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MONEY DIARY: From Death & Debt to Dream Home · 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. She's on the Money, She's on
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Speaker 2: the Money.
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Speaker 3: Hello, and welcome to She's on the the podcast for
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Speaker 3: millennials who want financial freedom. Welcome back to another one
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Speaker 3: of our money diaries where we get to talk to
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Speaker 3: one of our incredible Shees on the Money community members
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Speaker 3: all about their finance journey. Let's jump straight into it
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Speaker 3: because I got a message this week and it went
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Speaker 3: a little bit like this. Hi, Victoria, your recent podcast
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Speaker 3: got me thinking that I should share my story after
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Speaker 3: my husband passed away in twenty twenty. We have two
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Speaker 3: kids and he had two from previous relationships. In twenty
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Speaker 3: twenty two, we also had one of these two pass away.
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Speaker 3: Having seen both sides of having a will and super
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Speaker 3: versus not, I thought it might be interesting to share
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Speaker 3: with the community.
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Speaker 2: Money Diarist, what a story.
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Speaker 3: I feel so privileged that you want to share this
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Speaker 3: with me, Like, that's a wild journey.
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Speaker 2: How are you.
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Speaker 4: It's been pretty crazy few years.
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Speaker 2: Oh my gosh, it sounds like it. Are you okay
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Speaker 2: at the moment?
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Speaker 4: Yeah?
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Speaker 2: Oh my god.
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Speaker 3: I feel like that knocked me for six. When I
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Speaker 3: read it, I was like, oh, I feel like every
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Speaker 3: time I read these people don't understand that I am
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Speaker 3: actually reading it for the very first time. And I
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Speaker 3: read the first part and I was like, oh, far out.
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Speaker 3: And then I read the second part and I was like,
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Speaker 3: oh my gosh. I feel like this story is going
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Speaker 3: to be a super powerful one for the community because
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Speaker 3: you're right. I think seeing other side of having a
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Speaker 3: will and superversus not is actually going to be so
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Speaker 3: good to talk to the community about. So let's dive
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Speaker 3: straight in. Before we ask about your money story, I
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Speaker 3: want to know a bit more about you. So if
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Speaker 3: I was to ask you to grade your money habits
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Speaker 3: from A through F, what would you give your money habits.
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Speaker 2: A C to a D, A C to a D.
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Speaker 3: All right, interesting, let's learn a little bit more about it, money, direst.
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Speaker 3: My favorite question of the entire episode is always this one.
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Speaker 3: Can you tell me a little bit more about your
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Speaker 3: money story.
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Speaker 4: So I grew up in a family where we've always
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Speaker 4: had a family business. We did talk about money in
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Speaker 4: the house, but we weren't very open about what who
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Speaker 4: went what, or how much things actually cost. It was
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Speaker 4: very secretive, but it was a bit under the table,
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Speaker 4: if you want to put it that way. I was
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Speaker 4: always encouraged to have a job before I got a
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Speaker 4: mobile phone, which these days sounds crazy, but back you know,
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Speaker 4: ten fifteen years ago.
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Speaker 3: My friend, I'm in that age bracket too, I get it. Yeah,
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Speaker 3: my Nokia thirty three ten was my pride and joy.
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Speaker 4: Yeah, I've still got my pink Motorola.
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Speaker 2: Oh, the Raiser was elite.
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Speaker 3: I saved up for so long to get one of
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Speaker 3: those that was like my third phone, because that was like, way,
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Speaker 3: way too progressive. I think I only ended up with
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Speaker 3: one of those in like grade ten or eleven. So
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Speaker 3: sit down, guys, So what about money when you were
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Speaker 3: an adult?
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Speaker 4: When I turned eighteen, I got my first job full time,
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Speaker 4: and I wasn't responsible with the money at all, a
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Speaker 4: lot of partying, lot of late nights out. I didn't
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Speaker 4: have any sort of goals or anything. And that all
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Speaker 4: sort of changed when I met my husband and we
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Speaker 4: decided that we wanted to start a family and get married,
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Speaker 4: have kids and all that sort of stuff. And we
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Speaker 4: still weren't the best financially together, but we made do
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Speaker 4: and we got the job done.
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Speaker 2: Tell me a little bit more about your husband.
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Speaker 4: So my husband was an entertainer, so in the nightclub industry,
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Speaker 4: so he worked nights and I worked today, so we
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Speaker 4: pretty much were ships in the night most of the time.
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Speaker 4: He ended up going into entertainment management, managing venues and
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Speaker 4: getting the people that come in the acts.
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Speaker 2: Oh yeah, yeah, yeah yeah.
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Speaker 4: He ended up getting all the acts to come in
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Speaker 4: and organizing those And when COVID hit, he took that
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Speaker 4: really hard. He obviously all the entertainment industry shut down
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Speaker 4: because there was no nightclubs. Yeah, he was terrible with.
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Speaker 3: Money, And how did you negotiate that in a relationship.
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Speaker 3: I feel like, if one's terrible with money and one
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Speaker 3: grew up in a family where you weren't super open
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Speaker 3: about money, but it wasn't like a bit hidden. That
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Speaker 3: might be a little bit of a recipe for disaster,
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Speaker 3: Am I reading into that?
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Speaker 4: Yeah, No, that's true. I ended up taking over. I
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Speaker 4: was the financial controller in the house, so I did
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Speaker 4: all of the bills. I paid everything. We weren't left
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Speaker 4: with much at the end of the day. We were
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Speaker 4: still rental tenants. And not that that's a terrible thing.
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Speaker 4: It's great to have a roof over your head, but
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Speaker 4: we didn't have much to play with at the end
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Speaker 4: of the day.
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Speaker 2: Yeah.
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Speaker 3: Absolutely. And what happened when you guys had kids? How
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Speaker 3: did your money conversations change in that aspect?
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Speaker 4: He didn't stop working because he worked nights. It just
5:48
Speaker 4: sort of fell into place really well. So he would
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Speaker 4: work two or three nights a week, and on those
5:53
Speaker 4: nights i'd have, you know, forty eight hours where I
5:56
Speaker 4: wasn't asleep because the kids would keep me up or something.
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Speaker 4: Where he was home, he was up all night because
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Speaker 4: he's so used to it. So it worked out really
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Speaker 4: well that he could continue to work while we started
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Speaker 4: a family.
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Speaker 3: Yeah, that's actually really cool. I've spoken about it so
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Speaker 3: much recently. Just the cost of daycare, the cost of,
6:16
Speaker 3: you know, actually having to get back to work, and
6:19
Speaker 3: knowing that that was a bit more flexible. I feel
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Speaker 3: like that would have been one of the draw cards
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Speaker 3: right to that type of industry, because I feel like
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Speaker 3: when you work in entertainment sometimes it's just always draining.
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Speaker 3: Like before you said we were ships in the night.
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Speaker 3: Did you ever feel like that led to any animosity
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Speaker 3: or feeling like, oh my gosh, he's not around or
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Speaker 3: he's not contributing as much as he could, or is
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Speaker 3: that something where you're like, go out earn the money,
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Speaker 3: that's what you have to do.
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Speaker 4: I guess in the last few years my opinion has changed. Yes,
6:48
Speaker 4: there was animosity. I did want him around, and I
6:50
Speaker 4: was in time that he was never there. But now,
6:53
Speaker 4: having ridden solo, I guess for two years I would
6:57
Speaker 4: be quite happy to do it by myself. Obviously, the
7:00
Speaker 4: kids are older now, so it's a bit different. But
7:02
Speaker 4: when they're babies, you want someone around to just just
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Speaker 4: take this baby from me. It's crying. I can't deal
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Speaker 4: with it.
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Speaker 2: Yeah, that's so fair.
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Speaker 3: Talk to me a bit more about that transition of
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Speaker 3: being married with a husband who goes to work and
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Speaker 3: who has an income to finding yourself being a single
7:18
Speaker 3: mum back in twenty twenty.
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Speaker 4: I might need to let you in. We actually broke
7:23
Speaker 4: up in twenty sixteen, so.
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Speaker 3: Oh, there you go, There you go. That's a little
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Speaker 3: bit of a twist in the story.
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Speaker 4: So we split in twenty sixteen, so I had already
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Speaker 4: figured out my own finances and things before then, but
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Speaker 4: we never got divorced, so he was still my husband
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Speaker 4: when he passed away.
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Speaker 2: Yeah, fair, fair, So what was that like?
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Speaker 3: I suppose going let's like go all the way back
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Speaker 3: to twenty sixteen then, because that's just as much of
7:49
Speaker 3: a financial adjustment, right, So talk to me about that
7:53
Speaker 3: period of time in your life where you were going
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Speaker 3: from being married all the way through to being I
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Speaker 3: guess a single mum.
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Speaker 4: Working for a family business at the time. So I
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Speaker 4: had to juggle a lot between trying to get the
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Speaker 4: kids from A to B, making sure that we had
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Speaker 4: daycare cofees covered, running my own finances from having joint
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Speaker 4: finances and having a secondary income to going to a
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Speaker 4: single income and trying to figure out something simple as
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Speaker 4: how much we needed for groceries because I would buy
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Speaker 4: for a family of six and now I was buying
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Speaker 4: for myself on one week and then three on the next.
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Speaker 4: So it was very interesting to try and reorganize everything
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Speaker 4: that's of budgets.
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Speaker 3: Yeah, it must have been really challenging. And budgets are
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Speaker 3: the way forward.
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Speaker 2: I think.
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Speaker 3: I feel like they make you feel most in control. Right,
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Speaker 3: they give you the most amount of power in that
8:45
Speaker 3: circumstance because they think if you don't budget, you get
8:47
Speaker 3: even more anxious.
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Speaker 2: What about on your.
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Speaker 3: Partner's flip side, you said you were the financial controller
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Speaker 3: in that relationship, and when you broke up, that probably
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Speaker 3: put a lot of weight on him to, I guess,
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Speaker 3: now take charge of his own financial future.
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Speaker 2: What did that look like? How did that work?
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Speaker 4: I got a lot of messages, how was this paid?
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Speaker 4: When was this due? Things like that. He wasn't great
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Speaker 4: at doing it when it came down to the end
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Speaker 4: of it. One of the saving graces that we had
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Speaker 4: was that he did have income protection and super protection
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Speaker 4: and TPD. So that's the only reason that the kids
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Speaker 4: got anything out of it, because he didn't save any money.
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Speaker 2: Yeah.
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Speaker 3: Wow, So from twenty sixteen when you broke up to
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Speaker 3: twenty twenty when he passed away, He wasn't like trying
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Speaker 3: to get on top of the finances.
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Speaker 2: He was kind of just getting through.
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Speaker 4: He was just getting through. He had an inheritance and
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Speaker 4: he bought a car and then he crashed the car
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Speaker 4: and then like he just never followed up and never
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Speaker 4: got the car back, so he lost all of the
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Speaker 4: inheritance that he put into this car. So he was Yeah,
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Speaker 4: pretty terrible.
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Speaker 2: Oh my gosh, how stressful.
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Speaker 3: So talk to me about how you teach kids about money.
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Speaker 3: When I guess from your perspective, you're like, yep, cool,
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Speaker 3: I'm on top of the budgeting, I'm doing this, I'm
10:05
Speaker 3: doing that. And then on the flip side, you've got
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Speaker 3: dad and he's blowing an inheritance and maybe not having
10:09
Speaker 3: the same shared money values. When I'm assuming there was
10:12
Speaker 3: some level of joint parenting involved there, what did that
10:15
Speaker 3: look like?
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Speaker 2: How did that all work? Ah?
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Speaker 4: My kids were four and five roughly at the time,
10:23
Speaker 4: so we weren't really focused on money and instilling any
10:29
Speaker 4: sort of rules or anything. It was mostly just trying
10:32
Speaker 4: to get through. It's definitely ramped up in the last
10:35
Speaker 4: two years since we've had inheritance come through and things
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Speaker 4: like that.
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Speaker 3: Yeah, it's kind of. And I won't say a blessing.
10:43
Speaker 3: But when they're that young, they're not that privy. They're
10:45
Speaker 3: like not asking that many questions. They're not in school,
10:48
Speaker 3: so they're not as inquisitive about the workings of the world.
10:52
Speaker 3: They haven't really played shop just yet. It's not like
10:54
Speaker 3: having a teenager. That's why I asked. I was like,
10:56
Speaker 3: how did that work? What did that look like? I mean,
10:59
Speaker 3: that's probably a good thing.
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Speaker 4: There was definitely no asking for squish mellows or pokemons
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Speaker 4: or anything back there.
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Speaker 2: No, no, not yet, not yet. Is that a part of
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Speaker 2: the money story? Now? Oh yeah, I'm all across.
11:09
Speaker 3: I don't have kids yet, but I am all across
11:11
Speaker 3: the squish mellows, Like I have hunted high and low
11:14
Speaker 3: for specific squish mellows, four nieces and nephews, and I
11:17
Speaker 3: never thought I would say something like that, money diarist.
11:22
Speaker 2: I want to know. Let's be a little bit pervy here.
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Speaker 3: Your ex partner passed away in twenty twenty, and one
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Speaker 3: of the reasons why you wrote in was because you're like, look,
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Speaker 3: I really want to talk about seeing both sides of
11:32
Speaker 3: having a will and super versus not. Can you talk
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Speaker 3: me through that? Process, because it's obviously a ridiculously traumatic
11:39
Speaker 3: process to go through to begin with. But then I'm
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Speaker 3: assuming you were lumped because you were still technically married,
11:46
Speaker 3: with a lot of the administration, a lot of the process,
11:49
Speaker 3: a lot of the planning because you also had kids.
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Speaker 3: Can you talk us through that process in a way
11:54
Speaker 3: that you're comfortable with?
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Speaker 4: Yeah. So I was the executor of the will. He
12:00
Speaker 4: gave me power of attorney and the executor role before
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Speaker 4: he passed away, So I hold the money for all
12:07
Speaker 4: four children, and I went through all of his assets
12:12
Speaker 4: and his debts and contacted all the companies and closed
12:16
Speaker 4: his eBay account, closed his PayPal count did all of
12:19
Speaker 4: the things that you wouldn't think to do.
12:21
Speaker 2: I hadn't even thought about an eBay account.
12:24
Speaker 4: I just had his email, and I just went through
12:26
Speaker 4: one by one and went close clothes clothes. I did
12:29
Speaker 4: have a lawyer help with it all because we had
12:33
Speaker 4: a large summer of money, so it needed to go
12:35
Speaker 4: through probate. But in regards to the division and the
12:38
Speaker 4: holding of it, I still hold all of the money
12:41
Speaker 4: until the kids are twenty five, because that's what he
12:43
Speaker 4: specified in the will. Unfortunately, one of them did pass
12:47
Speaker 4: away last year, so he did not reach twenty five.
12:49
Speaker 4: So now I need to split that between three kids,
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Speaker 4: So I'm doing a bit of juggling now with that.
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Speaker 2: Yeah, that's awful.
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Speaker 3: I am so sorry to hear when you say your
13:00
Speaker 3: partner or your ex partner made you the executor of
13:03
Speaker 3: the will. That's a really big step that obviously on
13:05
Speaker 3: she's on the money. I talk about the importance of
13:07
Speaker 3: all the time, like it's important to have that, it's
13:09
Speaker 3: important to have it up to date, but often people
13:12
Speaker 3: don't actually start that process or even think it's important
13:15
Speaker 3: because you're young, right, Like you're thirty two, so you
13:18
Speaker 3: are literally my age, and this is something that people
13:21
Speaker 3: that are my age just let slip by, like we
13:23
Speaker 3: don't even think about it. How did that conversation go
13:26
Speaker 3: with you becoming the executor of the will and being
13:29
Speaker 3: responsible for all the children? Like, was this something where
13:32
Speaker 3: you know, I know, I don't want to be too pervy,
13:34
Speaker 3: it's you know, only within what you're comfortable with. But
13:38
Speaker 3: was he in a circumstance where he knew something was
13:42
Speaker 3: going to happen and he needed to kind of clean
13:44
Speaker 3: up his affairs or was this something that you guys
13:45
Speaker 3: were just really progressive.
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Speaker 4: About Oh, I suppose I haven't actually mentioned. So he
13:49
Speaker 4: was diagnosed with stage three cancer, ourself with dual cancer
13:53
Speaker 4: in April of twenty twenty so, and then then he
13:56
Speaker 4: passed away in November, so we had a bit of
13:58
Speaker 4: time to organize everything, make sure that everything was in
14:01
Speaker 4: place because he was diagnosed with cancer. We did go
14:05
Speaker 4: through the channels and get the will done for free
14:09
Speaker 4: through one of the lawyers in the city that does deal.
14:12
Speaker 4: I forget the name of the company. Sorry, I'm trying
14:15
Speaker 4: to wrack my brain as I talk.
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Speaker 2: That's okay, That's absolutely fine.
14:19
Speaker 3: I hate asking those questions because I want to be like, hey,
14:21
Speaker 3: can you tell me a little bit more about this,
14:23
Speaker 3: while still respecting the boundaries that you have, because obviously
14:27
Speaker 3: with some people they don't really want to talk about
14:29
Speaker 3: the way their partner or ex partner passed away. And
14:32
Speaker 3: I'm always like, oh, we need to know a little
14:34
Speaker 3: bit more about this, only because, as I said before,
14:38
Speaker 3: sometimes you're only forced to get your affairs in order
14:40
Speaker 3: once there is a big life event that's going to happen.
14:42
Speaker 3: And it sounds like that was the circumstance you were in.
14:45
Speaker 3: But obviously if this was an emergency like previous money diarists,
14:49
Speaker 3: we don't have that foresight because it only happens to
14:52
Speaker 3: other people, right, How did those conversations go? Like, I'm sorry,
14:57
Speaker 3: but that sounds like a really shitty process to go
15:00
Speaker 3: through finding out that your ex partner, the father to
15:03
Speaker 3: your children is maybe not going to be around anymore.
15:06
Speaker 3: How do you have those conversations that I think the
15:09
Speaker 3: general public would deem relatively morbid.
15:12
Speaker 4: I'm a crisis person, so I'm good in a crisis,
15:15
Speaker 4: So I was very okay with everything. I made sure
15:18
Speaker 4: all of the boxes were ticked. You have to sort
15:21
Speaker 4: of have your head about you when you go through
15:23
Speaker 4: something like that, when you get more emotional about it,
15:28
Speaker 4: you have to compartmentalize silly.
15:30
Speaker 3: Yeah, No, absolutely, it's something that's really challenging to go through.
15:35
Speaker 3: But it sounds like you were in good hands.
15:38
Speaker 2: How do you.
15:38
Speaker 3: Communicate that with the kids? So obviously talking to your
15:43
Speaker 3: smaller children, it's probably not even a conversation you have
15:46
Speaker 3: now because from my perspective, having worked as a financial advisor,
15:50
Speaker 3: I can't think of talking to a ten year old
15:52
Speaker 3: and an eight year old about, you know, inheritance and
15:55
Speaker 3: what that means. But with his other children, how is
15:58
Speaker 3: that communicated? Did they expect an immediate inheritance or did
16:02
Speaker 3: they understand that there was an age of twenty five
16:04
Speaker 3: that they needed to reach or what did that communication
16:07
Speaker 3: process look like.
16:09
Speaker 4: So the older one who passed away, he was aware
16:13
Speaker 4: of the age limit of twenty five, being that he
16:16
Speaker 4: was twenty four when he passed away.
16:19
Speaker 2: He was just a baby, I know who was just
16:22
Speaker 2: a baby.
16:23
Speaker 4: He knew that there was money coming in. He did
16:26
Speaker 4: ask for it at some point, but because of the
16:30
Speaker 4: rulings between the will and me being the executor, I
16:33
Speaker 4: had to put the foot down and say no, like
16:36
Speaker 4: Dad didn't want you to have it before this age.
16:38
Speaker 4: There's certain things. The other one, he is thirteen. He
16:43
Speaker 4: is not aware that there is an inheritance. His mother
16:49
Speaker 4: and I communicate. We're very good communicators, we always have been.
16:52
Speaker 4: She knows that there's something there. She's got a copy
16:55
Speaker 4: of the will, she's seen everything. Like it's very transparent
16:59
Speaker 4: because I don't want to have any arguments later on.
17:03
Speaker 2: No, absolutely not.
17:04
Speaker 4: Yeah, And anything I do with his portion of the money,
17:07
Speaker 4: I do contact her and say I'm doing this just
17:10
Speaker 4: so you know, because I don't want one day for
17:14
Speaker 4: her to say I haven't done the right thing. And
17:16
Speaker 4: with investing in inheritance, it is not advised that you
17:19
Speaker 4: put it into any sort of share portfolio because of
17:23
Speaker 4: the legal repercussions. If there is a massive loss, you
17:27
Speaker 4: as the executor, are liable.
17:29
Speaker 3: Yes, And that's something that a lot of people don't understand.
17:33
Speaker 3: And that's why I often deep financial advice is necessary
17:37
Speaker 3: because obviously you would have done the pros and cons
17:39
Speaker 3: of this and made a decision that.
17:40
Speaker 2: Works for you in your family.
17:41
Speaker 3: But it's one of those things where as we know,
17:45
Speaker 3: the power of investing in the power of money is
17:47
Speaker 3: over time and compounding, and you kind of miss out
17:50
Speaker 3: on that. And that's okay as long as it's an
17:54
Speaker 3: educated decision and you're making sure that everything is good
17:57
Speaker 3: to go. And I think you, as you mentioned before,
18:00
Speaker 3: you're the executor. You're the only one that's going to
18:02
Speaker 3: see all sides of that story. I want to ask
18:05
Speaker 3: another perfect question, why are you the executor of the
18:09
Speaker 3: will as opposed to obviously his other ex partner that
18:12
Speaker 3: he has other children with, Like, how did that come
18:14
Speaker 3: to fruition? Was that a okay, you're the most trusted
18:18
Speaker 3: person in this circumstance, or you're just better with money, Like,
18:22
Speaker 3: was there a conversation about how he picked you?
18:25
Speaker 4: There wasn't really a conversation of how he picked me.
18:27
Speaker 4: But I was the only one that he'd been with
18:31
Speaker 4: that was most financially responsible. Having the two youngest kids,
18:35
Speaker 4: I'm going to be the person that holds the money
18:37
Speaker 4: for longest. So he didn't want to give it to
18:39
Speaker 4: anyone else. Yeah, that was the main thing.
18:42
Speaker 3: No, that makes absolute sense. Can I ask now? I
18:45
Speaker 3: want to know a little bit more about you as
18:48
Speaker 3: a person. So obviously that is a circumstance that I
18:51
Speaker 3: don't wish upon anybody.
18:53
Speaker 2: And we really need.
18:54
Speaker 3: To be having conversations like this more often, because unfortunately
18:57
Speaker 3: it happens more often than we would like to think
19:01
Speaker 3: it does. But I want to know what you do,
19:03
Speaker 3: what do you do with yourself, what do you do
19:05
Speaker 3: for work? And how much money do you now earn?
19:07
Speaker 4: So I both of our kids are actually special needs,
19:11
Speaker 4: so we've got autism and ADHD. So I actually only
19:14
Speaker 4: work part time, not that that's a bad thing. Again,
19:17
Speaker 4: it's good. I'm still working. I am a banking consultant
19:22
Speaker 4: and during work, I am at work, but when I'm
19:27
Speaker 4: at home, I am the homemaker, organizer, I am everything.
19:33
Speaker 3: Yeah, of course you are your mom aunt, mom's superwoman.
19:37
Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, exactly, exactly.
19:40
Speaker 3: So tell me a little bit more about your personal situation.
19:43
Speaker 3: Do you have a partner now? Are you currently still
19:46
Speaker 3: a single mom?
19:47
Speaker 1: Like?
19:47
Speaker 2: What is your circumstance.
19:49
Speaker 4: I do have a partner now. He is a truck driver,
19:54
Speaker 4: so he is not home very often because he goes
19:57
Speaker 4: into state all the time. He's actually just left yesterday
20:01
Speaker 4: for a month, so he'll be back.
20:02
Speaker 2: Oh my gosh, a month.
20:03
Speaker 4: Yeah, during that time. Side note, we're building a house.
20:08
Speaker 2: That's very exciting.
20:10
Speaker 4: So we're building a house. We haven't got a handover
20:12
Speaker 4: date yet, but the rental lease expires at the end
20:16
Speaker 4: of April, so I am going to be packing while
20:19
Speaker 4: he is gone, and he's going to come back and
20:22
Speaker 4: help move everything.
20:23
Speaker 2: Yeah.
20:24
Speaker 3: Well, I'm glad that you're doing that, and I'm not
20:27
Speaker 3: I'm really sorry, but that sounds awful. All right, tell
20:32
Speaker 3: me a little bit more about I guess money. You've
20:35
Speaker 3: got a new partner, You've obviously got a good job
20:38
Speaker 3: when you are working part time. What is currently your
20:41
Speaker 3: big money goal? What are you working towards You're obviously
20:43
Speaker 3: building a house, so you're ticking that off. Yeah, I
20:46
Speaker 3: would love to pay off. We've taken out a landlan
20:50
Speaker 3: separate to our home loan. We've bought a hectare of land,
20:55
Speaker 3: so we've got quite a bit of.
20:56
Speaker 2: Oh my gosh, how exciting.
20:59
Speaker 4: We've got quite a bit of guard and things to
21:00
Speaker 4: do when we do move in. So I do want
21:02
Speaker 4: to pay off the land loan we're is sitting at
21:05
Speaker 4: one ninety five. That's probably the biggest goal, and then
21:08
Speaker 4: paying off the actual build loan, but we haven't fully
21:11
Speaker 4: drawn that down yet, so that's still in the works.
21:15
Speaker 2: Still TBC, Well, that is so exciting.
21:18
Speaker 3: With a hectare, you can actually get a lot of
21:20
Speaker 3: miniature donkeys, So I'm very excited about this prospect for you.
21:24
Speaker 4: We were looking at miniature goats.
21:26
Speaker 3: Okay, we can get both. Get some donkeys, get some goats.
21:29
Speaker 3: Like I am the biggest pet person in the entire world.
21:32
Speaker 3: I have been on the side of TikTok where everybody
21:34
Speaker 3: has miniature donkeys, and I just they are so cute
21:37
Speaker 3: it kills me.
21:38
Speaker 4: Yeah, as long as it fits in with a Bernese
21:40
Speaker 4: mountain dog, it's fine.
21:41
Speaker 2: Ten out of ten can recommend.
21:42
Speaker 3: I'm going to go to a really quick break because
21:44
Speaker 3: I think we need to reset because all I'll do
21:46
Speaker 3: now is talk about pets, So guys don't go anywhere.
21:53
Speaker 3: All right, money Diarist, we are back. It sounds like
21:55
Speaker 3: you are absolutely thriving. You've got two children with special needs,
22:00
Speaker 3: which you are looking after, working part time. You've gone
22:03
Speaker 3: through a fair bit in your thirty two short years.
22:07
Speaker 3: I want to know do you invest, If so, how
22:10
Speaker 3: and what does that look like for you.
22:11
Speaker 4: I do have a smaller investment portfolio. I do have
22:16
Speaker 4: five and a half invested in Diverse shares. I started
22:20
Speaker 4: investing twenty nineteen and I've held those shares since and
22:25
Speaker 4: they're like my biggest profit ones, which.
22:27
Speaker 2: Is great, how exciting.
22:29
Speaker 4: Every time I get a paarcel of five hundred dollars,
22:31
Speaker 4: I do invest it sort of like a miniature version
22:33
Speaker 4: of a thousand dollar project, a little.
22:35
Speaker 3: Bit more accessible. One thousand dollars I feel like takes
22:38
Speaker 3: ages to save.
22:39
Speaker 4: Yeah, and I do reinvest the dividends, so anytime I
22:44
Speaker 4: get a dividend payment, it either goes into the account
22:47
Speaker 4: so I can get the five hundred dollars or automatically
22:49
Speaker 4: reinvest with the plan.
22:50
Speaker 3: So yeah, cool, I love that. Are there any other
22:53
Speaker 3: investment things that you play around with? What does your
22:55
Speaker 3: superannuation look like?
22:56
Speaker 4: My friend my Stuport is sitting at sixty k oh.
23:00
Speaker 2: That's a nice amount for your age.
23:03
Speaker 4: Yeah. I feel like working part time, that's pretty good.
23:06
Speaker 4: I do do the voluntary contribution so that you can
23:10
Speaker 4: get the co contribution from the government to sort of
23:12
Speaker 4: boost it up every year. I feel like as a minimum,
23:15
Speaker 4: because I'm working part time, I should That's a priority
23:19
Speaker 4: of mine to always put in the five hundred dollars.
23:21
Speaker 2: I love that.
23:21
Speaker 3: I feel like, given everything you've been through and everything
23:24
Speaker 3: you're doing, and all of your financial goals, and the
23:27
Speaker 3: fact that you are about to serve as a building
23:29
Speaker 3: loan and have bought land, like that makes sense that
23:31
Speaker 3: that is your investment journey.
23:33
Speaker 2: Let's flip it though.
23:35
Speaker 3: You told us about your one hundred and ninety five
23:37
Speaker 3: thousand dollars land loan and then a building loan.
23:39
Speaker 2: Do you have any other debts? If so, what do
23:42
Speaker 2: they look like.
23:43
Speaker 4: I have a two thousand dollars credit card and that's it.
23:45
Speaker 3: And how do you use your credit card. I feel
23:48
Speaker 3: like people think I absolutely crucify credit cards, but I don't.
23:53
Speaker 2: I crucify using them inefficiently.
23:55
Speaker 4: Ah yeah, I a one hundred percent use it inefficiently.
23:58
Speaker 2: Okay, well we maybe need to talk about that, my friend.
24:02
Speaker 4: So I cannot get the limit down, so I have
24:05
Speaker 4: actually just blocked the card now, so nothing can come
24:07
Speaker 4: out other than my insurance. So I've got health insurance
24:11
Speaker 4: and home contents insurance that comes out of that, and
24:14
Speaker 4: that's that's all that I'm going to be allowing that
24:17
Speaker 4: to come out of.
24:18
Speaker 3: So tell me a bit more about that mindset, because
24:20
Speaker 3: for you to go all right, well I'm not using
24:22
Speaker 3: it efficiently, how does that work? How did you come
24:24
Speaker 3: to the conclusion that maybe a credit card wasn't the
24:26
Speaker 3: best for your personality.
24:28
Speaker 4: I've had it for a fair few years. I did
24:30
Speaker 4: regularly pay it down when I used it because we're
24:34
Speaker 4: building though a lot of our finances are going to
24:38
Speaker 4: building a shed, growing the grass, like building a fence,
24:42
Speaker 4: all this sort of stuff. So any sort of like
24:44
Speaker 4: grocery expenses and things were going on the credit card
24:47
Speaker 4: and that needed to stop, so I just blocked it.
24:52
Speaker 3: That is very fair, and I think It's very thoughtful
24:55
Speaker 3: of you to do that, because I feel like too
24:56
Speaker 3: many times people just become so dependent on them. So
24:59
Speaker 3: it's obvious to me your level of financial literacy is
25:02
Speaker 3: relatively high in comparison to the level of financial literacy
25:06
Speaker 3: of people who abuse credit cards regularly.
25:10
Speaker 2: Let's talk about good money habits.
25:12
Speaker 3: I feel like that was a really good one where
25:13
Speaker 3: you like kind of put yourself back in control and go, nope,
25:16
Speaker 3: I'm going to block that credit card. What do you
25:18
Speaker 3: think your best money habit is being.
25:21
Speaker 4: A banking consultant. I'm always talking about rates with people. Yes, Queen,
25:26
Speaker 4: So I have got high interest savings accounts where I
25:31
Speaker 4: work I do with the kids money. I always make
25:35
Speaker 4: sure that it's invested in the highest amount, rolling over,
25:38
Speaker 4: making sure that we're getting the bonus interest if there
25:40
Speaker 4: is any. And I was luckily enough to fix the
25:45
Speaker 4: one ninety five k at three point five percent.
25:48
Speaker 2: So oh money, ween, I know.
25:52
Speaker 4: So that's until twenty twenty five.
25:53
Speaker 2: Twenty twenty five.
25:55
Speaker 3: I think that's the sexiest thing anyone's told me this week. Oh,
26:00
Speaker 3: very very envious and obviously have a very boring life.
26:03
Speaker 4: No, no, for me, it's exciting, like I talk to
26:06
Speaker 4: people all day about this when I'm at work, so
26:08
Speaker 4: for me to be able to say it, because I
26:11
Speaker 4: can't say that loud to other people because they don't
26:13
Speaker 4: get that.
26:13
Speaker 1: Now.
26:14
Speaker 4: No sing that the rates have gone up and up
26:16
Speaker 4: and up. Yeah.
26:17
Speaker 3: No, As somebody who has a mortgage, I'm very envious
26:20
Speaker 3: of that because I looked at my statement the other
26:23
Speaker 3: day and we are now above five percent, and that
26:27
Speaker 3: just makes me feel a little bit sick.
26:29
Speaker 4: My friends, our build loan has not fully drawn yet,
26:32
Speaker 4: so we're still unvariable until it draws down, so I'm
26:37
Speaker 4: stuck with that one at a higher rate. Unfortunately.
26:39
Speaker 2: Well, you know what, you win some, you lose some.
26:42
Speaker 3: Speaking about losing some, I need to flip the narrative here,
26:45
Speaker 3: what is your worst money habit?
26:47
Speaker 4: I am a sticker hunter and.
26:51
Speaker 2: Acker hunter shopper? What's a sticker hunter like?
26:56
Speaker 4: Markdown stickers?
26:56
Speaker 2: So if I that's a good thing, it is.
26:59
Speaker 4: A good thing. But I will buy things that we
27:02
Speaker 4: don't use, all right, so it can work out in
27:07
Speaker 4: my favor. But sometimes I'll buy things I'll be like, yeah,
27:09
Speaker 4: the kids will like that. Not not with sensory needs
27:13
Speaker 4: and things. I should just stick to what we've got,
27:16
Speaker 4: but most of our fridge freezer is stickered, marked down
27:20
Speaker 4: sort of things, especially with the cost of groceries now.
27:23
Speaker 4: But op shopping is probably the worst thing. Like, if
27:25
Speaker 4: I'm having a down day and I've got free time,
27:28
Speaker 4: I will go out and opshop and I won't need anything,
27:32
Speaker 4: but I will find something.
27:34
Speaker 2: Hey, that's resourceful. I'm going to allow you to have that.
27:38
Speaker 3: I feel like that's much better than saying, ah, I
27:40
Speaker 3: go to Chadsten and I shop to my heart's content.
27:44
Speaker 3: Like op shopping, let's just see it as you're supporting
27:47
Speaker 3: the local community. You're you know, repurposing some old clothing.
27:52
Speaker 2: Like I'm all about that.
27:53
Speaker 3: I mean, I probably should do it smartly, but like
27:56
Speaker 3: you know, I can reframe anything if you want me to.
27:59
Speaker 3: Let's be honest, money Diarist, I feel like I've learned
28:03
Speaker 3: so much about you, and I'm so grateful that you've
28:05
Speaker 3: kind of shared your journey. Obviously you've seen both sides
28:09
Speaker 3: of I guess having a will and having super and
28:11
Speaker 3: being in the best possible position. We've spoken about, you know,
28:15
Speaker 3: you being an executor, which is a massive responsibility and
28:18
Speaker 3: it will continue to be a responsibility until your youngest
28:20
Speaker 3: child reaches the age of twenty five, and even at
28:23
Speaker 3: that point, they're probably still going to have questions about
28:26
Speaker 3: how things work. Like, it's not a responsibility that's put
28:29
Speaker 3: on someone lightly where you know, someone unfortunately passes away
28:32
Speaker 3: and then that's a job for six months. It's often
28:35
Speaker 3: a lifelong job. And I think that, whilst it is
28:39
Speaker 3: really important, it's also, as I said, a massive responsibility.
28:43
Speaker 3: But it sounds like you are kind of killing it
28:45
Speaker 3: as well. And I want to reflect on the start
28:48
Speaker 3: of this conversation before we even had those chats, and
28:50
Speaker 3: you said, I think I'm like a C or a D.
28:53
Speaker 2: And then we've.
28:53
Speaker 3: Learned that you were basically the financial control of your family.
28:57
Speaker 3: You are financially responsible enough to have been put in
28:59
Speaker 3: charge of a whole heap of people's inheritance. You genuinely
29:04
Speaker 3: are really good in crisis. You've got savings, you have
29:06
Speaker 3: bought a house, you are currently building, you lock in
29:09
Speaker 3: your rates, Like, do you really think that you're a
29:11
Speaker 3: C to a D, my friend, because I feel like
29:15
Speaker 3: I might be a little higher than that.
29:17
Speaker 4: I think that I am a C to a D
29:20
Speaker 4: because of our excessive spending building Right now, I think
29:26
Speaker 4: it's situational C to.
29:28
Speaker 3: D right, it's what you think you are, not maybe
29:31
Speaker 3: what you think you are in comparison to others, which
29:33
Speaker 3: actually is the best way to.
29:35
Speaker 2: Put it, right. Yeah, all right, well I allow you
29:37
Speaker 2: to have it.
29:38
Speaker 4: I think that we're spending an awful lot at the
29:40
Speaker 4: moment with the build and everything. That that's why I
29:45
Speaker 4: put it so low, because we are just, you know,
29:48
Speaker 4: fucking out the money.
29:50
Speaker 2: It's so stressful though, when that happens.
29:53
Speaker 3: As somebody who's just gone through a renovation, I feel
29:56
Speaker 3: like it's cost on cost on cost, and the quote
29:58
Speaker 3: that they gave you double it even maybe consider tripling
30:02
Speaker 3: it because it is going to bite you in the bottom.
30:04
Speaker 3: So I can understand that feeling of I guess, bleeding money.
30:08
Speaker 3: You could say, it's not a fun feeling. Especially when
30:11
Speaker 3: you see your actual savings account go completely down. You're like,
30:14
Speaker 3: this is not what I plan for, this is not
30:16
Speaker 3: what I expected.
30:17
Speaker 4: Well, yeah, I'd rather see the money sitting in the
30:19
Speaker 4: offset offsetting the variable build loan than spending it.
30:23
Speaker 2: One hundred percent.
30:26
Speaker 3: Well money, diresty, It has been beautiful getting to know
30:28
Speaker 3: you and learning a little bit more about your journey.
30:31
Speaker 3: Are there any passing or lasting words of wisdom that
30:34
Speaker 3: you want to share with the community before we wrap
30:36
Speaker 3: all of this up.
30:37
Speaker 4: Get your will done, yes, Sexy, Yes absolutely, I got
30:42
Speaker 4: mine done obviously having kids and being the executor and
30:46
Speaker 4: the controller. I got mine done after my husband passed away.
30:49
Speaker 4: But I advise everyone to get one done, even if
30:53
Speaker 4: it sits in a cupboard for twenty years. You don't
30:56
Speaker 4: want to think about it because it is morbid, and
30:58
Speaker 4: you don't want to think about what happens when you're
31:00
Speaker 4: not here anymore, but it needs to happen. And make
31:04
Speaker 4: sure that you have two executors.
31:07
Speaker 2: Two executors, yes, why obviously I know why, but this
31:11
Speaker 2: is not for.
31:12
Speaker 4: Me because if one passes away, then you've got a second. Yeah.
31:16
Speaker 3: Absolutely, And I think that having a backup plan is
31:19
Speaker 3: always really important. And as you said, like these conversations
31:22
Speaker 3: aren't easy. They are quite challenging to have, but there's
31:25
Speaker 3: some of the most important conversations, and once someone's gone,
31:29
Speaker 3: you can't go back to clarify with them. Oh, well,
31:31
Speaker 3: what did you actually want or how did we want
31:33
Speaker 3: to do that? So I think we need to ask
31:35
Speaker 3: while we have the opportunity. Money Dirist it has been beautiful.
31:39
Speaker 3: Thank you so much for sharing your story with us.
31:42
Speaker 3: I know that the community is going to get genuinely
31:45
Speaker 3: so much out of it.
31:46
Speaker 4: Thanks.
31:53
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31:55
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31:59
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