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Nailing Your Finances in Your Single Era (and Beyond) · She's On The Money

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Speaker 1: My name is Tatasha Bamblet. I'm a proud First Nations
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Speaker 1: woman and I'm here to acknowledge country t Glenn Young
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Speaker 1: Ganya Niana, Kaka yah Ya bin Ahaka nian Ar gay
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Speaker 1: In Mbina, yakarum jar dominyamiga Umagahawakawaman, damon imlan Wumba, bang
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Speaker 1: Gadabomba in and now in wakah ghana on yakraum jar Watnadaa. Hello,
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Speaker 1: beautiful friends, we gather on the lands of the Aboriginal people.
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Speaker 1: We thank acknowledge and respect the Aberiginal people's land that
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Speaker 1: we're gathering on today. Take pleasure in all the land
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Speaker 1: and respect all that you see. She's on the Money
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Speaker 1: podcast acknowledges culture, country, community and connections, bringing you the tools,
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Speaker 1: knowledge and resources for you to thrive.
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Speaker 2: She's on the Money. She's on the Money. Hello and
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Speaker 2: welcome to She's on the Money, the podcast that's here
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Speaker 2: to help you build wealth no matter what stage of
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Speaker 2: life you're in. And today it's all about managing your
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Speaker 2: money in your single girl era, because being single changes
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Speaker 2: the entire way you do money. You're not splitting rent,
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Speaker 2: you're not combining incomes. Bar My friend, you are in
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Speaker 2: full control. You get to set the goals, you get
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Speaker 2: to pivot fast, and if you do it right, your
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Speaker 2: single season can actually be your most financially powerful one. Yet.
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Speaker 2: Today we're going to break down how to budget, invest,
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Speaker 2: and build wealth as a party of one. I'm Victoria Devine,
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Speaker 2: retired financial advisor, and while our friend Beck is away,
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Speaker 2: I have the fabulous Miss Jess Grici filling in.
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Speaker 3: Hello.
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Speaker 2: Hello, I'm so excited. We were both saying this is
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Speaker 2: such a necessary episode in our community, but both of
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Speaker 2: us feel right now quite underqualified. Neither of us have
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Speaker 2: been single for ten years, but we both have been single.
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Speaker 3: I've been in the trenches, girl.
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Speaker 2: I mean, you're saving for a house on your own trill,
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Speaker 2: so I feel like in some ways you're still individually
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Speaker 2: managing financewers. And my job used to be to just
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Speaker 2: set up people's finances. So the amount of single people
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Speaker 2: I have set finances up for, I feel like, does
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Speaker 2: make me qualify it totally.
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Speaker 3: Life doesn't end just because you're single. You can still
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Speaker 3: do it all.
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Speaker 2: No, not only did I want to do this episode
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Speaker 2: because our community keeps going. I'm single, what do I do?
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Speaker 2: I also wanted to do this episode because one in
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Speaker 2: four OUZSI households are a one person household right now,
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Speaker 2: and for women between the ages of twenty five and
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Speaker 2: sixty four, nearly forty percent of us are single. So
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Speaker 2: if you're managing money solo, you're actually not the exception.
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Speaker 2: You're actually the new normal. Just sad to think about.
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Speaker 2: But if you became single tomorrow, what would your first
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Speaker 2: money move be.
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Speaker 3: I think I'd have to redo my budget.
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Speaker 2: Is my right now?
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Speaker 3: My life is set up where we don't share all
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Speaker 3: of our expenses, but as you were saying, we.
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Speaker 2: Still housees, all of the good stuff.
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Speaker 3: Utilities, all those sorts of things. So I think I
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Speaker 3: would have to have a look at what I needed
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Speaker 3: to spend. Strip back to the bed bone.
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Speaker 2: Would you get a house mate?
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Speaker 1: Probably?
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Speaker 3: Honestly, yeah, I mean it would depend I could afford
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Speaker 3: to pay my full rent for the house on my own,
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Speaker 3: but like, would I want to? It would slow down
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Speaker 3: a lot of my other goals And say would it
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Speaker 3: stop you investing? And say, yeah, like I could, but
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Speaker 3: I'd have to pull the money from somewhere right, So,
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Speaker 3: like now.
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Speaker 2: We're in our thirties, though, you'd be relatively strategic about
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Speaker 2: picking a housemate, just like, Oh, get them in, they're fine,
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Speaker 2: they seem nice. I think I'd be like grilling them
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Speaker 2: because I'm out for our housemates that we've had historically.
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Speaker 2: I'm like, do you know what, that's not the season
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Speaker 2: of life for this. No, not at all. But you
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Speaker 2: touched on before that you would have to go back
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Speaker 2: to budgeting, and budgeting I would say is especially important
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Speaker 2: for singles because the average one person household here in
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Speaker 2: Australia spends two thousand, eight hundred and thirty five dollars
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Speaker 2: a month on living expenses alone versus two thousand and
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Speaker 2: fifty nine dollars per person if you're in a couple,
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Speaker 2: So that equates to what I'm going to call a
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Speaker 2: single tax of about seven hundred and seventy six dollars
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Speaker 2: each and every single month, or if we want to
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Speaker 2: extrapolate that out a little bit, nine three hundred dollars
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Speaker 2: a year.
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Speaker 3: That's crazy.
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Speaker 2: Well, it kind of makes sense because like if you
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Speaker 2: go to the groceries, like my husband and I we
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Speaker 2: pull our money together, but at the end of the day,
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Speaker 2: like it's for both of us, he's contributing. I'm contributing,
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Speaker 2: like I can add the legal sweet treat without it
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Speaker 2: super impacting our budget in comparison to if it was
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Speaker 2: just a single income. And I think you guys are
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Speaker 2: the same, Like you start stooping back and you actually
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Speaker 2: have to spend more. So I don't know. It really
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Speaker 2: frustrates me because when you're single, I want you to
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Speaker 2: be setting yourself up financially. And I feel like so
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Speaker 2: many people in our community say things like THEE what
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Speaker 2: can I do? Like I feel like I'm just like
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Speaker 2: always cutting it close to the wire, like every month. Yeah,
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Speaker 2: as much as this episode is going to be about
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Speaker 2: tips and tricks, I also want you to know, like, yes,
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Speaker 2: like that's what's going to happen, and sometimes saving is
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Speaker 2: going to be harder, Investing is going to be harder,
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Speaker 2: And we're not waiting for another person to be our
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Speaker 2: financial plan. Yes, if you become a couple and then
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Speaker 2: you decide to combine finances down the track, things are
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Speaker 2: going to be a little bit easier. But like, if
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Speaker 2: we can work ourselves out now, we are so financially powerful. Yes,
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Speaker 2: you're not maybe investing as much as you want to
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Speaker 2: or saving as much as you want to, but like
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Speaker 2: you're in complete control. And I don't know about you, Jess,
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Speaker 2: but I think we're both like kind of control freaks.
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Speaker 2: Oh yeah, and so like that kind of sounds good
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Speaker 2: to me. So the first thing we're gonna do, if
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Speaker 2: we are single, we are going to look and I
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Speaker 2: mean this is probably if you're not single and you're
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Speaker 2: listening to this, hey friends say, but we are also
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Speaker 2: going to take tips and tricks from this because it's
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Speaker 2: really good, Like, take a look at your bare bones
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Speaker 2: essentials before anything else. I want you to figure out
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Speaker 2: what do you actually need to survive, So like what
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Speaker 2: is rent? What it bills? What are groceries? If you've
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Speaker 2: got any debts, what are your minimum repayments? That number
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Speaker 2: is going to become your financial baseline. So that's the
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Speaker 2: baseline that we're starting with. Then I want you to
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Speaker 2: start thinking about making your emergency fund reflect your genuine
6:31
Speaker 2: real needs. I think sometimes and I say this all
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Speaker 2: the time, like I try to aim for about three
6:36
Speaker 2: months of emergency funds. Yeah, but like some of us go, oh,
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Speaker 2: I've got one thousand dollars and like that's fine, But
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Speaker 2: emergency funds they literally matter for everybody, but they especially
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Speaker 2: matter if you're single, there's actually no second income to
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Speaker 2: fall back on, Like if you lose your job, you
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Speaker 2: can't be like to your partner, Hey, could you just
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Speaker 2: like cover this month's rent and all work it out later.
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Speaker 2: That's just not an option. There's no second income to
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Speaker 2: fall back on if things go wrong, So you actually
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Speaker 2: need to be able to be solid enough to carry
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Speaker 2: on on your own. And I was actually talking to
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Speaker 2: my single best friend yesterday about this, and she was saying, like,
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Speaker 2: I just love having my emergency fund. But before I
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Speaker 2: had it, I didn't realize how much I needed it. Yeah,
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Speaker 2: but she had it. She had always like five hundred
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Speaker 2: one thousand dollars set aside, And like, I don't know
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Speaker 2: about you. Yes, I don't want you to agree with this,
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Speaker 2: but like she might have felt some pressure from me
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Speaker 2: to get her stuff together. Maybe I was going, hey,
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Speaker 2: i'll sit you down and i'll do your investments. I'll
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Speaker 2: do this, I'll do that. Not that I would ever
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Speaker 2: give advice, you know, that would be a breach, but
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Speaker 2: I would give tips and tricks. Right once she got
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Speaker 2: her emergency fund, She's like Victoria the freedom I feel
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Speaker 2: like just knowing that if stuff hits the fan girl,
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Speaker 2: I'm good.
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Speaker 4: Yeah.
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Speaker 2: The peace of mind, yeah, And like there is definitely
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Speaker 2: a peace of mind in having as little as you
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Speaker 2: need in an emergency fund. I mean, if so many
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Speaker 2: of us are going to be listening to this and
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Speaker 2: going the I can't get three months together, I literally
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Speaker 2: get it, but others are going to go that would
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Speaker 2: make me feel more financially secure. And that's kind of
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Speaker 2: what we're working towards. Right now, all you can afford
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Speaker 2: is fifty bucks money win, You've got fifty dollars. I
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Speaker 2: promise future you is going to be bloody grateful that
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Speaker 2: you even had that. So, like, no amount is too little,
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Speaker 2: But what we want to do is start working towards
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Speaker 2: like what are our real needs? How do I actually
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Speaker 2: get to this? And like we've done episodes on side
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Speaker 2: hustles and extra income, and Jess, you are like the
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Speaker 2: queen of the side hustle. I would have a recommendation
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Speaker 2: to hustle up a little bit of an emergency fund
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Speaker 2: just so you feel a lot more financially comfortable. Then
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Speaker 2: what we're going to do is create a bill's account
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Speaker 2: and we're going to split the cost with ourselves, so
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Speaker 2: you can't have your rent. I'm sorry, can't have your electricity.
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Speaker 2: But what you can do is kind of trick your
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Speaker 2: budget into feeling a little bit easier. So what I
9:07
Speaker 2: want you to do is, if you know that, like
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Speaker 2: your rent each month is two thousand dollars, you're going
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Speaker 2: to strip that back to a weekly amount and then
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Speaker 2: set a transfer amount weekly into a separate bill's account,
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Speaker 2: so when the expense actually hits, the money is already there.
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Speaker 2: So if you know that, you know each month you've
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Speaker 2: got one hundred dollars in electricity bills, let's divide that up,
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Speaker 2: maybe it's twenty five dollars a week, and we just
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Speaker 2: do an automatic transfer. We're just making sure we've got
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Speaker 2: our own backs and that the money is already sitting
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Speaker 2: somewhere else. Oh it feels like it's not ours anymore.
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Speaker 2: When we pay a bill. Then we're going to use
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Speaker 2: what I call either my cash hub or a sinking
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Speaker 2: fund to avoid I don't know, financial chaos over predictable costs.
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Speaker 2: So like how many times? And I know you don't
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Speaker 2: do this anymore, but when you're a bit younger, you
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Speaker 2: were like, oh my god, I forgot that red Jo
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Speaker 2: was coming. Oh my god, I forgot that that insurance
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Speaker 2: was there, and oh, I completely forgot, Like for me,
10:04
Speaker 2: netball registration fees are coming out and it's like, quote,
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Speaker 2: only one hundred dollars, but like only one hundred dollars
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Speaker 2: that's all I've got right now. Yeah, So a sinking
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Speaker 2: fund is essentially money that you're setting aside in advance
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Speaker 2: for expenses that you already know are coming. So we
10:21
Speaker 2: know that netball fees are coming out, we know that
10:23
Speaker 2: our car insurance is going to come up, even if
10:26
Speaker 2: they're not monthly. We're thinking additional things too. Sorry, we're
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Speaker 2: just girls. Beauty appointments, new pairs, a runners, your best
10:33
Speaker 2: friend's hens weekend, or maybe even Christmas. So instead of
10:37
Speaker 2: just like panic buying and being like, oh my god,
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Speaker 2: like this month is going to be a really expensive month,
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Speaker 2: I'm going to have to really cut back my budget
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Speaker 2: and work out what the heck's going on, you're kind
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Speaker 2: of saving or pre saving really small amounts so future
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Speaker 2: you can then spend without guilt or stress or getting
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Speaker 2: into credit card debt, which, by the way, when you're single, Jess,
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Speaker 2: you and I know, really easy to do. Oh is
10:59
Speaker 2: it a do as we say? Now?
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Speaker 1: Though?
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Speaker 2: Not as we did for our mistakes. Yeah, and then
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Speaker 2: I love this, and I already know that you love
11:08
Speaker 2: this because I can see your calendar. Set a calendar
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Speaker 2: reminder for everything. So whether you are the default bill
11:16
Speaker 2: payer in your household, or you need to renew your
11:20
Speaker 2: insurance or do your registration check, automate it, then put
11:24
Speaker 2: it in your calendar so that we don't have to
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Speaker 2: rely on our memory alone, because girl, my memory sucks.
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Speaker 2: And I would say I'm a relatively smart person. Even
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Speaker 2: if you think you can remember it, put in your calendar.
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Speaker 2: When it pops up, you'll be like, oh, yeah, I'm
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Speaker 2: across that. It might validate you, or it might remind
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Speaker 2: you of something that you forgot.
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Speaker 3: I like to double up my calendar reminders too, so
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Speaker 3: like two weeks before let's say my house insurance for
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Speaker 3: the year will renew, I have a reminder double check
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Speaker 3: like your insurance, like shop around.
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Speaker 2: So I know I can see your calendar. It's yes
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Speaker 2: and color work things. And I think that you know,
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Speaker 2: if you're managing your work life that and it works,
12:01
Speaker 2: why not manage your money life that way? Like hop
12:04
Speaker 2: it in the calendar, pop the reminder in and make
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Speaker 2: sure that you're kind of like mapping out your budget,
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Speaker 2: because once that's done, the chances are the biggest chunk
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Speaker 2: of it is going to go to one thing.
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Speaker 3: Could that be housing?
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Speaker 2: No, it's the worst, isn't it? Like I feel like
12:18
Speaker 2: rent has increased astronomically over the last few years, And
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Speaker 2: I guess once you come to the conclusion and understand
12:28
Speaker 2: how much of your income's going to housing, I would
12:31
Speaker 2: be asking some questions. Don't get me wrong, It's all
12:34
Speaker 2: about values, and we're just going to reiterate our own values.
12:37
Speaker 2: But is there anything that you can do to bring
12:39
Speaker 2: that down? Because when you're single, if you're covering one
12:43
Speaker 2: hundred percent of the rent or one hundred percent of
12:45
Speaker 2: the mortgage on your own, I would say, that's a
12:47
Speaker 2: huge load. And I guess this might be the perfect
12:51
Speaker 2: season to get a little bit creative, Like, jess, what
12:55
Speaker 2: are some ideas if I don't particularly want to get
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Speaker 2: a permanent housemate, because like, that's not for everybody.
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Speaker 3: No, And I totally get that, especially if you're going
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Speaker 3: through a period of change already, where you're going from
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Speaker 3: being in a partners being single, Like, so much change
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Speaker 3: a month once might be overwhelming. You could look at
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Speaker 3: downsizing potentially, Like, right now my partner I share a
13:14
Speaker 3: four bedroom house. I don't need that for just me.
13:16
Speaker 3: I could move into a one bedroom if I had to,
13:18
Speaker 3: and that would save me a lot of money. Could
13:20
Speaker 3: you look at moving maybe further out location wise, So
13:24
Speaker 3: if you're living closer to the city, moving somewhere more rurally,
13:28
Speaker 3: perhaps with good public transport if you still need to
13:30
Speaker 3: get to work, somewhere more urban is a really good option.
13:33
Speaker 3: If you're not renting and you own your own property,
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Speaker 3: maybe you could rent out the spare room, like get
13:38
Speaker 3: yourself a housemate or airbmb it if you want to
13:41
Speaker 3: dip a toe in the water.
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Speaker 2: I've got a friend who airbnb's their room out es.
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Speaker 2: They don't even own the property, they just got approval
13:47
Speaker 2: from their landing. Yeah, they live near a university and
13:52
Speaker 2: they airbnb the room out come exam time because apparently
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Speaker 2: some people travel and they don't want to during the exam.
14:00
Speaker 2: She lists it during exam week. Yeah, makes her killing.
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Speaker 2: That is so clever and she like gets some extra
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Speaker 2: bank and like, let's be honest, Jess, exam week is
14:08
Speaker 2: at the end of the year. Usually timing sorry, right
14:12
Speaker 2: in time for Christmas. She's got a little extra cash holder.
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Speaker 3: She's figured it out. Yeah, give it a little test around.
14:16
Speaker 3: It's a good way to see if maybe you could
14:18
Speaker 3: do the housemate thing. I feel like it's a really yeah,
14:21
Speaker 3: great option. It's totally flexible, which when you're single, you've
14:24
Speaker 3: got that flexibility. You know, nobody else's routine or preferences
14:27
Speaker 3: need to be considered. So you could house it, you
14:30
Speaker 3: could move into a granny flat, you could couch surf
14:33
Speaker 3: and live with a family member or a friend for
14:35
Speaker 3: a short period of Yeah, we did.
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Speaker 2: Money diary like last year of that girl who just
14:39
Speaker 2: pets it. Yeah, and she's like, yeah, and then if
14:42
Speaker 2: I have to all pay for an airbnb for like
14:44
Speaker 2: the week in between, which is like financially, that works
14:47
Speaker 2: out so much better for me. But she's like, got
14:50
Speaker 2: on this website. I believe it's Mad Pause. Yeah, and
14:53
Speaker 2: so she's on Mad Pause. But she like books in advance,
14:55
Speaker 2: and now she's been doing it so long she has
14:57
Speaker 2: like this five star rating and everybody wants her to
14:59
Speaker 2: like look for their pets. But she's like, oh, if
15:02
Speaker 2: I have to airbnb in between, like yeah, I live
15:04
Speaker 2: out of a suitcase I've got a heap of stuff
15:06
Speaker 2: in a storage unit. But like, sorry, I'm saving so
15:08
Speaker 2: much money.
15:09
Speaker 3: And that's the thing is, like you can live your
15:11
Speaker 3: life on your terms while you figure it out, save
15:13
Speaker 3: some cash up, Like why not try something a little
15:15
Speaker 3: bit unorthodox?
15:16
Speaker 2: Sorry, And she's using somebody else's Wi Fi to work
15:18
Speaker 2: from home three days a week and.
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Speaker 3: She gets to cuttle cutey little pets.
15:22
Speaker 2: Oh my god, Like if I was single again, I
15:24
Speaker 2: just feel like, even like Loki, even if I was
15:27
Speaker 2: living in a sharehouse, to get out of the sharehouse
15:30
Speaker 2: genuinely and go live in somebody who can afford to
15:33
Speaker 2: pay a pet sitters house. Sorry, they've probably got good
15:35
Speaker 2: Wi Fi, maybe a few good snacks in the fridge
15:38
Speaker 2: if they let you at them. I don't know. I
15:40
Speaker 2: just have this idea in my head that people who
15:42
Speaker 2: pay pet sitters probably have a nice house with no
15:45
Speaker 2: housemates that you could enjoy while they're on holiday.
15:48
Speaker 3: And that sounds like the dream, especially if you're single.
15:51
Speaker 2: It's actually so funny, like complete side note. When I
15:55
Speaker 2: go on holiday, our team kind of go, oh, who
15:58
Speaker 2: is looking after your pets? Victoria? Because it's not about
16:01
Speaker 2: having a nice house it's I have the house with
16:04
Speaker 2: no housemates. Yeah, and when I'm away for the cost,
16:07
Speaker 2: if you're looking after my cat, you can watch my
16:09
Speaker 2: Netflix all day and not have to worry about your housemates. Yeah,
16:11
Speaker 2: that's the money win and cut all the cute little kiddies.
16:14
Speaker 2: So there's lots of things that you could be creative about, Jess,
16:17
Speaker 2: But I guess big picture, housing is usually going to
16:21
Speaker 2: be your biggest costs. So anything that you can do
16:24
Speaker 2: to minimize it is going to free up some more
16:26
Speaker 2: cash that could go do like debt repayments or savings
16:29
Speaker 2: or investing or even just creating like a little bit
16:32
Speaker 2: of breathing room totally.
16:33
Speaker 3: And then there's your groceries, which I think is another
16:36
Speaker 3: big expense that adds up so much faster, especially when
16:39
Speaker 3: you're shopping for one person.
16:41
Speaker 2: One hundred percent. And I think that's where you need
16:43
Speaker 2: to kind of, like I would say, master the art
16:47
Speaker 2: of solo grocery shopping. And I was never good at this,
16:51
Speaker 2: Like whenever I cooked, I was cooking for a family
16:54
Speaker 2: of four, irrespective of whether it was just me or
16:57
Speaker 2: maybe I was cooking for me and my housemate. Some
17:00
Speaker 2: How I didn't have the ability to cook for less,
17:03
Speaker 2: which is fine. I think some people can resonate with that,
17:05
Speaker 2: but like like meal prep exactly, Well, I was always
17:08
Speaker 2: eating curriede sausages. I'm telling you right now they are elite.
17:11
Speaker 2: But I would say you need a strategy to not
17:14
Speaker 2: just like reduce waste, but what it does is make
17:17
Speaker 2: your money go further. So if meal prepping is part
17:19
Speaker 2: of that strategy, money win. For me. It was because
17:23
Speaker 2: I couldn't seem to understand sizes, and a lot of
17:28
Speaker 2: websites actually now have the ability to like scale your recipe.
17:34
Speaker 2: I don't know if you've seen it up the top
17:35
Speaker 2: of like recipe or whatever recipes dot com or whatever
17:39
Speaker 2: it is. It goes like make it for six, and
17:41
Speaker 2: you can like put in one and it will just
17:43
Speaker 2: tell you the serving for One's so clever. I think
17:45
Speaker 2: the most annoying thing for me, though, is when I
17:47
Speaker 2: look at those recipes, I'm like, sorry, what do you
17:50
Speaker 2: mean half an egg? Like that's just I'm sorry that
17:53
Speaker 2: fried rice is now having one whole egg and it's
17:55
Speaker 2: just going to be eggy fried rice?
17:57
Speaker 3: Yeah, Like well extra flavor.
17:58
Speaker 2: Also, I've written down some tips and tricks plan meals
18:02
Speaker 2: around ingredients that you can reuse, so like, again I
18:06
Speaker 2: used to be bad at this. I wish past me
18:08
Speaker 2: had this tip. But instead of choosing like totally different
18:11
Speaker 2: recipes each night, because you're like, I'm really going to
18:13
Speaker 2: mix it up, base your meals around a few really
18:16
Speaker 2: versatile ingredients. We actually did a free ebook on recipes
18:22
Speaker 2: from cooking with was it Cooking with Chelsea or ten
18:25
Speaker 2: Dollar Meals with Chelsea. I'm going to put the link
18:27
Speaker 2: in the show notes for you, but she literally will
18:29
Speaker 2: be like, Okay, you're gonna buy a packet of chicken
18:32
Speaker 2: thighs and we're going to do them three different ways
18:35
Speaker 2: this week, so you're still mixing it up, which I
18:38
Speaker 2: think is really important because otherwise you might get bored
18:41
Speaker 2: or not want it. But also you're only buying one
18:44
Speaker 2: packet of chicken thighs instead of one chicken breast and
18:47
Speaker 2: two chicken thighs and something else and whatnot. I would
18:51
Speaker 2: then also freeze your leftovers, so like I'm an optimist,
18:56
Speaker 2: so I would always put them in the fridge and
18:58
Speaker 2: then be like, I'm not even home for the rest
19:00
Speaker 2: of the week and then have to throw them out.
19:02
Speaker 2: We are freezing our leftovers because your freezer is going
19:05
Speaker 2: to become your best friend, porstioning your leftovers into like
19:09
Speaker 2: different containers so that future you can just get it out.
19:13
Speaker 2: I guarantee you. On your microwave, like me, you have
19:16
Speaker 2: a defrost option, so you don't just have to chuck
19:18
Speaker 2: it in the microwave and superheat the middle of it.
19:20
Speaker 2: Your microwave has a defrost option, then you heat it. Sorry,
19:25
Speaker 2: why didn't no one tell me that ten years ago
19:26
Speaker 2: when I was single and superheating the middle of my
19:31
Speaker 2: leftover orzotto and then like eating the frozen bit around
19:34
Speaker 2: the edge. What the hell? But that way nothing is
19:37
Speaker 2: going to waste, and you have meals in the fridge
19:40
Speaker 2: when you get home. Girl. Yeah, perfect.
19:42
Speaker 3: Have you seen that TikTok of the person who got
19:44
Speaker 3: I think they're meant to be like jumbo ice cubes
19:46
Speaker 3: or something, but they're like biger cubes, super cubes there
19:49
Speaker 3: you go, like the big rectangular ones, but they'll freeze
19:53
Speaker 3: things in ingredients. So like she'll do one trait of
19:56
Speaker 3: like veggies and one trait of rice and one tray
20:00
Speaker 3: and then she'll take out a cube of rice, a
20:02
Speaker 3: cube of veggiees in a cube of something, even if
20:04
Speaker 3: she cooks them all at different.
20:05
Speaker 2: Times, even if you're just doing that into like ziploc bags,
20:08
Speaker 2: Like you don't necessarily have to freeze it into entire meals,
20:12
Speaker 2: having some leftover rice and then like a week later
20:15
Speaker 2: having some leftover curry. Wow, bam, there's a meal in
20:18
Speaker 2: your freezer.
20:19
Speaker 3: It's like build a bowl.
20:19
Speaker 2: It's perfect. It's genius. And the supercube so it's soup
20:24
Speaker 2: like as in soup, not super but super cubes. They're
20:29
Speaker 2: on TikTok. I don't know how much they cost. They
20:31
Speaker 2: might be astronomical, who knows.
20:32
Speaker 3: But like you could find a dup.
20:34
Speaker 2: You can find a dube, or you could just use
20:35
Speaker 2: a ziploc bag. Yeah, like who cares? Just the concept
20:39
Speaker 2: of going, oh, I have leftover rice but no curry.
20:41
Speaker 2: Oh is it worth freezing it? You probably used to
20:44
Speaker 2: chuck it out. No, put it in a freezer because
20:46
Speaker 2: you probably have leftover curry or something next week. And
20:49
Speaker 2: then we have, bam, a meal that you I'm going
20:52
Speaker 2: to say, technically didn't pay for. We love that because
20:54
Speaker 2: you were going to throw it out. And like, Jess,
20:56
Speaker 2: I don't know about you. Have you ever been able
20:58
Speaker 2: to cook the right amount of rice.
21:00
Speaker 3: Never one's in my life, never one.
21:02
Speaker 2: And then also we want to be I feel like
21:04
Speaker 2: so many of us want to buy things in bulk
21:06
Speaker 2: because it sounds good. You and I love a bulk deal.
21:10
Speaker 2: But I feel like Costco is an experience. Absolutely, we
21:13
Speaker 2: go to different countries, Jess, and every time we've been
21:16
Speaker 2: to a different country where if we visited, just to
21:18
Speaker 2: check the Costco exactly, you have to. It's a rite
21:21
Speaker 2: of passage. And also your Costco membership in Australia gets
21:24
Speaker 2: you into the US one and like, why would you not,
21:27
Speaker 2: and they have different things because it's America anyway. That's
21:29
Speaker 2: not a money win. But what is a money win
21:32
Speaker 2: is just because you can buy something in bulk doesn't
21:36
Speaker 2: mean it's actually better for you. Yes, it might be
21:40
Speaker 2: on the label cheaper per kilo, and you might go, okay, cool,
21:44
Speaker 2: well I'm gonna buy a whole kilo of this, But
21:48
Speaker 2: then it goes off before you can eat it, or
21:50
Speaker 2: then it sits in the back of the pantry and
21:52
Speaker 2: you've completely forgotten about it. I would say you are
21:55
Speaker 2: literally throwing money in the bin. Sometimes it's actually better
21:59
Speaker 2: to spend fifty cents more on something or even a
22:03
Speaker 2: couple of dollars more to make sure that it's not
22:05
Speaker 2: going to waste, and then you're not spending an extra
22:07
Speaker 2: ten to get the bulk version that you don't ultimately use. Yeah,
22:12
Speaker 2: And that's a really hard lesson for me to learn,
22:13
Speaker 2: because I'm always like, no, I'm without a deal. I'm sorry.
22:16
Speaker 2: I want to get home, and then like FaceTime my
22:18
Speaker 2: friend and be like, Jess, did you see this? I
22:20
Speaker 2: got this for this amount. Yeah. If you're not facetiming
22:22
Speaker 2: your friends when you get a good deal, what are
22:24
Speaker 2: you doing? And then also, this is a good deal
22:27
Speaker 2: that like I don't know if everybody does this, you should?
22:30
Speaker 2: I do this for snacks, and like if I'm like, oh,
22:33
Speaker 2: I want to make sandwiches this week, We're not going
22:35
Speaker 2: to the supermarket aisle where all the bacon and the
22:38
Speaker 2: ham and stuff is. We're going to the Delhi Because
22:40
Speaker 2: do you know what you can do in the Delhi?
22:42
Speaker 2: Buy one chicken snitty dream, you can buy two slices
22:45
Speaker 2: of ham. You can literally go, hey, I'd love up
22:48
Speaker 2: handful of olives. The deli lets you buy literally exactly
22:52
Speaker 2: what you need without having to go and buy like
22:54
Speaker 2: a whole can of olives or a whole packet of
22:57
Speaker 2: ham that then goes off. It is going to cost
22:59
Speaker 2: you seven dollars. What the heck? Also, they do cheese
23:04
Speaker 2: slice cheese. You can get like three slices of cheese
23:07
Speaker 2: if that's all you need. You don't need to spend
23:09
Speaker 2: ten dollars on the eager box of them that ultimately
23:12
Speaker 2: dries out in your fridge because the packaging is not
23:14
Speaker 2: actually ideal for cheese. I love that. And then Jess
23:17
Speaker 2: I would say, when it comes to spending in general, like, guys,
23:20
Speaker 2: we have to get savvy. I'm so sorry. I know
23:23
Speaker 2: I said it a million times before. We're in the
23:24
Speaker 2: middle of a cost of living crisis. That means that, yes,
23:28
Speaker 2: you might go but I have a good job or
23:30
Speaker 2: I have a good income. It actually means that financial
23:33
Speaker 2: pressure is so much more on literally everybody, like we
23:37
Speaker 2: are all feeling it. I'm not saying that it's all equal,
23:40
Speaker 2: but like to not be able to save at the
23:42
Speaker 2: moment pretty normal, to not be able to add extra
23:45
Speaker 2: to our investments, to feel like every single week we're
23:48
Speaker 2: cutting up fine, that is unfortunately the normal of right now.
23:53
Speaker 2: But I need you don't know that, right now more
23:57
Speaker 2: than ever. Spending in alignment with your i'll use and
24:00
Speaker 2: your goals is really important with one income. I believe
24:05
Speaker 2: it is really important to get intentional. We're not trying
24:09
Speaker 2: to restrict. Yes, sometimes we have to cut things out,
24:12
Speaker 2: but like, we want to get really intentional with our
24:14
Speaker 2: money because we're not here to cut everything, but we
24:17
Speaker 2: are here to make every spend that we have to
24:19
Speaker 2: make mean something. Don't get me wrong, I know that
24:22
Speaker 2: you're probably thinking, oh, feb but if I go to
24:24
Speaker 2: the deli and get it, it's like literally a dollar
24:26
Speaker 2: or whatever. It's from little things. Big things grow like
24:30
Speaker 2: those little savings over the long term and get to
24:33
Speaker 2: mean that at the end of the year, you'll be like, Wow,
24:35
Speaker 2: there's an extra five hundred bucks sitting in my account
24:37
Speaker 2: from the small decisions I made throughout the year. Yeah,
24:40
Speaker 2: what other tips and tricks would you add to my
24:42
Speaker 2: list that I've just started creating.
24:44
Speaker 3: I would say, maybe look at using the cost per
24:47
Speaker 3: use rule really ruthlessly. I think that route that's my
24:51
Speaker 3: way of justifying things. Yeah, we've got to be aggressive.
24:53
Speaker 3: When you're single, you're the only person using something true.
24:56
Speaker 3: So it's kind of like if you want to buy.
24:58
Speaker 3: You know, I'm going to use the slow cook. For example,
25:00
Speaker 3: you want to buy a slow cook because you think
25:01
Speaker 3: it'll make my life so much easier. I'll call my
25:03
Speaker 3: naals in it. Great If that's true and you're going
25:05
Speaker 3: to use it every day, perfect. If you're going to
25:07
Speaker 3: use it to cook a meal once and then put
25:09
Speaker 3: it in the back of your cupbo and it's going
25:10
Speaker 3: to collect dust for six months, probably not worth it.
25:13
Speaker 3: And you're the only person that's.
25:14
Speaker 2: Time to put it on Facebook marketplace.
25:16
Speaker 3: Sell it literally, which I think is another good one.
25:18
Speaker 3: If you are buying things, buy them secondhand. If you
25:21
Speaker 3: have another single friend in your friend group, can you
25:24
Speaker 3: team up just because you're not in a relationship. It
25:26
Speaker 3: doesn't mean you have to do everything by yourself.
25:29
Speaker 2: Good point.
25:30
Speaker 3: Yeah, if you're going away, can you split a hotel room?
25:33
Speaker 2: If you are?
25:35
Speaker 3: You know, sharing streaming services.
25:38
Speaker 2: I'm all about that. Sorry, I don't care streaming services.
25:41
Speaker 2: You shouldn't be like that. We're in the cost of
25:42
Speaker 2: living crisis. I'm a household across multiple locations.
25:46
Speaker 3: Yeah, you're my friend, we're basically family. We can share
25:48
Speaker 3: a family account. Can we get on you know, the
25:50
Speaker 3: shared Spotify? You know, there's lots of things that you
25:53
Speaker 3: can do to split a cost. Just because you're dating somebody,
25:56
Speaker 3: it doesn't mean that you can't.
25:57
Speaker 2: Do it with them. Did you side note, I'll send
25:59
Speaker 2: it to you. You haven't seen this, but have you
26:01
Speaker 2: seen the girls that are currently living in New York.
26:03
Speaker 2: They're Australian and they share their finances.
26:05
Speaker 3: I obsessed, Yes, I am obsessed with them.
26:09
Speaker 2: I keep commenting on this stuff and I'm like, yes,
26:11
Speaker 2: more of these please like also because I want it
26:13
Speaker 2: to come up on my feed more often. What do
26:15
Speaker 2: you mean? You guys have just decided we're friends, We
26:18
Speaker 2: live in New York, we have different incomes, but we've
26:21
Speaker 2: decided to split. It makes our lives so much easier.
26:24
Speaker 3: There's not a rule that says you have to do
26:26
Speaker 3: it the traditional way, do whatever you want genuinely and
26:30
Speaker 3: then last yay, i'd day. Socializing is really important, especially
26:32
Speaker 3: if you are single. It can be easy I think
26:34
Speaker 3: to go, oh, well, you kind of go one of
26:36
Speaker 3: to extremes, you're out all the time, or you become
26:38
Speaker 3: a real home body. So I think social life is important,
26:42
Speaker 3: especially if it's your main source of connecting with other people.
26:45
Speaker 3: But dinners and drinks and gifts and events. They can
26:48
Speaker 3: all really add up, and so make sure that we're
26:50
Speaker 3: being creative with keeping the costs down.
26:53
Speaker 2: I think that's a really good tip as well, because,
26:54
Speaker 2: like I think, when you're single, you can go, oh well,
26:56
Speaker 2: it's kind of like the single tax, Like it doesn't
27:00
Speaker 2: necessarily have to be like can we grab like can
27:02
Speaker 2: you come over to my place, Jess, and we'll go
27:04
Speaker 2: for a nice long walk, and I'll make a cup
27:05
Speaker 2: of tea in our little keep cups and we'll go
27:07
Speaker 2: from there, Like it doesn't always have to blow the budget.
27:11
Speaker 2: But don't get me wrong, I think when I was single,
27:13
Speaker 2: oh girl, I really looked forward to like going out
27:16
Speaker 2: for dinner with my girlfriends. It just wouldn't have been
27:19
Speaker 2: the same if it was always at home. Like it's
27:21
Speaker 2: something about going out having a nice pasta. Can you
27:24
Speaker 2: find like what nights the pub deals are on? Like, sorry,
27:29
Speaker 2: I remember when I was a cheap Tuesdays wing Wednesdays exactly,
27:34
Speaker 2: So we are making the most of that steak and
27:36
Speaker 2: the wine deal, Like I will go to a pub
27:39
Speaker 2: twenty minutes from my house happily through cheap steak ten
27:42
Speaker 2: out of ten, all right, so yes, we've covered the budget,
27:46
Speaker 2: the day to day stuff, but after the break we're
27:48
Speaker 2: going to get into what I would says, like the
27:50
Speaker 2: juicy stuff, which is your wealth building strategy, superanuation investing,
27:55
Speaker 2: and how to actually grow your money when you're doing
27:58
Speaker 2: it solo. You don't want to miss it.
28:04
Speaker 3: All right, everybody, we're back. We've covered the budget, and
28:07
Speaker 3: now let's get into the bigger picture stuff.
28:09
Speaker 2: And what's building. I feel like so many women are
28:13
Speaker 2: just in limbo when they're single. Like if you're single
28:16
Speaker 2: and listening to this and being like VA, I don't
28:17
Speaker 2: feel like I'm in limbo, like pop off, queen, I
28:20
Speaker 2: love that for you, But I just see so many
28:22
Speaker 2: women who are waiting for a partner or waiting for
28:27
Speaker 2: you know, two incomes, to go, oh, well, once I
28:30
Speaker 2: have a partner, it'll be easier and I can start building.
28:33
Speaker 2: Well no, no, we want to start creating these small
28:36
Speaker 2: habits now, so that, honestly, if your intention is to
28:40
Speaker 2: get into a relationship and you do end up with
28:42
Speaker 2: two incomes, we just turbo charged that as opposed to going,
28:46
Speaker 2: oh i'll learn then. Sorry. I don't know about you, Jess,
28:50
Speaker 2: but if I was single and I was starting to
28:52
Speaker 2: date again and I found out that the person I
28:55
Speaker 2: was dating had their financial shit together invested. We're saving
29:00
Speaker 2: It was like small amounts. I'd be like, few are
29:02
Speaker 2: way more attractive. Sorry, but are we not making ourselves
29:06
Speaker 2: more attractive partners? Yeah? And also what happens when we
29:09
Speaker 2: make ourselves more attractive, Oh, we value ourselves higher, less
29:14
Speaker 2: likely to put up with bullshit. You attract what you
29:16
Speaker 2: put out exactly. So if you want to marry rich,
29:21
Speaker 2: become rich and it'll be easier. I love that. I
29:23
Speaker 2: think that's my hot tip from this podcast. But you
29:26
Speaker 2: actually have some really good advantages on your side. If
29:29
Speaker 2: you're single and you don't have kids. Sorry, as someone
29:33
Speaker 2: with kids, you have so much flexibility, my friend, use it.
29:37
Speaker 2: You can take on higher paying contract works. You have
29:40
Speaker 2: the ability to quit your job and not have anybody
29:44
Speaker 2: to rely on you. You can move for a better job.
29:47
Speaker 2: You can live smaller, you can spend less. You could
29:49
Speaker 2: stack a few income streams and make the most of
29:52
Speaker 2: the time that you've got. There's actually nobody else that
29:55
Speaker 2: you have to factor in or schedule time for which
29:59
Speaker 2: you know you might not want to hear it, But
30:00
Speaker 2: that means that you've got fewer excuses and more room
30:03
Speaker 2: to make bold money moves that are going to help
30:06
Speaker 2: you build your wealth. The next thing I think is
30:09
Speaker 2: very attractive, but at the time you might be like,
30:12
Speaker 2: I'm sick of being single. I get it, but like,
30:15
Speaker 2: embrace being the solo decision maker for a while. That
30:18
Speaker 2: is so slay. You don't have to negotiate risk tolerance,
30:21
Speaker 2: ethical choices, or goals with literally anybody else. Even if
30:25
Speaker 2: you want to go on a holiday, there's no like, oh, yes,
30:28
Speaker 2: where have you if wanted to go and you say, oh,
30:29
Speaker 2: Thailand and I go, oh, I thinking Japan, and then
30:32
Speaker 2: we negotiate where you're going. Sorry, You're just going to
30:35
Speaker 2: the one that you want. You get to build wealth
30:37
Speaker 2: based on your values, your timeline, and your comfort level.
30:42
Speaker 2: One of the first things that I want you to
30:44
Speaker 2: do is look at your current salary and I want
30:47
Speaker 2: you to ask yourself. And it's hard, but I want
30:49
Speaker 2: you to ask yourself, is this enough for the life
30:52
Speaker 2: I want to create for myself when you're single. Unfortunately,
30:56
Speaker 2: no one's actually topping up your income behind the scenes,
31:00
Speaker 2: know like oh yeah, like I can save X amount,
31:03
Speaker 2: But it's okay because we'll still go on holiday, and
31:06
Speaker 2: my partner earns more, so he's going to pay for
31:08
Speaker 2: more of it. So if your pay is not cutting
31:11
Speaker 2: at my friend, there comes a point where you and
31:14
Speaker 2: it's sad, but you just can't budget harder. You can't
31:16
Speaker 2: out budget an income that doesn't suit your lifestyle. You
31:20
Speaker 2: actually need to earn more. And that's where you might
31:24
Speaker 2: need to get really bloody good jess and negotiating. Maybe
31:27
Speaker 2: you do need to pushed kind of off the edge,
31:31
Speaker 2: change your job or upskill. But the first step I
31:35
Speaker 2: would say is being really honest with yourself about whether
31:39
Speaker 2: your current income is supporting the future that you're working
31:43
Speaker 2: really hard towards. And that can be really hard because
31:46
Speaker 2: you might say, V I love my job, and don't
31:48
Speaker 2: get me wrong, not everybody who's single has the ability
31:51
Speaker 2: to just go get quote a better job. Like you
31:54
Speaker 2: might live real really and be like the I'm a nurse,
31:56
Speaker 2: Like I can't just go to a different hospital that
31:59
Speaker 2: pays more. That's not a freaking thing. Yeah, I get it.
32:02
Speaker 2: But maybe there's a side hustle you could do. Maybe
32:05
Speaker 2: there's selling on Facebook marketplace and we talk all the
32:08
Speaker 2: time about boosting your income, but I think we do
32:11
Speaker 2: need to be honest with ourselves because we've done so
32:14
Speaker 2: many money daries about people changing careers and ultimately changing
32:18
Speaker 2: their lives. Do you have to do it? Absolutely not.
32:21
Speaker 2: But if you're unhappy, I'm sorry. We need to make
32:23
Speaker 2: some changes. Yes. The next is kind of reiterating the point.
32:27
Speaker 2: It's diversifying your income to give yourself more breathing room.
32:31
Speaker 2: So things like side hustles can actually help spread the
32:35
Speaker 2: risk because it adds extra cash flow without relying on
32:38
Speaker 2: somebody else. Jess, I would say that you are like
32:41
Speaker 2: the queen of a second income. What would you suggest
32:45
Speaker 2: for our single community members.
32:47
Speaker 3: I think there's a lot of platforms out there now
32:49
Speaker 3: that make it really easy to pick up odd work.
32:52
Speaker 3: Air Tasker driving, for Uber driving, for Uber EAT's Amazon delivery.
32:57
Speaker 3: There's lots of options that let you pick up work
32:59
Speaker 3: on it as need basis, And I think it makes
33:03
Speaker 3: it really easy to set yourself up because you don't
33:05
Speaker 3: necessarily need any skills. You just need a car or
33:08
Speaker 3: a bike or whatever, and you can do that in
33:10
Speaker 3: your own area, which I think is really turned it
33:12
Speaker 3: off and on exactly, which I think is really handy
33:15
Speaker 3: because you can do as much or as little as
33:16
Speaker 3: you need. You don't need to invest in anything to
33:19
Speaker 3: get started, Like it's all quite straightforward. Otherwise I would
33:22
Speaker 3: say selling your stuff. Like there's that statistic that what
33:26
Speaker 3: is it? Most people have like over five hundred dollars
33:29
Speaker 3: of unused just things in their house.
33:32
Speaker 2: Way back in the day, I think it was like
33:33
Speaker 2: twenty twenty, Jess I was working with gum Tree. You
33:36
Speaker 2: might remember this, and like they did a really big
33:39
Speaker 2: and this is twenty twenty. So I reckon it's more
33:40
Speaker 2: now because like TikTok Instagram, we're really over consumption. Yeah,
33:45
Speaker 2: they did a heap of research and they found that
33:47
Speaker 2: most people in their households have five hundred dollars worth
33:51
Speaker 2: of stuff that they could sell.
33:52
Speaker 3: Yeah yeah, so deal, it's find for things, Find the
33:56
Speaker 3: things you're not using, fun things, especially if you're downsizing,
33:58
Speaker 3: like we were talking about earlier. Don't just I don't
34:01
Speaker 3: want to say don't donate stuff because I know that
34:03
Speaker 3: it's important to support charity. Sometimes we donate because we're
34:06
Speaker 3: being lazy and correct. At least give it a go.
34:09
Speaker 3: I think even if you're selling something for five dollars,
34:12
Speaker 3: if you sell ten things for five dollars. That's fifty dollars, right,
34:15
Speaker 3: and so it Can you do a market store? Can
34:17
Speaker 3: you do a clothing rap? Can you do some kind
34:19
Speaker 3: of pop up thing where you can just mass clear
34:21
Speaker 3: things out that you're not using. The cost per use
34:24
Speaker 3: maybe is higher than it should be. Get it out
34:26
Speaker 3: of there and then get some money coming back in
34:30
Speaker 3: and then rent things out if you can too, Like
34:32
Speaker 3: I rent out dresses. If you have tools, people rent
34:34
Speaker 3: out tools.
34:35
Speaker 2: Isn't that crazy? Like you can literally do so much.
34:38
Speaker 2: You just need to start looking at what your options are,
34:41
Speaker 2: because you might be like, oh, none of the options
34:43
Speaker 2: you've mentioned, Jessa, what I want to do? You know what,
34:46
Speaker 2: there's probably options that we don't even know about. But
34:48
Speaker 2: you've got to do your research and like Google, use
34:51
Speaker 2: your friend chat, GPT, use all of those things so
34:54
Speaker 2: that you can kind of put yourself in the best
34:56
Speaker 2: possible position. Absolutely now, Jess, the next topic I want
35:01
Speaker 2: to talk about is something I'm wildly passionate about. And
35:04
Speaker 2: I say it's sexy all the time, and I don't
35:07
Speaker 2: think I have many people that agree with me. But
35:09
Speaker 2: I'm going to keep pounding this point until it's flogged
35:11
Speaker 2: like a dead horse. Superannuation is so flipping sexy, but
35:17
Speaker 2: when you're single, you don't actually have that doubling effect
35:21
Speaker 2: that couples have when it comes to super where you know,
35:23
Speaker 2: you might retire with three hundred thousand and your partner
35:26
Speaker 2: does and okay, so that now we have six hundred
35:28
Speaker 2: thousand and we can actually live, you know, a bit
35:30
Speaker 2: more comfortably. So that means that you have to get
35:33
Speaker 2: your shit together when it comes to superannuation strategy, because
35:37
Speaker 2: it matters more. The earlier you either start topping up
35:41
Speaker 2: even a little bit or looking at your investment platform
35:44
Speaker 2: and making sure you're in the right risk profile means
35:47
Speaker 2: the more time compounding has to do its thing. And
35:50
Speaker 2: I feel like at the moment, maybe because it's just
35:52
Speaker 2: recently kind of been tax season and we're all doing
35:56
Speaker 2: our tax returns, people are like messaging me about their
35:59
Speaker 2: super I cannot be more excited about that topic. We
36:03
Speaker 2: have a whole episode about figuring out and it dropped recently,
36:06
Speaker 2: so all the stats are up to date for you
36:08
Speaker 2: about figuring out how much superranuation you actually need for
36:12
Speaker 2: singles and for couples, So it is for you irrespective
36:15
Speaker 2: of your relationship status, and it just makes sense, Like, Jess,
36:21
Speaker 2: it is something that if you don't have any cash
36:23
Speaker 2: right now, and you're like, I don't have any cash
36:25
Speaker 2: to save, I don't have any cash to invest. I'm sorry,
36:27
Speaker 2: go look at your superranuation and make sure it's in
36:30
Speaker 2: the right possible position, because that is putting in your future,
36:34
Speaker 2: you in the best possible position, instead of burying our
36:38
Speaker 2: head in the sand, like you could change your risk profile.
36:41
Speaker 2: And I know that I said this a million times,
36:43
Speaker 2: but the difference between a conservative risk profile, which by
36:47
Speaker 2: the way, most of us if we've never looked at
36:49
Speaker 2: our super in because exactly when you sign up and
36:53
Speaker 2: you get your first employee forms and you're like, I
36:55
Speaker 2: don't really know what to do, and they're like, oh,
36:57
Speaker 2: sign up to this default super fund. It goes balanced
37:01
Speaker 2: is the most common option, and you'll be like, yeah, whatever,
37:04
Speaker 2: I'll just pick that. The difference between a balanced superfund
37:07
Speaker 2: and a high growth superfund when you retire is close
37:11
Speaker 2: to two hundred thousand dollars. That's no extra contributions, that's
37:15
Speaker 2: just compounding and your risk profile. Yes, make sure that
37:20
Speaker 2: you know you're not just changing it for the money,
37:22
Speaker 2: and you're making sure your risk profile fits. But like, sorry, Jesse,
37:26
Speaker 2: if you're a high growth investor and you're not in
37:28
Speaker 2: the high growth fund, what the heck are you doing?
37:31
Speaker 2: You're missing out free to change. You can put future
37:34
Speaker 2: you in a better financial position without even having a
37:37
Speaker 2: dollar to spend. Yeah, sorry, that makes so much sense
37:40
Speaker 2: to me. So go listen to that and make sure
37:44
Speaker 2: that you're obviously taking your risk profile into consideration. And
37:47
Speaker 2: you know, last performance is not a reliable brief future
37:49
Speaker 2: performance or whatever else I have to say to that,
37:53
Speaker 2: But you know what I mean, I think it is
37:55
Speaker 2: so important because, like we actually have the ability to
37:58
Speaker 2: put ourselves in a good financial position. Even if you
38:00
Speaker 2: have no cash today, you could have no job, But
38:03
Speaker 2: if you've got your super fund, you can go and
38:05
Speaker 2: tidy that up and keep your financial house in order.
38:08
Speaker 2: The other thing I want you to have a look at,
38:11
Speaker 2: and again I'm very wildly passionate about this, is the
38:14
Speaker 2: default insurance if you have it inside your superannuation fund.
38:18
Speaker 2: Most superannuation funds for our audience and our community does
38:23
Speaker 2: actually include a default life insurance and total and permanent
38:27
Speaker 2: disability insurance cover. And that's something that now doesn't happen.
38:33
Speaker 2: So like we don't get default insurance anymore, Jess. But like,
38:37
Speaker 2: if you are like me and you you know, graduated
38:39
Speaker 2: in two thousand and nine and had a few super funds,
38:43
Speaker 2: they very likely, Jess, have insurance associated with them. Yeah,
38:48
Speaker 2: as a single person, it might be worth having a
38:50
Speaker 2: look at how much cover you've got. Are you spending
38:53
Speaker 2: too much because you've got more cover than you need.
38:55
Speaker 2: You don't have any dependents, so could you drop that? Also,
39:00
Speaker 2: you do need smallid income protection. I'm so sorry if
39:03
Speaker 2: you told me, Victoria you have to get rid of
39:05
Speaker 2: every single insurance under the sun. You get to keep
39:07
Speaker 2: one car insurance, phone insurance, house insurance. God, I'm keeping
39:11
Speaker 2: my income protection because if my house burns to the
39:14
Speaker 2: ground tomorrow, my income is what's going to rebuild that house.
39:18
Speaker 2: If my income or I get so so injured that
39:22
Speaker 2: I can't work it anymore, sorry I can't pay the
39:25
Speaker 2: mortgage or my house, I won't have that house. Yeah,
39:28
Speaker 2: so my income to me is the most important part.
39:31
Speaker 2: But unfortunately, when you're single, no partner means no backup plan.
39:35
Speaker 2: You have to become your own backup plan, which means
39:38
Speaker 2: in my eyes, income protection is even more important. And
39:44
Speaker 2: I guess while you're at it, reassess your insurance that
39:47
Speaker 2: you hold outside of supernuation because we just don't have
39:51
Speaker 2: that plus one safety net. So if you get sick
39:54
Speaker 2: or injured, like girl, who's paying your rent? Like, what's
39:57
Speaker 2: the default moving back in with your parents? Like for
39:59
Speaker 2: many of that's just not an option. You have to
40:03
Speaker 2: back yourself. So just make sure you are covered.
40:06
Speaker 3: Yeah, and if you do need someone to sort out
40:08
Speaker 3: your insurances. Sky Wealth, you guys know feel he's been
40:11
Speaker 3: on the show recently. He's a dream. His team are
40:13
Speaker 3: all wonderful. They'll take a look at everything holistically. They
40:16
Speaker 3: could recommend what you can pay from super, what they
40:18
Speaker 3: would recommend paying for outside of Super do all the things,
40:22
Speaker 3: tickle the boxes. They're really great. They make it so easy.
40:25
Speaker 2: Yeah, and like that's not just like a plug to
40:27
Speaker 2: be like go talk to sky Wealth, Like Jess, who
40:30
Speaker 2: did your insurances Skywell? And you did mine sky Wealth?
40:34
Speaker 2: Like it's not because we're like, oh, go talk to
40:37
Speaker 2: these guys. It's like, oh, we know because they've done
40:39
Speaker 2: all of ours and we test them and we love them.
40:41
Speaker 3: Honestly. Their team is so so kind and your ride.
40:43
Speaker 3: It's really important to get all of that stuff sorted out,
40:46
Speaker 3: what's next on the list.
40:48
Speaker 2: So I want to have a quick discussion about working
40:52
Speaker 2: out our financial goals when we single. We're running out
40:55
Speaker 2: of time because I don't want this episode to be
40:57
Speaker 2: too arduous, but I feel like we're talking about really
41:00
Speaker 2: important things, Jess. Investing can obviously be a really great
41:04
Speaker 2: option for building wealth as a single person because you
41:07
Speaker 2: don't have to have a really big sum like a
41:08
Speaker 2: house deposit. And like, to me, if you are single
41:12
Speaker 2: and you're thinking about a house, like I would say,
41:15
Speaker 2: that's a lot of risk to carry. I'm not saying
41:17
Speaker 2: don't do it, Like obviously you're going to do it
41:20
Speaker 2: on your own, but like there's a lot of factors
41:22
Speaker 2: that come into play that make it a good idea
41:24
Speaker 2: for you. But if you're single and want to maintain flexibility, like,
41:27
Speaker 2: investing can be a really good option and if you need,
41:31
Speaker 2: I guess a little bit more encouragement that you can
41:33
Speaker 2: do it on your own. Studies have found that women
41:37
Speaker 2: outperform men when it comes to investing. Oh snaps, for us,
41:40
Speaker 2: we are just better at it. I'm sorry. We make
41:43
Speaker 2: more reserved decisions, We spend a little bit longer thinking
41:46
Speaker 2: about things. We're a little bit more conservative. And you
41:49
Speaker 2: know what, even if they're talking about their day trading
41:52
Speaker 2: or their fucking penny stocks, I think it's really important
41:55
Speaker 2: to remember that slow and steady wins the race. Even
41:59
Speaker 2: if what he is trying to be like, oh, well
42:01
Speaker 2: I started trading and I made XYZ. Well that's not consistent.
42:05
Speaker 2: That's not going to consistently put you in a better
42:07
Speaker 2: position to build wealth. Also, the good news heeries investing
42:11
Speaker 2: is more accessible than it's ever been for singles. Yeah, definitely.
42:14
Speaker 3: There's platforms like Charesa, so you can invest with no
42:17
Speaker 3: minimum investments. So whatever you've got, they've one cent. Sorry
42:20
Speaker 3: that's a minimum investment. Well yeah, as long as you've
42:22
Speaker 3: got a cent, you can do it. And they've got roundups.
42:25
Speaker 3: There's all of these different features auto invest that makes
42:28
Speaker 3: it so much easier for you to get started, regardless
42:31
Speaker 3: of how much income you've got to put in set
42:33
Speaker 3: the habit you'reing. The habit's the most important thing. Get
42:36
Speaker 3: it ready, get it going. You can adjust as you
42:38
Speaker 3: need to, you can adjust as you earn more income,
42:40
Speaker 3: but getting yourself started over that hurdle of you know
42:44
Speaker 3: it seems scary. I think is like a really, it's
42:47
Speaker 3: a simple thing you can do.
42:48
Speaker 2: Yeah, and this is like not an episode that's sponsored
42:50
Speaker 2: by Shares's. It's also not like a mention that sponsored
42:53
Speaker 2: by chares Is to be clear. But we do have
42:55
Speaker 2: a relationship with them, which means they gave us a code,
42:58
Speaker 2: So SotM and you get ten dollars in your investing
43:02
Speaker 2: account when you start, and I get nothing. Yeah, Like
43:04
Speaker 2: that's me just being like, no, the offer was originally
43:07
Speaker 2: five dollars for you, five dollars for me, and I
43:09
Speaker 2: was like, no, give them the ten dollars because like,
43:12
Speaker 2: I don't know, one hundred dollars ten percent return that
43:14
Speaker 2: sounds really good, So sorry, I'll give you a ten
43:17
Speaker 2: percent return, absolutely good deal, free money. I'm wildly passionate
43:20
Speaker 2: about it, and I just feel like investing for income
43:24
Speaker 2: matters more when you're doing it solo, because when you're single,
43:28
Speaker 2: there's no second super fun to lean on or shared
43:31
Speaker 2: bills to have in retirement. Like, girl, I'm sorry, but
43:33
Speaker 2: you have to cover one hundred percent of your future
43:36
Speaker 2: lifestyle on your own. And yes, the plan might be
43:38
Speaker 2: to meet somebody, but like it's rough out there, like
43:42
Speaker 2: I'm seeing my friends go do you know what, I
43:44
Speaker 2: can't even be bothered dating anymore, Like it's just it's
43:47
Speaker 2: not for me. And they're starting to choose, making plans
43:52
Speaker 2: forward on their own and if they meet someone great,
43:54
Speaker 2: But like, we can't just hold our lives and wait
43:57
Speaker 2: for Prince Charming to come.
43:59
Speaker 3: No, and lots of women are doing it on their own.
44:01
Speaker 3: People are becoming parent like single women are becoming parents.
44:04
Speaker 3: They're building those labs.
44:05
Speaker 2: We just go without it. Yeah, Also, sorry, we're in
44:07
Speaker 2: the middle of a cost of living crisis. When Prince
44:09
Speaker 2: Charming comes, he's probably got a credit card debt. Like
44:11
Speaker 2: excuse the way it's going to be, you know, And
44:14
Speaker 2: that's like income from your investments can play, I guess,
44:17
Speaker 2: such a big role. So I would be looking for
44:20
Speaker 2: investments that are paying you while you hold them, not
44:23
Speaker 2: just when they increase in value and you sell them.
44:27
Speaker 2: So we are looking for things like dividend paying shares,
44:31
Speaker 2: are high yield ETFs or even ariits that give you
44:34
Speaker 2: exposure to property without having to take on a mortgage.
44:37
Speaker 2: Like if you'd said to me, I'm absolutely obsessed with property,
44:41
Speaker 2: but I don't want to buy a house. What do
44:42
Speaker 2: I do maybe have a look at an ariit, which
44:45
Speaker 2: is a real estate investment trust, because it gives you
44:48
Speaker 2: exposure to property without having to have a house deposit.
44:51
Speaker 2: And that's kind of a money win I reckon because
44:54
Speaker 2: when the time comes to like slow down or step back,
44:58
Speaker 2: if you've already created a consistent income from your investments,
45:01
Speaker 2: that can be the difference between being free and being
45:06
Speaker 2: in financial pressure for the rest of your life. And
45:08
Speaker 2: as someone who's built.
45:09
Speaker 3: Her house repusit all by herself, gave me or.
45:12
Speaker 2: Is that just like a subtle flex just from me
45:14
Speaker 2: to you. She's rich. If she was single, I'd be like,
45:18
Speaker 2: you should date her.
45:19
Speaker 3: It's possible, though, Like you can. You really can do it.
45:22
Speaker 3: And I think like by implementing all of the tips
45:24
Speaker 3: that we've listed above, by budgeting, by increasing your income,
45:27
Speaker 3: by doing side hustles, all of those things, it can
45:30
Speaker 3: be done. Like I'm living proof that it can be done.
45:32
Speaker 2: One percent, And I think that so many people think
45:36
Speaker 2: that it's like serious sacrifice in life changing But don't
45:39
Speaker 2: get me wrong, You've sacrificed a lot. I don't want
45:42
Speaker 2: to downplay that at all, But like it's been consistent
45:45
Speaker 2: decisions that put you on the right path, because like
45:48
Speaker 2: once you started your savings account for your first home,
45:52
Speaker 2: pretty sure it wouldn't have looked that flash to begin with.
45:55
Speaker 2: But like from little things, big things grow. And as
45:58
Speaker 2: you've said before on the podcast, you've never touched those savings.
46:00
Speaker 2: There's never been a withdrawal from it. So that's a
46:04
Speaker 2: good thing. Yeah, But I think, yeah, you just have
46:06
Speaker 2: to be slow and steady and be consistent, and I
46:08
Speaker 2: mean having the right team on your side. I ate
46:11
Speaker 2: us will be your biggest cheerleaders. But if you want
46:14
Speaker 2: to buy a house, I mean I own a mortgage
46:16
Speaker 2: broking business called Zella. We can literally physically be on
46:19
Speaker 2: your team. And I would absolutely pump up my team's
46:22
Speaker 2: tires every single day of the week because we just
46:24
Speaker 2: have so many first home buyers who are single. And
46:27
Speaker 2: do you know how, I just get this sixth sensive
46:30
Speaker 2: satisfaction when another single girl buys a house. I'm like, yeah,
46:34
Speaker 2: we can do it. Yeah, so good.
46:35
Speaker 3: And what about financial advice in general.
46:37
Speaker 2: I think if you're thinking about financial advice, yes it
46:40
Speaker 2: can be really expensive. But if you're in a financial
46:43
Speaker 2: situation where you're like, I just need to get my
46:45
Speaker 2: stuff together, I need to work it out. I would
46:48
Speaker 2: say seeing a financial advisor as a single is a
46:51
Speaker 2: really good idea, but I would probably look for someone
46:54
Speaker 2: who has other single clients and is not used to just,
46:57
Speaker 2: you know, dealing with couples. So if you're like a single,
47:01
Speaker 2: high income earner, I think it's really important to kind
47:03
Speaker 2: of get your financial house in order, and it might
47:05
Speaker 2: be worth spending the money. But like Jess, as you
47:08
Speaker 2: and I have discussed before, and I think lots of
47:10
Speaker 2: people know, one of the reasons I got out of
47:12
Speaker 2: financial advice is because the cost was just so prohibitive
47:16
Speaker 2: to the people that I wanted to have an impact on.
47:19
Speaker 2: Like I couldn't justify going to someone like you, Jess,
47:23
Speaker 2: if you were single and being like, yep, cool, so
47:25
Speaker 2: my financial advice visa four and a half thousand dollars,
47:28
Speaker 2: Like I would prefer you to save or invest that money.
47:32
Speaker 2: Don't get me wrong, That's a very normal figure for
47:35
Speaker 2: good financial advice. And I think that if you're in
47:37
Speaker 2: a situation where you want to get it, go get it.
47:39
Speaker 2: But like I've created this whole podcast so that you
47:42
Speaker 2: can build that wealth yourself. You can put yourself in
47:44
Speaker 2: the best possible position. Maybe if you're looking at investing
47:47
Speaker 2: and you want some further handholding, don't see a financial advisor,
47:51
Speaker 2: go in and go and do my investing masterclass. It's
47:54
Speaker 2: literally me showing you. So I think working out what
47:57
Speaker 2: works for you is going to be the most important thing.
48:01
Speaker 3: I couldn't agree more. And I think it's been a
48:03
Speaker 3: really good episode. But it's probably about time that we
48:04
Speaker 3: wrap up. But before we do, I do think it's
48:07
Speaker 3: important that we just acknowledge the emotional and mental load
48:10
Speaker 3: of managing your finances by yourself. I know we've given
48:13
Speaker 3: you a lot of advice and a lot of things
48:15
Speaker 3: to think about, but also if you're fresh into a
48:18
Speaker 3: breakup or if you've been single for a long time,
48:20
Speaker 3: that can bring up a lot of very understandable feelings.
48:23
Speaker 3: And sometimes it does just feel like a slog And
48:26
Speaker 3: so I just want to say, like, we love you
48:28
Speaker 3: when we see you, and you totally can do it
48:30
Speaker 3: by yourself, like you really can. Lots of people do,
48:33
Speaker 3: and I know it feels overwhelming and hard, but with
48:36
Speaker 3: all of these tips and all of the tips in
48:37
Speaker 3: the back catalog of the podcast you can go listen to,
48:40
Speaker 3: you can do it.
48:40
Speaker 2: We believe in you. I was explaining to someone the
48:43
Speaker 2: other day, it's like getting out of bed. You can
48:45
Speaker 2: have a whole, really flipping good day ahead of you,
48:48
Speaker 2: but like getting out of bed, it's the hardest part. Yeah.
48:50
Speaker 2: So if you can just do that and get over
48:52
Speaker 2: the first turtle and start looking at your finances, go
48:55
Speaker 2: The rest of it is easy because you're already out
48:57
Speaker 2: of the bed. Yeah, but we actually need to take
48:59
Speaker 2: the first step and sometimes like pull off our sleeping
49:02
Speaker 2: mask and go, you know what. I need to get
49:03
Speaker 2: in the shower and get my stuff done. But it
49:05
Speaker 2: can be really hard. So I think the most important
49:07
Speaker 2: thing here is just give yourself grace.
49:11
Speaker 3: Absolutely.
49:12
Speaker 2: I think that we've done enough here. If you have
49:14
Speaker 2: loved this episode, or you know someone in their single
49:16
Speaker 2: girl era who needs a little money, pep talk my friend,
49:19
Speaker 2: please send it their way. We're all about women backing
49:22
Speaker 2: themselves and each other. And as always, make sure that
49:25
Speaker 2: you're subscribed so that you never miss an episode with us.
49:28
Speaker 2: Leave us a review if you've got a second, because
49:30
Speaker 2: it really does genuinely help, and then we're going to
49:32
Speaker 2: see you on Friday for another episode. So see you soon,
49:35
Speaker 2: my friends.
49:36
Speaker 4: I bid buy shared on She's on the Money is
49:44
Speaker 4: general in nature and does not consider your individual circumstances.
49:48
Speaker 4: She's on the Money exists purely for educational purposes and
49:51
Speaker 4: should not be relied upon to make an investment or
49:54
Speaker 4: financial decision. If you do choose to buy a financial product,
49:57
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50:00
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