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MONEY DIARIES: From Debt Demons to Living the Dream · She's On The Money

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Speaker 1: Hello, my name's Santasha Nabananga Bamblet. I'm a proud yr
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Speaker 1: the Order Kerni Whoalbury and a waddery woman. And before
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Speaker 1: we get started on She's on the Money podcast, I
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Speaker 1: would like to acknowledge the traditional custodians of the land
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Speaker 1: of which this podcast is recorded on a wondery country,
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Speaker 1: acknowledging the elders, the ancestors and the next generation coming
0:22
Speaker 1: through as this podcast is about connecting, empowering, knowledge sharing
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Speaker 1: and the storytelling of you to make a difference for
0:30
Speaker 1: today and lasting impact for tomorrow.
0:33
Speaker 2: Let's get into it.
0:34
Speaker 3: She's on the Money, She's on the Money.
0:58
Speaker 2: Hello, and welcome to She's on the Money the podcast
1:01
Speaker 2: Millennials who want financial freedom. Welcome back to another one
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Speaker 2: of our money daries where I get the absolute pleasure
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Speaker 2: of sitting down with one of our She's on the
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Speaker 2: Money community members and learning all about their journey. Let's
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Speaker 2: jump straight into it, because this week I got a
1:16
Speaker 2: message and it sounded like this, Hi V. I've gone
1:20
Speaker 2: from a terrible relationship with money and a huge life
1:23
Speaker 2: setback which meant time off work and going broke, to
1:27
Speaker 2: turning around my whole life and money story with She's
1:30
Speaker 2: on the money, I'm well on the way to paying
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Speaker 2: off my debts, I'm engaged, and the future looks so bright.
1:36
Speaker 2: I wanted to share this with you and our community
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Speaker 2: money diarrest.
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Speaker 4: Congrats, thank you. How exciting.
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Speaker 2: I want to know a little bit more about the
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Speaker 2: engagement though, because I love love. How long have you
1:48
Speaker 2: been engaged?
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Speaker 4: About a year and a half now, so.
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Speaker 2: Not even that long. Are we planning a wedding or
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Speaker 2: not yet? What's the plan?
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Speaker 4: Absolutely? We are so. At first we weren't sure how
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Speaker 4: we were going to pull it off. But since I've
2:01
Speaker 4: got my money somewhat on track, we are planning on
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Speaker 4: eloping next year.
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Speaker 2: Oh my gosh, I love that. And I just got
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Speaker 2: a little glimpse of your gorgeous pair ring. Yes please,
2:14
Speaker 2: let's do a money diary, though, and let's start it
2:17
Speaker 2: the way I always do money diarist. What grade would
2:19
Speaker 2: you give your money habits if I asked you to
2:21
Speaker 2: give them a grade from A through to F.
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Speaker 4: At the moment, I would give myself a C. That
2:27
Speaker 4: has actually come a long way. Just a few months ago,
2:30
Speaker 4: I probably would have been like an F minus.
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Speaker 2: An F minus it's not being harsh on yourself at all.
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Speaker 4: But it's still just at a c because I know
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Speaker 4: that I've got a long way to go, but.
2:41
Speaker 2: You're on the way and you're excited about it, and
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Speaker 2: I'm excited about it, So let's learn more about it.
2:46
Speaker 2: Tell me a bit more about your money story.
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Speaker 4: Okay, So as a kid, I grew up in a
2:52
Speaker 4: pretty comfortable household. My parents have always been amazing with money. However,
2:58
Speaker 4: I did not inherit that gene. They've always been very
3:02
Speaker 4: low incomeme owners but been really really good at saving.
3:06
Speaker 4: And I'm also an only child, so I never felt
3:09
Speaker 4: like I was missing out on anything. When I got
3:12
Speaker 4: my pocket money and stuff, I could never save it,
3:14
Speaker 4: like I would be out at the shops the next
3:16
Speaker 4: day buying potato scallops most of the time.
3:20
Speaker 2: But I mean, I'm going to start a fight with
3:22
Speaker 2: you later about the sea, but we can also start
3:23
Speaker 2: a fight between calling it a potato scollop or a
3:26
Speaker 2: potato cake two if you want, but oh no, Victoria
3:31
Speaker 2: also like an elite purchase. I had one on the
3:33
Speaker 2: weekend and I hadn't had one in a couple of years,
3:36
Speaker 2: and I was like, why have I done this to myself,
3:38
Speaker 2: this is the best thing I've ever eaten in my
3:40
Speaker 2: whole life. Yeah, I need one, just so good anyway,
3:45
Speaker 2: tell me more.
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Speaker 4: I feel like I wasn't really allowed to talk about money,
3:49
Speaker 4: so it wasn't something I worried about. But it also
3:52
Speaker 4: I wasn't really learning anything either, Like I would ask
3:56
Speaker 4: questions sometimes about mortgages and saving and things to do
4:00
Speaker 4: with money, but it just wasn't allowed to be talked about.
4:03
Speaker 2: So why do you think that's the case, Because you
4:06
Speaker 2: mentioned before the appearance were good at money, but then
4:09
Speaker 2: didn't want to talk about it. So is it just
4:11
Speaker 2: like a taboo topic or was it something where maybe
4:14
Speaker 2: they weren't as comfortable with it, Like I don't know.
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Speaker 4: We sort of don't really talk about anything deep or
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Speaker 4: serious in my house, so I think that it must
4:25
Speaker 4: have just been considered one of those types of taboo
4:28
Speaker 4: topics I guess, right.
4:30
Speaker 1: Yeah.
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Speaker 2: Yeah, it's always interesting asking because sometimes people would respond
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Speaker 2: and be like, well, they were really good with money,
4:37
Speaker 2: but I think they tried really really hard with it
4:39
Speaker 2: and didn't want to, you know, worry me or something
4:42
Speaker 2: that's really hard. If it's like we didn't really share
4:44
Speaker 2: much in the way of deep conversation and money was
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Speaker 2: considered that that's just so challenging, But I'm assuming lots
4:50
Speaker 2: of people are resonating with it and being like, oh
4:52
Speaker 2: my god, me too.
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Speaker 4: I moved out when I was seventeen, which was quite
4:57
Speaker 4: young but really good for my mental health. I pretty
5:01
Speaker 4: much got through that. I was able to access Centerlink
5:05
Speaker 4: like Hute Study or whatever it was called. And I
5:09
Speaker 4: also had a bit of an inheritance from my grand
5:12
Speaker 4: who passed away when I was younger, so my parents
5:16
Speaker 4: had actually invested that and so there was quite a
5:19
Speaker 4: bit more there and they allowed me to access that
5:22
Speaker 4: when I turned eighteen. So unfortunately I did blow quite
5:26
Speaker 4: a lot of it just on living expenses and living
5:29
Speaker 4: outside of my means. Yeah, but that money still did
5:33
Speaker 4: come in handy later on, I sort of just got
5:35
Speaker 4: through UNI really always worrying about money. I never felt
5:41
Speaker 4: like I was earning enough, and even when I did
5:43
Speaker 4: start to earn a lot more, lifestyle creep happened.
5:46
Speaker 2: Basically it happens to the best of us.
5:49
Speaker 4: Yeah, And around that time I got into a pretty
5:53
Speaker 4: serious relationship, not the one I'm in now. And at
5:57
Speaker 4: the end of that, like just as I staid working
6:00
Speaker 4: full time in my graduate role. I actually lent him
6:04
Speaker 4: ten thousand dollars and I never saw that money again. No, Yeah,
6:09
Speaker 4: so lesson learnt.
6:11
Speaker 2: You know what, that's actually a cheap get out of
6:13
Speaker 2: jail free card of that relationship. It cost you ten
6:16
Speaker 2: grand to be like, you're not my verse in.
6:18
Speaker 4: Yeah, so he said he was still going to pay
6:21
Speaker 4: me back and then disappeared off the face of the
6:23
Speaker 4: earth after we broke up. So after that, I feel
6:27
Speaker 4: like my relationship with money just got even worse because
6:31
Speaker 4: that was ten thousand dollars that my grand had left
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Speaker 4: me and it was gone and I knew I wasn't
6:38
Speaker 4: getting it back, and I just sort of went into
6:40
Speaker 4: this really like all or nothing mindset and started to
6:44
Speaker 4: spend everything.
6:46
Speaker 2: Yeah wow.
6:47
Speaker 4: And that was when, because I had just got my
6:49
Speaker 4: first full time job, I thought it would be a
6:51
Speaker 4: good idea to apply for a credit card. I thought
6:54
Speaker 4: I wouldn't need like good credit. But I've learned from
6:56
Speaker 4: the podcast that that's not actually how it worked.
6:58
Speaker 2: But you didn't learn about financial literacy growing up. But
7:01
Speaker 2: I feel like that's a fair thing to kind of deduce.
7:03
Speaker 2: If you've heard it around, you're like actually that could
7:06
Speaker 2: really help me. I'm trying to set my financial future up,
7:08
Speaker 2: and I feel like that gets so many of us right,
7:10
Speaker 2: you go, I'm here just doing the right thing for me,
7:13
Speaker 2: like you only know what you know.
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Speaker 4: M Yeah, And I've since learned that I'm not the
7:19
Speaker 4: type of personality that can have a credit card.
7:21
Speaker 2: You were me both, baby.
7:22
Speaker 4: Yeah, So I got that, got a couple of credit cards.
7:27
Speaker 4: And then luckily around that time, my parents did want
7:31
Speaker 4: to talk about money a bit more, and they actually
7:34
Speaker 4: set me up in a really really lucky position where
7:37
Speaker 4: they actually purchased a house and I actually owe my
7:41
Speaker 4: mortgage to them.
7:43
Speaker 2: Oh wow, how nice. Thank you for not talking about it,
7:46
Speaker 2: but then maybe doing a little flippy flip, like not
7:49
Speaker 2: the worst thing.
7:51
Speaker 4: So that put me in a really really good position.
7:54
Speaker 4: And I was only twenty two at the time, so
7:57
Speaker 4: I had like some money that I gave as a
7:59
Speaker 4: deposit to them. Yeah, but that's been so lucky because
8:04
Speaker 4: I don't have any interest on that at all.
8:07
Speaker 2: Okay, so that's the sexiest loan I've ever heard of.
8:10
Speaker 2: If your parents are like, look, we really want to
8:12
Speaker 2: do that again, you can go. My friend Victoria is interested.
8:16
Speaker 4: Yeah, So I'm super lucky in that regard, and I
8:20
Speaker 4: think because of that, I'm not in as bad a
8:23
Speaker 4: position as I would have been otherwise. Yeah right, yeah,
8:26
Speaker 4: So again, once I had the house, I thought, well,
8:30
Speaker 4: I don't have to save anymore. I've got my house,
8:32
Speaker 4: I'm in the property market, et cetera, et cetera. So
8:35
Speaker 4: any savings I did have still started going back out
8:39
Speaker 4: the window again. Yeah, and I had a couple of
8:43
Speaker 4: thousand dollars left. And then the hot water system in
8:47
Speaker 4: my new house died.
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Speaker 2: Oh no, and they're so expensive.
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Speaker 4: Yeah, I spent my last dollars fixing that. No. Yeah,
8:55
Speaker 4: that was sort of just it for me at that point.
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Speaker 4: It put me on a really bad trajectory of spending
9:03
Speaker 4: absolutely everything that I earned. At one point, I decided
9:07
Speaker 4: to get a bit better. I took out a ten
9:10
Speaker 4: thousand dollar personal loan to consolidate credit cards and buy now,
9:14
Speaker 4: pay laters and all that. Ye, however, I paid off
9:18
Speaker 4: those things, didn't close the accounts. Yeah, okay, yeah, you
9:23
Speaker 4: can see where this is going.
9:25
Speaker 2: It's one after the other with debt, right, Like, I
9:27
Speaker 2: just feel like it just spirals out of control. You
9:29
Speaker 2: didn't get your first credit card because you were like,
9:31
Speaker 2: do you know what I want to do? I want
9:32
Speaker 2: to go into debt. That sounds so sexy. You got
9:35
Speaker 2: it because you were doing the right thing, or you
9:37
Speaker 2: thought you were doing the right thing. And then you're
9:39
Speaker 2: probably consolidating because you're like, you know what I'm going
9:42
Speaker 2: to do. I'm gonna get my shit together, and you
9:44
Speaker 2: knew what you were doing at the time. But I
9:46
Speaker 2: feel like it's just such a slippery slope, right, and
9:48
Speaker 2: when you're on it and then you start slipping again,
9:51
Speaker 2: it just feels like trash and you're like, why bother?
9:54
Speaker 4: Yeah. Absolutely, and that's such a big thing that I've
9:57
Speaker 4: had to try and change about my mindset. Yeah, so
10:01
Speaker 4: very quickly, unsurprisingly, those by an hour pay laters and
10:05
Speaker 4: the credit cards all went back up maxed out and
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Speaker 4: I still owed ten thousand dollars, and yeah, things started
10:13
Speaker 4: to get a bit messy at that stage, and it's
10:17
Speaker 4: sort of just been that way. That was about five
10:20
Speaker 4: years ago now, So I would say that probably the
10:23
Speaker 4: last four years of just I couldn't save anything, Like
10:26
Speaker 4: I literally didn't have a dollar to my name.
10:29
Speaker 2: And that's so stressful.
10:31
Speaker 4: Yeah, and like I'm in a very lucky position where
10:34
Speaker 4: I'm a pretty high income earner. My mortgage is not
10:38
Speaker 4: very expensive.
10:39
Speaker 2: Very nice. I'm going to ask you about that in
10:41
Speaker 2: a hot second.
10:42
Speaker 4: And yeah, my mortgage is not expensive. And I was
10:46
Speaker 4: still getting to the end of every fortnight broke. Yeah, wow,
10:49
Speaker 4: getting my card declined over like twenty cent purchases and
10:53
Speaker 4: stuff like that.
10:53
Speaker 2: So that just feels like you're being kicked while you're
10:55
Speaker 2: down right, Like it just feels like trash. And you
10:58
Speaker 2: get this mindset where you're like, I'm just not good
11:01
Speaker 2: at money, and it's not the reality, right, Like you
11:03
Speaker 2: just didn't have the tools and resources you needed to
11:05
Speaker 2: manage money. And now I'm looking at your little story
11:09
Speaker 2: that you've written in and we don't know enough about
11:11
Speaker 2: it yet, but you've flipped it. Right. So you were
11:14
Speaker 2: in a relationship. Now tell me about this new relationship.
11:17
Speaker 2: Where did you meet? How's all of that panning out?
11:19
Speaker 2: And like, is that something that you had to bring
11:22
Speaker 2: up with your partner?
11:23
Speaker 4: Yeah? So we actually met on a dating app, one
11:26
Speaker 4: that not many people have heard of, called her, which
11:29
Speaker 4: is for like same sex relationships.
11:31
Speaker 2: Yeah, cool, I met my partner on a dating app.
11:33
Speaker 2: So I'm the biggest fan of them.
11:35
Speaker 4: Oh nice, I reckon we should be their spokesperson.
11:37
Speaker 2: But anyway, but yeah, look I can imagine you look
11:40
Speaker 2: really cute together. And also when you're talking about her,
11:43
Speaker 2: you're like smiling and grinning. So yeah, like ten out
11:45
Speaker 2: of ten.
11:46
Speaker 4: Yeah, she's the best. We fell in love super quickly
11:49
Speaker 4: and moved in together and got engaged pretty early on.
11:53
Speaker 4: It was about nine months in. But we're like two
11:56
Speaker 4: and a half years into our relationship now, and when
11:59
Speaker 4: we get married it would have been about four years.
12:02
Speaker 2: So I always laugh because all of my girlfriends in
12:05
Speaker 2: same sex relationships are so similar, Like we're just like
12:08
Speaker 2: you guys go from zero to a million zero point
12:11
Speaker 2: two seconds.
12:12
Speaker 4: Yeah, there's a stereotype forever.
12:14
Speaker 2: Reason you were actually living up to it, Like I
12:17
Speaker 2: love it, Like you know, we shouldn't stereotype. But if
12:20
Speaker 2: you guys could stop living up to that stereotype, you're
12:24
Speaker 2: just like, you know what, we're chicks, We know when
12:26
Speaker 2: we know exactly. So obviously started this beautiful relationship and
12:32
Speaker 2: then you know you're still in debt. So how did
12:36
Speaker 2: that go? Was that something that you hit at the
12:37
Speaker 2: start of a relationship or was it something that you
12:39
Speaker 2: spoke about or like, how did this pan out?
12:42
Speaker 4: We spoke about it pretty early on. So when we met,
12:45
Speaker 4: I was in about thirty thousand dollars worth of consumer debt. Yeah,
12:50
Speaker 4: and that's not including I still have my car on
12:53
Speaker 4: an ovaded lease system, which that actually works for me,
12:56
Speaker 4: so I'm happy with that. But yeah, the thirty thousand
13:00
Speaker 4: wasn't even including that. And I did tell her pretty
13:03
Speaker 4: early on, and actually being with her started just baby
13:07
Speaker 4: steps towards repairing my relationship with money. So over time
13:13
Speaker 4: I stopped using my credit cards and using loans and
13:17
Speaker 4: things like that. I was still just paying the minimum,
13:19
Speaker 4: but I was gradually using them less and less, and eventually, actually,
13:24
Speaker 4: even before I really started this big turnaround, I actually
13:27
Speaker 4: hadn't used my credit cards for about a year, so
13:31
Speaker 4: the loans and the debt was still decreasing. And once
13:36
Speaker 4: we were super invested and I really really trusted her,
13:39
Speaker 4: and this might sound weird to some people, but this
13:42
Speaker 4: is just really what I needed. I actually gave her
13:46
Speaker 4: the logins to any lines of credit that I have
13:49
Speaker 4: and asked her to change the passwords so I can
13:52
Speaker 4: only pay down those debts.
13:53
Speaker 2: You can't go and play with them. Yeah, Oh that's
13:56
Speaker 2: really sweet that she's willing to do that for you too.
13:59
Speaker 2: I feel like that's a common thing. I've done it
14:02
Speaker 2: for a girlfriend, like, and we're not even in a relationship.
14:05
Speaker 2: She's like, just take it off me, like change the password,
14:08
Speaker 2: and I'm like, okay, no worries.
14:10
Speaker 4: Yeah, And whenever I explain it, I'm like, it's not
14:12
Speaker 4: like a financially controlling relationship at all, but it might
14:15
Speaker 4: sound weird to some people.
14:17
Speaker 2: Some people would not be comfortable with it, and that
14:19
Speaker 2: is totally fine. But like money works differently for everybody, right,
14:23
Speaker 2: Like it's like before you were saying like I can't
14:26
Speaker 2: be trusted with a credit card, and I'm like, look, neither,
14:29
Speaker 2: because I've tried it and I was not so good
14:31
Speaker 2: at it. But other people are like, oh, I'm so
14:34
Speaker 2: good at racking up points and I get all these
14:36
Speaker 2: business class flights and I'm like, how because like I
14:39
Speaker 2: just go into debt.
14:40
Speaker 4: Yeah, me too. So she's always been amazing about that.
14:45
Speaker 4: And then we got to last year, and this is
14:48
Speaker 4: where things went really bad but then started to get good.
14:52
Speaker 4: So probably about midway through last year, I actually went
14:56
Speaker 4: through a really serious mental health breakdown, which meant that
15:00
Speaker 4: I couldn't work for I think it was just under
15:03
Speaker 4: two months.
15:04
Speaker 2: Yeah. Wow, that's a significant period of time you Okay, now,
15:07
Speaker 2: yeah good.
15:08
Speaker 4: I wasn't getting paid and it was just such a
15:11
Speaker 4: kick up the bum basically because I had nothing and
15:15
Speaker 4: we actually had to live off my partner's savings. And
15:20
Speaker 4: she's a low incommerer, like she's a student, she works
15:24
Speaker 4: casually sometimes, but it was just like she earns probably
15:30
Speaker 4: less than a quarter of what I earn, and she
15:32
Speaker 4: was the one that had their savings and she was
15:34
Speaker 4: the one that was.
15:34
Speaker 2: Able to keep us afloat what a queen.
15:37
Speaker 4: Yeah she is. So I'm so so grateful to that,
15:40
Speaker 4: but it kind of showed me how am I here?
15:43
Speaker 4: I've been working full time in this role for six
15:46
Speaker 4: years at that point, yeah, and I just have nothing
15:49
Speaker 4: to show for it.
15:50
Speaker 2: Obviously. Mental health is so closely tied to finances, right, Yeah?
15:54
Speaker 2: Did that worse in it as well? Because you were
15:57
Speaker 2: realizing like, oh shit, like, not only am I doing this?
16:01
Speaker 2: I feel like that could have really made it even worse,
16:04
Speaker 2: knowing that your partner, who's on a quarter of what
16:06
Speaker 2: you're doing, is support you, just like what am I
16:08
Speaker 2: doing with my life?
16:09
Speaker 4: Yeah? And for me, until that point, money had always
16:12
Speaker 4: been linked pretty closely to poor mental health. For me,
16:15
Speaker 4: I'm pretty impulsive, and I would have a tendency to
16:19
Speaker 4: cope with things by just buying so much stuff. Yeah,
16:23
Speaker 4: so yeah, I guess as I started to go through
16:27
Speaker 4: the recovery process from that really difficult time, I knew
16:31
Speaker 4: about She's on the Money, and I had listened to
16:34
Speaker 4: a couple of episodes years ago, but it obviously just
16:37
Speaker 4: wasn't the right time for me.
16:38
Speaker 2: I had a really annoying voice when I first started,
16:40
Speaker 2: so like, I get.
16:41
Speaker 4: It well, I was just about to say I actually
16:44
Speaker 4: started listening right from the beginning. So I'm lucky. I'm
16:49
Speaker 4: not up to date yet. I listened to so many episodes,
16:51
Speaker 4: but I'm still like in twenty twenty one, No.
16:54
Speaker 2: I love that. I feel like I have tried to
16:56
Speaker 2: overwhelm the community with content, Like we went from you know,
17:00
Speaker 2: in like in twenty nineteen twenty twenty, having like one
17:03
Speaker 2: episode a week and that being really easy to digest,
17:05
Speaker 2: me being like, let's Toby charge it, Let's do three
17:07
Speaker 2: episodes a week. Yeah, I would like catching up.
17:10
Speaker 4: But I love it. I love that there's so much content.
17:13
Speaker 2: I love that you're here. I love that this is
17:15
Speaker 2: helping and a part of your journey. So yeah, you
17:18
Speaker 2: binged cheese on the money, You're now in a better
17:21
Speaker 2: mental place.
17:22
Speaker 4: Yeah, much better. Yeah. And at first when I started listening,
17:26
Speaker 4: I was obviously sort of motivated but not hates And
17:30
Speaker 4: it took me about maybe three episodes and I was
17:33
Speaker 4: hooked and I was just ready to change everything.
17:37
Speaker 2: Yes, that's my favorite type of feed that.
17:39
Speaker 4: Yeah. So that's what I've done. And that was only
17:42
Speaker 4: a few months ago, so I've still got a long
17:44
Speaker 4: way to go here we are. My partner knows how
17:47
Speaker 4: obsessed with the podcast I am. So whenever I'm struggling
17:51
Speaker 4: with something financial or when she is, we have a
17:54
Speaker 4: bit of a motto in our household now where we
17:56
Speaker 4: say WWVD no, what.
18:01
Speaker 2: Would be do? Like sometimes not the right thing.
18:04
Speaker 4: So well it's more about what you would say.
18:07
Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, yeah, Like I like that. What my community
18:10
Speaker 2: knows is that I'm a do as I say, not
18:12
Speaker 2: as I do, kind of gal. Like I don't want
18:14
Speaker 2: you thinking that I'm perfect to finance, but like, if
18:17
Speaker 2: you're struggling, here's what you should do. But I empathize
18:20
Speaker 2: if you don't do that, Like I get it.
18:23
Speaker 4: Well, yeah, it's been really helpful because it's also been
18:26
Speaker 4: like if I've slipped up a bit, she'll be like, well,
18:29
Speaker 4: Victoria would say that it's fine, and you know, you
18:32
Speaker 4: just keep building up from here. You don't have to
18:34
Speaker 4: blow all your money, all right.
18:35
Speaker 2: She's my new best friend. I love her, No, no, no,
18:37
Speaker 2: I love her too.
18:38
Speaker 4: Everyone I introduce her to loves her more than they
18:41
Speaker 4: love me.
18:41
Speaker 2: So what, I think that's a really good trait in
18:44
Speaker 2: a partner, and I'm sure she says exactly the same
18:47
Speaker 2: thing about you. I feel like the ultimate relationship, like
18:50
Speaker 2: the pinnacle of a relationship is when each person thinks
18:54
Speaker 2: they're getting the better deal, like where you both are
18:56
Speaker 2: like so hyped about each other and you both think no, no,
18:59
Speaker 2: no on batting, Like I just feel like that works
19:02
Speaker 2: so well. Money, Diaris, tell me a bit more about
19:06
Speaker 2: your work. So what do you do for work? And
19:08
Speaker 2: how much money are you earning?
19:10
Speaker 4: So I'm a special education teacher and I'm currently on
19:16
Speaker 4: about one hundred and fourteen thousand dollars a year. Oh,
19:19
Speaker 4: very nice, which I believe is the second highest pay
19:23
Speaker 4: step in my state. Yeap, I think I started on
19:27
Speaker 4: sixty something and have.
19:28
Speaker 2: Worked your way up to there. What a queen. I
19:31
Speaker 2: love this, and a special ed teacher like, you're such
19:34
Speaker 2: a nice human, and then you go, oh and I'm
19:36
Speaker 2: a special ed teacher and I'm like, of course, your
19:38
Speaker 2: bloody is like, you're just too nice. All right, tell me,
19:42
Speaker 2: I guess a bit more about your money goals. You've
19:44
Speaker 2: gone through a lot in the last twelve months. You
19:47
Speaker 2: have said as well, look, I'm engaged, my future looks
19:50
Speaker 2: so bright. What are your big money goals right now?
19:52
Speaker 4: So? I have some really nice clear ones, which is
19:55
Speaker 4: a really nice place to be in.
19:57
Speaker 2: That's very sexy. I love this. What are they?
20:00
Speaker 4: Well, the first one is I'm on track to be
20:03
Speaker 4: completely out of consumer debt by November this year.
20:07
Speaker 2: Yeap, oh my gosh. And then you said you were
20:09
Speaker 2: getting married next year, so you're going to be debt free. Yeah, oh, okay,
20:13
Speaker 2: that's really nice.
20:14
Speaker 4: I didn't want to get married until I was debt free.
20:16
Speaker 4: That was really important to me. I doore around the
20:20
Speaker 4: same time. So about September this year, we will actually
20:23
Speaker 4: have enough saved to pay for everything wedding related, even
20:28
Speaker 4: though we're not getting married for about another year after that,
20:31
Speaker 4: but we'll be able to pay for everything for the
20:33
Speaker 4: wedding and honeymoon around September.
20:36
Speaker 2: That'll take so much pressure off, Like, that'll be really nice.
20:39
Speaker 4: Yeah, that's a big goal. After that, our goal as
20:44
Speaker 4: a family is to save towards having kids. Yeah, which
20:48
Speaker 4: is super exciting And obviously babies are expensive anyway, but
20:51
Speaker 4: being in a same sex relationship, we might rack up
20:54
Speaker 4: some fees trying to get the baby.
20:57
Speaker 2: Yeah, it turns out you need to do a bit
20:59
Speaker 2: more work and it's a lot financial.
21:01
Speaker 4: But yeah, which is rude if you ask me.
21:04
Speaker 2: But anyway, I think it is really rude, Like, yeah,
21:07
Speaker 2: but do you know what that's going to cost you,
21:09
Speaker 2: like or have you done anything in the process towards that.
21:13
Speaker 4: So we know it's going to cost a lot. But
21:15
Speaker 4: basically the planet this stage is to get all the
21:17
Speaker 4: debts cleared and the wedding savings out of the way
21:20
Speaker 4: and then start speaking with doctors and things like that
21:23
Speaker 4: to make a clear plan.
21:25
Speaker 1: Yeah.
21:25
Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, I've got a girlfriend in a same sex
21:28
Speaker 2: relationship and she's going through that at the moment, and
21:30
Speaker 2: I didn't realize how much was involved. I'm dumb, so like,
21:33
Speaker 2: I just thought, you just kind of trot down to
21:35
Speaker 2: the sperm bank and go, these are my criteria. Could
21:38
Speaker 2: I please have something to help me create a baby.
21:41
Speaker 2: But they're doing all of these tests and genetic testing
21:43
Speaker 2: to see, you know, which egg is going to work
21:46
Speaker 2: and which body is going to be better to carry
21:49
Speaker 2: the baby, And I'm like, oh, this is very science.
21:52
Speaker 4: Yeah, so that's a bit overwhelming.
21:54
Speaker 2: But that's okay, one step at a time.
21:57
Speaker 4: We're super set on that goal. Lastly after that, so
22:01
Speaker 4: within the next ten years, but I'm not exactly sure
22:04
Speaker 4: on timeframes. We would like to purchase a bigger house.
22:09
Speaker 4: My house is sort of falling apart and very tiny,
22:12
Speaker 4: so we would like to move.
22:14
Speaker 2: Yeah, and you're gonna have babies, so we need a
22:16
Speaker 2: bigger house.
22:17
Speaker 4: Yeah, move somewhere that's more suitable for a family, and
22:20
Speaker 4: hopefully do that before we at least have a second child,
22:23
Speaker 4: if that's in the cards for us.
22:25
Speaker 2: Yeah. Oh, how exciting. You guys are going to be
22:26
Speaker 2: invest parents. I love that so much. All right, let's
22:30
Speaker 2: go to a really quick break, because I at the
22:32
Speaker 2: moment could talk about babies for literally ever. And on
22:36
Speaker 2: the flip side, let's talk about investments. Let's talk about
22:38
Speaker 2: what debt you have left and your best and worst
22:40
Speaker 2: money habits. So guys don't go anywhere, all right, money
22:47
Speaker 2: dist We are back, and I want to know. Obviously
22:50
Speaker 2: you're in debt, but that doesn't stop you from being
22:52
Speaker 2: able to progress your life or start investing. Are you investing?
22:56
Speaker 2: If so, what in? If not? Like, do you have
22:58
Speaker 2: a plan?
23:00
Speaker 4: Yeah? So at the moment, my only investment is my
23:02
Speaker 4: super YEP, and my supers sitting at about fifty three
23:06
Speaker 4: thousand dollars at the moment.
23:07
Speaker 2: Okay, that's pretty good.
23:09
Speaker 4: Yeah, once my debts are paid off alongside saving, I'm
23:13
Speaker 4: pretty determined to get into investing a bit more. And
23:16
Speaker 4: my plan is at the moment, my round ups go
23:19
Speaker 4: towards an account that pays off my debt. But I
23:22
Speaker 4: would like to start by having my round ups go
23:25
Speaker 4: to micro investing, learn a bit more about that, and
23:29
Speaker 4: then branch out bigger. I had no idea about investing
23:32
Speaker 4: before the podcast, even though my parents did it, and
23:36
Speaker 4: I've recently bought that. She's on the Money Investing book,
23:39
Speaker 4: and it's like sitting in my bookshelf ready to go.
23:42
Speaker 2: For when I'm ready, She's ready.
23:43
Speaker 4: So I'm super excited about that.
23:45
Speaker 2: I love that, and you're going to be debt free
23:47
Speaker 2: in November, and I kind of love that you're putting
23:50
Speaker 2: it off. I know that some people want to do
23:52
Speaker 2: it at the same time and like to be honest
23:54
Speaker 2: each to their own. It's what engages you and keeps
23:57
Speaker 2: you excited about money, right, But haying off debt is
24:01
Speaker 2: an investment in itself because you probably have a not
24:03
Speaker 2: so sexy interest rate on that, and the more dollars
24:06
Speaker 2: that you're sending towards that, the more you're saving, the
24:09
Speaker 2: more you're actually cutting it down. But you're also proving
24:12
Speaker 2: to yourself that you can allocate money towards that. Every
24:16
Speaker 2: time you make a debt repayment, it should be exciting
24:18
Speaker 2: because you're like, oh my gosh, come November, that's actually
24:21
Speaker 2: gonna be investment. That's going to be savings, that's going
24:23
Speaker 2: to be financial freedom, that's going to be baby making.
24:26
Speaker 2: How exciting.
24:27
Speaker 4: And that's exactly how I like to look at it,
24:29
Speaker 4: because at the moment, a huge, huge chunk of my
24:32
Speaker 4: pay eighth fortnite goes to that debt, and in my
24:34
Speaker 4: mind now I'm like, oh, I can be investing this
24:37
Speaker 4: soon exactly.
24:38
Speaker 2: And I feel like sometimes when we look at these
24:41
Speaker 2: big amounts coming out of our income each month or
24:44
Speaker 2: each week or fortnite or however you get paid, it
24:47
Speaker 2: can be really disheartening because you're like, it feels like
24:49
Speaker 2: I'm just tipping it down the drain, like I'm wasting
24:52
Speaker 2: so much money. But with a very simple mindset shift,
24:55
Speaker 2: we can become really excited about this because it is
24:58
Speaker 2: actually constructive. It is a really good money habit. It
25:02
Speaker 2: is a good behavior to start because you end up
25:04
Speaker 2: in the best possible position at the end of it.
25:06
Speaker 2: Like November, Oh, I can't wait for you. You deserve
25:09
Speaker 2: the biggest bottle of champagne to crack open.
25:11
Speaker 4: Haha.
25:12
Speaker 2: Money Diarist debt, how much debt are we still in?
25:15
Speaker 2: What does that look like? And can you tell me
25:17
Speaker 2: a little bit about your plan to become debt free?
25:20
Speaker 2: Why November? Like, how have you calculated this out?
25:24
Speaker 4: Okay, so, firstly, the amount of debt I'm in still
25:27
Speaker 4: got about seven thousand dollars of consumer debt. I have
25:30
Speaker 4: a hex help debt of about twenty one thousand remaining. Yeah,
25:34
Speaker 4: I'm a bit crazy and I'm about to start online
25:37
Speaker 4: UNI alongside work.
25:38
Speaker 2: So no, that's okay, that's exciting, that's constructive.
25:40
Speaker 4: Yeah, exciting, But that one's not going to go down
25:43
Speaker 4: anytime soon. And I owe on my mortgage about three
25:47
Speaker 4: hundred and twenty one thousand dollars and I also have
25:50
Speaker 4: my novated lease, but I'm not sure exactly how to
25:53
Speaker 4: calculate how much that is. But that takes a few
25:57
Speaker 4: hundred out of my pretax page.
25:59
Speaker 2: Fornight, with your mortgage, you said three hundred and twenty
26:02
Speaker 2: one thousand dollars left. Do you know what the property's worth?
26:04
Speaker 4: The best sort of estimate I could find was about
26:06
Speaker 4: six point fifty.
26:07
Speaker 2: Oh, very nice. So you are sitting pretty at the moment.
26:11
Speaker 2: That is not a bad position to be and when
26:13
Speaker 2: you're twenty seven. Yeah, I love this so much. All right,
26:18
Speaker 2: So tell me now, what do you think your best
26:20
Speaker 2: money habit is?
26:21
Speaker 4: My best money habit is definitely. I've made a spreadsheet
26:25
Speaker 4: for my budget and it's all color coordinated and automated
26:30
Speaker 4: and pretty, and it tells me exactly where every single
26:33
Speaker 4: dollar of what I'm getting paid, exactly where that's going.
26:37
Speaker 2: That's hot. I don't know if you know this, but
26:39
Speaker 2: I do like a spreadsheet.
26:40
Speaker 4: Yeah, I have fully been meaning to do like your
26:44
Speaker 4: cash Flow master Class, so I'm hoping that when I
26:46
Speaker 4: eventually get around to that, I'll do it even better.
26:49
Speaker 2: Now I'm going to gift it to you now, if
26:51
Speaker 2: you want to do it, you're doing it. I will
26:52
Speaker 2: send you a log in after this, honestly as a
26:55
Speaker 2: spreadsheet early. I think you're gonna love it, but I
26:57
Speaker 2: will gift you the Budgeting cash Flow master Class of
26:59
Speaker 2: rebrand it to the money master Class.
27:01
Speaker 4: Sorry, you can tell that I've been listening to the
27:03
Speaker 4: old episodes.
27:04
Speaker 2: Then it is fine. I still can't remember what I've
27:07
Speaker 2: rebranded it too, Like the girls often listen to our
27:10
Speaker 2: episodes and they're like, Victoria's stopped calling at the budget
27:13
Speaker 2: and Cashley master Class. We changed it to be simpler,
27:15
Speaker 2: and I'm like, yeah, but I'm stuck in the past.
27:19
Speaker 2: So no, I'll give that to you. I'll send you
27:21
Speaker 2: a log in. I think that you will love it,
27:23
Speaker 2: and you're obviously on the right trajectory, so I think
27:26
Speaker 2: that this will hopefully turbocharge. It will turn that C
27:29
Speaker 2: into an A really quickly. But tell me.
27:32
Speaker 4: More so, that tells me where everything's going, and it
27:35
Speaker 4: prioritizes paying down my debts first of all, and then
27:40
Speaker 4: prioritizes savings. So obviously last year I realized very quickly
27:45
Speaker 4: that I need an emergency fund. So that's slowly building
27:48
Speaker 4: away in the background. Oh good, Which that's another money
27:52
Speaker 4: goal that I forgot to mention. I really want my
27:55
Speaker 4: emergency fund to sit at about fifteen thousand dollars, which
27:59
Speaker 4: sounds high, but after having that time off work and
28:03
Speaker 4: mental health treatment is extremely expensive. Yes, I figure that
28:08
Speaker 4: that's comfortable.
28:09
Speaker 2: Yeah, but if you go down that route again, you'll
28:12
Speaker 2: be feeling so much better about it because you know
28:15
Speaker 2: you can support yourself through this and what you actually
28:17
Speaker 2: need during these times money, It doesn't need to be
28:21
Speaker 2: the stressor if you set yourself up properly and hopefully
28:24
Speaker 2: that means that there'll be less time out of the workforce.
28:26
Speaker 2: There'll be less time that you're struggling. Like, that's a
28:29
Speaker 2: money win to me.
28:30
Speaker 4: Yeah. And along with my budget spreadsheet, I have lots
28:35
Speaker 4: of different accounts set up because that's what works for me.
28:38
Speaker 4: I have a bill's account where obviously everything goes for bills,
28:42
Speaker 4: and I have a groceries account that both my partner
28:44
Speaker 4: and I use for groceries. I have an account for
28:47
Speaker 4: my pets.
28:48
Speaker 2: Oh you didn't mention you had pets. What pets have
28:50
Speaker 2: you got? Come on?
28:51
Speaker 4: Oh, I've got a dog called Toast, Oh high Toast,
28:55
Speaker 4: a cat called Vegi might No you don't. This is
28:57
Speaker 4: so cute, another cat called Sea, and because I just
29:02
Speaker 4: love matching names, I have a fish and a water
29:06
Speaker 4: snail called Gomez and thing.
29:08
Speaker 2: Oh my gosh, adore, adore. I love this so much.
29:12
Speaker 2: So you're a pet girly as well. I knew we'd
29:14
Speaker 2: be best friends when we started this. I was like,
29:16
Speaker 2: we are absolutely best friends.
29:18
Speaker 4: Yeah, I love my pets.
29:20
Speaker 2: I don't know. If you follow me on social media,
29:22
Speaker 2: it's same. I am a crazy pet lady. Those are
29:26
Speaker 2: very good money habits. But let's bring the tone back down.
29:29
Speaker 2: What's your worst money habit.
29:31
Speaker 4: So this has changed a lot, and it's still something
29:34
Speaker 4: I'm working on and getting better at. But I am very,
29:39
Speaker 4: very impulsive. That's who I am as a person.
29:42
Speaker 2: Unfortunately, now we like impulsive people. They're fun. We just
29:46
Speaker 2: need to be good at managing our money.
29:49
Speaker 4: Yeah. Look, most of my pets were bought impulsively, so.
29:53
Speaker 2: And we love them and they weren't bad decisions, so
29:55
Speaker 2: are not really a bad habit.
29:57
Speaker 4: Yeah. True. I'm really trying to change that. I've been
30:00
Speaker 4: trying to take photos of things, make wish lists, etc.
30:04
Speaker 4: But I can still be swayed very easily, especially when
30:08
Speaker 4: it comes to food. That's something that I find really
30:11
Speaker 4: difficult because I hate cooking and luckily my partner likes cooking.
30:15
Speaker 4: But it's still very easy to just accidentally get takeaway
30:19
Speaker 4: a lot.
30:20
Speaker 2: Yeah. Yeah.
30:20
Speaker 4: And along with that, sometimes that means that I take
30:24
Speaker 4: money from my savings accounts. Then I have like a
30:26
Speaker 4: list of what I owe to my savings and I
30:29
Speaker 4: do pay it back, but that just puts me in
30:32
Speaker 4: a bit of a negative sort of frame of mind
30:34
Speaker 4: because it feels like more debt. I've come a long
30:37
Speaker 4: way with that, but that's my worst money habit. Something
30:41
Speaker 4: that's helping, though, is that I often used to buy
30:44
Speaker 4: a lot of clothes, particularly if they were on sale,
30:47
Speaker 4: and in twenty twenty four, I have set a goal
30:49
Speaker 4: that I'm not purchasing any new clothes, shoes, or bags,
30:55
Speaker 4: and that's really helped so far.
30:57
Speaker 2: Oh, I love this. Do you follow Emma Edwards on
31:01
Speaker 2: social media? So she has the username the broke Generation.
31:04
Speaker 4: Yes I do. Yeah. I found her straight after I
31:07
Speaker 4: set that goal, which was weird.
31:09
Speaker 2: Yeah, she just finished a whole year of not buying
31:12
Speaker 2: any fashion and I just found it so inspirational because
31:16
Speaker 2: I couldn't ever do that, and I think that if
31:19
Speaker 2: you're planning on doing that, please make sure you're following Emma.
31:21
Speaker 2: But she's also a friend of the show, so I
31:23
Speaker 2: was like, go hit her up. She's a bloody legend.
31:26
Speaker 2: I love that. So let's just do a little quick recap,
31:28
Speaker 2: right the Sue wrote in, and you know, you've turned
31:31
Speaker 2: your life around. We've learned so much about it. You've
31:33
Speaker 2: been so generous with your time. You've got this beautiful
31:36
Speaker 2: money story. You might go, oh, I don't really like
31:39
Speaker 2: this part. I get it, But like you are now
31:41
Speaker 2: engaged to the love of your life, you're getting married,
31:44
Speaker 2: you have these epic goals. You're going to be out
31:46
Speaker 2: of debt in November. You own a property, you're gonna
31:48
Speaker 2: have some beautiful bambinis at some point, you've got your
31:52
Speaker 2: wedding done, you're going to be ready to pay for
31:53
Speaker 2: it in September, and you're not even getting married. Then
31:57
Speaker 2: you've just got all this cool stuff going on for you.
32:00
Speaker 2: But at the start of the show, you said, V
32:02
Speaker 2: I think I'm a C. So we've had this gorgeous chat.
32:05
Speaker 2: Do you think that that is accurate? If not, what
32:09
Speaker 2: is it changed to. If so, what are you going
32:12
Speaker 2: to do to get to an A plus.
32:16
Speaker 4: I think I still don't feel like I'm a high grade,
32:19
Speaker 4: but maybe I could push it to like a B minus.
32:22
Speaker 2: I think that that might be fair.
32:24
Speaker 4: But in order to get an A plus for me,
32:27
Speaker 4: that would involve having an emergency fund, being out of
32:31
Speaker 4: consumer debt, and starting to invest.
32:35
Speaker 2: So you're going to be an A plus at the
32:37
Speaker 2: end of the year, I'm hoping. So like you've got
32:40
Speaker 2: the goals, You've set them up there happening.
32:43
Speaker 4: Yeah, And I feel pretty good about that because I
32:45
Speaker 4: think I'm not going to be like loaded at the
32:47
Speaker 4: end of the year. But as long as I'm on
32:49
Speaker 4: the right track.
32:50
Speaker 2: It's still a baby. We're not going to be loaded asap.
32:53
Speaker 4: True, And as long as I don't have access to
32:55
Speaker 4: any lines of credit, I will feel pretty damn good.
32:59
Speaker 2: Yeah. And I think that my favorite thing is your positivity,
33:02
Speaker 2: Like you're just like, no, I'm on this, I'm working
33:05
Speaker 2: towards it, Like I think it's fair if you're like, yeah,
33:08
Speaker 2: I'm in heaps of debt, but I'm not doing anything
33:10
Speaker 2: about it, like I've got my head in the sands,
33:12
Speaker 2: like I'm not working towards this. Like I just think
33:15
Speaker 2: anyone who is going through, you know, the situations like
33:18
Speaker 2: you're going through, who's actively working towards it like immediate
33:22
Speaker 2: a my eyes. I'm like, you are good at money,
33:25
Speaker 2: you just don't have heaps of it yet. We are
33:27
Speaker 2: what I would call it henry a high earner but
33:29
Speaker 2: not rich yet.
33:31
Speaker 1: Ah.
33:31
Speaker 2: I love that, so like you're gonna be really wealthy
33:34
Speaker 2: with these habits. But let's just take it back a step.
33:36
Speaker 2: You're also only twenty seven, my friend. Yeah, you're just
33:41
Speaker 2: a baby. We're not going to be millionaires right away.
33:44
Speaker 2: Like that stuff takes time.
33:46
Speaker 4: Yeah, something I forgot, but I think it's important to
33:49
Speaker 4: mention is I'll also feel like an a plus once
33:51
Speaker 4: I have insurance sort it out. I wish that I
33:55
Speaker 4: had found the podcast a long time ago, because it's
33:58
Speaker 4: actually quite hard getting insurance with my history. But once
34:03
Speaker 4: I've spoken to like an insurance advisor or broker, I
34:06
Speaker 4: don't know the difference.
34:07
Speaker 2: You need to go talk to fell it Sky Wealth
34:10
Speaker 2: and have a chat with him.
34:11
Speaker 4: Yeah. So once I've done that, I'll feel better. And
34:14
Speaker 4: just for anyone listening, like, please listen to Victoria and
34:17
Speaker 4: get those insurances sorted early, because I don't like to
34:21
Speaker 4: have regrets, but that's something that will impact me.
34:24
Speaker 2: And I mean it's hard, right, like, especially with mental health,
34:27
Speaker 2: Like you don't feel motivated to go and get your
34:30
Speaker 2: life sorted out because you're like, what's the point. But
34:32
Speaker 2: getting it sorted out sooner rather than later means you
34:35
Speaker 2: won't end up with an exclusion. And unfortunately, if you've
34:38
Speaker 2: been through some mental health challenges as you've alluded to,
34:41
Speaker 2: and you've sought mental health treatment, it's very likely that
34:45
Speaker 2: that will be an exclusion. However, it's still worth it
34:48
Speaker 2: because you get covered for everything else. So I think
34:50
Speaker 2: it's still a good thing to do. But the sooner
34:53
Speaker 2: the better.
34:53
Speaker 4: Honestly, sooner the better.
34:55
Speaker 2: Yeah, exactly. Oh my gosh, what a good place to
34:57
Speaker 2: leave it, money, Doris. I have adored having this conversation
35:00
Speaker 2: with you. This is again one of my favorite money days.
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Speaker 2: I feel like I say that all the time and
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Speaker 2: then I meet someone you and I'm like, oh, no, no, no,
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Speaker 2: this one. But you have been so generous with your information,
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Speaker 2: so generous with your time, and I know our community
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Speaker 2: they're just gonna fall in love with you. They're gonna go, oh,
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Speaker 2: she was great. So I really appreciate it.
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Speaker 4: Thank you so much, Thank you so much for having me.
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Speaker 2: The advice shared on She's on the Money is general
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Speaker 2: in nature and does not consider your individual circumstances. She's
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Speaker 2: on the Money exists purely for educational purposes and should
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Speaker 2: not be relied upon to make an investment or financial decision.
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