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MONEY DIARIES: Livin' La Vida Limbo · She's On The Money

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Speaker 1: Hello, my name's Santasha Nabananga Bamblet. I'm a proud yr
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Speaker 1: the Order Kerni Whoalbury and a waddery woman. And before
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Speaker 1: we get started on She's on the Money podcast, I
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Speaker 1: would like to acknowledge the traditional custodians of the land
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Speaker 1: of which this podcast is recorded on a wondery country,
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Speaker 1: acknowledging the elders, the ancestors and the next generation coming
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Speaker 1: through as this podcast is about connecting, empowering, knowledge sharing
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Speaker 1: and the storytelling of you to make a difference for
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Speaker 1: today and lasting impact for tomorrow.
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Speaker 2: Let's get into it.
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Speaker 3: She's on the Money, She's on the Money.
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Speaker 4: Hello, and welcome to She's on the Money, the podcast
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Speaker 4: for millennials who want financial freedom. Welcome back to another
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Speaker 4: shop back Money Diary Monday. We get to chat to
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Speaker 4: a community member and learn about them, their money and
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Speaker 4: all of the interesting bits in between. This week, Victoria,
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Speaker 4: I have a very fun diarist for you. Are you
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Speaker 4: ready to hear it?
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Speaker 5: I am. I'm surprised you didn't say I've got a
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Speaker 5: good one for you.
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Speaker 1: Had it.
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Speaker 4: Away from that, I'm trying to branch out, so our
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Speaker 4: diarist says over the past twelve months, I seem to
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Speaker 4: have subconsciously hit autopilot on my life, my goals, and
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Speaker 4: my finances, and now I'm uning for positive change. I
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Speaker 4: am a happy, healthy young woman, and while nothing is
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Speaker 4: inherently wrong with the way I am currently doing life,
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Speaker 4: there are definitely opportunities I am missing, risks I'm not taking,
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Speaker 4: and all round complacency is settling in. I am truly
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Speaker 4: eager to dive into my psyche with your wonderful support
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Speaker 4: and advice, find my way out of this funk and
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Speaker 4: explore way to next. For this near twenty seven year
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Speaker 4: old who seems to be stuck live in Lovita, limbound.
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Speaker 5: Sounds very fun, Money Diarist, Welcome to the show.
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Speaker 2: Thank you both for having me.
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Speaker 4: I'm so excited to talk to you because I feel
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Speaker 4: like this is something that a lot of people can
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Speaker 4: relate to, and I like it's something that I've experienced.
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Speaker 4: It's almost like that quarter life crisis moment that you
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Speaker 4: have where you go, oh, like, am I doing the
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Speaker 4: right thing?
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Speaker 5: So I feel like I went through this maybe when
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Speaker 5: I was like twenty five, twenty six, and I was
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Speaker 5: just like not sure what I was doing with my life.
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Speaker 5: I was like where am I going, what am I doing?
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Speaker 5: So I feel like this could be a super relatable
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Speaker 5: one because I want to know exactly where you're at,
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Speaker 5: where you're going, and maybe what we're thinking about goals
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Speaker 5: and how we could get back on track. So let's
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Speaker 5: start as we always do, money direst. Can you tell
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Speaker 5: us a little bit about your money story?
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Speaker 2: Yes, absolutely so. I grew up in a small ish
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Speaker 2: town in Victoria and we I guess we're low to
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Speaker 2: middle income household with both of my parents and my brother.
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Speaker 2: My parents did have a credit card, and they instilled
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Speaker 2: in me from the get go that just be because
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Speaker 2: we have this, we don't want this path for you,
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Speaker 2: and that I could make better choices for myself if
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Speaker 2: I employed you know, strict practices for my own finances.
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Speaker 2: And they really encouraged me to not go down that
3:13
Speaker 2: path that they were. So my parents worked also quite
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Speaker 2: tirelessly to provide opportunities for me and my brother just
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Speaker 2: for you know, travel and just participating in recreation and community.
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Speaker 2: So that was really rewarding experience as a child and
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Speaker 2: an adolescent growing up. But you would often see, you know,
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Speaker 2: that they would make sacrifices to provide that lifestyle for us.
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Speaker 2: So I guess that was a humbling experience and it's
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Speaker 2: part of the reason why I am who I am today.
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Speaker 2: And I've had instilled in me from the ripe age
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Speaker 2: of you know, fresh out the womb, that hard work
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Speaker 2: pays off, but never at the expense of, you know,
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Speaker 2: your well being and your mental health. So always know
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Speaker 2: that there will be money and it's not worth working
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Speaker 2: for someone or a bit business that makes you miserable, really,
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Speaker 2: so a bit of both in terms of that hard work,
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Speaker 2: but also protecting yourself is really important, and that was
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Speaker 2: from my parents. And I got my first job just
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Speaker 2: before sixteen, in pharmacy, and that was a great little
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Speaker 2: start to my career that traveled with me throughout my
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Speaker 2: university experience and I've been saving ever since and that's
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Speaker 2: been my ultimate goal. Save, Save, Save.
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Speaker 5: I love that your parents sound like really humble and
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Speaker 5: kind people. They're like, they cool, this is what we've got, yeah,
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Speaker 5: they just say. And I love the tone of voice
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Speaker 5: you're using when talking about them. I feel like the
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Speaker 5: tone of voice when someone talks about their parents tells
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Speaker 5: you a lot about the relationship you have with them.
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Speaker 5: Next question, my friend, what do you currently do for
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Speaker 5: work and tell us how much money do you earn?
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Speaker 2: So I am a coordinator for a youth services organization,
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Speaker 2: and before tax, it comes to about ninety five thousand
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Speaker 2: per annum.
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Speaker 5: Very cool, and what hits your bank account each and
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Speaker 5: every single month.
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Speaker 2: I have the privilege of being able to salary package,
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Speaker 2: so I guess that combined with my regular income, it's
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Speaker 2: about twenty seven hundred and fifty per fortnite.
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Speaker 5: Oh, very nice. Tell us a little bit. I know
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Speaker 5: we're going off track, Jess, Please don't come for me.
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Speaker 5: Tell me a little bit about salary packaging. How do
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Speaker 5: you use that to benefit your income?
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Speaker 2: So I've submitted my lease so it contributes to my rent,
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Speaker 2: and I guess it's just the government recognizing the hard
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Speaker 2: work of community service organizations and giving them a little
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Speaker 2: bit of a boost in terms of yeah, taking that
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Speaker 2: money out tax free and then popping it back in
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Speaker 2: my account. So I claim the maximum on general living
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Speaker 2: expenses each fortnight, which is I think about six hundred
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Speaker 2: and eleven dollars and a couple of cents.
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Speaker 5: I met someone the other day, my friend. I was
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Speaker 5: about to say your name, but I'm not going to
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Speaker 5: slip up this early on in the episode. But I
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Speaker 5: met someone the other day and they're like, oh, I
5:53
Speaker 5: could salary sacrifice because I work in a similar space
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Speaker 5: to you. And I was like, what do you mean
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Speaker 5: you could? They're like, I just can't be bothered setting
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Speaker 5: it up. I'm like, sir, it is tax free money,
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Speaker 5: like you are going to get that bank and I
6:04
Speaker 5: basically forced them to do that. So I think that
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Speaker 5: that is a very good thing. I'm glad that that's
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Speaker 5: all set up for you. You said before that you're a
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Speaker 5: really good saver. But we want to know what is
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Speaker 5: your big money goal.
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Speaker 2: It has fluctuated quite a bit in the past six months.
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Speaker 2: I would say it used to be the Australian dream
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Speaker 2: buying home, but now I'm kind of in that space
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Speaker 2: where I don't really know. I guess for now, I'd
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Speaker 2: love to explore more about investing and increasing my investing portfolio,
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Speaker 2: So for now that's kind of a bit of my goal.
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Speaker 2: But also I guess retiring by sixty would be ideal,
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Speaker 2: So I guess working towards that very exciting.
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Speaker 5: All Right, you mentioned investments, The next question is do
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Speaker 5: you currently have any investments. It's so what are they?
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Speaker 2: I do nothing Super Crazy because I'm still in the
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Speaker 2: position of doing my research and building on that and
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Speaker 2: it scares me a little bit so working towards it.
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Speaker 2: But I have some minor investments in spaceships, so I've
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Speaker 2: just started on a micro investing platform, and I also
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Speaker 2: do voluntary contributions to my super each fortnite.
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Speaker 5: Oh exciting. How did you decide how much you wanted
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Speaker 5: to contribute towards Super?
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Speaker 2: Oh, very good question. I think I just picked a
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Speaker 2: number that I was comfortable with parting with regularly each fortnite,
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Speaker 2: knowing that I wouldn't see it because I have it
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Speaker 2: direct debited on payday. So at the moment, it's only
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Speaker 2: forty dollars a week, so eighty dollars for that fortnight,
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Speaker 2: and it's not a noticeable number. It doesn't really impact
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Speaker 2: my general living expenses elsewise. So That's where I'm at
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Speaker 2: for now. But if anything changes for me, I'll definitely
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Speaker 2: look at increasing it.
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Speaker 5: That's going to end up impacting future you though, pretty significantly,
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Speaker 5: because even though you feel like, oh my gosh, I
7:55
Speaker 5: can part with this, that doesn't really matter. It makes
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Speaker 5: sense to me. It's actually going to impact you by
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Speaker 5: probably a couple of one hundred thousand dollars down the
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Speaker 5: track when you decide to retire at sixty. So you're
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Speaker 5: definitely putting yourself in an optimal position by you know,
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Speaker 5: investing for your future. And once you get a little
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Speaker 5: bit more comfortable with what asset class or what type
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Speaker 5: of portfolio you want, I'm sure that'll be tobocharged even more.
8:20
Speaker 5: Flip side though investments. The opposite of that is debt.
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Speaker 5: Do you have any debt? If so, what is it?
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Speaker 2: So I'm just sitting on my hextet at the moment
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Speaker 2: from my studies, which from memory is I think I
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Speaker 2: have about seventeen thousand left.
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Speaker 5: Oh that's not too bad. And do you feel like
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Speaker 5: with your salary it makes a pretty good dint in
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Speaker 5: it each financial year? Or how does it make you feel?
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Speaker 2: I mean I feel okay because I don't really pay
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Speaker 2: it much mind, Which is I guess a good good
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Speaker 2: form of debt to have where it's not overwhelming you.
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Speaker 2: But with salary packaging, it can impact on how much
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Speaker 2: gets contributed to that. So sometimes at the end of
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Speaker 2: the financial year and at tax time, I'll need to
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Speaker 2: balance that out and actually contribute money.
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Speaker 5: Yeah, okay, So how do you manage for that? Are
9:07
Speaker 5: you putting some cash aside? Obviously you're a good saver,
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Speaker 5: but are you specifically putting cash aside for that? Or
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Speaker 5: you just know I'll have enough cash at the end
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Speaker 5: of the financial year to make sure that I'm not
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Speaker 5: even a.
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Speaker 2: Pick call pretty much making sure, yeah, that I have enough.
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Speaker 2: I know that there's always going to be money there.
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Speaker 2: I have an emergency fund as well that I could
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Speaker 2: always draw on if the amount that I would owe
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Speaker 2: is higher than when I was anticipating. But generally it's
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Speaker 2: not too much. It's never more than about maybe five
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Speaker 2: hundred dollars.
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Speaker 5: Oh, that's not too bad. Some people end up getting
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Speaker 5: absolutely stung and it's a couple of thousand dollars and
9:40
Speaker 5: then you end up on a payment plan with the
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Speaker 5: ATO and it ends up being very stressful. So I'm
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Speaker 5: glad it's not too bad for you. Next question, do
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Speaker 5: you use shop back?
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Speaker 2: I do. I don't do a whole lot of shopping,
9:52
Speaker 2: but whenever I'm ready to, I definitely go and shop back,
9:55
Speaker 2: and I also just use it day to day. So
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Speaker 2: I needed to do a little chemi swear house top
10:01
Speaker 2: up the other day. So I just went on to
10:02
Speaker 2: shot back and saw that they had a good little
10:05
Speaker 2: percentage cash back and thought why not? So I use
10:08
Speaker 2: it for things like that where I can too.
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Speaker 5: I actually used it a chemist Warehouse the other day.
10:12
Speaker 5: I was buying perfume for someone's birthday. I'm not going
10:14
Speaker 5: to say who it was, but Chemist Warehouse was like
10:16
Speaker 5: the cheapest, and then I got it even cheaper he
10:18
Speaker 5: shot back, and I felt like a queen. I was like,
10:20
Speaker 5: I'm a budget queen. We're not going to talk about
10:22
Speaker 5: the parking fine I got the other day, but I'm
10:24
Speaker 5: a budget queen. And do you know what someone said
10:26
Speaker 5: to me the other day? Yes, in my DMS, because
10:29
Speaker 5: obviously I'm a bit of a shop backstand, right, we
10:31
Speaker 5: love it. Someone was like, oh V Like I just
10:34
Speaker 5: don't get it. It just feels like another thing to
10:37
Speaker 5: add to the least. And I was like, sir, it's
10:39
Speaker 5: free money. Yeah, Like I don't understand, Like what what
10:42
Speaker 5: do you mean? It's like it's free stuff, Like I
10:44
Speaker 5: will do a lot through discount. All you have to
10:47
Speaker 5: do is put it on your corome extension. Yeah, like
10:50
Speaker 5: it's free. So anyway, I was very baffled by that,
10:53
Speaker 5: and literally that was my response. Next question, my friend,
10:57
Speaker 5: what's your best money habit? I feel like she might
10:59
Speaker 5: have a sneak you, Jess, my best.
11:02
Speaker 2: Is probably I'm just going to say my mindset. I'm
11:06
Speaker 2: very disciplined when it comes to every fortnight when my
11:10
Speaker 2: pay comes in, I know exactly how much I'm transferring
11:13
Speaker 2: across to my savings account, how much I'm transferring into
11:16
Speaker 2: my general living expenses account, and how much I might
11:20
Speaker 2: want to play with that particular month. So I think
11:25
Speaker 2: I'm very disciplined in that sense. But also that can
11:30
Speaker 2: also be to my detriment and not as fun. But
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Speaker 2: that would be probably my best.
11:36
Speaker 5: And to flip that, what is your worst?
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Speaker 2: I wouldn't say that I'm a lazy human, but I'm
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Speaker 2: a very hard working human. And at the end of
11:43
Speaker 2: the day, I can be quite tired and go for
11:47
Speaker 2: takeaway for dinner instead of committing myself to a forty
11:51
Speaker 2: five minute recipe at home with the food that I
11:53
Speaker 2: have in the fridge.
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Speaker 5: You are me, I always say. And it's funny. I
11:57
Speaker 5: feel like I'm a different person at work than I
11:59
Speaker 5: am at home, So at work I'll be like this
12:02
Speaker 5: super motivated person. I'll get all my stuff done. I'll
12:04
Speaker 5: be like, yep, this, this, and this, get home and
12:07
Speaker 5: I'm like, do we have to cook? Like I would
12:09
Speaker 5: like to dish on this couch like a slug and
12:13
Speaker 5: Uber eats is sometimes a little bit too tempting for me.
12:16
Speaker 5: In fact, I was talking the other day with a friend,
12:19
Speaker 5: a friend who is on the radio with me, Jess,
12:22
Speaker 5: who has spent seventeen thousand dollars in the last twelve
12:25
Speaker 5: months on Uber eats. What wild right?
12:28
Speaker 2: Is so too much money?
12:29
Speaker 5: Mitch jury coming for you? But but I'm not there.
12:34
Speaker 5: But I'm also a little bit scared to calculate mine,
12:37
Speaker 5: you know, I.
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Speaker 2: Wouldn't want to do it.
12:39
Speaker 5: Yeah, I calculate without how much it was per week,
12:41
Speaker 5: and I was like, so that's more than my grocery bill.
12:43
Speaker 5: Like I'm just a cheeky pizza and salad kind of goal.
12:46
Speaker 5: All right, next question before we go to a very
12:49
Speaker 5: quick break, is my friend, what gray would you give
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Speaker 5: your money habits if we forced you to give yourself
12:55
Speaker 5: a grade.
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Speaker 2: I would probably give myself either a B plus or
12:59
Speaker 2: an A minus somewhere around that ballpark, because I do
13:02
Speaker 2: still have a lot to learn. I need to really
13:06
Speaker 2: become focused on a new goal and set a new
13:10
Speaker 2: target for myself. So yeah, I'm thinking around B plus
13:12
Speaker 2: A minus.
13:13
Speaker 5: I feel like that's very fair given you've said I
13:15
Speaker 5: want to grow and I want to change in there's
13:17
Speaker 5: some things I need to get in order. But like
13:18
Speaker 5: a minus, I reckon it's a very nice place to be,
13:21
Speaker 5: given how good you are at saving my friend. Let's
13:23
Speaker 5: go to a quick break, and then after our break
13:25
Speaker 5: I want to talk about your living LaVita limbo comment.
13:29
Speaker 5: Let's go all right, Jess, we are back. I've never
13:35
Speaker 5: heard someone say living LaVita limbo before, but I feel
13:39
Speaker 5: like it summarizes the experiences of a lot of our community,
13:43
Speaker 5: especially after the last few years that we've had where
13:45
Speaker 5: we were like not sure what's going on or how
13:47
Speaker 5: it works, and now we're getting back into the swing
13:49
Speaker 5: of things, we're all like, what are my goals? Who
13:52
Speaker 5: am I? What do I like? Where do I want
13:54
Speaker 5: to be in a few years? Do I even want
13:56
Speaker 5: to own property? Who am I? Is marriage an option?
13:58
Speaker 5: Like I feel like, is so relatable? Money Diarist, when
14:02
Speaker 5: did you come to the conclusion that you were in
14:04
Speaker 5: this limbo state? And how are you feeling about it.
14:07
Speaker 2: I probably came to the realization that I was in
14:10
Speaker 2: this feeling of starkness probably in the last month. But
14:14
Speaker 2: then upon reflection, I realized I've probably been here for
14:18
Speaker 2: at least six to twelve months.
14:20
Speaker 5: I feel like it's always us who finds out last,
14:23
Speaker 5: so it's like, oh, everybody else was probably a little
14:25
Speaker 5: bit like, oh, Jess is a little bit lost right now,
14:27
Speaker 5: but didn't notice yet. So talk to me about why
14:31
Speaker 5: that might be the case. Obviously, you're a really good saver,
14:34
Speaker 5: and externally, I would say, it looks like you have
14:37
Speaker 5: all your stuff together. I just listened to your very
14:39
Speaker 5: structured money diary, and you're a good saver. It sounds
14:42
Speaker 5: like you've got some good goals. You're looking towards investing
14:45
Speaker 5: in the future, You're making the most of the way
14:47
Speaker 5: you get paid. Like, talk to me about why you
14:49
Speaker 5: still feel like you're in limbo. For sure.
14:52
Speaker 2: I think I'm very as a person hesitant to take risks,
14:57
Speaker 2: whether there's an element of you know, I could have
15:01
Speaker 2: a return of unimaginable finances or anything like that. If
15:06
Speaker 2: I foresee any element of loss, I hold my cards
15:10
Speaker 2: quite close to my chest. I don't dive in. I
15:13
Speaker 2: don't try new things. I'm very vanilla in that sense.
15:18
Speaker 2: But also, you know, vanilla can be a good, safe flavor,
15:21
Speaker 2: so I just live in.
15:22
Speaker 5: My safe bubble. Some people that's their favorite, so I
15:25
Speaker 5: don't think it's a bad thing at all. In fact,
15:27
Speaker 5: I always chuse vanilla ice cream over any other flavor
15:30
Speaker 5: because it goes.
15:31
Speaker 2: With so much and you're never disappointed.
15:34
Speaker 5: Exactly exactly, but sometimes we get sick of vanilla and
15:39
Speaker 5: we want to try something different. Talk to me about
15:41
Speaker 5: why I'm getting the vibe that you're a bit risk averse.
15:44
Speaker 5: Is it your money diary? Is how you grew up
15:46
Speaker 5: around money? Is it any experience that you've had relatively recently,
15:50
Speaker 5: like what's going on?
15:52
Speaker 2: That is an excellent question. So I guess my parents
15:56
Speaker 2: did have one negative experience with investing when I was
16:02
Speaker 2: a lot younger. Actually so well, probably about twenty years ago,
16:06
Speaker 2: where their investment in particular didn't pay off and they
16:10
Speaker 2: experienced quite a bit of loss in that regard. I
16:14
Speaker 2: don't think that's necessarily dramatically shaped. You know, my thought
16:19
Speaker 2: process is today, but I think just knowing how long
16:24
Speaker 2: it's taken me to build up my savings and the
16:27
Speaker 2: work that I've committed to that and the journey. I
16:31
Speaker 2: am very hesitant to part with that. So I think
16:33
Speaker 2: it's just reflecting on how long it's taken me to
16:36
Speaker 2: get here and what I've done to get here, and yeah,
16:39
Speaker 2: being a bit worried in that sense, what happens if
16:42
Speaker 2: I lose it.
16:43
Speaker 5: I feel like that's a really common experience, and we've
16:45
Speaker 5: spoken about it on the podcast before. You know, Jess,
16:48
Speaker 5: you've mentioned something similar before, and also Georgia talks about
16:52
Speaker 5: it quite openly that Georgia is like a killer saber.
16:55
Speaker 5: She's a small wizard. I am sure you and Georgia
16:58
Speaker 5: would get along like a house on fire. She is
17:00
Speaker 5: so good at money, but she's also still, even having
17:04
Speaker 5: been in this she's on the money sphere for so long,
17:07
Speaker 5: she's very risk averse and is a bit worried about
17:09
Speaker 5: investment markets, even though she has access to the advice. Right,
17:13
Speaker 5: So it doesn't even mean that if you get the
17:16
Speaker 5: advice you'll immediately go and invest. It's all about mindset.
17:20
Speaker 5: But you said before you have a really good money mindset,
17:23
Speaker 5: So talk to me about what's stopping you taking that
17:26
Speaker 5: next step into creating wealth so you can retire at sixty.
17:30
Speaker 2: I think it's just letting myself become comfortable with you know,
17:34
Speaker 2: fluctuating markets. It's going to go down sometimes, it's going
17:37
Speaker 2: to go up sometimes. And at the end of the day,
17:41
Speaker 2: if I'm not doing this, if I'm not investing in
17:44
Speaker 2: the market, my money is just sitting there doing nothing
17:47
Speaker 2: and it's not, you know, growing its wealth. So I
17:52
Speaker 2: think it's just building my own you know, assurance in
17:56
Speaker 2: the system and just the market, and just accepting that
18:01
Speaker 2: it is what it is, and I need to start
18:03
Speaker 2: making positive change and getting my money to work for
18:06
Speaker 2: me rather than just sitting stagnant. It's a mind.
18:09
Speaker 5: Shift, exactly. But it sounds like you're on the right
18:12
Speaker 5: pathway now. I know this money diaries about you, not
18:15
Speaker 5: about your parents, but I want to be a little
18:18
Speaker 5: bit pervy and ask do you know what they invested in?
18:22
Speaker 5: Because I always like to ask this question because often
18:25
Speaker 5: when we talk to parents or grandparents who have experienced
18:28
Speaker 5: significant loss, often it's an asset class that we would go, oh, well,
18:32
Speaker 5: that kind of makes sense in hindsight that that didn't perform,
18:36
Speaker 5: or it wasn't an index fund, or it wasn't an
18:38
Speaker 5: ETF that they put their money in and it was
18:40
Speaker 5: growing over the long term. So do you have any
18:42
Speaker 5: insight into that?
18:44
Speaker 2: Yes, so it was this is going to be polar opposites.
18:47
Speaker 5: It was either coal or gold, so very different resources.
18:52
Speaker 2: Sorry, it's totally escaped me now. But they got to
18:54
Speaker 2: tip off from a friend of theirs and this was
18:57
Speaker 2: going to be the next big mining opportunity, and turns
19:02
Speaker 2: out it wasn't.
19:03
Speaker 5: It wasn't. Oh that is the worst, especially because in
19:08
Speaker 5: that situation, I'm sure they trusted the person who gave
19:11
Speaker 5: them the advice they did. Oh that makes me feel icky.
19:14
Speaker 5: But it's also a very good reflection. You know that
19:16
Speaker 5: book that I adore Jess The Richest Man in Babylon.
19:20
Speaker 5: There is some very good advice in there. And you
19:22
Speaker 5: guys have probably already listened to our book episode, so
19:25
Speaker 5: you've heard this before, but I want to drum it
19:27
Speaker 5: into you. One of the quotes in The Richest Man
19:29
Speaker 5: from Babylon is you would never take advice from a
19:32
Speaker 5: bricklayer on buying diamonds. And that doesn't mean that they're
19:35
Speaker 5: not a good bricklayer and don't know their trade. But
19:37
Speaker 5: I think it's so important to always question where advice
19:41
Speaker 5: comes from and say like, oh, great, Like I've got
19:44
Speaker 5: a tip off from a friend Jess told me. Would
19:47
Speaker 5: just know like she's a content creator in this and that.
19:50
Speaker 5: But then oh, she works in finance, maybe she knows
19:52
Speaker 5: a little bit more. But I think it's so important
19:55
Speaker 5: to really contextualize where your advice is coming from because
19:59
Speaker 5: so many of us us get it from friends, or
20:01
Speaker 5: so many of us get it from the media. What
20:04
Speaker 5: does Channel nine or ten or Channel seven know about
20:07
Speaker 5: investing properly? Yeah, I feel like it's such an interesting
20:10
Speaker 5: space to ask about because every time I ask about
20:13
Speaker 5: a big loss, it was never in something really stable,
20:16
Speaker 5: which is a good and a bad thing. I mean,
20:18
Speaker 5: it's good for us to learn, it's terrible for them,
20:20
Speaker 5: and it gives me a bit of ick. I'm like,
20:21
Speaker 5: oh my gosh, I wish I could help.
20:23
Speaker 2: Yeah, I wish I could have helped. Not that I
20:25
Speaker 2: would have known anything back then, but yeah, it's one
20:28
Speaker 2: of those things that, especially with where they were at
20:31
Speaker 2: financially in their journey, it was just a bit of
20:33
Speaker 2: a rough patch. But it's okay, it happens. We learn
20:36
Speaker 2: they haven't done it since.
20:38
Speaker 5: So talk to me about the Great Australian dream you
20:41
Speaker 5: mentioned before that you're just not sure about it anymore.
20:44
Speaker 5: Where did your shift in mindset around that come from.
20:47
Speaker 5: And is that something they're growing up you just assumed
20:49
Speaker 5: would happen or you really wanted to happen or what
20:52
Speaker 5: are your thoughts on property ownership?
20:54
Speaker 2: Definitely, growing up, it was something you know, ever, I mean,
20:58
Speaker 2: I grew up in a small rural town in Victoria,
21:01
Speaker 2: so you know, owning your own home was more common
21:04
Speaker 2: than renting because it was quite affordable where we were living.
21:08
Speaker 2: And it was just you know, you save and then
21:11
Speaker 2: you get your deposit, you buy your house, you get married,
21:14
Speaker 2: you start your family. Like it was all that flow
21:17
Speaker 2: on effect and it all stemmed from this big, beautiful
21:19
Speaker 2: home that you owned. It's all a life, but it's well,
21:25
Speaker 2: I just probably until about twelve months ago, I was
21:28
Speaker 2: still in that mindset, but it shifted a little bit
21:31
Speaker 2: now that I'm living in the Melbourne region to Okay,
21:35
Speaker 2: maybe I won't buy a house for myself. Maybe I'll
21:37
Speaker 2: buy an investment property or you know, out of area
21:41
Speaker 2: so that I can save a bit of money on that,
21:44
Speaker 2: so that I'm not dropping a million dollars, for example,
21:47
Speaker 2: and then that shifted again after a really I guess
21:52
Speaker 2: important conversation that my partner and I had about where
21:55
Speaker 2: our values were sitting right now, Not you know, what
21:59
Speaker 2: did we want when we were eighteen, it's what do
22:02
Speaker 2: we want for ourselves right now? And we decided that
22:05
Speaker 2: we don't want a house right now, and we don't
22:08
Speaker 2: really have a need for an investment property and possibly
22:12
Speaker 2: the extra work or stresses that that might put on
22:15
Speaker 2: our lives right now. But we agreed that maybe in
22:19
Speaker 2: the future that's something that we can re explore together
22:22
Speaker 2: or separately. But yeah, we don't really know where we
22:25
Speaker 2: want to put down our roots. We would like to
22:27
Speaker 2: be doing so much else, like traveling and just growing
22:32
Speaker 2: together as a couple before we commit to any large
22:37
Speaker 2: purchases like a home.
22:38
Speaker 5: Yeah, because it's such a big investment, and it's not
22:42
Speaker 5: just an investment in terms of we'll get a return
22:45
Speaker 5: out of this. It's your time, your energy, your effort,
22:48
Speaker 5: all of your savings. Arguably also the ongoing commitment of
22:52
Speaker 5: paying a mortgage. I don't think a lot of people
22:55
Speaker 5: understand what that commitment looks like until you're actually in
22:59
Speaker 5: the depths of it. We talk about it a lot
23:01
Speaker 5: of work, and we talk a lot about it in
23:03
Speaker 5: the office, just about making sure that you can afford
23:07
Speaker 5: the repayments, and the repayments are something that are not
23:10
Speaker 5: compromising your future goals and what you actually want to
23:13
Speaker 5: achieve in life. Because I think once we start looking
23:16
Speaker 5: at property, we get so tunnel visioned and we go,
23:18
Speaker 5: all right, we need to save as much as possible,
23:20
Speaker 5: and then once I have that deposit, I'm going to
23:23
Speaker 5: be able to be a bit more free, and unfortunately
23:26
Speaker 5: so many of us go. We do that, We save
23:29
Speaker 5: our butts off. We get to that point where we
23:31
Speaker 5: can purchase a property, we speak to a broker, They
23:34
Speaker 5: talk to you about what your serviceability looks like and
23:37
Speaker 5: what you can afford, and you go, great, no problems,
23:39
Speaker 5: that's fantastic, and we end up on the higher end
23:42
Speaker 5: of that spectrum, locking us into a mortgage repayment that
23:45
Speaker 5: stops us doing those things that you just said you love,
23:47
Speaker 5: like growing as a couple and having shared beautiful experiences
23:51
Speaker 5: and traveling and experiencing the world. And I think that
23:54
Speaker 5: we need to zoom out a little and go, all right, well,
23:56
Speaker 5: what does life look like if we are going to
23:59
Speaker 5: go down that route at some point, What does it
24:01
Speaker 5: look like, how does it work, where would it sit?
24:03
Speaker 5: And I think that you're making a really important decision
24:06
Speaker 5: as a couple right now. That's okay, Well, that's not
24:10
Speaker 5: in line with our goals and values. And I think
24:12
Speaker 5: that's so powerful because it bucks the trend of what
24:15
Speaker 5: everyone might expect from you, especially if you've come from
24:19
Speaker 5: a small town.
24:20
Speaker 2: Absolutely, and I constantly hear your voice in my head, Victorias, saying,
24:25
Speaker 2: you know, what are your money values and reminding myself
24:28
Speaker 2: that just because everyone else is doing this doesn't mean
24:31
Speaker 2: that I should do that. And it's not what I
24:33
Speaker 2: necessarily want to do anymore. And it's okay that my
24:36
Speaker 2: mindset has shifted over the past couple of.
24:38
Speaker 5: Years exactly, and it can shift again, like you could
24:41
Speaker 5: come full circle and go, oh my gosh, we have
24:44
Speaker 5: changed our minds. The only thing we want to do
24:47
Speaker 5: is buy a house, and that's so fine. But it's
24:50
Speaker 5: about being in touch with what that looks like. And
24:52
Speaker 5: it changes and it shifts. And I think that if
24:56
Speaker 5: you spoke to even baby Victoria, her goals and her
25:00
Speaker 5: values were absolutely not aligned to what current Victoria's goals
25:04
Speaker 5: and values are like I'm looking at it going, oh
25:06
Speaker 5: my gosh, at some point, I'm gonna have a baby,
25:08
Speaker 5: and that's so exciting. I want to provide for that baby.
25:11
Speaker 5: Like if you'd set that to past Victoria at twenty
25:14
Speaker 5: two twenty three, she would have been like, that's disgusting.
25:17
Speaker 5: You're never having kids. What are you talking about. I
25:20
Speaker 5: don't want to be locked down to any man. I
25:22
Speaker 5: think it's just such an interesting mindset shift to even
25:26
Speaker 5: contrast past us to future us, because I don't even
25:30
Speaker 5: know what I would want to do in the future, right.
25:33
Speaker 5: And I think that that's where it gets so confusing,
25:35
Speaker 5: because we often compare ourselves to our friends and our
25:38
Speaker 5: family and our colleagues and people who surround us instead
25:42
Speaker 5: of ourselves. Like, the only person you should ever compare
25:46
Speaker 5: yourself to is past you, never anybody else, because if
25:49
Speaker 5: you're doing that, you're doing yourself a disservice, because everybody
25:52
Speaker 5: else has different experiences and goals and values and things
25:55
Speaker 5: they want to achieve. And I mean, if I look
25:58
Speaker 5: at Jess, she's a way better savor than me. Like
26:00
Speaker 5: Jess is a small wizard, so is Georgia. It's really
26:04
Speaker 5: jarring because I am not nearly as good at money
26:07
Speaker 5: as they are. I have to be super automated, and
26:09
Speaker 5: I look at them and I go, oh my gosh,
26:11
Speaker 5: like I can't believe how good at money they are
26:13
Speaker 5: consistently because I am not. But that doesn't put me
26:17
Speaker 5: in a good position at all. It just makes me
26:19
Speaker 5: feel bad. It puts me in a position where I'm
26:21
Speaker 5: then reflecting on their goals and their values to overlay
26:24
Speaker 5: onto my life, Whereas I could go, oh my gosh, Victoria,
26:27
Speaker 5: you're doing so well. You're so much better than past you,
26:30
Speaker 5: because past you was an absolute shamble. So I think
26:33
Speaker 5: it's about really understanding and it sounds like you're on
26:36
Speaker 5: track to really going all right, Well, this is how
26:38
Speaker 5: we want to live life on our terms, and that's
26:41
Speaker 5: such a beautiful thing. Tick here, I love it.
26:43
Speaker 2: Yeah, life is definitely too short and too fluid to
26:47
Speaker 2: remain stagnant.
26:48
Speaker 5: So what are we going to do about our living?
26:50
Speaker 5: Levita Limbo? How are we going to sort that out?
26:54
Speaker 5: Because I think that this topic is such a common
26:57
Speaker 5: one and it's such a relatable topic in our community.
27:00
Speaker 5: What are you going to do? How are we going
27:01
Speaker 5: to do it? And how are we going to do
27:03
Speaker 5: it together?
27:04
Speaker 2: I was hoping you might have that answer, but I
27:07
Speaker 2: can contribute. I think I might just need to take
27:10
Speaker 2: that leap and if I want to invest, just accepting
27:14
Speaker 2: that with investing comes ebbs and flows and that's all
27:19
Speaker 2: part of the journey. So I think taking that leap there,
27:22
Speaker 2: but ensuring that I'm doing it in a financially safe way.
27:26
Speaker 2: So I've done my research. I've spoken to a financial advisor.
27:30
Speaker 5: Yay, I've heard they're good eggs.
27:32
Speaker 2: Do you know any good ones?
27:33
Speaker 5: No, I've heard of one I wouldn't recommend.
27:37
Speaker 2: Oh okay, give it a miss then, But yeah, So
27:39
Speaker 2: I just I need to and I think in terms
27:42
Speaker 2: of what I've already done a little bit of research,
27:44
Speaker 2: quite a bit of reading, I think I'm at that
27:47
Speaker 2: point where I'm ready to meet with their financial advisor,
27:49
Speaker 2: whether that's to provide an element of comfortability and security
27:54
Speaker 2: in taking that leap or getting that professional advice.
27:58
Speaker 5: I think that's a really important point bring up because
28:00
Speaker 5: we've done episodes on different ways to invest. So we
28:04
Speaker 5: talked about micro investing and then DIY platforms and robo
28:08
Speaker 5: advice and financial advice, and obviously financial advice can be
28:12
Speaker 5: quite expensive and arguably a little bit prohibitive for a
28:16
Speaker 5: lot of people. But a lot of the time, when
28:18
Speaker 5: we talk to clients or I see new clients, they'll
28:21
Speaker 5: sit down and be like, Victoria, this is worth it,
28:23
Speaker 5: because I'm never going to get into the market if
28:25
Speaker 5: I don't have someone holding my hand or if I
28:27
Speaker 5: don't have this sense of support around me, because it's
28:31
Speaker 5: just never going to happen. So as much as it's
28:33
Speaker 5: an investment, it's an investment in my future because I'm
28:36
Speaker 5: not going to invest without somebody else. And I really
28:39
Speaker 5: like reframing it to that because so many people say
28:42
Speaker 5: things like, oh my gosh, you could just do it yourself,
28:44
Speaker 5: and you absolutely could, but a lot of people aren't
28:47
Speaker 5: comfortable to do that. A lot of people need that journey.
28:50
Speaker 5: And we talk about investment so much, which is why
28:53
Speaker 5: we have a book coming out in September literally on investment,
28:57
Speaker 5: because after the first book came out, I obviously included
29:01
Speaker 5: some information about investment in different asset classes, and I
29:04
Speaker 5: was like, this is good, this is a really good
29:05
Speaker 5: based understanding. Everyone was basically shaking me, going well, what's next?
29:10
Speaker 5: How do we do the next thing? And I go, oh, okay, well,
29:13
Speaker 5: I guess we have to write another book. So hopefully
29:16
Speaker 5: you can get your mittens on that and put yourself
29:19
Speaker 5: in a position where you go, oh, this makes sense.
29:21
Speaker 5: These are the next steps. These are the things I
29:23
Speaker 5: need to understand to feel comfortable with the markets. And
29:26
Speaker 5: it's something that I want to create way more content
29:29
Speaker 5: around as well. So hopefully we can do a little
29:31
Speaker 5: course so we can do it together and actually sit
29:34
Speaker 5: down and have webinars and stuff. And I'm just trying
29:36
Speaker 5: to find a format to make that work so that
29:39
Speaker 5: we can learn together and it be collaborative. However, you
29:42
Speaker 5: said before a very interesting comment where you're like, oh,
29:45
Speaker 5: I hoped that you have the answers, and I'm like,
29:48
Speaker 5: my friend, I wish I had the answers. But the
29:51
Speaker 5: thing is, I am a financial advisor. I can advise,
29:55
Speaker 5: but what you actually take up is really based on
29:59
Speaker 5: your goals and your values, and a lot of the
30:02
Speaker 5: financial advice process is actually very psychological. It's very sit
30:07
Speaker 5: down and saying money, gyrus, but what do you want?
30:09
Speaker 5: And it's like asking the questions that get the answer
30:12
Speaker 5: out of you, so the answer truly lies with you.
30:16
Speaker 5: It's not actually with me, there's no magic wand that goes,
30:19
Speaker 5: oh my gosh, you can feel like you're not in
30:21
Speaker 5: limbo anymore. It's actually that structure and sitting down and going, well,
30:25
Speaker 5: what are my attitudes towards money? What do I want
30:28
Speaker 5: to achieve? And journaling is a really powerful tool that
30:32
Speaker 5: you can use to sit down and go, oh, well,
30:34
Speaker 5: what does life look like in ten or twenty years.
30:37
Speaker 5: It's something that I've done with my partner. He was
30:40
Speaker 5: a bit begrudging of it. He didn't like this idea
30:42
Speaker 5: because quote lame. But sitting down and going, well, what
30:45
Speaker 5: does life look like for us in five years? Like
30:48
Speaker 5: where are we at, where do we live, what amount
30:51
Speaker 5: of money do we earn? Do we have kids, do
30:53
Speaker 5: we not have kids? Do we still live in the
30:55
Speaker 5: same location. I think that that can be a really
30:58
Speaker 5: powerful tool of saying five years and then we did
31:01
Speaker 5: ten years, and after that we both just started arguing
31:03
Speaker 5: about how it wasn't worth, you know, going any further
31:05
Speaker 5: than that, But that gave us a really good structure
31:08
Speaker 5: of well, what do we need to get in place
31:10
Speaker 5: to create that reality? What do we need to organize
31:13
Speaker 5: to make sure that that works? And that was something
31:16
Speaker 5: that Steve and I had done before we got engaged,
31:19
Speaker 5: and I didn't know that that was coming at that point,
31:22
Speaker 5: but we sat down and I was like, oh, like,
31:24
Speaker 5: you know, being really honest, i'd love to think that
31:26
Speaker 5: in five years would be married. Steve was like, yeah,
31:28
Speaker 5: like that seems like a really nice, you know, part
31:31
Speaker 5: of life. And I think that to have those open,
31:34
Speaker 5: honest conversations about where your life goes, whether it is
31:37
Speaker 5: with your partner or with a friend, or even just
31:40
Speaker 5: with yourself and a journal, sitting with a really nice
31:43
Speaker 5: cup of tea, I think that that can be a
31:45
Speaker 5: really awesome point of reflection where you go, well, what
31:48
Speaker 5: does it look like in the future. We're not comparing
31:51
Speaker 5: to anybody else, we're not reflecting on other people's expectations
31:54
Speaker 5: of ourselves, and more often than not, I think you'll
31:57
Speaker 5: find that most of us it's not about things. It's
32:00
Speaker 5: about experiences and feelings and mental health. And I think
32:04
Speaker 5: that those are really beautiful outcomes that we can start
32:07
Speaker 5: working towards. So I'm sorry I don't have the answers,
32:10
Speaker 5: because unfortunately I never do. I can give you an education.
32:14
Speaker 5: I can give you all the information on how to
32:16
Speaker 5: look at the returner on the investment or the returner
32:19
Speaker 5: on equity. We can sit down, we can talk about
32:21
Speaker 5: asset classes, but at the end of the day, your
32:24
Speaker 5: values and what your life looks like, and that guidance
32:27
Speaker 5: actually comes from within. As fluffy as that sounds, and
32:30
Speaker 5: I'm sorry.
32:31
Speaker 2: No, I think it's I think it's really relevant. Sometimes
32:35
Speaker 2: you just need someone to say to you. I hear
32:39
Speaker 2: that you're wanting to explore this, and that's okay, And
32:42
Speaker 2: whether it's a flop or a success, you're going to
32:45
Speaker 2: do what you want to be doing. And I think
32:48
Speaker 2: that's what you guys are providing for me right now.
32:51
Speaker 4: I read a tweet on the weekend and it said,
32:52
Speaker 4: after your flop era comes your sleigh era.
32:55
Speaker 5: I'm sorry, Okay.
32:57
Speaker 4: Even if it is a flop, maybe that that means
32:59
Speaker 4: that something good will come around the corner for you.
33:02
Speaker 2: And look at rock bottom, you can only go up
33:04
Speaker 2: right exactly exactly.
33:06
Speaker 5: And I always say it's either a blessing or a lesson.
33:10
Speaker 5: So there's no such thing as a flop in my book, Jess,
33:13
Speaker 5: I got to read it, sheep, none of us are flocks.
33:15
Speaker 5: I think it's interesting as well, because I think so
33:17
Speaker 5: many of us are actually looking for permission to explore it.
33:20
Speaker 5: I think we're not looking necessarily for the answers, we're
33:23
Speaker 5: just looking for the gateway to start, right. It's like anything,
33:27
Speaker 5: you just don't feel like you're well enough equipped to
33:30
Speaker 5: start exploring that. But exploring it is free. You can
33:33
Speaker 5: read so much, you can listen to podcasts, You can
33:35
Speaker 5: explore different topics or even just different theories or different
33:40
Speaker 5: ideas from different people without having any complications on your
33:45
Speaker 5: financial life. Right, so, I think starting to map out
33:48
Speaker 5: what that might look like, or even write down the
33:51
Speaker 5: things you don't want to be, because I think a
33:53
Speaker 5: lot of the time, if we're confused about our circumstances,
33:57
Speaker 5: it's very hard to say, okay, Jess, well what do
33:59
Speaker 5: you want in five years? And you throw your hands
34:01
Speaker 5: in the air and you go, well, I don't know, Victoria,
34:03
Speaker 5: that's the problem. But what we can do is sit
34:06
Speaker 5: down and go, well, what don't you want? You go,
34:08
Speaker 5: I don't want to be in a job that I
34:09
Speaker 5: don't like, I don't want to not do this, or
34:12
Speaker 5: I don't want to have not traveled. I think it's
34:15
Speaker 5: easier to write a list of things you do not
34:17
Speaker 5: want as opposed to things you do want. Even though
34:20
Speaker 5: I'm very much of a positive mindset and I'd prefer
34:22
Speaker 5: us to be more aspirational, sometimes it's easier to start
34:26
Speaker 5: with the lists of don't because they quite easily can
34:29
Speaker 5: be reframed into well, the opposite of that is this
34:32
Speaker 5: is that what you want? You go, Yeah, that sounds
34:34
Speaker 5: about right for me. So I think it can be
34:37
Speaker 5: a little bit fluffy, but sometimes we need someone to
34:40
Speaker 5: just give us permission to explore that and say no,
34:44
Speaker 5: do it like that's the best thing for you. We
34:46
Speaker 5: want to see where you're at and how that works.
34:48
Speaker 2: I think so definitely, and having like you were saying, Victoria,
34:52
Speaker 2: having someone along that journey with you, whether it be
34:55
Speaker 2: a financial advisor or a partner or someone else that
34:59
Speaker 2: holds a lot of you in importance to you to
35:02
Speaker 2: you know, pick you up when things aren't great or
35:04
Speaker 2: if anything you know dips and just say, look, we're
35:07
Speaker 2: going to try again. So I think that's what I'll
35:10
Speaker 2: be seeking. Definitely.
35:12
Speaker 5: I love that, and I think you're absolutely on the
35:14
Speaker 5: right track. Jess, Do you have any other question?
35:17
Speaker 4: No, I feel like that's left it at a really
35:18
Speaker 4: nice place.
35:19
Speaker 5: I feel like we've run out of time as well,
35:21
Speaker 5: so I was like, ah, yess, if you do, sorry,
35:24
Speaker 5: all right, thank you so much money, Dirist. I feel
35:27
Speaker 5: like this has been super relatable to me and to
35:30
Speaker 5: probably everybody who listens. But now, Jess, unfortunately it is
35:34
Speaker 5: time to wrap the boring but important stuff. Take it away,
35:37
Speaker 5: don't forget guys.
35:38
Speaker 4: The advice shared on She's on the Money is generally
35:40
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35:44
Speaker 4: the Money exist purely for educational purposes and should not
35:47
Speaker 4: be relied upon to make an investment or a financial decision.
35:50
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35:53
Speaker 4: are authorized representatives of InFocus Securities Australia Proprietary Limited ABN
35:58
Speaker 4: four seven oh nine seven seven nine nine seven oh
36:00
Speaker 4: fortnine I ever sell two three six five.
36:03
Speaker 5: Two three See you on Wednesday, guys.
36:04
Speaker 2: Bye,