Latest / The Curve / RTC92: What we’ve learnt in 2023.

Transcript

RTC92: What we’ve learnt in 2023. · The Curve

0:00
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How often do you go to the supermarket and buy stuff you do not need?
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I do this more than I like to admit.
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Welcome to Raising the Curve.
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A podcast designed to teach you everything you need to know to be better with your money.
0:31
And the wise words of Amy Schumer were slipping carrots into the brownie recipe.
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I don't really get the saying.
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It's kind of like eating vegetables that actually taste good.
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You know, it's still not working.
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Are you on the script?
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It's basically like saying, investing in finance can be boring.
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But it totally doesn't need to be here.
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Okay, okay, so we're making it fun by putting the carrot.
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Carrot?
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Okay, the vegetables are just good for you.
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It's the brownie recipe.
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Okay, we got there, we got there.
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Okay.
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Well, you've really got a finance way.
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Yeah, one of us has to.
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This is a joke.
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Okay, come and learn alongside me from Vic Harris, ex-fun manager,
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where I'm going to ask all the questions that you wish you could.
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And I'm going to be eating all the brownie you wish you could.
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No, it's so not the joke, Vic.
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Okay, just come and talk and learn and laugh with us,
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because together we really can raise the curve.
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This is a slightly different format for us.
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It's the end of the year.
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You know, why not mix things up?
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We did an episode when we first moved to London about the things
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that we've learned.
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Do you remember that?
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And it was just like fun, little, tiny thing.
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Yeah.
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And it was one of our most listened to episodes.
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I was kind of shocked that anyone cared to be honest.
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Oh, yeah.
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Like, I just remember doing it being like, is this self-indulgent?
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Like, does anyone care?
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And we were kind of like complaining.
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Yeah.
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And then, like, we're like flights to Europe or so,
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it's like, oh, he's 10 New Zealand dollars.
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Yeah, it's so true.
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But in today's episode, we thought, let's just do a wrap up of the year.
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So we'll talk about our money and our business lessons from 2023.
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So we've both gone away in our own time and thought about five
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that we're going to share.
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Have you done your homework, Vic?
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I have.
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Oh, good girl.
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But yeah, I think there's been like a whole learning for both of us personally
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and professionally.
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Maybe actually before we get into the five lessons,
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let's just do a year-end review.
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Like, don't bore everyone with every single detail,
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but just give some highlights and lowlights of the year before we get into it.
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Well, get comfortable.
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So get a cup of tea.
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No, so there's been a lot of big life changes for me this year.
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Yeah.
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So I think the biggest, well, the two biggest ones,
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firstly, going full-time at the curve.
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I kind of forgot.
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Yeah, I know.
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I feel like I've been working on the curve for years.
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Well, we have, but like, you know, not full-time.
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It feels like so much longer than just February.
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Which is a good thing, I guess.
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And then, as a, you know, when people are like,
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oh, it's just been 10 years and it's flown by.
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Like, I don't feel like that.
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Yeah.
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Personally, for me, it was always in the pipeline.
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And I always wanted to get there and join you and be full-time.
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But financially, we couldn't.
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And so finally getting there, not only from like a business perspective,
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but from a personal perspective was super awesome.
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And just having that purpose and drive and mission and focus.
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I don't know, it just makes works so much more interesting,
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so much more rewarding.
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There was also a lot of tension, I think, for you,
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feeling torn between, of course, you want to do a good job
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for your funds that you're managing.
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Well, also wanting to, you know, you're kind of pulled
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in a million directions.
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So probably quite a relief to finally be like,
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okay, I can focus 100% of my energy.
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Totally.
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Having a sole focus.
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And just what, what we could achieve or what,
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you're just having that extra hours in the day.
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I was just like, oh, thank goodness.
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It's not like, oh, yeah, I'll get that to you in the weekend,
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which is five days away, because I don't have any time to do it.
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So yeah, no, that was awesome.
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And the other big one moving to London,
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which is so funny, because when Sophie mentioned this,
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I was like, no, I quite like being in New Zealand.
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And then I was like, okay, I'll go for four months.
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Now I'm like, I don't want to go home.
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I spoke to the guest, and I was like, how are you going?
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Like, I kind of miss London.
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And I was like, yeah.
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I don't need to say it's been easy, because it hasn't.
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I think any move overseas, any move for a job or anything is,
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you're getting out of your comfort zone.
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There's going to be challenges.
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You move into a different city.
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Things are different.
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Friends are different.
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Living situations different.
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Commutes.
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You know, just everything is different,
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because you're into different city.
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And so I think the trade off of the opportunities that we've had in London,
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you know, it's kind of the sacrifice you make.
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It's also been super fun from a personal level as well.
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But then the upcoming home recently, I think,
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has made me realize how important friends and family are
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and how you need to nurture those relationships as well, definitely,
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because when you're living abroad, it's very easy for a few weeks,
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a few months to fly by and not keep in touch.
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So it's really important when I'm here to spend quality time
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with friends and family.
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So I remember when I was younger,
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and my mom would be like, oh, I haven't seen a friend in five years.
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I was like, yeah, I haven't seen them in five whole years.
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They're not your friend.
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Yeah.
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And now it's just like time goes so quickly.
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And I feel like I've just called up with someone,
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and it was six months ago.
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Well, especially when everyone's busy.
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Everyone's got their own shit going on.
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For sure.
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Whether it's children or family or business or health.
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Yeah, it's almost like you just have to prioritise and make time.
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And also a bit be a bit, I guess, accepting,
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like just realize that people are all going through different things.
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And Sophie, what about your year in review?
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I was kind of similar to you.
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Like, remember when I was like, let's go to London for a few months.
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I kind of at this point got into like a bit of a groove in New Zealand too.
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Like I was really comfortable.
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I loved my flat.
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I was loving with two girls that I was like really good friends.
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It was so nice.
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And then it was kind of just like exactly what you said,
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that like mixing up the changing of pace and place and having to move
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and all of that stuff.
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It took me a while to kind of land here.
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There was a moment before we left.
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So I was like, should we really go?
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I was like, girl, I'm a planner.
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I've been planning this.
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I was literally like, would you still go if I didn't?
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It's like, yes, I'm going.
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I was like, okay.
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Yeah.
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I had a bit of a quarter life crisis in London for sure.
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The whole blowing out with my money and having to pull all of my
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funds out of my shesies account.
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And you know, that was like a whole saga.
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The whole money reset, one of our courses,
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was sort of born from that incident which turned out to be
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quite stressful.
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Like there was a zero financial planning for me.
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You definitely did have steps in place in terms of your investment.
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You had investments.
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You had an emergency fund.
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All of that.
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It was just London's more expensive than we thought.
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Do you know what I mean?
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You have a plan in place.
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You have a budget.
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No, but I didn't.
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I didn't have a budget or a plan.
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I hadn't actually done that, which is so ridiculous in hindsight.
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So I was kind of slowly eating away at that and just drawing things out
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every month and making no effort to look at what I was spending.
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And I've basically fluttered away about 17k,
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which is like kind of ridiculous.
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No, it's not even kind of, it's extremely ridiculous.
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But I've really good lesson.
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And I've been slowly building up my emergency fund and things like that.
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But I'm definitely, I don't feel like I'm finishing the year being like,
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oh, all of a sudden I'm on a great financial situation.
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Like I'm still not.
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And that has been stressful.
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I'd be lying if I said it has been.
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I do think this sort of tail end of this year has turned round in terms of
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the beautiful home I'm living in in London with the most amazing people.
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I love London as well.
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The diversity and the opportunity over here is like massively inspiring.
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So I feel, I feel like these big things to come both for us as people
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and as friends, but also as a business, which is exciting.
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And I think you have to have those periods of what the fuck.
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You know, like it's kind of you've got to go through the shit sometimes
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to realize the good times are actually really fucking good.
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Definitely.
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I just sometimes get a bit sick of being in and out of the shit.
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You know, sometimes it's like a bit of a stint of something that's a bit more stable.
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Just for a minute, you know, sometimes it's exhausting.
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But what was one big lesson that you learnt about money or business this year?
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One of the biggest lessons I've learnt is how to live on a significantly reduced salary
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and one of the most expensive cities in the world, you know, going from earning
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nearly 300,000 to $100,000 is, you know, pretty, pretty wild.
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And obviously with any one in that situation, there's a lot of things you have to cut back on
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and things you can't afford and things you have to adjust in terms of your living situation
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and I definitely felt that.
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I think in the early, in the early months, I was probably still living
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like I was on a $3,000 salary and just dipping into my savings
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and then quickly realised, oh, this is not sustainable.
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Your savings don't go up, you know, as much as you're spending them.
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So it was kind of like, okay, you need to be able to live on this salary
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and not different to your savings because this is your new life.
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And when you save savings, you mean investments, right?
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Yeah.
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And so it was just a case of, I guess having that conversation myself,
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do I really need this, cutting back on spending on clothes, for example,
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selling clothes that I don't need rather than just keeping them
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because that extra income would be, would be great.
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Things like having conversations with banks about, you know,
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how I can go interest only instead of paying my mortgage and my interest.
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So then I've got extra cash.
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Little things like walking instead of getting an Uber.
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Have you actually done that? I'm really impressed.
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Gosh, yes.
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Yeah, instead of getting an Uber or like, do I need a drink with that?
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No, I can just have the food, you know, all that kind of stuff adds up.
9:52
I have done this that actually.
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Or stuff like mainly around clothes and discretionary spending.
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I think clothes is a really hard one.
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Someone actually messaged about that on Instagram the other day saying,
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I'd love to have a conversation around how can I love fashion and clothes,
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but also not have blowouts because I fully understand that.
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There's such massive items and they're an investment.
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Yeah.
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And then not necessarily something you say for all of a sudden,
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I'm just like, blah, I'm going to spend all this money on clothes
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and you're like, shit, I kind of thought that.
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So I do understand that.
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It's also I've realized coming back to New Zealand,
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clothes that I haven't worn for six months.
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I'm like, why do I keep these?
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They're way better off when someone else's wardrobe, you know,
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I'm going to put them on, trade me on designer wardrobe and sell them.
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And where I have to get the money.
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And then it's like almost cleansing as well.
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I'm like, oh, I've got less shit.
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Okay.
10:42
So your first one is how to a, adjust your lifestyle
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so that you're not lifestyle creeping basically.
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Yes.
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What's your one side?
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Okay.
10:52
Emergency funds.
10:53
Emergency funds.
10:54
Emergency funds.
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Before emergency.
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Yeah.
10:58
Honestly, that's not something I struggle with.
11:00
It's not the idea of like only users in an emergency.
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It's the fact that they are so important, a, and b,
11:06
you always need two times more than what you think in your emergency fund.
11:10
Yeah.
11:11
I think so I originally gave myself a $5,000 emergency fund.
11:15
I guess how much is in my emergency fund now?
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Zero.
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So I have got $1,551 in 2016.
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That's amazing though, at least there's something in there.
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So that's, I think you should not beat yourself up too much about that.
11:28
I know.
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I've had to pay a lot of medical expenses lately.
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And I think, although it's not an emergency, it was kind of an emergency.
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And sometimes when you get a specialist appointment, if you've been waiting
11:39
that for that for a really long time, you can't be like, um,
11:43
is there a payment plan or can I listen on the time?
11:47
So that's definitely been a learning for me.
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I think just the emergency fund like has been both a good thing.
11:53
And it's the first time in my whole life that I've had one and actively thought
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Kay, leave it at $5,000, leave it at $5,000.
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But I think actually I probably need $8,000.
12:03
And the thought of building it up again is actually really daunting if I'm being honest.
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Like the fact that I'm going to go home for two months and not be paying rent,
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I'm like, I think God, I can build my emergency fund back up.
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But it is a bit of a stressful situation to be in.
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I think also it's like a realization of you can't plan for everything.
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So the more support and of a safety net that you can have.
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So when shit doesn't go to plan, the better.
12:26
Yeah.
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But even the fact that you said, you know, I realize that $5,000 is enough.
12:30
I need $8,000.
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Yeah, you can never plan for everything in life.
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But if you want to reduce that stress, having an emergency fund
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definitely helps with that.
12:39
Yeah.
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So if you know how I can build my emergency fund back up to $8,000 really quickly,
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any tips, tricks, always welcome.
12:47
Okay, what's your number two?
12:48
My number two is, gosh, I wish I had told my younger self about lifestyle group.
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Kind of comes back to the first one around how I can live on a significant
12:59
redrew salary now.
13:01
So why wasn't I doing that before?
13:03
You know, all these pay rises I got over my career bonuses,
13:07
you know, all of that I would have been in much better financial situation now
13:12
if I had known about lifestyle creep and not let it happen.
13:16
Particularly when you're younger and you don't have a mortgage,
13:19
you don't have all these really chunky expenses.
13:22
It's like, that's a key thing to remember.
13:24
If you're listening, you're in your 20s.
13:25
It's like so much easier to save money when you're younger.
13:29
And it does mean that, you know, the sooner you can do it when you're younger,
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the less you have to save when you're older.
13:35
And I think I just wish I'd known.
13:37
Yes, I did invest and I did save when I was in my 20s.
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But I just, I could have done a lot more if I'd been a bit more conscious of my spending.
13:44
And it's strict on what I spent my money on.
13:46
Yeah.
13:47
Okay, that's a really good one.
13:48
Okay, my next one is figuring out what your financial values are.
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It's where the magic happens.
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So for example, I just spent $700 on a one-hour medical appointment,
14:02
which I didn't think twice about.
14:04
Okay, that's not true.
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I saw the invoice and I thought, oh, holy moly.
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But I was like, okay, that's a no-brainer.
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Like, I'm definitely, I need to pay for that.
14:13
But they also, I want to pay for that.
14:15
I wanted answers and I wanted to speak to someone.
14:18
So that was really massive.
14:20
But I think also then, to think how easy it was to spend $700 on that appointment,
14:24
made me realize the times that I'm ironing and ironing about things,
14:28
whether it be going out for dinner, whether it be a new whatever.
14:32
It should be really obvious what feels good and what doesn't.
14:37
And understanding your financial values, I think, for me has been really massive.
14:40
Like, even the other night I was meant to go out for dinner,
14:42
there was a bunch of people going out.
14:44
And I had this little incline like, oh, I don't reckon you should go.
14:47
Like, you can't really afford this if it ends up being expensive.
14:50
Yeah.
14:51
Anyway, I am so glad that I did not go.
14:54
Yeah.
14:55
They spent like a hundred pounds on dinner.
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And I just, there's just no way I could have done that.
14:59
And I knew I had a bit of a feeling.
15:01
And I think just following that, it's almost like you've got a bit of a gut
15:04
when it comes to everything, not just love, but also like pay attention
15:09
to how you feel when you're spending money.
15:11
Because it's going to be really obvious when you feel okay about it.
15:14
And really obvious when you don't, if you actually start to tune in.
15:16
And so I think for me, that was a really big one.
15:18
Hmm.
15:19
That you love meal kits, don't you?
15:22
Oh, I love them.
15:24
They're just so stress free.
15:26
You get home and dinner is pretty much there.
15:29
You just need to cook it.
15:30
Different meal every night.
15:32
I love it.
15:33
Yeah.
15:34
Yeah, I do think the idea of like not having to think about what you're cooking
15:37
that night takes so much brain power out.
15:42
And also having to go to the supermarket.
15:44
Because I often don't love doing a giant supermarket shop at the end of the week
15:48
or the start of the week.
15:49
So then I'm like, oh, well, if I've got a cook, I've got to also go to the supermarket.
15:53
Yeah.
15:54
And if you come home and then say it's raining and then you're like,
15:57
oh, I've got to go back outside again.
15:59
Oh, you know, it's like everything is there ready to go.
16:03
And especially when you're hungry and you're like, okay,
16:05
I have about five minutes for him to lose my, oh, I'm so true.
16:08
I mean, you've used hello for a really long time.
16:11
And the one thing that I remember you saying to me is like the ingredients are obviously
16:15
firstly, they're high quality, but they are coming like fresh and ready to go.
16:19
And it's not like, I think often what happens to me is I have,
16:22
I'm like, okay, cool, I've got to cook something.
16:24
And then my like floppy broccoli and my floppy lettuce is like starting to lose
16:29
so much moisture that it's like looking horrific.
16:32
And it's so unenticing.
16:34
You're like, oh, I have to cook dinner with this floppy broccoli.
16:37
They've got like fresh herbs, fresh meat, fresh produce that's seasonal.
16:42
And you're just like, yes, and it's interesting.
16:45
It's healthy.
16:47
Yeah, it's delicious as well.
16:49
I love the idea that there's like not as much money or food waste too.
16:54
Because for example, if you're ordering hello fresh and it's coming to your door
16:58
and you've picked two people for dinner, you're not going to have five kgs of rice
17:03
that you have to go through.
17:05
And for me, not only are my portion of ideas absolutely totally off
17:10
in terms of how much food I need for people.
17:12
But I hate the idea of wasting stuff.
17:15
The fact that it saves money, food waste, time, stress, I'm like, oh, sign me up.
17:19
And I think my favorite thing for hello fresh is that, you know,
17:22
it's yum delicious meals that change every day, every week.
17:26
And you don't have to go to the supermarket at the end of a long day.
17:30
I think that is hands down the best thing.
17:32
Yeah, yeah.
17:33
For the queen of efficiency, she's like, I don't want to go to the supermarket.
17:37
I don't want to plan.
17:38
I don't.
17:39
I want to get my food is there.
17:41
Yeah.
17:42
Yeah, yummy meals with hello fresh.
17:46
I think my third one kind of is a bit contradictory to the first one,
17:51
but let me explain.
17:53
My first one being I've had to adjust to living on a lower salary.
17:56
I got back to New Zealand and had bills coming out my eyeballs.
18:01
A little sub lesson of this is that, you know, make sure all your communication is online,
18:05
not in paper, if you're living overseas, because I came back to a mountain of mail.
18:12
A lot of it was kind of flyers and stuff, but then there was a lot of parking ticket,
18:16
gone to Bay Corp.
18:17
Okay, now we're going to take it as I say, oh, gosh, for like a $35 parking ticket
18:22
that I just didn't get.
18:24
And then there was other ones like my insurance, my contents in my house.
18:29
You know, little things like that.
18:30
I'm like, oh, shit, sorry, sorry.
18:32
Anyway, the old me that would have thrown me into a real tailspin.
18:36
And I would have been like, oh, my gosh, I have so many bills, you know,
18:39
how am I going to get through this?
18:40
Which is kind of surprising when I would have been on a higher salary
18:43
and that would have stressed me out.
18:44
I think putting things in place and being on a lower salary and just being like,
18:50
this is my life now, it hasn't really thrown me into a tailspin as much.
18:54
And I've realized, okay, you might just have to say no to a few more things
18:58
to get through this mountain of debt.
19:00
But also just chip away at it and try not let it consume you.
19:04
Try not to let it stress you out.
19:05
And like all the learning that we've done over the year in terms of the money reset course
19:09
of putting steps in place so that you don't get thrown into financial stress
19:13
if you're indeed all those little things.
19:15
I kind of was like, okay, I actually need to put this into practice now.
19:18
I've been taking your advice.
19:19
That's really good to have.
19:20
Yeah.
19:21
Yeah.
19:22
But also a big thing I've had to learn, which is all part of this number three lesson,
19:26
is also just saying no to things and being open about not being able to forward to go to certain things.
19:32
Like I had a friend's lunch and I said, I actually made up an excuse that I was busy with work
19:37
because I was too embarrassed to say that I couldn't afford, I couldn't go.
19:40
And it's not something that I've had to, it's not an excuse that I've had to use that often.
19:45
So it kind of felt a bit foreign in terms of I can't afford it.
19:49
Yeah, yeah.
19:50
I just, it's not an excuse that I've had to say a lot, which I'm very fortunate.
19:54
I know it was a very fortunate situation to be in.
19:56
And so I think now having those conversations and even with new years,
20:00
I had a whole bunch of friends going to this amazing house.
20:03
And I couldn't literally couldn't afford it.
20:05
And I was like, sorry, I'm really sorry, I'm going to have to pull out.
20:08
Did you say it was because you can't afford it?
20:09
Or did you say another?
20:10
Yeah, no, I did say it with that one.
20:11
Yeah, no, I did say it with that one.
20:12
But then I said for the lunch, I was like, oh, it was $100 a head lunch.
20:15
And I was like, look, I've got meetings.
20:16
I can't kind of tend, which I, which was partly true.
20:19
But the big reason was that I was like, oh, that's just going to be a really expensive day.
20:23
Then you've got alcohol on top of that.
20:24
But then I'm like, why should I be ashamed to say that these are my friends?
20:27
I so get it though.
20:29
It's a really funny and really emotional thing.
20:32
Like I saw you getting Terry just then even talking about it.
20:35
And I don't know what it is because the same thing happened to me the other day.
20:40
Like I was just saying with that dinner and I didn't say I can't afford it.
20:44
I was the same.
20:45
I made an excuse up and I did think at the time, this is really sad.
20:50
Like it's really sad that I, we both work for the curve.
20:54
Like our whole thing is around transparency with money.
20:57
And here I am sitting in this like shame ball, having to make an excuse up.
21:01
Because I don't want to say it said I can't afford something.
21:03
I just don't really know how to get through that.
21:05
Yeah.
21:06
And honestly that I think is, and I appreciate the fact you're acknowledging that the society
21:11
privileged.
21:12
However, it's kind of reassuring for me that you can understand that feeling quite viscerally
21:19
now because you've experienced it recently because you probably haven't felt that for years
21:24
and years and years, you know.
21:26
Yeah, it's just a good reminder not everyone.
21:28
A, not everyone's in position to be able to just like keep up with the whatever.
21:32
But they also like everyone has their own agendas and things that they're prioritising.
21:37
And for you right now, you're prioritising not your social life or going out for every
21:41
meal.
21:42
Hold on.
21:43
Yeah, you just like can't do everything always.
21:44
It's just the reality.
21:45
You've got to pack and choose.
21:46
But it's also, yeah, it's kind of what you say about the curve.
21:49
It's like we've got to finance your education platform.
21:51
We should have our shit together and be able to say yes to everything.
21:54
And it's like, no, no, you don't have to be in that mindset.
21:58
You can be in the mindset of like, no, no, I'm saving for this.
22:00
Or I'm spending my money on something else, not on my social life.
22:03
Do you feel like there's almost a, like a perception to externally have your money sorted
22:08
because of the fact that you're the money expert for the curve?
22:11
Is that kind of what you mean?
22:12
Oh, 100%.
22:14
That's so, yeah, I mean, I get it.
22:16
Like I'm not trying to say it's not fair enough, but it's so.
22:19
It's almost like I feel like if I'm like, I can't afford or I can't do that
22:23
because I'm, you know, it's too expensive.
22:26
It's almost like, of course you can afford it back.
22:29
You've, you've always been able to afford it and you run a financial education platform.
22:33
Like that's bullshit. It's weird.
22:35
But I'm also like, imagine if I got behind on my mortgage
22:39
and couldn't pay my mortgage, my house got repossessed
22:42
and I'm supposed to be a financial expert.
22:44
But there's an added pressure of having my shit together.
22:46
I just think I think the whole reason
22:48
and anyone that sits into this podcast for a long time knows that we're always very honest.
22:52
That's something we try really hard to do.
22:55
And I think right now you're not in a position where you're rolling in it.
22:59
You know, and that's okay.
23:00
That you're choosing your business right now over a $300,000 salary
23:04
and being able to be open about the fact that life's expensive
23:08
and you can't afford everything.
23:09
If anything, I think we'll be reassuring for people listening.
23:11
Who are like, oh, that's got a shits on it.
23:13
It's like she does, but she also can't do everything.
23:16
And we all go through phases.
23:18
Like I think it's really brave and important actually to admit, you know,
23:21
but also I think both of us need to make a bit of like a pact to ourselves
23:24
to also be honest when we kind of hold something rather than making excuse up
23:28
because we shouldn't feel ashamed for saying, actually, it's not in my budget.
23:32
Oh, this is nice therapy session.
23:34
Are you feeling good?
23:35
Yeah. I'm like, try to figure out where I'm up to.
23:37
Oh, yeah, okay.
23:38
You have to spend money to make money.
23:39
Our source work to make space for innovation.
23:42
So this might seem a bit off-piece, like what are you talking about?
23:44
But I really, really never got this concept.
23:47
And I remember you saying to me once, this is actually, this is kind of cute.
23:51
So I remember we were in a taxi on a way back from our Italian holiday
23:55
and we were talking, of course, we were about the podcast about editing.
23:58
And you were like, you know, it's really important that you can outsource editing
24:02
so that you have time to do other things.
24:04
And I honestly remember feeling like, well, if I'm not editing, like what value can I add to this business?
24:09
I was like, isn't that my thing?
24:11
Like, isn't that the thing that I'm like, people would pay me for?
24:15
And I think the fact that you had confidence in me to be able to add value to the curve in other ways
24:21
by outsourcing that.
24:23
But also the idea of when you have your head above water more,
24:27
so you're not kind of like waiting in the weeds or something,
24:31
you have way more perspective to think big picture about how to make more money.
24:38
And I don't necessarily just mean business.
24:40
Like, I think when you're so busy with family life,
24:43
or when you've just got so much going on,
24:45
it's really hard to zoom out of a situation.
24:47
And for me, from like the work standpoint,
24:50
being able to be in a position where the business could outsource out editing
24:54
to Emily, who we love, she's amazing,
24:57
has made the world of difference to me.
24:59
And for what I have realized, I can add value in a business sense
25:03
that hopefully in turn will make more revenue.
25:06
And I think that it sounds like a really simple,
25:09
it sounds like such a simple concept.
25:11
I know.
25:12
I know that you can do more things, but it was honestly a fear of mine.
25:14
Like, it's funny because now Sophie is firing me,
25:16
like so many emails of being like,
25:17
hey, if you've done this, have you done this yet?
25:19
And I'm like, ah, now I need to outsource them.
25:22
Okay, on that, if anyone wants to ask some freelance work,
25:25
you know, I feel pretty into it.
25:27
I'm like, need some help.
25:28
Preferably someone who understands money and the economy,
25:31
and yeah, genuinely, Victoria at the curve.co.nz.
25:35
But yeah, I think for me, that was like,
25:38
really interesting and cool learning.
25:40
Because I think also in this, I don't know if this is going to be
25:42
relatable for anyone that's like, not in business.
25:44
But I think when you're in a small business or a startup,
25:47
you can get really bulked down on spending money
25:49
because you're like, we can't afford it.
25:50
We can't afford anything.
25:51
And it is, it's really easy to want to hold on to that
25:55
sense of control, et cetera.
25:57
But actually, like a freedom that that's given us to be able
26:01
to look like, okay, how can they curve to go over the world?
26:05
It's like so much easier now that they're space to think.
26:08
So I don't know, it was kind of like, sometimes,
26:10
you need to spend money to make money.
26:11
I think it's been a learning for me.
26:13
I like that one.
26:14
I think the other one for me was how important insurance is.
26:17
And I think whether it's travel insurance, health insurance,
26:21
anything.
26:22
I mean, I've kind of known that insurance is important,
26:24
but I think particularly this year,
26:26
being on a reduced salary and, you know, then getting,
26:30
having some health issues or, you know,
26:34
traveling and getting something stolen could really impact you
26:38
financially if you didn't have insurance.
26:40
And you don't have a lot of extra disposable income.
26:43
So for me, it was a real realization that insurance is super,
26:47
super important.
26:48
And it's so funny because whenever I know a lot of people think this
26:51
and whenever you go traveling, you know, you've spent a lot on flights,
26:54
you've spent a lot on accommodation.
26:55
And then you're like, oh, really, do I need insurance?
26:59
Yeah, it won't happen to me.
27:01
And then usually nine times out of ten, it does happen to you.
27:04
But also health insurance as well, I think is a really big one.
27:07
I've had to use it a few times this year.
27:09
And it's so key in terms of you just never know when your house
27:12
going to fail.
27:13
And so it's really important just to have that because if you're
27:16
usually dealing with whether it's pain or anything like that
27:19
to do with your uncomfortableness.
27:21
And the last thing you want is having this financial burden.
27:24
So I know we just need a little shout out to our friends at R&P
27:27
insurance.
27:28
This is not pay for.
27:29
Like a sponsored plug.
27:30
But if you don't know what to do with insurance and you're listening
27:32
to this and you're like, oh, I don't really know.
27:34
I need to get this sorted, look up our R&P insurance
27:37
because Richelle and Philly are lovely.
27:39
And they don't have to sell you anything, you know?
27:41
And they don't do travel insurance or health insurance.
27:43
But yeah, they do insurance, which is good.
27:45
Yeah.
27:46
Okay.
27:47
This one, I didn't even really know if I wanted to share it to be honest.
27:49
I'm not sure if you looked at my notes, but I've been avoiding this
27:52
quite a bit.
27:54
But basically, like, and I, because I haven't fully unpatched
27:56
this myself, yeah, I think I'm still learning, but I have had a
28:00
medical diagnosis in the last couple of weeks, which is why I've
28:04
spent a lot of money on doctors and things like that.
28:07
Gosh, this is kind of easy, isn't it?
28:09
Yes.
28:10
Basically, oh, my God, why am I finding this so hard?
28:12
I'm normally so open about everything.
28:15
Okay.
28:16
My, I'm like, avoiding the title that I say to see Russian.
28:19
I'm just like talking around.
28:20
You're all making the title.
28:21
Yeah.
28:22
Can you say my title, please?
28:23
So, twice what is organization saves you a lot of money.
28:27
The ADHD tax is real.
28:29
Hmm.
28:30
Thank you.
28:31
I have not fully unpatched this yet, and I'm definitely feel emotional
28:35
about it.
28:36
And it's been a really weird few weeks.
28:40
But this year when I had my financial blowout in the middle of the year,
28:44
for anyone that's like followed the podcast or seen on socials,
28:47
I basically got to point where I kind of like had run out of money and had to borrow money
28:50
from a friend.
28:51
It was all very like embarrassing and childish, and I was like quite ashamed of the whole situation.
28:55
Anyway, there's been like lots of things that I've kind of spent super frustrated at myself
29:00
for, whether it be money or other stuff in my personal life.
29:04
And I've just like, Vic and I had quite a few moments where she's like, what is wrong?
29:08
And I'm like, oh, honestly, I don't know.
29:10
I remember we were going to record that podcast one day, and I just fully sat at crime
29:15
before we recorded it because I honestly didn't know it was wrong anyway.
29:18
So now kind of realizing that there is a reason that I struggle with a lot of things
29:23
and organization being one of them, especially with my personal life,
29:27
has massively played into this idea of which I'm now realizing is called,
29:32
and it's an actual thing, the ADHD tax.
29:35
You know, literally the other day I accidentally transferred $1,500 into my old flat account.
29:40
And I had no idea I'd done it, and if my flatmate hadn't been a friend of mine,
29:43
and they're like, hey, LOL, what the fuck?
29:46
You just transferred rent from a flat you haven't been in for six months.
29:49
I'm really lucky that she told me because I genuinely wouldn't have realised.
29:53
And like the amount of times I've forgotten to pay bills or all sorts of things
29:58
and having curd massive fines for it has actually been like financially super detrimental.
30:03
And so I think this is way more common than I realised.
30:07
And there's a lot of, there's a lot of people who messaged me back to that whole
30:11
saga of the middle of the year with the whole like running out of money and then being super just like, what am I doing?
30:16
So you know, there might be a lot of other people who are listening and actually can resonate with this.
30:20
But I think having some kind of neurodivergence is and can be a really brilliant thing.
30:27
And there's like lots of positive things I think that I'm trying to be grateful for
30:32
when it comes to having a brain that works slightly differently.
30:34
But at the same time, when it comes to finances, it's something that I inherently will always struggle with
30:39
more than the average person.
30:41
And I think like setting reminders, making less forcing myself to look at my accounts,
30:46
all of these things that I haven't done up until now.
30:50
And now that I understand why I've avoided them and why I've behaved a certain way,
30:54
I'm like, okay, I can like start to put things in place to mitigate that.
30:57
But if I think about the amount of money that I have like lost or wasted throughout my life,
31:01
based on disorganisation when it comes to money,
31:04
as a cause of ADHD is like quite massive.
31:07
So I think it's just putting things in place for yourself and in systems
31:11
and being brave enough to like look at the situation i.e. your bank account
31:15
and be like, okay, what do I need to do here?
31:17
Because bearing your head in the sand and doing what I did for 32 years
31:21
is not conducive to a long-term flourishing financial situation.
31:26
Yeah, thanks for sharing that one stuff.
31:29
I was so close to crying.
31:31
That would have not been cool.
31:33
I was like, really felt myself from like, come on.
31:36
I think this kind of comes into my last one as well, around how much.
31:41
I think this year I've definitely noticed and I think it's a function of getting
31:45
working with you, getting interesting guests on the podcast,
31:49
just researching, attending events, all that stuff.
31:53
I think I've just realised how much my upbringing, my environment,
31:58
my schooling, my friend group, where I've lived,
32:02
has impacted my beliefs, my morals.
32:06
I don't know, like I just had never thought about it as much as I have this year,
32:10
I think, around how conditioned we are by the environments that we grew up in.
32:15
And maybe it's being in London and just seeing you could walk make it down the street
32:19
and no one would give a fuck, you know, like that kind of thing.
32:22
And don't get me wrong, but I love my upbringing and everything
32:26
and my family and where I've lived and all of that.
32:30
I just think it was kind of this light bulb moment this year of like, wow,
32:33
the world's a big place.
32:34
And there is some fucking interesting people that look and function
32:39
and so different to you and how cool is it that you've been able to talk to them
32:44
and interview them and learn from them and expand your horizons.
32:48
And yeah, I just hope that for the world that more people can have
32:54
but more of an open mind and be around people that can educate them
32:59
and have a different view on things and look at things in a different light.
33:04
And I think that's been a real eye-opener for me this year.
33:08
I love that and I think it's, I think also when it comes to money and privilege
33:13
and expectives and everything that we have learnt by the amazing podcast
33:19
that we've had this year.
33:20
I think what you realise is, yes, you're right.
33:23
Like society and you're upbringing and your echo chamber and your life.
33:27
Of course, there's going to dictate a huge amount of your views and opinions
33:31
and things, of course, of course.
33:32
But it's kind of up to us to look outside of that and really like seek out your ideas
33:37
and new perspectives and ways of thinking and understanding
33:41
that's broader than what you see in front of you because we're super lucky
33:45
like through the curve podcast, we've actively sought that out.
33:49
And I hope that people listening have felt like they've learnt alongside us too
33:53
and had that sort of change of perspective when it comes to different things.
33:56
But I also think it's up to us as individuals to actively be always learning.
34:01
And I think it's such a good one, but.
34:03
Thank you.
34:04
Okay, my last one is just, it's fucking hard to invest regularly.
34:08
Yeah, for think of it as a necessity and like a fixed expense like rent.
34:12
It takes five minutes to automate.
34:14
Yeah.
34:15
But the difference that it's going to make for me in retirement
34:18
by just putting $75 a week into my account is crazy.
34:23
And at the moment, obviously, 75s all that I can afford,
34:26
like that is actually still a massive stretch for me.
34:28
But I think that the thing I've learnt is like, don't bet yourself up
34:32
if you don't have much to invest right now.
34:35
And if you take anything away from all of my rambles and this podcast,
34:38
it would be please, please, please, please, please.
34:40
I look at your accounts and be figure out how much you actually can take out each month
34:44
as a fixed expense.
34:46
Not as an option, not as a maybe, but as like something that you have to pay for.
34:52
And I think that minds shift and knowing how much does each month,
34:55
each month, and just doing it as an automatic thing is so game changer.
35:01
You know, the money reset starts early next year.
35:03
If you have no idea and that's overwhelming for you,
35:05
you're like, I have no idea how to even figure out how much I could do.
35:08
It's fine.
35:09
Like there's so many online resources.
35:11
The time that you will spend figuring out how much you can invest regularly.
35:14
Yeah.
35:15
And pay for itself multiple times over.
35:17
Yeah. Like half an hour, you spent doing that probably a million dollars.
35:21
It's just so worth it.
35:23
Yeah.
35:24
I feel like really vulnerable.
35:26
It's like emotionally draining.
35:28
I'm like, oh, I just don't feel like I brought any fun ones.
35:30
I know what all pretty serious.
35:32
I would actually love if you're listening to this and you feel like you want to
35:37
send us a message and let us know what you feel like you've learnt this year.
35:40
If you've had any big revelations about money, about finances, about investing,
35:44
it'd be really cool to hear other people's and also any feedback on like
35:49
if you feel like you learnt something from our ones.
35:51
Because if not, we won't do this podcast again.
35:54
Yeah.
35:55
Like the first time I've planned an episode and everyone's just like, please don't do that.
36:00
You look back to playing the episodes.
36:03
Yeah.
36:04
Staying in your lane, stay in your lane.
36:07
Well, I hope your friends had a great 2023.
36:09
Yeah, same.
36:10
See you in the new year.
36:11
Yeah, see you in the new year.
36:12
Oh, next week we're just going to do like a best of.
36:14
We've actually chosen all of our favourite bits from the year.
36:17
And we're going to do that just to like in case you've missed any
36:20
so that you can kind of like be like, oh yeah, I forgot to listen to that episode
36:23
and go back and do it.
36:24
Other than that, yeah, we'll see you in 2024.
36:27
Thank you so much for listening to Raising the Curve.
36:30
These conversations are designed to teach you everything that you need to know
36:33
to be better with your money.
36:35
From saving, to investing, to talking to your friends about your salaries.
36:39
And if you liked what you heard, we would love it.
36:41
If you could hit the subscribe button, please.
36:43
Yes, please.
36:44
Or leave a review.
36:46
It'll only take five seconds and it would really make our week.
36:49
Oh yeah, our month.
36:50
Okay, lots of love. See you soon.
36:52
Bye.