58
  to not compare yourself
• 37:59
  to friends
• 38:00
  and family
• 38:01
  and what everyone's achieved
• 38:02
  and look
• 38:03
  you always look at
• 38:03
  what you haven't achieved
• 38:04
  right
• 38:04
  rather than what you have achieved
• 38:05
  so
• 38:06
  yeah I think
• 38:07
  I'm still learning
• 38:08
  and
• 38:10
  but I'm conscious of it
• 38:11
  and trying to do better
• 38:13
  each year
• 38:14
  it's fucking hard
• 38:15
  to do that
• 38:15
  I think
• 38:16
  in a world that
• 38:17
  it's the biological clock
• 38:19
  social media
• 38:19
  Like there's so many things that say as a woman,
• 38:21
  this is where you should be and this is what you should be doing by this
• 38:23
  point in time.
• 38:25
  It's exhausting.
• 38:26
  You just have to block out the noise sometimes.
• 38:28
  Well,
• 38:28
  it's kind of like the whole,
• 38:29
  it'll work itself out in the end,
• 38:30
  right?
• 38:30
  It's like,
• 38:31
  you know,
• 38:31
  maybe in 30 years time,
• 38:32
  we'll look back at this and we'll be like,
• 38:34
  Oh,
• 38:34
  if only we knew that that those things were going to happen,
• 38:36
  we wouldn't have worried at that time,
• 38:38
  but you never know.
• 38:38
  So you just have to trust the process.
• 38:40
  But also like,
• 38:41
  imagine young Sophie,
• 38:42
  she would be so proud of you right now.
• 38:45
  Don't make me cry.
• 38:46
  I can't deal with that right now.
• 38:48
  You know,
• 38:48
  like I,
• 38:50
  like young I would never have thought that I'd be where I am today sorry neither I'm like but like
• 38:57
  and that's what you've got to remember is like so proud no matter what even this if this is
• 39:02
  different a different path to someone else I feel like you're in a really good place right now yeah
• 39:07
  like I think listening to you talk is making me realize it's a really reflective for me like in
• 39:12
  terms of you're like holding mirror up and I'm like oh shit like I think I've been really focusing
• 39:18
  on a lot of the stuff that's like not going particularly well rather than focusing on the
• 39:22
  things that are doing well it's it's like if someone gives you all this positive feedback
• 39:26
  and the only thing you remember is the one criticism i feel like you have to constantly
• 39:31
  be working on that mindset to be looking for the positive and being proud rather than sitting in
• 39:35
  the like oh this could have done better yeah and i think that you've really i think you're in a
• 39:39
  really good place with that yeah okay there is not enough in my metaphorical life box everything at
• 39:47
  one time.
• 39:47
  I think for me, I have started to get more comfortable with needing to prioritize what
• 39:52
  I want to focus on for periods of time, rather than thinking that I can do everything all at once.
• 39:58
  For example, I can't work as hard as I do, exercise every single day, eat the most perfect diet,
• 40:06
  see all my friends and remember their birthdays and remember things that they're doing every
• 40:10
  second of the day, be a really great daughter, be dating, be, you know, it's, there's too many
• 40:17
  things and I think that I've started to get okay with the idea that I can prioritize different
• 40:22
  things at different points and I guess it's almost like taking the power back in terms of knowing
• 40:28
  I'm actively choosing to focus on xyz these other things right now I'm choosing that rather than
• 40:33
  being a victim of my own circumstance and just thinking oh I can't exercise or oh I can't this
• 40:38
  it's like no no you have 24 hours in the day just like everyone else does and you are choosing what
• 40:43
  you prioritize like this is your decision no one else is telling you how to run your life or spend
• 40:48
  your time yeah and i think that there's kind of power and realizing that the way you're structuring
• 40:54
  yeah your time which is your most valuable asset you can always choose to do that differently yeah
• 40:59
  if you look around and you're not comfortable not exercising every day fine but something else has
• 41:04
  to move along and i i kind of i kind of hate this feeling that you know you can do everything all at
• 41:11
  once I don't think that you can't throw in a family in that as well and having kids like
• 41:16
  you can do everything just not all at once and I think one thing I've focused on over the last
• 41:23
  few years is my career and my friends have taken a back seat and I think a lot of them know that
• 41:30
  it's just a period of time but there's some that don't and that's a real shame but it's also
• 41:36
  yeah I don't know there's my family is also probably in the same camp if like they
• 41:41
  have taken a bit of backseat which I am not proud of but but it's a choice you've made to focus on
• 41:47
  rather than sitting there and thinking like oh blah blah it's like no no you chose that like
• 41:52
  you chose your work and you can unchoose it as well you can very much unchoose it and choose
• 41:57
  different priorities I think it's just you're right it's having that control um and realizing
• 42:02
  okay if I'm going to put this meeting ahead of my exercise I need to be okay with that otherwise
• 42:10
  don't do it yeah you know like it's kind of yeah it's like you you are the master of your own
• 42:14
  exactly you have no one else to look for to say like oh that you didn't let me do my yoga class
• 42:20
  it's like no no that's my control i have control over that um and i think i think that's when i was
• 42:25
  saying like embracing saying no this probably comes into them yeah yeah because because saying
• 42:30
  no to something means you've said yes to something else yes and so you yeah you can't and you can't
• 42:36
  say yes to everything no you don't want to be saying no to everything but you just actually
• 42:41
  physically can't say yes to all of it and i think um yeah like the seasons thing is really important
• 42:47
  you know like there's a season in your life that you're prioritizing there's business cycles
• 42:52
  economic cycles there's personal cycles like i i used to exercise so much i i was like a competitive
• 42:58
  athlete when i was younger i my body is used to exercising a lot but you also weren't running a
• 43:02
  business exactly and you weren't yeah and again it's like maybe yeah but it's also like i've now
• 43:08
  like i've chosen to do this not all those things can be happening at the same time it's like i
• 43:15
  think there's a bit of peace in accepting that it's a choice not a something you can't control
• 43:19
  yes yeah oh goals for next year okay so emily's just butted in sorry that was so rude she's not
• 43:26
  butted in she's told us that she's got a wrap-up of our goals from last year and do we want to
• 43:32
  listen and my answer is kind of yes but also scared let's do it I want to have bought a house
• 43:38
  in New Zealand in New Zealand yeah nice because I want to do it as an investment property yeah I
• 43:42
  want to have six months of emergency fund which I think by my calculations I should have by like
• 43:47
  April and then by the end of the year another five thousand on top of that back into the stock market
• 43:53
  my financial goal is to be in a position to buy a house in the UK whether that means me saving
• 44:02
  a lot of money this year, sorry, next year to be able to afford that or selling down,
• 44:08
  selling my house in Auckland.
• 44:09
  But I just want to be financially stable and secure here in the UK.
• 44:14
  And that means buying my own house.
• 44:16
  I want to kind of double our existing staff.
• 44:19
  I want that to be a function of the business is doubled in terms of its growth, its revenue,
• 44:24
  that it means that it can sustain another 10 staff.
• 44:27
  And I want our audience to be half UK based.
• 44:31
  Okay, my business one is I want the curve to be a household name in the UK.
• 44:35
  So good.
• 44:36
  I want to be in the podcast charts for finance and business in the UK.
• 44:41
  And I want us to be asked to be on Grace Beverly and Stephen Barlett's podcast.
• 44:45
  Okay, mine is to have found a more happy balance between Mexican version of myself
• 44:51
  when I was like meditating every day, doing yoga all the time,
• 44:56
  kind of living in a commune sort of situation,
• 44:58
  and business self, which is the opposite of that.
• 45:01
  I want to try and find a happy medium.
• 45:03
  Yeah.
• 45:03
  I just,
• 45:03
  I don't have the balance.
• 45:04
  Right.
• 45:05
  So,
• 45:05
  you know,
• 45:05
  the whole mental,
• 45:06
  physical health thing,
• 45:07
  I'm still figuring out how to nail that.
• 45:09
  God,
• 45:09
  we were absolutely on fire without,
• 45:11
  but I aim high.
• 45:12
  Yeah.
• 45:12
  God.
• 45:13
  Yeah.
• 45:13
  I mean,
• 45:13
  I'd like to replace all.
• 45:14
  I want to use the exact same ones this year though.
• 45:16
  Same.
• 45:17
  My financial one is to buy a house in London.
• 45:19
  Uh,
• 45:20
  my business one is to have successfully launched the new phase of the curve.
• 45:27
  and my personal one is to be more content and present and be where my feet are i love that so
• 45:36
  so yeah much i don't know where you got that from but it's so beautiful so simple be where my feet
• 45:41
  are that's so gorgeous i want to be earning a bit more i want to have like more of a market rate
• 45:47
  salary i think i can't keep i can't keep doing the whole yeah getting to a couple of weeks into
• 45:53
  the month and and not being able to do anything it's stressing me out too much so I want yeah
• 45:58
  I would like that um from a financial standpoint I don't really have any massive audacious goals
• 46:05
  in terms of wanting to buy in the I'm so far away from being able to buy in the UK I don't know
• 46:11
  I want to have a salary that is allowing me to live my life as well as investing
• 46:15
  yeah I think that it's really difficult on the amount we earn to be doing both of those things
• 46:21
  like I've earned more before and I was able to invest more you know I think it's just
• 46:25
  there's only so much that you can stretch and there's only so much you can cut back on
• 46:29
  yeah so for me I'd like to feel like I'm able to sustain my life as well as moving forward
• 46:33
  but I started putting down like I want to have 50,000 on the stock market I was like where are
• 46:37
  you getting the 50 from like where on earth are you gonna pull that money you know what I mean like
• 46:42
  yeah I was like I need to be realistic here not too ambitious I would love to have three
• 46:48
  sorry for business I'd love to have three big ongoing partnerships like we do have with BNZ
• 46:53
  at the moment from like different sectors yeah nice I think it would be really great to have
• 46:57
  several really special important long-term partners that we work with on a long period
• 47:03
  like over a long period of time I think I think ultimately as well from a business perspective
• 47:07
  like not there's this thing called OPEX which is like your operating expenses I feel like I would
• 47:13
  like to not be constantly getting wrinkles from the operating expense line and I think that probably
• 47:19
  comes into the visibility of a couple of other long-term partners right where you have it's like
• 47:23
  where you talk about with um investments if you can see that there's you know I don't know a company
• 47:29
  has contracts with the government for four four years you you have revenue visibility you can make
• 47:34
  decisions based on that I think that for us that would be really yeah stabilizing um and I really
• 47:41
  want the business here in the uk to be i guess to feel as strong from a brand perspective as it does
• 47:47
  in the southern hemisphere yeah i really want to collaborate with other brands and creators and
• 47:52
  stuff over here to build the uk i think being over here for a period of time is one thing but
• 47:57
  actively trying to grow that is another so i think that's really important for the curve to like
• 48:03
  actually be a global platform we need to have global audience and we do have that but i want to
• 48:07
  to you just want to grow yeah i'm also hearing myself thinking this needs to be way more tangible
• 48:12
  i need to do the whole smart goal thing be like by 12 you've been really good at being like i want
• 48:17
  a house within the year whereas i'm like i want to be more successful yeah it's like a bit wishy
• 48:22
  oh my god i'm totally deleting that oh my god how embarrassing i had a personal one oh do i want to
• 48:28
  share that yeah oh my god so personal like do i want to share that okay okay i want to i want to
• 48:36
  travel more firstly I want to be able to actually see more of the world I think that I get really
• 48:42
  lit up by travel and I think not doing that has been has affected my like joy levels but I don't
• 48:47
  think I feel comfortable sharing that I can read it for you want me to read it for you no because
• 48:51
  I think well it's can you not make you not take the personal I read it I won't I want to be in a
• 48:55
  relationship with someone I really love feel as though I'm a good friend to all my favorite people
• 49:00
  who are scattered all over the world and I want to get a dog you can always have me so can I yeah
• 49:05
  I'd love to have me so um ditch her with me when you go to New Zealand yeah we'll do but I think
• 49:10
  I think for me it's like what you learned last year and you actually did something about in terms
• 49:16
  of like prioritizing your life and your friends and people you've done it I don't think I have
• 49:22
  like I look around and I'm like been a shit friend I've been a really shit daughter I've been like
• 49:27
  I haven't prioritized my relationships like whether it be romantic or otherwise and I really
• 49:32
  don't want to look back in 12 months and have done the same thing again I just think there's so many
• 49:35
  things like big life events that happen with from people getting sick to people getting married to
• 49:40
  people having kids and I think that I'm so focused on myself honestly and what's happening in my
• 49:46
  little orbit because I don't and I don't really have a huge amount of space for other people and
• 49:51
  I think that's that's something I'm like really not proud of I also think as you get older naturally
• 49:56
  your friendship group shrinks right because you're just like this is gonna happen no no I'm just
• 50:00
  Meaning like you also have friends that you can catch up with once a year and it's like no different.
• 50:06
  Do you know what I mean?
• 50:07
  I just don't want to be that kind of friend.
• 50:08
  I think that I've thought about it a lot.
• 50:10
  And, you know, like I look at my relationship breakdown last year and like I don't think that was only because of work.
• 50:16
  But I think a lot of it was focusing so much on work.
• 50:19
  And then I look at my friendships and I think you're right.
• 50:22
  Like, yes, there's friends that you can catch up with once a year and it'd be fine.
• 50:26
  but like that's not a particularly fulfilling friendship and something that's going to make
• 50:29
  me feel really good about myself or like i'm you know not so like the center of my own universe
• 50:35
  like i don't want that to be the case so yeah i think it's definitely a work on for me it's been
• 50:41
  a bit of a therapy session yeah i'm sorry i feel like i feel like i need to crack a joke or something
• 50:45
  just to like lighten the mood but they are quite therapy they are quite therapy sessions right
• 50:49
  because it's like we are thinking of we're reviewing the year how we felt and what do we
• 50:55
  want to take and what do we not want to take into next year yeah but I'm just like the fact that we
• 50:59
  put it out publicly for people to listen to I'm like it's quite confronting because I think from
• 51:04
  the outside when you see like all the fun and games like on social media or like the little
• 51:09
  snippets of our life that we share in the podcast running a business is really hard you know and I
• 51:14
  think that we don't often talk about that publicly you know like our community and building this this
• 51:20
  brand and actually helping women invest is like so ingrained in like how hard we work
• 51:26
  but it is at the sacrifice of other things and I think that it's probably important to acknowledge
• 51:31
  it within ourselves and also it's also so rewarding right so rewarding when you get a
• 51:36
  message from someone in the community that they've just bought their first house thanks to the curve
• 51:41
  or they've just navigated their divorce thanks to our episode with Helen Baker you know like it's
• 51:48
  just you're like oh my goodness we're actually helping people and we're growing as people as
• 51:57
  well and I think that's yeah it's kind of we just need to be careful not to swing too far either way
• 52:03
  which it sounds like to me from the fact that this is probably what I've said for three years
• 52:07
  I almost feel like this is going to be like my lifelong mission is to try and get balance
• 52:11
  yeah because I'm quite an extreme person you know I'm I don't really do things by halves or like sit
• 52:17
  in the gray zone particularly well so I think it wouldn't matter if it was the curve or something
• 52:22
  else I think that for me like balance is something that is like an eternal work on you know like I
• 52:27
  don't think I'll ever fully nail it and I think yeah I think even if I look at my parents right
• 52:32
  they're still working on it and they've got lots of time in the world
• 52:39
  you know balance with like exercise family like making sure they're still socializing like all
• 52:44
  of there like it's this constant balance I think and you're probably it's all about being speaking
• 52:49
  to yourself nicely I think if anyone would like to share the things that they've learned or yeah
• 52:55
  I don't know if you're listening to this and whatever streaming platform you're on if there's
• 52:58
  something you feel comfortable sharing I know that I mean the reason we continue to do this and like
• 53:04
  be quite vulnerable with the stuff that's not always pretty uh is because I think when you
• 53:09
  share it makes it easier for other people to acknowledge and share as well so if you're
• 53:14
  listening to this and maybe there's something you've learned or something you don't want to
• 53:17
  take into next year because it hasn't served you in 2025 then just yeah comment wherever you're
• 53:22
  listening to your podcast or or send us a note because it's yeah it's quite nice to hear other
• 53:27
  people's outside of just okay now back in my echo chamber and we'll be back is this the last episode
• 53:35
  of the year.
• 53:36
  Yes.
• 53:37
  So everybody, have a good holiday.
• 53:39
  Have a good Christmas.
• 53:41
  Have a bloody break.
• 53:42
  Have a drink.
• 53:43
  Have a sleep.
• 53:44
  Have a, just do some fun stuff.
• 53:46
  Have some mince pies.
• 53:48
  Have a lie on the beach or a.
• 53:50
  Play in the snow.
• 53:51
  Play in the snow.
• 53:52
  Read a good book.
• 53:53
  I am so excited.
• 53:55
  I've just been, got so many books to read.
• 53:58
  How many?
• 53:58
  Are you going to try to get through?
• 53:59
  Well, I'm like, do I take back?
• 54:01
  Or do I just buy them there?
• 54:02
  You know.
• 54:03
  Oh, to New Zealand.
• 54:04
  Language wise.
• 54:04
  Surely you don't take heaps of books
• 54:06
  No I know but I've just got quite a few that I want to read
• 54:08
  Probably got about five
• 54:09
  Do you think you'll get through that in a couple of weeks?
• 54:11
  Probably
• 54:12
  Yeah hopefully
• 54:14
  We'll see we've got lots of book reviews coming
• 54:16
  I was going to say
• 54:17
  No yeah we hope you guys have a really good Christmas and New Year
• 54:22
  And take a break
• 54:23
  We're taking a break
• 54:24
  We're taking a break for the podcast for a couple of weeks
• 54:27
  So we'll be back I think the second week of Jan
• 54:29
  First or second week of Jan
• 54:30
  I think the 8th of January is our first episode
• 54:33
  But don't miss us too much
• 54:34
  We've got lots of, there's lots of archive episodes you can listen to if you would like
• 54:37
  to, you know, upskill or learn while we're away.
• 54:41
  But otherwise, we'll see you on the 8th of June.
• 54:43
  See you then.
• 54:44
  Have a good holiday.
• 54:46
  Bye.
• 54:47
  Thank you so much for listening to Raising the Curb.
• 54:49
  These conversations are designed to teach you everything you need to know to be better
• 54:52
  with your money, from saving to investing to talking with your friends about your salaries,
• 54:56
  all of that stuff.
• 54:57
  And if you like what you heard, we would love if you could please hit subscribe wherever
• 55:00
  you're listening and leave a comment.
• 55:02
  And let us know what you thought about the episode.
• 55:04
  And it only takes one second and it would really make our week, our month, our year.
• 55:08
  Yeah.
• 55:08
  Yeah.
• 55:09
  So please do it.
• 55:10
  Okay.
• 55:10
  Love you.
• 55:11
  Bye.
• 55:12
  Okay, quickly.
• 55:13
  The curve was created to empower and educate you about investing, but we are not financial advisors.
• 55:18
  Our platform exists for educational purposes only, and it doesn't provide personalized
• 55:22
  investing advice for your individual needs and should not be relied upon to make an investment
• 55:26
  or financial decision.
• 55:28
  and always remember to do your own research before making any investment or financial decision
• 55:32
  we're here for any knowledge and support you need but the final call is always yours
• 55:36
  and thanks for being here you got this yeah we know you got this